stay-cation

It's all rage this year: gas prices too high? Fix up your backyard and enjoy it! Remember, click on the pictures for a larger view. Here's the view from the table.


Starry Night. Which will be finished this year.


Siberian Iris just coming on.


The raised beds.


The petunia hanging basket. When I was out there today, deadheading this, I see that the chain link fence top rail has somehow come out of the end bracket, causing the fence to teeter and consequently, the reed fence to wobble. I couldn't get it back in the bracket by myself.


View from the patio toward the back. I dug that hosta out of the round bed.


From the far back, looking toward the patio.


The back planter, with various pernnials, most of which I don't know the name of.


The hostas at the north end of the yard up by the front.


Basil and sage.


I dug all these hostas out of the round bed in the yard that has snow on the mountain in it. There are still 3 or 4 in there.


The back bed.


Dutch iris.


Coreopsis. I could never grow these because of the walnut tree but this is in the new raised bed so I hope it takes.


Columbine.


Bleeding heart.

all in all

more graph humor and song chart memes

almost June. where's summer.

Maybe this weekend I can realize my dream of laying out in the back yard pretending it's summer and I'm getting a tan. But those flagstones must be attended to.

Friday, Yellow Room Gang at GFT. Saturday, radio show, plant swap. Working for the weekends.

Tonight I read in the New Yorker that dark drinks, red wine and whiskey, make you drunker or at least give you a bigger hangover than white wine or vodka, for example, because they have more congeners that are impurities that are befuddling. I have expounded this theory before and you laughed. Well, maybe not YOU, but somebody did.

Tomorrow I have conference calls at 11:30 and 12:30 and 2. Better pack a lunch. Luckily , I made chicken salad last night and have an avocado ready for guacamole. Today I was a bad eater: had egg sandwich and milk and 5 peanut butter pretzels and chicken salad and a piece of bread and broccoli soup and A SNICKERS BAR. Plus my freezer is full of stuff: shrimp and a ribeye and a pizza from Churchill's and 5 burgers plus 2 pounds of ground chuck leftover from Memorial Day.

Ah yes, Memorial Day, from which I have no photos. We had fruit salad and taco salad and cucumber salad and artichoke dip and corn casserole (yum-o) and the famous Sonnenberg beans and guacamole and cherries and meat pies from South Side 6 and hummous and chips and burgers and brats and chips and brownies, and cherry dessert and peach cobbler and probably some stuff I forgot. Attendees: Amy, Connie, Frank, Lynn, Stubbs, Chip, Alex, Kim, Jim, Kay, Rick, Sherry, Fred, Martha, Gus, Annette, Bob, Ginger, and Wynn and Steve for a while. I need to invite more people for Labor Day. Everybody went home at a sensible hour while it was still light.

Today, my daughter called me at work. I always angst when they call in the daytime. But she wanted to know what button to hit on the computer because Word was eating her typing. Whew, I knew this one-- that damn Insert button which is good for nothing.

Also I talked to somebody at work who believes that if I show up for court on that speeding ticket, the arresting officer will not, and it will be dismissed. So I go June 6 and plead not guilty and then they set another date for the real court date.

I think Russell will be back around June 3 on his way to Chicago from New York. From his schedule, looks like he will be here a lot in June.

7-8 Wells Street Art Festival Chicago, IL
14-15 TBA
21-22 Royal Oak Clay and Glass Show Royal Oak, MI
27-29 Crosby Gardens Art Festival Toledo, OH

And June 7-12, I am watching Gus and Annette's dogs. Gus brought them over Sunday and I think they will be fine.

The fun never stops.

may is almost gone

I haven't really said how exciting the back yard remodel is going. I bought this table and chairs at Ace hardware at 7:30 Friday morning. It's made of Shorea wood which is like teak, purportedly, in its hardiness. $150. Similar sets sell online for $800- $1,000.



Plus I took out that redwood panel thing at the north end of the patio and put in this raised bed and put up a bamboo fence and bought a giant petunia basket to fill in the last couple feet of the fence and bought 3 or 4 hundred pounds of flagstone for a path and transplanted a bunch of hosta and put in some annuals.

Hoping Amy will come over tomorrow to view my virgin attempt at weed whacking.

Today I went to a yard sale and bought 5 strings of white holiday lights for 10 cents apiece to use in the garage on Monday when apparently there will be giant storms during my cookout. Also got a box of Tupperware-ish items for $3.50.

Today Amy and I spotted each other on the 8-foot ladder to clean out our gutters. Tonight I went to the carryout and was saying I'm not doing that again and the woman who works there with the baby named Anastasia told me her husband would clean out my gutters. And fix my crumbly steps.

Did a radio show today. The guy that comes in after me does the death metal stuff so next week, near the end of my show, I will say "FINGERS POISED" and this will be your cue to jump up and hit the off button before you have to listen to any of that horrible crap.

Friday, I was driving out to Select Stone and got pulled over by a Lucas Co. sheriff for, he says, going 55 in a 35. I am going to court to dispute this. I have a done a Google map, showing the exact sequence of events. My view is that HE had to speed up to 55 to tail me and that's when he decided I was going 55. Nuh uh. I suppose the worst that can happen is that I am found guilty anyway and have to pay the $159 (!) fine and court costs but dammit, I was not going that fast.

Remember, Elvin Bishop is the headliner for the St. Mary's Riverfest that also features Ana Popovic on Aug. 30. Tickets go on sale Monday.

My daughter texted me today about How long is it til New Orleans? Three weeks.

Russell Donellon was here May 12-16 before his gig at Rochester Hills, MI. And he'll be back a couple more times this summer.

PLEASE vote for Tommy's band, good guys, to go to Lollapalooza. Click here. Vote every day til June 20. Email all your friends. I implore you.

Tomorrow, I intend to mow the back yard and do some weed whacking and then lay out like it's summer and get some tan. Also, I should get Fred here to help me put in the new lights for the kitchen. Also, I have some stones to distribute and set into dirt. Also, Gus is bringing over his dogs for preliminary testing before I keep them June 7 - 12.

Monday, I will shop for the party. Plus, have to do 13abc.com Monday morning. Hope I remember that.

