The Concert

While I was on the "girls" road trip at the beginning of the month, I got a message on my cell phone from Jennifer asking if I had seen the e-mail she sent me. Well, since I was on vacation, I hadn't, so when we got to the hotel in Kalamazoo, I borrowed Barb's computer and checked. I figured it had to be important because I very rarely get e-mails from Jennifer. By George I wasn't disappointed! She was writing to tell me that Ranya was going to be playing with Barry Manilow at the new arena on St. Louis University's campus. The first words that came out of my mouth were, "I hate Barry Manilow"! I also wondered if it was a joke since it was April 1. Barry is not really my type but I was impressed that Ranya was invited to play with him (in the band, I mean). Since I missed the Christmas concert when she played with The Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Jennifer didn't tell me until afterwards), I felt compelled to go witness my niece and her remarkable talent. Jennifer also informed me that she was buying a ticket for Mom and Janice would be coming up from Texas to attend.

Well, let me tell you that it was quite a memorable experience. Janet & I made the decision to go to "The Hill" for dinner so Janice could have some great Italian food while in town. Unfortunately, I failed to remember that our Mother is quite the connoisseur of Italian food and Rigazzi's wasn't up to par in her opinion. I informed her that my food was fine & the place was packed which is usually an indication of good food. The evening had begun!

We made it to the arena and dropped Mom, Jennifer & Janice off in front right before it started pouring down rain. They had more expensive tickets than Janet & I so we weren't sitting together. We went in search of a parking garage and, unfortunately, Janet listened to me and we went the wrong way. I told her I didn't really care if we were late getting to the concert but we made it in plenty of time. We found our seats which were in the very last row at the very top of the arena. Oh well, we didn't have anyone behind us! So we're waiting for the concert to begin & Angie calls from New York. She had been out with her crew and feeling no pain! When I told her where I was she said, "Oh, that's right, you're seeing Barely Man-enough tonight." We joked a little and hung up.

The band started and I had brought binoculars to see Ranya and she wasn't out yet. I couldn't understand because the guy on stage didn't look like what I remembered Barry to look like. Fast forward 30-45 minutes later and I realized they were a warm-up band and Barry hadn't even taken the stage yet. That's how much I know about Barry Manilow's music! I didn't recognize the first 4-5 songs he played but was thrilled to be able to see Ranya playing her cello. Also, Janice (the liquor store manager) had stuck a little airport-sized bottle of Canadian whiskey in my purse which mixed quite well with my Diet Coke to make the concert more bearable. I wasn't sure if I'd joke & make fun of this concert on my blog because I didn't want to offend Ranya but when Jennifer told me what she said when she found out we were all going, I figured it was okay. She said something to the effect of "why are they wasting their money, tell them to pitch in and get me a GPS for my birthday!"

In the end, it was all worth it because Mom loved the concert! Let me repeat that---Mom loved the concert! She said she liked it much better than the Rat Pack we had seen at the Fox and Jennifer said she was acting like a teenager! It made us all happy that she had such a good time. Unfortunately, getting into the parking garage was a nightmare and took us about 45 minutes. There was one 3' door propped open with a trashcan for everyone to squeeze in to. Very poor design or traffic control (?) - I'll let Butch be the judge. By the time we got out of there some people had to use a restroom. We got out of town and ended up stopping at a Steak 'n Shake and in filed Mom, Jennifer & Janice. Now, I told them they'd be better off going to a convenience/gas station but they insisted. So Janet & I watched as the 3 of them walked all the way through white-bright Steak 'n Shake to the restrooms at the back of the restaurant. Then we watched them come back out one at a time. And I'm not naming names, but one of them left a lingering gift. It really was quite funny! We had planned to go see the new Lumiere Casino downtown but it was late so we decided against it and I ended up getting home at 1 AM.

Saturday afternoon me, Jim, Mom, Janice, Janet, Ronnie, Jackie, John, Angie & her new friend, Brian went over to Jennifer's for food & drink. I had met Brian a couple of times before, but this was the first time he met the "family". We were sitting outside talking about the concert when Johnny spotted a dead vole so Jennifer goes & picks it up with her bare hands. The next thing I know she throws it in the trashcan, goes inside and comes out with a brown paper grocery bag and pulls out this humongous frozen dead hawk!

I had forgotten about it until I saw Angie & Brian at the house when I came home from work yesterday and he brought it up. I made sure to set the record straight on the Barry Manilow concert, telling him Ranya was the reason I went. I didn't want him to think I was weird or anything.

That's what I love - the wonderful first impressions we make on people.....

The Mole Hunter

Jim & I have been battling moles for the past 2 years. We tried grub control for the lawn because everyone said that moles are attracted to grubs. We bought a bait/poison on the Internet and poked it down into the runs. We set the steel "archaic" looking traps. We stomped down their runs & hills. We didn't try the juicy fruit gum or the gas or the human hair but we've been educating ourselves along the way. There was a 1-hour show on the Nature/History/ National Geographic channel a few weeks ago that we happened to surf to. The show was about the "lawnmower man" battling moles and it was quite comical. Basically, we learned that moles are prehistoric, they've never died off so I don't know if that means they're millions or thousands of year old, and although they have no eyes, they're very smart and they're nearly impossible to kill. Jim's latest attempt at mole extermination was to buy 6 poison worms a couple of weeks ago but he hasn't tried "fooling" the moles with them yet.

So yesterday there was a home show at the St. Charles Convention Center with free admission and an informative lecture to be given by Jeff Holper, "The Mole Hunter". Naturally, we were there! Along with hundreds of other people! It gave us a secret jubilation that there were so many others with the same problem. Jeff turned out to be quite the entertainer and he dressed the part with a safari-looking outfit and hat. He's been hunting moles for over 20 years and he's got it down-pat. Turns out, he uses the same archaic traps that we do, but he knows where & how to set them to ensure a kill. Also, he uses 6 traps instead of the 2 that we've been working with. During his performance, we discovered that we not only have moles but we also have voles. Voles don't tunnel like moles but they eat the roots of plants which can be even more damaging in this gardener's eyes. We learned about every rodent, snake and insect along with remedies to kill. Or you can hire Jeff. He'll kill the moles for a hefty price of $600 per year plus $79 per mole killed. He can also be hired to hunt & kill any varmit you might be battling. Needless to say, we didn't want to pay the big bucks so we bought an arsenal of supplies. We got 6 mole traps, 1 vole/chipmunk/mouse trap, 5 lbs poison bate, a Becoming a Mole Hunter CD and The Joy and Celebration of Mole Control book (2nd edition) for the basement bargain price of $117. Actually, I think Jeff & his partner are amazing at exterminating nuisance creatures but may be lacking in the math department as I don't think they charged us enough. We didn't realize the CD & book were in the bag until we got home, and we hadn't ordered them. Could be that since it was the last day of the home show they wanted to get rid of stuff instead of having to pack it up or Jeff thought I was cute. Whatever, we got a deal. We're willing to share so if anyone's interested, you can borrow the book or CD anytime!

Even though our weather turned cold again, Jim got outside & set the vole trap as soon as we got home. He's setting the mole traps as I write this blog. I'll let you know if we are successful and in the meantime, I think I'll return the poison worms to Lowe's...