The end of summer

I can't believe summer is almost over. It's been a brutally hot one for most of the US and I'm glad to have some cool mornings finally here. Here's a short highlight reel of my summer:

I went in the field (meaning I spent time out of the office visiting various sites for applications or violation reports) and found out there's a Taco John's in Marion, IL.

If you've never had Taco Johns you're really missing out. I hadn't had any since 1998 when I left Iowa.

A coworker of mine got their Super Nachos which were made with their Potato Oles rather than chips. It's like tater tots and Nachos all mixed up.


I took my mom to get cataract surgery.  (My niece calls this photo Pirate Grandma)

She was really worried about the surgery. I took this photo of her in the drive through of Taco Bell on the way home from the surgery center. We've always bonded over Taco Bell.

Now that she's had the surgery she actually is excited to get the other eye done. Everything is brighter and more clear - her vision is 20/20 in that eye. She never wore glasses until she had surgery for a cancerous tumor in 1979; and I'm excited for her to not wear glasses anymore.

I got my dog a puppy cut:

Oscar has long hair normally:

So this cut was a big deal for all of us. My boyfriend who has a dog allergy was especially excited about it it really made him look like a puppy again. But I'm definitely growing it out for the winter; I kind of miss my fluffy little boy.

I got to go to Lambert's Cafe for the first time.  My co-workers are always raving about this place and I have to admit it was pretty good.

Of course watching them throw the piping hot rolls was interesting but honestly it was the food that made me appreciate it. It was really good. It was too much food with all the extra sides they call "pass arounds" like fried potatoes and tomato and macaroni. But definitely worth the trip if I'm close again.

The reason I was close is that I had a training class in Memphis. It was really unbelievably hot in Memphis, so hot even the squirrels were looking for relief:

We couldn't believe it when we were walking back from lunch and saw this squirrel stretched out on the sidewalk. But everything was just blazing hot and this stretch of sidewalk was under an awning on the north side of the building so it probably was the coolest spot in the city.

She let us get pretty close and just kept a wary eye on us while she cooled her belly on the pavement. I was kind of jealous.