Base ment work shop time, or Man-caveman

Last winter re-arranged and cleaned up the basement and then set up a work area.  This is my favorite spot in the house.  I know the phrase man-cave is overused and usually refers to a room with a really large T.V. in it, but I think this is a more legitimate man-cave.  Stone surrounds me. It's cool and slightly damp (although I think I've got the moisture under control now).  My primitive self can blossom.  Really it's a place where I can retreat and when I emerge I usually feel accomplished.  Shit gets done here.  Most of my projects surround bikes, but ski tuning also happens here.  Some woodworking, and soon a sewing station.  One thing that I need to work on is my clean-up habits because I have a tendency to let things get a bit messy.  But, oh boy, it feels good when the workspace is clean and organized.  I've  been spending a lot of time down here reciently and have really been working on the keeping it clean. Now for the virtual tour:

This is an older bike work-stand set-up.

I call this "the woodsman corner"

Sometimes there beer

The new bike stand with the beer fridge in the background.

Tidy

You Know...For the Kids

A little while back I took the kids to a "kids music concert."  And I had a blast!  The Kids are Alright was a benifit concert for one of Burlington's elementary schools which is an art themed magnet school. (meaning everything that they do/learn is explored through the lens of art, and everyone in the School District can send their kids there.  While other public schools in town are location based enrollment) I know quite a few folks who's kids go there.  A group of parents who are also musicians decided that a good way to raise money for the PTO was to hold a concert.  Sounds logical, right?  Well execution of something like this is crucial. An idea like this in the wrong hands could have ended up a Rafi, Wiggles, Barney suckfest.  But thanks to >>> It was good music that kids and adults could enjoy and relate to.  Check out the photos by Sam Simon below with some of my highlights.
The School's Faculty and Staff band kicked thing off

Followed by The Cleary Brothers with some Americana goodness:

Then by far the youngest band Kaboom-boom showed us the future.  I have heard these two before and I love them:

James Kochalka rocked out. His set was by far the highlight for Ryland and Adi.

Rough Francis reworked/wrote kids songs to the tunes of some classic.  Their set was my favorite with their version of "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider" to the tune of "The Spider by the Who, and a song about going to school to the tune of "Blitzkrieg Bop"

All in all not a bad way to spend a Saturday!

Olde Northender

When you live in the North End you gotta keep it tight!
James Kochalka's new album Beautiful Man was released at the end of 2012 and, to put it plainly, I like it.
James is one of my neighbors and his song Old Northend is an homage to our neighborhood.  I think this song captures the gritty beauty and pride that we feel. 

And there were good times

Alright, I'm going to reach back a bit all the way to November to recap some of the travels and family shenanigans that we engaged in around the various holidays that take place this time of year.  First we traveled to Pennsylvania for the annual Giving of Thanks turkey and fixins. It started with visiting the world headquarters of Leddy's Telecom.  There we walked in the woods and then burned things in the backyard.

There so much cool stuff after the jump...

An Update About the Pooch

So, other than the flotsam and jetsam  of videos and funny pictures that I've posted since my major emotional unleashing, you haven't heard from me.  I've neglected to share tales of my holidays or commit any real events of my life to these pages.   Well here's an update on the d-o-g.  After the dark days around December 12 we leveled with the vet.  Once she was stable, we just wanted to bring Luna home and make her comfortable.  "Ok" the vet said, "She can go home this afternoon."  After 2 units of doggie blood, fluids, antibiotics, a marrow sample, and one dose of chemotherapy.  Luna was on her way home.  She was still weak, not herself, but we could tell she was glad to be home.  And boy, oh, boy did she get spoiled.  You want to get on the furniture?  No Problem! You want to eat table scraps for second dinners?  Sure, why not!  It's gone on like this since.  We've been giving her steroids, since she got home and they really helped turn things around.  She was back to very nearly her old self in a day or two, other then the incessant thirst and ravenous appetite which has her constantly eating snow, drinking from the toilet, and snagging any food foolishly left on the counter, table, stove, washer, etc.  I have event found myself, more often than I'd like, having thoughts like, "maybe this was all a big misunderstanding.  Maybe she just had some infection before and the steroids and antibiotics killed it and she's going to live for a long, long time.  Yeah, that's the ticket."  Then I remember that between two vet's and multiple tests there was never any hope that that might be the case.  I don't think there's a suprise ending to this tail er tale.

We eventually got the results from the tests and they confirmed the worst fears, stage V lymphoma or leukemia (the present themselves almost exactly the same in the test we had done, and we aren't have another done to determine which is going to kill her.  They both have the same prognosis. Thankyouverymuch.) So she continues to get spoiled.  She gets extra long walks. 

She comes to work with me 2-3 days a week (where there are new people to spoil her). And basically we don't say, "We'll do that next time." or "No that would be too much hassle."  Cause we've only got a little time left and we want it to be filled with love, fun, and more love.  Thanks Luna (and Ferris Bueller) for continuing to teach us, or reinforce, lessons like, Life is short.

On repeat. All. Day. Long.