A new band member?

Would you look at the size of that stuffed frog!

The married couple!

Deb & Pat made it official! Congratulations to the newly married
couple.

Lookin' bright and cheerful

About to to on.

We're here . . . . .

They've already moved the pool table so we could set up. Now we're
just waiting for our bass player to show up.

Gigs, set lists, salmon and . . . . . .

It's hard to read, I know, but that's the set list for the band tonight. We're playing up in Powers Lake, Wisconsin at the Sit 'n' Bull bar. It's a nice, fun place and it should be a good time. ■ Tomorrow we're hosting the annual Bullfrog Family & Friends brunch. Still stuff to do to get prepared for that. I've got salmon in a brine and will smoke it tomorrow - followed by 2 hams. ■ I'll see if I can't do a post, or two tonight from the gig. ■ Oh, and happy new year to all!

Too long . . . . . .

Too long? Yes, way too long since my last post. I apologize. I always want to post a picture with every post, but sometimes I just don't have a good picture to post - including tonight. Geeze - and me with an iphone with a great camera built in. ■ I did get a great thank-you email today. It really made my day. And the thank-you included a picture. Well, thank-you, Billie. It made my day. ■ Tomorrow our son goes back to San Diego and the Navy. We'll miss him terribly. Heck, I'm already missing him and he's not even gone yet! ■ Tomorrow is new year's eve. Our band has a gig up in Power's Lake, Wisconsin. We played up there a few weeks ago and had a great time. We're looking forward to the gig. ■ It's time for bed. That's getting to be a familiar ending to a lot of my posts. Hmmm . . . . . maybe I should try to post earlier, or maybe do more posts. Hmmm . . . . . . . . . . . .

Two down - one to go . . .

Two drawings down and one to go. Not a very good picture of the drawing, but I thought I'd try it instead of scanning it. I will scan it before I frame it though. ■ Yesterday it was warm - somewhere around 60 degrees, or so. In fact it was warm when we were unloading for the gig, but by 2:00 am the temperature had dropped and it was snowing. At least we didn't get much snow - not even enough to shovel. ■ Holly and Aaron drove to Louisville, KY today to see Libby. It's the only chance he'll get to see his sister before he has to go back to San Diego and the Navy. They'll be home tomorrow, but I'll probably be at work by the time they get here. ■ Time for bed. I'm sure Zoe is warming up my spot. ■

Some of the BF&F at the gig

BF&F - Bullfrog Friends & Family. Always with us.

Getting set up

We've been loading in and getting set up. We start at 10:00pm.

Pen & Ink .... got to change it . . . . .. .

This is a scan of a pen and ink that I had intended for my boss. Bad. Poor. Yuch. Which ever way you put it - it's bad. Accurate - yes - good - No. More tomorrow.. . . . ... . . . ... . . . ..

Merry Christmas to all

A Merry Christmas to all.

All is well . . . . . . . .

It's Christmas Eve. We've watched one movie - Holly, Aaron and I, and now Holly and Aaron are watching another one. I'm tired and about ready for bed. ■ To the left are some of the houses, etc. that I've been drawing over the past few weeks. Some big houses, some small, but all have a place in their owner's hearts. I think we all love our homes. They're special places where we feel safe; where our friends visit us; where we have good times and sad times; where many of our memories reside. ■ Before I go off to bed I want to wish all of you a merry Christmas, happy new year, and the best to all of you and your families. Goodnight and sweet dreams . . . . . . .

Tracking Santa . . . . . . he's on his way!

NORAD is tracking Santa again this year. You can see him via Google Earth. Here's the website that can give you more info: www.noradsanta.org

I know I'll be following his progress. More later . . . . . . . .

When's it going to stop snowing?

We've had quite a bit of snow. And I'm ready for it to stop. We had a few inches today and it's still snowing. Our son shoveled our driveway and sidewalks - I think he may be ready to return to sunny San Diego. ■ The drawing - bottom right on the collage of photos - is a gift for my boss. I hope he likes it. It's a drawing of the front of his store. ■ Tomorrow - shopping. I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! ■

More snow . . . oh, no!

