i’ll let the video explain:

southern cooking from satchel on Vimeo.

this dove world outreach story has me all riled up. here’s my response. shirts come out friday.

38 years later…. same look of inspection… same bulging belly…. same sandals…

#1. it is the FIRST annual tournament so we are still working out the bugs – so to speak.
2. it has been dragging on to allow time for all the teams to coordinate their schedules to play.
3. next year- it may last all year long- who knows?
4. even if you have never in your entire life even HEARD of bocce ball you have a chance to win the second annual tournament. (could be your claim to fame – your 15 minutes – the event that sets you on your path…)
5. the trophy is just one of the prizes: free pizza – glory – your name forever glorified… no telling what other amazing prizes they will come up with…

next time you’re there, just sign up for the next tournament… where? lightnin’ salvage, that’s where.
you will thank me later.

first annual championship game coming soon. information will be posted HERE.
where?
here. the blog.

this photo was taken at one of our ukelele nights – but it gives you an IDEA of a scene you might see at open mic night… you see- this is my blog and this post is directed to people who are interested in our bi-monthly OPEN MIC night. not long ago it was once a month but it has been so successful that now it’s every other wednesday (more or less.)
do you like to get in front of people and bare your soul? perfect. the music is from 6 – 9pm. get there at 6 and find neil to reserve your spot in the line-up. if you arrive too late you might not get to play that night but you’ll definitely get to enjoy some other local musicians talents… i’m looking forward to the time when there’s enough local acts to fill 8 spots every wednesday. we’ll feed you a slice and a drink and who knows? maybe you’ll be our next friday night act? maybe you’ll be on letterman in a month?

when you think – think lightnin’ salvage.

danny runs the place every night- neil is the MC for Open Mic night. you go up there and remember those 2 names – and you’ll be treated like family.

LSE / OPEN MIC/ EVERY OTHER WEDNESDAY (check the calendar) don’t be scared. we love you even when you sing off key.

i got my computer back, and my movie program back, and the fall is coming on, and i’m gettin’ stuff done….BUT – this computer is not working right. it won’t remember my password as many times as i tell it to. it ignores me like my kids do. my movie program froze up about 8 times tonight. and it is not working smooth like it once did. too bad since we have bought a new version and everything. my guess is i might be able to make a few more things before i just give up on the damn thing. have i told you how much i hate computers?

on a positive not though, i will show you TWO NEW VIDEOS.

first, there was this old beer cooler and the box was old. we had put new hinges on it and worked to get the doors closing right and it was a real pain. then i made the stupid mistake of shutting it down for a month this summer and the moisture got into it and the foam inside swelled up and then it was obvious that this box would never close up tight again. the compressor was fine but the BOX – shot. this thing was a beast too, it took 5 big guys to get it out of the bar area. i called the joker who sold it to me and he sent some guys over to haul it away:

old beer cooler from satchel on Vimeo.

and also – i’ve been working on a sculpture that was wholly inspired because i wanted something to put whirligigs on. so i built this whirligig holder. it’s supposed to get 5 whirligigs but i only got 3 on today. i’ll finish tomorrow so you get to see this before it’s even done.

whirligig sculpture from satchel on Vimeo.

john’s got some new photos up on his blog.

kids… they’re the best. here’s my sister’s kids and my kids at the beach this past summer.

warms my heart.

we are deep into the 2010 pinecone contest. see, look at this:

i’m designing a school t-shirt. my design may get chosen by kids.
check me:

i may do a coloring book (bottom image)

collectible hand fans and new sculpture whirligig coming soon (not pictured.)

if you were to look back on my posts to june 3rd, you would see a picture of a bocce ball holder that i was going to “build tomorrow.” well, i did build it but i was over 3 months behind schedule. i built it august 25th. here’s proof:

bocce ball holder from satchel on Vimeo.

