Chili Fest, Venice . . . . .

Had another good Chili Fest this year.  It was the 22nd one we’ve had.  Lots of good food, cold beverages, warm friends, and fun music.  ■  Venice – our drummer’s daughter has written a book that let’s you choose your own path thru the story.  I’ve ordered 3 copies from Amazon and she’s going to autograph them for me.  The author’s name is Michelle Novak.  I’m really excited to get the books.  They should arrive tomorrow.  ■  Oh, here’s a link to the book on Amazon:  .http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Venice+by+Michelle+Novak&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3AVenice+by+Michelle+Novak

I’ve got a basement full of musical equipment to organize as well as a garage full the has to go down the basement.  Time to get to work.

Makin’ Chili . . . . . 2015

Yup, makin’ chili .  . . .. Had my son, Aaron, helping me cut multiple tons of meat for the chili.  I think we have a total of approximately 24 lbs of meat.  Only 4 of beef and venison burger – the rest of beef and pork that had to be smoked and cut into  bite-sized pieces.  Believe me, that’s a lot of cutting!  Smoked 20lbs of beef and pork on Friday night.  Took 6 hours to do it.  Had there been some wind it might have taken a little less time.  No wind, but we did have rain and some doosies of lightning.  I was outside grabbing some wood chips to throw on the fire when a lightning bolt struck pretty close – close enough that I actually jumped.  Seemed like it was next door, although I’m sure it was a bit further away.  I thought that I’d get struck, but I still had to get the wood chips on the fire – so I didn’t panic.  I do wonder if my pacemaker kicked in.  ■  Made 2 batches of chili.  Aaron made the 2nd one and it’s gooooood!  I need to adjust the flavors of the first one to match the second.  ■  Zoe and I are in my office having out “quality time” – that’s where she sleeps for awhile and then starts her whining to get a biscuit. Then back to sleep.  ■  Cheryl and Bill are in for Chili Fest – the XXII one.  Bill is making a batch of his chili.  He makes the best.  It’s the one I always shoot to beat.  He’s the master.  ■  So now I’m up in the middle of the night – it’s about 2:00 am, posting to my blog.  I should be sleeping.  What’s the matter with me?  ■  I’m on new heart medication.  Was taking  Carvedilol twice a day – now taking Cartia Xt once a day.  Looking to see if I notice any changes.  So far I don’t.  Is that good, or bad?  Don’t know.  Maybe it’s good ‘cause I’m still standing upright (ok sitting at this moment).  ■  Jac, my across-the-street neighbor, made some great mole from a Rick Bayless recipe.  it’s great!  I’ve got to get the recipe.  ■  The weather looks promising for today – it’s already Saturday.  Hopefully no rain and cooler temperatures – perfect for Chili Fest.  ■  This is the XXII Chili Fest.  22 years of bringing good chili, friends, and cold beverages together in the fall.  Lovin’ it.  ■ 

Fall is coming . . . . .

Yup, fall is coming.  I’ve got one picture of the leaves just starting to turn on one tree just to the northeast of us.  I know  I took a picture.  Let me find it.

Here it is.  The leaves are starting to turn.  I think that tree starts early every year. 

Chili Fest is coming up.  This will be the last one.  I don’t think I have the energy for it anymore.  Someone else has to start throwing the parties.

Tomorrow we’re off to the Cribbage Club get-together.  Should be a lot of fun. 

Zoe is starting to have more physical problems.   Her back legs will splay on the hard floors and then she can’t get up.  Just happened with her coming up the stairs a few minutes ago.  She got her front lets on the first step and her back legs splayed on the wooden floor.  Poor baby.  She’s 16 years old.  Most likely doing better than I’ll be at the same relative age.

Yes, it’s time for bed.  ‘Night.’

ASCII Art . . . . .

Beautiful photo of me.  All put together with ascii characters.  What is/are ascii?  ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange – a different code (numeric) for each character, letter, number, etc.  So, my picture is printed out using letters, upper and lower case, numbers, punctuation marks etc.  ■  It was Father’s Day yesterday.  Did steak on the grill, mushrooms and onions, played a bit of lap steel out on the patio.  A nice day.  ■ 

Drawing completed . . . . .

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Completed a drawing yesterday.  The drawing is of my customer’s friend’s home.  The friend is moving away and she thought that a pen and ink drawing of her home would be a great gift.  I think she’s right.  ■  Blackhawks lost tonight.  Bummer.   Time for bed.  ■  Night.

Out to see Billy G at Breakers . . . . .

Went out to The Breakers (local oriental restaurant) with friends from our cribbage group to eat and hear Billy G play.  It was a lot of fun.  ■  Billy G has a really pleasing selection of songs that he plays – lots of Neil Young, CSNY, Eagles, Tom Petty, etc.  I’ve had one opportunity to sit in with him and I’ll get some more in the future.  ■  Redid out patio planter boxes a few days ago.  Really, my great neighbors did 98% of the work.  I can dig about 4 or 5 shovelfuls of dirt and I’m out-of-breath.  The old heart doesn’t pump like it used to years ago.  I think I’m down somewhere around 30% of some heart-rate measurement that I can’t remember right now.  ■  A 3-day weekend coming up this weekend.  Tomorrow I pick up Aaron (our son) at O’Hare.  He’s been in Naples, Italy for the past 3 weeks with the Navy.  It’ll be good to see him.  ■  About time for bed.  ‘Night.  ■

Sleep . . .

