Spring Is Coming

It is not quite fully here yet - there is talk of snow later this week - but it is pretty damn close.  It is still a little too early and the ground is a little too soft for yard work.  But the time is coming fast.  I've spent all winter sick from one thing or another.  I'm looking to spring to be a new beginning, new health and wellness in warmer weather.

I took more pictures but there's only a few things starting to come up so far.  I've not posted much over winter but I feel it is time to act more alive.  I also posted a couple pics of the garden over at our Garden Blog.

There is much to be done this year and it isn't going to do itself.  Last year it was getting the tree removed.  This year I need to start getting quotes for roof, gutters and porch.  Yes, it may be a very expensive 2016.

Latest Listening Pleasure 23 - Nightwish LIVE

On July 4, 2015 we had the day off for the holiday.  I was surfing the internet and noticed that Nightwish would be playing in Milwaukee in February, 2016, and the tickets were already on sale.  So, of course, I snatched up a pair immediately.

This last weekend they finally played at The Rave in Milwaukee and my wife and I were there to witness it.  Now, as you have read, I had been pretty sick but I was not going to miss this for anything.  We drove to Milwaukee Saturday afternoon and checked into the hotel, just a block away from the venue.  Then I napped.  I had so hoped I would be feeling better, and I was a tiny bit compared to the week prior, but I was still pretty miserable.  My wife got on the website and found out the time the band was to start so we waited and skipped the first two bands, showing up about 10 minutes before Nightwish hit the stage.

I've seen so many live videos of the band on Youtube that nothing really surprised me about the show.  They did have nice backdrops, themed for the newest album Endless Forms Most Beautiful,  but it was not the full show with the video screens and pyro that they used in Europe.  Still, I was not too disappointed with that.  I was happy being in the same room and watching and listening to them play with my own eyes and ears.  I knew I wanted to get some video, a personal take-away from the concert, and because of the way I felt I tried to get that done early.  Normally I would have looked up the set list so I knew what was coming and I could record the songs I wanted, but the way I was feeling I did not plan ahead and just grabbed some random songs from early in the show.  Here is a link to the setlist they played that night.

This video, She Is My Sin, is an early song of theirs.  Not my favorite song but the video turned out well.


Another song I got on video is Kiss While Your Lips Are Still Red, an older ballad that they brought back for this tour.  A very good song, indeed.


Nightwish is also one of those bands that does not do encores.  When the last song is played they are done, and I appreciate that.  When they started in on the last song, The Greatest Show On Earth, we started to work our way out and back to the hotel.  The song is a good one, but I have seen and heard it many times before and it is a version that can run over 10 minutes.  The original song has 5 chapters and runs 24 minutes long.  It was worth it to me to leave a few minutes early and avoid the mass exodus at the end.

One of my favorite bands, this is actually their fourth appearance as one of my Latest Listening Pleasure posts.  I wasn't too sure if I would ever get the chance to see them live, that's the drawback to mostly listening to bands from overseas.  But I'm very glad I have seen them now, no matter how poor I was feeling at the time.

Previous LLP Posts...
LLP 1 - Pain
LLP 2 - Nightwish
LLP 3 - Die Antwoord
LLP 4 - Pain part 2
LLP 5 - Andrew Bird LIVE
LLP 6 - Nightwish part 2
LLP 7 - Paramore
LLP 8 - Newsted
LLP 9 - U.D.O. LIVE
LLP 10 - Nightwish Imaginaerum Movie
LLP 11 - Kiss
LLP 12 - Rick Springfield
LLP 13 - Hyrax
LLP 14 - In This Moment
LLP 15 - Faster Pussycat LIVE
LLP 16 - Sebastian Bach
LLP 17 - Cradle Of Thorns
LLP 18 - Amaranthe
LLP 19 - Lindemann
LLP 20 - Halestorm
LLP 21 - Garbage LIVE
LLP 22 - Arcade
LLP 23 - Nightwish LIVE

Surprise! Sick Again

This has not been my year.  I am sick again, but this time my doctor doesn't know what it is.  He does think it is a virus, possibly a flu virus (yes - I got my shot) but I don't have all the symptoms of flu.  My only symptoms are headache and nausea - and, oh, the nausea!  I've not been able to eat much since last Thursday.  Plus, all my inactivity has my back acting up again and my, er, act backing up again.  It has been almost a full week now so whatever the virus is it should be close to finished, according to my doctor.

