WORK HAS BEEN ALL-CONSUMING, SO IT''S TIME TO RELAX WITH SOME CAT PICTURES!

HIS FACIAL MASSAGE
And don't worry, Ichiro actually likes this and begs for it!

As it is for me every year in late-October through November, work has become all-consuming. Where I work there is an annual deadline to meet for turning in paperwork, in this case on newly referred students we need to evaluate, meet with parents on, etc. I have had more referrals than normal this year, and am snowed under. Thus, not much time for this blog, for Facebook, etc. So in the meantime, here are some cat pictures! I need to take a tip from Ichiro and relax a bit, like he does so well in a couple of these photos!

It's getting colder around here at this time of year. If we leave a heating pad lying around after one of us has been using it, Abby is sure to find it.

Neko relaxing in one of the beds by the window. She likes this one, because we have a bird feeder set up just outside the window.

Phinney couldn't wait until I had the cat litter out of the bucket. What a guy... !

Ahhhh! The Bird! Zeva and Ichiro are loving it!

Ichiro is actually on top of a clothes rack, stretched out in a little valley of his own making.

WHAT IS A SHOE TREE?

Or better yet, why?

Do you have any of these around where you live?

This one is between Madras and Shaniko on US 97 in north central Oregon. I know of another one on US 26 in Oregon between Vale and Juntura. I seem to recall someone telling me there is one here in NE Oregon somewhere... I shall inquire.

Please tell me, if you know: what is a shoe tree all about? 8-)>

STANDARD DEVIATION AT E.O.U. HOMECOMING TAILGATER

Our band Standard Deviation played our second EOU tailgater party this morning. I was a bit concerned that we might encounter rain or other such icky stuff, but the temperature was in the 60-65 range and everything stayed dry. There was some stiff wind at times, but we managed just fine. We played well, and well over a hundred people were there.

Thanks to Sally Gregory for the following pictures. I hereby proclaim her as our official band photographer! She always gets good shots.

Jon White was on top of his guitar game today.

Mike was, as always, right-on on the bass

John discusses sound with today's soundman Scott Arnson. Scott played guitar in our band for a year. He helped us take our sound to a new level then, and we have taken it to still another level now. Scott is an all-around great guy, and when he does our sound we know it's going to help us sound that much better!

A couple of shots of us.

John and Joel in this shot. We had to bundle up a bit when the temp dropped down a few degrees.

I think my keyboard playing was a bit better than normal today. Fewer mistakes, better solos.

Joel and Jon

Mike, John and Jon

Joel on the drums

Nice fall colors now in La Grande.

A great time was had by all!

Our next job is Thursday, December 3 at Ten Depot Street in La Grande.

We got paid a nice sum for the two EOU tailgaters. I have enough in my music fund now that I think I'm going to purchase a headset remote microphone. Joel has a headset mic and he likes it quite a bit. His voice sounds just as good through it as it does through a regular mic. You can probably see it on him in the pictures he's in.

That way I can look like one of those air traffic controllers or whatever when I sing. I have also decided to learn to play while standing, so that I can be more animated when singing. It might make us more interesting to watch, although maybe watching a 52-year-old guy sort-of dancing around while playing a piano might not be all that interesting... but I do like to dance around a bit! Heh!

Stay tuned on that one!

FALL COLORS AND COLLEGE FOOTBALL IN LA GRANDE

Lots of the trees in town are starting to turn, and there are some nice colors.

On 4th Street, near M Avenue.

At 2nd Street and Main Avenue.

At 4th Street and Washington Avenue.

At First and Spring.

At our corner.

The Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers played the University of Montana-Western Bulldogs today at Community Stadium.

View looking east from the stands.

Help! Monty the Mountie is after me!!

