September 2025: Strawberry Ducks & the Weirdest Concert

September started out with a new backpack.

The cats peed on my old one (weird), and I decided after 7+ years and the gross cat interference that it was time for a new model.

I was hoping to get something with bigger pockets, so I picked up a tactical-style one on Amazon to try it out.

This was similar to one a friend of mine had that I saw earlier this summer and thought, “Oooh, cool! I think I want to get one of those the next time I need a new backpack.”

And now the time had come.

It has velcro on the front, so I decided to splurge and pick up a patch for it, too:

Overall, I’m quite happy with it several months later.

A Tumultuous Adventure in Tetanus Inoculation

The first weekend in September also brought some of Molly’s family into town.

They mentioned how rough the water was, and I didn’t think much of it because I had no immediate plans to leave.

But then I was out goofing around in my bare feet in the front yard and stepped on something that punctured the skin.

It was probably just a pokey weed.

But I couldn’t tell for sure and hadn’t had a tetanus shot in who-knows-how-many years, and I wanted to err on the side of caution.

So, at 7 PM on a Saturday evening, I set forth to try to find somewhere still open that took walk-in tetanus shot appointments.

Therefore, I found myself on the 7:30 ferry, and got to witness the rough water firsthand:

Front (left) and side (right) views from the ferry ride back to the mainland.
I actually really enjoyed the ride. I’d never experienced the waves so high, and it was kinda fun.

Meanwhile, I called all the CVS pharmacies in the area.

Eventually, I found one that would be open long enough to get off the ferry and drive there.

It was going to be about a 40-minute drive, but they assured me that if I got there before 9 PM the pharmacy would still be open.

So, I got off the ferry with about 20 minutes of wiggle room:

The drive was pretty.

The sun was setting, and I had good music playing.

When I got there, I saw this funny calendar for sale (I did not buy it, but I thought about buying it for a friend):

And I did, indeed, catch the last ferry back.

A Stash of Treasures

There’s a weekend on Kelleys in September where they have “Treasure Island Day” and garage sales are everywhere.

I had a lot of fun driving around down streets I’d not yet checked out.

Here’s my end-of-the-day haul:

Fishing rods and tackle, a collection of Bruce Lee movies and most of the og Batman tv series, some postcards, books (including a Hitchhiker’s Guide collection), a measuring cup, a decorative horn, and a collection of old brass buttons.

Some of our days were the usual, making food and walking:

Peach strawberry ginger pie and blue skies

But this month also had a weekend back on the mainland that was anything but usual.

Fun Zone

On September 13th, my dad and I went to Blossom Music Center to see “Weird Al” Yankovic in concert.

If you’ve never been to a Weird Al concert, it’s quite a lot of fun.

People are dressed in Hawaiian shirts, and references to things like “Spatula City” and “Harvey the Wonder Hamster” are commonplace.

It’s a great place to people watch. Accordions galore.

At one point he did a full version of Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al”, which was both well-done and funny to hear him playing a legit song cover.

Of course, near the end he walked offstage as if he were finished, and then came back in full Jedi garb to wrap up the show with “The Saga Begins” and “Yoda”.

“Weird Al” Yankovic with a chorus line of stormtroopers, scout troopers, and clone troopers

at the end of “The Saga Begins”

Catching Up on the Mainland

So, I was back home for the weekend and stuck around for a couple extra days to take care of some stuff.

A big part of this was to get my car looked at to see about having the door fixed that I couldn’t open after I got the glass replaced back in June.

Then it was back to Kelleys Island to start packing up for the end of the summer season.

The Random Wrap-Up

I found this crazy mushroom while out on one of my last island walks of the summer:

And finally took an okay picture of this hand-painted sign that made me smile whenever I walked past it:

Up until this year, I usually just made fruit pies.

But Molly gave me a recipe for lemon sour-cream pie this summer and it was a new favorite, so I made one last of those to use up some of our remaining ingredients:

Speaking of remaining ingredients, this made for some funny end-of-summer meals.

So, we got packed up.

I did one last drive around the island.

Said goodbye to being so far North I could see Canada (Pelee Island is way off in the distance slightly right-of-center in the photo below):

And then hopped on a ferry to go off to other adventures:

Molly and I had decided to come back in April of 2026 for the next season, and I was already looking forward to it.

As I rode back to the mainland I laughed, thinking how crazy it was that when I was on my way only three months ago I had no idea what Kelleys Island was going to be like.

Now I watched it shrink on the horizon, knowing so much of what was there and what I was leaving behind.

But I’d be back.

Surely, six months wouldn’t feel that long, right?

Time would tell.

So now I was on to the new adventures.

I picked up my mail on the mainland, and had other stuff to take care of.

Like getting my car door working again, which the company was finally able to get done for me right before I set off on the Texas trip.

Living My Dreams as an Intergalactic Rogue 😜

One of the items I got to pick up back home was a set of metal Imperial credits:

I forgot to mention in my last blog that in August I found a group online that plays Sabacc to raise money for charity.

(Sabacc is the card game from Star Wars that Han Solo played to win his ship, the Millenium Falcon.)

There are about 5 – 7 variations of Sabacc now, but when I used to play there was only one.

This online group was doing a tournament, and it happened to be the Classic variant that I was already familiar with.

So, I signed up.

And, in my first online charity tournament in August, I won.

The Imperial credits were the first-place prize.

Okay, the Real Random Wrap-Up

In some ways it’s another one of those places where time seems to have stood still, and I enjoy that quite a lot.

Almost as much as I enjoy wrapping up a blog post suddenly with a picture of a giant mushroom:

Photo of the Month

“It’s the whole family!”

September Stats

Books Finished

None

Library Cards Collected

Also none

Distance Travelled (Miles)

551

Miles Walked

35.60

Song of the Month