A Surprise Inside - Don't Get Too Excited!

Hello, friend. I hope this blog finds you well. Oh, my goodness is it 12:27 on Tuesday already? Weekend is over tonight. ARRRGHHHH

I am exhausted. I know some of it is that I am old but I am also getting sick, I think. Sometimes, I think, that is. I just finished mowing the lawn and I am even dumber this week than I was last week. Did I wear shorts and get hit by mulch and stick and rock shrapnel again? Yes, of course I did. How was I even dumber? Well, I wore Crocs with no socks which made it even worse. I had to stop every now and again to empty the garbage that had gathered above and below my feet. I may try to up (or down) the anti next week by wearing flip-flops but missing a large portion of one of my big toes (great toes they are medically referred to - seems like a lot of pressure on a toe) makes that almost impossible. I have a difficult time keeping flip-flops on and they make my partial large toe (not-so-great toe) and it's friend next to him/her (sometimes called the pointer toe or index toe or second toe) sore and they don't stay on so my feet too well. Mine would be flat tires or flats instead of flip-flops.

Yesterday Fabio and I drove to St. Louis to see the Cardinals beat-up on the Cincinnati Reds. It was a really nice day. Aren't baseball games made for fathers and sons in the movies? The game was great, the seats were great and the weather was great except for the light rain at the beginning. It rained at the start of the game for a short while and then the torrential rain arrived on the drive home. In case you are wondering - yes, I had some Cracker Jacks. I felt ripped off when it came in a small bag rather that the box I had grown-up with. The prize was sucky too. It was a sticker that, at first I thought was a tattoo, that gave me a website that I could go to and see the character do something or other. The character did do something pretty exciting - it went to the trash without me ever going to the website or even peeling the sticker off of the backing. The Cracker Jacks didn't even have any peanuts in them as I recall from my yute.. I felt like Ralphie in A Christmas Story. Their website says the boxes only come in one-ounce sizes and the bags are 1.25-ounces. I do not believe this is true based on my experience at the old ball game yesterday.

 

 Is the answer, "a rip-off?" 

I guess my next weekend is partially planned for me. My brother is coming home (home from like 12 years or more ago for him - rough guesstimate on the years) from Hawaii and we are going to Wisconsin to visit my cousins. I am going to try to get to all of the states surrounding/touching Illinois. I have been to all of them but not one at a time in consecutive weekends. So, I have Missouri (the Mississippi River sort of between though the border seems to be half-way across the bridge as I saw last night) and Wisconsin and then I will have to get to (let's see if my memory serves): Iowa (same deal with the Mississippi River), Indiana, Kentucky. I think that is it but Michigan sort of does if you count where Illinois' Lake Michigan water meets Michigan's Lake Michigan water. I am not going to even look because I am almost certain those are the only ones.

I cannot thinking of anything funner than coming here from Hawaii and going to tick-infested Wisconsin. Mowing the lawn today is like spring training for Wisconsin maybe. Just add the ticks and mosquitoes and whatever varmints they have up there. They must have badgers, right? Why else would University of Wisconsin mascot be Badgers. And their badgers are chiseled and wear sweaters.  Red and white sweaters just like the Cracker Jacks bags - DOH!

I watched the Silicon Valley season finale this morning. I thought it was really good. I like that show a great deal. That's all I have to blog about that! You said that in your mind in Forrest Gump's voice didn't you?

I am not sure if I mentioned it or not but I think I am going to stay on Facebook. So, check your numbers from the pool and if you have that I would officially change my mind on June 27th you win the pool. I am having second thoughts of not getting rid of DirecTv too but I am still leaning toward cutting the cord and just going digital with the premiums and such. Feel free to start the pool on that one whenever you are feeling lucky.

I have to change out of my lawn-mowing attire (including the Crocs) and get going to the grocery store. I am so happy that you stopped by. I will probably not blog again until next Monday unless we get back from The Badger State earlier than I imagine than we will. Have a great next six-or-seven days (unless I get back here sooner) until I blog you again. TTTwhenever... MITM (out) TA!