John Hiatt and Sonny Landreth both have new CDs out. Downloaded the free title track from Hiatt's CD "Same Old Man" at amazon.com.

another week

So last Friday I was supposed to pick up Miss Jenks at the Cincinnati airport and we were going to Madison, IN, for the folk fest but alas her flight got canceled and although I had driven 150 miles south, I turned around and drove back home and some people came over and we played cards. And Saturday was nice so I dug a bag of peat moss into that new garden bed and planted some stuff and then bought a flat of flowers Sunday at Meijer and planted them around.

The man is back from Florida in the house behind me and came out to point out that I needed more peat moss than I had. I'm glad I have that fence up.

Tonight Amy came over and we installed the other 3 pieces of bamboo fencing and it looks swell but lacks about 5 feet from covering the whole back fence so I don't know what I'll do about that. And I think they charged me for four fence pieces the last time I bought 3 at Home Depot but I can't find my receipt. It just shows up as too much in my bank account. Plus I have assembled my new weed whacker but haven't plugged it in yet.

I almost went to the gym tonight but I didn't. Soon. Although I am not dizzy anymore, I am in the bad slump of not getting any exercise and so I don't feel like exercising. Get over this.

Friday we want to go to Crane's and see Twistin Tarantulas.

Monday is the cookout. At least I know the grill works. No spiders.

I cooked yesterday: broccoli soup and tuna salad and potato salad and sauteed up some stuff to put in pasta sauce some night. Nothing inspired. Plus Mrs. Eilert next door came over and rang my doorbell to ask if it was the day to put out the trash and that some of her meds make her dizzy and she called her daughter to say this and the daughter said she was busy. Neighbors. Note to self: next move, live really really far away from people.

really behind

OK, I suppose you're wondering what fascinating stuff I have been doing that has prevented me from blogging and the answer is nothing although I will go on now at length about it anyway.

I got that haircut May 1 and still it's not what I had in mind and Amy thinks I'll have a hard time getting what I DO have in mind since now the haircutter is just working with what ever's available.

I've been doing radio shows and now that summer is here, the Blues Breakfast is on 10 to noon and I'm on noon to 2 except for some weeks when I am off at 1:30 because some minor league baseball will be broadcast.

Last Saturday was nice weather, perfect really, so I did massive yard work like leveling that new 4 x 10 foot bed I have. Gus came today and put some topsoil in it after rounding up the grass. And I dug out all the concrete blocks at the end of the patio and am going to make a path out to the garden area where we can sit and quaff if we feel we need some sun which we do. I bought 240 pounds of flagstone at Select Stone last Friday for the path. Also Amy and I installed a 16-foot piece of bamboo fencing along the back fence and now if I go buy 3 more, I will have a lovely backdrop for my plants, which are going hog wild. Plus those Honda trunks are amazing because I took a huge pile of brush out to the dump Saturday.

I must have done SOMETHING the weekend of May 2-4 but I don't know what. Ideas? I think we had cards with Sherry and Amy and Connie on the Friday or Saturday night.

Tomorrow night it's supposed to be pleasant so I'll get a bunch of stuff planted and mow the front which I have not yet because it's not been all that vigorous and mow the back again on Thursday (for the third time) as I am leaving Friday afternoon for the Ohio River Valley Folk Fest where I am picking up Miss Jenks at the Cincinnati airport beforehand.

Miss Jenks has sold her house in BG and bought one in her new home. It has a huge lot and extensive plantings so it's right up her alley and she gets to move in the end of June.

Both my kids called yesterday in the perfunctory Mother's Day fashion and Tom says that the weekend Anne and I are there is their CD release party and his and Jessica's one-year anniversary so I hope we get to see him for a brief period.

Saturday, I grilled steaks and asparagus and portabellas for Amy and Connie and had salad and bread to dip in olive oil and we played cribbage til late. Sunday, I went to see my mom and it was annoying because they never seem to have any money but my sister seems to be able to buy crap like white picket fencing to put around their shed. Where do people get this bad money sense from??

Martha's GNO May 7 was the annual swap meet and it was heavily attended and people made many delicious snacks which is good as I brought a bag of chex mix, in my can't get anything together way.

Russell Donnellon is coming tonight to stay at my house until maybe Thursday when he has a show in Rochester Hills, MI, and then he's back off-and-on throughout the summer. Here's his schedule. He's sleeping in the basement which I cleaned up so it's not so heinous.

And remember, Memorial Day, Monday, I'll be having the usual cookout where I make burgers and brats and if you bring anything else to eat, that's what we'll have. It starts around 3 and eating is around 5:30. Feel free to invite your friends. I always have too much grill stuff.

On Friday, May 30 is the Yellow Room Gang at GFT which is a bunch of Ann Arbor songwriters and ought to be good.

Now it's time to go prepare some lunch items for the rest of the week: guacamole and chicken salad and I have salad stuff.

I have not played my guitar in a long time. But I like to do that when it's nice out and I can drink on the patio and well, it's not been nice out.

Last post for April

So we bid farewell to a month that had its good days, weather-wise, but which seems like more tiresome winter overall. Actually, I did a lot of yard work last weekend and was gone 2 other weekends. I have way too many seeds: Crimson Clover from Texas and some NW Ohio native wildflower packet and money plant and assorted annuals. Let me know if you want some.

Went to see Joe Bob Duda at Art on Central on Saturday. Ate at Abuelo's beforehand.

Getting a haircut tomorrow. I have only liked this one about one week out of the six since it's been cut.

Booked a flight to New Orleans, June 13-16. Staying at the Maison St. Charles which is about a block from Tom's place. Anne is going to be there. We stayed at this place about 5 years ago when we went there.

Have had the sinus dizziness since Saturday. Consequently, not exercising. Consequently, crabby. Sorry to leave you like this.

Dallas

First, let me say: DO NOT CLICK TO SEE THE COMMENTS TO MY BLOG. They are some kind of virus thing. Now, I've disabled all comments except by invitation so just email me your comments.

So here are the pictures in no particular order. These 40 bronze steers are in a park in downtown Dallas. We went there about 11:30 a night and so were the only people there. This was right after we saw the Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll and the X in the street where the fateful deed occurred.


At the Texas State Fair Grounds, Fair Park, there were a lot of statues, like this on the Women's Building.






The last day we ate at Sonny Bryan's, mmmm, brisket sandwich and onion rings and cole slaw and carrot cake. There are many Sonny Bryan's but this is the original. Or so I am told.


Mural at Fair Park.

Los Lonely Boys on the stage at the GreenAppleFestival which wins this week's Worst Website Ever award. Hardly anyone attended this although it was free after $8 to park.


