Coming back from Indianapolis last week, I had the chance to give up my seat on the 3:45 flight and take the 7:00 flight for $300. Sure, why not?
Within a couple hours, the sky turned black and a huge storm blew through. The 7:00 flight turned into a 9:00 flight, then 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00. I finally landed in Lincoln at 1:00 and got home by 1:30.
JP painted the laundry room and the new fridge was delivered in time for the holiday week. The plan is to install some cabinets above everything and replace the utility sink with a vanity.
We would have hit Zoofest for day 2, but GP's band Momma Bird was playing at Ceresco Days. GP had to get there early to help set up the equipment, so we had time to explore the festival and downtown area of Ceresco (30 minutes north of us, pop. 850). That took all of five minutes. However, there's a furniture store there called Ernie's that took 40 minutes to walk through. Next time we're looking for furniture, we're going to go there.
It was scorching hot, and we were all cranky, so we went to "That Place" and chowed down before the show. JP & I split a Rueben that was out of this world with in-house smoked corned beef. CP had a cheeseburger, and GP loaded up on pulled pork mac & cheese.
The stage was a flatbed trailer. I think there were more parents and friends of the bands there than Ceresco residents (especially once the music started playing). GP's band had their first drunk heckler - he was giving them a hard time about not playing country music. They are going to need to learn at least the "Theme from Rawhide" if they are going to continue to perform in Nebraska.
The video is of one of their original songs called Worm. It's in D drop C tuning, and it sounded awesome in person! This was the first time they performed it live.
This video has the heckler stumbling towards the stage at the end of their second song. If I had known how entertaining his exchange with the band would be, I would have kept filming.
When the boys were little, Zoofest was different. It was at the Milwaukee County Zoo and it involved strollers and lots of walking. Now in Lincoln, Zoofest is a different event entirely. It's a 2-day blues music festival on 14th street in front of the Zoo Bar. We caught three bands Friday night: Evan Bartells, Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials, and Los Lobos.
Lil' Ed was AWESOME! He's a true Chicago blues performer. He and his band put on an incredible performance. See more about him here:Lil-Ed-and-The-Blues-Imperials. Our favorite song was "Chicken, Gravy, and Biscuits"
CG & DN had a good time, as usual. CP was hating it until we got a burger & fries into him and Lil' Ed started playing.
This year the 4th fell on a Wednesday. Bleh. Our old neighbors from IL, the N's, came out for a visit. We spent the day @ the pool and then returned to our own hood for a cookout with the D's next door and, of course, fireworks all night.
This weekend was slow, so JP got us started on remodeling the laundry room. Step 1 was to remove the cabinets. Step 2: Stack the dryer. Yesterday we ordered a new fridge from The Home Depot (Hooray for 4th of July appliance sales!!) Now it's time to paint and find a cabinets and a utility sink/vanity before the fridge comes next Friday.
This week we celebrated our anniversary with the boys at our favorite neighborhood lodge. Hard to believe how quickly time flies when you're having fun!
CP & I spent two long days at this year's Formula SAE event in Lincoln working as Technical Inspectors for the electric cars. It was a blast!! There were teams from universities all over the world competing in a dozen categories: design, cost, acceleration, braking, skid pad, fuel consumption, etc.
I've been trying to get CP interested in joining the UNL team. They don't have an electric car, but they still need all sorts of electronics gear.
I wasn't paying attention to the weather the other day and got caught off guard when I walked out of work to go home. There was a storm stretching from Beatrice to Lincoln that looked nasty. Fortunately, there was no hail.
Last week I spent a few days in Michigan doing some mower testing. Everywhere we went had fresh lake perch on the menu. In three days, I probably ate 4 pounds of fried fish.
GP's new band Momma Bird performed last night at UPCO Park (North Lincoln). It was 91° and steamy. When we got there the stage was in the sun. By the time they played, they had some shade, but they still each lost five pounds of sweat.
Their setlist was Your Decision and Would by Alice in Chains, Fudge (original), Plush by STP, and The Trooper by Iron Maiden. The Trooper is a forearm buster on the bass - it has a FAST gallop all the way through.
Another of our beloved animals left us this week. L had struggled with diabetes (it runs in the family) since we got her six years ago from my friend at work. The vet thinks she had pancreatic cancer.
She always had to be in the middle of whatever you were doing. And if she noticed that you have a free hand that is not petting her, then you'd get a bite.
She slept with us every night and got up with me every morning. Although she slept most of the day in the sun, she was there and ready to help in the morning and nights.
JP put the sofa pillows on top of the sofa to try to block the cats from sleeping there. L accepted the challenge.
This week I had to go up to Windom, MN, to visit one of our factories. The only way to get there is to drive north. It was a beautiful day, and I was in no rush, so I stopped to see the sights along the way.
Stop #1 was LeMars, IA, where JP's best friend MN grew up. It's home to Blue Bunny ice cream and Bob's Hot Dogs.
Stop #2 was Hawkeye Point, IA - the highest point in all of Iowa. IT's at 1,670 feet above sea level.
The last stop of the trip was the Phat Phheasant in Windom, MN, for a tasty slab of walleye.
Friday night the boys and I took in a show at the Bourbon: Stone Temple Pilots with The Dirty Hooks. The Hooks are a startup band from Vegas - the boys really liked them.
Stone Temple Pilots was an awesome band 25 years ago, and they still sound awesome today with their third lead singer.
JP found a soft spot in a board on the deck. Further probing revealed more soft wood and rot. Everything is made from cedar, but it seems like some cedar boards don't resist rot as well as others.
Both boys helped out. CP climbed under to pull out some lag screws, and GP learned how to drive in finish screws on the new steps.
The board that caps off the end of the steps is what gave out. It also took out a few inches of the ends of the top and bottom steps. We were able to trim the ends of the bottom steps and reuse them on the top. We only had to buy three pieces of wood (for $100).
We had perfect weather for a memorial day weekend, but it was HOT!
Last year, we booked our third trip to the Valentin Imperial Maya. Then we waited for 261 long days. In years past, we went during the endless miserable spring. This time, we were waiting for KG to complete her courses at UNL.
This is the view from the beachside restaurant where we dined each morning.
The N's from Woodstock joined us again.
The whole group. New this year are the G's daughter and her boyfriend.
KG celebrated her birthday while we were there. At lunch, our waiter, Gilberto, gave her a special birthday lunchtime treat - a round of tequila shots for the table and a special song.
Our other beachside waiter was Jorge. He made our meals fun every day.
Every day we went into the crystal clear water and swam with the fish.
While sitting in the garage (afternoon sun out of the wind) and working on my tan, I noticed that my reflection in the car door looked kinda cool. No digital trickery here.
