While visiting my daughter Rachel in Cincinnati at the upscale community of Montgomery, we ate supper one night at the Montgomery Inn.

The first thing that we noted about the Montgomery Inn was that there was limited parking. And when we couldn’t find a spot, we had to rely on the valet parking at the restaurant. It was only 3 dollars so it was well worth the money to avoid the hassle of finding a parking spot.

When ever I go to a restaurant with valet parking, I expect to find dim lights and cloth table clothes. But the restaurant itself was a sports bar of sorts. I found this to be rather odd as Montgomery was more of a yuppie community.

There specialty was ribs but I couldn’t find them listed on the menu. I found out later that the ribs were such a known commodity that everyone who eats there just orders them.

Oh well, I have never found anyone who makes ribs as good as I do.

The governor and the legislature in Michigan agreed to extend the existing budget by 30 days. The governor initially said that she would not agree to a budget extension. But apparently there was enough progress made so she agreed to the extension at 4:15 AM on Monday.

With out a budget, the state can not operate. Nor can it pay its workers so they are laid off until the budget is reached. So, technically, the state was closed for 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, those of us who stayed up late to see if the budget would get passed, went to bed thinking that we could sleep in. When we finally got the news, it was too late to get to work on time so most of us just stayed home.

Now, the state doesn’t think like normal people so the state has some pretty strange ideas. So when the state closed, so did all of the state parks and state rest areas.

Park rangers literally went to occupied camp sites and instructed the campers to leave immediately. I imagine that most of those campers will go camping in a different state the next time that they are on vacation. I know I would.

Likewise, they closed the rest areas because there would be no one to clean and restock the bathrooms. But, the WiFi at the rest areas still worked. I guess they figured that people could use the internet to locate a restroom.

But, now we have a budget extension so everything is opened again. However, if they don’t reach a budget agreement by the end of October, everything will be shut down again.

So, if you are traveling in Michigan around the end of October, you just might want to bring your own toilet paper just in case.

Kathy and I are now playing in the band at Ada Bible Church. Ada Bible Church is a fast growing church whose membership has now grown from 4000 last year to 5000 this year.

The church does a lot with music, unlike our former church. For all of the venues, there are about 12 different bands. With the exception of Saturday night, each band plays for two Sunday services every other week. We play every other week.

Since we play for 2 services, there is down time between services. This is where the party is at.

The church has a main auditorium. Outside the main auditorium is a two story narthex. The two story narthex connects to the two educational wings; one to the right and one to the left. And connecting the two wings is an overhead bridge.

On this overhead bridge are tables and chairs. This is where the band hangs (including us) between services.

Being in the band gets us Beaner’s Coffee (like Starbucks) and muffins. Life is Good!!

Last Saturday, we went to the Fallsburg Festival. It was held at Fallsburg Park.

The Fallsburg Festival is a yearly fall event featuring art and music and food all held at the beautiful Fallsburg Park north of Lowell.

Fallsburg was a community on the Flat River featuring a saw mill and a grain mill. During the civil war, it also served as a prisoner of war camp. (Imagine those poor boys from Alabama spending a winter in Michigan. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.)

I say “was” as the only things left of Fallsburg are the one room school, the park, the covered bridge and the historical society. But the Fallsburg Festival does attract thousand of people for the three day event.

Fallsburg Park is a majestic park with rolling hills, trees, brooks, a river and the famous covered bridge. It is a place where many family photos have been shot. If is also the place where my daughter and son-in-law were married. It is a truly wonderful place!

Unlike Lake Odessa’s “art in the park” in the park at Lake Odessa, this event focuses on art and not crafts. There are about a hundred booths featuring art. Art includes jewelry, pottery, glass, tapestry, wood working, paintings, photos, leather and lawn ornaments. Did I miss anything?

Besides the art, there was also music. Bluegrass to be exact. Four and five piece bands consisting of a double bace, a banjo, a guitar, and a mandolin. Each band would play for about 45 minutes, then the next band would come on stage. So, every hour, there would be a new band on stage.

Some of the bands were good and some were not. I noted that they were having trouble mixing the bands. This is in part because they did not have anyone mixing the bands. Mics were live as is and it was up to the bands to mix themselves. Maybe next year, I will volunteer my time.

The smells of the food was fantastic; pulled pork, bratwurst, elephant ears, hot apple dumplings. The only thing that I got to sample was some popcorn that Kathy bought. Kathy would not let me eat anything else.

I am sure that the rest of the food was fantastic! It smelled so good. But hey, I’m a man and I can change if I have to I guess.