At the Arboretum. Some topiari longhorns.


More Lonely Boys.

White Rock Lake which lies in the middle of Dallas and is formed by some dam, that we visited as we did the wild parakeets which live at a power plant near there.


Karen's living room.

Karen's house.

Junior Brown at the GreenAppleFest.




Cute girl in short dress, cowboy boots and hat.


House in the Arboretum.


The community garden in east Dallas.




Frog fountain at the Arboretum.


"Gulf Cloud," a statue at Fair Park by Miss Clyde Chandler, sculptress.


Mural on some building across the street from where we looked at cowboy boots in a consignment store.


Erykah Badu's house. By the lake.


A dad with four kids at the Fair Park fest.


Dave Rummel took some phone pix at the Granada but alas, they are too small to post.
Also, went to see "Young at Heart," a movie about an old folks' singing group, that was great.

And here's the Aldrege House where Karen and Wendell got married.


And we drank at the Libertine and the Balcony Club and Chuy's where we ate the first day before shopping around in Pottery Barn and Z Galerie and Crate & Barrel and Smith & Hawken and Froggy's and Restoration Hardware. It was a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and everything was lush and in bloom.

I can feel it

Spring is here. Maybe this year I won't lose the blooms on my magnolia or whatever tree out front.

I picked a new blog look in honor of spring.

Sunday, I was going to see my mom but alas I had to play the possible icy roads card and instead cleaned out my basement. So now I could have a giant card party. What about Sat. April 26? Let's discuss.

Tonight I went to the gym for Body Sculpt and went to the post office to buy stamps where some guy ahead of me was mailing a package and a variety of envelopes that he felt he had to weigh all separately and there was a guy before him. Big night at the post office. That's the kind of fun town we live in. Got a library book for my trip this weekend to Dallas. Took two bags and a box to the Goodwill from the massive basement cleaning. Have many fine items set aside for the May GNO swap meet.

Did my BG taxes. Just put a question mark on the line about what I owe them and wrote them a check for $175 which I hope covers something. They are so confusing. One instruction says "Net lines 7 and 8". What the hell does that mean?

Made chicken enchiladas tonight. And now it's time for bed.

mid-April

And I have yet to blog this month. I guess that's just the kind of busy life I lead. OH, wait, if that were true, I'd have something exciting to blog here.

Last weekend, I went to see Annie. We ate some good food and some mediocre food and saw some live music and went to some open houses and toured her work spot and watched 3:10 to Yuma (don't waste your money. They should have shot Russell Crowe in the first 20 minutes and saved us a lot of time.) We also drove the Enchanted Highway. Some guy built these giant metal statue things along some road that runs south off I-94 down to Regent, where the road ends. Nothing was open in Regent the day we were there, so alas, nothing from the gift shop. Remember to click on the pictures to see a larger view.

Here's Teddy Roosevelt on a horse.


Some grasshoppers.


Fisherman's Dream, which is the most recently built one and not on the EH website.




The first one, Farm Family.


Some leaping deer.



Giant damn pheasants. While we drove this and other roads out there, these male pheasants, which there were about a zillion of alongside the road, were flying around.


After we did the Enchanted Highway, we stopped in Mott for a beer at George's Office where the bartendress, upon being asked if she thought that 5-7 inches of snow forecast was for real, said "Well, it's prom night in Mott, so something bad's bound to happen." Cue the creepy music.

The mediocre food was at Roby's steak house and The Walrus. While indeed the steak at Roby's was delicious in a kind of over-marinated way, the rest of the meal was straight out of Ponderosa and I don't mean where Pa and the boys lived and Hop Sing cooked. Iceberg with 5 croutons, baked potato, whitebread roll, steamed veg out of a bag. The Walrus was one of those places, as Annie said, has too many different kinds of food on the menu so you know they don't do any of them well. We split a big portabello chicken salad and some artichoke dip which of course did not hold a candle to the same at Conor O'Neil's in Ann Arbor. I gotta get their recipe for that.

However, at the Bistro, I had a giant burger and fries which were delicious although there were so many good things on the menu you'd think I woulda ordered something more exotic. Annnie had seared Ahi tuna on greens surrounded by myriad fruits.

Her duplex is spacious and modern. In a subdivision on the north side of town. They have a great system of walking trails there which we walked on near the Missouri river under wide blue skies. The scenery outside of town reminds me of a cowboy movie, all rolling arid spaciousness with hardly any residences, just some giant hay farms and cattle ranches.

We went to the Civic Center on Saturday night to see a couple of local blues bands, one of which, Zuzu, had a woman singer who was outstanding, belting out some Janis and some Susan Tedeschi. The headliner was Bryan Lee from New Orleans who was great and had this fabulous red-headed guitar player who could play the blues in many forms, slide, etc. Bryan Lee is credited with discovering Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Tuesday I had to go to a dinner for work so I've been tuckered out and missing going to the gym. Went today for Turbo Kick. More later, time for a radio show.

catching up

Here are the upcoming shows at Grounds for Thought:
Sat. April 19: Bucktown Kickback
Fri. May 30: Yellow Room Gang
Thurs. July 10: Mississippi Heat
Thurs. Oct. 16: Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams
Fri. Oct. 31 Mechanical Cat Halloween Party
Thurs. Nov. 13: Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band

Friday night we went to see The Odd Couple, starring Lane Hakel, at the FUM Black Swamp theater thing. Saturday, I didn't think I had a radio show but alas I did so I did that and about nothing else except clean my house. It was a beautiful sunny day but still pretty cold and windy.

Today, cooking, of course. Baked a potato and an acorn squash and have kielbasa and kraut in the crockpot. Also have a pasta sauce in mind with sausage and roasted grape tomatoes and whatever else is in the fridge that would go with that. And have a pound of asparagus to roast in the oven. Overcast, chilly today. Plus I have broccoli. Overbought, again.

wine-o-rama

Thursday, drinking night at 222 Curtis. Amy and I started in on a bottle of $6 Barefoot Cab and the Sherry got here with a bottle of Ron Hafner's Red, which was good, we decanted it, soft, merlot like, slightly oaky. Then we finished off an opened bottle of Pepperwood Grove Syrah. And then we opened but only drank about a half bottle of some French wine from my case which is nearly gone.

Lots of talk about visiting Amish country and Tipp City's Springhill Nurseries and Bench's Greenhouse.

And it's snowing again in Toledo, but not down here fortunately.

how can it only be Tuesday?

