I can't seem to make this any bigger so click on it to see it large. PLEASE NOTE: On Aug. 5, it's Lucero/Glossary/Justin Townes Earle at Howard's, not the Codetalkers, who ARE there on Aug. 21.
Plus I call the Blue Devil today to see about Lil Ed this Saturday and the woman says No, Running with Scissors is playing both nights this weekend. Lil Ed still has the Blue Devil date on Pollstar.
Also my boss gave me a postcard to get into the opening night of Fat Fish Blue at Levis Commons so I made reservations for me and Amy and Connie after which we WERE going to see Lil Ed. But I guess not. Also I registered online to win tickets to the Black Keys Saturday and I find out if I win on Thursday afternoon.
Today I am sitting on the big chair in the green room and I see a dark spot which upon closer examination is chocolate. Then I see several chocolate spots. As we will recall, Russell was sitting there eating my chocolate last week during his unexpected visit. So I clean up the spots and then I phone Russell and get his voicemail and say I need you to let me know when you will be coming to get your stuff out of my basement and give me back my house key.
He calls back in one minute and says Oh there is a misunderstanding. He thought he could continue to crash here as long as he made himself scarce while I was home (which he had not even this last time). I told him to remember I said that I was not good with houseguests and he needed to figure out where he was going to establish his new base. Oh if it's the chocolate, I can pay to have that cleaned, he says. I say the chocolate was just the last straw and tell him about the leaving the water in the tub and eating my chocolate and using my detergent. He says he was going to bring me a bag of chocolates the next time he came here. I said No you just need to put this at the top of your list, finding someplace else to stay. He counters with how he is going from Marquette, where he is now, to Indianapolis and then he'd be stopping in on his way to two weekends on the east coast. And I reiterated that he needs to make it his first priority to find a new place. That I don't like the liability of possibly his stuff being stolen or my cats damaging it. And he says that he was working on that but it would take some time to get some answers from people and I say Thanks for returning my call, keep on that search, bye bye.
I did NOT point out that if I wanted to clean up after someone and have somebody annoying hanging around off and on, I would get married again. I kept my composure and was firm. My next step will be to move his stuff into the garage and change the lock on my back door (so I won't see you anymore, as Tom Petty says).
So on to the weekend recap. Friday night, Amy and I ate appetizers and drank wine on the patio of Quarters at the mall and then saw The Dark Knight, which is the actual title of the Batman movie. It was pretty good, Heath Ledger was scary but the last 20 minutes were so confusing with people swapping sides from good to evil and vice versa and at the end Commissioner Gordon gives some speech that we could not hear for the SWELLING MUSIC. Then we went to Cucina de Betta to see Nate Baker play briefly and then to Nate and Wally's to hear the Student Loan. We saw Chuck and Sasha Instone on the smoking patio.
Saturday, I was at the Dragon Boat Race from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was big fun and we almost won one race. Lost by .3 seconds. Two races though, we veered to the left wildly and had a bad time getting the boat to the dock. Our team mostly hung out under the tent top we had put up Friday where it was hot and breezeless, so I spent a lot of time hanging around over by the restaurants at the Docks where it was very breezy and you could see a lot more of the races. Also Groovemaster played under the gazebo where it was also shady and breezy. These people have no concept of "outdoor festival."
So I come home and post this slideshow of the day on 13abc.com and some other news. And then I actually get in a nap before Amy picked me up to go to Howard's for Tunafest. We got there at 9 and Nate Baker was just coming on and the music was too loud, as always. Maurice the sound man said How was he supposed to stalk me if I didn't come to the bar anymore. Rod's Collision was on fire and the Welders were Fiely-oriented. Buford was up from SC. It was heavily attended. I didn't take any pictures. Steve Miller the insurance guy bought me 2 beers after I had bought my first one and then Barker bought me one and his sister's husband bought me one and then Barker and I had shots of Grey Goose and then another shot and another beer and about 1:45 I walked home. Or teetered home.
So I always disremember how I cannot drink beer. The next day, my innards are disturbed and I immediately gain 10 pounds. So today, no bevs of the alkyhal type. I went to Connie's to do pet duty and did a bunch of laundry and dishes but have done no work lunch prep. I am declining to go to the pre-Rod's Collision picnic but I'll go over on my bike around 7.
