My wife is a hotty, and smart to boot!

Ok, I am going to break my own blogging protocol and brag a little bit here. My wife, Kim, is awesome. She is easily the "better half" of the partnership, in the sense that she has many more good personality traits than I do in relating to people...things like patience, kindness, empathy, and tactfulness. Generally, even when someone is being a boor and I know that she is inwardly rolling her eyes or thinking "shut up already!" she will be outwardly ever so sweet and mellow to them. I sometimes...oftentimes...wish some of that would rub off on me.
Plus, she's smart. She's a pretty quick learner and a good teacher too. Often I will change a course of action after hearing her opinion on things (and I'm usually smart enough myself to ask for her opinion). I'm often the impetuous one, ready to jump in and get going while she often does things slower and perhaps more thoughtfully. Not that either way is necessarily better or worse than the other (both have advantages and disadvantages), but her council is always well worth listening to and oftentimes worth heeding. Stumpjack is clearly a better business and a better company because of her, and because I listen to her.
Finally, my wife is a babe. Trying not to sound too much like a caveman, but Kim's got it goin' on. She's more beautiful now than she was when she was younger...one of those gals who gets more luscious with age. That's all that I can tastefully say...anymore and this could end up sounding like a Penthouse letter. Yessir, I'm a fortunate fellow. Happy Father's Day to me!

My new fave musicians: Gus and Fin!

Thank you Tina Kugler! Tina posted one of Gus & Fin's videos on her blog, I watched it, loved it, ended up watching all of their vids on youtube (repeatedly), loving each one more than the one before. These guys are simply fantastic! Just pure joyful and funkified fun-ness. (How can you possibly top a guy wearing a fez and playing "Rawhide" on a toy T.V. Pal ukulele? I'll tell you how...when they play it with such excellent musicianship and respect for the song.) It's the kind of stuff you want everyone to see and hear and love too.



And for just plain lounge-vibe-coolness here's "Get Carter," with bongos and other instrumentation. We MUST get these guys to come to the states and play at the Stump sometime.



Go to their youtube site and play all 47 vids...they're all excellent. I'm buying a ukulele because of these guys.

Point Beach with the boys and girls

Last Sunday, June 1st, following Becky Markvart's successful and fun-filled CD release party at Stumpjack, several of us went out to Point Beach State Forest to hang out at one of their permanent cabins that we had rented for the night. Pat and Mike went out ahead of the rest of us to get the fire going while Kim and I cleaned up the shop and Becky and Mike (not to be confused with the other Mike) broke down and loaded up their sound equipment.

We all gathered 'round the fire, drank beer and rum & cokes, smoked a few cigars, and talked smart for a few hours. Dummy that I am I not only neglected to take pictures during Becky's party but also didn't take any at our woodsy powwow. Here are a few taken Tuesday morning.

We all stayed overnight in the cabin (all, that is, except for Mike Zimmy, who wimped out and went home because he said he had to go to work the next day...and he works for the city so you know what a lame excuse that is!). It was a sleepless night because it seemed like every 30 minutes Kim was waking me up to either take her out to the potty or to tell me that I was snoring (yes, woman, I was snoring because I was SLEEPING! emphasis on was).

I did spend a few minutes before hitting the hay to walk down to the beach all by my lonesome to ponder the stars and boat lights on the lake. It was beautifully peaceful and rejuvenating. Few things can help shed the stress and weight of the week like a peaceful, starry night by a lake.

Kim and I went home to get our girls and rented the cabin for one more night for ourselves. We must do this more often.

I did take one picture from Becky's party after everyone had left. This is a hand crafted pen that Mark Chatenka gave Becky as a gift at her party. Click on it to get an enlarged image...check out that beautiful wood grain. I want one too!