I do look forward to a great early March post.  But until then know that I am not dead, I only wish I were.

Winter & Little Lulu

I have not posted much lately, but it is the time of winter that not a whole lot is going on.  November and December you still have good days (very much so this season!) so are still making things happen.  Then the daylight bottoms out and deep winter sets in.  Even days that you make plans something is more likely to happen to keep you in during winter.  Snowstorms, daylight, temperatures and sickness are all much bigger factors than other times of year.  Any one or combination can keep you holed up at home instead of being out dining, shopping or socializing.  Even walking around the yard is missed by now.

We had plans this afternoon but not feeling well and snowfall has kept us in again.  Yes, it is the time of year I start seriously longing for spring.

- - - - - Little Lulu Comic - - - - -

Blue Witch's comment on the thread for the last post spurred me into writing today.  Before that, I had not ever considered trying to see what the comic would be worth.  My wife tells me she thought about it but, with the tops of the cover and first page missing, she didn't mention it.  Like I said in that comment thread, that is probably due to being returned for credit by the seller.  I know they do that for newspapers still, I'm not sure about magazines or comics, but probably.  Regardless, even if it was fully complete I don't think it would have occurred to me to seek it's worth.  (Now if it was Superman or similar.... then I might have thought about the $$!)

Yesterday I went downstairs ready to dust and vacuum some more, even started briefly, but decided it was going to be more work than results.  My cleaning a couple weeks ago is sufficient for now.  When I do big basement cleaning again I will approach it better from the start and have it done much more efficiently.

I did read through most of the Little Lulu comics in the magazine I found, not quite finishing because, well, it was boring.  Most of the subject matter is pretty simple, and would easily be understood by kids today.  But, of course, this is a simpler form of entertainment for young kids and would not be able to compete in this era.  After reading I printed off my last post.  I used the email version because it was easier and had less clutter.  The paper was enough larger than the comic that I folded the two pages in half and placed them in the center of the comic book, just sticking out the top a little bit.  Using a mirror, I checked the other areas atop that air return and the only other thing I found was a clothespin (that I left where I found).

Then I put Little Lulu went back where I found her.  Back to where she lay since - I would guess - the late 1950's or maybe 1960's.   We will know it is there - and now you will, too - but we will not disturb it.  Maybe someday after we're gone - or moved - someone will find it and ponder it's journey as I did.  Or maybe someday someone will be doing work or cleaning and toss it in the bin without looking at it.

I will only know how it made me think and reflect on the early life of this comic, this house and the family that grew up here.  Putting it back may give someone else that opportunity.


Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day.

Cobwebbing Comic Find

Last weekend I spent a short time downstairs with the duster going after the cobwebs in the basement ceiling.  I thought I did a pretty good job until I went down there for something the other night and in the light of the bulbs, as opposed to the daylight streaming in earlier, there were many more cobwebs to see.  Enough for me to make a note on my to-do list to cobweb the basement after dark, specifically.  So that is what I went down to do last night.

I set up my bluetooth speaker so I could listen to one of my podcasts as I cobwebbed, and as I started I almost immediately saw the corner of something sticking out over one of the air returns.  I must have bumped it with the duster enough to make it visible to me.  I immediately recognized it as a thin magazine style reading material when I touched it.

It was a comic book.  A very old and dusty comic book of Marge's Little Lulu.  A 52 Page Comic Magazine, as stated on the cover.  The pages are beyond yellow and into brown shades of very old.  The tops of the cover and first page are missing, and it has been drawn on the covers by what would appear to be a young child practicing drawing stars.

Found on the air return, top right.

The latest date I can see, due to the top of the cover and first page missing, is 1954, listed on the bottom of the first page where it references the comics this compilation came from.  We don't know the exact year our house was built, but the old toilet was dated 1947.  If I remember right, the former owner raised 5 kids in this little house.  That would be unheard of these days in this amount of space, but her mother did live next door, we're told.  The house was empty for a year or more after she died, then we bought it in 2009.

