We couldn’t have asked for a better day for a drive.  The morning started off a little cool, but the sun warmed us up nicely by midday.  The fall colors had just come out, and we had plenty of opportunities to see them on the many tiny, winding roads we took to get to the covered bridges and the trolley museum.

Things started off at the McDonalds on Washington Ave. in Bridgeville.  On our earlier scouting runs Lenore and I had discovered that all the covered bridges that we knew of were identical, so for the tour we decided to just see a selection of them.  Since the bridges tend to be on very small roads, and not near towns, the tour group got to drive on some very narrow, winding roads through some gorgeous rural areas.  Several people wondered how Lenore and I were able to find these tiny, out-of-the-way roads after having only lived in the state for a year… it was all thanks to the internet.  Much of the planning was done with the help of the Google Maps website, followed by several scouting trips.  You can see our route here.

We drove right through the first covered bridge without stopping, and went on to the stone “S” bridge at the intersection of Hwy 40 and Hwy 221.  It’s an all stone bridge, completed in 1818, that was actually built for wagon and stage traffic headed toward the expanding West.  It was fun to see something designed for a time so long before our cars were around.

Next it was off to our last two bridges, in the vicinity of East Finley.  This was when we had the first break-down of the trip… and unfortunately it was my car that broke down.  On the upside, it was a quickly fixed sticky clutch pedal, and I got to see a “roadside seminar” up close and personal.

Keith Waltower gets us back on the road.  It was very funny that the men couldn’t wait to look under the hood, but most of the ladies stayed in the cars.  Lenore took this fantastic photo.

The line-up behind my disabled car.

We got rolling again, and made it to the rest of the bridges without too much more trouble.  The last bridge on the tour turned out to be a great place for a group shot of everyone with all the cars.  We got some nice shots and we were off to lunch.

The 3 River Region Model A Ford Restorer’s Club

There was a bit of a slow start due to some mechanical trouble, but we were soon on our way.  About halfway to lunch we had our second “roadside seminar”.  The topic this time was the virtues of filling your tank before you leave, and it was hosted by Bill “No Gas” Hamilton, as he was dubbed by Carl Trimber (who is always ready with a joke).  A collection of gas was taken up in a soda can, and we were soon on our way again.  At the lunch spot Chuck Berrington presented Bill with a large empty container for his next gas crisis.  Of course Bill would have to fill it himself though.  Bill took all the ribbing with a laugh, and told us that this was actually the first time he had ever run out of gas.  I figure that if you’re going to make a mistake like that, you might as well do it in front of a bunch of your friends so you can all get a good laugh out of it.

Bill Hamilton with his new “gas can”.

We stopped at the trolley museum after lunch, and got to ride on a trolley from about the same era as our cars.  The afternoon was supposed to include a stop at an antique mall in Cannonsburg, but we unfortunately ran out of time.

This is me in front of a trolly.

We finished up with dinner at King’s Family Restaurant on Washington Rd in Cannonsburg.  All in all, it was a great day, and a fun tour, and I’m already looking forward to the start of next year’s driving season.

As we were talking, a particularly loud clap of thunder sounded outside and there was a flash of blue light right above my head.  I couldn’t see it, but Lenore sure could.  She said that there was an arc of electricity that stretched from the window to the ceiling fan that was right over my head.  So that arc went about six feet into the house in order to miss my head by about a foot and a half.  Eep.

Vader freaked out while Lenore and I discussed how crazy it was that lightning came into our house.  Maybe we only think we’re that much smarter than dogs.

thanks to www.birdchick.com for the image

Today, I think I spotted its nest in a tree a few houses down the street from ours. I love raptors, so I’m excited about having the chance to watch this one more often. The leaves are just starting to come out, so in another week or so I won’t be able to see its nest, but at least I know where it is now so I can watch for it better.

I also saw a pretty big owl in the neighborhood last week, but it was far away and silouetted, so I really couldn’t see enough to try to identify it. I have seen very few owls in my life, so I hope I can get a better view of it.

Even though it happens every time, I am always surprised by how much food there is in the world that I can’t recognize. Of course that’s the real fun of going to an international grocery. My favorite sections are the drink section and the candy section. This time I bought a bottle of Green Plum (soda I think, but I haven’t opened it yet), and a bag of White Rabbit candy.

