Pesty critters

It's a Crane Fly. Okay, so I looked it up. Each year we get a few of these critters showing up in April, but this year I've counted more than 38 billion so far. Of course you realize that's just a rough estimate. Fortunately they don't bite or sting, but you can't open a door without getting some of them in the house. I'm having to take down light fixtures and empty their flimsy carcasses out, and when I mow the lawn there will be hundreds of them flying up as I cut near the woods. I keep my mouth shut because they're lousy navigators, and will fly into you. I don't know if their tasty to humans, but fish love them. I'm not a fish, that's just my nickname, and I don't want to find out what they taste like. They're shameless too, and mate in mid air. The good news is, they have a very short life span, and will be only a memory in a few weeks.

Orange Juice

I decided I wanted some fresh squeezed orange juice, so went to the market to buy oranges. They didn't have any oranges, just blues, reds and yellows. I had to buy some reds and some yellows and mix my own oranges.

Grillin'

For many years we had charcoal grills. Every so often we'd cook outside, eat at the picnic table, and just have an "escape the house routine" type meal. I always wound up being the chef (using that term very loosely), but I've never really been into creative cooking. I could manage a reasonable steak, some BBQ chicken, burgers and dogs and the like, but gourmet it wasn't. I was always happy to settle for edible, and the closest I ever got to shish-kabob was roasting a hotdog on a stick over a camp fire. We gave the last charcoal grill away about July '87 and other than a few wiener roasts, and propane stove cooking on a camping trip, our home cooking has been in the kitchen.

Then about a month ago we bought a small outdoor grill made by Char-Broil. One of those $99 dollar items, but manufactured in the state of Georgia. No sense in spending a lot unless we decide we really want to do this sort of thing on a regular basis. After I assembled it and tried to fire it up, I found I couldn't get a spark from the igniter. I called the manufacturer. I got a three or four number menu, selected the appropriate number expecting a secondary list - but immediately reached a live person. It took me a second to orient to the idea I'd reached a live person that easily. Of course that's one of the differences between a for-profit business and a government bureaucracy. I talked to a very nice lady that was American, residing in America, spoke very distinctly and pleasantly, apologized for the problem, and they shipped a new part to me free of charge. If I ever upgrade to a larger grill it will be that brand just because of that.

The secondary Primary

WOW! In about a month (May 20th) we Kentuckians get to vote our choice for President of the United States in our primary election. Pictured here I've clipped that part of the sample ballot. Gee, I just don't know which candidate to vote for. Do I want Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Alan Keyes? That's why I say they should hold all these primaries on the same day nation wide. Many of these candidates might have had a better showing, or someone might have received more votes than John McCain if everyone had a say in it. Oh, I'll go vote. There are choices on the U.S. Senate race and the State Senate race where I actually have a choice of candidates, but putting this section in for U.S. President seems an exercise in futility to me.

Fast Food

Sounds like an oxymoron. When your are fasting, you don't have food.

What is it with fast food joints wanting to be all things to all people? You can go to McDonald's or Burger King and get fish or chicken. You can go to Long John Silver's and get chicken or burgers. They have menus that stretch across the room, but a burger joint should serve burgers, a fish place should serve fish, and a chicken place serve chicken. So far KFC and Popeys have managed to stay away from fish and burgers, but for how long? Speaking of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), it really is kentucky fried chicken here in kentucky. It's false advertising in all other states. One of the more successful burger joints out west is the In-N-Out Burgers. Their menu? Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Double-double cheesburger, fries, drinks. That's the whole menu. That's it, and they're always busy. Their fries are really fresh too. You can watch them cut the potato just before it goes into the deep fryer, and they have a great burger. Service is just a little slower, partly because there is usually a crowd, but also because they do not start anything before it's ordered. No heat lamps, hot trays, warmed over or (?), just fresh, jucy, delicious. I like a burger joint that serves burgers, a fish place that serves fish, a chicken place that serves chicken, and I don't expect to get a roast beef manhattan at a Mexican restaurant, or a prime rib dinner at the Chinese restaurant. Don't confuse me. I can do that all by myself.

Gun Show

My brother and I decided to take in the gun show and machinegun shoot at Knob Creek on Saturday, April 12th. The two of us along with his son-in-law, and two grandsons left here about 7:30 in the morning and made the 140 mile drive up there. I guess I should have checked their web site one more time before we left. The April show was cancelled because of flooding, and they had this picture of their entrance posted on their site. We then made a 140 mile return trip.

My Old Kentucky Home

My paternal grandmother was born and raised in Kentucky. For all the years I was growing up in Indiana she subscribed to the newspaper from her home town in Kentucky, and she always got a bit misty eyed when she heard the song "My Old Kentucky Home". In early April my wife and I along with our daughter and granddaughter, decided to have a fun day. We drove up to Mount Vernon Kentucky to the railroad museum spending a few hours there, then on up to Bardstown for a late lunch. While there we took the tour of the home that was the inspiration for Steven Collin Foster's song. He was a cousin to the Rowan family that had built and lived in this particular home, and he wrote that song while staying with them for a while. The state eventually bought the home, and made "My Old Kentucky Home" the state song. It's an impressive house and property, but the rooms didn't have closets, there was no bathroom in the house, they heated with fireplaces, had no electricity. It may appear grand, but I much prefer today's life style.

Superstar

When we moved here almost four years ago, we noticed our little adopted town had a theater for live stage performances. The "Barn Lot Theater" which sets just off the square. Over the years I've enjoyed attending various performances in other theaters, and even acted in a couple of productions (I'm a terrible actor, but they were desperate). With one thing and another I kept postponing attending this particular establishment, but last Saturday my granddaughter wanted me to take her to see "Jesus Christ Superstar" because some of her friends were in the production.

I must admit to a bit of trepidation at attending because I've loved the music and production of this particular program for many years. When the music albums first hit the market in the '70's I wore out at least one set of them, saw the movie when it hit the theaters, watched a live production of this in Indianapolis, purchased the video tape of the movie and have watched that several times. I like "Superstar" and was a bit apprehensive about seeing a production that might be butchered by a small town theatrical group.

To my surprise and delight just the opposite was true. The sound, choreography, settings and direction were superb, and the rather large cast pulled the whole thing together with a perfection that I had not expected. There were variations between the movie and this local performance, not in the songs but in the action. They were a plus. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

I presume there has been a change of heart concerning "Superstar" in the years since it was first introduced to us. I remember at that time many church organizations condemned it for one reason or another, and I do not think it would have been performed as a live stage production here in the middle of the Bible belt back then. But then several church organizations condemned Handel's Messiah when it was first introduced in the mid seventeen hundreds, and now it's performed in all sorts of churches.

My personal opinion is, the music from Jesus Christ Superstar will go down in history as some of the finest music of the 20th century. But what do I know.