Jumpin' At The Woodside

Howdy from the windy city! Sorry for the blurry photo. It's from Lago's camera phone taken across the street from our hotel on the rooftop bar of the Rock Bottom brewery. We're getting ready to go to dinner at the Webber Grill and have sangria and some fine grilled meats. We had lunch at the Bubba Gump at the Navy Pier. The food at Bubba Gump's is surprisingly good, and with the weather today it was nice to eat outside. We may hit Buddy Guy's place after dinner - lookout Chicago! Last night we saw Dave Matthews Band - great show! Two of the members of Parliament Funkadelic, who opened the show, jammed with them for the last 4-5 songs. Looking forward to seeing them again next Friday in Charlottesville, Va. Thurs. night we saw Tim Reynolds, who sometimes plays with Dave Matthews, in a solo acoustic set. He was good, but the local Chicago band who opened for him, Dearborn, totally rocked. Hope an agent signs them soon so I can buy/download their CD. Check 'em out ...

Yesterday the plumbers were here to replace our cast iron waste pipe with PVC and put in a cleanout. What no one expected to find was a septic tank since we were told we were on city sewage. So now we’re the proud owners of a septic tank, which as you can tell from the photos was full. The plumbers called a pumping service who pumped it out. They said we’re good for another seven years. Gross-Out Alert : The guy in the photo on the right was eating sunflower seeds while standing over the open tank - ooga-booga! Mmm, yummy. Hurray, we have a cleanout! After the tank was pumped out and the lid replaced, Lago and I went furniture shopping while the plumbers replaced the waste pipe. The trip turned out a little longer than expected because the furniture store did not have the sectional sofa we wanted on the showroom floor. It was at another store in the north end of town. We were glad we made the trip, because the sofa turned out to be exactly what we wanted and we also decided to go with ...

Photo for the New Lounge .

Although I realize we’re in the south, I didn’t know we were far enough south to see these little green critters running about. I’m used to seeing them when we visit Florida, but I was quite surprised to be greeted at the back door by this little fella. I was heading back inside from cutting the grass today and there he was on the bricks right alongside the back door. He moved over to the window ledge by the time I took the photo with my camera phone, which is why the quality is not so good. I watched him for awhile and he seemed like he was used to seeing people. He acted differently than the lizards I see in Florida. His movements were slower and not as jittery as the Sunshine State lizards. As I watched him, he caught a bug and ate it. It was then I told him he could hang around and eat all the bugs he likes, just as long as he stays outside. Of course that’s more for the lizard’s sake since the cats and dog would have a fine time making a chew toy out of him. Tonight at 8pm is our ...