One-Yard Wonders projects

Sunday, May 9, 2010

The verdict on Jefferson: still on our list!




Isn't it nice when you are pleasantly surprised by something you were afraid might not turn out so well? We left DSM at 10:30 AM today for our Mother's Day road trip to Jefferson. Shawn and the boys allowed me to sleep in until 9 and then made me a delicious breakfast of pumpkin scones, prosciutto omelet cups (delicious -- Shawn is a hell of a cook when he puts his mind to it) and gave me my Mother's Day presents -- an antique flower crock (to replace the one Bo smashed a couple months ago during a tantrum) and a new flower vase for my office.

It was a sunny, beautiful drive. Both boys were happy and content, which is rare. We listened to the Dixie Chicks and all sang along to Goodbye, Earl. Mazy calls it the blacked eye pea song. He always has many questions for me -- why did they peas kill him? why did the girls want him dead? did he really go to the lake for a picnic? why didn't anyone miss him? Poor Mazy, it's a hard song to understand when you're a kid.

Anyway, as soon as we hit Jefferson's city limits I looked for a brown sign to point us in the direction of a city park where we could run around, stretch our legs and let the boys blow off some steam.

We quickly found a nice one where the Jefferson city swimming pool is located. There were two preteen girls there, but no one else. We had fun on the swings, the monkey bars and the big slides. After a half-hour everyone was getting hungry so we decided to find some food. There were a lot of local restaurants -- at least six that I saw. They were all packed, which I took to be a good sign. And it was Mother's Day of course. So we decided to dine at the ever-popular Dairy Queen. (the blizzard is 25 years old this year, if you've missed the commercials) You can't go wrong with an ice cream cone for dessert.

We drove around for another 20 minutes and were very impressed with the beautiful houses, well-kept lawns and generally very clean and tidy neighborhoods. The south side of town is particularly nice as is the west. We did not have directions to our acreage, so we did not get to inspect it more closely.

As we left town, I asked everyone for a pro and a con about Jefferson. Here's the list:

Pros:
1. Good park (Mazy)
2. Nice rural setting (Shawn)
3. Beautiful neighborhoods, affordable houses (Keesia)
4. Sucker (Shawn bought Bo a sucker for dessert from one of the two Casey's stores in town)

Cons:
1. Couldn't find Subway restaurant (Mazy -- he really wanted to eat there)
2. Not much retail (Shawn)
3. Patrons at DQ were kind of rednecky, and overall I got a sense of a very conservative culture (Keesia)

Shawn also kept notes on a couple of companies we saw: West Central/Soy Chlor, Microsoy, Syngenta and American Athletic, Inc. that might be job possibilities. And two new real estate sites we need to check out: Polking Realty and Peckumn Real Estate.

We drove home through Panora and stopped at the farm for afternoon naps for all. Dad was in the field, and Mom didn't mind the surprise company. The boys slept for three hours, me for 1.5 and Shawn for about 1. Then we took the boys to Crazy Sharon's house so they could ride in the tractor with Grandpa as he was planting the field south of her house. Grandpa Keith dropped by and we all visited on Sharon's deck. I just love her house. I always have. It is one of the most tranquil settings in my life -- whenever I need to calm myself and think of a peaceful, relaxing place, I imagine floating on an inner tube at Gerald's Pond, the wind blowing the silverleaf maple trees, dragonflys buzzing around, the sun shining on my face. It's heaven over there.

Mom made us an excellent supper: BBQ chicken and shrimp on the grill, rice pilaf with fresh green onions, corn on the cob, baked beans and German chocolate cake for dessert. I felt bad she had to cook on Mother's Day, but I made sure to clean up before we left. Thanks for a great afternoon, Mom!

It was a perfect Mother's Day!

1 comment:

  1. What a nice day. Jefferson sounds promising. Maybe you could own/operate a Subway.

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