Summer Time Bug Lights

I've been spending a lot of time this summer in the backyard sunroom and also sitting on a chair on the grass. During most of the evenings there have been a lot of tiny bugs flittering about in the way back of the yard in very large clouds. I can see them from the front of the yard where I sit. The bugs become especially visible in the failing sunlight of the evening dusks. It's amazing to watch them and after several evenings I snapped this picture of them. It was interesting to see how it turned out and I actually found it fascinating. 

Overall the bugs are not too bad in the backyard although they do bother Becky more than me. We keep some Off! spray cans readily available. Sometimes there are some flies or tiny little bugs dropping out of the trees on me when I sit on a chair out back. I never get bothered in the screened sunroom. 

Prior to our hosting our WOW in the backyard later in July I will bug bomb the backyard to ensure folks are not bothered by mosquitos. That worked really well the last time we had a crowd in the backyard.

Backyard Wires Down

Last night I woke up from a loud unusual sound in the backyard. I seemed to know immediately that a large tree branch had come down and probably took the electric wire off the side of the house. I got my glasses and looked out the back window. The wires looked different but I couldn't tell why. I checked the electric power which was still on so I went back to bed. I thought maybe I heard something else.

This morning I checked the backyard and indeed there was a very large tree branch on the ground and it was right on top of our power line which was actually torn off the side of our house but stayed connected. The power line was on the ground for much of the length of the yard. 

I called the power company and reported a down power line on our property. Niagara Mohawk take that very seriously and within the hour two technicians arrived at our home and inspected the downed line in our yard. They called for another tech and waited. There are company rules that state someone from the company must stay with the downed power line because of the potential danger to people. The third tech arrived about another hour later and the three of them discussed the situation at length and were not sure as to how to proceed because they thought the power connection was not in the right place on the wall. I described to them the several previous times the power company had been here to reconnect the power line over the years because of fallen tree branches.

In the meantime I moved the grill and trash cans out of the way. The three technicians then called another truck crew to do the repair. The third tech left and the original two stayed to monitor the fallen power line. 

About an hour later two guys arrived with a ladder on their truck. These were a couple of young guys and I talked with them a little and explained the situation. One of the guys said he had been in our yard before and remembered the red barn in the back. Then they talked for a bit with the two technicians who left the yard to them. I thanked the two techs as they walked out to their two trucks.

I was out front talking to a couple of neighbors when the two guys got their ladder out and fixed everything in about ten minutes. They then explained what they did and everyone was happy. I thanked them as they headed out. They fixed the power line exactly as it had been fixed the other times. I'm just glad we never lost any power during this incident.

After they all left I cut up the tree branch. It was all done by lunch.

Peaking Bunnies

I've been spending a lot of time in the backyard either sitting on an Adirondack chair on the grass or in the sunroom at the table with my laptop. The backyard bunnies have been very active this year and they seem very comfortable with us in the yard and also our neighbors. They will often come within a couple of feet of me while I'm sitting there reading. 

Yesterday evening they were particularly active and there were five of them running around the yard playing and then stopping to munch on the grass. It was all very entertaining.

There was one small bunny that kept coming near me but then would sort of hide in the flowerbed and look at me. Then he would go running around chasing after the other bunnies. A little while later he would be back there at that same spot peaking at me from behind some leaves. I got my phone out and snapped a photo of him. Very cute.

Our granddaughter Clara has been really fascinated with the bunnies in our yard. She would love this little one. On the morning Katie and Todd went back home they brought Henry and Clara out to the backyard to say goodbye to the bunnies. They couldn't see them but knew they were around hiding in the bushes and flowers and would hear their goodbyes. 

When Andrew was here last week we were able to bring him out into the yard just before they left for home to see one of the bunnies. He loved it and walked over to it but of course the bunny quickly took off across the yard flashing her white tail. He got very excited over that little display.

And Then Sick Again...

So I got sick again over Father's Day weekend. It's been a few days now and I feel like I'm going through the cycle of another bad cold which doesn't seem to want to go away. I'm really feeling nervous that spending time with my grandchildren is getting me sick. I think that probably Andrew's exposure to germs at his daycare center is causing me problems but I certainly can't stop hugging that little boy and holding him close. 

