TUMBLEWEED: Bluegass Competition - Storms - Blues Music Museum

Shiloh, IL (Hi 58 Lo 44)

Saturday I went to the amateur Bluegrass competition at the local Knights of Columbus hall in O'Fallon. They have it yearly except for the last two years because of Covid. It was so neat, there were cloggers and then a fiddle competition. There were several younger people along with adults. A harmonica player was excellent that played two harmonicas without skipping a note. I have seen lots of players but nothing like this guy. I could listen to him for an hours. They had the group George Portz and Friends which was the MC of the competition. They have a full schedule for the year which I may go see in another town. Here's a few pictures. (Click on the photo to enlarge).

George Portz and Friends

Good crowd

One of the contestants

I watched two full days of severe weather and tornadoes south of us. I really like watching storms and even became a ham operator just to follow storms with Skywarn. I found a guy on youtube.com that's excellent in giving tornado warnings with the help of National Weather Service and several storm chasers. If you're a weather lover, check out Ryan Hall Yall, on youtube.com (Click on the link).

We had storms come in on Wednesday. They closed the schools so the kids could be home and parents took off work. It was predicted we'd have tornadoes and it looked bad on radar. The weather guys were telling everyone to bring in the pets and lawn furniture. We had a small storm in the morning and that took the pressure from the line of storms coming in the afternoon. They did get bad going through the Midwest but nothing like predicted the severe storms/tornadoes went south. It did get dark before it hit.

I bought this umbrella car windshield for the car this week. It opens up just like an umbrella and covers the whole front window. It's great from Amazon.

Thursday I went with Frank to the Blues Music museum in St. Louis. It was quite informative and had the neatest artifacts. Jim would have loved it.

Hands on musical instruments from the early years.

Yours truly on the washboard

The machine that made one record at a time.

I thought this was cool, the years from 1960 to present and that's already outdated.

They have a whole section on the flu outbreak in 1918 vs 2020 for the Covid pandemic.

Saturday our grandson's Volleyball game Campbellsville University, playing in the NAIA National semi-final game. The game was streamed on ESPN3. That's Kendal in the middle. They lost, ending the best season in program history.

Friday Rick and Tammy came down from Chicago for Frank's surprise birthday party on Saturday. It's been a rough time keeping everything organized and quiet without spilling the surprise. I met them in St. Louis at a hotel. We went to the cemetery. Rick hasn't seen the grave and wanted to visit. We spent some time there and saw several deer. If you bring real flowers for the deer to snack on them.

Tammy and Rick

This deer was so close to us.

When we left the cemetery we went to Union Station. I was there many years ago, but it's grown and changed to much. There's a lot of hands on activities for both kids and adults. They have a wonderful seafood restaurant, Landry's, where we had dinner. It was so good. I dropped them off at the hotel and I headed home before dark. Here's a few views from Union Station.

Rick, Tammy, Dee

Rope walk across the top floor for kids and adults

Landry's at Union Station

Every hour they have a short fire works with music.

Ferris wheel ride to overlook St. Louis.

Saturday I went to a movie with grandson, Kyle and wife Holly to see Fantastic Beats: The Secrets of Dumbledore. I love the Harry Potter movies and didn't see the two that came out previously of this one, but it recapped it well. I loved it and it helped pass the time before:

FRANK'S SURPRISE PARTY

I wanted a surprised birthday party for our older son, Frank, so a couple months ago I looked for a place that would hold several people. I found Bandana's BBQ restaurant near me. We got it all scheduled and then the job was to keep it a secret. There were 31 people invited and everyone came. It was a total surprise and it went off without a hitch. There was enough food for everyone and they seemed to enjoy the party. Thank you to all that kept the secret and who came to the 50th birthday party for Frank. (I sure feel old) Here's a few pictures.

We had a roast for Frank, nothing bad, this is Kyle his oldest son saying a few words.

Chris is a long time school mate that told a few thing from high school.

This is Rick his younger brother that talked about childhood memories.

Mike a high school friend, Frank, Rick and Chris

Frank and Rick

Frank, Dee, Rick

The food line, Buns, BBq, Brisket, Baked beans, Potato Salad

A friend of Angie's baked some wonderful cookies, all of Frank's favorite enjoyments in life, Kiss band, football, and guitars (music). It was a perfect wonderful night.