Pinball Wizard of a Weekend

Mom and I were scheduled to head up north to Dekalb, IL last Saturday for a Sheryl Crow / Gary Allan concert. I was pretty stoked because it's been a few years since I've seen Sheryl and their venue would be smaller than those in the Peoria area.

As usual, anything beyond the concert would be icing on the cake. We headed to Dekalb mid-morning and arrived at our hotel in Rochelle early afternoon. I saw a coupon for a $4.99 haircut and jokingly asked Mom if she wanted it. 10 minutes later, I'm sitting at Great Clips watching Mom get her hair did. This still makes me smile.

Next stop was The Historic Downtown of Sycamore where we happened to crash their Fall Festival. Six popcorn balls later and we were on our way to Star Worlds Arcade in DeKalb to play some old school video games. BurgerTime, Galaga, SuperMarioBros, Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles, PacMan, Ms PacMan, and Tetris... heck yeah we played em all! (And those were just the games we were familiar with.)

I knew Mom enjoyed pinball, but I had no idea she could bring it like a Pinball Wizard!


Myself? Well, I still prefer my racing games and absolutely lost it cackling when my 18-wheeler went careening down the highway!


After a a little Pad Thai at the hoppin' Thai restaurant in the Historic Downtown of DeKalb, Mom and I made our way to The Convocation Center and NIU. There were signs posted all over and it was even noted on our tickets that no cameras were allowed. HA! So below is a photo of our original seats. I say original because after we met the boot stompin', loud mouthed Melissa, we opted to move to higher grounds at the back of the arena.


I managed to get a few shots of Sheryl performing before I was kindly informed about the no photo policy and how my camera would be confiscated if seen again.

This is my favorite of the bunch before I retired my camera for the evening. Sheryl gives Jennifer Nettles a run for her money when it comes to smiliest singing. Love it!!!

Maggie Rose opened the night and then Gary Allan took the stage after Sheryl. I have an extremely glowy photo I could post of his performance from my cell phone, but it's totally not worth it. Nor was Gary Allan's set. Between the lights that kept blinding us, the bass thumping your chest, and the inability to hear his voice, there was a constant trickle of people exiting the venue. Mom and I confirmed they were heading for the doors like we did after about the 4th song.

Don't worry, we totally go our money's worth with Miss Sheryl Crow's performance. Only thing I missed was an encore. :)
Definitely a fun weekend with Mom!

We Meet Again - Wild Animal Sanctuary

While out in Colorado, Emily and headed out to Keenesburg to say, "Hi!" to my little buddy Casper the coati mundi. Just like 2 years ago, he was in a separate "house" from the viewing walkways. Since I don't have any good pictures of Casper, I thought I'd share several of my other favorites.

One of the most fun things about seeing the big cats is seeing them make similar actions to your small house cat. I name this one, "Ode to Gus".

Here's a pic of the walkway I spoke of. Since my last visit, they finished the mile long extension of the walkway that allows you to overlook the bears, wolves, alpacas, fox, bobcats, and the newest editions of lions and tigers.

It was so exciting to see the bears in action and up close for the first time. These are just a few of my new friends. A couple others were munching on seasonal gourds or wading in the water tub.

I call this one, "Ode to Sparky". I guess you'd have to shrink him down a bit (especially the legs), but it was fun to see him wake up from his nap, stretch and then shake it out.

This shot gives you an idea of the area these animals have to roam. Morris the camel was grabbing some lunch in the alpaca and horse enclosure when he caught the eye of some curious lions.

Here's one of the tiger enclosures where the alpaca/horse area runs across the back and the lion area shown above is off to the right.

And here's a closeup of my "Ode to Jinkies" hanging out on the top of the middle spool stack from the photo above.

Had he been awake, I may have been able to answer the question, What does the fox say?

If you still haven't watched that video, then what are you waiting for? What does the fox say?

How to replace a Pink concert

In search of live music to replace the Pink concert that was postponed due to vocal rest, we meandered up to Evergreen and found ourselves at The Little Bear.

I'm not one for the bar scene, but some good food, great friends, and a band (PJ Zahn) playing covers while I'm highly caffeinated can make for an awesome night.

Some glow sticks would have made it epic, but they slipped my mind, so we had to make due with our surroundings. There wasn't one inch of Little Bear's walls that weren't covered by graffiti or a sign covered in graffiti.

I've never taken part in such activities, but when the perfect opportunity presents itself, you must take advantage! Hanging in the billiards area were two fox and hound prints asking to answer the question, "What does the fox say?"

We couldn't leave out the horse and hound.

Why not add in a duck...

...and an elephant!

Here's one of the final products. I think our graffiti was a nice addition to what was already there.

After winning a couple games of pool, randomly singing, and brushing up on my drawing during the band changeover, the evening continued a bit longer with Mojo Mama.

No, none of our underwear is hanging from the ceiling of The Little Bear. And no, I did not carve anything into the tables. Yes, a bartender will look at you like you're nuts when you ask for a Baileys with decaf coffee.

That pretty much wraps up the fun evening with Emily and Joe. I was graced with Toni's, aka Kitteh's, presence when I finally went too bed.

If you haven't You Tubed the video, What does the fox say?, please do so now.

Happy Little Tree

No, I didn't get a Bob Ross painting. I finally cashed in my birthday present from Tom and Laura and got a tree for my front yard. Mom and I went to Hoerr's nursery over the weekend and I picked out a Chanticleer Flowering Pear Tree. Tom had the day off thanks to Mr. Columbus and then hijacked grandpa, picked up the tree, and got to work.

Tom didn't exactly sign up for what he found at the bottom of the hole.

Several old tree roots hacked up and pulled out, but there were many more to go.

I thought this would be the largest one, but didn't get to see them hit the motherload because I had to get back to work.

A love my happy little tree and look forward to watch it grow over the years.

The Balloon Experiment

The stars aligned when I was given the okay to "play" with the leftover helium (from a tradeshow) AND I found some balloons!

Bet you can't guess where I sit a work.

Here I am getting settled in after a quick run to CVS.

My goal was to get as much mileage out of the balloons as possible. Note: Balloons had to be attached to the leash because the collar was too close to Sparky the "chicken dog".


Apparently when you attach balloons to your dog, well, people assume it's his birthday.


Totally UNPHASED!

A quick weave under the table and chairs and Jinkies escaped.

My results:

1. Sparky is scared of balloons
2. Jinkies doesn't care
3. Balloons, whether attached to a 33 year-old or a dog brings smiles to faces.