commercials

 Have you listened to a ballgame lately?

    It doesn't matter if you watch on tv or listen on the radio, it seems a constant stream of commercials.

    And not just the 15 or 30 second ones, but the slipped in not so obvious ones.

    Like: 

    On challenges for a replay:   Second opinions are always recommended by Northwestern Medicine.

    Describing the uniforms:  Uniform descriptions brought to you by Sherwin Williams.

    And on and on.

    Tonight I heard a new one.  The Guardians' center:fielder made a sliding catch, which was followed by: all sliding catches are sponsored by Wisconsin Dells, where you can slide into the fun.

    Or something like that.

    Coupled with the betting commercials that run almost every inning and I wonder why I have to pay so much for cable when they have all these ads!

    Anyway. 

    Took a stab at cleaning the garage today.

    What is wrong with me?  The g garage is a mess, the basement is cluttered, my desk area has enough paper to ... I don't know to do what..... just a lot of shit.

    I seem. to have passed the curse onto my daughters.  For that I am deeply sorry.

    So I spent about 90 minutes out there and you can't even tell I did anything.

    In may mind things are organized and clean, but in reality stuff is put everywhere and is dirty.  I need to wash off lawn tools when I am done, not just stick them wherever there is space.

    That's why I spend so much time looking for stuff.

    I know the problem.   I know the solution.  I just can't do it.

    Maybe tomorrow.  But probably not.

Peace and Love

memories

 Sometimes I forget the good tines I have had

    Yesterday I posted a memory of me dancing with a total stranger in The Cavern in Liverpool in 2023.  That seems so long ago.

    I looked through my memories from this date, and found some interesting posts.

    For example, Julia moved to Switzerland in 2002.  When she worked at Nestle in DeKalb she gave us a  case of steak sauce.  I still had one in the fridge until Emily told me to toss it in 2019!

    In 2014 e were under a tornado watch.

    In 2001 I backed out of the garage with the back seat passenger door open on myHonda.  The memory says I lost the door, but I honestly do not remember that at all!

    2024 we had seen friend Sam perform un a show in Rockford.  Sadly, we missed the show this year.

    In 2017 Julia and I went to the winery near her apartment in Chardonne and I sampled some wine and enjoyed great views of the vineyard and the lake.

    This evening I was sitting on the porch with a glass of rosê and it was so quiet..... I could close my eyes and almost see Lake Geneva and the mountains behind it, with a lake boat passing.  Then I opened my eyes and saw the trees and grass and had another sip.

    In 2013 I went to my second Jimmy Buffett concert at Northerly Island in Chicago.  That was really memorable for a lot of reasons. Carrie, Chris, Erin, Stacey, Ross and I tailgated on the roof of a parking lot, which had no atmosphere at all.  And no shade either.

    During the concert I went to the bathroom and as I passed a group of people someone grabbed my butt.  I stopped and looked at 3 young people and asked who did it.  The boys both pointed. to the girl in the middle.  I told her thank you, it had been years since I had my butt grabbed and I truly did appreciate it.  We all laughed.

    But what made the night most memorable, and it was not the Stanley Cup making an appearance, was that this was the first concert at Northerly Island and the sod was laid just a few days before the show.  Then it rained.  A lot.  

    By the time we left we were ankle deep in mud.

    But it was still a blast.  And Carrie was comped tickets for Buffett at Alpine Valley later that summer to make up for our discomfort.

    Memories.  Always make the day a little brighter.

Peace and Love

Tailgating on the concrete parking garage deck

I still have these shirts!!!!

Chief Chrishawk

The end was a total mess!

rain?

 Well, 9 p.m. and no. rain

    Notice the . in that?

    My fingers must be pretty big, because I seem to have commas a lot even though I don't hit the comma key.

    And it is not a key that is next to one I would use.  But the commas keep coming.  Also, I have to figure out how to turn off auto correct.  Sometimes it finishes a word for me and I also finish. the word, making for a strange combination of letters.

    I am not a bad typist.  Really.  I can type without looking at the keyboard because I know my home keys.  I learned that in the only class I failed at Lake View High School.  I think to pass the class I had to type 40 words a minute with 5 or fewer mistakes.  I could type 42 words a minute, but I always had 6 or 7 mistakes on the typing tests.  So I flunked,

    That was/is a case of a failure being positive, because I can type.

    Anyway....I did not do much. today.  Watered the porch plants, picked up dog doo, made supper.  I experimented tonight.  I boiled some small white potatoes, mashed them, put butter, rosemary and parmesan cheese on them and served them.  I don't think I had enough butter because they were a little dry.

    But the steaks were not burnt, which is an improvement.

    I also sat on the front porch, nursing a glass of rosé.  Last year I had several French rosé wines I liked, but this year none of them were in the store.  I imagine the tariffs played a part in that.  Maybe a trip to Binny's is in order.

    To the north I could see lightning and I heard the thunder......but we have yet to get a drop.

    Hopefully overnight or tomorrow we get some needed rain. I may have to mow this week, because the areas around trees that I water and the garden are lush and thick while the rest of the yard is brown.

    My heart goes out to the folks in Idaho tonight.  I just don't understand.

Peace and Love

ESP?

 I may have ESP

    That is extra sensory perception, if you forgot.

    We had friends over to play euchre tonight and when they left, Jackie turned on the Cub game.  Before it came on, I said the Cubs were winning 10-1.

    The score at that time was 9-2 in favor of the Cubs!!

    No, it was not a lucky guess.  I sensed that the Cubs were going to bust out the bats tonight.

    Ok, maybe it was lucky.

