Bears and Birthday Bashes

Well, what's gone on since our last episode?

I married in to a Chicago Bears (and Cubs) family, and the Bears made it to the Superbowl. I had made the boys and Angela Bears T-shirts for the occasion. We went over to Ken's last night -- he had a Superbowl party on a big screen, flat screen (like 60") and Kevin & Angela and Brian and Kristin were there along with Vicki and myself. Sam and Deb even dropped by.

Of course, after some initial excitement, things got ugly and the Bears never hit a stride. So the evening did not end on the happiest of notes for the big Bears fans. But hey, my football Cardinals never made it to the Superbowl, when I was a fan (when they were in St. Louis). The Bears have been to two in relatively recent memory.

Went down to Mike & Lois' house for the 25th anniversary of our first mutal birthday party. We tried to make the food part as easy as possible. We brought sandwiches for Saturday lunch and stuff for eggs and snoopy waffles in the morning. Mark grilled up dogs & burgers Saturday evening -- and that pretty much covered it. Vicki brought a Germann's Chocolate Cake, and we had a good time talking, pretty much, and not much else. Which is the way we like it. Mark and I broke out the guitars and mando for a bit.

Let's see, I got an oilskin coat from Outback Saddle Supply ... the "Copperfield" -- for an outdoors, woodsy jacket that will stand up to the abuse of trees and thorns and rocks and rain. It smells like horse tack, which brings back pleasant memories from my childhood. Plus it goes great with the leather hats.

Well, lookie there. If I'd've waited a week I could have gotten it for $40 less! That would have paid for the fleece liner for it I was thinking about getting. Oh well. That's the way life goes. I see they made sure to mention it doesn't apply to previous purchases.*sigh*
Got my whole Cokin filter system for my camera, part of Mother's birthday money (along with the Nikon CoolPix)... and I think I'll get a doubler as a cheap way to turn my Tamron 28-300 lens into a 56-600. That's a 900 eqivalent in 35mm land. That's .... significant. So I can shoot grizzly bears from a safe distance. Well, safer than last time.

Next weekend is the Purple Ball -- it's like Prom for the Elks. And we're going. Vicki got a nice formal dress and I'll be renting a tux. Should be fun.

And that's about all I've got for now.