Bob and Bill Go to the Nursing Home

I have a secret. I am a closet musician. Just about every Monday night I play someplace. At least I try to. Monday night is usually an off night for professional and semi-professional musicians so it is a good time for music club meetings, jams, oddball gigs like this one and wannabe musicians creating situations to learn from pros.

One Monday night per month, Robert Smith (a well known local pro) and I and a promising lady uke player go to a local nursing home and entertain the patients. It is good that we have a captive audience since Robert is the only one of our merry band that is ready for prime time. But, they are sweet old folks who are always happy to see us and we wind up having a good time, even if we don't always play up to even our own standards.

I got to know this particular nursing home when Mom was there. The staff are a kind bunch as nursing home staffs go and I spent so much time there with Mom that I got to know several of the old ladies.

When Mom passed, I wanted to give something back to the folks who had worked so hard to make her last days comfortable. I asked the social director about the occasional entertainment they held and found that they have almost no entertainment budget. So, I began putting the bite on my musician and wannabe musician friends and the Monday Night Musicale was born.

I don't always feel like playing and it is a lot of work for Robert who takes care of our sound as well as serving as the "anchor" talent and all around make it happen guy. But, the looks on the faces of the folks makes it worth while. I spent enough time there to learn that the hours pass very slowly in a nursing home, even a good like this one and that a little company, a little attention, just something to look forward to can make all of the difference.

A Rat Pack Saturday Night

The new deck was supposed to be completed yesterday but didn't quite make it. At the last moment Brett, our contractor, found more rusted out joist hangers so, after replacing them, there wasn't time to finish up. But, we were finished enough to have friends over and that's just what we did.

On short notice, Mike and Jodi and Roger and Maddy were on their way. I did some fancy hot dogs, grilled corn and a big jug of Sangria. Sheila made one of her legendary peach cobblers and topped it with vanilla ice cream. One of the best moments of the whole evening was watching each other eat the chili mayonnaise and sour cream slathered corn. At one time or another, it was all over our faces. (Food photos are not mine. They are stolen from the recipes.)

After dinner we chatted a while and then played Bocci ball until it was too dark to continue. Nobody could agree on exactly what the rules were so we wound up playing by a set of ad hoc rules that would probably make an Italian curse all Americans for invading their favorite lawn game. Oh well, we had a good time with it anyway and made a resolution to learn the real rules.

Despite the new deck and deck furniture etc. I'm still cooking on my old Jacuzzi gas grill and Weber "bomb" charcoal grill. I know they look kind of out of place but I am accustomed to them and their quirks and they work fine. Sheila offered to buy me a new, fancy state of the art whatever I wanted grill for Father's Day and I refused. There is something to be said for knowing exactly where the hot and cold spots are on a grill and how to use them, exactly how much charcoal for how long will cook a big bird or eight pounds of pork roast, etc. The Jacuzzi was a five dollar garage sale find that I rebuilt with all new internal parts. It has a solid cast aluminum body and heavy steel frame that will probably outlive me. The Weber was a gift from a former employer. Those grills are old friends. We have history.

I can't post these pictures without saying something about the paver stone patio under the grills. Our contractor didn't do that. Sheila and I did. We've been working until bedtime every night for two weeks on it. I laid the first half myself and then taught Sheila how to lay them so we would trade off and neither of us got too tired. While a professional might criticize the finished product, I do have to admit it turned out to be one of our better projects.

I had put aside a bit to spend a week on the Redneck Riviera this fall. We decided to build the deck instead. If last night was any indicator, I think it was a good decision. Hopefully, there will be many more nights like it with good food and good friends ...... where a good time was had by all.

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OK, everything changes sooner or later, even a barbecue grill. This monster came up for sale on our block for FIFTY BUCKS. It is about the size of an old fashioned wood fired kitchen stove and is actually two separate, height adjustable grills. Couldn't turn it down. Now, I'm just waiting on the Tulsa County burn ban to be lifted so I can try it out. My trusty old Weber will be going to the farm for use down there but I kept the gas grill so that we could grill during the burn ban and also for quick dinners on the grill. Between the two, I should be able to cook a full dinner for a small army right there in my little brick paver outdoor kitchen.