Not only does it have an awesome package and a great name, but the candy is really good too. The only problem is that it is hard as a rock. One of the down sides of the international markets is that you don’t always know how long something has been there. By the packaging and the wrappers I am pretty sure that White Rabbit is supposed to be a soft, taffy-like chewable candy. The stuff I have is so hard that you have to suck on it for a little bit just to get it to the point where it is flexible. It is worth the trouble, but it would be far more pleasant if you didn’t have to work so hard.

It occurred to me that it might just be a moisture problem, so I made an impromptu humidor for the candy.

It’s just a large covered pot with water in the bottom, and a bowl for the candy to sit in so it doesn’t have direct contact with the water while it is sucking up the moisture from the air and becoming more delectable.

Here’s the progress:

Day 1: there might be a slight difference, but it might just be my imagination.

Day 2: it seems like it takes slightly less work to eat, but my jaw is still getting tired from the effort. Could still just be my imagination.

Day 3: I’m not sure the humidor is having any effect at all… but it’s hard to tell. I’m going to have to start skipping days or I’ll run out of candy.

Day 5: The piece I had today was downright brittle. Could subjecting the candy to a humid environment actually be making it drier? I’m going away for the weekend, maybe I’ll try steam when I get back if there is still no progress in the right direction.

Day 8: OH MY GOD! DISASTER HAS STRUCK THE WHITE RABBIT CANDY PROJECT! The piece I ate today had a hard, brittle center surrounded by a slushy, slimy outer layer of reconstituted candy goo. How could it have gone so horribly wrong?!? The experiment has been aborted due to the tragic circumstances. I removed the remaining candy, and dismantled the humidor so that future generations wouldn’t go down this foolhardy path again. Alas, I guess it really is true that “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

Don’t get me wrong though… I’m still gonna eat the candy.

This week is the Indianapolis Fringe Festival and I was asked to do some street performing as a part of it. The only problem is that there is no one out. I mean really no one. I drove down Mass Ave yesterday at about the time I was considering starting and I counted a total of 19 people in the five blocks of the street, and most of them were getting into their cars. I think that the problem is that unlike other major downtown streets in other cities, Mass Ave is not closed to cars.  So people just drive up to what they want, do their thing, and then drive away.  Since the only pay I will be getting is passing the hat, I am starting to think that I might not even be able to do a single show. I’ll keep checking it out though, so we will see.

I was hired to perform at the Zoo by the Milwaukee Zoological Society for their annual Memeber’s Kids Nights. Each year they keep the Zoo open late for three nights (Tues, Thurs, and Fri.) so the members can come and enjoy the Zoo without all the non-member riff-raff getting in their way. It’s a really nice event. It’s evening, so it’s not so hot, the crowds are entirely managable, and they have special things like entertainers and free pickles. This is something like the 6th or 7th year they have hired me in a row. I really like this gig, and I know that someday my luck has got to run out.

The shows went as well as could be expected considering that we were in a basically undisclosed location due to the rain. Normally I perform in the outdoor theater that they use for the Bird of Prey Show. In the time I have worked there I have performed solo, alternating with a ventriloquist, and this year I’m alternating with a sound effects guy in his 80s named Wes Harrison. He’s awesome.

In general I always try to get to a show about an hour ahead of time. It’s not as critical to have that much time if I’ve done the show before, or if I know in advance that they are really organized, like for a library show. On the other hand, gigs like Summerfest, or the WI State Fair require that I get there several hours in advance because there is a lot more ground to cover, and I can’t drive right up to my performing spot.

After my two shows were finished at the Zoo, I headed back to the car in the rain, and let the dog out for a very brief stretch before we headed off to Lynn’s house. At this point it was about 8:45 and I was starving, so I stopped at good ol’ Taco Bell for a Crunch Wrap Supreme with beans (no meat). Taco Bell and Subway are the saviors of the travelling vegetarian who’s in a hurry.

Lynn was already asleep when we got to her house, but that didn’t stop Vader from going up to her room and licking her until she woke up. Lynn and I are on nearly opposite schedules. I’m a night owl, and am usually up until 1 am or so, and Lynn usually is up at 4:30 am, 5:00 if she decides to sleep in. It can be a bit tricky, but it’s worked out so far. One side effect of being a performer is that you get pretty good at changing your sleep schedule. I read for a bit and went to bed.

