ness

WOW!

I got comped some tickets when the track first opened. Two things I learned: 1. It is really, really loud. B. They go really, really fast. It was my first time at a NASCAR race, and I was really stunned at how fast and how close together they are. You just don't get it until you see it in person. And, it was just the trucks. I'm about 6 miles south of the track. If things are just right we can hear them practice/race. We've done a few kids birthdays up at Great Wolf Lodge years ago. It's a great place for kids. When my daughter was young she did horseback riding lessons on a property that is now part of Legends/Kansas Speedway. There was nothing there except a few farms, houses and the giant water tower. She's now 34.

I've got a class on Monday nights about 35 minutes north of me in Parkville, MO. Got out at 9:00 and it was blowing snow. Tough to see to drive, and the lanes were obscured and just a little slick to start. By the time I was to the Legends (if you southerners know where that is, think NASCAR track) the roads were clear and snow wasn't so bad. Glad I'm home, and it's remote work tomorrow.

Our basic chili recipe over a couple of the tamales my neighbor made and gifted us. With a couple shots of pepper vinegar. This rates a dang.

Who do you order stuff from these days?

It was good to see Devo again!

Those sound really good, but we’d have to wait until morning after that. 😀

Yep, love the Pretenders too. Kinda went down the rabbit hole watching their old videos the other night. I’ll bite: how did Foreigner get their name?

We spent a couple weeks in Ireland in 2023. Flew into Dublin on the east coast, spent a couple days there, then rented a car and drove south inland to Kilkenny, then to the south coast at Kinsale, west to Kenmare, then to the west coast and north to Ring of Kerry, Dingle, Galway, Aran Islands and finally Connemara before flying home from Galway. Great trip! Like you, we found the people extremely friendly all along the way. We had excellent food and drink everywhere. And great music in the bars, which seem to be called ‘pubs’ more outside Ireland than in. And, absolutely spectacular scenery in the places we went along the coast. I had a guided fishing trip set up for salmon/trout at Connemara but the river was low and the temp high so they closed the river and my bucket list trip was cancelled. Honestly, we did other stuff that was great. Adapt and make the most of things! Anybody here like the Kinks? 🤪

And we did!

There's a Beer, Bacon and Cheese Festival in New Glaurus, WI each spring. We went up to it a couple times, partially to have a reason to go see my sister in Chicago. I learned a couple things: 1. Limberger actually tastes good, if you can get past the smell. 2. Bacon ice cream is really good. You would think grease and ice cream wouldn't do well together, but they do somehow.

My understanding was that green was associate with the Catholic side while, like you said, orange was Protestant and wearing the wrong color in some neighborhoods could potentially lead to trouble. The history of Ireland is really interesting. Centuries of mistreatment of the natives (Catholic) and forced settlement of English/Scottish Protestants into Ireland, pushing the Catholics off their land and into servitude and poverty and famine. And the civil wars, fight for independence, the "Troubles", etc. My GGG grandfather, Patrick McGonigle, Catholic from Derry, emigrated to the US in 1848, right in the middle of the famine. I'm pretty sure he would have liked Van Morrison

New Glarus, baby!

I've seen some travel videos on Northern Ireland. One of the points they make is to avoid green or orange clothing, hats, etc. I don't know if that's still the guidance, but if I was up there I'd be careful. Is that what you experienced?

About the same up here. I’m tired of all this!

Any Van Morrison fans out there? I love the guy. Just watched an excellent move “Belfast” that he did most of the sound track for. Watch it! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12789558/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

It was a nice little pocket-water stream along the way. It would have been fun for some up close and personal dry fly fishing for hungry 6-12-inch trouts. Oh, and it was paved .

Those’ll work!

Nice! You got my reference! I'll never forget the first time I saw that movie. My dad loved westerns and took my brother and I to see it at the thee-ater (his pronunciation). I was 13, my brother 11. It wasn't what he expected

I didn’t watch the whole thing, but from what I saw at the beginning it looks wonderful!! I love the little streams.

I was trapped in my brother’s garage with two guys smoking cigars and two women smoking cigarettes. Too far from the TV, people talking over the announcers, officials and commercials and making stupid comments. (Not the missus). We left for home at halftime because I knew I didn’t want to sit through Headly Lamar, or whoever. From what I saw after it was not for us at all. Plus the smoke was making me sick I miss the days when there were great halftime shows. Petty, McCartney, etc. It would have been cool if Trump had ordered Paul out of the stands and made him perform!😀

We did the Vail Pass Bike Path a few years back. Man, that was a heck of a hill! We took a bus to the top and pretty much coasted down to Copper Mountain. Spectacular scenery and the only thing that hurt was my hands. I’d do it again, but take a fly rod along as it flows a sweet looking stream much of the way.

Alright, let’s talk Super Bowl National Anthem, OK? I’m gonna toss out some options and ask for a vote. Add anyone you might like. Me: 1. Chris Stapleton a couple years back when we last played Philly. 2. Whitney Houston, whenever that was… Didn’t like that John Batiste guy much last night.

It takes me about a half dozen to get it right. Just hope yours are from the later ones

That’s tempting!