A Rat Pack Fourth of July

It was a quiet Fourth for Sheila and I. We got up early Wednesday morning, drove to the farm and spent the day cleaning house and doing minor repairs. It was the first time we had really cleaned house down there since Sheila was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly three years ago. After a very productive day's work , we drove back to Tulsa in time for dinner with Roger and Maddy at the Olive Garden in Utica Square. I had the Chicken Marsala which is always good and Sheila had their new Chicken Flat Bread Pizza which was also surprisingly good. We always have a good time with Roger and Maddy but the exception this time was a social gaffe on my part. I mentioned Obama at the dinner table. Maddy gently warned me that we were having a pleasant meal and she didn't want to even think about that man in the White House. Maddy, I publicly apologize for mentioning that man's name in polite company and will try to remember not to do it again.

A little before 9:00, we met Mike and Jodi in the underground parking lot of one of the buildings Sheila's bosses' company owns. We unlocked the private elevator the penthouse, went up and settled into a conference room with a huge window that looks straight down 21st street toward River Parks. And that is how we watched the city's "official" fireworks display, sitting in comfortable leather chairs in a luxuriously paneled, air conditioned conference room, listening to the synchronized music program on the radio and watching the fireworks burst over the city. It was a pleasant experience and a good time was had by all.

Note: NOT MY PICTURES. MINE DID NOT COME OUT.

Open Soon - Deacon Billys' Backyard Barbecue and Juke Joint

Our contractor put in a hard day on the new deck project yesterday and it is really beginning to take shape. Since I have already had inquiries, to answer your questions, yes, I will share his name and contact information. But only after he has completed our project. For our friends who will know him anyway, he is named after one of the Maverick brothers of '60's TV fame.

I have found out why everybody wants to hire Mexican workers. After hiring two local handymen to simply level out an eight foot by fourteen foot patch of ground, Sheila and I (mostly Sheila actually) wound up doing it ourselves last night after paying out way too much money for such a simple job. Gee whiz, what part of pick up the old brick pavers, take the shovel and make the ground level did they not understand? It ain't exactly rocket science.

I had my doubts about the little solar lights installed on the some of the posts but as the picture shows, they seem to work pretty well. And this pic was taken after they had only had a few hours charge. They are supposed to charge all day. They give a soft, blue glow to everything and provide just enough light to keep you from stumbling over something or swallowing a bug in your drink.

We had hoped to have the deck done by the Fourth, but that was just not to be, especially with the add-ons and unexpected problems our patient contractor has had take into consideration. But, it is coming along nicely and I will be cooking and serving my famous barbecue and blues out there soon.

Sitting In The Moonlight On Our Half Finished Deck

Last night about bedtime, Sheila called me out onto our half finished deck. She just wanted to spend a few minutes sitting in the moonlight before we went to bed. It was a very quiet, sweet and pleasurable moment.

Most of our time and treasure of late has been going into upgrading the tiny, sagging, in places failing deck out our back door. Our tiny little cottage was previously owned by a fastidious professional engineer who was a single man and ordered his house without too much thought of company. The deck he built was so small you really couldn't relax on it without either blocking traffic out the back door or getting so close to the edge that you might fall off.

We have a family friend who is a great contractor. He quoted us a very fair price to do the work with the understanding he would work it in around his other obligations. So right now, we have a half finished deck, an in the process of renovation lower level paver patio that is actually a large mud-hole from the AC drainage and a backyard so full of building materials and deck and patio items that it's not really worth the trouble to try to mow. The lower level patio is being done by another guy, a local odd job handyman. We gave up on doing it ourselves after a couple of evenings where got about five blocks per evening set. While we are very anxious to just have the project over so that we can completely enjoy it, last night we had enough done to enjoy a nice moment before bedtime. And, anticipation does increase enjoyment when you finally reach your goal, which hopefully will be soon.

When Life Hands You Lemons ... Make Good Lemonade

We had a very annoying accident last week. Hit and run driver took out the right rear quarter panel of my beloved Sonata. I won't have it back until sometime after July 4th. I actually miss my car.

Right now, I am driving a 2013 Toyota Camry that looks just the one in the picture. (I guess I should say that my insurance company is treating me very nicely.) It is a very nice car that reminds me a lot of what expensive American cars used to feel like. The ride is very quiet. The feel is solid. However, the suspension is mushy and while the acceleration leaves a bit to be desired, it is really quiet acceptable for a large sedan. It's just not nearly as good as my Hyundai with the same size engine and fuel economy ratings.

