Good morning GH, I'm back. Since I like to go to bed early I also like to get up and write on by blog early. It has just passed 2:00 AM, and our current temperature is 61 clear degrees as we head for a high of 78. No precipitation is on the horizon and that's mostly good with me. However, that does mean that I have to water today. Not difficult, just one more thing in a list of things that need doing. Sugar the Weather Dog is sound asleep in the bedroom, so I am certain that the weather will remain calm for the foreseeable future.

Yesterday was one of those days where time got away. Sugar and I walked, I read the paper, and then we had dinner. Next thing I knew, it was past midnight. No guitar playing, but I did listen in on a Webinar about my computer software that lets me talk instead of type. I learned some things, but I am certainly no expert. I also spent some time with my Irish whistle and I am improving each time I pick it up. Mary thinks I am doing fine; I still think I sound like a pack of alley cats on the prowl. Oh well, that's my opinion and I am entitled to it.

In my quest to recall the past, I was thinking about the places where I listened to music when I was younger. Where I grew up, in Arlington Heights, IL, we had a place called The Cellar , a teenage venue where rock and roll was played. It only lasted a few years. Bands like the Byrds and The Shadows of Knight played there. We also had a place that was called the Shandellier that was in the local Knights of Columbus hall. The name came from a local band called the Shandells that was the de facto house band.

There was a place in Algonquin, IL called The New Place, that was similar in nature to the other teen clubs. We also frequented a venue called The Wild Goose that was the brain child of a Chicago area Disk Jockey named Dex Card. How's that for a radio name? The Wild Goose traveled around and was usually held in a high school gymnasium. Bands like the Ides of March, The Five Man Electrical band, and Dennis and Carl were often on the bill. The latter two were members of the Chicago area band called The Buckinghams. I once read that not too long ago, they were making more money now than they did in their heyday.

Speaking of Chicago area bands, when my friends and I passed the age of 21, shortly after Mary and I married, we went to a place in Schaumburg, IL called B'Ginnings. It was owned by Danny Seraphine, a founding member of the group Chicago. It was loud and smoky and was located in a strip mall. Bands like Survivor, famous for their song "Eye of the Tiger," played there. That venue is now an Illinois Secretary of State's office. We also visited a place called The Thirsty Whale in River Grove, IL. They featured mostly Chicago area bands. It was dark and perfect for just hanging out. Various incarnations of The Thirsty Whale still exist in the Chicago area.

I even spent some time in Milwaukee, WI at a place called Beneath the Street, but I don't remember much about it. I still remember visiting Milwaukee to see Summerfest. We saw the late George Carlin do his act that included the seven words you can's say on the radio. He was arrested after he came off stage for obscenity. One of those words is now commonly used on the radio.

That was in the days when Wisconsin allowed drinking at the age of 18, so many Illinois teens went there to get a "legal" drink. There was a part of the expressway between Chicago and Wisconsin that was the perfect speed trap for drunken 18 year old Illinois teens to be picked up by the police as they traveled back from Wisconsin. I once drove my 1969 SS Camaro at over 120 MPH through there on my way back south. A guy in an Oldsmobile passed me like I was standing still. I decided to slow down after I was passed. The next thing I saw, was a second Oldsmobile also passing me at a high rate of speed.

Fortunately for me, the first Oldsmobile had attracted the attention of that second Oldsmobile, driven by a member of Wisconsin's finest. I think the second guy had clocked me on his radar in the pea-soup fog, something that was and is common in that part of Wisconsin. He caught the first guy who passed me. That was probably a stupid thing to do, going 120 MPH in a thick fog, but when you are young, you do dumb things. In retrospect, those kind of things are not among the smartest things you'll ever do, things like walking across an open basement on the un-anchored steel beams of a house under construction. Best of all, you can tell your own children not to do those same stupid things. I was wondering the other day why Adam is a car guy who likes to go fast, but I think you can figure that out if you try. Enough for now.

In sports, the boys in blue found another way to lose last night, as they fell to the Marlins 2 - 6. The Tigers are now only 7.5 games ahead of the Tribe, having lost to my beloved Red Sox 1 - 2, which allowed the Sox to move to 5.5 games ahead of the Rays. I'm okay with the Tigers losing as long as the Red Sox are the winners. I was a Red Sox fan long before I came to Michigan. The Caps dropped one to the Lug Nuts 4 - 9.

So that's about it for yesterday and today. It will soon be...Tea time and time to get on with doing nothing. Mary still has to work, but until my time for highlighting or editing comes, I am free as the proverbial bird. Ciao.