Baseball on My Mind

I suppose I should blog today (Sunday) because tomorrow morning I will be driving to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play a rain-out make-up game against the Cincinnati Reds. It will be kind of weird because, as a youngster, the Reds were (perhaps that should be "was?") my favorite team. I loved The Big Red Machine with: Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Ken Griffey (not Junior), Caesar Geronimo, Tom Seaver, Tony Perez... I am sure I am forgetting so many great ones. If Ozzie Smith would have become a member of the Reds I would still call the Cincinnati Reds my favorite team today. Truth be told blogged I was born into a Cubs' family but I have always been a bit of a rebel (fitting since Missouri was occupied by both Union and Confederate supporters during the Civil War). The game tomorrow is also Carlos Martinez- Matt Carpenter bobble-head day. I am not sure if I could live without one of those - I cannot believe I have gotten this far in life without one. So, there are two (or three if you want to squish) seats available in the JEEP if you want to get a a ducket and get a free ride (parking and fuel included with Fabio and I). I have not been to St. Louis for some time so I am pretty excited. These are the days that I love having Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays off. Most normal humans in the U.S. and A. have to work tomorrow which is why I could get good seats/tickets the day before the game. Do they have turkey dogs at games these days, do you suppose? The ESPN game of the week tonight is Pittsburgh and St. Louis (double bonus).

I got the movie Get Out from Redbox (not to be confused with the Cincinnati Redboxes) a few days ago at the suggestion from a friend at work. It was a really good movie. Fabio also watched it when he got home from work that night and he liked it too. I returned it before Cha Cha got to see it because she was working from Evanston that day and I learned that she had wanted to see it too. I felt like a schlub. It's only a dollar and the Redbox (two of them actually) is less than a mile from our house so I can get it any time she wants to see it.

I am going to take a break from writing this as I began watching Birth of a Nation this morning and I have paused it several times. I recorded it on HBO and am finally watching it. I saw the original version in either high school or college and I liked it very much but this new one is much more cinematically appealing. I am kind of a movie snob these days. I am a huge equal rights liberal as you know if you know almost anything about me so to see anyone (women, children, people of color, homosexual, bi-sexual, religious, non-religious, transgender, mentally or physically challenged...) being persecuted or not given equal treatment or rights as anyone else just incenses me. I have often said that I am prejudice against prejudice people. Maybe that is wrong of me too because they have the rights to believe what they believe too. I guess my problem is when people cause physical, sociological or mental... pain to someone just for being who they want to or were meant to be. Be back quicker than you can say "Jack Robinson." I like to believe that saying is about Jackie Robinson but it from the 1700's so I cannot tie it into the baseball and movie thing even though I did by writing this sentence so, I guess I can. Birth of a Nation (2016) was really good, by the way,

A lot has happened since the last paragraph. I think Jack Robinson would have been back more quickly. Jill and I went to Menard's twice because we underestimated the amount of mulch we needed on the first trip. Oh, we actually got cedar chips rather than mulch this time. We did get some more black mulch to fill-in in the front of the house because it gets windy many times when surrounded by corn fields. We went for lunch at Texas Roadhouse. I remember why we have not been there for more than a year or two (the food is not culinary genius). It was nice being there at lunch time as opposed to dinner time because it was not as loud in there as it is later. It will probably be about two or three years before we go back there I imagine.

I refer to think it is about Jackie

After I get done finishing this I will make sure my bug-out bag is fully loaded in case we run into issues on the road trip in the morning and need to stop and sleep in a manger or something. I hope we have weather down there tomorrow like we are having here today. I am not sure if I am going to take my watch off during the game or leave it on. I can tell how well my tan is doing when I take my watch off. I am much more tan than I thought I would have been. I guess mowing lawns and spreading mulch and such will do that to a fella (or gal). I have always tanned pretty well and rarely burn.