I am happy to report today that I feel absolutely no pain from the boat race exercise. I dug out these giant plants in my raised bed that had very nice leaves but were apparently giant weeds and were crowding the actual plants. There are tons of tomatoes out there and one big one had fallen off from my jostling so I brought it up to see if it will ripen. Some grape tomatoes are very nearly red. I need to water.
Nothing big this last week of July which is good as the first week of August is something every night and then we go to Wheeling at the end of it.
Also, the radio station is shutting down for renovations for the next couple of weeks so no Blues Breakfast, no Saturday Shuffle, which is good as I will be in Wheeling Aug. 9 anyway.
So he calls me Tuesday night, saying he'll be stopping in that night but he'll be gone by 8 a.m. the next day. By the time I get this message, it's already 11:15 p.m. and he's not there yet. Having drunk some wine, I went to bed and didn't hear him come in but sure enough, Wednesday morning his van is out front. So when I get home from work Wednesday night, his van's in the driveway! And he's asleep in the bed in the basement! And the bathtub is full of cold water because he's apparently taken a bath and forgot to hit the drain switch. So I mow and walk to the library and come home and he's leaving to eat at Squeaker's because he said his stomach had been all screwed up all day from having eaten breakfast somewhere. And maybe it was the sausage! Christ, if your guts are all bad like he says his are, sausage should not even be on your radar.
So he comes back around 9 and I'm still working, watering, doing laundry, sorting bills and he flops on the big chair in the green room and watches TV. He asks if he can have some of my chocolate in the cupboard. When I had come home, I had hidden the bag of chocolates from Costco which I could tell he had already been into. So he MAKES DO with a half a bar of really good chocolate and THEN goes on to eat an entire other bar of fairly good chocolate.
He's gone today. What is it about my recent discussion of 'You can't stay here anymore' that he doesn't understand? I think I'll call and leave him a reminder message.
Today Miss Oates and I went to Mancy's Italian for her birthday lunch, postponed from Monday, and ate on the patio where it was really lovely. And yakked. Apparently Whitey has taken up with Jeff Jump's sister Krista. Pictures here. Yeep. There's a couple of heavy drinking folks. Sal says she can't get a straight answer out of Jeff about coming up for the annual celebration.
So it's the big weekend coming up. Hell, they're all big weekends. Saturday I'm in the dragon boat race which I went to practice for on Monday night. Then I have to come home and slap some news on 13abc.com and then it's TunaFest for which I cannot find out the schedule although Rod's Collision IS playing. Sometime.
Sunday, Rod's is at the park in the evening.
Damn, I see that Lucero and Glossary and Justin Townes Earle (Steve's kid) are at Howard's Aug. 5. The night after Todd is at the Ark and the night before I host GNO. These are all southern punk rock outlaw bands that sound like they'd be a fun time. Better take my vitamins.
Friday, I lounged around at home. Saturday, I went to the Farmers Market at the small mall and bought some bacon and 2 pork steaks. Then I went to the Clothes Mentor in Pburg but couldn't find any used clothes I needed. At Tuesday Morning, I bought some wine glasses. 6 for $12. Man, that's a weird store. It looks like it's going out of business, with all these half-empty metal shelving units with just a huge variety of stuff like sheet sets and cooking utensils and holiday decorations and knickknacks galore. We asked the clerk about the name of the store and she had no clue that new shipments come in on Tuesday Mornings. Duh.
Saturday night, we went out to Kim and Jim's and played 5-handed euchre. Which always engenders a lot of heated discussion about the rules. Coma G won once and I won once and then we came home.
Today, I drove to Delaware to take my mom to her sister Midge's 80th birthday luncheon. Midge's 2 daughters were there as was Todd, my cousin Janet's kid and Mike, my cousin Steve's kid. And some cousins of my mom. My mom complained the whole time (the card she got for Aunt Midge wasn't what she wanted, her spaghetti was cold and not as good as my sister's) and then we went to my Aunt Midge's where, after we have all had substantial lunches and birthday cake, they whip out this giant box of Russell Stover seconds chocolates and pass that around a couple times. Consequently, I have had no dinner. Several people had the salad bar which, although several of them are fighting various artery clogging diseases, consisted largely of mayonnaised salads. Some even ate large globs of apple butter as if it were a side dish.
My cousin Linda, Midge's kid, lives in Sacramento where she works in emergency preparedness for the state of Kaleeforneeah. Janet, her sister, and her husband Dick are retired in Florida, the first key south of Tampa. They said I should visit.
