Horse Manure Park

I just finished a fantastic biography about Louis Armstrong by Terry Teachout.  Meticulously researched, entertaining and well-written.  Thanks to the wonder of the internet, I started messing around with Google maps trying to find a few places of interest from Armstrong's life.  Unfortunately most of them are gone - his childhood home, the Savoy Ballroom, the Cotton Club, all of these places no longer exist. But it did find one place that's still around and it's the most unassuming building imaginable.  A hardware store.  Meyer's Ace Hardware in Chicago, to be exact. This seemingly ordinary building is anything but that.  It used to be the Sunset Cafe, the place where Louis Armstrong really got his start playing professionally.  It was here at Sunset Cafe where he was first billed as "The World's Greatest Trumpet Player."  But there's more to it than that.  This is also the place where Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Benny G...

There are times that I need a good laugh.  If you need one, please play this.  And if you think I'm making fun of people, let me just say this:  if you're dumb enough to put it on You Tube, I'm gonna put it on my blog and laugh and laugh and laugh....  The picture of Richard Petty in the background is a nice touch.  I wonder what her trailer house smells like?  ...I think I just vomited in my mouth. Anyway, I'll never listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd the same again.  Ever. Can't get enough?  How about a little Dave Matthews Band?!?!

My nephew Dan just sold a 1933 Chevrolet Deluxe at the Barrett Jackson Auto Auction in Las Vegas... it was the highest seller so far at the auction!  (a NASCAR car sold for more, but that money went to charity). Way to go Dan and Stacy!

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't updated my blog in over a week.  To be honest, I didn't think anyone was paying attention... Not much has been happening over the past week.  I did a couple of fantasy football drafts, which I know doesn't interest many people, but if it does you can read all about my passion for football at www.snotbubblefootball.blogspot.com .  We've also spent the better part of this week nursing a sick little boy.  Neil started spiking high fevers on Monday.  They would respond to ibuprofen, but as soon as it wore off the fever came right back.  He also had a very poor appetite for several days.  Then he broke out into a rash over his whole body.  Beth took him to the doctor on Thursday morning and he was surprisingly diagnosed with strep throat.  They never performed a test on him, so I it is just an educated guess on the doctor's part, but he was put on antibiotics and he definitely is responding we...

I usually don't delve into politics on my blog, but this subject has got a bit of sand in my craw. It has to do with the Koran (that's how I learned to spell it in college) burning ceremony that is supposed to happen on Saturday in Gainesville, Florida. The minister of this organization, Rev. Terry Jones, is determined to go through with the burning even though everyone from the highest ranking general in the U.S. military all the way to the President of the United States has asked him not to do it. It is believed such a gesture, burning the Holy Koran, will spark attacks on U.S. troops overseas and motivate terrorist action in the U.S. mainland.  And I believe government officials have probably hit it right on the head.  After all, Salman Rushdie is still in hiding some 22 years after he was accused of blasphemous references to the Koran in his book The Satanic Verses . To a rational person, the burning of a holy book is merely a symbolic gesture, just like burning a ...

Enjoyed a few days with the Baumann's out in Bismark this past weekend.  Neil got his first haircut, courtesy of Aunt Sara's barber shop:  Neil had more fun doing other things, that's for sure! We visited the Dakota Zoo which was pretty impressive... certainly Ava's favorite part of the whole weekend.  She is obsessed with "mean wolves," so we had to go through the zoo twice in order to pay the wolves a second visit.  At one point the civil defense sirens sounded (presumably for their monthly test) and the wolves began to howl.  I have to admit that was pretty cool.  I've never seen or heard a real wolf howl before and of course that's all we heard for the next day: Ava howling like a wolf.  On Friday night we left the offspring with a sitter and Jon, Sara, Beth and I went to the Blarney Stone Pub in Bismark which had absolutely terrific food and a huge assortment of beer.  Beth found a new favorite brew, "Dead Guy Ale," and I was ab...

I've been thinking about this for a few days, and I've decided my son truly reminds me of a small caveman.  The way he grunts and babbles... the way he has two teeth sticking out of his bottom gum... the way he drags his sister's dolls around by the hair... the way his entire day is centered around primal needs... the way he eats... Captain Caveman He really is miniature caveman. Just thought I'd share that with you.