Horse Manure Park

If you read my blog, you know that I am a big fan of Bon Jovi. But there is another band which I am an equally big fan of -- the boys from Sheffield, England: Def Leppard. I've loved Leppard's music since 1983 when "Photograph" hit the airwaves and I've followed them ever since. They released a new album today, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge and I was out the door at 7:00 a.m. to get it (one sure-fire way to get me out of bed is when a new Def Leppard album is released). This is their first studio album of all original material since 2002... and boy was it worth the wait! These guys never release a bad album. Then again, they take their own sweet time writing and recording, so every album should be great! If you are a fan of '80's music, you really need to get this album. This band is far from dead. In fact, they are writing some of the best music of their long, illustrious career. No, they haven't had the big hits and popularity in recent yea...

I have been working all week and I haven't paid much attention to the weather. After all, I know I won't be getting much accomplished outside, so why bother? But tonight, while surfing the internet, I noticed a weather alert for Baxter, MN. I hadn't heard anything about bad weather, so I clicked on it and it said we should expect 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow night. Two to four inches of snow?! I try to keep things relatively clean here in this blog, so I will sign off before I get myself started... but I could say some really colorful things to Mother Nature and Old Man Winter right now.

Wow, another five days has passed since I last signed in. We had our first rumble of thunder this evening with about 30 minutes of good, steady rain (not snow, real spring rain !). Maybe things will start greening up around here now. I am sick of brown. Even though there are many shades of it, I am about browned out. It is back to work again in about an hour. I just dread this first night back, even though once I get there I just go on "auto-pilot" and get through the shift. But getting there is half the battle. At least there is the NFL draft to look forward to this weekend. The draft actually doesn't start until 2 p.m. central time, so I think I'll just get up for it. It happens just once a year and it is always enjoyable for me, and this sounds like it might be one of the most unpredictable drafts in recent memory. I'll sacrifice some sleep, but it is worth it. Brian and Dale are coming here on May 2nd for our first vocal rehearsal for Farm Fest. Ri...

It has been a few days since I've posted anything. I guess there's not much to write about at the moment. Ava has come down with another cold, although yesterday she sounded better. She is still sleeping right now, but I expect to hear her babbling any minute. I've had a cough for two weeks, but it is slowly getting better. This crud has hung on for a long time. I will be glad to be rid of it for good. I got up at 4:30 a.m. to see Beth off to work. I wasn't planning on getting up quite that early, but I woke up and just laid there staring at the ceiling. I took a walk around the yard (at least the parts not covered in snow) in the early morning light, before sunrise. It was nice enough to wear a jacket with shorts and sandals, even at 6 a.m. I could hear our cardinals singing and the pileated woodpecker doing his dinosaur screech. If it wasn't for the trains roaring by and the traffic on 210, I would have believed I was lost in the woods somewhere. A few fleeting mo...

When I left for work last night, the weatherman was advising against any travel because of "near blizzard conditions." Unfortunately, I had no choice but to travel. I tell you what, if those driving conditions last night were near blizzard conditions, I'd hate to see what actual blizzard conditions are. It usually takes me about eight minutes to get to work. Last night took about 23 minutes. Somehow I made it, but it was some of the worst driving conditions I've experienced... that is until morning came. Then the fun really started. The side streets weren't plowed, so I had to guess where the street ended and people's yards began. I am sure I took the ditch a couple of times, but my trusty ol' Pilot got me home in one piece. I have no idea how I didn't get stuck, but I made it. I took Beth to work this afternoon, but by then the plows went through and the streets were simply wet. I'm not sure what the official snowfall total was, but I am...

It has been a while since I've dropped a line. Not much happening recently, which is fine by me. They say we are supposed to get pummeled by another snow storm tonight. The snow we got last weekend has already melted and much of our backyard is bare. Really, I don't think the weatherman knows what to expect in the coming 24 hours. I've heard "blizzard conditions" with 50 mph winds and over a foot of snow. Then I've heard 5-8 inches of snow expected, depending on the temperature... it could all be rain. Seems like the only thing they are sure of is that it isn't going to be 80 degrees and sunny. Beth and Ava are in Mills right now visiting Grandma. I'm sitting here alone listening to Van Halen (Van Hagar, actually) and watching a black & white grade B flick from 1963 called Hootenanny Hoot, with the sound turned down on the t.v. I can't really tell what the movie is about, but it's fairly clear that it is pretty stupid. The house i...

We went to Sears this morning and got Ava's two year old pictures taken. I've come down with a cold, sore throat and congested chest and I didn't really feel much like getting out of bed, but this only happens once, so I went along. Ava was so good during the photo session. She listened to the photographer's instructions, smiled when she was supposed to, sat still when she was told to and I was so proud of her. We got through the photo shoot just fine and we got some great pictures. It went so well, even the photographer said, "She listens so well; this is easy!" Oops, shouldn't have said that. Call it the calm before the storm, because then came the meltdown. No, it was more like a nuclear meltdown. When it was time to go, Ava clearly had other plans and she threw a diva-type tantrum that would have made Elton John proud. It was one of those I-am-two-years-old-and-I-am-pissed-off-at-the-world type of tantrums, complete with kicking, hitting, and throwing...

I caught most of George Carlin's new HBO Special last night. Most people know he is my absolute favorite comedian. Actually, he's not so much a comedian as he is a philosopher. The man is hilarious, but at the same time brilliant. He was going on about religion at one point and it was one of the funniest things I've heard. He talks so fast and covers so many subjects so quickly that you can't possibly catch everything he says, but this is just a quick snippet of his observations on religion: Here's something I don't understand: Christan men are supposed to remove their hats when they enter a church. On the other hand, Jewish men are supposed to cover their heads when they enter a synagogue. Guess what, folks? Somebody has got it wrong. When people say 'God bless America' is it a question, a statement or a request? God told Christians that Sunday was a day of rest. He told the Jews that Saturday was a day of rest. He told the Muslims that Friday was a day...