Last night, there was another Highmark-sponsored free concert at Peoples Natural Gas Park. My favorite kind of concert! Miss Freddye’s Blues Band was the opener and they were great! I’ve seen Billy Price before, so I only stuck around for a little of his set. With all the fireworks that have been going on this week, I needed to get home to watch Tilly as she is not a fan.
nature day
I crossed off a couple of things from my bucket list today. First, I visited Spruce Flats Bog, which is in the Forbes State Forest. It was pretty cool and very peaceful until about 20 mountain bikers showed up and took over the boardwalk. I would have stayed a bit longer and soaked it in, but it was decidedly less peaceful with all of the interlopers.
I hadn’t planned on visiting Beam Rocks today, but it was on my list of sights to see. I passed the entrance on my way to the bog, so I figured I might as well check it out while I was there. It was pretty cool, but I didn’t go on the rocks because I’m not adventurous and I didn’t want to fall to my untimely death.
When I read about the aforementioned locations, one of the articles suggested visiting Adam Falls (which was also on my list) at Linn Run State Park since it was nearby. So I stopped there on my way home. It had just a little trickle of water, which is kind of surprising given how much rain we’ve had this year. Oh well.
Anyway, it was a pretty nice morning, if a bit muggy. After lunch, I put some chicken breasts on the smoker and I’m looking forward to having that for supper. Have a Happy 4th, everyone!
it was the best of times, it was the worst of times
The weekend started on a good note. My parents took everyone out to dinner. We went to the Backroom Saloon, where I had some delicious Korean Pork Tacos and a tasty drink.
Saturday wasn’t bad, either. I ran some errands in the morning and did some housework and laundry. Saturday night, Gabe Stillman played a free show at Peoples Natural Gas Park and I went to that. Excellent show! He played at the Flood City Music Festival last year so I was excited to see him again. What made it even better was that Amelia and her mom were there, so I got to hang out with them. Amelia is doing a clinical rotation in Morgantown, so she came up for the day to visit her family. That was a nice surprise!
Things started going downhill on Sunday. This morning, I went to the office to power wash the back porch. The external spigot has been broken for some time, so I had to connect the hose to the sink that is in the basement. I noticed the floor was all wet down there and assumed it was from all of the rain we’ve been getting, but when I got closer to the sink, I saw that the hot water faucet handle was dripping water and it was going onto the floor. Who knows how long this has been going on? It is one of those old concrete laundry tubs. We don’t ever use it so we’re just going to have a plumber cap the lines. I’m going to have him fix the external spigot while he’s at it.
So, I’m power washing the porch, and all of a sudden the motor sounded different, then it started to smoke, and then it turned off. Ugh. I got most of the railing done but had to wipe down the rest by hand and hose off the decking. I happen to have my parents’ old power washer at my house (they gave it to Jake, but he wasn’t able to fit it in his car when he went back to Virginia), but I didn’t feel like running home to get it.
I planned on making pizza in my outdoor pizza oven this evening, which I did, but it’s been a while and I’m out of practice, so the first pizza was mostly inedible. Oh well. Luckily, I made three and the other two were pretty good, so I have that going for me.
k is for killer
I’m really enjoying these Grafton books. The ending of this one was a little iffy but I enjoyed it up to that point. Usually, the endings of these books are more satisfying. This one left a lot of loose ends.
My rating: 3.5/5
fred rogers
I’m taking some extra long weekends this summer and checking out some things in the area. Today was dedicated to Fred Rogers.
I think every kid in my generation grew up watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. This morning, I visited the Fred Rogers Exhibit at Saint Vincent College. It was a nice tribute to him and was very well done. I also checked out the Fred Rogers Memorial in downtown Latrobe and swung by the Unity Cemetery to view his family’s crypt. The memorial was a nice little park. I was kind of surprised that no one else was there, but it is pretty hot to be sitting outside. I was somewhat surprised (but not really) that the crypt was locked only because I saw pictures of the interior online.
After my Fred Rogers tour, I treated myself to lunch at Chick-fil-A in Greensburg. It was my first time at the restaurant and I have to say that their chicken is pretty tasty! I would go there again.