May 28 A Simpler Time

I recently read Bill Bryson's "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid". (see November 24th post). He describes his life growing up in Iowa in the 1950's in the book. The section where he describes the various toys he had as a child had me laughing out loud. I had a lot of the same toys 15 years later. He joked about how easily amused kids were back then because they could play with a Slinky all day long and never get bored. Here's an old Slinky commercial for those unfamiliar with what is essentially a big spring.



Maybe Mr. Bryson was right. The kids in that commercial look border line retarded. I can't imagine kids nowadays being excited to get a Slinky over a Nintedo Wii. I bring this up now because Chrissy gave me a New York Mets Pez dispenser recently.

I was surprised they still sold them. This candy dispenser seems so out of date nowadays that it made me feel nostalgic for the old days. Every generation longs for how things used to be and now I am old enough to feel that way...at times. Today was one of those times. So I looked around my house for things from 'the old days'.  The only thing I found after a short walk through the house was this shopping list reminder that I got from my Italian grandmother.

Here's a throwback to the days before post it notes, dry erase boards and cellphone calls on the way home to find out what needs to be picked up from the store. This is hung on the cabinets in the kitchen but we don't actually use it. I guess it is just a decoration that reminds me of my grandmother and how things always seemed simpler in the old days.

May 26 The Lonely City

I had to work a few midnight shifts lately. The city is definitely a different place when ninety five percent of the people are sleeping. I had a job at 34th & California which is down the street from Cook County jail. The only people stopping at the gas station there were county cops, delivery trucks and the occasional gang bangers. I was just below I-55 which hardly had any traffic. It was a beautiful night so I turned up the radio and enjoyed the cool breeze on a humid night in the desolate, quiet, lonely city.

the northbound I-55 off ramp at California Avenue at 3:10am

May 22 Kissing

I always try to support local businesses and artisans. I really do try to find special one of a kind gifts when I am shopping. This past Christmas I bought seven season passes for the Towle Theater in Hammond, Indiana. The idea was to hand them out as gifts then we would all get together for a night out several times this year. Tonight was one of those nights. We had dinner at El Taco Real, stopped at the Paul Henry Art Gallery and saw the play "Kissing" at the Towle Theater. A thoroughly enjoyable night out for me. The play centered around the relationship of the four characters and as you might have guessed from the title, kissing was the central theme. The cast had an actor, Shawn A. Smith, that I really enjoyed from the first play of the season, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". He was very good in this play also. He has been in a few Hollywood movies like "Zack & Miri Make A Porno" and "She's Out Of My League". Another cast member, Andrea Walczak, had never acted on stage before this play. She heard about the auditions and decided to rekindle a life long dream. When I read her story in the playbill, it brought a smile to my face. This is exactly why I wanted to support a local theater. Jeff Casey, Managing Director and Kevin Bellamy, Director of Administration do a fantastic job of putting on the plays and making everyone feel a part of something special. Let's face it, downtown Hammond is 50 years past it's prime and has not aged well. During the intermission, Jeff thanked everyone for their support. They have a record number of season tickets this year. All this gives me hope that Hammond might be able to make a comeback. It always seems like the artists start to turn a neighborhood around. They flock to a depressed area for the cheap rents. The clubs, galleries and restaurants follow which brings people to an area they wouldn't normally visit. The area becomes a hot spot. Rents increase, people with money move in, artists move on to find cheaper rent. The cool artist neighborhood turns into a very uncool yuppie neighborhood. OK, not exactly a happy ending. But my point is that maybe Hammond could become the cool artist neighborhood for a few years. That would be a big step forward for Hammond.

May 15 Carpe Diem

A rare weekend that Chrissy & I both have the days off and nothing scheduled. The day starts out with some shower sex. Oh no, not my usual shower sex, this time Chrissy was in there with me. No matter what happens the rest of the day, this will be a great day. So after an early morning walk around the block with the dogs. We are off to Lincoln Park with our niece Kristian.

First stop the Green City Market. It is the first outdoor farmer's market of the year. The selections of fresh produce are limited to herbs, lettuce, mushrooms and apples this early in the season. But there is a great selection of flowers and plants for your own garden. So we pick up several different tomato plants, a basil plant and some pepper plants. Of course we pick up handmade pasta, fiery red chile linguine, from the Pasta Puttana. The day continues to be a great day.

Then we are off to Lincoln Park Zoo. The biggest free zoo in the country. I really do enjoy spending time in the city. The diversity, the freedom of expression and the talented street performers really do add a special experience that is missing in the suburbs. Most of the animals were outside and very active. My good luck continued. Nothing could ruin this day, I didn't even care when I got accosted by a clown in the bathroom at the Children's Zoo. But it did make me wonder what kind of parent let's their children within 50 feet of clowns.