tonight, our stereo receiver blew. there wasn’t like a fire or anything but a bad electrical smell which prevented us from playing the live music through the speakers and the ipod. the pawn shops were all closed at that time and i really did not want to drive across town to best buy and plop down too much money for a receiver that had more bells and whistles than we would ever need. danny said, let’s post on facebook for a free pizza if someone brings in a receiver. i said, “they can have 3 free pizzas and a beer.” 2 hours later we got our receiver. i think i like facebook.

well, this isn’t really a video so much as a snapshot. my camera messed up and i missed most of what i recorded. jimmy and machel were engaged at satchel’s 2 years ago and last sunday they were married at lightnin’ salvage. it was awesome and they are super sweet.

wedding from satchel on Vimeo.

well. my computer had a labotomy and i just got a new version of my movie program in case the old one was corrupted. the movie program was causing me all sorts of troubles which led down the road to the crash of 2010 as now refer to it. i uploaded a couple quick things and as i was editing one of them i noticed some troubles…. the frames freezing as they were before i got the computer wiped clean and re-loaded. oh noooo…. yet it is still too soon to say that my video making days are over. it was only a brief issue a couple times and i don’t yet have enough new footage to see if it will be a problem from here out. the universe is telling me something, my wife says to me as i was commenting about the recent hiccup… yes, the universe is most likely telling me to stop making videos OR to throw my computer in the lake, which i always talk about but never actually follow up with.

so, i have 2 new very short flicks for you now. i’ve got to get warmed back up you know…. the following is a stencil i was making for my son

scorpion stencil from satchel on Vimeo.

officially there’s another month of summer but i don’t know. i mean, it’s still hot and stuff but school is back in session and that means getting up early, doing stuff without the kids, working on homework the whole rest of the day, and then staying up too late and getting mad when the alarm goes off… i will miss the summer. it seemed to go by faster than any i can remember. i guess i’m getting old now. anyway – we had a packed house all night at satchel’s. even a few tables after closing time got to order… i made lots of pies and worked on lots of projects… i have revamped the employee locker room. the lockers are easier to access. i am hoping i can just get the employees to use the lockers instead of have their stuff all around the office. i’ve started the new display in LSE that will be a rotating display… broken toys, junk for free, sale items…. i’ve got BIG plans for the fall, but i don’t want to give it all away, you’ll have to come see. i’ll say this: i plan to finish the walk-o-junk and a whirligig sculpture that i started 3 months ago, and collaborate on a new large mobile and feral, the woman who did the junk door in LSE that everyone just goes crazy about, is returning to do a mosaic in the kids playground. i think she said it would be a bird. anyway – that’s just the stuff i CAN reveal, the big list is the stuff i can’t reveal – yet.

what else? pizzas are looking good of course. i happened upon some reviews the other day although i tell myself i won’t read them but then once or twice a year i do… the main complaints were the same- the pizza is too expensive, the parking lot is too small, the wait is too long, the place is too crowded. our food costs are actually higher than most places so that shows the prices are in line. and of course, i don’t have control over the wait… but whatever, i don’t need to defend my business but i was a little bummed that our 4 star rating on yelp had dropped to 3 1/2 and by all counts i think our service and food have gotten better. i saw this documentary on some young basketball players, “more than a game”, and lebron james at one point says something to the effect “the more popular you get the more people want to knock you down off your pedestal.” there are folks who love to hate us but i am not going to let it bother me except for the small detail that they knock my rating down. whatever. people who love us love us a lot.

the photo above is from my summer trip to st. augustine. what a place!

them gators are about to crank up again, so that’s always fun to follow. and the chil’rens do need to learn to read and write, right?

later.

i finally got a group photo mailed to me from the family reunion. these are folks from my mom’s side of the family tree.

it was a good weekend at work. tonight, saturday, was rainy and stormy but somehow we stayed steady through it all. had a full house all night, and some crazy people too. crazy in a good way.
i’m happy. yes indeed.