I am gonna end now and go out and enjoy the weather on the patio with Cha Cha. You never know when it may be the last time you ever see someone so I take as many opportunities to be with the ones I love. Fabio wants to have a beer at the ballgame tomorrow and I am unclear what the law is for 20-1/2 year olds to drink legally in Missouri as I get conflicting information on the interweb. I guess I will ask a beer vendor when we are there as I am certain they will know. It will suck if tomorrow turns into a rain-out. That is a long drive for a make-up game later.

Thanks for stopping by; I am always glad to know that you do and to hear from you now and again. TTT (maybe Tuesday). MITM (out)...TA!

Oh Blog Dee Oh Blog Dah

I am sorry I have not blogged earlier this weekend but a lot has been going on. Sunday, of course, was Father's Day so I was whisked-off to Chicago for a great day. I drove so maybe I was the whisker and not the whiskey. Fabio and Cha Cha and I went to Chloe and Andy's place downtown. It was a fantastic day. We visited at their apartment for awhile and then went to Montrose Beach not far from their home. It was a perfect day for the beach. Right next to the beach we were at was Montrose Dog Beach. Wow, those dogs looked like they were having a tremendous time. There are gates so the dogs can not run willy-nilly and take over the city with big shoulders. I think we will have to take Jeff there one time but I am concerned that he would start a coup and Chicago would be under the control of dogs similarly to The Planet of the Apes only with dogs. We treat Jeff pretty well so I am confident we would be put into a nice zoo or circus or something. After the beach we went back to their place and then out to lunch. We all had a really nice time. I assume we did since I did but, perhaps, I am being a bit presumptuous. For some reason, going to Chicago, made my three-day weekend seem longer than usual. That seems odd to me but it is what it seems like.

Yesterday I went to have the Patriot serviced and today I went to have a tire fixed on the 4Runner. Without those two stops the weekend would have seemed even longer. Waiting at auto dealers and tire stores is worse than doctor's offices. The magazines kind of stink and there are no televisions. After I got home from the tire place today I mowed the lawn before it rains as it is supposed to storm here this afternoon (afternoon begins in 14 minutes). They say that insanity is performing the same task over and over and expecting different results. I wear shorts every time I mow the lawn and then wonder why I am getting so chopped-up by branches slapping my legs and my arms and having stones and mulch and stuff smacking my legs and arms like shrapnel. I keep waiting for my Purple Heart for being mulched in the line of duty but it never comes.

When I got done spraying the weeds and putting away the mower I came in and had some iced tea. My favorite is Decaf-Zero Green Tea with Ginseng by Arizona Iced Tea. For some reason, this time, while I was drinking it out of the jug (I like all size of jugs but I usually grab the big jugs) and I wondered about the caffeine. I have an issue with caffeine and I usually get acid-reflux when caffeine is introduced into my delicate body. Do they introduce the caffeine into the tea to make caffeinated tea or do they take the caffeine out to make decaffeinated tea? Apparently, "caffeinated" is not a real word - UNTIL NOW!

The tea makes me remember that I did grocery shopping yesterday. I had to go to three different stores to get all that was on my list. I usually get it all one store but each store was out of come things on the list. I think next week I will drive to North Aurora or somewhere and go to Super Target and get everything I need at one place. All of this writing about food and tea is making me hungry. Maybe it being 12:10 (lunch time) has something to do with it too I suppose. I am thinking either Buffalo Wild Wings or Chipotle.

I need to check the water softener. I just now felt that my hands and they feel a bit dry. I bet I need to get some salt in the softener. I just checked last week and it was fine. Maybe the softener is desalineated (yes, I made that word up, I think). Hey, I just heard thunder - I guess I will need to mow again next week.

Fabio just said that he would be kind enough to accompany me to B-Dubs! He is in the shower getting dry skin right now so I have a few minutes before I need to wrap this up. He usually takes a long tome to get ready so I am not in a huge rush. I paused now and again to watch Sully on HBO. It is a really good movie. What do you expect from Tom Hanks - a man who was married to his wife (Rita Wilson) the EXACT same day that I was married to my wife (Cha Cha). I wonder what time of day they were married. I think Tom and Rita and I and Jill are going to vacation together on April 30th next year to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversaries. No gift will be exchanged between we and the Hanks'. I never even fully realized it will be the 30th on the 30th. The traditional 30th wedding anniversary gift is pearls. Maybe a pearl necklace would be in order?