Yes, we're getting more snow. Some of the neighbors are on top of it, (that's Jac in the picture on the far right) and some of us aren't. I'll have to get out and shovel and try and keep up with it. ■ And just to make shoveling interesting I've got another gout attack in my right ankle. Now I get to see if the new med I've got will get rid of it. It's really (the med) supposed to be a preventative thing. ■ I've got a couple of drawings I'm working on and need to get done. Off I go. . . . . .

These pics are getting boring . . . . . .

Boring . . . . . if not to you, then at least to me. I have too many pictures of our lovely dogs. And, I think, mostly in the same postitions --- lying on our couch. ■ I think I've got another gout attack (if that's what you call it???) My left ankle began hurting again last this afternoon. I just started on my "anti-gout" medication - but maybe too late to prevent this occurance. Ah, who knows? ■ The last 'out of state' Christmas drawing went out this morning. $27 odd was the cost for sending it. I only charge $15 for shipping. I don't intend to make money shipping, but I don't intend to lose it either. That's life. ■ Sold a bass guitar and bass amp today. That's good news. I wish I could sell 20 guitars and amps every day. ■ Just took my night-time meds. I don't think I can take any pain meds for my gout-infested-ankle yet, so I'll just have to live with it. I really detest having to take so many meds. ■ I still need to shop for Christmas . . . . . . stay with me . . . . . . . . .

Full circle . . . . .

We received a Christmas card from Alanna and Bill. As you can see Alanna is using the drawing of her home for her cards. And, as you can see, their home graces the cover of my book. ■ And speaking of my book, I've got to look and see how many new drawings I've done since I last published. Business has been slow this year - yes, my business reflects the slowdown in our economy too. ■ Made chili this afternoon. Turned out pretty good. I was going to smoke the meat, as I usually do, but it was -5° (minus 5 degrees!) out and I said, "Nope, I'm not going out in this cold." At any rate the chili turned out well despite not smoking the meat. ■ I've got a split in my right-hand index finger. It kind of hurts to hold anything using that finger. I wonder what causes those splits. Yet something else to wonder about . . . . . .

Snow what!

This is the start of a new drawing. I'm trying to sketch it in, but it's rather difficult. Wish me some luck. ■ So much to do before Christmas. Are you done with your Christmas shopping? I'm not. ■ It's snowing here in Chicagoland. I've heard/read that we're supposed to get between 6 and 9 inches. ■ Don't want to cut the post short, but it's way past time for bed. Goodnight.

On his way home . . . . . .

Our son is on his way home for a 2 week leave. It'll be great to see him. In fact I have to leave to pick him up in a few minutes. ■ Finished one drawing and onto the next. This new one will be the last before Christmas. Maybe more later. Got to leave for the airport.

Reflections . . . . .

This is a picture I took with my iPhone - at the patio door. You can see the snow we're received, but you can also see the reflection with our bear in the corner decorated with some white lights. Way over on the far right - about the middle of the photo - you can see the fire from the fireplace. Actually you can only see a couple of the small frames, but it is from our fireplace. ■ Our son flies home tomorrow. I can't wait to see him. It's been a long time. ■ New Year's Day: We're hosting brunch on New Year's Day. I've got to get the invitations out and the website built. I'm not lazy - just too much to do . .. . . . . . . . . . ... . . .

Pictures . . . yes, we've got pictures . . . . . .

Jac asked for some photos of the Rock U concert. The picture on the left is of one of the Rock U bands performing. I took about 160 pictures at the event and posted them at: www.shrandahl.com/drwoods

And our bandmate/photographer took around 130 pictures at our last gig. I'll have to get those up tomorrow - actually today since it's 12:40 am. ■ Sleep: I'm having a hard time getting to sleep. It used to be that I'd be able to close my eyes and 20 seconds later I'd be sleeping. Now I get tired, hop in bed and boom! - I'm awake - not sleepy. So I end up staring at the ceiling for an hour, give up and get up and on the pc - hoping that will get me sleepy. My sleep patterns have been changing. ■ Cold. Burrrrr. It's 8 degrees out. Way too cold for me. And we're going to have more of this cold along with some snow. Burrrr. ■

What fun! Bands galore!

