---

I'm pretty good at picking up litter on the sidewalks, parking lots and streets when I'm walking around. I've found the new "norm" in littering - that used to be cigarettes - is the disposable facemask that people wear in and out of businesses. Over the past week I've picked up at least a half dozen and that's just me and where I walk. Think about how many of them there must be just left lying around all over!
*****
I have a squirrel that must live near my house on North Lindsey Street in Dodgeville. It must be a very determined squirrel when it comes to storing nuts for the winter. My mailbox is really close to my house and a few weeks ago I found a whole green walnut on the mailbox and it can't fall to the ground because it is right next to the house. After it was there for a week or so I took it and put it in the gutter along the street that runs by my house. A day or so later there it was again in the same spot by my mailbox!
*****
Our Saturday morning breakfast took Bob, Terry and I to Spring Garden in Mount Horeb so we could meet Dewey (Christoph) there. The breakfast was good, but they don't serve the traditional pork bacon any more. They have turkey bacon, that we tried a couple of months ago and it was OK, but not up to the expectations we're used to. Dewey tried their new beef bacon. It was not bad, but again not as good as the regular bacon. I had prime rib with eggs, hashbrowns and toast. Not bad at all! We ran into Chuck Misky and the Nesheims from Mount Horeb as well as Ron Gilbertson and some of his family from Dodgeville. On the way back we checked out the Hooterville Inn in Blue Mounds as we heard they had outside seating. We also saw outside seating at Fink's Bar in Mount Horeb.
*****
We got a well needed rain Sunday morning - it started during the night. The rain proceeded to put somewhat of a damper on Labor Day events planned for Sunday, but it was needed.
*****
I stopped at Cobblestone Coffee house Sunday to get one of my "Mint to Be in The Chronicle" drinks. Cassidy Downs was working alone there, with some help from owner Denny Marklein. There were 6-7 groups ready to be served, so I waited until all of them were taken care of. In the meantime I social distanced the tables for two that were grouped so a group of 6 could eat together earlier. A couple was sitting on stools and conversing and the fellow decided they needed another Latte so he ordered. I ordered my "Mint" and when I went to pay for it, he already had! In talking with the couple I found out she was orignally from Missouri and had a granddaughter who was in school virtually full time and struggling with it. I told her I felt the younger kids especially needed face to face schooling. He is the grandson and now owner of the first health food store in Wisconsin that is located in Brookfield. His name is Jeffrey Langlois of Langlois' Vital Nutrition Center. It was started in 1946, the year I was born! They had been to Door County and passed through here said they fell in love with our area - from Dodgeville to Spring Green - and have been seeing a lot of sights, especially hiking at Governor Dodge State Park.
*****
I made it to the Iowa County Fair for a little while. People really supported with donations and the auction went pretty good. The kids were really excited to be able to be there and show off their exhibits and animals. The parents and relatives and the fair board were really happy to be able to pull things off. but, like one person said to me, it just doesn't seem like a fair without the midway!
*****
Check out the above exhibit in the Fair House that shows us what is down the road!