I am very pleased with myself because I have two tickets to go see The Drive-by Truckers. I'm thinking probably most people who read this (if anyone does) probably don't really know who that it. Well, they're a really cool rock/blues/alt country group from Alabama. You should google them and go to their website and listen to some of their stuff. The guitar playing and song lyrics are extra cool.
In other news there are five new baby kitties out in the barn at the farm! We saw them yesterday and they just barely have their eyes open. So damn cute!!!!

So I want you all to go to the New York Times website and look under the Science section and click on the story "Who's Controlling Our Lives". Scary but probably true.

I want to put my house on the market and move to Swisher. I don't need anything more in a town than Swisher has. A nice small old house with a good cross breeze. Able to walk anywhere in town. And really good homemade pie. Oh, and a porch to sit and play my guitar on.

Here's a nice pic of me and Rob. Unseen is Mike. This is at the C & D Lounge in Mt. Vernon. It was Mt. Vernon Fun Days, or Mt. Vernon Heritage Days, or Mt. Vernon Reunion Days, or Mt. Vernon Drink A Lot of Beer Days, or something. The little bar was packed, way, way, way packed. And it was hot in the bar. Sweaty hot. But fun. And I played a little bit with the boys. Not very well, but I guess that's not the point.

I saw live blues in chicago. So there. And it was awesome. And this is a picture of it.

Did I say heat? I meant humidity. Heat I can deal with. Humidity, lots of it, puts me in a bad, bad mood. You just don't want to be around me if the humidity is high. So fair warning. Stay away.

This is a cool day. Why? Because we're supposed to have bad weather! So being the total weather geek that I am, I will be spending the day watching radar images and wishing I was outside. Yes, I'm at work. Which means I can't be out storm chasing. If I wasn't here I would go grab Carol and we would spend the day driving around looking for storms, eating tasty food in small town cafes. Doesn't that sound fun? I'm not kidding either! Instead, if a bad storm comes I'll just have to go into the Hy-Vee storm shelter, which happens to be the cold beer storage place. Hum....that's not a bad idea either!

You know how people go to school, get a degree, go out into the world of work, and how other people then assume they know what they're talking about? Well, that's not so much the truth. Good example? Me. I spent most of yesterday, and most of today (so far), trying to get my head around all the different vaccines that we are now offering at the clinic. I have a basic idea about what each is, and of course what they're for, but as the "expert" behind the needle, I need to know a lot of things about each one. What exactly they're given for, what the individual dose is, potential side effects, when you should NOT give the vaccine, if it's a series of shots, how far apart do you get them, how much each one costs, what age is appropriate for each one....and on and on...and on. Blah! Tetanus, diptheria, whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, Hepatitis A,B,C, varicella, gardasil, pneumovax, zostavax and TB. And I'm sure I've forgotten a few. Please someone call me or email me with something to take my mind off this stuff!

What's wrong with this picture? Believe it or not, we did not even hear this thing fall and hit the fence. One board on the fence completely came down and now the tree is balanced there. Tomorrow is "play with the chainsaw day" ! Anyone up for a bonfire?

It's a night out in Shiroishi at the bar. I think one of maybe three bars in the town. Which is more bars than say, Tiffin has. In the pic are Mark, a guy from Canada who originally was in the JET program , then stayed and now bartends and teaching English, and Tsun, a wild Japanese friend of Mark's and Colin, and Colin. We had a great time sitting around (on the floor of course) in this bar while drinking sake and eating really strange food that I'm still not sure what it was that we ate. Part of it was good, part was gross. It helps to be slightly drunk while eating in Japan.

Sometimes anyway. So the pic is a shot of me, Rob and Mike (they're the professionals) in a bar in Marion. I sit in sometimes and keep up the best that I can. It's a lot of fun, and those guys are really sweet to tolerate me being up there.

I'm losing it.

