Crack the Whip

The forecast called for 3" of rain today. Since my kitchen floods any time we get rain like that, I thought I would be proactive and shovel out the ditch before the water came.

After an hour of working and with very little to show for my effort, I conceded defeat and called the neighbors for help.

My daughter called me later in the day and I told her about my plight. I said that I was not in shape to do such shoveling.

She replied, "Can't you shovel yourself into shoveling shape?"

I have no idea where her sassiness came from.

Marilyn and The Mayhem Festival

Well. It probably would have been easier to recover from festivals when I was in my 20's but I never went to them then. It's only now, when I am 50+ that I seem to have this yen to go see live bands. So go I did.

Indianapolis is about 300 miles from where I live. To make the commitment to drive that far it truly had to be a special show. Manson sure seemed to fit the bill.

I got to the hotel at about 2 pm (when the gates to Verizon opened), checked in, and decided to walk to the venue. I know, I know. It didn't look that far away. But I forgot I was in Indiana where if you try you can see all the way to the Rockies.

After hoofing it in the heat of the day I was at the back gate. Wrong one. Had to walk around front. Showed my ticket, got the pat down, and entered the hallowed hall.

My first stop was a water vendor ($6 a bottle. No, a cup. You can't have the bottle because you might throw it. Or even worse, refill it!) and a seat. I rested for a couple of minutes then went off in search of whichever band was playing in the field.

All That Remains was just finishing up on one stage and Job For Cowboy was tuning up on the other. I watched a bit of both then went in search of Event Gear (aka t-shirts). That little pit stop set my wallet on fire. I swear there was smoke coming from it!

Back for a quick peek at Trivium, then an $11 hot dog and fries. While waiting I asked this man if I could take his picture. He was the epitome of the crowd for me; tattooed, pierced, mohawk, friendly. Your average guy.


These guys sat across from me while I was eating. They had only met that day but they were sure having a good time hanging together.


At that point, I was sunburned and a bit tired so I decided to go find my seat. In the shade. The cool, wonderful shade.

It wasn't too long before Bullet For My Valentine began. I had been looking forward to seeing them since I really like their music. They didn't disappoint. They were followed by Kill Switch Engage (who knew Holy Diver could last that long?), then Slayer.

Slayer was so loud there was no definition. One long loud set of notes. And if I had to guess I would say they played at least 120 songs. So many I went back outside for a break.

Where these ladies were preparing their glow sticks for the big event. Marilyn Manson was due next.


Slayer finished (thank the heavens for little things!) so I wandered back to my seat. 15 minutes later, Manson's music began. The place roared. Two minutes into the song, the backdrop came down and there he was! YES!

It was so loud the hairs on my arm began vibrating. That's the sign of a great show.

Which it would have been if he had played more than 6 songs. Or done an encore. Apparently Verizon has to shut the music off at 11 pm. No exceptions. That was a huge disappointment.

On a positive side, my seat mates felt sorry for me and gave me a ride back to the hotel. Where I fell into bed and listened to the extremely loud white noise in my head.

I'm glad I went. I may have been the oldest one there but, as said in Mame, "Life is a banquet and there are poor sons of bitches starving to death." I want to partake as long as I can.

Pictures From The Show Last Night

From the Mayhem Festival. Click on the title of this entry.

I'm exhausted. I will fill in the details tomorrrow.

Wonderful

I don't know how long this will fly under the youtube radar but I hope you get to enjoy it. My only question is where did they find that many men who would dance?

Magic

Today was flea treatment day. I did the dogs first since they are the easiest. Cruella stands there (like she does for just about anything) while Comet can't wait to get away so she can roll. Wriggle. And do anything else that might possibly remove the Frontline.

The cats are a bit trickier. If they hear so much as the crinkle of the aluminum the Advantage is wrapped in they go on high alert. I have to trap each of them in a room by themselves, dose them, and then get the heck out of the way. They hate it.

Cupid despises it so much she simply disappears into thin air.


A pretty amazing trick for a 15 lb. cat with unusual markings.

Musical Interlude

I love happening upon such wonderful different arrangements of songs that touched me the first time around.

Maybe a Bit Neurotic?

The C. Dog has been an absolute joy from the moment she arrived here. I was a bit worried about owning such a vicious breed but I figured we would get through it together. Now I am not sure I will ever own anything other than a doberman. Smart, fun, loving coward. I'm sold.

I'm sure it comes as a complete surprise to everyone that this dog is a bit different from the norm. Even when it comes to her dinner.

