High Priest of Rhythmic Noise

Nothing to do with family here, just a little self-indulgence.

This year Cheap Trick played at the Western Idaho Fair.

It's usually a challenge to get concert photos, since most venues don't allow cameras. The Fair, however, doesn't bother to try to restrict electronics (and with the advent of decent cameras in phones, practically speaking most venues don't really keep cameras out, either.  But it's still tough to try to slip an SLR into most real concert venues).

I was able to get right up close, maybe 10-12 feet from the stage.

I stayed there for a while until my ears started to hurt.  (I haven't been to a concert for a year or two, and forgot to bring earplugs.)

Rick Nielson changed guitargs between every song, I think.  This is one of the more unusual ones he used -- a shiny metal Gibson hollow-body.

He used this Gibson Les Paul for about a third of the songs, I think.

Lead singer Robin Zander with a very cool Hamer 12-string hollow-body electric.  He also traded some, using at least four different guitars.

Here Rick Nielson notices me pointing the camera at him...

... and mugs for the shot. :)

Tom Petersson played an 8-string Hamer bass.

Rick with Gibson Flying-V.

And to finish off the night, a crazy Hamer 5-neck.

Swingin'

Sunday we got to participate in a little birthday celebration for Regan.



She had an interesting (and yummy) "cake" made of brownies, Kit-Kats, and Hershey Drops.



Getting ready to attack the nine candles!



And there they go!



We also played around in their yard. Daniel helped pick a gigantic zuccini.



And Daniel and Jeff wandered around the manly fields talking about manly things.




Regan and Haydn were in a picture-taking mood and shot hundreds of photos, including these two of their dad.




Mostly we played on their new giant swings.



That's a big load for one swing!



A good time was had by all.

It's a mistake

Not just one, actually, but several...


It had been a really long day, after a really tiring week, and I'm exhausted. I'm taking out the trash when from the next room I hear the sound of the patio door opening to let our cat in, followed by

"Sunny, what's that in your mouth?"

This can't be good.

Next come a variety of exclamations and screams.

By the time I get into the family room, Sunny has spit out the still-live mouse, which is now hiding under a chair. If I'd been thinking a bit more clearly, I would have opened the door before trying to lift up the chair, and maybe the mouse would have run out. Of course, I'd rather not have a live mouse holed up right outside the house, but it would be better than inside the house.

Also, something down in my brain was saying "ya know, if the mouse runs out from under the chair, it will probably go under the couch." If I were thinking a bit more clearly, I would have listened, and blocked off the couch before lifting the chair.

I didn't.

Being a rather old couch, the lining was ripped, and of course the mouse climbed inside.

We tipped the couch on its end and took a look. In addition to a dozen or more pencils, candy (enough to feed the mouse for a week or two), Lisa's For the Strength of Youth pamphlet, $10 in cash (!), a fake mouse (a Christmas present for Sunny several years ago), and miscellaneous other junk, we could see the real mouse lurking in a corner.

At this point I'm thinking out loud...

A .22? The bullet would probably go right through the couch and into the floor.

A BB gun? That would work, but we don't have one.

Bow and arrow? Yeah, that could probably do it.

As I'm starting to think about how to aim an arrow accurately through the narrow opening in the couch lining, Yumiko protests that we can't kill the poor, cute little mouse.

Now what?

My next idea is to take the couch out into the driveway, turn it upside down, shake it, and hope the mouse falls out the bottom. Yeah, not the brightest idea in the world, but as already established I wasn't thinking too clearly.

We try it, and it works about as well as you probably imagine.

We look in again, and can still see the mouse sitting there watching us, now not too far from the rip in the lining. Lisa puts on a glove and tries to grab the mouse, but it dodges and vanishes from our sight.

To make a long story short, we finally remove the bottom of the couch, upon which we can retrieve the dozen or more pencils, the candy, Lisa's For the Strength of Youth pamphlet, $10 in cash, fake mouse, and miscellaneous other junk. We never again see any sign of the real mouse, nor can we see any place that it could be hiding.

Did it somehow get out and scurry away unnoticed? Or is it still lurking somewhere inside? We don't want to bring the couch back in the house until we're certain it's mouse free, but how can we ever be sure?

So, if you drive down the street and wonder why there's a couch sitting in the middle of our driveway, well, now you know.