Apparently the longest week of spring is upon us. At least I can be buoyed by the fact that in April I won't have to work any 5-day weeks.

Tonight I ordered some natural species shrubs and wildflowers from a flyer I got at the Home Remodeling show. I got 5 spicebush for $5 and 5 sand cherries for $5 and they claim these are 12 to 18 inches tall. Plus a packet of wildflower seeds ($10) indigenous to the area which include bergamont and showy tick trefoil and prairie thimbleweed, among dozens of others. I hope they are indigenous near a black walnut tree. Plants an area 12 feet by 20 feet so I may be sharing. They also have a packet for you folks with sandy soil that has stuff like rough blazing star and little blue stem. You could still order some before April 4 here.

No radio show Saturday. Pretty soon I'll be saying, "I wish I could have a weekend of nothing." Then I'm sure I'll be preempted for baseball in April. But come May, the airwaves will be all mine.

Also my mom calls me Sunday to say she should have called me Saturday to see if I was coming down for Easter. Now why would I do this? Easter to her is a holiday where candy is given out. Although she does cling to that family on holidays thing. I'll have to go down there soon and on Mothers Day. I guess it will be April 13 because otherwise it will be April 27 and only two weeks until Mothers Day.

And the vet called last night to say Big's thyroid tests came back negative so she thinks I should start him on beta blockers and baby aspirin to treat his heart murmur so I need to stop out there and get these pills.

Drinking tomorrow night.

always something

So last month my phone bill was $211 and I find that my old total airtime minutes of whatever were not enough so I call and get my minutes upped to the next level and this month the bill again is $211. Fortunately, I call and they realize the error of their ways and reduce my bill by the $71 of over the limit minutes so my bill, for me and the kids, is $140. But I see it's still a deal for 3 phones with the unlimited text messaging which is so important to da utes. I'm sure some day all this money karma will come back to me. But now I'm wondering if they are applying my 20% Disney discount. Cripe. Always something.

Plus when I get home tonight, I feel that I am living in squalor so instead of going to Body Sculpt, I clean up around here and do a Pilates DVD. And pay some bills online and go through my email.com email and book that flight to Dallas. Leaving Friday morning, coming back Monday afternoon.

The movie at the Collingwood Arts Center was interesting. They showed us a cartoon and an episode of some wacky men on the moon serial where the costumes were hilariously bad and then the movie, for which the sound was not all that great plus it was real confusing and you couldn't tell who the bad guys were but Claire Trevor had some great outfits and several handbags and pairs of shoes. The theater is very small and old and the screen was just a big backdrop onto which a not so big movie was projected. Before the show, some guy played some music rolls into a player organ which was amusing but the whole thing took over 3 hours. I told Connie it was a good thing we were not in a hurry to be someplace. Then we went to eat at the Original Gino's.

Then I watched the final 4 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and called Miss Jenks for an hour and a half and it was bedtime.

march be gone

OMG we wake up again this morning to 3 or 4 inches of newfallen snow. It's so tiresome. I made a half-hearted attempt at graphing out my backyard for the day, which may never come, when I can plant stuff. I'd be happy if I could get out there and pick up those 800 pine cones in the back yard. But alas, they're always snow-covered.

I went in the basement to try and find my tape measure, which I cannot, but decide to sort through some crap and now have a bag going to the Goodwill and one to the trash and a box to take to my mom's someday. Where I found a Milky Way box from the 50s with all the cards my parents received upon the occasion of my birth. And some Mothers Club documents from the fifties that my mom was in. I also decided to make a list of Anne's detritus that's down there and email her this and see if I can pitch stuff like this little oven, toaster, coffeepot combo she had when she was at the acting school dorm and a huge number of shoes I'm sure she has no interest in and a bag of Justin Timberlake memorabilia which maybe I should try to sell on eBay.

So I went to Turbo Kick and then I remember I have again signed up to staff the phone for the radio station fund drive noon to 2 so I do that although I am preempted from my show by women's basketball. By 2 p.m., I am despondent. I drag around to the video store and the Happy Badger where I buy soap and incense. So far I had had egg sandwich, a bowl of granola with blueberries and some cheese and crackers.

Finally at 5:30 (thank god it's still light out in the evenings or I'd REALLY be crabby) I vacuum and sweep the kitchen and do 3 loads of laundry and clean out the fridge and put a potato in the oven to bake. I called Miss Jenks to see if she wanted to talk later while drinking but she's going to a concert where Leo Kottke opens for Leon Redbone. She says she's leaving after Leo Kottke but alas I may be drinking by then.

We were supposed to go to Kim and Jim's for cards tonight but we were able to convince ourselves that the roads would be icy on the way home if not before and called to decline. I feel bad but frankly, nobody wants to hear me whine about how SICK OF WINTER I am.

I had half the potato and a salad for dinner around 7 while listening to Prairie Home Companion.

I rented the second half of the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. And I hooked up that DVD player I got a month ago to the TV, which is a bonus. Brought the drill up from the basement pretending like I was going to put up the curtain rod for that valance but of course have not done it.

Tomorrow Connie and I are going to the Collingwood Arts Center for a movie in the afternoon. Maybe eating after.

Just talked to Karen Schaller in Dallas and I'm going down there around the weekend of April 19. Need to book a flight. She's getting tickets to see Will Kimbrough at the Bend Studio while I'm there. I would link to the Bend website but it has one of those annoying audio files that takes forever to download.

Allrightythen. Miss Jenks is flying into Cincinnati May 16 so we can attend the Ohio River Valley Folk Fest where I see Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band has been replaced by Otis Gibbs. But we'll still get to see Chris Smither and James McMurty, among others. Got the tickets in the mail today and have the Best Western booked for 2 nights. Miss Jenks emailed to say it should say in our biographies "Let it be known that on the last day of winter of the Year of the Great Depression, they planned another musical getaway."

tree news

The city came and did massive trimming on that giant maple tree out front. I can tell it’s been massively trimmed anyway. Mrs. Eilert next door came out when I got home from work and said they were there for a long time and a lot of wood fell out of the tree and she asked them if maybe they thought she needed her trees trimmed and I mistakenly pointed out that those trees of hers UP NEXT TO HER HOUSE were not on city property and those guys weren’t going to trim them but she comes out in the driveway anyway to say ‘These trees here, maybe they need to be trimmed.’ Which I don’t bother pointing out again THEY’RE NOT CITY TREES. No word from the street department on the broken concrete problem.

feeling lopsided

Last night, I took the cats to the vet. I pointed out how thin Big is and indeed he weighs the same as Kitty Witty who used to weight about 6 but now they both way just a little under 12. One time, Big weighed 18. So two feline luke shots and some blood drawn from the Big to test for hyperthyroidism, $148. And well worth it. I'm sure in some big city someplace, somebody is reading this and thinking they just paid $500 for the same thing for their two cats.