A talented old man playing guitar, a trying to be funny but came off as bitter magician and a trumpet player serenading the polar bears.

 It was a good day for head shots.

This spectacle bear was enjoying bone day. My dogs would have been jealous.

This old girl, a sun bear,  had jaw surgery which caused her tongue to hang out. She was a favorite with the crowd.

This old girl was so excited to find freshly made cotton candy that she was touching herself.

This zebra must have been very hungry. Which reminded me...where is that pretzel cart?

On our way home from the big city, we stopped at the William Powers State Recreation Area. This is more commonly known as Wolf Lake on the Indiana side. Yes, it is surrounded by industries that have polluted it for years. But it is getting better. As evidenced by the many people fishing there and a rather large swan population on the lake. Of course the swans were not the pristine white swans you usually see. I think a dirty white describes them best but I still think it is great to see wildlife returning to this area. Yet another pleasant surprise for me today. We dropped off Kristian and picked up our dogs. It's been such a great day, we decide to take them to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for a walk along the beach at sunset. Did I mention that the sky has been blanketed with cold gray clouds all day. Of course I didn't because this has been a perfectly enjoyable day and the clouds did not matter. Well guess what. The clouds broke right at sunset and we saw a beautiful sky as the sun went down. 

We found a driftwood tree trunk at the appropriately named Lake View beach. The sun was setting right over the city of Chicago and we had an amazing view relaxing on the beach.

The perfect ending to a perfect day. I mean what could top this sunset. Just head home and go to bed. Days like this do not happen very often. But wait, I haven't eaten since that pretzel at Lincoln Park Zoo. Let's drive by Smokey's BBQ and see if they are still open. 

My luck continues and my perfect day ends with a pulled pork sandwich, a side of potato salad and a slice of homemade blueberry pie.

March 30 A Special Bone Day

Yes indeed, today was a very special bone day for the dogs. It was elk bone day. At the Green City Market there is a vendor that sells elk meat, I haven't tried it yet but I will someday. He also sells the leg bones as dog treats. So our extremely spoiled and unappreciative dogs each got an elk bone today. As you can see each dog has a different approach to enjoying the elk bone treat.

Roxy prefers to enjoy hers indoors so she can leave shattered bits of bone on the floor for me to step on with my bare feet.

 Fluffy actually wandered off the patio, this is a rare feat for the old girl. The 3 foot walk with the bone must have worn her out as she yawned as soon as she dropped the bone.

Oslo ran into the yard and attacked the elk bone like he is an alpha male dog. God knows he is nothing like an alpha male, he's barely a male dog. Yes that is straw that we put down for the rainy spring to cover the many spots in the yard that no longer have any grass. It's been down for 3 weeks and so far no rain. And that concludes my bone day update.

March 27 Cowles Bog Hike

We took the dogs on a hike at Cowles Bog today. Since Fluff is getting very old, we had to cut the hike short for her. It was nice to get out of the house and the hike here is definitely worth the trip.

If you can identify this bodysnatcher looking pod, please leave a comment for me. These things were growing everywhere.

Here's the old girl, Fluffy showing off her snaggle tooth.

Here's the Fanook, being himself.

And to complete the head shots, here's Roxy.

Here's the two old timers lollygagging behind the rest of us.

March 20 The Drunk Irishman & The Lost Dutchman

"Must it take a life for hateful eyes
To glisten once again
Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess
Singin' drunken lullabies"