Eastern led Montana-Western 33-7 at halftime but had to hang on for a 40-30 win. EOU is having a great season. They are now 6-1 in their league, and 6-2 overall. The latest poll had them ranked #19 in the country for their level (NAIA). Their only league loss came at the hands of Carroll College in Helena, Montana. EOU hosts Carroll next week in a game that could go a long way toward determining whether the Mounties will get a playoff game this year. EOU has only won six games in a season six times in the last 80 years! So this season is a special one so far.

You can see that it was a great day for a ballgame. This view is looking SE from the stadium stands.

I love this time of year around here. We usually get a few good weeks of fall weather before it gets icky with cold, rain and snow. I'm eating up this nice weather while it lasts!

LATER TODAY

I'll put up some band photos and some fall color and other pics.

Our band is playing in about 90 minutes for a tailgater at Eastern Oregon University. It's breezy and about 60 degrees outside right now, and doesn't look like it will rain, so... "so far, so good" on that front. I'll probably go to the football game after we play music. A number of the trees around here are beginning to show some nice colors, and I'll take a few pictures of those. By tonight I should have some things up for you to look at.

Have a great Saturday!

SOME NICE PICTURES FOR YOU

King Phinney the Magnificent

Neko the Destroyer and Ichiro the Mild

Ichiro and Neko go their separate ways

NEW ROADTRIPS POST UP

I posted a new trip at my Eastern Oregon Roadtrips blog, at www.easternoregonroadtrips.blogspot.com , in case you're interested! Enjoy!

THE FIREPLACE

The Bellhop from Hell (1978)

THE FIREPLACE
by John Evans, 1978

There used to be a fireplace
The biggest in the state
And of this giant fireplace
A story I'll relate.

It happened in the cold, cold autumn days
In the lodge at Crater Lake
During a time of year when storms
So constantly would break.

This fireplace kept the whole lodge warm
With flames that crackled higher
Than the highest bellhop ever got -
They brought logs in for the fire.

John was a slender, handsome lad
Who'd just turned twenty-one
He worked as a bellhop during that year
And always had his fun

One day the rain was pouring down,
Weather fine for frogs.
John saw the fire dying down -
He had to go get logs.

Well, John, now he hated the fireplace
He brought logs in with a frown.
He thought "I'll build this fire so high
It burns the whole place down!"

A fine, fine bed of coals was left,
The first log soon caught on,
And before he knew, the fire it grew...
His heart was full of song!

He brought in two, then three, then four,
And soon had piled on twenty -
The fire had smoked the whole room grey
With heat so full aplenty.

And John did laugh a demon laugh,
So far reversed from fear
Was he to see each tourist's eyes
From smoke so full of tears.

But then a log rolled out of the fireplace -
The carpet was a-blazing!
In smoky flames and burnt rubber fumes,
A sight so quite amazing!

Soon the curtains caught on fire,
And then the sofas too!
Just seconds passed, and John did laugh -
The lodge burned through and through!

Oh how he hated that fireplace,
But now it did his work!
"I'll go outside and watch it burn, "
He said with jolly smirk.

The entire structure burned quite fierce,
Fireplace and all...
And what was once a mammoth sight
Soon looked very small.

Three hours went by, the blaze it died
And John, he still looked on.
His eyes beheld a gift from Hell -
The whole lodge, it was gone -

But what he saw brought tears of rage
And caused him wracking pain -
Of all the things that should have burned...
Only the fireplace remained!

He thought "I see a gift from Hell,
I'll not wait 'til Hell freezes!"
So he found a sledge hammer in the smoking debris
And smashed the hearth to pieces.

In screaming fits his hammer fell,
Smashing every stone,
And though this fireplace was of Hell,
John made his dreams come home.

The world is full of pyros,
Who burn monuments for larks.
And John, he's still out there somewhere,
Burning lodges in National Parks.

STANDARD DEVIATION at EASTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY 9/26/09

We played at Eastern Oregon University on Saturday September 26 for a pre-game "tailgater" party. Pictured above is our new banner. When we play at smaller venues, it will hang from my keyboard. Thanks to Sally Gregory for all these photos!

It was a pretty warm day. It might have only been about 85, but out on the concrete and with no shade, it got pretty darned warm!

