Looking forward to Steph’s wedding

Our niece, Stephanie, is getting married in September.  My son and I have been asked to play a song for the father-daughter walk-down-the_aisle part of the wedding.  We’re very honored to be able to do so.  I’ve been working diligently on the song for the past 3 months.  It’s not a hard song to do, but I’ve had to arrange it for the wedding.  It’s a rock song that has to be done elegantly.  And – it’s time for bed.  ■

Yeah, we had a lot of rain!

Rain – yup, we had a lot of it.  Over 6 inches.  And we had some water in our basement.  Not a lot, but enough to ruin some of the carpeting down there.  Went out and bought a wet/dry vac and a blower.  The basement’s dry now.  We’ve decided to take all of the paneling and carpeting and dropped ceiling out down there.  We think the house will sell much more easily if the basement is a blank slate.  ■   Back to work.

Zoe’s doing better.

Our Zoe is doing much better.  The doc put her on some pain meds and over the past couple of weeks she’s like a new pup.  She’s back to laying in my office with me which she hadn’t done for a few weeks.  Abby has also taken to laying in my office.  Nice to have the company.  ■  I have a drawing that I’ve got to finish tomorrow, so bed is calling me . . . ‘night.  ■

Zoe . . .

Took Zoe to the vet today.  Not really much he can do for her.  He gave us some pain medication for her.  I hope it’s helping. 

Zoe . . .

Zoe is still slowing down.  Likes to stay in her hidey-hole.  Hard to get her out of it – have to pull her out by her collar.  But she’s a fighter. 

Zoe – having problems

Our dog Zoe is having problems.  She’s experiencing some pain and then some paralysis that lasts for a minute or 5.   I’m guessing she’s have some small strokes.  She’s going to sleep in our room on the floor.  And Abby, I’m sure will be on the bed.  I’m wondering if I should sleep on the floor next to her.  I’ve got to see if I can do that with my cpap mask.

Done

Now just have to get note cards printed and then ship the drawing.  I think it came out pretty well.  ■   Memorial Day weather – poor.  And it rained tonight/this morning.  ■  Lots on my plate tomorrow.  And with that – good night.

Black door, or red door?

Still working on the house drawing.  The house has a red door, although that’s very hard to distinguish in the photos, and the owner wanted to see what that would look like in the black and white drawing.  I scanned in the drawing, printed out side-by-side copies and filled in the door as black in one drawing and red in the other.  The red I have is kind of garish, but I could tone it down a bit by adding tiny dots of black.  ■  It’s almost 3:00 am and I’m up.  Stomach is “off” and head aches a bit.  Here I am doing a blog post with Abby on the floor next to me.  I have trouble sleeping.  I used to be able to drop off asleep in a few minutes and sleep the night through.  Now I’ve got a hard time getting to sleep and staying asleep.  The ambien (generic) isn’t working anymore.  ■  Went out to dinner tonight as the Crystal Lake Rib House.  Had their chicken dinner. It was very good.  Have to thank Ellyn and Terry for the gift certificate that we used for the dinner.  ■  I hear tails wagging and hitting the floor.  Zoe has joined Abby and I in my office.  They’re looking expectantly at me like it’s time for breakfast.  ■  At last a yawn.  Maybe I can retire to bed and get some sleep.  ■ 

Catching up . . . . .

This is drawing for someone that won/purchased it at a benefit.  I’ve been busy with other drawings and stuff and now I’m finally getting down to drawing it.  I did do a preliminary sketch of it 3 or 4 months ago, but hadn’t the time to get to it.  Now it’s on its way towards completion.  ■  Had a great time at Murphy’s for their Lilac Parade party.  Saw folks I hadn’t seen in months.  Great food, too.   ■  I’m still working on the ol’ dobro.  Trying to get lots of practice in and it’s showing.  My playing is getting better bit, by bit.  I want to learn to play “Danny Boy”, so I bought some tab (that’s a type of musical notation for guitar (stringed instruments) in open G.  Open G is one of the alternate tunings used by guitar players.  There are dozens of different open, or alternate tunings.  Open G is simply tuning the guitar to a G chord (when all the strings are strummed.)  “Danny Boy” came in open G – but I discovered that it was a different open G tuning – there are several.  My square neck dobro is tuned GBDGBD, while the tab was in DGBDGB.  While they both basically sound the same, the tablature for each would be different.  I couldn’t get the song to sound like itself when I followed the tab.  I thought I just wasn’t playing it with the correct timing.  Not so.  Now that I’ve figured out what was wrong I’m going to have to figure it out by ear.  Not a big deal, but it’s going to take me more time to get it down.  ■  My right knee is still hurting and I wear a brace on it every day.  If a bad knee weren’t enough, I threw out my back Monday morning reaching for shoes to put on.  The back will take a few days to heal.  Usually about a week before it’s back to 95% normal.  ■ 

Practice makes perfect.

It’s true.  Practice does make perfect.  I’ve been practicing my dobro, but I’ve got a long way to go before it’s anywhere close to perfect. 

Lost picture found . . . . .

It wasn’t really lost ‘cause we hadn’t been looking for it, but Holly found it yesterday.  The picture was taken in New Orleans by the Riverwalk.  From left to right:  Erin, Libby, Justin, and Aaron.  Erin’s an engineer, Libby’s a lawyer, Justin’s a chef, and Aaron’s a 2nd class petty officer in the Navy. ■  My knee felt fairly good yesterday, but today is a step back.  This just isn’t healing like I thought it would.  I’m wearing a brace everyday to help minimize movement.  ■  Elmhurst Lilac parade coming up this Sunday.  Looking forward to it.

Band starting again?

Pat has obtained a transfer to Chicago and should be back in town at the beginning of June.  Now to put together some music.

4x6 Drawings . . . . .

This drawing was very quick to do.  It’s only 4x6 so that’s a lot less space to have to fill.  If I did add them to my list of drawing sizes what should I charge?  Things to think about.  ■  And it’s raining . . . again.  I think everyone is sick of so much rain.  The Fox River has done some flooding.  I’m not sure how bad it is.  ■  Lighthouse meeting tomorrow morning at 7:45 am.  TFB.

Sunday chicken dinner . . . . .

Is that typical?  Nah.  We were hungry for chicken.  It was delicious though.  ■  Tomorrow I’ve got to call the doc, get blood work done, start on a couple of drawings and hope this knee isn’t too bad.  Short post.  TFB.  ‘Night. ■

Medical fun . . . . .

Went to see the doctor this morning.  Ended up going to the hospital for x-rays of both knees and an ultrasound of my right leg (for possible blood clots – none found.)  Then a new prescription – steroids for my right leg.  Already my leg feels better.  ■  Delicious steak on the grill tonight and chicken planned for tomorrow.  ■  Supposed to be 57º tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to warmer weather.  ■