- 'Drunken Lullabies' by Flogging Molly

Some of the guys went golfing today. Others went to the White Sox spring training game. One dumb motherfucker decided to go hiking. That would be me. I decided to drive out to Lost Dutchman State Park and hike the Syphon Draw Trail. After breakfast, this seemed like a great idea. A beautiful sunny day probably about 80 degrees, why not get out and enjoy a hike in the Superstition Mountains. Sure I was feeling a bit hazy. So I picked up a gatorade for the forty five minute drive out to the Tonto National Forest. The park was very crowded. I mention this because the state of Arizona is so broke they have begun closing state parks. The Lost Dutchman is scheduled to be closed on June 3rd. What a shame. This is a topic for another day. I find a parking spot and put on my hiking boots. I learned early on this trip to wear my good hiking boots on every hike. Even the short easy hikes have extremely rocky paths. Not the smooth, level, crushed rock paths like back home in suburban Chicago but jagged pieces of mountain tops that have broken free over the years. So that makes this state park seem like the wilderness to this city boy. I put four bottles of water in my backpack. Mistake #2. Let's backtrack a bit, thinking I could hike after two days of drinking would be Mistake #1, but that hasn't occurred to me yet. Forgot the sunscreen, Mistake #3. I find the trail head and figure I should be able to make it to the Flatiron mesa. Mistake #4, sure it is less than 3 miles away, but it is also at 5000 feet, the trail head is 2000 feet. Immediately, I am breathing heavy and sweating profusely. I began to think my body is punishing me for my activities of the past two days. I push on, sweating out a combination of Miller Lite, Mojitos and Harp Lager. The sun is really strong and there isn't a tree to be found anywhere. But I begin to feel better, the great views probably help. I'm thinking to myself, damn right I can do this hike right up to the top, The Flatiron. So I am hiking along at what seems like a good pace to me, when a family with young kids passes me. The young father with a frame backpack carrying his baby boy. OK, no problem, they are young and they do mountain hikes all the time. I continue up the trail breathing heavy, drinking water and resting often. Then two ladies, probably in their fifties say hello as they pass me. I noticed they were busy doing something with their hands when I realized they were knitting or crocheting. One held the yarn while the other worked the needles or whatever the fuck those hook things are called. I began yelling "God end this misery. Just kill me now". As it echoed in the canyon, some hikers yelled back "Okay!!" I found some much needed shade behind a huge rock. Reality hit me when I started drinking from my third of my four water bottles, I'm never gonna make it to The Flatiron. So I hiked up to the basin and ate my lunch, some trail mix and an energy bar. My legs were tired but I actually felt good. I took pictures along the way. The combination of rocky mountain and cactus made for a cool contrast I haven't seen too often. On my way back down I cut across the mountain on Jacob's Crosscut Trail, just to take a different way back to the car. I ended up hiking part of the Treasure Loop Trail also. Once again, I enjoyed my day of hiking.

The saguaro cactus are impressive. Some grew up to 15 feet or more along this trail.

This boardwalk serves as a reminder to help protect areas like this for future generations.

The trail starts out pretty flat across an area of desert brush and several types of cacti.

This howling wolf sundial was an Eagle Scout's project. Good job and accurate too.

The Siphon Draw trail.

These hoodoos, I think that is what they are called, were huge. 

Some views along the trail. My original goal The Flatiron can be seen here above & below.

The saguaro cacti were growing high into the mountains

The view on my way back down the trail

The end of my Arizona hikes for this trip. It is after 3pm. I have tickets to the Blackhawks vs Coyotes game at 6pm. I have a 45 drive back to the hotel and a 45 minute drive to the hockey stadium. I gotta get going. 

Oh no. I love kitschy roadside Americana tourist traps. Actually I love that some still exist. I figured I had a few minutes to take some pictures...Mistake # 5. I would have bought a cold glass bottle of Pepsi from the old vending machine at the Bluebird Mine Gift Shop but I gave up soda for Lent. Then I thought God wouldn't mind just one bottle. He has to know how hard it is to find a glass bottle of Pepsi. But I figured why take the chance, the way I live most of my life I could use this Lent sacrifice as a bargaining chip in my favor when that time comes. The Goldfield Ghost Town was packed. These people drove all the way out here to pretend they were visiting a real ghost town. The irony of it all. I couldn't even find a parking spot. I double parked and took some pictures but the only good one was the sign at the entrance. Back onto the highway...but wait a minute. WTF. All lanes closed at Rt 101. Where is my map? Is 101 past my exit? No it isn't. Damn it God, I didn't drink that Pepsi.Why is this happening? I get to the hotel about 4:50pm. Showered and back in the car by 5:05pm. Meet up with the rest of the group at McFaddens Bar in the complex next to the stadium. I find out that Konerko, Danks & Beckham from the White Sox were there earlier. Damn that closed highway. My luck changed in the hockey stadium. I was starving and resigned myself to eating shitty stadium food...what is this...a Boars Head deli. Hell yes, I'll have a pastrami & swiss cheese sandwich on rye with a fresh pickle. I am about to see my first Blackhawks game of the season in person. Great seats. Let's go. The Hawks lost 5-4 in overtime. It was a great game, Blackhawk fans outnumbered Coyote fans. Unfortunately, Brent Sopel plays for the Hawks. He was on the ice for 4 of their goals and serving his penalty for the other goal. Back to Tempe. Another night of drinking, bullshitting and general mayhem. About 2:30am, I found myself standing in line outside a pizzeria. It was worth the wait, 2 slices to go. What a way to end my trip to AZ. Walking back to the hotel at 3am eating pizza slices on a beautiful 65 degree night in March. The perfect way to end a much needed break from the real world.