It seems that my immune system has been weakened over time. First we both retired and we have no longer been exposed to the two semesters of students exposing us to all kinds of germs. We would get colds back during our working years but they were usually short in duration. Then Covid came along and we've been wearing masks and not going out to crowded bars and restaurants nor concerts, etc. I have also hardly been to any stores over the past couple of years now. 

Now when I do get exposed to a cold I get it really bad and for a long time. So here it is heading into late June and I've been sick for another week again. Maybe I just need to get out more and get my immune system exposed more. LOL.

WOW 2022

The Parkside Wine on Wednesdays began a little late this year but the schedule had finally filled out. Becky and I signed up to host a WOW on July 20th. This will be our first time hosting since 2019. All of 2020 was cancelled and last year there were a few Wednesday night gatherings of the neighborhood but all were sparsely attended. We went to about three for the season. We usually do about 6 WOWs.

We went to the first two WOWs of this year and had a very nice time at both. The first one on the 15th was actually very hot. The one this week was very pleasant weather wise. Both had about 30 people attending which is still significantly lower than the pre-pandemic years where there were usually 40 to 60 people on any given night that had good weather.

We plan to miss the next two and one of which we will be on vacation at Long Lake. Then we come back and host ours. I'm sure we'll go to a few more throughout the summer.

Update: 7/18. Apparently from talking with some people the two most recent WOWs had about 20 people each which is significantly lower turnout than previous years. We will have to see how ours will be this week but the weather looks iffy. Hot and probable rain. Could be cancelled.

The Bijou Cafe

The Bijou Cafe was one of my favorite small music venues in Philadelphia during the 1970's. It was located on Lombard Street downtown. This space has had a long storied tradition in the history of music and theater in Philly but had only opened as the Bijou Cafe in 1972. At the time it had most recently been The Showboat and had featured jazz and theater for decades. It was a small venue and had a capacity of about 300 people squeezed into the bar area and the tables in front of the stage. I had been there a couple of times during the Showboat years in my mid-1960's teenage years once for a jazz show and another time for a musical theater show. I'm going to need to jog my memory about those shows. A recent discussion on a Facebook group about the sights and sounds of the 1970's got me thinking about the Bijou Cafe.

My first time there at the Bijou Cafe was in 1973 with John Howley to see Billy Joel. At the time I had no idea who he was. He had become very popular in Philly when Sigma Sound Studio and WMMR broadcasted a live show of the songs he recorded there in 1972. One of the songs, Captain Jack, continued to be played on the station and quickly became "the most requested song in the station's history". The record companies took notice and he was quickly singed to Columbia Records and released Piano Man in November 1973. In the meantime he had a hit song in Philly that summer of 73 and I got to see this guy sing and play his piano. It was a wonderful show.

I was home on leave again a few months later and John took me down to the Bijou again to see another singer songwriter that I hadn't heard. This time it was Tom Waits. We sat at a table very close to the stage that night. In fact it was so close that we could actually smell the BO coming from Waits as he was very much into his weird unwashed stage persona. I soon became a big fan to Tom Waits despite the BO of that night.

Over the next few years until we moved in 1979 Becky and I saw a few shows down at this club.

Joe Friday

I was watching some of the trump coup hearings on CNN and during one of the breaks a group of people were doing some talking and analysis of the events. One of the talking heads referred to one of the person's testifying publicly before the committee under oath as needing to have a "Joe Friday" moment on the stand. Then she immediately turned to the younger folks on the panel then said she would explain the comment to them later. I knew exactly what she was talking about and immediately got the reference.

Of course Joe Friday was the fictional detective character on the show Dragnet played by the actor Jack Webb. In the show Detective Friday was known for uttering the phrase in every episode "just the facts ma'am". 

Dragnet was originally a radio show that moved to television in 1951. It then ran until 1959 as a black and white series. I remember some of the later seasons of that first run. I was a little kid but someone in the house liked the show. Probably Nana and Grandpop. The show came back in color in 1967 and ran until 1970. I remember it was a big thing when it came back on the air after almost a decade and that first episode was an event. It was crazy too and about young people on LSD. I remember that particular show well. Friday's partner in the new show was played by Harry Morgan and was very popular. I watched the first couple of seasons of the new show but I was out most of the time during the later years although I did see a lot of the shows in reruns years later.

The famous phrase is actually a misquote. The closes he ever got to saying the phrase was "all we want are the facts, ma'am". The famous phrase came from a comedian doing a play on Dragnet. 

