Mmmm . . . . . .

The ribs and potato salad were great!  Trust me on this.

Almost the weekend . . . .

I can’t believe that I haven’t posted anything for a week!  I’ve just been busy, which is good, but leaves little time for the blog.  ■  Had a couple of porterhouse steaks on the grill last night along with a new favorite of ours – onions done in a foil pack with some butter and some Cavendars seasoning.  Unbelievably good.  ■  Today Holly got 3 slabs of ribs to do on the grill on either Saturday, or Sunday.  ■  I’m always looking for software that will make me either more productive, or solve some problem.  This week I downloaded and installed LibreOffice – an open source replacement for Microsoft Office.  This one looks like it has a decent database as a replacement for Microsoft Access.  I can’t wait to dig into that one.  I love database development.  ■  I also installed a Chrome extension called Quick Note.  I think Quick Note is also available for FireFox.  It’s nice because you can quickly pop it up – make a quick note and then that note automatically syncs with your online account with Diigo.com.  I can now access my notes from my pc, my iphone, or my ipad.  Evernote does much the same thing, but I haven’t played around with Evernote very much.  ■  Need to get to bed.  It’s already tomorrow!

One drawing to go and then . . .

. . . I’ll start on this one.  Just got the order last night.  ■  I’m starting work today at noon, so I’ve only got a few minutes before I leave.  ■  We’ve had rain over the past few days and I think more rain to come today and this weekend.  ■  Got to run … more later.

Working on a map . . . . .

. . . of my pen & ink drawings.  The one above is of the visitors to this blog.  It’s going to take me awhile to get all the data that I can get together and put into the proper format for mapping.  ■  Work has been fewer and fewer hours.  Less and less business.  ■  I’ve got to look at different options in marketing my pen & ink business.  ■  I’ve got a breakfast networking meeting tomorrow morning, so it’s off to bed for me.  ‘Night.  ■

My vet’s office . . . . .

I did a quick pen & ink of our vet’s office.  ■  A quiet weekend.  Got the John Deere started.  I need to change the oil before I actually use her, but it started up right away.  ■  This year I need to edge the sidewalks.  The grass has made great inroads on the walk leading to the front door.  I’ll have to do a before and after picture.  I also need to purchase some type of edger to help with it.  ■ 

The evening sky . . . it’s raining so I didn’t get a look at it . . . . .

Although I really like to include a photo/picture/drawing with each post, sometimes it’s just not possible – tonight is one such night/post.  ■  Worked a couple of hours today and Holly and I watched one of the Bourne movies on TV.  I do like the movies, but the books were so much different.  They did a good job on the movies – they just didn’t have any relation to the books – at all.  ■  Tried adjusting the garage door lights again, but no luck at getting them aligned.  I wish I could tell how far off I am.  Maybe I’ll have more luck tomorrow, or Sunday.  ■  Again, it’s late and time for bed.

View of our evening sky . . . . .

Pretty, isn’t it?  That’s looking from our patio – south.  Nice moon, or maybe UFO, not sure at this point.  ■  Work is slow.  With the on-coming baseball season we’ll lose some students.  Bummer.  ■  I need to get some orders in for pen & ink drawings.  ■  The lights that control our garage door are off kilter.  The door wont’ go down without holding the inside garage door opener button down ‘till the door is shut.  I’ve laid on the garage floor trying to adjust it, but I’m not having any luck.  ■  Time for bed. 

The geography of my drawings . . . . .

. . . . or where the houses I’ve drawn are located. --- I finally found a web-based app that can physically plot on a Google map of the locations of the houses that I’ve drawn.  Kind of neat to look at.  Eventually when I get all my data I’ll post it on my Pen & Ink website (www.shrandahl.com) – you’ll be able to click on a marker and view the drawing.  I’ve never really kept good track of where the houses I drew were – and in some cases I only know what state the house is located in.  ■  Steak on the grill tonight.  That’ll be a treat.  Meat has really gone up in price.  ■  And our garage door opener is acting up again.  I think it’s the sensors at the bottom.  I don’t see the green light on.  I’ve tried moving it around some, but haven’t been lucky enough to get it to line-up.  ■ 

Vet visit . . . . .

I took Zoe to the vet today for her annual checkup and shots.  She’s had some pain lately, which seems to originate from her hind left leg area.  The doc checked her out and worked and felt both hind legs, but no pain.  She’s 11+ years old and is showing signs of aging – harder to get up and down (sounds like the rest of us to me!) and greying muzzle (like my hair, or so they tell me. . . . :)  (That’s our vet’s office in Algonquin in the picture).  I’ll be keeping a close eye on her.  ■  We’re going to audition a guitarist on Sunday.  I’ve moved over to bass in the band and we feel that we need another guitarist to help fill out the sound.  ■   At least the weather is getting warmer – although that’s not as nice for sleeping – I like it cold.  ■  Time for bed.  ‘Night.

Dancing with the . . . . .

Our theme for our cribbage group was “Dancing With The Stars”.  Everyone was supposed to bring hors d'oeuvres in line with the dance they’d been assigned.  I don’t know if that worked, but the food was delicious.  ■  Holly dressed the bear for the occasion!  And the girls even played a couple of games of cribbage!  ■  Tomorrow (actually today) is our band practice.  We’ll see how we sound as a 4 piece – 1 guitar, bass, percussion, and sax/harp.  I don’t know if we have to add another guitarist, or maybe a keyboard player.  We have several different way we can go.  ■ 

Testing New Blogging Software

This is a test of a new platform for blogging. This is test number one.

Cribbage theme–dancing with the . . . . .

We’re hosting cribbage this weekend and decided to go with a “Dancing With The Stars” theme.  Each couple was given a dance to represent in their hors d'oeuvre.  And we’ll push the furniture up against the walls in the living room, roll up the carpet, and dance!  Each couple was assigned a dance - Paso Doble, Quick Step, Jive, Waltz and Samba.  We’ve been assigned the Samba.  The samba is apparently a Brazilian dance.  ■  It also appears that Holly will dress our bear appropriately.  Not exactly sure what that means. . . . . ■  I’ll take pictures of the food and of the dancers.  ■

Mail call . . .

Went out to get the mail a little bit ago.  This was part of it – enclosed in a larger envelope from the post office.  Looks like postal machine chewed it up.  What you see is all we received.  I don’t recognize the handwriting, so I’m wondering who sent what.  Maybe Holly will recognize the writing.  ■  Off to work in a few minutes.  ■  Tomorrow I’ve got to give a short presentation on the Kalo website to the Kalo board.  I also need to make 35 copies of a handout for the presentation.  ■ 

Bass player left . . . . .

The bass player we had left.  He had been practicing with a country band for the last couple of years without gigging, but they’ve started booking some gigs.  I don’t blame him.  I’d do the same thing.  ■  We practiced today and I played bass.  It would be easier to add a guitar player than try and find another bass player.  We sounded good and we’ll try it again next week as a 4 piece and then make a decision.  Next week we should definitely try and record the practice.  ■  Holly’s back from Green Bay where she went to visit her mother.  Steak on the grill tonight.  ■ 

Band reorg–will it ever end?

Our new bass player called me today.  The country band he’s been practicing with for the past few months has started booking gigs.  So, unfortunately, it looks like he’s out.  Nice guy and good bass player.  Bummer.  ■  On the other hand it gives me a chance to move to bass.  We guitar players are a dime a dozen.  Bass and percussion are hard to find.  ■  We’re practicing tomorrow, so we’ll see what we decide to do – find another bass player, or another guitarist.  ■  What do you think we should do?