In an effort to add some discipline to my easily distracted mind, I am creating this blog to practice writing and photography on a somewhat regular basis. The title comes from a story about my Irish Grandfather. When I was a baby anytime my mother would ask him if he wanted to hold me, he would say "Does he still shit in his pants?" It sounds like something I would say about a baby and it makes me laugh every time I think about it.
BTW, YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO SEE IT FULL SIZE.
Another beautiful fall day, so we took the dogs to Kankakee River State Park.
There is a great paved bike trail along the river, but we walked the dogs along the shore.
Time for a drink.
A covered bridge on the bike trail.
Every park has someone responsible for preserving it, my thanks goes to C.A. Bert Stevens for this place.
We decided to hike along the Rock Creek Trail to the waterfall.
I didn't have high expectations for the waterfall but I did think it would be more impressive than this.
Another view of the falls.
Roxie was beginning to slow down.
Oslo trying to find our way back to the car.
Along the trail was a small section of lodge pole pine trees. This was a self guided hike with lots of markers but we couldn't find a guide sheet anywhere. It would have made the hike more informative but we enjoyed our first visit to Kankakee River State Park.
Kimmy & I took advantage of a beautiful fall day to ride from our houses to Sweet Woods along the Thorn Creek Paved Trail.
Here's me playing with my camera and the shadows.
Here's my attempt to take a picture while riding.
September 22 - Brownell Woods
I went mountain bike riding through Brownell Woods with my sister-in-law, Kimmy. It was my last chance to ride with her because tomorrow she is having surgery to fix her damaged shoulder. She hurt it years ago and is finally getting it fixed.
My advice to her was, "Go ahead take chances. It's the perfect time to get hurt, you are already having surgery tomorrow, what's the worst that can happen? They have to repair another body part. It's like a 2 for 1 deal."
I had extra time to take pictures when Kimmy backtracked to look for her missing water bottle.
I still had mine.
October 12
Since I was on call last week, it's been two weeks since I took the dogs for a hike. We tried to go here...
...but we couldn't because...
...so we ended up here.
We started out on Trail 2 at a very fast pace...
....which slowed down quickly.
There wasn't much in the way of fall colors except near the boardwalk along the marsh.
After talking to a lady that works in forestry, I found that the dry, warm weather we've had the past month is why the leaves haven't changed yet. Also due to that, the colors will not be as brilliant as past years.
After the boardwalk, we took Trail 10 to Trail 8 and then we took...
As you can see, the weather sucks today. So why did we arrive early? Because today is the last day of Riot Fest, fuck the weather, I have good rain gear and one of my all time favorite bands is playing in Chicago for the first time since they broke up in Chicago twenty two years ago...the best band of the 1980's...The Replacements.
Riot Fest had several food choices, the typical festival/carnival everything fried choices and the increasingly popular food truck choices. I enjoyed the wide selection of options from the food trucks...mostly.
We started out with local ska band...Deals Gone Bad.
Supposedly umbrellas were not allowed but security did the right thing and didn't enforce that rule today. The Riot Fest people did a great job all weekend.
This band hardly looks punk in their yellow raincoats but Pet Symmetry sounded pretty good.
Reggie and the Full Effect drew a big crowd and they braved the rain without yellow raincoats.
Chrissy braving the cold and the rain.
Lots of the beer tent people put up funny signs about leaving a tip. This was one of the best ones.
Environmental Encroachment's 'flag boy' can only mean one thing...
...my favorite band of the weekend is back...rain or shine this band is a good time.
We watched The Silks, The Wonder Years, Bayside, Bob Mould and Against Me. This is The Dismemberment Plan.
It rained on & off all day and the temperature kept dropping. We caught bits and pieces of Rocket From The Crypt, Off With Their Heads, Suicidal Tendencies (they were great), Touche Amore, The Broadways and AFI. We hung out all day with my friend Adam but he is too young to remember The Replacements. But my friend and fellow Replacements fan, Marko did join us late in the day. We decided to pass on the Pixies so we could get up front for the Replacements. That was worth it. The 'Mats sounded great and they put on a good show. Here's hoping they stay together and tour some more. They currently are only playing the three Riot Fest shows.
But since they ended the show in typical Replacements fashion with their song called I.O.U. which contains the line "I owe you nothing", I'm not so confident I'll ever see them play again. But it was great to hear them play tonight.
At some point in the afternoon we decided to check out the sideshow for two reasons...one, I love Coney Island USA's sideshow...two, it was in a tent. They put on a good show and we got out of the rain.
