The few photos are from last night. We had ribs, chicken, boiled shrimp, coleslaw, and a mess of other food. (Click on the picture to see a larger version.) ■ Today we go over to Cheryl & Bill’s to celebrate Bill’s birthday. More food, beer, and good friendship on the way.
We’re getting ready for the weekend. It’s Bill’s birthday and our good friends from Baton Rouge are coming in for the occasion. We’re hosting the dinner Friday night. ■ In preparation for this we’ve been getting things organized, preparing food (smoked salmon and ribs) and generally cleaning up. Still aways to go. ■ I’m working on a drawing of the home of our friends from Baton Rouge. Still aways to go on that! Time fer bed. Night. ■ . . . . . . . .
Yup, it’s HOT out. Hot and humid. I’m glad we have air conditioning. ■ That’s Aaron’s old electric guitar in the picture. He’s looking to sell it as he doesn’t need it anymore. Any buyers? ■ I cleaned gutters today. What a hot day to do that. I also got the patio ready to clean. I’ll finish that tomorrow. Got to hose it down to get rid of all the winter gunk. ■ I also ordered new pickups for my project guitar. And took the bridge plate from the guitar to an engraver (she’s a good friend) to have a phrase engraved. What phrase, you ask. You’ll have to wait until it’s done. ■ Lots to do tomorrow. Actually too much to do. I hope I can get it all done. ■
Hot dog! That’s what we had for dinner tonight. I like dogs. I had steak last night, so dog’s tonight were good. ■ This week is a big week. We’ve got Bill’s surprise birthday party this weekend. Rusty and Mary are coming up from Baton Rouge and I’ll do some ribs and chicken (Cheryl’s bringing chicken) on the grill Friday night. Terry is bringing his fantastic coleslaw . . . and I mean he makes fantastic coleslaw! And that’s just Friday night. ■ Much to get done before Friday. Maybe too much to do. I’ll keep you posted. Watch this blog. ■
I got home tonight – fed the dogs – they HAVE to be fed before they go out – let ‘em out, brought ‘em in – and then we went upstairs to check email, etc. When we came downstairs Zoe and I went first and then I called Mollie to come down. She go up from her guard tower at the top of the stairs and started down. She started and then basically slide down the rest of the stairs. It happened fast, but I caught her at the bottom. She’s getting old and this reminds me of Maizy in her last couple of months. That’s a picture of her tonight having her rawhide “treat.” She’s hard to get a good picture of. Sort of like the people you know that don’t want their picture taken. ■ Holly’s up in Green Bay this weekend to see her mother. She emailed me a picture of her plate of perch that she went out to eat. ■ Bedtime. ‘Night.
When I got home the ladies were having some kind of Sophia Maria jewelry party. Some wine and h’dourves plus some jewelry were on the menu. I think they all had a good time. ■ I got called into work early today. We’ve started easing into “summer hours” – meaning our music students are moving their lessons from after school to earlier in the afternoon. It looks like my hours are going to change. ■ Holly’s headed on up to Green Bay this weekend to see her mother. I’d go, but I have band practice on Sunday morning. ■ And we’re hosting a get together in next weekend. We’ve decided to do ribs and chicken. Now I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to cook all of it. I’ve got my grill and my next-door-neighbor’s grill, but I think I’m going to need a third one. Hmmm . . . who’s got another Weber charcoal grill I can borrow?????
Here’s an updated scan of the “The Pantry” restaurant that I’m drawing. Not quite done, but close . . . . . ■ I discovered that I had glass in the “trunk” of my suv. Those fluorescent bulbs really did explode! At any rate it’s all vacuumed out and should be ok now. ■ Did a touch more work on my tele guitar project today. Hopefully I’ll be able to make some major progress this weekend. ■ Time for bed . . . . . goodnight!
