June This-And-Thats

There's a few things I want to touch upon today and a few pictures I want to post so, once again, it's time to start typing and see what comes out!

• First off, I took the above picture last night down the bike path by Atwood Avenue at the Jackson Street Plaza.  Wednesdays are food cart night there this summer so we stopped down for dinner.  We chose Slide this evening, and will try the others as we go.  It didn't take much to fill us up, especially knowing we had to ride home.  Hidden in the back middle is the Chocolate Shoppe ice cream shop, what could should be a destination any day of the week this summer!
• Speaking of riding bikes, I got out for a ride last weekend and got a picture of one of the 85 decorated Bucky Badgers that have been placed around Madison and Dane County.  You can see them all at this link.  This one, called Our Hearts Belong To Bucky, is at the Goodman Community Center.  Most of them are downtown and on the near west side, on the University of Wisconsin campus, but I hope to run into a few more around town by summer's end.
• If you missed it, I commented two posts ago and updated my last post about my computer.  I tried to fix it and failed.  There's nothing left for me to do but to wait for Microsoft to ship a fix, and I do hope they will.  I'm still dumbfounded that I've seen nothing on the news about this buggy update.  My computer was 4 years old so while I considered taking it to a place to have fixed I ultimately decided I'd rather spend my money on a new computer.  I went to Walmart, of all places, because I'd heard that was actually a good place to get a computer - and I have a huge aversion to big box Best Buy.  I wound up getting a computer with specs very close to what I had for only $240.  Twice what it may have cost to have the old one fixed, but it will also last years longer, I'm hoping.  Getting a fix for the old one will just make it a back-up now.  Where's the public outrage?  Where's the communication from Microsoft?  I'm still very irked.
• I got my second shot in back this morning since the first one about two months ago.  I have seen pretty steady improvement over the last several weeks, enough to consider postponement, but woke up feeling like a knife was sticking out of my left rump again yesterday.  Best to get it done and see if it gets me fully back to my normal state.  If this has little to no effect then my only realistic option is to live with it, as long as it stays manageable.  Presently, it's just not enough discomfort to justify cutting into my lower back for a third time.  It may take several days until I feel the full effect from this shot, however, so fingers crossed.
• The fire pit is absolutely wonderful!  I really like having it and now find that I'm wanting a fire every weekend the weather allows.  I got out the chainsaw last weekend and cut the wood that I had stored from last fall and, well, I'm going to need a lot more wood.  With the old fire pit it might have been enough since it was a smaller size and a bigger deal having one.  Now, with the convenience and larger size, I may have to buy bundles of wood as we go this summer.  I've already put the hand saws in the car for scavenging but I've not see a lot of usable wood by the curbs yet this year.

That's good for now, but I hope to post another yard tour over at the garden blog yet today.  When I get that done there will be some blue words in that last sentence, click it!  There's also the Marquette Waterfront Festival happening this weekend so we may ride our bikes down there and enjoy some good food and music.

If you're here in town and not busy you're always welcome to inquire if we'll be having a fire on the weekends.  It's real easy to do now, and if you bring a bundle of wood you will be heartily welcomed!