After three hours, we had seen everything and it was time to go home. After all, I had popcorn hulls in my teeth and needed a toothpick. Until next year!

I got some spam the other day touting that their gum will enhance your breasts. According to the ad, breast growth is inhibited by a chemical imbalance in your body. But, this gum has a special combination of herbs to correct that imbalance and allow fuller breast development.

Of course, the ad makes no claims as to the amount of increase. I guess that would be too quantifiable. Of course, they promise a 90 day money back guarantee but I am still skeptical.

I suppose, after you chew the gum, you could always stick it in your bra. That would be one way of enhancing your breasts.

Well, my breasts don’t need to be enhanced so I’ll pass on the gum. Besides, at $60 per month, you could buy a whole lot of padded bras.

When we were visiting our daughter in Cincinnati the other day, we noted that Skyline Chili was every where. And this stands to reason since Cincinnati is the birth place of Skyline Chili.

I have to admit that I have never tried Skyline Chili as it just has never appealed to me. And don’t get me wrong, I love chili and I would probably enjoy Skyline Chili. But, I don’t like the way that it is served.

The first way that it is often severed is on top of a hot dog in a bun. Then, on top of the chili is a mound of shredded cheddar cheese.

Notice I said “mound”. They just don’t sprinkle on a little cheese, they heap it up. In fact, there is so much cheese that it is impossible to eat the hot dog without a knife and fork. Somehow, a knife and fork sound out of place with a hot dog.

The second way that it is served is on top of spaghetti. And again, on top of the chili is a mound of shredded cheddar and a glob of sour cream. I can feel my arteries plugging up just looking at it.

Either way that you look at it, the way that Skyline Chili is served can’t be healthy. I much prefer the deluxe version of Steak and Shake chili.

Knock knock.  Who’s there?  Nobody.  Nobody who?  Nobody who works for the state.

Such is the case for state government.  Since the budget was not passed last night, today will be our last day.  I know that the news says that we have until midnight Sunday but that is not true.  Civil Service says that we have to be given four working hours notice before we can be laid off.  So, they will they will notify us at noon.

I dare say that there won’t be much happening at work today.  In fact, I would be surprised if most people even show up today.  And, I suspect that once the notice has been given, most people will just leave.

I feel especially sorry for the union folks.  Their contracts said that they had to be given 30 days notice before any layoffs.  But, the state renegotiated their contracts with the unions last week and now they only have to give 4 hours notice.  Not only did they get screwed, they paid union dues for it.

Just how long we will be off work remains to be seen.  So, we have to plan for the worst.  After 2 weeks, we can draw unemployment.

Well, at least I won’t have to get up early on Monday.

The State Office Building in Saginaw has three floors with a mechanical penthouse above the third floor. And even though the penthouse is always locked, there is a high locked gate at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the penthouse.

I thought this to be rather odd having a locked gate and a locked door so I asked the building manager about the double security. He indicated that there had been a office romance a few years back.

It seems that the couple would slip up the stairs to the penthouse landing. And even though they couldn’t get into the penthouse, they would be out of sight for their intimate moments during lunch. Of course, the state doesn’t condone such activities so the stairway gate was erected.

I guess if you want to do those kind of things, you need to run across the street to that cheap motel.

Here at the State of Michigan, our fiscal years ends on September 30. Since the governor and the legislators haven’t come to terms yet, we have no budget for next year. The governor wants to raise taxes and increase the budget by 1.7 billion dollars. The legislature wants to cut taxes and 1.7 billion out of the budget.

With out a budget, state government can’t operate. So, if they haven’t got a budget in place by Monday, the state will close. And so, we are making preparations for closing down the state.

I just hope I find out one way or the other. I would hate to get up a 5:30 on Monday only to discover that the state is closed.

Kathy and I got involved in the music program at our new church. I am playing the bace in the band for the youth service and Kathy is doing back up vocals.

The stuff that we play is pretty up beat. It comes from contemporary Christian artists such as David Crowder, Audio Adrenaline and Sonic Flood.

For practicing on our own, we were each given a CD with about 19 songs on it. Since there isn’t any sheet music for the songs, I have to listen to the bace line and figure it out on my own.

After listening to the first few songs, it became apparent that they were using a 5 string bace. Since what they play on the 5 string bace is a lot easier than what I would have to play on my 4 string bace, I went out and bought a new 5 string bace. (Happy birthday to me!)

Anyway, last Sunday was our first day of playing and it was a lot of fun. I have felt so frustrated for the past few years as I did not have a music outlet. Now I do. And, since on any given Sunday there are 6 bands playing, Kathy and I are meeting a lot of new people.

I just hope that we don’t get over extended.