Yesterday I took 2 dead fluorescent bulbs in my car to work to throw them out in the dumpster. I just laid them on my back seat and took off. Bad move. When I made a stop the bulbs rolled off the seat and boom! They basically exploded. I had glass all over the back and front floors of my car. It took me an hour to clean it all up. What a mess! ■ I started a drawing of the old Pantry restaurant building in Park Ridge. You can see the start of it in this blog post. I’ve done much more on it, but still a ways to go. ■
Friday evening I was sitting out on my deck with my across-the-street neighbor Jac, and Jack, my next door neighbor’s cousin. Jack had driven up from southern Illinois that day to spend some time with them. We sat on the patio, had a couple of beers and just some guy talk. A couple of hours later Jack passed away from a heart attack. I like to think that he enjoyed that time on our patio. I’ll miss him. He lived a long, good life. He was in subs in the Navy during WWII. We shared stories from our naval careers. Yes, Jack, I miss you.
I bought this guitar last year with the intent to “relic” it – or make it look “road-worn” is perhaps a better description. Yesterday I finally started on the guitar. Still a ways to go as there are several different processes to do to complete the project. And I’ll need to order some new parts for it. ■
I have to admit that my wife and I see very few movies at the movie theatre. Most of them are watched at home – if I watch any at all. However last night our friends Terry and Ellyn invited us to a movie theatre where you not only watch a movie, but they’ll also serve you food and drink. We saw “Angles and Demons” and had a couple of pitchers of margaritas and some food. What a pleasant evening. Thanks, Terry and Ellyn! The pictures at the left are of Jake and Elwood, and the bottom one reminded me of Zoe. ■ I’ve finished the drawing of the house our daughter has moved into. I’ll post of picture of it later. I’ve now started on a drawing of “The Pantry” – an old Park Ridge restaurant and historical site. When I’m done I’ll post that too. ■ Time for me to start relicing that guitar! ■
It was a nice weekend. Friday night was relaxing. Saturday night Bullfrog had a gig. The gig went well. The only “bad” thing is that we play until 2:00 am and I don’t even get home until after 3:00 am. Am I getting too old for this???? No. ■ Somehow I ran across an old song from the 70s - “Lake Shore Drive” by Aliotta, Haynes, & Jeremiah. What memories. ■■■ A little continuing research into the song and the band shows that Ted Aliotta is still around the area playing – as Ted Aliotta and The Groove Machine. I remember seeing them at Lenny The Legends – a bar in McHenry. We must have played there the same night they did. And a little more research shows that John Jeremiah and his brother Jim are playing as a band called Bullfrog down in southern Illinois. Yet another Bullfrog band! ■ I’ll have to put together a chart of all the Bullfrog bands I find. Hmmm . . . . .
I ran across this picture today of our travel group in Ireland. I’m playing a little guitar in the pub that was in our hotel. What fun we had on that trip. I’d love to go back there . . . . ah, dreams . . . got to keep them alive. ■ Paid property taxes today. I’d like to see the taxes drop. We pay far too much up here. ■ I worked today and will work tomorrow. Saturday night we have a gig. It should be fun. ■ Again . . . time for bed. Night.
I saw my dentist today. He doesn’t think the tooth is cracked, but has to wait for the endodontist’s notes. So, it’s a wait and see thing right now. ■ That’s a picture of me in one of the USS Midway’s berthing compartments. It looks very much like the berthing compartments we had on the USS Long Beach – small spaces, racks (beds) three high, and not enough lockers for everyone. It was cramped, but your ship was home-sweet-home while you were at sea. ■ Lots to do tomorrow. Got to get to bed. Goodnight.
I took this yesterday afternoon around 5:00 pm, or so. It had been raining and one of our customers leaving the store said “Look at that rainbow.” It’s actually 2 rainbows – the other one is above the one you see clearly and is very faint. ■ Went to the endodontist today for a tooth on which I had a root canal done last year. She thinks the tooth is cracked. Bummer. I see my dentist tomorrow. ■ Time for bed. Goodnight.