The six way power seats are better than my Hyundai's. They are solid and very comfortable. However, the touch screen LCD sound system, while full of features, does not work nearly as well as the less expensive and less complicated system on my Hyundai. It apparently does not recognize voice dialing from my cell phone. In my Hyundai, all I have to do is hit the button and tell it who I want to call. It does the rest. The Toyota actually makes you dial the number either on the phone or on the touch screen. The controls for the sound system are very busy and complicated. And, it does not have satellite radio, a standard feature on all Sonatas.

The Camry is a solid feeling, predictable, perfectly acceptable sedan. But, my Sonata feels and looks younger and sportier. The Camry's performance is perfectly adequate for what it is. The Sonata is fun to drive. Not a sports car exactly but certainly no slouch on the freeway. The Camry feels heavy. The Sonata feels light. The controls on the Camry are if anything over-engineered. The controls on the Sonata are well thought out and intuitive. Bottom line, glad to have the Camry right now but also glad I don't have to keep it.

July 5, 2012 - I will give the Camry back to the dealership today and pick up my repaired Sonata. I had a chance to take it on a road trip yesterday and found it to be perfectly acceptable as a road car, quiet, comfortable and convenient in almost all respects. The fuel economy is about 10% less on the road than my Sonata, the Camry averaging a little under 30 mpg. while my Sonata almost always averages 32-33 mpg. on the road. I did notice that acceleration improved a bit after the car had limbered up a bit. But take note, the torque curve (or now the computer settings) on the Camry require that you really put your foot down to get crisp performance where the Sonata is crisper in the mid throttle range. Bottom line, the Sonata would probably be about ten to twenty percent quicker than the Camry but because of the throttle/computer settings, the Sonata FEELS a lot quicker. Bottom line, the Camry I had was a good car. Solid, comfortable, heavy/expensive feeling and very quiet. But, sexy it ain't either inside or out. And, the Sonata is.

Bill and Tom Go To the Gun Range

I had lunch with my old friend Tom from Claremore today. After a more than ample meal out our usual hole in the wall Mexican place up on Admiral, I asked Tom what he was doing for the next hour or so. He replied that he had a little time. So, we we down the street to the new 2A Shooting Center.

The 2a Shooting Center is a brand new, state of the art, indoor range that is attracting a lot of business. Every time I go, the lanes are busy. The prices are moderate, the service is excellent and the facilities as safe as you can make a gun range.

I had my new .22 rifle/carbine in the trunk of my car. It is a Mossberg 702. This gun is made in Brazil for Mossberg International and at a hundred bucks it is a steal. It has a fiberglass composite stock and an aluminum receiver so it weighs nearly nothing. But, the barrel and action are steel and it is quite accurate.

I had intended to go the range after lunch and zero the scope on it. So, I did just that and Tom and I took turns going through a couple of hundred rounds with it. Here are some pics. The first is me at fifty yards shooting offhand. The next is Tom shooting at fifty yards offhand. The next is Tom showing off shooting at the numbers under the targets from bench rest at 50 yds. The last is me firing offhand, rapid fire at 50 yds.

Tom tells me that he hadn't fired a long gun in years before today. I had fired exactly 200 rounds in the past week and that was all that I had fired for years. But, after putting a clip or two through the little carbine, we were both firing about as well we did in the military forty years ago, bad eyes, aching joints and all.

I guess we are from a different age. My dad taught me how to shoot. He used to stand me at attention in front of him and make me go through manual of arms until I could toss my Daisey around like a member of the Old Guard. He started me on cork pop guns, brought me up through BB guns and when I was old enough bought me a .22. He made me go through the same safety and marksmanship rituals that he had learned in the Army. I'll bet Tom's dad taught him to shoot too. And, back then just about everybody in our generation did some time in the military. And, I guess that was our post grad training in marksmanship.

At any rate, learning to shoot, owning a gun and being proficient with it was a rite of passage for our generation. Something every boy expected to do as he grew into manhood. And, it was pleasant to sit around with an old friend, punch a couple of hundred holes in a piece of paper and prove that we still had one of the skills of our youth.

And yes, there are some larger holes there that obviously could not have been made with a .22. They are 9mm holes made with my little "pocket" pistol. The best I can say about that is that I still can't hit squat with a gun that small.




July 2, 2012 - The Nazi Zombies had a bad day at the gun range today. 100 shots fired at medium combat range, either 95 or 96 hits. Started out using laser sights and when I figured out where I was aiming wrong, just used the iron sights. Only lost a small piece of my thumbnail to the vicious recoil on my teeny tiny little 9mm.