At the gig . . .

With our pet frog . . . Cute isn't he?

Made our newspaper . . . . .

I think at some point here in the last few days I mentioned that I had joined our local Chamber of Commerce.  That news made it in to our local newspaper.  It just made it as “Pen and Ink Drawings”, but at least it’s a tiny little bit of advertising.  ■  Charlie, our drummer, and I delivered gig posters to the venue we’re playing at this Saturday.  Better late than never, but we, as a band, have to be more on top of this.  ■  The lawn needs mowing.  I’m going to try and get that done tomorrow before I have to go to work.  It’ll be a busy day tomorrow.  Time for bed.  ■

Rain . . . songs . . . don’t they go together?

It’s about 10:50 pm and it’s raining.  That’s the current weather radar to the right.  ■  Had a good band practice tonight.  We’re adding a couple of new songs this gig.  It’s always good to add new songs.  And what are they?  “Long Gone”, “Wonderful Tonight”, “It Aint Me Babe”, and we’ll be working on a few more over the next couple of weeks.  ■  We discovered that posters for this Saturday’s gig hadn’t been delivered, so tomorrow Charlie and I will run up to Powers Lake, Wisconsin to deliver some.  ■ 

Lots done . . . except gutters . . . . . .

I did a lot done today.  Got estimates for Holly’s car repair; did another sketch of a home in Alabama; did a sketch of the home our daughter is buying (not on my list); made changes/additions to the Kalo Foundation website (www.kalofoundation.org); but I didn’t clean our gutters!  If it’s not raining Wednesday morning – that’s my job.  ■  Did steaks on the grill tonight.  Delicious.  ■  And why am I up this early Wednesday morning (12:30 am)?  I had a dream about a raccoon and I needed to close our bedroom window – so the raccoon can’t get in.  Ok, it’s a 2nd story window and I can’t imagine a raccoon being able to get in through it, but  . . . . . ■  If I get a chance tomorrow I’ll cut our lawn.  It’s about ready and it’ll be too long if I wait until the weekend.  ■  The weekend will be busy – a gig and then the Lombard Lilac Parade.  I’m a judge at the Lilac Parade and have been for I guess the past 3, 4, or 5 years.  Hard to remember.  ■  Hopefully the raccoons are sleeping.  Time for me to go back to bed too.  ■

Working . . . sketching . . . drawing . . . . .

I’ve finally decided to try and use graph paper to give me a more accurate depiction of scale for this drawing.  I’m not sure it’s working.  Ok, it might be helping a bit, but I’m thinking that maybe I’ll do better without the exact measurements.  We’ll see.  ■  I’ve got some updates to do on the Kalo Foundation website, but I’m just too tired tonight after getting home from work.  Tomorrow:  1) Changes to Kalo site;   2) Another sketch of the house above;   3) Clean the gutters;   4)  Get estimates on getting Holly’s car fixed – someone backed into her at church – and then they ran.  A hit and run.  Nice.  Especially at church.  ■ 

Aren’t they beautiful?

They’ll only be like this for another few days.   It would be nice if they’d bloom all summer.  ■ 

Trimming trees . . . . .

Hard to see, but there are two guys (arrows point to them) up in my neighbor’s tree trimming it.  When I was a kid I could climb trees like that, but not anymore.  ■  The lilacs are beautiful.  I took a few more pictures that I’ll post here in a little while.  Patience . . . . . .

Lilacs are beginning to bloom . . .

Our lilac bushes are beginning to bloom.  They’re beautiful in the spring.  Too bad they don’t stay like that all summer.  ■  Finally got to cut the grass today.  It sure needed it.  Thank goodness for my John Deere.  Walking and cutting my lawn is a real pain – especially in my left foot.  This dang gout attack just won’t quite quit.  ■  Our electric dog fence is broken.  I think the village cut the wire when they put in a new piece of sidewalk last year.  The dogs never knew it (and I didn’t know it either), but Mollie has started to wander down the block.  I replaced the batteries in both collars, but Mollie still crosses the fence line.  I’ll have to call the dog fence people Monday morning.  ■ 

What’s on your fridge?