Then I did that bands Pilates DVD which always makes me think 'Why don't I do this more often?' It makes you feel like an upright human.

Then I finished watching 'True Romance.' Man, what a great movie if you can get past the torture and shooting and blood. And such a great cast: Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper and James Gandolfini and Val Kilmer (who I still can't figure out who he was). The ultimate love story.

So today, I'm talking to Becky Black across the hall at work and she points out that Disney has resorts at Hilton Head and at Vero Beach, Fla., where we also get the 50% off employee discount. They have these two bedroom villas and three bedroom ones that we could get for like $250 a night and they sleep 8 people. It's a 13-hour drive but if we left Thursday night and drove halfway and drove halfway Friday morning and stayed Friday and Saturday and Sunday night, we could get up Monday morning and drive all the way home. Kinda like Virginia Beach. So only two days off work for 3 days in resort-o-rama. I have to log in to some complicated employee website so I can show you the rates which I am not up to at this juncture. Stay tuned. May is a down time, rate speaking. Let's consider.

Also today I went to Beaner's in Cricket West to get a latte and the person in front of me had ordered a skinny skinny mocha. I had to ask. It means with skim milk and no sugar. I asked 'What's the point?' The barista said 'Exactly.'

I registered for the Egg Scramble on the way home tonight. I went to the Community Center and filled out a form and gave them my $8 and it took about 3 minutes. I exhort you to follow suit. March 28, 8-10 p.m.

Food journal: Egg sandwich, milk, 3 ounces pork tenderloin, hummus with celery, 1 oz. dried fruit and nut mix. An ounce of dark chocolate, of course. Drinking still that Perrin rose which I like. It's silky. Eating close to the bottom of the food chain.

Also, my porch project. I am thinking something like this for the steps. And then some flagstones in the yard to fashion a walk and possible chair sitting area with one of those umbrellas from Lowe's I saw at the Home Remodelers Show. Just for a kind of backdrop. You can tilt it around or put it overhead.



And some plantings of stuff and general expense. But hey, isn't that why the Dubya is sending me $600??

Note: today I am listening to one of my radio shows from April 23, 2005 and the weather forecast was for a high of 37 and low of 30 and 3-5 inches of snow which I believe we got. I was not blogging then so I would need other corroboration.

Eddie Shaw tomorrow night. Let's hope he shows up.

I have scheduled a haircut with Lucy's daughter Sheri for Thursday.

weekend

So Friday night on the way home from work, which I meant to leave early, but as usual did not, I stopped at Churchill's up off Dussel. I bought a case of wine. Today, I did the research on original prices and I maybe saved $30 total off original prices. We drank a bottle of Merlot at Amy's last night and it was pretty good. I am not much on judging so I won't be saying something like this:

Aromas and flavors of ripe red cherry, pomegranate and raspberry plus nutmeg, cocoa, coffee, tobacco and a little menthol; puckery tannins; grainy finish.

I fear the wine guy at Churchill's prefers wines with a little more earthiness to them than I like. We'll see in the tastings.

I also bought a red pesto pork tenderloin which I will cook today. I see that it is regular pesto but with sun-dried tomatoes for the red part. Sounds tasty.

Then Amy and I went out to Trotter's for steak and then we moseyed around downtown, in Ben Franklin where I bought a pair of bunny ears for $1.79. Never know when you're going to need a pair of bunny ears. And went into Grounds where I bought a half pound of coffee and then we played cribbage with Connie.

Saturday, I was on the phones for the radio station fund drive noon -2 and then did a show and then went to the Home Remodelers show in Toledo which was slightly amusing. Then we went to Herbie's Place, the restaurant that is now in Haskins which used to be the Mail Pouch, among other things. We waited over an hour to get a fairly good pizza. They said they had a big rush of diners they weren't expecting and their oven is not that big. Then we went to Amy's and played more cribbage.

Today, I watched Ratatouille which was pretty cute. Then I tried on some pants I bought last week at SteinMart which I thought would be too tight because I had bought them in a rush and convinced myself I would fit into. But they are good, brown silk and white summer dress slacks and a basic pair of black cotton/spandex which were only $6 so if I wear them twice they will have been a deal.

The weather is still pretty darn chilly but at least most of the snow is melted away. The back yard is littered with pine cones. It's only 1 p.m so maybe I can get some stuff picked up, all that crap on the patio put in the garage. I have NO ambition to do anything but suffer through until outdoor time comes. At least it is halfway through March.

We got a flyer at Grounds about an adult Easter egg hunt on March 28 at the Simpson park. It costs $8 and is limited to the first 350 participants and you hunt eggs that have candy or raffle tickets in them. This sounds like a plan. I doubt we'll look as crazy as this participant from last year.



Eddie Shaw Wednesday night. Cards at Kim and Jim's next Saturday. Rod's Collision at Howard's April 12.

Later Sunday-- Finally I got a grip, called Jenks for an hour and a half, went to Meijer, Home Depot where I got an under cabinet LED light (have not installed yet of course), library, Video Spectrum (rented True Romance), SS6 for hummous. Cooked that pork tenderloin, roasted asparagus, made this pasta casserole. Drinking just a little Reserve Perrin 2004. Lightly oaked.
Tasting Tags: cherry fruity oak spice tasty.

Compiled about 20 pages of work lists into one list that of course are very hard things to do. But at least it's just one list now.

musically involved

Listening to the soundtrack from I'm Not There. Man, it's great. Also I have sampled some of the other CDs I got recently. That Eric Sardinas is real good but in small doses. Johnny Winter like blues with screaming vocals. The Bonedaddys. Now there's a great CD, Waterslide is the name. Worldbeat which gets you some funk, some reggae, plenty o horns. All those daddies. The Doghouse Daddies and the Beat Daddies and Will Kimbrough's band Daddy and me, Daddy's Girl.