It would be interesting to know the story of how this comic book got to be there, but I'll probably never know.  In fact, what am I going to do with it?  Maybe I'll just read it and put it back for someone else to discover after my time.  Then they may wonder about it like I am now.

January This-And-Thats

Okay, time to dust the place and act alive around here.  At this time last year I had actually taken a bit of a time-out from blogging.  Before November of 2014 I had not posted less than 7 times a month in over 5 years of posting here.  It got to the point I just couldn't keep that up.  First, I realized the fact that I had never posted less than seven times a month and felt like I was forcing some posts just to keep the streak alive.  That was over a year ago and I'm a little more relaxed about posting now, obviously.

So now that I'm ready to type, I hope you're ready to read!

• Yes, I was sick for over a month.  I had bronchitis, got a little better around the new year to allow my wife to be sick for a few days, then I got sick again.  This time it was more sinus than lungs, but still with the damn headache.  I had not been sick like that in some time and I hope never again.
• The resurgence of my sickness may have been aided by the fact that winter decided to finally show up in full force.  First with a good layer of snow, then with the bitter cold of below zero (F) temperatures.  It is good for the natural order of things, but I'd be happy to skip it altogether.
• I have been on a bit of an early spring cleaning kick, getting rid of odd little things that I do not need, extra cardboard boxes, and just junk that we don't need to keep.  We have a pretty good pile for charity again but I still have to go through my clothes.  That's always been the hard part for me.  I think it is daunting because I don't want to have to try on a gazillion clothes to determine what stays and what goes, so it never gets done.  Maybe this spring will be different...
• We got a chest freezer last year, now it's time to fill it.  Kate has been cooking more things ahead of time and I have stocked up on freezer items when they are on sale, but now we will soon have about 250 pounds of meat to put in it.  I had talked with a friend about going in on a cow and it looks like that may happen soon.  We will be getting one quarter of a cow for roughly 3 dollars a pound - that's across the board for ground beef, steaks and roasts.  This should keep us in meat for a good amount of time - and ease my grocery shopping trips.
• Speaking of shopping, I bought the Amazon Fire TV Stick on a forty dollar whim.  It achieves my main purpose of being able to watch YouTube videos on the television and I am still figuring out the rest.  We don't watch a whole lot of TV other than house shows, Big Bang Theory reruns and, of course, my sports games.  But I can see how someone who is really into TV and movies would love this, there's almost anything you want to watch at your fingertips.  Even if we end up not using it for more than YouTube I'm still glad I got it - but again, I'm still figuring it out yet.

Tonight we are meeting half a dozen friends at Ella's Deli for dinner to celebrate my wife Kate's birthday this week.  It is close enough we could walk there but we have not been there for a couple years since we took our nephew James there for dinner.  She wanted ideas on where to go so I did a google search and started calling out names of restaurants and she fancied this one.  I'm glad she did, it is a fascinating place to visit.  They have fascinating stuff there everywhere you look, on the walls, ceiling, and even in the tables!  Check out their website here.  

Thanks for coming back though I've been away.  My stats have been nuts, one day this last week I got 4 hits and the next I got 37.  Crazy.  Average is probably 15 or so a day.  Now I think I better get the camera out so I don't forget it tonight and I should probably decide what I want from their extensive menu before we go.  

Attempt At Posting

I know I've not posted here all year.  I guess I haven't found anything to be post-worthy recently.  A health update is all I can think of so far.  Well, let me try a This-And-Thats format and see what happens.

• I've still been sick, and that makes it a whole month now.  Hmm.  I don't even want to type about that.  You don't want details about me feeling poor.  I am feeling a bit better today, or trying to.
• Packers play a wildcard playoff game today at Washington.  I'll be rooting for them to win but putting them out of their misery would be more humane.
• We had a lot of rain during the week but it didn't melt most of the snow cover.  No chance of it melting for the foreseeable future as January has arrived in full with single digit temperatures, at least during the day.