So you know how much problem I have getting to bed early. Well last night I was trying to get sleepy, whatever that means, and it was about 11:15pm and I had to get up at 5:30. I was just about ready to go up to bed when I hear this screeching noise outside. Soon the dogs run out, and pretty soon I hear the sound of the dog's wooden fence being ripped apart. Great. So down I go into the dog yard, dark, poop-strewn, with the flashlight to see Loki literally ripping the fence apart with his teeth. He's got a good half foot of fence gone to the point where he can stick his head through. So I drag the 80 pound dog back into the house and shut the door, and go back out to the other side of the fence to see what the hell he's trying to get to. There I find Aileen, Malcolm and Angus lounging around like lions who have been gorging on a kill, and there by the fence is a cute tiny bunny. It looks scared, but unhurt, so I pick it up and start to carry it up to the house. Not really thinking what the hell am I going to do with a baby bunny...and suddenly I notice I've now got bunny blood all over my shirt. Bunny has a hole in his backside, and I don't mean a poo-hole. So I can't bring myself to kill it, so I put it on the other side of the driveway under a tree and surround it with leaves. Back into the house, and now I have to get Peter out of bed to help me put huge concrete blocks in front of the hole in the fence or I know Loki will keep digging. After that is done, I now have to try and get myself in sleepy time mode again. This takes another hour or so. The result is I'm now at work with only about 5 hours of sleep. And bunny was not under the tree this morning.

When it comes to home maintenance, housework, laundry, yardwork, etc, etc, etc.....well, I'm not very good at it. This whole weekend I've tried hard to get our yard to look, well, ok. It's complicated by the fact that our neighbors are retired, so they have lots of time on their hands, and they are master gardeners. So, yeah, we don't look so good. But I ordered a bunch of plants this winter, and they came on Friday. So I pulled weeds, planted, mulched and watered. And it was so hot and buggy outside! My problem is that I get so distracted when I'm outside thinking of all the other things I would rather be doing. So I tried to work it so that I would work outside for an hour, then go in and do something else like play guitar. I love ibuprofen.

I'm trying really hard to be a morning person. It's not working. With this new clinic job, I need to get up at 6am, at the latest. This is really, really hard for me! At night, even if I'm dead tired, it's almost impossible for me to actually go to sleep before 11 at the earliest, and that's pushing it. Today is my 3rd day in a row and I need a nap. Hey! I'm going to get one! I only work till noon today, which is why I get to nap in the afternoon! Which is good, because this evening I'm going to a Kernel's baseball game. Minor league baseball is fun. And it will be sunny, and sort of warm. And there will be beer and hotdogs. Yeah!!

Do you feel calm and serene while looking at this photo? Well you should. It's a traditional Japanese rock garden. The place is Ryoan-ji, it was founded in 1450. There are 15 stones in the garden, and it's supposed to be regarded as the ultimate expression of Zen Buddhism. So does this mean these actual stones have been there since 1450? Who knows? Not me! It was kinda cool though. But you know, it was hard to feel Zen-like when there were a ton of people around trying to feel zen.

If you like variety in your toilets, then japan is the place to go. Yes, it's always an adventure using the toilet in Japan. It's a surprise!!!! Will it be a regular toilet? Or perhaps a fancy one that has a heated seat. Oh, maybe it's the one that squirts water up at you to help clean you off?? Maybe it's the toilet that has a faucet up on the top of the tank, so when you flush, the faucet automatically goes on to remind you to wash your hands.....but if you're really lucky, your toilet will lool like this one. A hole in the floor! Yes, these were even in the airports. And you squat. And pee. This was not pleasant.

No picture with this one. Instead I will direct you to Colin's webside where he is posting pics of the trip too. Much better pics than mine. Did you know that Japan a zillion vending machines? And they are full of tasty drinks, including beer. Everywhere you turn there are vending machines. There are more vending machines in Japan than the South has Baptist churches. And that's a lot. Today I return to guitar lessons after not having one for almost 3 weeks. I predict I will sound bad.
Oh! Colin's website: www.alluringtreefrog.com

This was my favorite drink in Japan, other than sake of course. It's a drink thats kinda like gatorade, which I don't really like. So go figure. It was tasty. And replenished my electrolytes.

At a couple of the shrines we went to we came across many stray cats. This was one of them. Very sweet. Oh, in case you didn't know, you can click on these photos to make them bigger to see them better. Neato.