Kenny!

Friday night after work, I drove to campus and picked up the CFO for a westward trip to Peoria, about an hour away.  We enjoyed my favorite driving food, McDonalds, along the way. (I know, not healthy, but I burned 920 calories at spin class that morning, so I probably zero'd out) We parked in our usual, top secret parking space that is free and has extremely easy access to the interstate and walked over to the arena to see Kenny Chesney.  He had two opening acts, Kacey Musgraves (a country music newcomer who reminded me of Sheryl Crow) and the Eli Young band, both of which put on good opening shows.  After they were done performing,  a huge dropped curtain around the stage so they could set up for the main show.  The stage set for Kenny ended up being pretty basic, which made it seem strange that they bothered to lower a curtain during set it up, but the show itself was awesome.  As usual (this is the 3^rd time we’ve seen him), Kenny put on a great, high energy performance.  He was on the stage for over 2 hours and never took a break, he just kept throwing out hit after hit. 

 

  Even though our seats were off to the side, almost directly in line with the front of the stage, we could still see everything and there were speakers and a video screen aimed right at us.     I maybe repeating myself, but nothing beats a well put together live musical performance, especially when it is LOUD and you can feel the bass kick in your chest.  Each time we leave a show and get back in the car to drive home, I turn on the stereo and think, “I really should get back in touch with my high school/college days and put a subwoofer in this car.”

The Flag for Kenny's current tour.  I thought it was cool and wanted to buy one to hang in the garage, the CFO vetoed the idea (she's no fun)

 

We also found out that Kenny is about to launch his on Rum line, his “Blue Chair Bay” rum will be available in May.  Evidently they had a tailgating trailer set up that was giving out samples, but it must have been on the other side of the venue because we didn’t see it.  I knew that rocker Sammy Hagar had his Cabo Wabo Tequila and Rum, but evidently there are a lot of celebrities throwing their weight behind these products.  It is kind of interesting to see celebs are shifting from trendy fragrances and clothing lines to booze.

We rolled out of bed Saturday morning at 8:15 and headed to the gym.  I weighed in and I am officially below 170 lbs for the first time in probably 2 years… albeit only by 4 tenths of a pound.  169.6 is still under 170, as long as you don’t round up!  After exercising, the CFO started lobbying for driving to the outlet malls and a day of shopping.  (Blah!)  Seeing sunny skies and temps in the 50’s, I pushed back and said that she could go shopping, but I was going to spend the afternoon in the yard.  She was not happy with the response but didn’t put up too much of a fight.  I offered her several outdoor tasks so she could join me outside, (pulling dandelions, cleaning the stones that are going to be used in the fountain, etc.) but she opted to stay inside and do who knows what.  I spent about 5 hours outside, even though it was a little windy and enjoyed every minute of it.  I am so tired of being inside after staying indoors all winter.

Sunday was supposed to be similar weather wise, with a “slight” chance of showers.  Unfortunately, we awoke to rain and it continued to rain until about 3pm.  To the CFO’s delight, we did go roam around the mall for a while after church, so she got a little bit of shopping in.  I was determined to get some additional work done outside, so once it stopped raining, I braved the now soggy soil and went ahead and mixed in two and a half wheel barrow loads of compost (from my compost pile!) into the raised garden beds.  Considering the fact that I used the "so-so" quality soil from the yard to fill the raised beds (from when I dug out the dry creek bed), a couple years of adding compost is starting to making a noticeable difference in the soil.  The fact that I was able to generate all of the compost myself from yard and kitchen waste is even more rewarding.  We all know that I like "FREE."

The daffodils are blooming in my native grass areas.

I was also able to run the power supply wire for the fountain and have it securely attached to the underside of the deck.  Out of sight, out of mind.  I am hoping to get the fountain installed and running this weekend, however it is starting to look like the weather is going to be working against me, AGAIN!  I’m still holding out hope that the forecast will change; you can’t trust it more than a day out anyway.  For two weeks in a row, Monday and Tuesday have been the prettiest days of the week.  That is not how it is supposed to be.

They have built a foundation on the vacant lot adjacent to us... not sure when the house will be done.

Fresh cut flowers from the yard = Husband of the Year? (but not good enough to justify a  flag for the garage...)