Okay, maybe this wasn't a good idea.  That's all I got so it will have to do until I'm in a better disposition and/or actually have something to say.

Happy New Year 2016

We were planning on having a couple people over tonight to ring in the new year but I had to cancel this morning because my wife is not feeling well.  I'm okay with that, I stayed up until the early hours last night watching Wisconsin win the Holiday Bowl over USC.  I'm glad I stayed up, it was a good game that came down right to the end, but I have been pretty tired all day today.  Thankfully it was very slow at work and no one really cared how much got done.  I may still get a second wind tonight and stay awake until midnight, there are still football bowl games on television.  But maybe not and I'm okay with that.

I wrote this last year and can't think of a better way to say it:
Happy New Year to you all.  The ones I read, the ones I love, all my friends and all of you who take the time to read me.  Whether you comment or not, I can see you're there.  Thank you.

Xmas 2015

We enjoyed a holiday evening with my wife's family yesterday.  It was a good holiday gathering, no huge dramas to speak of.  Family photos were taken that I hope turn out real nice.  Brother-in-law is becoming a professional photographer so he had all the equipment - the huge backdrop and the umbrella lights of a pro photo shoot, and he made it work pretty well for the small space it had to happen in.

The food was also pretty good.  Way too much, but par for the course.  They all want to please, and everyone did seem pleased and had their fill of the feast.  Mother-in-law forgot to get the jello dish out for dinner again - which is becoming a family tradition.  I feel like the same thing happened at the last holiday gathering.  I also felt a little bad for my host sister-in-law as she spent all her time cleaning up dishes alone afterwards while we all talked around the table.  I considered helping, but helpers may just have been in her way, anyway.

We are not traveling anywhere else this weekend.  I plan on resting, mostly.  Although I am mostly over the bronchitis I got about 2 weeks ago I still have the headache.  It is better at times and worse at other times, but it has been there for a full fortnight now and I'm, well, sick of it.

The weather is as unseasonably warm as I ever remember for Christmas.   It looks more like late fall right now than winter.  The grass has never been greener at this time of year.  Still, I can't help but think we'll be paying for this milder weather down the road, in one way or another.

Whatever you are doing for the holiday I hope it is what you want to be doing.  Have a great weekend!

How To Comment

I am writing this to clarify how to leave a comment for those that may not know.  Basically there are three main ways to view my posts; desktop, mobile and via email.  You may comment directly from the desktop or mobile site but not the email.  So here is how to leave a comment for me, and registering with Blogger or Google to leave a comment is not required.

From Desktop:
If you are on a desktop when visiting then thank you, you are seeing the post as I meant it to be seen.  Just click on 'comments' at the end of the post.  Sign in if you have an account or, more likely, just choose the Name/URL option, then you can just enter your name and your comment easily.  Anonymous works too, but be sure to leave your name in the comment so I know who it is.

From Mobile:
If you see the mobile site on your device then you must first click on the post you wish to comment on, then click on 'Post a comment' at the end of the post.  Sign in if you have an account or, more likely, just choose the Name/URL option, then you can just enter your name and your comment easily.  Anonymous works too, but be sure to leave your name in the comment so I know who it is.

Email Readers:
If you wish to comment on a post you received via email then you must click the 'Scoakat's Blog' link at the bottom of the email to go to either the desktop or mobile sites, then it is the same as above.

If you don't know what I'm referring to when I say 'email readers,' I have a widget in the right column where you can enter your email address, then confirm in an email that is sent to you and you will get an email every time I post a new article to my website.  No spam, no bullspit.  Emails are sent out by Google two to twenty hours after I post.  I have no control over that.  And if you ever reply to those emails they do not come to me.  Also, keep in mind that you will not see videos in emails, you must visit the site.


So you see, it is not too difficult to respond to me but I realize the choices may be confusing.  Hopefully this helps and we can have a little more interaction here.  Tell me what you think, do you agree or disagree with what I write?  Have anything to add or anything you want to say?  I'm only spelling it out here because I'd love to hear from each and every one of you.

Hope to hear from you soon!