Snave rips into some gnarly riffs.

Joel keeps the beat.

Joel and John keep an eye on guitarist Jon, who is off to the right somewhere, undoubtedly laying into a nasty guitar solo!

L to R: Mike Gregory on bass, John Snave Evans on keyboards and singing, Joel Goldstein on drums and singing, and Jon White on guitar!

Hmmm, my brain cells must be a-goin'. I have to have that music stand with the songbook in front of me in order to remember the words to songs, even if I've sung them a thousand times... sigh... Now what did I say my name was? 8-)>

Jon contributes in a major way to what I think is becoming our band's signature sound. He is loads of fun to have in the band! Except for when his solos are so good that the rest of us forget what we're doing! 8-)>

Mike gets better and better on the bass all the time. I don't know if he is aware of how much he has improved since he took up the instrument about five years ago. (Has it really been that long?) He can play pretty much anything he tries nowadays.

This may be one of those songs where I tend to want to speed up. I like being placed right by Joel, because it helps me with the tempo!

Joel is "the rock" of Standard Deviation

This was such a good picture I put it in here twice.

Growlin' and snarlin'

Thumpin' away in grand style

Mike and John

Hmmm, now what kind of guitar is Jon playing? That's right, you don't know, because you have never seen one before! It's one of a kind, created by Jon's brother Dan! And Jon makes it sounds really, really great!

A splendid time was had by all! There aren't any shots of the crowd, which would have been behind Sally and to the right in this picture. I'd guess about 60-90 people were there, enjoying good food and conversation prior to the football game against University of Montana-Northern (which the EOU Mountaineers won 45-14, by the way!)

We will play for another of these pre-game functions on Saturday, October 17.

We are working on some new material, including some original songs by yours truly. Those will be fun! Other songs you might know of that we're working on include "Green Onions" by Booker T. and the MG's, and "I've Got a Line on You" by Spirit.

After the Oct. 17 tailgater, our next job is Thursday December 3 at Ten Depot Street in La Grande. If you live around this area, come on out and hear us sometime!

THIS BLOG MUST DIE (AT LEAST IN ITS PRESENT FORM)

This blog won't actually die, but it won't be about politics or religion any more. If there is something that makes my blood boil, you won't be too likely to read about it here.

Given the current amounts of stress I have going on with job issues and family life, I don't need to add to things. And given what happened with the last post, which has since been taken down at the request of an individual who very correctly complained in a comment about it, I'm a bit more stressed than usual.

My apologies to any of you who like to come here for political rants, diatribes about fundamentalism, etc. Because I want this to be a place I like coming to, I would also like it to be a relaxing place. No arguing, no overwhelming negativity.

Thus, you will be seeing more posts about the band I'm in, about my cats, some things about my family, reviews of books or movies I like, some sports talk, some personal observations. And if you find you have to argue with me about those things, that's fine. I only ask that you just leave the politics and religion out of it. Because I will be doing my best on that front.

Within the next week or so, I will have expunged many of my 1,558 posts which represent things I no longer wish to view on my blog, or which might represent copyright infringement in any way, shape or form. If you want to go back through the archives, there probably won't be much left! But there will still be enjoyable things in there, should you decide to look.

But that's o.k.

It's o.k. because there are so many things in life to celebrate, so many things to treasure! I can stay politically active by doing the things that really matter: e-mailing or phoning my elected representatives, participating in my local Democratic Party's activities, writing an occasional letter to the editor... Those are things that will have a more immediate effect on things than this blog ever would have, given its limited readership.

I love all of you, and I thank those of you who have been faithful readers. I will still be here, but I've simply decided to slow down, take a deep breath, and... relax!

And I'll continue to show up at your blogs, and I will probably rant once in a while!

Cheers,

Snave

The next post here will be of some pictures from our band's performance at an Eastern Oregon Univeristy football game "tailgater" party today. It was hot and sunny, and everyone had a great time!