Here's a quick picture I took with my iPhone this afternoon. That's one of the Rock-U bands performing. They were all very good. I took a number of pictures of the event, which I'll post on a web page for all to see. ■ Holly baked a full chicken in the oven tonight. Delicous. Mmmm . . . I want more, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow. ■ Into work early tomorrow. I've finished another drawing and need to matte, frame, and ship it. ■ Time for bed.

Band recital and backstage passes . . . . . .

The music store I work for has band classes for both kids and adults. These groups are put together as a band and they learn songs and how to play together as a band. It's really neat and I wish they'd have had a program like this when I was a kid. At any rate the band recitals are today. For the kids I've made "Backstage Passes." I think they'll get a big kick out of them.
■ More later, or perhaps a post, or two from the recital.

A long way to drive . . . . . .

Bullfrog has a gig tonight. It's up in Power's Lake, Wisconsin - a little bit of a drive. I wish it were a bit closer. It'll take at least 45 minutes to get there - longer if it snows as it was a bit ago. ■ I'm trying to finish a drawing. I'm almost done with it, but I'm not sure it looks "right" - I may have to do this one over. ■ Tomorrow I'm going to a recital for the student bands the store I work for teaches (man, that's a mouthful!). I've created "backstage passes" for the students. I think they'll get a kick out of them. ■ Gotta go load up for the gig. ■

Snow, fire, dogs, drawings . . . . . .

Lots of pictures tonight! It snowed today - made driving miserable. Luckily I only have to drive about a mile, or so to work. Holly has 25 miles each way. It took her 2½ hours to drive home tonight. ■ While we haven't had a ton of snow (see the grill), it's been a PITA for driving. We'd rather sit in the family room, watch tv, and watch the dogs take over the furniture. ■ The drawing on the bottom right is of a home in NC. I'm shipping it tomorrow. ■ I still have a couple a drawings left to do and ship to my customers before Christmas. Busy, busy, busy . . . . . .

Music . . . . .

Music - that's kind of what you're looking at in this picture. What? Yup. That's someone playing the iphone ocarina. Looks like they're from somewhere around the midwest. And you didn't know that the iphone was also a musical instrument. Yup, it is. ■ I know I owe my readers a recording. I'll try and do one either tomorrow, or Tuesday and see if I can't post it on this blog. Got to figure out how to do that. ■ Got to get to bed. Night. . . . . .

Sittin' Bull - our next gig . . . . . .

Our bass player called late this afternoon and asked if I wanted to ride with him up to Powers Lake, Wisconsin to deliver posters to the bar we're playing at next weekend. "Of course", I replied. Long-story-short --- we drove up there and dropped off the posters. They're supposed to have great burgers there, so I think we'll go up early and eat dinner before the gig. That's a quick picture of the outside of the bar. It's a nice place with friendly folks. It should be a fun gig. ■ It's cold here. 18º and dropping. Old man winter flipped the switch here on December 1st. ■ Our daughter is back in the Chicago area for a baby shower tomorrow. We'll get to see her them. Can't wait. ■ It's late and I'm ready to hit the hay. ■

Cold here . . . . . maybe a song in the making???

I think ol' man winter flipped the winter switch on December 1st. It's just been plain cold here. Right now it's 16 degrees - too cold for me. ■ The cold has made the streets very slick. We live on a corner lot that slopes downhill from the stop sign. Drivers stopping at the sign can't get enough traction to start forward again. I'll hear 'em spinning their wheels trying to make progress. Eventually they'll back down the hill a bit and try it again. ■ I've got to do some recording soon. I've got songs that I need to record before I lose them. ■ Maybe I should post some of them on this blog. That's an idea to ponder. What do you think? ■

Snow . . . . .

Here in Cary, Illinois and the environs - not in the picture. That's a drawing of a home in NC that's been finished for some time, but lost contact with the customer. ■ And, yes, snow. Not much, but enough to make driving for folks around here slippery. ■ Terry sent me pictures from the gig this past Saturday, but I haven't had time to get them put up on the Bullfrog site. Gotta get that done. ■ Bedtime . . . . . .

Dressed, but nowhere to go . . . .

