Nice...

Check more of Andy at his website HERE.

Or you can can download his music on iTunes HERE and HERE.


tags: Andy McKee | music | acoustic guitar

Gone.. Back... Off Again...

We spent the end of last week at the Lighthouse Suites in Avila Beach, CA, with some great friends. I even got a round of golf in at Rancho Maria in Santa Maria.

I am heading out tomorrow for a week in the high country (Edison Lake) with my boys - no cell service, no computers. Just 3 guys at a campsite with a pit toilet (always go early in the morning or late at night... there are less flies!) I'm looking forward to a week of fishing, hiking, reading, and playing card and board games. We might even do a little geocaching.

I'll be back on Friday or Saturday with new posts and pictures.

Have a great week!

Readers and Rock Stars

NerdMom assures me that "You like me... you really like me" and that you are actually out there, maybe even waiting patiently for another post.

NerdMom was also looking for the rest of the story and some pictures. I can't oblige on the pictures yet. We've had the boat out, just sans pictures. I will see what I can do on a picture of the boat on the finished pad.

The rest of the concrete story goes like this:

Dad and I finished the concrete. He was beside himself with how much he enjoyed it. Realize that my father and I weren't close when I was growing up. It has only been in the last few years that we have gotten closer. He really enjoyed working side-by-side with his son.

And we ended up saving a hundred bucks or so off the $1,300 estimate we received. That put me in a happy mood, too. But mostly it was Dad - it could have cost me more and it still would have been worth it.

That is until I talked to Mr. V. Mr. V. is one of the maintenance guys at church. He also had 5 yards of concrete poured. He contracted it out to some guys. His cost? $600. That's less than what I paid in concrete! Oh well, I still have a wonderful memory with my Dad (and shouldn't that be worth $600 or so?).

Oh yeah... I also wanted to prove that I wasn't completely slacking when I wasn't posting. Here are some pictures of me and the youngest blonde boy playing Guitar Hero II on the XBox 360.

Another great conversation from the youngest blonde boy (YBB):

(YBB): "Dad, can you make me a CD with some of the Guitar Hero music?"

Me: "Sure! What songs do you want?" At this point, I am overjoyed that my youngest son shares with me a love for classic rock.

YBB: "Carry on Wayward Son, I Love Rock 'N Roll, Smoke on the Water, You Really Got Me, and Shout at the Devil."

At which point I got the look from Mrs. Two Blonde Boys, who said: "Don't you dare put Shout at the Devil on that CD."

She knows me all too well.

I'm back...

OK...

I've been gone WAY too long from my blog (54 days to be exact). It started off as a slump that was fueled by some transitions at the church and turned into a full-blown case of unintentional neglect.

Now I'm sitting here wondering, "Does anyone care? Have I lost my audience? Did I ever have one? Is Mom still reading?"

So here, on the day of my return, I give you a story:

I got a boat. a free boat. That should have been the warning sign.

The trailer tires were bald. No one wanted to work on the trailer because they couldn't put the trailer on the hydraulic lift because the boat was on it (are there any mechanics that work at tire shops any more - can you say wheel chocks and a jack? But I digress...).

I finally found someone to put the tires on. Then a few miles down the road, the brakes locked up. Did I mention I was about 5 hours from home down in Riverside?

I dragged the boat into a trailer place and finally got a nice man naemd Caesar to help me (the lady at the desk was less than cooperative and helpful). Caesar basically disengaged the trailer brakes and off I went. I left to boat in Castaic for trailer repairs and returned a few days later to pick it up.

It worked... or so I thought. A few days later the brakes locked up again. this time, I dragged the boat over to my friend Manny's, where it stayed fr a week while he determined and fixed the problem (it was a bad master cylinder).

Now don't get too bored... the pictures are coming.

While the boat was at Manny's, I got the side yard ready for concrete, which my dad and I poured together. While I was taking the side year down to grade with the Bobcat I rented... wait for it...

I ROLLED THE BOBCAT!

My friend told me it would take a lot of guys to get it righted, so I called about 20 guys. Fortunately it only took 6 guys. Unfortunately, the other 14 showed up. I am still trying to live it down.

The Bobcat took out the neighbor's fence. The good thing was that it fell into the neighbor's fence. If it had fallen into the house, I would have ruptured the gas main and then you would have REALLY had to wait for me to finally blog again.

Oh yeah... the youngest blonde boy had the best line. He came around the corner, saw the Bobcat on its side, looked at me, looked at the Bobcat again, then said, "Well, I guess we're gonna have to go back to using shovels again!" Check out the pix at the bottom. The one of him is priceless.

Enjoy the pictures. Talk your trash.

And come back tomorrow...

Here's the side yard AFTER "the incident."




And here's "the incident."