Raised in a Barn

...then rocked in a barn!

It was a simple plan.

Ok, I can't lie. No plan in my hands is ever simple, or it doesn't stay simple for very long.

Saturday...

Watched college football. Called OD to double check if we needed his bass cabinet. We didn't. Called Chris B to see if he'd be around for an early gear pick up. He wasn't. Dropped off Alex with Al and Judi at the Naper Settlement's Cracker Barrel. They were there just after 3pm. Drove to Sugar Grove to help Chris load gear. Came back to DK rock city and had fun hanging out with the lovely and talented Kimberly Jo. Joe and Steener came by and we followed them to the gig.

The whole day had a wonderful feel to it. Not because we dropped off the boy and we were going to a rockshow. It was just a perfect fall day and it reminded me of so many fall days and dates Kim and I have enjoyed through our life together.

Get shit done
Stop at my friend's house
Hang out with my best girl
Play loud rock music

In the past there was some other stuff mushed about in there, but that was basically it. Now I can really enjoy days and moments like this. There was one slight bump in the road..or old dusty farm road -

Kim: "I don't think the benefit is in any of these barns. They're all dark."
Me: "Yeah. This is the last farm on this lane and it looks like the beginning of a Scooby Doo"
Kim: "We are following a driver with one eye down a deserted farm road in the middle of the night. I don't know why you think we even have a chance of finding this place."
Me: "You don't trust the judgement of my one-eyed friend?"
Kim: "No. I love Joe, and he has better judgement and a better sense of direction than you do."

Joe pulled over and we pulled in behind him

NOT THAT YOU SICK BASTARDS!

I pulled out my phone and we just sat there for a few minutes. Joe looked like he was doing something pretty important in the car in front of us.

Kim: "Are you calling someone to get better directions?"
Me: "I'm texting Devin."
Kim: "What did you write?"
Me: "Death farm."

Then Joe came up to our car and said the dark and seemingly abandoned farm at the end of the lane was the right one. Scooby Doo gig it is then.

Once we found the entrance to the barn and got our shit going and met everyone...things were ok.

I forgot how much fun it was to play in the cold. It takes a few minutes for your fingers to get adjusted (see, I can spell it) but once they do it's just like playing inside, only you're outside.

In a barn.

Maybe we didn't fuck up the simple plan too badly after all. We still made it to the gig in time and played pretty well.

I ate a cherry that had been soaked in moonshine.

You don't get to do that every day, at least not on my side of the Mason/Dixon line.

The DJ had a shirt that read, "SMOKE WEED NOT SPEED!"

I didn't even know you could smoke speed. I know you can shoot it, pop it,snort it and possibly smelt it. But smoke it? You can smoke crack but I think there is an important distinction that must be maintained between speed and crack or both words will have lost all their meaning.

Now crank is a different story. I suppose one could be speaking in a general sense and saying "speed" but what they really mean is a specific subset of speed, "crank". But to the best of my knowledge, I've never heard of anyone smoking crank.

Maybe I am getting old.

Or maybe dude-guy who made the DJ's shirt couldn't think of another word that rhymed with "weed".

And why should I feel old because some random t-shirt maker is a total fuck up?

Kim and I had a late dinner after rocking the death farm.

Sunday we got up in time for 8am Mass. Kim taught religious ed and I managed to get a little writing done. Then we drove to Joliet. Kim is T's confirmation sponsor. I dropped my sweetie off with Cousin Mike and his crew. Then hustled out to the OF to pick up the boy and Cookie. With them in tow I went back to Crest Hill, visited with Cousin Mike, Joan & T. Poor Alex and Cookie passed out in the Rav. Collected Kimberly Jo, dropped her and Alex off at Brooks and made it home in time to see the second half of the public scourging that was the Bears/Begals game.

What the hell, it was a fun weekend.