Stranger in Town

It is so strange how my mind works sometimes. I get random thoughts and ideas at the oddest times of day and night. For example, I woke up in the night last night with a great idea (as ideas at 4 a.m. go anyway) for a strip club. For some unknown reason I woke up and thought to myself that a club in Hershey, Pennsylvania featuring women of color called "Chocolate Kisses" was a brilliant idea. I don't recall what if any dreams I may have been having that would have led to this epiphany but there you go. See, I don't need to drink to have the crazy.

On to other news you didn't know you needed to know.
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I spent the weekend back in my lovely homestate of Michigan. This time I hit the east side for a mini-reunion with Steve's family and a few days with my Mom and Dad.
This is me and Patty. She is Steve's cousin. They were best friends growing up. People often wonder how Steve puts up with me and what he ever found attractive about me in the first place. It's because of her. She is loud, funny, loves her family unapologetically. In other words, she is me. When I first became part of the family I was told many times that I reminded them of Patty. Thank you Patty for preparing Steve for 20 years of the crazy.

We also had what can only be described as typical midwest weather. It rained all day Saturday (which explains my bad hair) and then got hot and humid. In August rain does nothing to alleviate the humidity, it just adds another layer of wet to everything. Unlike the coastal parts of Michigan the inner part of the state just gets dreadful hot and damp. Sunday there was a breeze but it was a hot, damp breeze. It is the kind of weather that people who live in the desert southwest chuckle and say things like, "At least where we are from it is a dry heat." That's usually when I fantasize about punching them in the throat but that would take effort that I just can't expend in that kind of weather because it would make me sweat more. Instead I just sit around and cuss.

You see we went to my parents' house in the Thumb Saturday night and spent Sunday with them. Did I mention that they don't have air conditioning in their old farm house? So when kids today complain about ANYTHING I can say old people stuff like "You have it so good these days. When I was a kid we didn't have a/c and we liked it." Thankfully my parents bought a new motor home this year and we spent most of the weekend out in the "apartment" where it was air conditioned. Still we slept in the house and I think I may have steamed off 10 more pounds in the night.

There is a new neighbor in the old hood that is causing quite a bit of interesting gossip. About 3 miles up the road from Mom and Dad there is an old farm house that over the past year or so has been completely renovated and a rumor had it that a famous old Detroit rocker was moving in. Growing up in the Thumb there was a big house on the way to Lapeer that was rumored to be the home of said rocker but that was later proven to be an urban rural legend. This time is appears that the rumors are true. My dad used to be a County Commissioner and says that the work permits filed with the county had this famous person listed as owner of the property. Then this weekend he was telling me that a guy I grew up with was on the work crew that paved the driveway up there and was told by the foreman that the owner may show up that day and if anyone bothered him or asked for an autograph they would be fired and no one would get paid. He did show up and talked with the workers (he as a very nice guy from all reports).
Of course on the way home from going to brunch in Sandusky I had to try to get a picture of his house.

So the next time I'm there I'm going to listen to some old time rock and roll and hope to run into the new neighbor when I'm up at the corner store buying my Silver Bullet beer. I'll try to play it cool (like a rock) and not put any night moves on him. Otherwise, the old neighborhood is pretty much still the same.