    Speaking of busting out the bats, it sounds like a war zone outside tonight.  Lots of fireworks going off.  and it is not even July!  Why can't people just control. themselves.  Just because you can buy then and shoot them off does not mean you  should.

    Emily's dogs may be going nuts.  But it seems to be east of us, so maybe the dogs won't be bothered.  But there are a lot of fireworks!

    I was wearing a good Beatles shirt and after cards I went out to do a couple of yard  things.  I did not want to get the shirt dirty, so I said to Jackie, "Maybe I just won't wear a shirt."

    She looked at me and said that my body was disgusting.  I need to wear a shirt.

    I admit my man boobs and significant paunch are less than attractive.... but disgusting?  Humph.

    I wore an old shirt. 

   We have been talking about going to a restaurant in Sycamore for the past year.  

    Today I called to make a reservation for 5 people for one night next week.   They are closed until mid July for vacation.

    Go figure.  So much for my ESP, eh?

Peace and Love

ghosts?

I can only explain it by people seeing ghosts 

    Not everyone, just some.

    The WM parking lot has signs spaced quite frequently that say "Stop for pedestrians."

    Pretty simple.  If someone is walking, don't hit them.

    I was behind a driver the other day who stopped at every one of the signs, despite there not being a person in sight.

    They must have seen ghosts.  Only thing that explains it.

    Maybe they are trying to balance out the people who don't stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, even though it is a state law.   I mean, there are huge white stripes with signs, and people just drive along while I wait patiently to cross.  And yes, I am standing in the crosswalk at the curb.  Happens frequently when I cross from Jackie's hair dresser to Acres for coffee.

    And if you are undecided, don't stand in the crosswalk.  I have stopped for people and they look at me like I am crazy.  I waved one person to go across, but he shook their head no.  Confused me.

    For you oldies, Petula Clark sang a song echoing that:  "Don't stand in the crosswalks darling, don't look  at your phone."  Or maybe it was subways, I get confused.

    Speaking of confused, neither one of us could think of what we wanted for supper.  We ended up eating plain spaghetti with butter, pepper and parmesan cheese.

    To say it was filling would be a lie.  Noe I am looking around trying to find something to nibble on.

    I did finish weeding the garden tonight.   I also put up a cucumber screen friend Nadine gave me when she moved.  I also planted a row of carrots.  

    It was really nice outside.  Wish that would last.

Peace and Love

c'mon

 Enough of the heat already

    I was soaked just going out to get the mail.  And I had the AC on in the car the whole way!

    I heard of some people from Texas who came up for a visit but left early because it was too hot.  

    People in my hood were cooking lobsters in their pool.

    One of those statements is true, one is totally false, and one is partially true and partially false.

    I got sucked into Reels on FB today. I ended up listening to a hearing of the Texas legislature where a conservative republican wanted to introduce a bill effetely prohibiting school districts from providing litter box for furries.  A Democrat asked the guy how many school districts has this been a problem?  No answer.

    Why?  Because it has never happened in Texas.  The governor also called for passage of the legislation because he heard it was happening in school districts in the state.

    It never happened!  I don't think it has happened anywhere, but for sure not in Texas.

    Yet this dimwits still press on and on with efforts to stop something that isn't happening.

    And they hold office.  

    People need to learn how to verify outlandish statements, not just spread them around.

    I think the heat has affected me.

    I weeded my veggies until 9:30 and then went in to take a shower and do my house work  I waited until after supper to go out and even. then it was still hot and muggy.

    There is not much relief in the forecast either.

    Jackie streams WGN News at 9.  Tonight they had a segment on ?Tom Skilling and Jackie Bange skydiving at Chicago Skydiving Center.  

    We saw friend Bart telling Tom about the win speeds and directions at the various altitudes.  Although they did not identify Bart, we knew it was him.

    Tom went with one of the CSC divers while Jackie went on her own.  I believe she said she has over 30 dives, but I may have miss heard her.

    I wish I had known they were there, my Jackie and I might have gone out to watch WGN's Jackie and Tom gently fall from the sky.

    And no, I have no interest despite what Tom did.

    I like my feet on the ground.

Peace and Love

garage saleing

 This was the weekend for me to declutter

    My New Year's resolution was to go thru boxes and have a massive garage sale at the end of June

    Well, we are at the end of June. I have not gone through boxes.

    Sure, I have piled up stuff to sell, but I have not done the go thru the house decluttering as I had thought I would.

    It's funny the things I have.

    On my first bike trip to Holland, (yes, there have been 2) I bought a pair of wooden shoes. Why in the hell I did that I do not know.  I did not eve. think of them until I was down in the basement with Beth playing tug and throw.  I saw them and thought, "Sell?  Or not sell?

    I have a giant cowbell from Switzerland and a small sheep bell.  In Cuba I bought a hand carved wooden Chevrolet.  I have kachina dolls from Arizona. 

    And going thru my mind is "Sell or not sell?"

    My guess is I will not sell the bells, or the shoes.  But you never know what goes through my mind.

    Emily and Julia are having a garage sale at Emily's house.  I think there will be some really good bargains!  In addition, friend Beth in Kings in having a garage sale and she has lots of neat crafty things.

    They have gone thru stuff.  I haven't.

    Maybe by the end of summer......

    It was hot and humid today.  We had a prediction of thunderstorms, but nothing materialized.  I was outside a few minutes ago and the leave on the trees were as still as if they were glued in place.  Hot.  Sticky. Uncomfortable.

    I watered trees last night, and also the veggie garden.  But we need rain.

    And. that's that!

Peace and Love

Natives are showing some color

The slope

more of the slope