My sister should have attended but, for all her woe over the family not being close, she says she can't take THOSE PEOPLE. Her hair is in some kd lang brush cut. Oh plus her fibromyalgia was acting up.
Tonight I watered after liberally dosing myself with Off so I have had to take a shower before bed as my sheets are clean. Then I made chicken salad and cut up some watermelon and threw out old food and took out the trash and did some laundry and lifted some weights while watching the Simpsons.
Also I went to Connie's on my bike to get the scoop on feeding her animals next Sunday.
Monday night I have Dragon Boat practice til 7:30. I hope I get the hang of it so I don't have to attend Wednesday night as well.
I called my mom today who sounds fine. She has the usual old person problem of nothing really tasting good but as long as they have some spicy something, she's good with that and eating. And she feels pretty good and has to have some other kidney test. She blathered on about the cats and dog and their reactions to hot weather. I offered to come see her this Sunday or next but she said "Oh I know you're busy." So I am taking that as an out.
Nothing happening this weekend except that sucky Toledo Blues Festival so we are going to Kim and Jim's Saturday for cards although Fred and Sherry have a wedding and Connie may already be leaving for the princess vacation so if we can't get some boys, it might just be euchre night. Which would be OK.
Tomorrow night, Sherry and Amy are coming for a discussion about Wheeling. Maybe I can get one of them to help with the last fence piece. Maybe. So another lax weekend which is good. Probably have to mow again. Usually by now the grass is deader but I'm not complaining.
I might start ripping on the bushes out front although I suppose I shouldn't be thinking about transplanting any perennials until fall. We need to line up a fall plant swap.
Friday I was good and industrious til about 10 p.m. I trimmed a bunch of stuff and watered and dug up all that holly next to the front steps with the intention of planting those 5 perennials I bought Friday but then I think I need to scrape that ugly green paint off the side of the steps before I do that. Then I called Miss Jenks, who has massive poison ivy on her head, and talked for 2 hours and drank wine and smoked too many cigarettes which was a bad idea as I had intended to save myself for Saturday. It all turned out OK anyway.
Saturday I got up and started mowing about 9 although it was about 88 degrees and 98 percent humidity. When I took a break in the cool house, it started to rain so I abandoned the mower. By then it was time to get ready for the radio show and when that was over, Amy and I went to the Classics on Main car show downtown. Then I went to the Kling Riboff.
I put this tattoo on.
Here's some bikes that were rode in.
Here's the marketing for the ribs called The Juice.
The garage where the ribs were delivered to.
Michelle, the blonde in this picture won with her Queen's Ribs. Her brother next to her had really great ribs too but didn't place. Sam's Big Daddy ribs took second and the fancy French ribs with champignons and truffles won third. Poor Chip. Again this year, he is shut out of the award with his curry ribs.
Here are those plants I got from Margie, planted where that holly was next to my steps.
Oh another rib picture.
This must have been from some other years but I like the idea.
This car, owned by Dan Butler's dad , won a prize. Maybe for longest car.
A cool hood ornament.
A couple other cool cars. I don't know why this picture is cut off like this.
Some other transportation.
So we were going to go to the Blue Devil and see Nick Moss and the Flip Tops, but somebody stole all their equipment in Canada last week, so they canceled. We already had tickets for Unknown Hinson at Frankie's and Doug and Chip were going to go but Chip had had a hard day so we ended up taking Doug. We got there just in time to see Polka Floyd and then the Hinson came on and played til 1:30 and we got home about 2. The bands were great. It was about 140 degrees in there. And some asshole youngsters were smashed against the stage, thrusting their hands and hats toward the Hinson. I don't know how he stood it. That man can play a great guitar and played Bridge of Sighs and Little Wing like the originals. Also he played Your Man is Gay, and Lingerie, and Polyurethane and Foggy Winders and I Cleaned Out a Room in My Trailer for You. When he paused for the audience to shout at the line Put on some lingerie, it was just me, yelling from the audience. It was an interesting mix of young nerdy guys and late 40s men nicely dressed and stupid drunk kids, some young couples, the men of which were obviously more interested than their dates. I bought the Hinson recent CD Target Practice, Doug bought a t-shirt, on the back of which it says "I'm ever womern's dream and ever jealous husband's nightmare."
Here's a YouTube of Unknown Hinson last year at Frankie's.
Here's a YouTube of Polka Floyd opening for Unknown Hinson last August at Frankie's.
