Older event....new pics....World Grits Festival

Best Host EVER!

Kelley and I played a 50th Birthday Party for Bob (names have been omitted to protect the only-slightly-innocent) in Monks Corner, SC last night. The place was completely decked out when we got there....fire pit...drink coolers EVERYWHERE....Margarita Machine...eats....and to top it all off, the guy had completely assembled a...dang I don't even know what to call it....good thing you can see it! The shelter we were playing under was furnished with legit light cans and everything! As private parties go, it was completely awesome. The people were super cool and we ended up playing for a good 4 hours straight.

Moral of this story...for all those times that a musician experiences bad hosting, small crowds, marginal payment, etc...every now and then something comes along to make it all seem worth it.

We finally hit the road around 12:20am or so and pulled back into the homestead in Elgin by about 2:30am. Long night, but great night.

Here's what was said about the night:
"Thanks again Jeff & Kelley...now that my mind is cleared of all signs of Pina Colada, Margarita and Daiquiri juice, I wanted to thank you guys again for the most awesome entertainment. My friends are still talking about you guys...I really enjoyed my party thanks "in big part" to you guys. I will keep my ear out if anyone else is looking for some live entertainment. You guys rock...!

Take Care,

Bob"

Thank you Bob!

- jeff and kelley

Pics from Brixx

back in the game

So, amidst being a husband, daddy, high school teacher, chicken farmer (just a few), and rock climber, I've also been teaching guitar on the side...and Kelley and I have been singing out in public again. It has been SO much fun to get back in the game, and I'd really like to give a big shout out to Brixx Pizza in Sandhills and Stingers in Irmo for helping us get serious about playing in public again.

We are in the middle of a busy month in terms of music for us. We just played Brixx this past Friday and did the World Grits Festival down in St. George, SC today...which was loads of fun for sure.

We'll be at Brixx again this coming Friday night from 8-11pm and at Stingers in Irmo (directions to come) on Saturday night from 8-11pm.

We'd like to try out some new original tunes this Friday, so at some point in the second set, be ready to give a good listen for feedback purposes on some of our own stuff!

Peace and thanks for all the support!

jeff

so gross....so awesome!

Welcome to life back at the Valley! What What!?

So here begins the real adventure in my freshman Forensics class at the Valley...and I'm one-upping myself this time I think!

In the past, we've used rats (quite unethically I must add) to accomplish a Body Farm lab during our unit on Forensic Entomology. We placed the rat off campus and took detailed notes over about a 2 week period as Blow flies, flesh flies, carrion beetles, rove beetles and others infested the carcass. Notes is pretty much where we left it...and some interesting pictures.

I've read up some more though...gotten a little wiser and hopefully more ethically minded and now, we've got an intense Entomology unit underway.

I've spent the last 3 days calling around to animal shelters in the greater Columbia area in search of an euthanized stray dog or cat. If you're not familiar with the controversial stray animal policy in Columbia, it goes like this: Strays picked up by animal control are dropped off at a specific animal shelter based on the county. The shelter has 2 weeks to find homes for the strays. If no home is found, the strays are euthanized and dumped in the county landfill.

So...why waste a perfectly good dead dog or cat in a landfill when my forensics students can learn from it? A couple of the animal shelters wouldn't go along with it, but one finally provided me with a cat!

Here's the issue...Euthanasia is done by a lethal injection of Sodium phenobarbitol. It immmediately shuts down the cerebellum...stopping the heart and diaphragm....no pain, real quick death.

...but it stays in the body as potential poison to scavengers. Typically the landfill workers are supposed to put a new load of trash over the carcasses once they're deposited, but SC has gotten in a little trouble before for a couple of bald eagles dying a the landfills while feeding on these euthanized strays.

That raises an important question with our lab.

Are we going to be harming any scavengers? Technically, Sodium phenobarbitol is not harmful to insects...only birds and mammalian scavengers like foxes, coyotes, etc. To deter these critters from feeding on our lab, and hopefully keep it just between us and the insects, we placed the cat in a cage out in the woods behind campus.

So here's to 2 weeks of observation, insect collection, and life cycle analysis as it relates to the post mortem interval of our cat.

...a moment of silence for the dearly departed...

...now let's collect some bugs!

happy hunting,
jeff

the more the merrier

So this is just awesome!

I'm taking a couple of mental health days away from school for an extended weekend that starts tonight (Wednesday, Sep 22) down in Charleston. Kelley, Erin, Patrick and I are heading to see Jason Mraz! That'll be fun times for sure.

The next two days, though, are going to filled with some much-needed surf sessions and family hang time in Chuck-town with the toddlers (Moira and Noah).

On Thursday, it looks like I'll be hanging out with some old friends I knew in high school (who don't know each other) while we're at Folly beach grabbing some surf. Daniel (the drummer from the band I was a part of in high school) and Phillip are going to join Patrick and me at Folly beach.

"the more the merrier" never sounded so good. Hopefully we'll have some good eats at Taco Boy, then Phillip, Patrick and I will hit the surf on the north end of Folly beach.

surf's up!

Ready!?...Set!?...ssshhhhhh....Balance.

That time of year is approaching...

...when days move fast

...when the "to do" list is long

...when the evening routine allows for not much more than veggin' out after the mental demands of the day...and whatever physical and mental demands little Moira puts on us.

...when BALANCE is the most crucial thing in contributing to daily joy.


I think I've learned how to say "no" pretty well in the past....I think I even blogged about it before. It's so great to be able to help people out with things they ask for professionally or personally, but at the same time, helping out too much can spread you so thin that you're worth nothing at all in all those places you've committed yourself.

I think my buddy Travis subscribes to the even more conservative "do one thing and do it well" mentality.

This year is going to be busy as monkeys on a bananna farm for me.
With the poor economy, I'm hearing about more and more teachers who are having to teach multiple subjects...that's me too. I'm teaching 3 different subjects and 5 actual classes. That's a LOT of stuff to have ready and prepared each day.

I'm also managing our school's ropes course this year...so I'll be busy on some Friday afternoons and Saturdays with that.

The big thing is that I'll be teaching guitar lessons again this year to try and bring in a little extra money. Around 3 hours a day of guitar lessons after a long day at school is going to leave me pretty taxed...and the big question is: how much of me is going to be left for Kelley and Moira?

I've mentally put a lot of my personal goals aside for this year. The rock climbing can wait, the surfing can wait....I want to make sure that any of my time left after trying to bring home the bacon (so-to-speak) is spent with my two ladies. Weekends are going to be sacred for certain.

So here's to a year of maintaining balance on that precarious edge between sure footing and certain loss of control!