Had to get a current picture of the bear into the blog. ■ December 1st came and with it came cold weather and snow. Burrr . . . . I'm not ready for this. ■ The gig this past Saturday was ok. Not a whole lot of people, but the folks there enjoyed the music. Lots of compliments on our playing. ■ The scanner I ordered came today. I've got to get that setup and running. Lots to do. ■

Snow . . . . .

Gout!

Yup, I've got gout. I thought that was an old man's affliction. Ok, I'm getting older, but I thought it for folks older than I. Visited my doctor this morning and he examined my foot and pronounced it gout. He prescribed a med and a pain killer for it. I've taken the med and only one of the pain killers and the start of the treatment has definitely helped. The gout attack was centered in my right ankle. Painful. Ok, enough. ■ Worked today and hobbled around on 2 canes. Not pleasant, but workable. ■ Tomorrow Bullfrog has a gig at a bar in Round Lake Park, Illinois. It's not too bad of a drive, but it starts late - at 10:00 pm. We play until 2:00 am, breakdown, loadout and drive home. That means I won't get to bed until 3:30 am. That's later than I want to gig, but it's a bar with a late crowd. ■ Time for bed. I've got to give a guitar lesson tomorrow at 9:30 am. ■

Thanksgiving

It's been a nice day. Our daughter and boyfriend arrived last night after a 6 hour drive from Louisville. This morning we slept in a little which was nice. ■ Turkey: I started the grill this morning and put the 12lb bird on to slowly smoke and cook. It turned out very well. ■ We went to the home of one of our good friends for Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was delicious. There were 2 turkeys and 1 turkey breast. I smoked one of the turkeys; Terry deep fried the other turkey; and the turkey breast was done in the oven. More food than you can imagine! ■ Foot: I'm beginning to think that maybe I've got gout in my right ankle. The ankle throbs while I'm sitting and I've got to use a cane to help me get around. Tomorrow morning I'm going to the doctor's office and see if I can get in. This has just been getting worse since Monday when it started. ■ Off to dreamland now. . . . . .

Wolves hockey . . . . . .

Went to a Wolves hockey game tonight. It was lots of fun to watch. Unfortunately the Wolves were losing when we left. ■ I've had a problem with my ankles for the last couple of days - especially with my right ankle. Both hurt when walking. Just another O.M. thing, I guess. ■ Time for bed. It's late. ■

Posts? Where have I been?

I see I haven't posted anything in almost a week! I've been tied up trying to get this pc back in working order. ■ Last Friday Bullfrog's gig was cancelled. The bar/restaurant we were to play at lost their liquor license. No license - no customers - no band - and no reason to keep the doors open. ■ Had a rather relaxing weekend. Watched a movie on Saturday night. Sunday watched football and had brats on the grill. That's the entire crowd watching the Bears win one. ■ Holly took a brat and a bun to work with her this morning. Well, the brat made it. Zoe went in her briefcase and took the bun. She didn't know it until she got to work. Ooo, Zoe, mom's a little ticked at you. ■ And we had snow on the ground this morning. Nothing that stuck around very long, but here comes the start of old man winter. Brrrr. ■ Zoe had her annual appointment at the vet this morning. She's healthy, not overweight, and has all her shots. All for $121.00. Mollie's appointment is in January. ■ Tomorrow night Holly and I will go to a Wolve's hockey game. Should be fun. ■ Time for bed. Goodnight.

Home

Home, sweet, home . . . . . isn't that it? We all love our homes. This is a photo of the welcome sign above the doorway to our hall. It was given to us by our very good (and old - not meaning that they're actually old - just friends from long ago) friends for our new house. Well, it was new to us in, I think, 1986. The sign has been up above that door for 20 something years and it means a lot to us. ■ Time for bed . . . . . . .

Almost back . . . . . .

I think I'm almost back - pc-wise. It's been a rough 10 days of pc h???. The one thing I think I have to do yet is buy a new scanner. The printer that came with the pc is a multifunction printer - prints, copies, scans, but I think the scanning is coarser than I want. Bummer. ■ The drawing to the left is a very quick sketch of an old home that I have to draw. I have to do a quick pencil sketch of it tomorrow (that one was scratched out with a marker.) I have six photos of the home, but each one only shows a small portion of the house and I have to come up with what I think the structure looked like years ago. This one is a challenge. Sort of like giving someone 6 pictures of a person's face - but each photo shows different parts of the face from different distances and angles. Now try and draw the person! ■ More tomorrow.

