One thing about living in Wisconsin is that I am always feeling like I'm turning into a hick. I have never wanted to be a small town girl, a redneck woman, or a country hick. Not that I want to be high society. I want to not be one to pretend to be someone I'm not. I want to be real. But I do want to have a certain level of sophistication around me.

That being said, today we took our yearly outing to the demolition derby. I can have fun going once a year and this year was no exception. The track was pretty wet for the first heat and that meant that it went on f.o.r.e.v.e.r. I seriously don't mind sometime going by but this particular heat had the cars having trouble getting any speed on them whatsoever. In fact, more than one car started on fire because of the work the engine had to do.

As the track started to dry out, my entertainment level rose. Not because the crashes got more intense, but because by the second heat the large size cars started flinging mud. Into the crowd. Knight had wondered allowed what it would be like to sit on the other side of the track, until the cars started flinging the mud. Then we were glad that we sit up far enough that we were not getting hit.

It was also a bonus that we knew two of the people that had cars inthe derby. They both had midsize cars, both in seperate heats, and both qualified for the final feature. (their cars are the two station wagons on the upper left and upper right of the picture pile) In the final, one of the guys took first, while the other took third.

It still is difficult for me to watch people destroy their cars, with them inside. I am so afraid that one of these days someone is going to get hurt. They do have an ambulance there, but when one of the cars went through the logs that block off the area, even the ambulance got scared and backed up.

It did make me feel somewhat like a hick, sitting there with the whole purpose of watching cars smash each other to pieces, listening to the announcer. I guess I am just used to a different form of entertainment. And I knew I was out of place when the announcer commented, "All of the drinks down there are $2.00 so beer cost the same as water. If you're going to drink, you might as well have a beer." Gotta say, that is not a norm in my world. In fact, the picture at the top of this post was the back of a shirt that the woman in front of us was wearing.

But what makes this paradise is that there is variety. We have more than just routine. We can enjoy family, friends, and life. No worries, no guilt. We are blessed.