Today’s Fortune: A pleasant surprise is in store for you.

I’m still waiting for that one to come true.  I spent the whole afternoon cooped up with three cats under a mattress in the hall, because we had something called a “Tornado Warning”.   There was lots of lightning, rain, and thunder.  Big ice chunks fell from the sky all afternoon.  Mom said that stuff was called “hail.”  She wouldn’t let me go outside to watch, so I missed everything!  She took a couple of pictures of the TV coverage so I could at least see what was going on.

Hopefully it’s over for now, ’cause it’s kept me from being on my blog all day.

Last weekend, we had another field trip.  I’ve figured out that “field trip” doesn’t have a thing to do with fields.  It just means we’re going somewhere.  Sometimes it is good, sometimes not so much.  Our Saturday field trip was grand, though!!  We went to antique stores all day.  Mom was looking for vintage sock monkeys and vintage knitting patterns.  Dad was looking for vintage cameras and film.  For those of you who don’t know, “vintage” means old.  Sometimes shabby and ratty, too.

I found all kinds of cool things in the antique stores.  The first store we went into had a big John Deere tractor in it!!  It was up very high behind a picket fence, and mom could not reach it to let me ride it, but I did get to stand in front of it.

She would not let me buy it, because it was $425.00.  She said we should find one more in our “price range”.  I asked her what our price range was, but I guess she didn’t hear me.

On our way to the next shop, me and mom decided to ride on a train for a while.  It didn’t move or go anywhere.  It was really only fun for about 20 seconds, but Dad took pictures for what seemed like an hour.  He’s very picky about his photos.  Too bad mom had her eyes shut.

The next store was really boring.  I did not find anything I liked there, but mom got a bunch of vintage knitting magazines.  Dad said he was thirsty, so we decided to go to lunch.  We were walking to the restaurant, when we passed a big pile of junk.  And there, in the middle of that pile of junk, was a great big cool computer that somebody just abandoned!!  Dad held me up so I could try it out.  I thought this would be perfect for me to have for blogging.  Mom said no.  I said, “But it’s vintage….!”  She said, “No, it’s just shabby and ratty.”

We ventured on down the road to a place called the Railhead Diner, where I got to play Space Monkey on Dad’s iPhone while we waited for our lunch.

Our lunch was excellent!  I got to have a great big onion burger with french fries and a big ol’ glass of sweet tea.  It was most delicious!

After lunch, we went back to shopping.  I made some more new friends at the next antique store.  There was a really big funny-looking cat that I really liked!

And I found another cow!  This one was big enough to ride on!  Mom wouldn’t let me have this one, either.  I don’t know what she has against cows…I think cows are great!  My favorite commercials are the ones with the happy cows from California.  I hope to go to California and visit them all someday.  I think that’s probably where this one came from.

The next store we went to was the very best one of the whole day!!!  First, I got to ride on a really cool old tricycle.  It was red and white, and I thought I looked really good on it, but mom said we didn’t need a tricycle in the living room.

But then, the very, very, very best thing happened!!!  I saw another John Deere tractor!!  This one was right down on the floor, and I hopped on for a ride!  This one was only $300.00.  Mom still said no.  I asked her again what our price range was….I think we need to get her hearing checked, because she still did not hear me.

The next store had a really big scary bear, but I was really brave.  His claws were really long.  He was pretty cool, I guess, but really sort of anticlimactic after seeing all the John Deere tractors.

Mom did buy me a great present at one of the shops.  It’s a thing called an “Adirondack chair”, and it’s just my size!  It is very comfy, and I sit in it while I watch TV.

I really enjoyed antique shopping, and can’t wait until we go again!  I am still sort of confused about the difference between “vintage” and “shabby and ratty”.  Apparently a vintage collectible can be shabby and ratty and still be very much desired, but just because something is shabby and ratty it doesn’t automatically make it a vintage collectible.

I guess I still have much to learn.

Today’s Vocabulary Words: Tornado warning, hail, vintage, price range, Adirondack chair