It doesn't look as good as the girls do!

The Bears are losing big time.

It's packed!

The party is packed with people.

At the party. . .

We're at the party. Bullfrog already played for the pregame. Now
it's time for the game. Go Bears!

PC up and running??? Cross your fingers . . . .

A few days ago I thought I had my pc up and running again. Boy was I wrong. It's been a full week since it ran correctly. But, I think (cross my fingers) that it's back working again. What was the problem? I think a virus, but I could never confirm it. At any rate after struggling with it for a week - booting and rebooting in normal mode - booting and rebooting in safe mode - trying all sorts of stuff - I ended up using HP's recovery method - which is drastic, but it works. What is it? In short when you buy your HP pc you're instructed to make a set of recovery disks. These contain all the software and settings that you had on the hard drive when you purchased the pc. What the recovery process does is to format your hard drive - and yes, you lose everything - and then reinstall the operating system, drivers, etc. which puts the pc back into the shape it was in when you bought it. Drastic, but it appears to work. ■ But it's still not over. I still have software to install and data files to copy from an old backup. Still a few more hours of work to do. ■ Tomorrow Bullfrog has a gig at a private Bears-Packer party. It's an annual event that the band has played at for the past 4 or 5 years. It's a lot of fun. I'll see if I can't do a few posts from there tomorrow. ■ And I suppose you're wondering what the blog picture is of . . . . . . . . it's of a crystal that contains a frog in a swamp. It sits on a rotating, lighted mirrow. It's pretty neat. ♫

PC up and running again . . . . .

My pc has been down for the past few days. I think it's back up and running . . . . I certainly hope so. ■ The drawing above is of a home in Kentucky. Since my pc has been down the only way I could capture a digital image is by taking a photo of it. Scans work much better. Now if I could only get my old scanner to work! ■

It's hard to call these shrimp!

'Cause they're so big! These are shrimp from the gulf. Just huge. And what you're seeing is only a small portion of what our friends brought back from their trip to Louisiana and Mississippi. These we ate with a little cocktail sauce. The remainder went in the fryer. They were delicious. ■ Tomorrow I'm making chili and smoking ribs accompanied with a couple of beers and the Bear's game. Maybe a post of two from the cooking front tomorrow . . . . . . .

$2 - half pound burgers . . . . . . need I say more???

Had a gig tonight at The Gambler in McHenry, IL. It was a great gig. Lots of people and they stayed the whole night. And that's good for the bar owner. In fact the owner talked with us and told us how much he liked the band. ■ We had dinner at The Gambler with Hank and Lois. They have $2 half-pound burgers. What a deal. ■ Ok, enough for tonight - or should I say this morning. It's 2:20 am and I'm off to bed.

Old radios. The one to the left is similar to the one I used to listen to the radio stations WLS, WCFL, WVON & WGN on. I think it was my grandparent's (on my mother's side) radio. You had to turn a knob to turn the dial and tune in the station you wanted. I got so I could easily turn the knob to go between WLS and WCFL without looking. Memories . . . . . I'm sure that radio was probably thrown out at some point. Wish I had it now. ■ The weather has turned towards cold. I was told that it was snowing out west and that it is headed our way. I'll have to check our weather forecast. . . . . and I just did. A chance of snow showers tomorrow and Saturday. Burrrr. I don't think I'm ready for that. ■ So, does anyone else remember those old radios?

What! No picture?

No picture today. I always like putting a picture in my blog. Makes it more interesting, I think. ■ I got on my John Deere today and ran over the leaves in the yard to mulch them. When I finished it didn't look as if I'd done anything. The wind was blowing and there were just as many leaves on the lawn then as there were before I started. ■ Driving home tonight from work I listened to Dick Biondi on an oldies station. I used to listen to him when I was in high school. He's still on the air! ■ Bullfrog has a gig on Friday night; Saturday we're going to the Murphy's for a fish and shrimp dinner - home cooked with fish and shrimp from the gulf coast. Sunday we're free and I'm going to do ribs. Time for bed. . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . ... . . . .. . . . .. . . . .