Schist.  My sleep has been crap lately.  I sometimes fall asleep easily, but only sleep for 2, or 3 hours; then wake up and am up for 2, or 3 hours and then go back to be and sleep for a few more hours.  Sometimes I can’t fall asleep and then am up for hours before I do.  None of it makes sense.  Right now I’m hot and sweating and yet I’m chilled.  And I’m not asleep.  Last night Zoe came in to our room and went ‘round and ‘round by my side of the bed until she finally stepped between the hose for my CPAP and the bedside table and then went for the door and pulled the CPAP off the bedside table.  Luckily it didn’t break.  I can’t sleep without the CPAP machine.  Sleep is what I need, but can’t seem to get.  ■  Going to bed now.

The weather has turned warm . . . . .

The weather has taken a turn for the better – warmer - 70° today.  I like it.  ■  Went down to Louisville for Easter weekend.  Libby & Jay needed us to babysit our grandkids.  It was a delightful time.  That’s a picture of Maggie Byrd and I playing guitar.  ■  Headaches.  I’ve had a continuous headache since Monday.  It’s just there – more than slight – and pulsating.  If it doesn’t go away in the next few days I’ll get an appointment with my neurologist.  When they tested me a few years ago to try and find the cause of my headaches they did an MRI (jeeze I hate those!) and found I had a small brain tumor.  It’s not cancerous and I may have had it since I was a child.  They didn’t think that the tumor is the cause of the headaches anyway.  Since I now have a pacemaker/defibrillator MRIs are out.  ■  Aaron’s going to Naples, Italy next month for a month courtesy of the Navy.  Should be an interesting experience for him.  ■ 

Snow in March . . .

We were expecting a couple of inches, but it look more like 5-6 inches on top of my grill.  Just when we thought winter was over.. … ■  My desk/office reorg is taking longer that I thought – heck longer than it should.  I look at all the stuff and wonder what to do with it.  If I were smart I’d just bring a large trash bag up here and just throw it all out.  ■  Went and saw our old bass player’s new band – actually one of his new bands – Yesterday’s Children.  10 people in the band – 5 piece horn section, drums, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist and singer.  They were good.  Lots of Chicago, Buckinghams, Ides of March, etc.  Really good.  ■ 

Car working . . . new drawing order ….

My 15 year old Honda CRV was overheating.  The temperature gauge would climb from normal to high and then go back down to normal.  I finally thought to check the coolant level for the radiator.  It was low, so I bought some, filled it up and drove the car to test it.  Yup, it seems I was just low in coolant.  An easy fix.  That’s something I’ll have to remember to check every so often.  ■  Got an order for a pen & ink of a home.  That’s a picture of it in this post. That driveway must be a PITA to shovel in winter!  ■  We’re going to Kenosha, Wisconsin this coming Sunday afternoon to see a  band our old bass player is in.  The band does a lot of Chicago, Buckinghams, etc horn music.  The band starts at 3:00 pm so I thinking we’ll leave here early enough to drive up there and have lunch at the bar before the band starts.  ■  TFB.  ‘Night.  ■

A Flight of Fancy . . . . .

Another bird painting completed.  This one’s a Blue Jay.  ■  The temps are coming up – spring is in the air.  The snow is melting and the dog’s feet are muddy.  We like the warm temperatures, but not the mud.  ■  Practiced with Pat this past Saturday afternoon  and will practice again tonight.  I might join him  for a few songs this Saturday night.  Songs – City of New Orleans, Lyin’ Eyes, Knockin’ On Heavens Door, Dock of the Bay, Love Is A Rose, Down By The River.  ■  Need to get my minimal recording studio set up.  Dying to record some stuff.  ■

Sad day.

My daughter called me this afternoon and asked if her Uncle Jym had passed away.  She had seen something on facebook about him.  I don’t have a facebook account, so I have to rely on others that do.  And, yes, it seems that Jym has passed away.  No other details at this point.  We’ll probably find out more tonight via facebook.  ■ 

Billy Galaxy–2 nights this weekend . . .

Went out to Vicky’s Place in McHenry to hear Billy Galaxy play.  Tonight (Saturday) we’re going to go hear him at The Crystal Lake Rib House.  ■  Dang, but it’s cold out.  -6° right now.   Too cold for the final day of February.  ■  Zoe’s had problems with the cold in the past, but seems to be doing alright now.  Last year when it was so cold she would pick one leg up from the ground to warm it up – then put that leg down and pick up another one.  One time she even laid down in the snow – sort of gave up.  Had to yell at her to get her to get up and get inside.  We’ve, on a couple of occasions, had to go outside and kind of pull her to get her going back to the house.  She seems to handle the cold a little better this year.  ■  Having some work done upstairs next week.  Shoe molding (or moulding – the British spelling) installed, three interior door fixed, some transition strips put in, framing for our octagon windows in our master bedroom and later on redoing the kid’s bathroom.  ■■■■  more later. 

New card . . . . .

I’ve been working on this one for quite a few days on and off.  I think I’m done.  I’ve got no more to say.  ■  Still relatively cold out, but much warmer than it has been.  It’s 12 ° out – at least not in the negative numbers like it has been.  Makes one hope for summer.  ■  Have to go to the Coumadin clinic to get my blood checked and then on to see my Kidney doctor.  ■  After that Pat and I should practice some acoustic songs together.  ■  TFB. ■

Seein’ Billy Galaxy . . . . .

Out to see Billy Galaxy about a week, or so ago.  Had a nice time.  Billy played at Vicky’s Place in McHenry, IL.  Good gig for him.  Maybe one of these days I’ll join him for a few songs.  ■  Holly went to Louisville for the weekend;  Aaron took off for Bloomington; it was just me and the dogs.  Made steak and watched The Outlaw Josey Wales.  Good movie. ■  TFB.  ‘Night.