1st cold night . . .

This is the first cold night and look at Zoe! Under the covers. At least she's on Holly's side of the bed. What a nut she is. ■ The temps have finally dropped to the levels we expect in fall. Highs in the low to mid 60s and lows in the 40s. We've got an outdoor gig this Saturday that starts at 5:30 pm. It could be pretty cold before we even start playing. Too bad guitarists can't wear gloves when we play. ■

Saturday . . . Lessons, shopping, & a gig.

That's what was/is on the schedule for today. We've done the lesson, shopped and now I'm getting ready for the gig. We leave in a few minutes. Oh, did some delicious steaks on the grill tonight for dinner. Mmmm . . . good! Maybe a post from the gig. Gotta run.

The Bear ... and the Cubs . . . . .

Yes, that's our bear - all dressed up in the Cub's "W" shirt. Holly found the t-shirt at Jewel and put it on our bear. Too bad the Cubs lost tonight. Tomorrow's another day. ■ Still working at the music store. I have some ideas on how to increase business. Everyone has ideas - I just hope I can sell mine and help improve business. ■ Also one of my childhood friends emailed me and said that she and her family live in Cary. It will be great to reconnect. ■ Time - well way past time for bed. ■

Chili Fest . . . . . .

Chili Fest XV was fun. Lots of people, good food, great music and cold brews. For more pics you can see 'em at: http://www.shrandahl.com/chilifest/chili_pictures_2008_001.html.

Time for me to go to work. Maybe more later. Life is sooo busy.

■ I've arranged for the plumber to come tomorrow. It appears that in people's desire to help they cleaned up and put so much food down our garbage disposal that the drain in the basement became clogged. Now the plumber will have to rod the thing out. It's just a $250 bill that I hadn't planned on. ■

Preperation

Smoking the brisket and pork took a few hours. But it was finished last night and this morning I made the chili - two pots worth. I had one attentive dog - Zoe - watching me intently and waiting for any possible scraps. Mollie was outside lounging on her patio. At any rate the chili is pretty much done. ■ Got to get ready for work. Maybe more tonight. ■

Chili . . .

This is about 1/4 of the meat that goes into my batch of chili. I've just put it on the grill along with some hickory chips and it'll smoke for about an hour and a half. That's the pork on the grill in this picture. I still have brisket to smoke. Tomorrow I have to actually make the chili. That means about a couple of hours of just cutting up the meat for the chili, aside from the tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc. - Oh, and no beans in my chili. ■ Anyway, it's time for bed now. More tomorrow . . . promise.

Fishing?

Not fishing - just a Koi pond on my iphone. ■ My wife and her sister finally made it back from Louisville. It took them about 9 hours, because roads were closed due to all the rain the midwest has been having. ■ Our great neighbors brought over a delicious speghetti dinner complete witsalad and bread. Mmmm . . . . good! ■ Cubs are winning right now. Go Cubs!

Rain & humidity . . . . . .

1:15 am - It was a good gig. It rained while we were carrying equipment from our cars to the area where we setup. Yuk. And it rained for at least half the night. At least it had quit by the time we stopped. And humid. Man the air was thick with it. I think we could use a few dry days now. Time for bed.

Rain, rain go away . . . . .

It's been raining since I got home yesterday. We've got an outside gig tonight and I'd like to see it stop raining. We'll be under a tent, but the rain sure puts a damper on the party. So, stop raining already! ■

Home

9:20 pm - I'm home. Actually got home around 4:00 pm. A flight delay of about an hour and a half, but made it. We deplaned on, well not the runway, but on the tarmac. It was a small plane and it pulled as close as it could to the United terminal - but on the northeast side of it. Strange to deplane on the tarmac - especially at O'Hare. I've done it at very small airports, but never at O'Hare. ■ We have a gig tomorrow - a private party. I just don't know where, or when. I'll make a call in the morning to find those details out. ■ Time for bed. Goodnight. ■

Loading luggage

Luggage people tried to bring aboard as carry-on. Should be leaving
shortly.

Flight delayed

Wonder of wonders - our flight has been delayed . . . And no
explanation. Instead of taking off at 12:22 it's now going to be
1:45. Good thing I've got a book.

Sent from my iPhone

At the airport

It's been a good week. My mother had the cochlear ear implant done on
Tuesday. It won't be activated, or completed for a few weeks until it
heals. After that she should be able to hear. I should be back at
O'hare around 1:30 and then a limo ride home.

Packed and ready to go

We're loading

. . . And should take off in about 20 minutes.

At the gig

We're ready to play, but don't go on 'till 10:00pm.

Poker, gigs and travel . . .

Played poker tonight. Not for money. Just for fun. I, unfortunately (or fortunately??) don't know how to play the game. But it was fun. ■ Tomorrow night is a gig at a bar that's a fairly good drive away. We've played there once before and had fun. I'm looking forward to it. ■ Sunday I have to fly out to Richmond, VA to see my mother. I'm looking at the hurricanes that are coming up the east coast from Florida and wondering if my flights will be cancelled! I hope not. ■ It's late and time to hit the hay. ■

New pcs . . . . putting your life back together . . . .

Getting a new pc is sort of like putting your life back together after a disaster. Directory structures to rebuild; files to transfer; programs to reinstall; a new operating system to get used to and know. And that's just with 1 pc. I've got 2 of them to setup. It's a long, drawn-out process with me working. I've got a new printer with a built-in scanner/copier. The printer is ok, but the scanner is setup "wrong" for me to scan my drawings. I still have my old scanner and I think I'll have to set that up again. ■ Work is good. Still lots to learn. I like learning, which is good. ■ The weather has really turned. It went from being hot to autumn - just about overnight. I'm hoping that Chili Fest won't be too cold. Ah, heck - we'll warm it up with some hot chili and hot live music. ■ Time for bed. Another late night.

Everyone's ok

All of our friends in Baton Rouge are ok. That's great news. We were worried about them with Gustav. Unfortunately hurricane season isn't over. Hanna, classified a tropical storm is coming and Ike, already classified as a hurrican is in the Alantic and coming towards the U.S. All of these hurricanes form off the coast of Africa and move east towards the Gulf of Mexico. When I was in the Navy we'd run into, or rather away from typhoons. A typhoon is a hurricane - it's just in a different part of the world and thus carries a different name. Go figure. ■ I'm still working on getting my new pc up to speed. And my wife's pc died, so I have 2 pcs to get up and running. Lots of work to do on that. ■ We finally had some rain. Not a lot, but at least some. And it's supposed to rain again tomorrow. The grass has turned brown - we need the rain right now. ■ Time for bed. In fact it's way past time for bed. Good night!

No answer . . . . . .

I've tried calling our friends in Baton Rouge, but have not been able to talk with them. It looks like Gustav is now north of them, but I don't know if they're alright. It's worrisome. I'll keep checking.