My Birthday with Jewel

My birthday this year was spent with singer/songwriter/Nashville Star judge, Jewel. We flew to Texas to record some sound bites and film footage that will be used in a new promotional campaign. Jewel and her rodeo husband, Ty Murray, live on a 2,000 acre ranch just outside of Stephenville, Texas. It is a really nice ranch.

Jewel was sick but she is a pro and did a great job for us. She was well prepared and really understood the message we were going for. She was funny too. One of her quotes that we won't be able to use was "My family were homesteaders in Alaska. We didn't eat anything we didn't kill or can!"

Before we left, I got a couple of things autographed and she was nice enough to do pictures with all of us.

Medley Weekend

Friday evening we decided to class up our happy hour festivities and went to a performance of the Tommy Dorsey Band at Conner Prairie. It was a really neat ampitheater and they even had a dance floor for some sing dancing.

The band played some great tunes with lots of Sinatra covers.

Saturday we started with a movie party at my place. We watched The Goonies, "Hey you guys!" After the movie, we went downtown to listen to some jazz music at the Chatterbox. It is one of those cool local venues that definitely has its 'regulars'. Small space that even without amplification, the sax, bass, piano and drums fill every corner with over-powering music.

Barn Red

My work life has been consumed with one major project - painting barns. We did our first barn painting a couple weeks ago and it turned out amazing. Look for it to be featured in some national media publications (Hallmark magazine, Country Living, etc.)

Agri- Culture: Biofuels

The seven next generation biofuels. Set to replace fossil fuels?? I'll tell you....as soon as I find my crystal ball. Most are set to debut in 2012.

1. Cellulosic ethanol (biological) - 66% energy yield compared to a gallon of gasoline

2. Cellulosic ethanol (gasification) - 66% energy yield compared to a gallon of gasoline

3. Algal biodiesel - 103% energy yield compared to a gallon of gasoline

4. Green gasoline - 100% energy yield compared to a gallon of gasoline

5. Biobutanol - 90% energy yield compared to a gallon of gasoline

6. Designer hydrocarbons - 106% energy yield compared to a gallon of gasoline

7. Fourth-Gen fuel - 103% energy yield compared to a gallon of gasoline

Electing a US President in Plain English (Revised)

Getting Sick on Blueberries

Last weekend I talked Gram and J into going blueberry picking with me. We searched the web and decided on Jones Berry Farm in Michigan on the shores of the lake.Blueberries do especially well there because of the sandy soil and the lake effect weather patterns.We ended up with just under 23 pounds of berries after three hours of picking. We probably would have had even more berries but I have a bad habit of putting one handful of berries in the bucket and the next in my mouth. Yum!! The weather was just about perfect and wasn't unbearably hot or muggy. After berry picking we had lunch and then stopped for some wine tasting at Tabor Hill winery on the way home.