Polka Floyd is coming to Howard's Sept. 26 and are at Keeter's in Waterville July 25 and the Village Idiot Aug. 30. And they are at the Smoke on the Water ribs fest the weekend of Aug. 2-3 but I can't find a lineup anywhere. Have to call around tomorrow at work.
So it's a beautiful day today and I finished mowing and weed whacked and dug MORE roots out of that place by my steps and wire brushed down the concrete and got off a lot of that green paint and planted those plants. Now I'm going to take the 8-foot ladder over to Amy's because although we just cleaned both of our gutters last month, they are sprouting maple trees and need to be re-addressed.
Well you can see the painting on the garage is nearly an EXACT REPLICA of the original by Van Gogh. Or not.
I've got a couple too many stars and the swirling is a little heavy but I think some tweaking could fix all that. Man, it looks way better than it has for the last six years. Which you can see here.
So tonight, I intended to go to Barb Johnson's retirement party at Doc's in Togany but I bagged. The Atomic Mama just called me and said it was heavily attended including both Dudas and a bunch of women she didn't know.
This is the view from the giant hill behind her house, which is part of her property.
Well, today I am all angsted up about how my bedroom air conditioner is not on a slant and consequently not dripping water. Please help me with this if you can. When I try to tilt it, then I cannot get the window closed.
My hot water heater had been leaking so I call Gearharts and the plumber calls me to discuss this and at the end, he says So do you want us to leave the old one in the front yard or the back yard. There's a little pause and he says Just joking, we take it away. Then I say sorry I didn't clean the cat litter box, which is right next to the water heater and he says, We're plumbers ma'am, we're used to it. What a jokester.
My loser sister Karen has emailed me to say that my mom is not doing well, that her physical condition is badly deteriorating and she forgets who Karen is and she has lost a lot of weight because Karen thinks she does not eat while Karen is gone for work all day. This disturbs me because (1) my sister is a lying bitch and (2) my mom made the bad choice to move in with her against my protestations. You can only interfere so much in people's chosen life paths.
Last night, I did the Pilates DVD and today I walked to the library and back. Man, it's tough to get enough exercise.
Today, I was talking to stalkermom about elder care and I think well at least I am not pulling up the Depends on my mother-in-law. Although my ex one is still alive so this could happen yet.
Also I wanted to give the recipes for the corn salad and the pasta salad. The pasta salad is here and the corn salad is
2 ears of corn, kernels cut off, uncooked 1/2 container of grape tomatoes, cut in half 3 T lime juice 3 T olive oil zest of one lime 1/8 t. chili powder
Mix it all up and sprinkle with coarse salt and a bunch of sliced fresh basil and some ground pepper. Yum. It is so fresh and delicious.
Thursday, we went to see the Perrysburg fireworks and then went to the big boy for a late breakfast. Here is Joe applying skeeter stuff while John holds the guitars.
The cute Rudy, Lyle and Judy's new dog.
Ginger insisted on taking this picture of me where I have my arms at some goofy angle and bad hair and oh, don't get me started. This is why I don't get my picture taken.
Lydia, Esther and Mike's baby. Man is she cute or what??
So I decide to give my cats canned food for a change . The little cat liked can 1 but as you can see, this one did not meet her approval.
Thursday night, Amy and Connie and I go to the Perrysburg fireworks. We sat on the hill by that soccer field out by 475 which was pretty good but you didn't get the boom effect. Then we went to Frisch's and had the breakfast about 11 pm which was not that good an idea in retrospect.
Friday, about 1 p.m. I decided I could just drink beer until Ron and Deb's party but instead I called Amy to come over and help me finish the Starry Night on the side of the garage, which we did, which is fabulous but I don't have a picture of it yet. Then we went to Ron and Deb's because it was Ron's birthday and had a wonderful meal of brats and potato salad and beans and deviled eggs and many other things. By this time I had drunk 6 Negra Modelos which is WAY over my beer limit but I held on and Connie and Amy and I went to the BG fireworks which were pretty good although there was this glitch where they seemed to be over but there'd been no finale and Connie insisted we stay and then 4 minutes later there was a giant finale and then we left and went home because we had been out so late the night before.
Funny story: Amy says let's to park in the parking lot north of the Sebo Athletic Center so we go there and there are two guys screening people with a barricade and they ask Amy Are you with the Community Band? and she says Yes so they let us in even though it was 9:15 and the band had started at 8:30. We watched and they turned many people away after letting us in even though the lot was half empty.