My house pets are all free fed. The dishes are full all the time and the critters can eat when they get hungry (which explains why Comet looks like a walking coffee table). Cruella, however, will only eat when I am home. I swear I could put out fresh hamburger and she wouldn't touch it until I walk through the door.


Once she decides it's okay to start, she hits the chow like a starving animal. Empties the dish and waits for more. Growls at Comet if she comes too close (doesn't mind the cats though).

The only reason for this that I can imagine is that she is concerned that if she eats and no one is here, she may not get outside in time. Either that or she is just a tad looney.

You pick.

My First Love

It was Clayton Moore (no Bassman, not Danny). Oh how I wanted to be the fair maiden that he saved. Or ride his wonderful horse. Yes, I even have an autographed photo of him. In my livingroom! Sigh.

Somehow my little horsey has figured this out because once again, she decided to go all Hi Ho Silver on me. She actually came close to getting rid of me. And that made me mad.

So after we jumped and reared and bucked our way back to the barn, she was quite ready for me to unsaddle her and hand out the carrots (our normal behavior). Unfortunately, the steam was still rolling out of my ears and I was not ready to play nice. For the first time in months, we went into the round pen.

The round pen is not fun. It is where we work on the boring stuff over and over again. Walk, trot, canter, one direction then turn around and do the same thing the other way. Dull. Monotonous.

Usually. Tonight there was quite a bit of flat ears, tail wringing, and an occasional kick. 80+ degree heat and we still spent almost an hour in there.

Eventually her brain melted down to the mellow part. The clouds in the little idjit's head dissipated and she realized that we were going to be doing it my way. Slowly. Calmly. Perhaps even happily. She smoothed out and became the pleasure to ride she most often is.

Hurrah! Carrots for everyone!

I wonder when I will be a little too old for Lone Rangering. Probably long before she is ready to quit the Silver impersonation.

Bassman's Favorite Airline

Welcome Home!

The players;


When I get home from work at night, Cruella is very excited to see me. I let her outside and she runs back and forth, touching me each time to make sure I am really there. She is still energetic when we go in.

Last night was a typical routine. Open the door, excited dog, run, run, run, go inside. Except C. Dog still had a lot of playfulness that she wanted to expend. So she tried cavorting with Comet.

Comet put up with it for a very short time. Then she tore into C. Dog.

This time, Cruella actually fought back. They were going at it tooth and nail and none of my yelling was causing them to stop. I finally had to reach in amongst all the snapping teeth and grab a collar. It was Cruella's.

The poor big coward all but launched herself into my lap. As soon as she was out of the fray, she started trembling.

I finally got Cruella calmed down and noticed that poor Ziggy (cat) had also been pretty darn close to the action. Her tail was the size of a baseball bat and she was hissing, growling, and swatting at anything that came near. She swatted at Comet and I thought Comet was going to eat her.

Comet went outside, Cruella went into the kitchen, and Ziggy disappeared into the bedroom.

And people wonder why I am still up at 2:00 am.

For The People I Work With

My hand. On a mop. In a bucket of soapy water.

So there.

Strolling Towards Insanity

I discover that, on occasion, I will honk at the horses as I pass. I think I may be expecting them to turn and wave.

It hasn't happened yet.

Uh............

Is it just me or has anyone else's brain gone melt down? My prose capabilities have diminished to those of a squashed gnat. Maybe less. All I can do is hope that all the fireworks from the Fourth jiggle a few brain cells back together and I will once again be able to compose the Fabulousness that is my usual fare.

Until that time, go forth and enjoy the Fourth!

Blatantly Plagarizing

One of the blogs I visit, www.countrygirl-citygirl.blogspot.com , did a post of Pay It Forward. Since that is a concept I totally get behind (as a thank you to everyone who ever helped me out) the topic interested me. I read the post, made a comment, and WON A PRIZE! Boy howdy, I like that just fine!

So now, to get you all into the spirit of the thing well, here comes the plagarazition;


'The first three people who leave a comment on this post will receive a little surprise from me. The only catch is that you have to pay it forward to three more people. You don't have to have a blog to do this, just promise to keep it going by surprising three more people however you'd like.'

I thought it was a really neat idea and to my surprise- there were only 2 comments posted on her blog so far. I quickly chimed in and left a post and shortly after I received and email from the lovely and talented City Girl informing me that I would be receiving gifties from her! Yippee!

So now it is your turn to participate. If you are willing to pay it forward to 3 people, and want to receive a surprise gifty from me, simple leave a comment and the first 3 people will win!"

What you will win is yet to be determined (UH, I mean a surprise!) but suffice it to say it will be fabulous! In a Misfit kind of way.