‘ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING’…..BUT, HE’S WAITING OUTSIDE:))

KELLY & THE MOTORMOUSE ARE HEADING FOR HOME THIS MORNING  NIKON D40 AT 300mm

We hadn't even reached the Park Pond this morning when Speedball Pheebs ran down & caught something in the trees.  I saw a fleeting glimpse of it before Pheebe caught it & I feared it was a small Bunny.  I immediately let out a yell & Pheebe instantly left it alone & came racing back to while I was hurrying forward to try & save what she had caught.  I was totally surprised to see a Grackle (bird) lying motionless on it's back.  No signs of trauma but I assumed it was dead & sadly made a mental note to bury it when we got back from our walk.  

BIRD…..WHAT BIRD??  ALL DOGGY SHOTS WERE WITH MY NIKON D40 AT VARYING FOCAL LENGTHS
Kelly & the Motormouse made it to the Pine forest but it was obvious the little Motor wasn't up to a long walk this morning so they turned around & headed back home.  Pheebe & I continued on the trail making our way back about 25 minutes later.  Stopped to check on the dead Grackle......& it was gone.  Apparently it had only been stunned by the big Pheebe dog knocking it to the ground.  I have a feeling the Pheebster had no intentions of killing the bird, only wanting to play with it.  That's her personality. 

I’M A HEADING HOME DAD…….
Sure is nice to have a fast computer again with everything opening, closing & downloading with the quicker speeds we were once used too.  Am still extremely frustrated with the Windows Live email program trying to figure out the complicated address book mess.  I am still nowhere near getting that organized.  A big thank you to all the folks for their suggestion about that 'insert' key being the cause of the problem I was having.  That's what it was & all is well in Al's little impatient blog world again.  I had swapped out our older Microsoft keyboard for the new Lenovo keyboard & must have inadvertently pressed the insert key.  Also, somewhere in Live Writer here there is a spot where I can switch off the Emoticons thingy & replace them with my usual  :)) thingy.  Did that with Live Writer on our laptop but can’t remember where that setting is now.

We had been trying to decide what to do with Pheebe when we knew we would be heading out this afternoon for a few hours to the Huron County Playhouse.  Caught ourselves a break when a few days ago Kelly had spotted what she thought was a large dog crate in the service area at Deer Park Lodge.  She brought the sizeable steel cage home this morning & we managed to get it set up in our living room.  For some reason, whenever anyone mentioned putting a dog in a crate I had always imagined something much smaller.  I was probably thinking of a Pet carrier.  We have never had to put a dog in a crate before but with Pheebe only being here a week & not being trained yet, we had no choice but to go the crate route.  With the Pheebe Gator sitting forlornly in the crate & Motor in charge, we headed off for the theater about 1:15.

WE HAD A PRETTY SAD LITTLE PUPPY DOG IN THE CRATE WHEN WE LEFT BUT THE MOTOR WAS IN CHARGE SO WE REALLY HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT
To say this afternoon's performance of 'Blue Suede Shoes' was totally excellent would be putting it mildly.  The theater has undergone a major renovation since our last time there a year ago & the once smaller Playhouse II is all new & about 3 times the size of the original.  We had seen both the Patsy Cline & Buddy Holly stories there about 5 years ago.  Last year we saw a tribute to the Beatles in the main theatre.  Today's tribute to Elvis Presley had the entire Playhouse just a rocking with a fellow by the name of Roy LeBlanc doing a superb job as Elvis.  As usual with this theatre, the musicians were excellent & top notch.  The play unfolded through the eyes of an actor playing Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s manager for his entire career. 

MANAGED TO GET ONE QUICK PHOTO OF THE STAGE BEFORE THE PERFORMANCE…ALL THOSE EMPTY SEATS WERE SOON FILLED

Kelly & I were probably two of the youngest people in the audience & it was really interesting to hear the reaction of all the Seniors....especially the ladies.  With a slim young Elvis gyrating on the stage the ladies were in a near frenzy.  I'm betting there were some surprised husbands in the audience giving their wide eyed wives a sideways glance or two.  The show finished up with a grand finale & Elvis (Roy) singing My Way.  Roy’s right on Elvis voice & gestures made for an excellent portrayal of the King.  A standing ovation brought him back for a rocking rendition of Blue Suede Shoes before exciting the stage up one of the main aisles near us.  Elvis 'had left the building.'

LOOKS LIKE KELLY IS SINGING CHRISTMAS CAROLS IN THE THEATRE LOBBY DURING INTERMISSION  

Well, imagine our surprise minutes later upon exciting the building ourselves when we saw Elvis (yes, I know it's Roy LeBlanc) on the front lawn of the theatre thronged by a bevy of admiring Senior Citizens clambering for autographs.  And, rest assured.....not one of those beaming autograph seekers was a man!!

 

  


Two extremely inconsiderate drivers had parked in the entranceway of a secondary theatre parking lot & trapped everyone in including us.  Well, almost everyone.    Seems a little brown Jeep with a Bayfield Bunch logo on the windshield was seen exiting the east end of the parking lot between 2 picnic tables through a ditch & up onto the road.  And, I think a few other cars were seen to follow.  The rude driver’s cars obviously belonged to people in the second theater watching ‘Guys and Doll’s’ which of course was not yet out. 

THESE ARE THE 2 CARS BLOCKING EVERYBODY IN THE PARKING LOT….NO PROBLEM FOR THAT LITTLE JEEP WRANGLER BACK THERE TO GET OUT A MINUTE LATER THOUGH   CANON SX210IS
We sure didn't waste anytime getting home.  I don't know how many times during the Elvis show I thought about our little Pheebe in the steel crate in the middle of our living room floor.  What if this, what if that:((  But, we needn't have worried.  She was just fine & her furry little tail was wagging a million miles a second as we came through the door.  When I opened the crate door it was as if we had unleashed a wildly spinning black Tornado.  She was just ecstatic to see us & of course we were just as ecstatic to see her.  Motor had done an excellent job Doggy sitting the Pheebs so she deserved a big bunch of snuggles as well.  Yep, we ended up a happy Bunch today……….10-4

THE LAST PARAGRAPH:   I am always in awe of professional musicians.  People who have spent endless hours & years of their life perfecting their craft & precisely honing their instruments.   And, I see a singer’s voice as a finely tuned instrument as well.   It is always a treat for me to watch a pianists hands flying over a keyboard in such effortless fashion.  The steady rocketing sounds a drummer pulls out of a drum solo is nothing short of amazing & to see & hear the sounds those guitar players bend out of their guitars is truly amazing.  I have always enjoyed watching musicians as much as listening to them & today was no exception.  The much misused word ‘Awesome’ is not a word I use often or flippantly but when it comes to superb professional musicians…….it is the ‘Awesome’ word that comes to mind more often or not.         

 

MORNING REFLECTION IN THE POND   NIKON D40 ABOUT 200mm

GROANER’S CORNER:  Three guys were fishing in a lake one day, when an angel appeared in the boat.
When the three astonished men had settled down enough to speak, the first guy asked the angel humbly, "I've suffered from back pain ever since I took shrapnel in the Vietnam War ... Could you help me?"
"Of course," the angel said, and when he touched the man's back, the man felt relief for the first time in years.
The second guy who wore very thick glasses and had a hard time reading and driving. He asked if the angel could do anything about his poor eyesight. The angel smiled, removed the man's glasses and tossed them into the lake. When they hit the water, the man's eyes cleared and he could see everything distinctly.
When the angel turned to the third guy, the guy put his hands out defensively -- "Don't touch me!" he cried, "I'm on a disability pension."

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