Rain Rain GO... AWAY!

Ok, so this is February and our weather is "officially" supposed to be SNOW this time of year but instead of that, we are experiencing RAIN of amazing proportions! Get this, we had almost an inch of rain since 11:30 AM this morning! - in February! Check out my weather station display of the rain totals (it's the RED line in picture above!) Sad.... So, check out this video of the rain just POURING down our front driveway and then watch the nice lightning flash at the end of the video - 59 seconds into the video (the doggies loved that one!) I hope you are dryer than we are... I'm trying to remember that rain is a blessing for the plants and hope that the temperatures will return to "normal" so we can have a bit more snow before I must give it up for the long hot summer! :O)
Ok, so check out (below) my weather station's "weather icon" - the photo it picks to reflect the "theme" of today's weather! LOL And last but not least - check out our lightning in this video! Ouch!

An Evening of Music

Last night, Sheila and I went to hear one of my favorite folk singers - Bill Staines. Bill has been traveling the United States for many years and has logged (according to him) several million miles while traveling the states. In fact he has two albums named after that pursuit "The First Million Miles" and "The Second Million Miles" which are both excellent albums.

Last night Bill sang many of my favorites and Sheila's too. It was a very small and intimate venue at the Lake Street Church up in Evanston and so it was a very nice evening. They even provided treats during intermission (including carrot cake and coffee or tea plus some cookies.

I purchased a CD of course plus a music book with probably the majority of his songs in it.
It will be fun to learn to play many of his songs on the guitar. Sheila purchased one of his books too but I'm not sure if it's a surprise gift for someone so I can't tell you too much about it right now. Later on I will say more about it.

All in all it was a really nice evening and we got his autograph on everything we purchased.
Bill as a singer has been said to remind people of a cross between Burl Ives and Kenny Rogers. As a guitarist he is somewhat unusual in that he plays the guitar left-handed and with the guitar upside down (string #6 on the bottom - not top). That means his fingering of the guitar chords is very unique. There have been other famous guitar players that adopted this style of playing (such as Jimi Hendrix) but Bill does so with "finger-style" picking which makes it very interesting. He is quite an accomplished guitarist and his songs all tell stories. He has experienced a lot of life along the road and has many stories to share from his travels, some of which are quite funny!

All-in-all (despite the very cold temperatures and icy wind blowing), it was a very nice evening out.

If you would like to check out Bill's music, you can find him on iTunes or visit his own web site.


Jerry

Coffee anyone?

Well, this morning started with a bang! I went down to our Starbucks coffee shop (yes, we have our own - right in the building where I work!) and the girl who works there in the shop (who is always nice) filled my order, proceded to hand me the coffees (white chocolate moca for me, regular chocolate moca for Sheila) and the lid popped off the chocolate moca and boom - it spilled all over my pants! Needless to say she was upset and apologetic but I told her not to worry about it - I'm wash and wear! LOL So, how did your day start today? LOL - Love to all, Jerry

Crummy jobs - part 2

So, think you have a bad job? Look at these poor fellows - up about 60 feet in the air, temperature was around 25F (not counting wind) and they are replacing a glass panel at the tippy top of the buildling..... Makes me glad I work inside where it's warm!!!!