As usual, Lynn, Vader and I were out the door at 7:40 am to go on the dog walk with a bunch of other dog owners. I usually wait to eat breakfast until we get back, when I am fully awake. By 10:00 I was reading in bed, and well on my way to a nap. Today I don’t have to work, but tomorrow I will have to leave for the Zoo at about 5 pm. The plan for the rest of today is to write this article, and go practice juggling with my buddy Marcus Monroe in a raquetball court. Tonight Lynn and I are going to eat her awesome marinated mushroom and green pepper sanwhiches, and watch the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.

I will leave Milwaukee Saturday morning to head home, with a brief stop in Chicago to pick up some of my wife Lenore’s artwork from a gallery there. I get to be home Saturday and Sunday. We have some friends coming into town to look for an appartment, and then on Monday I am off to Portland for a week for the International Jugglers Association annual convention where I will practice, learn new tricks, network, socialize, sit around, and be the MC for the Cascade of Stars Public Show. After that I will be home for a few days before Pierogiefest in Whiting IN on July 29th.

Vader travels with me whenever I am going somewhere dog friendly for a few days. Mostly that means Lynn’s house in Milwaukee, but he comes with me when I go to my Mom’s house in Madison WI, to my friends Jeni and Adolfo’s house in Green Bay WI, or to my sister-in-law’s house in Geneva IL.

That’s pretty much how I live when I’m working. Winter is less busy, and there is more doing stuff around the house, doing office work, seeing friends, going to the dog park, and working on computer projects. I hope that this was interesting for you, if not, then you are not the audience I wrote it for. ;)

The simplest of them was just a head that turns to try to see a butterfly that is always flying just out of sight, and one of the most complex was a guy who is very unhappy to be getting a tooth pulled in a dentist chair. Aside from working well, these things are really beautiful and fun. For some examples check out my friend Don Olney’s site.

Lenore couldn’t ship her artwork. No address, no shipping. So we had to go earlier than she had originally planned so we could take the work up ourselves. I wasn’t originally going to go with her, but we had to leave pretty early, and she wanted some help with the driving. I had nothing else specific going on and I have plenty of people I like to see in Chicago, so off we all went.

The show ended up being in the Merchandise Mart, and after a rather frenzied set-up day I think things went fairly smoothly.

After dropping Lenore off at the show, Vader and I headed up to threadless to have lunch with Harper. I was very pleased that I got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants again, Taste of Lebanon. You can read more about it on my Favorite Restaurants page. Their lentil soup is SO good. I can’t go there and not have it. Although this is the second time I have gotten it to go, and of course it’s still good, but I think it actually tastes better if you eat it in the restaurant.

After lunch Vader and I headed downtown for a radio interview. The night before we left, Charlie, the podcast guy from threadless, called me up and asked me if I would do a radio interview for his class at Columbia. I realize now that I never actually asked him what the interview was really for, but I assume it was a project for some sort of radio class he was taking. The interview went really well, and was a lot of fun. Like any guy (especially any entertainer guy) I love talking about myself and how great I am, so I naturally enjoyed that part. What made it even cooler though was that we were in a very professional room with very fancy and expensive looking mics, and we had our very own sound tech “running the board”. I don’t really know what that means, but she was doing some cool radio stuff on the other side of the little window in the wall. After the interview was over Charlie asked me to do a few yo-yo tricks for his classmates, and there was much rejoycing.

The next part of the day was to head back up around Andersonville for a run on the beach (with Vader doing most of the running), and after so much car time Vader was very happy to be able to run around and jump in the waves for a bit. When we were finished with our walk, we picked up Matiss from work and went off for an evening of video-games. It was a pretty great day all in all, and nothing makes a great day better than capping it off with videogames.
I spent a couple of days hanging out at Harper and Matiss’ house, and then went off to Geneva to visit Lenore’s sister and family for a day before picking up Lenore and heading back home on Sunday. Geneva is always fun too. Besides the good company and the dog walking, I get to play tag, hide and seek, and Lego non-stop. Also, before I left on Sunday, we all went to brunch at the Hilton (I think). They had an entire conference room just for the food. Not only did the omlette guy make a special omlette just for me, but after the meal you could go over to the glorious desert table, and dip your desert into the chocolate waterfall. Seriously. A waterfall of chocolate. I suppose it’s really a chocolatefall, but if I had said that from the beginning you wouldn’t have known what I was talking about.

Lenore sold three pieces at the show, and had a lot of interest. It was great. You can see hew work at lenorethomas.com