Our fridge door doesn’t look exactly like this – this picture was taken in 2005 – but it’s not far off.  Lots of magnets – almost all of them with photos from our life – and lots of memories.  I can remember stripping the fridge of stuff in the last house when we were selling it 20 some years ago and it just didn’t look right.  ■  Mother’s day is coming up this Sunday and I forgot to send my mother a card.  Not good.  ■  Time for bed.

Rain and my back feels like it’s going out . . . . .

It started raining this afternoon.  Not hard, but fairly steady.  The water coming over the gutters reminds me that I need to get up there and do some gutter cleaning.  ■  My last gout attack hasn’t completely gone away.  It’s still stubbornly hanging around in my left foot.  And today my back feels like it’s about to go out.  ■  Band practice tonight.  We’re working on a couple of new songs.  Heck, we added a new one at the last gig – at the gig.  But these two new ones will take a little more practice to get just right.  ■  8:00 pm – had band practice.  It went well, except Charlie, our drummer, didn’t show up.  Charlie – where are you?  ■  11:30 pm – Gout.  Is that gout “.” period, or should it be “gout!” with an exclamation point?  I’m sick of gout attacks and this last one just hasn’t gone away.  It’s moved around in my left foot – bottom-left; bottom-middle; ankle-and-bottom;, but it hasn’t gone away.  ■  And gout isn’t the thing that’s really on my mind.  Where’s Johnna?  That’s my biggest mystery right now.  ■ 

Done with one and onto another . . . . .

I’m done with this drawing and will be starting, well really continuing, another drawing.  ■  I joined our local Chamber of Commerce last week and attended my first mixer with them last night.  Met a few new people and some old friends.  There’s a chamber breakfast next week that I’ll plan on attending.  It’ll be good to meet some new people and try and further my pen and ink business.  ■  Busy day today – maybe more later . . . . .

Fun gig this past Saturday . . . & stuff to learn . . .

  Here’s a picture of part of the group that comes out to hear us play – part of our “Bullfrog Family & Friends” group.  ■  It felt good to be back on stage and performing.  The last couple of months have been rather lean with gigs.  ■  I had changed strings on my Tele (that’s the guitar I’m playing in the picture), but

the G string was way out of tune.  I couldn’t figure it out.  I’d tune the guitar, play a chord, and everything was ok except for the G string.  I tried intonating it, but that wasn’t helping.  I finally found the problem – the G string was sitting on top of the nut – not in the slot cut for the G string in the nut.  Once I fixed that I was able to intonate and tune the guitar.  So much to learn . . . . . . ■  Tomorrow night is a Kalo Foundation meeting.  I’m going to try and get to that, if possible.  ■

Green and growing . . . . .

Everything is green and growing.  Yup, spring has sprung.  Flowers are blooming and the grass is growing.  I finally had a chance to cut my lawn today.  I’m sure the neighbors appreciate it!  ■  Bullfrog had a gig last night – Saturday.  It went well and it was a lot of fun playing again. It seems like such a long time since we’ve played.  Added a couple of new songs - “All Summer Long” (Kid Rock), and “My My, Hey, Hey” - (Neil Young).  Good gig.  ■  Holly did a lot of yard work today.  Still lots to go.  ■  Smoked chicken teriyaki and pork on the grill tonight.  Holly made broccoli and baked potatoes – a meal fit for a king!  And we have leftovers to eat during the week.

What a great picture!

Our daughter went to the races in Louisville yesterday and took this picture with her iphone camera.  I think it’s just a great picture and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Wooooh . . . . . . . .

I’m not sure what kind of “title” that is for my blog, but I couldn’t think of anything else.  ■  The picture to the left in the blog is “enhanced” to bring forth the colors in the snapshot.  ■  Jac brought over a neat instrument – it measures the temperature of whatever it’s pointed at.  It’ pretty cool. Kind of neat.  Maybe I’ll get one.  ■  Bedtime.