Fall - warm temps and leaves . . . . . .

It's fall. The leaves have been turning - making this season beautiful . . . but they're also aching to be raked, or in my case, run over by my Deere with the mulching blade. Sounds much better with the "beautiful" part. ■ It was warm today. Must have been around 70+. I got outside for a bit and picked up "stuff." I guess Joe Walsh's lyrics would say it best from his song "Ordinary Average Guy." ■ Returned a call to a bar that is interested in having Bullfrog play there. We'll see what happens. ■ Went and voted this morning around 10:00. Quick and easy. ■ Got to get to bed now. Love to all. ■

Ok . . . . . this is just too good to pass up . . . . . .

Yeah, what the heck is this? It's my neighbor, Jac, with one of his inventions. I'm not sure how many inventions he's had, but actually this one is pretty good. And now you're asking "just what is his invention?" --- and that's for another post . . . . . stay tuned - as they say . . . . . ■ It was a beautiful day today. Warm, or at least warm for this time of year. I did cut the grass and thus mulch the leaves. Much easier to do that than rake the things. ■ Had a gig on Halloween. We played in a place where we had so little room to setup that I elected to not bring in a mic stand, or guitar stand. There just wasn't room. The gig was fine and we made new friends. ■ Had a couple of brews tonight with my neighbors - yes, including the inventor too, and cooked some burgers, brats, and chicken on the grill. I did forget to take my nightly meds, which is why I'm writing this at 12:23 in the morning! I should be fast asleep. Well, I will be soon, since I just took it now. ■

Ooo, another new toy!

Yes, another new toy on my iphone. This one lets me make photo collages from pictures on my iphone and then save those results - like the one above. You can resize the photos, turn them any-which-way, and bring them to the front, or back. You can even draw on them. ■ Had a gig last night - on halloween. We were really crammed into a small space. I decided that there wasn't enough room for my mic stand, so I left it in the car. And we only used one monitor (usually we use 2). I also left my guitar stand in the car and just put my guitar in its case between sets. Talked about trying to setup in a small space! ■ We are hosting cribbage tonight. Holly's downstairs giving the rooms there a cleaning. I'm installing antivirus software on her pc and writing this blog entry. I know it doesn't seem fair, but I've got a gout attack on my left foot and it's kind of hard to walk. ■ In another 1/2 hour I'll have to run and get ice. Our icemaker appears to be non-functioning. Ah, great. Another unexpected expense coming up. ■ I'll also have to start the fire for smoking some salmon, which we're having for cribbage. ■ All for now. . . . . . . . .

At the gig . . .

With all the beautiful women . . .

October . . . . . and it's Orange . . . . . .

At least it seems orange . . . . . . - that's the pumpkin I brought from home to put in the store I work at. (I think my English is wrong!) At any rate it's sitting on top of one of our Orange amps. Very nice amps and very expensive. ■ Still trying to get Holly's pc on our wifi connection. I've spent hours on the wifi connection and more time on trying to get my old printer/scanner up and running - both to no avail. ■ I've got a lot on my plate right now and I've got to organize it a little bit and get the stuff done. ■

Clouds . . . . .

"I've looked at clouds from both sides now, from . . . . . " Do you remember the words and the artist? I'm not tellin'. You'll have to guess. ■ It's been a great weekend. Two good gigs, got 2 PCs setup (or close), got the grass cut and had ham on the grill. ■ My office is looking much more organized. I moved a lot of stuff out (although it's in another bedroom and needs to be sorted through . . . ) and moved a 2nd pc in. ■ The gigs were fun - especially the one on Saturday night. (check the pics out at www.bullfrogband.com) The venue was a new place for us. We arrived early and had prime rib for dinner there. Very good. Had a nice crowd for the gig and they only left when we stopped playing shortly after 1:00 am. ■ And today was a beautiful, sunny fall day. The leaves have started to turn and fall. I'll try and take some photos of the trees before I leave for work each day. And I'm determined not to have to rake the leaves this year. Last year I just ran over them with my John Deere and didn't have to rake at all - that's my plan for this year too. ■ Time for bed . . . . . .