OK, a giant week. Last night, Body Sculpt (killing me) and a radio meeting. At which I was chastised for playing the Rolling Stones on my show. Andrew, or DJ HazMat, said it was diametrically opposed to the philosophy of the radio station, playing major label bands. I pointed out that I played obscure tracks, one per show, and preface each with "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones." The programming director agreed that it fit into the context of my show and the music director kid stammered in the presence of my greatness. So I can still play the Stones.

Plus I got 5 CDs there, the Bonedaddys, as already noted. Patty Larkin, too wispy. Jim Lauderdale, some great pedal steel (and you know how I am about the pedal steel) but kinda weak singing, sorry Jim. Cheating Heart, a compilation of bad love songs by bands from Tampa Bay area, some good tunes on there.

Have yet to listen to that Groove Hogs and I know that Louvin Bros. cover CD already.

Putting some thought into the redo of my front steps. All advice welcome. Probably not seriously considered, but accepted.

Tomorrow night I have to go to the Jefferson Awards dinner at the SeaGate Centre. Thursday night I say Gorgonzola-stuffed chicken and salad and bread. And wine, of course.

Signed up to answer the phones for the fund drive on the two upcoming Saturdays at wbgufm. There's no classes this weekend at the gym (instructor training) so I'm left to my own devices for exercise.

So the usual busy-ness. Vacuumed a bunch of stuff tonight. Laundry. Dishes. I don't know how it gets so messy in here with just one person.

OMG, this I'm Not There CD is so good.

enough already

I don't even know which snow is which anymore. The snow started falling Friday night and by the time it was done we had about 5 or 6 inches here in BG. It was worse southeast of here. Plus it snowed Tuesday so all the schools were closed Wednesday. I have refused to shovel my drive. Some kids stopped on Saturday to see if they could shovel for me but I declined. It'll all melt later this week. I think it was just last Sunday when it was relatively warm and all the snow from the previous week had melted and left our lawns all brown and mushy.

Last week was a lightly attended GNO, followed by chicken parm on Thursday night with several wines. Yesterday, I had a radio show as I will the rest of the Saturdays in March. Plus I did one today, all country. Bought four new CDs today: the Groove Hogs, an Eric Sardinas, that Livin Lovin Louvin CD and that 2 cd set from the movie I'm Not There, about Bob Dylan. I played a couple of tracks on Saturday from the cds they had in the studio and they were great. Plus I got two free compilation CDs from Yep Roc records with people like Chuck Prophet and Chatham County Line and a bunch of people I never heard of.

Plus I watched six episodes of the sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Holiday with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.

This week, radio meeting Monday night after Body Sculpt at the gym. Tuesday, Toshi Reagon plays a free show at BGSU.

Also I bought myself a pair of cubic zirconia earrings on gold posts at Meijer that had been $50 but were on sale for $15. They're sparkly. And I bought food at Meijer, none of which I prepared because I was pooped today and just watched a lot of video.

Man, I cannot wait to get outdoors. Even just to walk around in the mud.

welders

Here's a picture of my house in that snow we had on Feb. 26. It was very fluffy and piled high on everything. My neighbor's drive that you see had been plowed about 7:30 a.m. and this photo was taken about 9 a.m. so you can see how much it just kept snowing.


Friday night, we did not go to see Nick Moss and the Flip Tops. The excuse we used was that the roads might get bad but actually we were just not up for it. So Amy and I went to Corner Grill for burgers and then to Beckett's for one beer and some lackluster pool and then although it was only 8:40 we tried to drink beer at my house and failed.

Many, many people came out for the Welders 30th anniversary concert. Fiely's daughter's Megan's band played during the Welders breaks and they were excellent. She plays bass.
So here are the pix. Men wearing Welders t-shirts. No shirts were available this year.


Rod talking to Doug. People are sick of being on my blog so most of these shots were taken surreptitiously.


The Relics.


Terry Klein talking to Vera.


Linda Kidd.


Crowd. John Doering's back.




Billy Hanway and his girlfriend and yet another blonde.


No pictures of the Welders but you've seen them before.

Earlier that day, I had gone to Turbo Kick at the gym and did a radio show and shopped at Elder Beerman for some pillows. Then I made green bean casserole and took it to Amy's, where she had baked a pork tenderloin and made scalloped potatoes and Connie brought sweet potato mash and a salad and peach pie. No wonder those 5 whiskeys didn't do much at Howard's. I drove home around 1:30.

Sunday, didn't do much. Cleaned, tidied, sorted, read. GNO Wednesday. Got my state tax refund deposited on Friday.

Yesterday it was purportedly 45 degrees but not that nice out, with a damp wind and no sun. Today it was 58, but cloudy and now it's supposed to be mid 30s the rest of the week. Soon, my pretty.

Called my mom today whom I have not talked to since Christmas Day. No news. And no news is good news, as it is said. Karen purportedly has got her job to hire her permanently and got a $2 an hour raise and her health insurance will finally kick in in April although she tells my mom she doesn't know how much of her massive drug ingestion it will cover. I figure she just tells my mom this so she can stash away cash and then bolt, leaving me to buy a house trailer in Delaware, OH. Their heat doesn't work well, their gas bill is high, the feral cats are peeing underneath their trailer.

Eddie Shaw March 19 at Grounds. Cards at the Butterfly Blues Farm March 22. Easter March 23.

thursday weirdness

Last night, I went to the gym for Turbo Kick and all was fine. No problem with the Pilates ball injury. To my knee. From Monday night's Body Sculpt. You remember.

Tonight we had a bottle of Merlin Park Shiraz and then a bottle of Pepperwood Grove Syrah and then opened a bottle of Merlot which we did not finish. We decide that Thursday night is the night for weirdness and gossip, which we engaged in. Maybe about you.

So I'm going to see Ann Jenks April 4-7, during which we are driving to Winnipeg to see Todd Snider on April 6, the good lord willing and the creek don't rise. It's 400 miles and mostly interstate so I think it will be about 6 hours which is one hour less than we drove to see Todd in Tennessee last August. We love Todd. I'm listening to Happy to Be Here right now.

Today, I got my passport picture taken because my current one expires at the end of March but I don't need it to get into Canada anyway in April so whatever. The picture taken today held next to my old one displays in full array the aging process. JFC. So Amy said I needed to part my hair on the other side so I did so we'll see if that helps.

OMG, work is so hard and I hardly put up any news at all. I just have to deal with all the other stuff, like ad campaigns and software fixes and cams that don't post to the web. And you people just think they pay me the big bux to get you stories about Britney. Shuh.