Saturday morning at 4:20 my phone rings and it's Brian the news director and he wants something on the web NOW about this apartment complex fire in Toledo, so I schlepp into the green room and put some stuff up and go back to bed around 6:30 and sleep until 9:45. Then I went to the drycleaner and the library and the farmers market where I bought 2 ribeyes from natural beef or whatever for $16 and some fresh peas and a basil plant because I thought mine was bolting but today when I went out to get some there was plenty so I guess I'll plant this anyway. And then I did a radio show during which some woman called in to ask what that song was I was playing and it was Starvin' for Your Kisses by Paul Thorn.
Then I went home and made deviled eggs and then I mowed my front lawn and I picked Amy up and we went to Lyle and Judy's for the pond party which seemed to be sparsely attended but we couldn't figure out who wasn't there besides Gus who was driving truck that day. The food was unbelievable. I didn't have any meat, which there was Myles' chicken and brats and sloppy joes. There were great salads and desserts and Don Smith's chicken enchiladas and a death by chocolate dessert. I played euchre most of the time, some with the corn fest guy's daughter and then with Stubbs. Later Joe Baker got his guitar out as did the Ron or John guy who has the corn fest and then Connie yells out 'Deb play something, you're always saying you play the guitar.' So I played Angel After Hours by Amy Rigby but too fast as I was nervous and everybody clapped at the end so I was distraught for several minutes afterward.
Listening to Sonny Landreth's new CD From the Reach.
Today was Amy's birthday so I made some pasta asparagus artichoke salad and a fresh corn and tomato salad and some guacamole and bought some cheese dip and went over there and we played cards and cribbage and ate and drank wine. This guy had had this great gazebo thing he got a Wal Mart at the pond party so Amy went there and got one and we were sheltered from the sun. Amy cooked dogs on the grill. She just wanted a day where she didn't have to pack and go somewhere so it was great. I took the little stereo so we had tunes and we got some sun so what better time could have been had?
Jenks called while I was at Amy's so I called her when I got home and she and Jimmy had seen excellent fireworks. This Friday is Barb Miller's retirement festivity at Doc's so I'll try to hit that. Another action-packed week with Mississippi Heat at GFT Thursday and then the party and then Saturday which is daunting.
So it was the best weekend ever because the weather was fabulous, 80 and blue skies the whole time. And I have pictures but it's too late now to get them up. Stop back.
Today I worked til 3 and then I returned those wineglasses to Pier 1 with the too-long stems and too-giant bowls. Then I returned that AC to Loew's who took it back, no questions asked. Then I lounged around reading out of the New Yorker book of articles on eating and drinking.
Last night was GNO at Sherry's where it was very nice if cloudy til about 9 p.m. when it started to lightning and I had no sooner gotten home then it started to rain like crazy which continued all night. We had just been saying it was getting a little dry. Many pictures were taken but none by me.
I offered to have GNO in August although if it's too hot, we'll go to a bar at the last minute like we did last August.
Here are some Joe Bob Duda dates. The Acoustic Stage is the Huntington Bank courtyard.
Sat. 7/26- Welders at Howards (Tunafest) Sat. 8/2- JoeBobDuda 4:00-6:00 at Wood County Fair Fri. 8/8- JoeBobDuda at Grumpy Dave's Thurs. 8/21- Welders in Defiance, Ohio Fri. & Sat. 9/5, 9/6- JoeBobDuda at Cucina di Bettos (Swamp) Sun. 9/7- JoeBobDuda-Accoustic Stage, CD release
Next week is Mississippi Heat at GFT on Thursday and then Nick Moss and the Unknown Hinson on Saturday. Have not bought the Hinson tickets yet. Let me know if you want one.
Tonight Amy and I and Connie are going to see the fireworks in Perrysburg. Chris at work told me to pay $5 and park at Master Chemical and walk to the graveyard to watch them so that's the plan right now. Got some little to-go bottles of wine.
Here is a funny picture I got off the internet. I like how Big is playing the guitar.
Last night my daughter texts me to say she is getting evicted, she might need some money, she thinks she's having a stroke. I call her, she doesn't answer. She texts again that she is at work and will call later. I text her at 11:45 and say I'm going to bed. Today she calls around noon and says everything is fine now, never mind. Cripe. Kids.
