Party Time...

On July 4th, we are having a party for Pam's 50th birthday. She is thrilled about finally getting to that milestone...

So, we have been doing all sorts of little tasks to get the house and new patio finished and put in order. Storm came over the other day and helped me fix the back yard fountain. Last year, I must have spent 40 hours on it trying to fix it a bunch of times. During the previous winter, there was some water in it and it froze and cracked off a corner of the bottom water holder section. I tried basement and pool paint, concrete patches, and all sorts of patches and paints to try to fix the problem. Then, this year, Pam mentioned, why don't you just put in a plastic liner in the bottom pool. Well, that was just too low tech for me but it works great. Storm brought over some plastic from his work that they put on top of the hay stacks and it is working perfectly. Another simple but elegant solution to a sticky problem.

Storm also helped with another problem we had. There was this section of our walkway going into the patio that had about 6" of air space under it. We t0re it all apart and there was this drip irrigation hose that had popped off a shut off valve and was washing all the ground away under the walkway. That is now fixed also.

We have had all kinds of moths lately everywhere. They get in the edges of all sorts of doors and opening devices. And, then when the door is opened, there are about 100 moths flying around and getting into whatever the door is attached to. It is quite a start when it happened the first few times.

So, now we have one of those bug zappers with the light and the electrical grid that frys bugs with a zap sound. We shall have to see how it works.

We also got one of those Topsy-tervy tomato planters that you hang up and the plant is hanging out of the bottom. It is quite a device and built well, but we shall have to see how it really works.

Last night we went to Jackpot, NV to buy booze for the party. Its a lot cheaper there than at the local state owned liquor stores. We also had a great buffet and played slots a little, but enough to be gagged out about it yet again.

The business is picking up again. All the new needles are here and I have been redoing the shipping and warehouse room to add all the new products. Its looking and working good now and we are ready for lots of really big orders.

Well, that is about all that has been going on here. I have been to a number of doctors and having all sorts tests done. O, I did have to go back to the ER a week ago. I woke up about 4am and my left arm was totally numb. After about an hour, it was still numb, so Pam took me to the ER and we spent the morning there getting all sorts of tests but nothing was found and all is well. They thought I had a little hole in my heart, but if I do, the treatment would be to put me on the blood thinner med that I am already on for life now, so we gave up hunting for that dog...

Well, that is all that I can think of that has happened around here, except that we have had LOTS of rain lately. There, now I am done here in DaHo...

Kenny Loggins Concert in Sun Valley...

Last weekend, we went up to Sun Valley again. This time we were going to see Kenny Loggins in concert at the new Sun Valley facility. This time we stayed with Pam's sister Roberta as the available condos were too expensive for us. And, staying there was big fun. Tommy played with her two very large dogs. He was so excited and would run all around the floor being very low. Sorta like a low rider run. I guess it was his way of being friendly and was really hoping they would think he was also...

Anyway, we watched the bird do its paper into feathers trick again. And, it is really amazing to see what he actually does. He grabs the paper and runs down the side he is cutting with his beak tip making holes in the paper. He uses his tongue to move the paper into position for the cuts. Then, when he is at the end of his new 'feather', he goes back and cuts out all the spots that he didn't get the first pass. It is amazing how well he can do the cutting without missing a spot.

After a good dinner, Pam and I went to the concert. The facilities were awesome and reeked of big money. The bathrooms were like the ones in a LV Casino - very impressive. The stage was the only hard roofed part of the facility. From there, was a soft roof suspended by cables. It sorta looked like a circus tent roof, only much nicer. It covered the 'expensive' seats. Then after the tent roofed section was a lawn where folks to sit on the grass and bring their own chairs and stuff. We were in the nice seats under the tent roof about 20 rows from the stage. There were two sections of the good seating that were almost empty. I would assume that they were being sold by some ticket seller, like Ticketron, and they didn't do very well with it.

Anyway, the concert started and it was sort of ok at first. Then, a couple of the women that were up front, started coming up and grabbing people to come down to the front and dance and soon there where a lot of people down there, including Pam. Then Kenny Loggins got in the middle if it all and Pam got a hug and short dance with Kenny. She was very impressed with it all as he was one of her idols from long ago. From there, the concert got a lot crazier and everybody had a great time. About 1/2 of the way through, all the folks from the cheap seats were allowed down and the place filled up. All in all, it was a great concert and we all had a good time.

As I wrote before, the weekly handicap 8-ball tournament is now going on on Wednesday nights. So, I went last week with Storm for his birthday. I didn't do well and was out midway through it but Storm ended up getting 2nd place. Then, last night, I went and played again. There ended up being 16 people in the tournament and the bar added in $25 to the pot - something that doesn't happen too often.

Anyway, I was playing sorta OK, but luckily, during the first few matches, I was playing better than they were and won all my matches. They went fast and I was at the only unbeaten left level at about 9:30. I didn't play again until two hours later for the finals. I was pretty tired by then and lost my first match with the player that was the only beaten one left. She and her husband are friends and she plays very well. I had to give her 6 points which makes it tough to do. On her way up, she had to play her husband, who is very good also, and beat him. So, during the first match, she tore me up as I was just not quite up to speed yet. I was thinking about splitting up the first and second pots and calling it an evening, but by them I was irritated in how I was planying. So, I had to play and hopefully win by then. Then, on the final match, we had a very tough match and in ended up winning by a couple of points. So, I won $45 for the nights work, which is not too bad around here. It was my first win of the year and I was very pleased with how I was playing after being sick for so long. Now, my handicap goes up and makes it harder to play against the other folks from now on.

We now have a gardener and he comes and does the lawn every week. This morning he work me up about 7:30... But, he does good work and I just cannot do all the lawn maintenance work this year.

The business is going along. We will be getting our first shipment of our new BIG needles in next week. They are for 300# to 500# lines - Very BIG stuff used for catching Marlin, large Tuna and such things.

Well, that is all that is print to fit here in DaHo...