Roe v Wade Overturned

Today the Right Wing Fascists of the USA officially declared war on women in America. There can be no doubt whatsoever about the intentions of conservatives to maintain control of women at any cost. This certainly has nothing to do with protecting babies in an America that conservatives insist on denying universal healthcare including maternal care. They insist on denying paid parental leave, childcare support, universal pre-school and the list goes on and on. No, this is about control over women and the insistence of everyone in our nation adhering to the distorted religious values of a small fanatical minority that have been working for decades to take control of America through gerrymandering legislatures and voter suppression.

Recently the crazies have resorted to an attempted coup to take over the government of our nation. 

Another thing to consider. 7 of the 9 justices of the supreme court were appointed by a political party that hasn't won a national election popular vote in 30 years. One of those seats was stolen and several lied to congress to secure their appointment. This is an illegitimate supreme court. Their argument to overturn Roe v Wade was the exact opposite they used to justify their ruling on striking down the ability of states to write laws limiting the carrying of concealed guns which is grossly hypocritical. 

Porch Steps Painting Music

This evening I put some primer paint on our front porch steps. I waited until later in the day because it was a little too hot in the sun to comfortably work and why not. I had my portable speaker out there with me playing music from a flash drive. I had loaded a bunch of mixes and I had just been letting it play. These mixes were single file mixes that I had once uploaded to MixCloud. 

I started out with an old covers mix titled There She Goes Again and was part of my old Happy Hour series. The file name was happyhour7. When that file finished the next up was ladiesnight3 and a mix titled Dissolved Girl. I was playing the music fairly loud but not overly so or so I thought.

A neighbor from across the street appeared in my driveway to ask me about the music. I immediately apologized for playing the music too loud but she was adamant that it wasn't a problem. She said she was sitting on the porch reading and could faintly hear the music and loved every song. She exclaimed that it was the best series of songs put together that she had ever heard outside of something she would put on herself. She said she knew and loved every song and it was music she listened to when she was a young person. She came over to compliment me on the music and tell me how much she was enjoying it. We then talked about music, my dj days and the local music scene. She brought up going to the Continental. The Ladies Night mix was mostly songs from the 90's. She then went back across the street and I went back to my painting.

A few minutes later I heard a big fuss from some teenage girls coming down the street. They were yelling and making lots of noise but I couldn't see them because of the hedge. When they came directly in front of the house I saw that it was three teenage girls dancing to my music. They saw me and smiled and one of them said "thank you for the songs" as I stood there with my paintbrush in hand. I smiled back. I then realized the song they were dancing too was Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know. That cracked me up. 

Becky had heard the fuss from the girls and came out on the porch as they passed by. We had a good laugh. 

• Dissolved Girl - Ladies Night
• There She Goes Again - Happy Hour

The Purple Stains

The Purple Stains are what I call the flowers that drop every spring from our neighbor's catalpa tree. The take about a month to completely come down and of course most of them land on our back porch, the paved area of our backyard and the walkway next to our house.

When we first moved into our house we did not realize the extent of this flower problem. At first the flowers in the tree are white and very beautiful but then they start to fall to the ground. Almost immediately they turn a dried up purple color and they are everywhere where we walk. The problem is they stick to our shoes and then are tracked into the house where they stain everything they touch with a purple smear. That first Spring in the house the kids tracked in an awful lot of the dead flowers on their shoes and we had purple stains all over our rugs. 

I became obsessed with sweeping up the flowers at that time and now some twenty five years later I'm still out there several times a day sweeping those purple stains. Fortunately I sweep them off to the side into flower beds and don't have to pick them up and put them in the trash. I just let nature take care of them once I get them out of the places where we walk. The photo of the walkway was taken a couple of hours after I had already swept that area. If I didn't sweep for a day or so you probably would not be able to see the concrete. 

During the years when I was working I would come out in the evening and sweep up the dried up flowers but for the past few years that I've been retired I go out there several times a day and sweep. It gives me a little exercise. It's amazing how many flowers can drop on our porch and walkway in a day. 

Of course there are also the constant dropping of the long and hard cigar like seed pods that are also a big messy pain in the ass. They seem to come down almost all year long. So today and every day this week and probably next week as I did last week I will sweep a couple of times a day.

I wanted to paint the back porch this week but because of the purple stain flowers I will need to wait until at least next week because I don't want those things coming down on my wet paint.

BTW, The Purple Stains sounds like a good name for a rock band back in the day.