Okay. I am gonna call it a warp. Thanks a lot for stopping by. I hope you have a great rest of your day and super night. I will try to blog more than once next weekend. TTTnext weekend...MITM (out) TA!

Respect My Blogthoritah!

You will respect my authoritah!

Again the day got away from me and I am just now showing-up at 15:08 and the drier is crying that
the clothes inside need to be folded. I will be right back. That wasn't so bad. It is thundering a bit outside and Jeff is sitting on my feet. He is very sensitive to thunder and storms. What kind of a herder is afraid of thunder? What if the sheep needed to be herded back to the barn? It so funny that he has never really herded sheep but he does all the things that I have seen sheep herding dogs do.

That reminds me that I blogged all about Noah's Ark yesterday and all of the animals but I didn't even mention the: mouse (mice) that have been, supposedly, living in this Ark. Cha Cha has seen it and Jeff and Fabio have seen it several times. So, a week ago I went to buy some non-kill mouse traps for the house. I put one near the back door and on in the corner of the living room where the white mouse has, supposedly, been spotted numerous times. I was sad to go looking for a trap and to see all of the barbaric traps to kill mice and rodents. I finally found these traps that you put some peanut butter in and the mice go in to eat the peanut butter and the door closes behind them. Within a few hours of me placing the traps I looked and one of the traps was closed. So, I picked the trap up and Jeff and I got into the JEEP and we drove to the back of the subdivision that is open fields near railroad tracks. I got out of the JEEP and went to the field and opened up the trap and Harry was not there nor was the peanut butter disturbed. I call him Harry (though I have never seen him) because he is, apparently, an escape artist. So we drove back home and I set the trap back down. I looked over and Jeff tapped the door/entrance on the other trap and it closed. I think Jeff just set off the first one so he could get a car ride - he loves riding in the cars. So, I put the traps in areas that Jeff cannot reach but where the mice/mouse has been spotted. And, no action at all as far as mice sightings or catches. Maybe he/she/they just moved-on as they know we are onto them?  We also have had some ants and the fruit flies in the house but they seem to be gone now. I think we had some bananas that were attracting them but the bananas are gone now and so are the followers.

Mice check-in and they can check-out unharmed (with a free limo ride)

Tomorrow is back to work day. I get three-day weekends usually but I look a vacation day on Saturday this week so I had a four-day weekend. One extra day makes a huge difference. It was great because Splenda was here and I was able to get a lot more done with the extra day too. I cannot complain too much because three-day weekends every week make a big difference too. This weekend was nice because I got to spend two days with Cha Cha as she works the usual Monday through Friday gig (even though she is almost always doing something on her computers for work even on her weekends.

Uh oh, there is more thunder and I bet Jeff is in the laundry room hiding.

I suppose they were The Fab Five

I just got done watching a biography about John Lennon and now I am watching one on George Harrison. They were both kind of jerky to their families. I cannot believe how John screwed his family in his will. Well, his children (Julian in particular) anyway. I did not know that he cheated on Yoko too. Those are probably all well-known things but I didn't know them until now. I don't know if they already did Paul and Ringo but I don't really want to hear bad things about Ringo. I think he was my favorite Beatle. I really liked George too and it sounds like he did some great things toward the end. He did The Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden which was the first large-scale celebrity rock show ever. It lead to things like Farm Aid and such. He also had a huge charitable foundation. I cannot judge these fellows too much as I have never lived that kind of life. It would be tough if my wife left me for my best friend Eric Clapton. It's on REELZ and it will probably be played again. I could go on for an hour about how much I have learned about the Fab Four. I thought I knew it all. I cannot slight these guys because it was a different time and a much different life-style than I will ever have. I didn't realize that The Traveling Wheelburies never played life for an audience.

Okay, I am done for today. I have to figure-out something for dinner. Back to work in the morning. I hope you have a great week and I will probably blog again on Sunday. Thanks a lot for stopping in. TTTSunday?...MITM (out) TA!

