Weeeee're baaaaaaaack
There goes the neighborhood . . . a g a i n ! ! !
Cleveland
Arriving August 11, 1997
Weeeee're baaaaaaaack
There goes the neighborhood . . . a g a i n
! ! !
The fourth of July is long gone and that famous Szalay
sweet corn was more than knee high. The long hot summer and its oppressive
humidity overwhelmed even the heartiest seekers. 
The abundance of water in the summer is good for corn... makes
it grow! But this year, the rains were heavy in the spring which slowed
the corn crop. Have you ever been lost in a corn field? You can get somewhat
disoriented when the stalks get to be eight to twelve feet high and you
are in the middle of a twenty-two acre field. All you can see is the green
leaves with the ears of corn popping out. All you can hear is the rustling
of the leaves on the stalks. But if you begin to doubt your existence, just
peel one of those ears of sweet corn right from the stalk and take the husk
off and bite right in. You will never taste corn any better than that!!!
You will realize the importance of life on earth and why the Indians had
it down!
And speaking of the Cleveland Indians... did you know that Ken Babbs aspired to be an Indian Batboy while growing up in the neighborhood?
It is overcast and slightly raining in Cleveland today...
which is not baaaaaaadddd... they need the rain here because it has rained
very little since spring! There are potential drought conditions setting
in. Some wells have gone dry, but the municipal Pooh-Bahs have not yet requested
that citizens put bricks in their toilets to conserve water. 
The corn is growing...
slowly, thirstily... but it is still sweet!!! The Pranksters are anticipating
some of the same for dinner tonite.
The trip through the Cuyahoga Valley took us past beautiful wooded ravenes filled with hardwoods, dogwoods, magnolias, acres and acres of sweet corn, rock-filled streams, families of deer, grouse, pheasants and even a "woozle" was spotted by the youngest Prankster, Caleb Kesey. Peering out the window, he shreiked from his seat next to his father..."LOOK... IT'S A WOOZLE!!!!" Many of you probably have never seen a woozle. It is hard to explain what a woozle looks like, very few people have seen them. There is a woozle hole behind Caleb's grandfather's house in Oregon. The two of them always inspect that hole to see if the woozle who lives there is home. There is an air of excitement with each inspection... but that's an entire episode we don't have time for here because we're almost at our destination for dinner!
The
end of the Cuyahoga Valley is home to a small community of families whose
homes are nestled into a long cul-de-sac where our hostess' family lives.
The Pranksters pile out into the driveway laughing and chortling, turning
the usually quiet neighborhood into a rolling party.
After a long flight from Eugene through Denver
and several rides around Cleveland, we are hungry and anticipating the long
promised home cooked meal including of course... sweet corn! The kitchen
was a hub of activities with the preparation of bernaise sauce, the checking
of meat, the pouring of wine . Babbs and our gracious host, Paul Szalay,
manned the barbecue. Some poor cow gave its all for the ritual Prankster
feeding... Owsley would certainly have approved!
Our hostess issued edicts directing the creation of the bernaise sauce for the dead cow. "Here Really?, I want these shallots minced, and when you are done, chop the herbs". You really can not cook properly unless there is a glass of wine or two or three close by... properly outfitted for the task, I set about mincing and chopping. All of a sudden came the announcement... "I SAID MINCED!!! Gimmee that knife"... sharpening the knife with a wild look in her eye, she attacked those shallots barely missing each finger. The Boston Strangler would have been scared!!! Then I was instructed to wisk the egg yolks that were sitting on the stove in a double boiler... "WISK FASTER... THE EGGS ARE CURDLING" There was a small pot of water cooking the shallots and herbs. "COME ON REALLY?, WISK FASTER, GET THE EDGES OF THE BOWL!!!" She added a pound and a half of butter. Then she dialed the local ambulance and medics to make sure they would be available in case any of us were going to have heart attacks after eating this stuff.
Babbs opened more wine adding his own private GrandFurthur
Tour wine label. Toasts were made... "here's to me and here's to you,
the hell with you and here's to me. Dinner was absolutely fabulous. We only
considered a food fight once! Dessert was ice cream pie rounding out a wonderful
meal, in a wonderful place, hosted by really nice people!!! 
Our intrepid hosts!!! Aren't they cute?
More Cleveland Newz
tommorrow...
See ya' in the future!