And for God's sake, watch this video on YouTube and the response one.

Love you. xxxxxooo

whew

Now it sounds like an exhausting weekend. Friday, Nick Moss, we need to talk about the logistics for this. Saturday, gym, radio show 1 to 3:30, and I have coupons for the Community Day sale at Elder Beerman and it's the Welders. I may have to take Monday off. Because next week Erin, my web producer, goes to Hawaii for two weeks. I can take Mondays off now because Erin works 6 to 3 and Jen works 6-9.

I have a theme for my radio show: three in a row. I feel you can get a good feel for a musician from 3 songs in a row by them, preferably from the same album. I have some artists in mind. Email me (debweiser@email.com) if you have a suggestion. Todd Snider, Levon Helm, Lyle Lovett, Toni Price, Amy Rigby, Deadstring Brothers are on tap so far.

Driving to work in the year's biggest snowstorm turned out to be a real bust. The roads were plowed and dry for the most part. The worst part was getting out of my driveway which I just put it in reverse and gunned it. Connie came over and shoveled my walk and driveway end where it had been plowed in in thanks for the Lion King tickets. She and Amy are going Wednesday.

I was nearly killed last night in Body Sculpt class by exercise. Fell off the Pilates ball while doing pushups and banged my knee on the floor. I mention this today because it hurts today.

one thing after another

Here's how things work with me: if I have a project, I find anything else to do before I'll do it. Like tonight, I got home from the gym at 7:42 after gassing up the car and buying smokes (good idea: go to the gym and then buy smokes) and decide I have all the time in the world to sort through my closet and possibly install that light fixture I bought and maybe even clean out my dresser drawers which are full of clothes I never wear. But alas, I have done dishes and laundry and diddled about on the internet so that now it's 10 p.m., time to hit the sack.

The problem with that closet, besides there being no light in there and more than half my clothes are black, is that, oh that there's no light in there and half my clothes are black. I wear the same three things to work every week and I'm just sure there are probably other outsuits in there but I'm not seeing them. I wish I could wear uniforms to work. So today I went to Macy's to return something and bought 2 more tops. Which will be lost in the closet.

Also, I discovered that I had signed up to pay my Columbia gas bill online and although I kept getting these email notices that I had a new gas bill, I find today that I have not paid for THREE MONTHS. It's a wonder the heat is still on. So I paid all of them today. Man, how long does it take before they send you the cut-off notice?? Plus I pay it at some website called e-bills or something and I of course forgot my login which turned out to be the regular old login luckily because I emailed them to ask for my password and haven't heard back.

Plus we are in another winter storm warning with possibly 7 inches of snow coming. Hmm, like last Tuesday, when it took me an hour and a half to get home because I thought driving down Reynolds and Conant would be faster. Ha. Oh wait, that was 2 weeks ago, not last week. Tempus fugit.

And now I look out and see the snow is falling. Hoo freaking ray.

I did cook Sunday: stuffed pork tenderloin in the crockpot with sweet potatoes and a roast chicken. Like I need any more cooked chicken in the fridge. Tonight I overcooked some broccoli. And I have salad stuff. So I'm good. Tomorrow night I'll make chicken soup.

And There Will Be Blood was like a miniseries you wouldn't watch the next installment of. It had this screeching soundtrack and that Daniel Day-Lewis was just a blustery asshole, the kind you know plenty of and why would you make a movie about them? At the end, he stove in some guy's head with a bowling pin and then there was blood. But the Daniel Day-Lewis guy won best actor in the Academy Awards so I guess I'm no judge of acting.

Nighty night.

last week of february

YAY.

Tuesday night, Amy and I went to what was billed as debate viewing at the uptown between Hillary and Barack on tv. Very lightly attended. We left after an hour.

Yesterday was Brian's 50th birthday party at Howard's in the afternoon. There were many people there and JoeBob Duda played and there was a ton of chow and I didn't take my camera. Send me some pictures if you got some. It was a swell time. It was a real sunny day and about 30 so I walked down and back. Sunny again today, but not quite as blue sky. And a little windy.

Friday night, we went to see No Country for Old Men, for which the better part of, somebody had their hand up to block the screen from various shooting and bleeding and stuff. But we all liked it. Then I came home at 1 a.m. and posted the video of the Hillary visit to 13abc.com.

This afternoon, I'm going to see There Will Be Blood at the small mall at 4. Before then, I need to do some cooking school. But that's about my entire plan. Maybe some CD burning. Listening to Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer.

This weekend there is Nick Moss Friday night and the Welders Saturday for which they say they are starting at 9. And Rod's Collision returns to Howard's on April 12. And it's GNO next Wednesday which we hope will be better attended than January's.

Windy city

Man, it was windy today. But partly sunny and above freezing, so not so bad. Here's an annoying wind story: Yesterday, I had seen this gallon plastic milk jug in the driveway and as I was leaving in the car, I thought "Better pick that up." But I don't. So about 11 p.m. as I am in bed, I can hear the wind playing hockey with this jug between my and Mrs. Eilert's back gates. I put on shoes, go out, toss it in the trash. About an hour later, I hear the wind whip the top open on the trash and BY GOD whip that jug out onto the driveway to batter it back and forth again. So I have to go out a second time and jam it securely in the trash bin. I hope I have not angered the wind gods. I always fear a road sign shearing free and slicing my head off in the freak accident way in which I expect to end my days.

I did a radio show from noon to 2. Last night I did my taxes and I get a grand total of $500 back from state and feds combined. But not paying, except $92 to the school district because I only had that taken out of my check for a little over 6 months.

Then I had cooking school where I made yam, turnip, watercress chowder and mushroom onion quiche and some wacky sauce for chicken for which I have not made the chicken yet. But it's only 6 p.m., might still. Plus I'm going to prepare a vat of mac and cheese with smoked sausage to tide me over. Had to take a break and do dishes before round 2.

What's coming up this weekend? I don't see anything on the calendar but I'm going to IKEA on Saturday with some women from work. Brian's birthday fest is at Howard's Saturday 3-6 which looks like I'll miss. Sorry. Student Loan is at Howard's Friday night but I'm sure too late for me.

Kelly called me at the radio show to say the Dirty Dozen Brass Band is the closer Saturday night at the Swamp. Plus he's really close to getting Graham Parker, an old rocker guy. And since Shemekia Copeland is at the Ark on Saturday May 10, she may also appear at GFT around that time. Also Patrick Sweany is scheduled for the Swamp and is apparently a blues guy from Northeast Ohio. Listen to the cuts on his website. Sounds pretty good.