Me and You and Einstein and Darwin (makes sense to me)

Well, it is 16:14 and I did not make it to see my mom today. I am saddened by that but I doubt she would know I was there even if I had been able to go. My day got away from me as it always seems to do. I fixed (bandaged in a sense) the two fence posts that are starting to give way. I did laundry (Cha Cha's as I did mine yesterday) and hung most of it out on the line in the backyard. Jeff and I went to the bank - he loves going to the bank because they give him treats at the drive-up window. I worked on another project that Jill had for me - it involved glue and epoxy and soldering so I was cool with that. I cleaned the kitchen as I do every single day that I am in this house. I went grocery shopping for my work lunches which start back up in the early morning. I made my HUGE bowl of salad that will be divvied out throughout the next four days. Jeff worked with me in the backyard a bit and at 10:00 the weekly weather warning test siren began to wale. Jeff turned into the title character from Dances With Wolves and began howling (like Two Socks might do) just like the siren. He does have white socks too but he'd probably be called Four Socks.

If you have not seen the limited series Genius on NatGeo (National Geographic Channel) I highly recommend it. It is about the life of Albert Einstein. Episode seven (of 16 I think) is on tonight but I am sure you can catch-up somewhere if you haven't been watching. Johnny Flynn plays Einstein for the first ten episodes and then Geoffrey Rush will play the elder Einstein for the next six (at least). Rush is very good as Al (I call him Al). The first episode was directed by Ron Howard. Here is A LINK so you can get caught up and watch the show if you wish. It appears that you have to be a cable or satellite television subscriber to watch as it asks you to "select your provider" and login. I will be right back - it sounds like there is another bird in the house and I need to go down and check and save another life perhaps. Nope - it was either some of the hundreds in the backyard or the four that are still living on our front door that I heard.

Flynn and Rush - "Way to go Einsteins!"

I cannot believe it is already nearly 17:00. I guess we are going out for dinner again with our Maid or Matron of Honor (Mary) and our friend Scott) at 18:00. I think we are going to Rosita's and maybe we will eat outside. I will try to sit with a clear head shot if I am on anyone's hit list. I would rather there not be any collateral damage so I will make it easy for you and safer for them. I cannot believe we can even still afford to eat with just having paid property taxes and income taxes. I guess somebody has to pay for that stupid warning signal that makes Four Socks howl. I am not really that hungry but Rosita's has great Tacos de Pescado (fish tacos). I also love their guacamole! We cannot stay long as Cha Cha has another paper due by midnight for her class at DePaul. She is hoping that they don't give her another scholarship because she wants to take a semester off. If they gave it to her and she could use it later that would be nice but she has to use them right away or lose them. I am glad that I am stupid and don't have to trifle with that sort of thing.


While I am writing this I am also watching a show that I recorded April first. It is called Questioning Darwin (as far as I know I may have recorded it April first last year). I seem to have an affinity for the old-time brainiacs. I guess, since I am with Cha Cha, I like the new-time brainiacs too. This is a really good show (one-time. Not a series) too. It was on HBO so if you have HBO you can probably get it on HBOGo I would imagine?

Alright, it is after 17:00 so I had better get things wrapped-up and get ready  - actually I think Cha Cha may be home by the sound of it. It was Fabio coming back from getting a haircut. It's good that he did because I should get dressed and such since I have ruined my chances for an old man nap on my Sunday. Thanks a lot for coming by. I am not sure if I will blog again before Sunday but stranger things have happened. Have a great four or five days (and many more, actually). TTTSa or Su...MITM (out) TA!

Everyone Avoids Me Like a Cyclone Ranger - Everyone!

