corn toss...an old west folklore tradition?

This weekend, we went to Kentucky to visit family and see our newest nephew/cousin, Grayson, who is only 3 weeks old. On Sunday, we began our drive back to Tennessee. Not long after leaving my sister & brother-in-law's, we drove through a town named Columbia. It has one of those cool, old timey town "circles" where there's a big circle in the middle of town with 4 or 5 roads that branch off from it in different directions. We saw the following sign while driving on this circle:

Just to be clear, it says "Downtown Days - Folklore of the Old West Festival". Cool, huh? A little town festival. We had these kinds of things in my home town growing up. Vendors and food stands set up. People walking around, enjoying the town. Pretty neat theme too, "Folklore of the Old West." You would expect to see people dressed in Old West costumes, cowboys and indians, maybe some big black kettles cookin up some stew for lunch on the sidewalk.

But no. As we head down our branch off of the town circle, this is what we see:

I'm kidding, right? No. It in fact does say, "Corn Toss - Register Here." Hmm. This must be some Old West version that we've never seen before, right? Maybe they take big ears of corn and throw them through tire swings hanging from old oak trees. Maybe in the 1800's men filled canvas bags with corn and heaved them over wooden fences in an effort to build strength and stroke their egos.

But no. This is what was happening:

That's right. A full-blown Corn Toss Tournament. From what I could see, there were 8 Corn Toss matches going on simultaneously. There was even a small crowd of spectators cheering on their friends and family. The matches were important enough that the parking lot was sealed off with top-grade, bright-yellow Caution tape.

Way to go, Columbia, Kentucky. It's nice to know there's a place with people who have the courage to elevate Corn Toss to the level it deserves. You've captured the spirit of the Old West and made our early settlers proud. I say again, way to go, Columbia, Kentucky.

soon to be an uncle

I'm an oldest child. I'm 31. I have a 26 year old sister, an 18 (19 in 3 weeks) year old brother, and a 16 year old sister. In about 6 weeks, I'll be an uncle for the first time...and thankfully, not because of the 18 or the 16 year old sibling! My sister Kari and her husband Rodney are due with their first child in September...quite possibly on the same day as her own birthday.

On Friday, we'll be driving to Kentucky to spend the weekend with them and will have the chance to see much of our extended family. The last time I saw Kari was last Christmas, and the last time we were able to travel to Kentucky was November 2004, so I've not seen much of my extended family in almost 3 years. Pretty exciting. Luckily, my parents have taken Eli home with them a couple of times in the last 18 months to spend 3-4 days, so he's been able to see his grandparents and get acclimated with his dad's side of the family.

The picture is my sister and Eli from about a month ago. I know it's blurry, but that's because it was taken on Eli's Little Tikes digital camera. Basically, it's a digital camera for young kids. It looks like binoculars and is encased in rubber. Has a digital screen like normal digital cameras, and is very easy for kids to use, but doesn't produce the greatest quality of images.

And let me apologize to Kari ahead of time for not getting her permission to post this picture on the web! =) Notice Eli holding his tummy? When Kari explained there was a baby in her tummy, he became convinced that he had one in his tummy too. Hence the tummy holding. Funny kid. And funny word...tummy. I feel kinda weird for using it 5 times in one paragraph.