Does He Still Shit In His Pants?

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Febraury 13, 2011 A Winter Walk

Fluffy at Marquette Park, Gary IN

I took the dogs on an early morning walk along the beach at Marquette Park. The first thing that struck me was the lack of snow on the beach. We have had about 30" of snow in the past two weeks but none on the beach. The wind from the blizzard must have blown the snow over the dunes further inland. The sand on the beach was frozen solid. There was snow along the dunes and the shelf ice had sand mixed into it. The shelf ice was about 15-20 feet above the beach out near the open water. While on the dunes you could see icebergs floating in the water. I fell through the wind blown snow drifts several times. Once all the way up to my hip. Oslo & Roxie loved it. The old girl Fluff showed how tough she was by climbing out after falling through the snow. The shelf ice was mostly slush along the shoreline so I didn't venture out onto it.

The Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium

The shelf ice on Lake Michigan

An interesting piece of drift wood frozen in the shelf ice

February 12, 2011 Miller Bakery Café

Miller Beach, Gary, IN

There are very few reasons to visit Gary, Indiana. With the closing of the Miller Bakery Café, there is now one less reason to visit this city. How did this happen to Gary? This city supplied the steel that helped make the United States the most powerful country in the world. Now the country lets it rot and pretends it doesn't exist anymore. The steel mills along the lakeshore provided jobs to generations of families. Those jobs helped create the middle class in this country. Now, the middle class is shrinking rapidly and so is America's standing in the world. The closing of the Miller Bakery Cafe, to steal a phrase from Pink Floyd, is "just another brick in a crumbling wall".

February 11, 2011 Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt

Downtown Joliet, IL

We spent two and a half hours in the unbelievably beautiful Rialto Square Theater watching two of the greatest singer songwriters in America. Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt. They each sat on a chair and took turns playing their songs on acoustic guitars. In between each song, they told stories, talked about how the songs were written and joked around with each other and the audience. It was a great night for this music fan. They even took requests though John Hiatt did warn he might not remember all the words to "Trudy & Dave" when it was requested. He attempted it and when he screwed up, he just laughed and said "oh shit". Both artists spent time complimenting and goofing on each other. If you are a fan of music, I highly recommend seeing either of these two. If your are real lucky, you might get to see them together. After the show we ran into Lyle in the alley behind the theater, I told him that I loved the show. He being the ever so polite southern gentleman said thank you very much.

February 10, 2011 Firewood in Pilsen

Pilsen Neighborhood, Chicago, IL

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

February 9, 2011 Sunshine But No Heat

Lansing, IL

The sun was shining today, but you couldn't feel it. Hell you couldn't feel your feet or hands either. It might have gotten as warm as 10 degrees by the afternoon and thanks to a pretty strong wind, the wind chill never got above -10 degrees. This is the part of winter that I don't like. The end is near but on days like this you feel like it will go on forever.