It's only a flesh wound

I just got done mowing the lawn for this week and, as usually, I did not listen to myself from last week. Once again I mowed the lawn in shorts and cursed myself for not listening to the ghost of mowing past. I feel like I was in a scene from Full Metal Jacket or Saving Private Ryan as much wood chip and stone and tree branch shrapnel I have been hit by today. Not to mention the sticky stinky bombs in the back forty that I walked through. I have to admire that Jeff is a very private pooper and likes to do it out of the main thoroughfare. I suppose being hit by shrapnel is better a cannon ball. While I mowed and took many for the team I listened to the Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard)) Pandora station. It was like listening to MTV back in the day. I knew the lyrics to just about every song and I think I saw about 70% of the artists live back in high school and/or college. Many people will disagree but I think the 80's were the best time for music. I suppose, depending on which era you grew-up in that would change your opinion. I like almost all music  because it soothes my inner savage beast.

Hopefully, things will go well today and I will be able to get down to Yorkville to visit me mum tomorrow. I have not seen her in over a month but she doesn't know whether I am there or not. My dad says she sleeps most of the time that he is there still. Between Cha Cha and I we have had medical things almost every week. I am fine that I seem to be doing well and I don;t have to see the doctor for a year unless something comes up - which it will not. He did mention that is sounds like I have a slight depression issue. I don't think you can be a caring human being with a parent and a spouse who have health issues and not be a bit blue so I will accept that. I just need to drink more wine on my days off I guess. I used to be a rum and vodka and tequila drinker but wine is just fine now for me.

Yesterday afternoon Jill and I met our matron of honor or maid of honor (I never remember which one means married and which one means unattached) for lunch at Acquaviva Winery in Maple Park for linner ot dunch. We stayed there for quite a while and ate outside overlooking the vineyards. It was a very nice time until a high school graduation party showed up and it got loud. I had the salmon with my wine.

I am still considering getting rid of my Facebook account but I have so many ways to convince myself not to do that. We are also talking about getting rid of DIRECTV in August when Fabio moves out. I know I have probably mentioned both of those things before but I have to write that down now and again to continue to convince myself that is what we need to do. I think I had the same apprehension when we finally decided to get rid of the house phone but, as that turns out, that was an amazingly good decision.

I am going to run some errands right now and then I will continue the blog when I get back. It is 11:05 right now. Maybe I will tell you about the boring things that I do when I write again soon.

It is 12:29 now and I am back from the many stops I had to make. I forgot to get electrical tape though - DAHHHHHHH! Cha Cha has a dentist appointment at 13:30 so I will probably go with her and run to the nearest hardwareish store (maybe Target as it is within walking distance of her dentist) for the tape while she is being tortured. I like to walk - I will leave her the keys in case she gets out quickly (HA!).I hooked-up the outdoor speakers yesterday and want to tape (or cap or both) the wires while she is at The Little Shop of Horrors. I love those speakers because they look like large stones. It's kind of like our backyard is Walt Disney World with the Jeff Poop Ride instead of It's a Small World or the Mad Tea Party rides.

Hey, it's only 2:17 and we are already back from the dentist (and me walking to Target). The dentist tried to charge Jill for a crown, that they installed a short time ago, that fell out to be replaced. She told them that she would not pay and they, begrudgingly, agreed. Then they wanted her to schedule a deep cleaning for next moth and she asked if the insurance would cover that and they assured her that it would so she scheduled the cleaning. It's nice when you get to be MIDDLEaged or beyond and you don't really care what strangers think about you in situations like this. I have always just reflected the behavior of the people we are dealing with. Thankfully, almost everyone I associate with is nice. I do have to become a turd emoji now and again though. Oh yeah, I also bought two pack of baseball cars while at Target. I will always be a kid at heart.

Some of my favorites!

I am gonna end because I have to: do the bills, do some laundry, figure dinner out and make it... Isn't it interesting how there is ALWAYS something that we don't want to do that needs to get done? I am planning on leaving Facebook at the end of July / beginning of August. I will continue to blog but I will just post it and, hopefully, people will find it and subscribe so they know when a new post is available. If not, it will amount to, basically, me talking to myself and I have always felt that there is nothing wrong with talking to one's self unless they as, "WHAT? or "HUH?" or "Are you nuts?" Tomorrow is still my weekend so I will blog again tomorrow almost certainly. Thanks, as always and forever, for stopping by. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!