I did do a blog, but I was waiting to pull off the pictures.  I know, not an excuse.  Here is the earlier blog, with pictures.

Wow, it’s the beginning of April!  Where the first half of the year go?  Too bad the weather doesn’t know that it is Spring.  We finally saw 60s on Saturday, but it has been a little chilly.  At least my flowers are trying to come up.  They don’t care about the weather.  I have lots of green sprouting up through the dirty around the house.  Come on, summer!

On Monday, Rich stayed home to get the electrical contractor started on the garage.  We got a quote for service out to the garage and then to add the lights and outlets.  Since the quote was a good price, Rich decided to have them do all of the work.  Rich marked out where the trench would go.  On Monday, they trenched, put down the conduit, installed the service, and ran most of the outlets.  They even had the lights on the outside put up.  The green barn light over the man door looks great.

Work ended there until the Building Inspector could stop by and check it, which he did on Tuesday.  Rich stayed home on Tuesday to help with the inspection and write the big check.  Once Ray came by and gave his blessing, the work continued.  Rich’s hand didn’t even shake that much when he wrote the check.

I normally work at home on Tuesdays.  So I was there for the fun and games that day.  Sascha wanted outside after the contractors arrived that morning.  I didn’t think about her or that she might get in their way.  Apparently, she didn’t like the noises from the garage so she didn’t wander in.  I went to check on her and the guys had come out to say hello.  They were petting her.  Later, they took a cigarette break and she was hanging out with them.  I have one very social Siberian Collie.

Tuesday evening, Rich and I went to dinner with some friends.  Unfortunately for Rich, only the girls showed up.  He didn’t have to listen to much girl talk, so I think he managed to survive.  It was great to meet up with several people I don’t see often.  We had a few laughs and enjoyed a little bit of social hour in a busy week.

I had a long list of deliveries that I need to do this week.  I decided to keep my head down and work through everything and stay out of the office.  For some reason, I get distracted a lot more when I’m in the office.  I just needed to put in the time and get the work done.  Of course, that means working a lot of hours too.  The guys don’t feel too neglected though.  I just have to make it over the next couple of weeks.

Rich sent me an email with bad news on Thursday.  Mr. Johnnie Billington died down in Clarksdale, MS.  This really saddened me.  Back in January of 2012, Rich and I went to Memphis for a week  At the end of the week, we went down to check out the Crossroads in Clarksdale.  While we were there, we visited Ground Zero Blues Club.  We went in to eat and listen to the jam night.  We had met Stan Street earlier in the day.  Stan, his band, and other locals were playing that night.

As we listened to the great music, an older gentleman came and stood at the railing by our table.  He was smiling and trying to start a conversation with Rich, who wasn’t feeling well with a sinus headache.  I went over and decided to talk to the gentleman.  He said his name was John B.  As he and I talked, I got some wonderful stories about how he had been playing the blues since he was 13.  He was now teaching young kids to be showman.  One of his protégés was playing that night.

I told John that we were visting from outside of Chicago.  He laughs really big and says to me, “Everywhere is outside of Chicago.”  He thought my comment was very funny and kept laughing over it all night.  Turns out, he had lived in Chicago for several years playing blues with some of the names at that time.  He returned to Mississippi after his mother became ill.  He had lots of stories about his adventures.

His student, Omar Gordon, came on stage and played.  Poor boy was so nervous, but he was wonderful and quite talented.  John gave his full attention to Omar during his turn on stage.  You could see the pride on his face that Omar was doing a great job.  John applauded and went right back to telling me stories.

Stan came by to tell me that I was in trouble.  Once John has you in his sights, he apparently doesn’t stop talking.  That was fine with me. I was being totally entertained with all of his stories.  Stan just laughed and patted John on the back.  I talked to John until Rich needed to go.  I shook John’s hand and thanked him for a wonderful evening.  Thanks for all the Blues, John.

Now to plan for Rich’s birthday.  He is asking to go to Hofbrau Haus for his dinner.  So on Saturday, we venture down to Rosemont to eat some German food, drink some beer and listen to a little Humpha band music.  I think a couple of people are planning on meeting us there.  We’ll be in no hurry to leave.