OK, back to the kitchen. (now it's later) Have the mac n cheese in the oven. Good day's work and enough food to feed an army for a week, as long as the power doesn't go out.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Thank heavens I have tomorrow off. Yesterday I went to Turbo Kick and then ate at the Corner Grill and did a radio show. Then the wimmens went to Creative Elements in Grand Rapids where they were having a wine and cheese for wimmens. Then we went to Amy's and played cribbage and euchre.

Friday night, I had a couple beers at Howard's and saw the John Jorgenson Quintet at GFT. They were very good.

Here's how the kitchen looks now. I like it. Still needs ceiling lights and maybe a cabinet or something out by the table and a poster frame for my tomatoes print. Click picture for larger view.



Tonight we are going to see Rod's Collision at the Coats for Kids thing at the Blue Devil. Today I did nothing.

So Amy and I decide to bag on the Rod's Collision thing. But I must point out some upcoming stuff. Nick Moss and the Flip Tops at the Blue Devil on Feb. 29. Welders the next night at Howard's.

Major progress

So I got the second coat of orange on the kitchen annex and the second coat on the trim and I got the curtains up on the side windows but alas, I bought a cafe rod instead of a spring rod for the big window across the back so although I have the curtains for it, I don't have them up. Tomorrow night I will get the right rod. Had to scrape the windows where I overpainted.

Also I put the striped rug I used to have in the living room into the kitchen annex. It's very cozy. I looked at moving the table and chairs from the front room into the kitchen annex but it seemed crowded. This took the better part of 9 hours. Plus I cooked salmon and broccoli but didn't get to some of that other stuff. Cleaned out the fridge. Posted the school closings to 13abc.com as some districts were already canceling classes tonight for Monday.

Listened to Prairie Home Companion, This American Life, I Enjoy Being a Girl and the World Music Show. And I have a radio show this weekend. On a big day, which includes the GNO at Creative Elements. The night before is cards at Deb and Ron's and/or John Jorgenson at Grounds for Thought.

Monday night, Body Sculpt at 6:30. Haircut Tuesday. And no work on Monday, the 18th.

Watching the Grammys. Saw Tina do Proud Mary and now Aretha is on, belting out a big tune. Saw Brad Paisley sing I wanna check you for ticks. Lovely sentiment. And now they have Keely Smith out there. She won a Grammy in 1958 for That Ol' Black Magic. Crowd shot: Bonnie Raitt and John Hammond. Daughtry, John Fogerty, Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen, Wilco up for best rock album and the winner is Foo Fighters. Well, I won't be seeing the end of this show.

Ready for bed but alas I have all my jammies in the laundry.

OK, a 5-day week coming up. I hate those. I've only had to do 2 since the first of the year.

Also, the humane society took in 105 dogs and other animals from a home in Stony Ridge. They need help. Visit their website to see how you can help.

Great ad on the Grammys left over from the Super Bowl. Watch it here.

February-itis

That kitchen is the never-ending project. Today I painted the trim Cornerstone, a very slightly green cream. Now the orange in the outer kitchen annex thingy needs a second coat and then the trim needs a second coat. But maybe then I'll be done. Maybe I'll work my ass off on it tomorrow. But tomorrow is cooking school so we'll see. On tap, salmon, pear cobbler, pasta sauce, quiche, broccoli.

Tonight Sherry and Amy and Connie and I are going out to eat and then over to Amy's for drinking and chat and possibly games. I went to Turbo Kick today and Pilates on Thursday night. Or what passed for Pilates, as the whole thing about it is the breathing and moving combo and this chick did the movements so fast you couldn't do the breathing.

I've been buying floral bouquets at Kroger to pretend it's spring. I had irises last week and some red somethings this week. I though they were freesia but when I googled a picture of them, they were not what I have. Also I bought ice cream at Meijer. Two kinds. It was on sale.

When I was in New York, we had 2 hours between our meetings and dinner on Tuesday, so I walked from 63rd and Broadway to 91st and Broadway, stopping in various stores along the way. Didn't buy anything. Saw some underwear that was $82. A pair. What's up with that? It wasn't even real fancy. Tried on some pants in Ann Taylor. Some shoes in another store. Stopped in at Filene's Basement but nothing caught my eye.

Back in the small town

New York was uneventful. I didn't take my camera so no pictures. I got there Monday, had dinner with Anne at Rosas Mexicano. Two days of meetings. Flight was delayed coming home so I got home at 11:20 instead of at 9:20. The drive home from the airport was dicey but apparently not as dicey as if I'd gotten home on time so it all worked out OK.

I hear GNO was non-existent. Fred and Sherry went to 149 North as it was Fred's birthday and nobody else showed up.

Nothing happening this weekend. Maybe I'll paint, as I bought trim paint and already painted the kitchen annex Southwest Amber like the kitchen.

Glad it's Friday tomorrow.

Sopranos

I finished watching The Sopranos last night, Season 6, Part 2, Disc 4. Earlier having read critiques focusing on the death of Tony and all the foreshadowing and analysis, I choose to take the hopeful road. It's just the mother of all cliffhangers but with (spoiler alert) Phil Leotardo dead and his henchmen not all that keen about offing all the Soprano crew anyway, I don't see why things just can't go on, la tee dah. Sure Sil's in a coma and Bobby's dead. But even Janice said, and I think only half-jokingly, that she had to watch her figure so she could snag another husband. Plus Uncle Junior is totally wacked out and he was one of the few people left that could put a wrench in Tony's works.

The whole nuclear family is together at the end and Tony, after looking toward the Last Supper scene at the back of the restaurant, chooses instead to just take a booth, play some tunes, order some onion rings. Onion rings, the circle of life. And that whole Meadow unable to parallel park thing, I think it showed how amidst all the angst and horribleness of the world, we are still caught up for too long with some minutiae like inability to park. To fit in. And the tune, Don't Stop Believing by Journey. Life's a journey. Yada yada. Well it was a swell ride while it lasted.

So leaving for New York tomorrow, back Wednesday night. Cold still lingers on so I'm less than enthusiastic about going. Now I'm stalling from painting the room beyond the kitchen. Just pour the paint in the roller pan and you'll have to do it. I even have my painting t-shirt on.