FINAL COUNTDOWN

Well today we start the final count down for Saturday.  I will have to get my hair cut today, count my final pills, check the water in the golf cart batteries, double check the sound system, and double check to see if I have anything that I shouldn't  take on the plane.

Mary Ann is getting a permanent before we go.   Why do they call it a permanent when it last a little over a month?  She is cleaning the house like crazy and I keep telling her that no one will be here but the caretaker.

Well she is calling me now to take her some place.   Better go...Talk to you later.  

CHECKING OUT THE SOUND SYSTEM

Got a firmware update from Berghringer for the x32.  It is v2.14.  I generally will update as soon as new firmware is published.  All I have to do is download the new firmware from the website and unzip, move it to a memory stick (USB) and insert it into the x32.  It will then automatically update.  I then have to check out the mixer and make sure everything is in working order.  This makes it easy in preparation for the coming season.  

The Lineup For The Coming Season:

One Of These Nights-Eagles Tributes
Esteban & Theresa Joy
Aaron Radatz
Sons of The Pioneers -30th Anniversary
Louis Prima Jr. & theWitnesses
Sharon Owens-Barbra Streisand Tribute
Under The Streetlamp
The Drifters
John Mueller's Winter Dance Party
The Tokens
Lee Greenwood
Chance Tinder & Kentucky Rain
The Piano Man

You can see why we have to get on the ball early because when the season starts changing the stage for each act takes time and then we have the ever ending sound checks.
I really do enjoy and look forward to each season.

I am surprised that I can still put in sometimes a 60 hour week.  I keep pulling the weight off gradually to keep me going. When you enjoy doing what you do, you will never have to work.  I do believe that keeping up to date is helping to maintain my mental disposition.  Mary Ann says there is not much to keep up??????

By the way, Mary Ann has the some preparation in programing the stage lights for each act.   I really am glad she has something to keep her busy and stay off my back.

Just 10 more days before we board the PRINCESS.....TALK TO YOU LATER  
    

A LOT HAS HAPPENED SENCE MY LAST WRITING

Here we are in Happy Trails just coming off a summer of traveling by car.  The years pass by so rapidly that it is hard to believe that I am getting to be an old man.  Some day I will be old and then I can be cantankerous and no one will pay me any attention.  We are not motor homing  any more.  It was becoming a chore to connect  the Jeep to the RV.  Mary Ann said I was getting too old and it was time to hang up the keys.  We sold the RV (money pit) and now traveling by auto.

We lost Sunshine a few weeks ago and void is very real.  We have decided not to get another pet as it is too hard to recover from loosing loyalty.

We are preparing for another adventure in two weeks.  We have decided to take a two week cruse in Europe. (Holland,France, Spain, Portugal, Azores, and back to Florida)  Mary Ann has been packing for two days already. We bought new luggage because of the newer regulations.  (It is her excuse to just buy something new.  New shoes, dresses, hose, get her hair repaired, buy more make up...Just an excuse to spend more money...I will just pack my black suit maybe buy a new white shirt and patch the holes in my underwear.  The sacrifices we men make to keep the ladies happy...(love doing it).

I will try to do better and let you know what is going on in our lives.

Oh, by the way, we are ready for the new season with outstanding entertainment coming.  Mary Ann is programming the new stage lights and I have finished upgrading new firmware for the very faithful Beringer x32.  Working 40 to 60 hours a week during the busy season keeps me out of trouble.

Talk to you tomorrow???!!!

SMOKE

When we look at the map, we see that there are fires in all directions from our position…None are threatening where we are…The one in Salmon is the closest to our camp sight…I do a lot of sneezing from the smoke but it is not thick enough to create much respiratory problems.  Mary Ann is having a ball with tracing her relatives back to England and beyond…She has traced mine back to Germany in the twelfth century…Well I don’t think that there are any inheritance coming my way…

With the smoke as thick as it is, we are not able to see the mountains at times…We enjoy the scenery so much when the smoke isn’t present…Until the smoke clears up we will probably stay close to the motor home and carve and of course Mary Ann will continue her crochet and research…

My arm is healing very fast…I am able to reach above my head now…I hate falling off a hill…I am not as young as I think I am…My feet and small gravel just doesn’t stick very well…

I will talk to you later…Philip 

HELP!!!! I AM LOOKING AT BUYING A BICYCLE

We will be back home in about three weeks…I have been researching for a bicycle…I am still trying to loose weight and thought that riding a bicycle would be better than touring in the golf cart…I have been looking at the cruisers, with a single speed…I have found them from $88 to over $3,000 dollars…The last time (today) I Goggled there were 168 fell into this category…I would like to find something in the 100 to 200 range…If you have any suggestions, let me know…

We spent a wonderful week-end at the ranch with some special people…Relaxing and watching the animals roam…Saw some beautiful bald eagles, looked for the grizzly and her two cubs…She never came down off the mountain while we were there…Probably because of the number of people around…Hundreds of ducks and geese on the lake, and a pair of beautiful white swans and their three little ones…This is a beautiful place to relax and unwind…There is no one around for miles…Only you and mother nature…And of course the hundred of cows that roam…I will miss this place...

I took my camera and was so involved with nature that I never took a picture…So no pictures today…By the way there was no phone service out at the ranch…Talk to you later…Philip

THE TETON TRIP

We left Island Park on a beautiful morning of only 51F…The forecast was for a thirty per cent chance of rain…We traveled by way of the Mesa Falls and followed along the back side of the Tetons…Passing through Driggs and over the mountains (with ten per cent grade) and passed Teton Village on our way to the South Entrance to the Teton National Park…We arrived for lunch at the Jackson Lake Resort Restaurant…This is a beautiful setting from the picture window inside the restaurant…We were seated next to the window, where the pictures were taken…As you can see the beauty of these mountains are always present…The Tetons are really one of our favorite places on earth…We finished lunch and headed back to the motorhome…It takes about three hours, one way to make the trip…We were wanting to get back by five PM…But first Mary Ann had to get a soda at the old fashioned drug store in Driggs…Of course I had to get a double dip huckleberry ice-cream…Mary Ann got a strawberry soda made with Sprite…We started home, satisfied with a beautiful and satisfying day…Well would you know, the storm clouds started moving in from the south-west and by the time we arrived in Aston rain drops began to splatter on the windshield…The wind began to pick up and the next thirty miles was very stormy…By the time we arrived the rain was whipping across Henry Lake and the wind at about fifty MPH began to whip through the park…We were thankful to arrive home before the big storm…

Well here are some pictures of the trip…Notice how the wheat fields are turning yellow and getting ready for harvest…All the potato fields are in bloom…Really a beautiful time of the year…Mountains in the back ground are the Tetons looking from the west…Talk to you later…Philip

LAST OF MY FATHERS GENERATION

My father had two sisters and three brothers…The wife of one of the brothers passed away last week and I just found out about it…She had been very kind to me when I was growing up…I remember when she and my uncle Clarence got married…It was in the days when the girls in nursing school could not be married before graduation…Well they got married anyway and we had to keep it a secret until graduation…Being about school age that was an exciting time for me to keep a secret…She was always there for me to talk to and even fixed me up with a date with her younger sister when I was just fourteen…My first date…Fond memories will always be there when I think of Aunt Larine…Jerry and Jimmy my thoughts and prayers are with you…

Today we are going to drive over to the TETONS again and have lunch…We approach them from the back side and go around to the East…This will take most of the day, but it is a beautiful drive…There is still snow on the Tetons…I will take as many pictures as I can and publish them in tomorrow blog…Talk to you later…Philip