hey. i’m back on my main computer. it’s been a long time since it was working, over 2 months. now it’s back, with a new hard drive. i lost about 4 months worth of data. i lost the video of my truck getting re-painted. i lost the video of my family re-union. i lost hundreds of great photos – and kristen, if you’re reading, yes – the talk is lost. kristen wanted me to film a talk i gave to her class so some folks who weren’t there could see it, and it could have been a good tool for sending people to the talk so i wouldn’t have to give it again. i spoke about the restaurant and our benefits and vision. anyway – that’s gone… no big deal really. i wish i had my family reunion videos more than anything. we only have those events so infrequently and i could have posted a 5 minute video of the weekend that would have been awesome for the family to watch…

business was brisk tonight. we made some great pies. i saw some happy people. my ankles are shot and swollen but that’s just par for the course. i got bad ankles.

i’m glad to have my computer back. i can watch videos again. i can’t edit video again yet as my computer guru is afraid my movie program is corrupted and so he is looking into the fix. my guess is that it will be september before you see any new video. did i ever tell you i hate computers? i have a love/ hate relationship with them. this stupid mac has been through 2 hard drives in 2 years. why do i bother with this thing? i should be painting my truck. which do you like better? the old truck:

or the new version (see post below)

later

i’ve been nervous about the new paint job. i knew i wouldn’t know if i was going to like it or not until i did a fender. today i finished the fender and realized that i am excited about this project. to finish it will take a while…

ATM has been giving us trouble. it’s like somehow the banks know that we are giving money to charity instead of them and so they are making our ATM work improperly so we will be forced to give in to the dreaded “credit card.” i am becoming more jaded with the hassles and am trying desperately to hold on for the charities. we can do a lot of good with that money and if the ATM works right every time, then it’s worth it to me.

one of the dining room A/C’s was on the blink for a couple days… dripping excessively from finally getting properly cleaned…now my friends – it’s colder than ever in satchel’s. normally with all the people sitting around putting off BTU’s, and and the full glass windows and the florida summer heat, we can’t get it below 82… today i could’ve sworn it was 78, but it couldn’t be working that much better could it?

never a dull moment i tell you – never… and i only told you half the story…

only 8 teams got involved in this the first year of our bocce tournament for champions.
my team was corn dogs and we are out.

those of you who have never played bocce because you don’t know how to play – it takes all of 5 minutes to be a master and a lifetime to really learn… you should be kicking yourself right now for not having been involved in the FIRST ANNUAL. you still could maybe get a game if you went down tuesday and talked to danny…

i’m trying to explain the first annual here to folks who don’t know what that means… first annual basically means that the contest we are talking about is never going to get any easier and possibly the rewards for winning might never be so collectible or minimal… if you could fit 2 one hour bocce games into your next two week schedule – then you could find yourself the WINNER of this the FIRST ANNUAL tournament….

don’t listen to me. i don’t know much about it. i just heard it was the right thing to do this summer…
don’t let the summer pass you by: go out in the thinnest shirt you own and feel the layers and layers of blankets wrapped tightly around you… the HEAT that we love so much in florida….

- you didn’t think i was serious about quitting the computer did you?
you must know by now that the computer is my only friend and worst enemy…

photograph – APPEAR!

i am pleased to report that i had the most pleasant evening playing some bocce down at the salvage summer league. my team, the corn dogs, lost our first game by a nose. since it’s a double elimination tournament, tonight was huge for us. we had to play the dreaded “pagodans.” the pagodans came ready and with miles of style. they beat us so bad the first game that we begged them to play one more and make it best 2 out of 3… they finally consented after we bought them beers and then they beat us again but even worse.

you might think that this would be a bad night, losing twice AND buying beers, but in fact, it was one of the best nights i ever had up there. i didn’t worry about anything, i didn’t bother the kitchen doing their thing, and i didn’t even get slightly stressed one time, except for that one throw where i blew it for the corn dogs. we met 4 new people who were friendly, and i felt like a regular guy for a change.

dean lent me a few bites of his cheese calzone at lunch and that was amazing.
my wife made tacos and i think i had about 6.
it’s a great day to quit the computer.

my computer was heading for that cliff but i kept thinking she would turn around at the last minute…. she was so young and with such promise…. but she teetered on over and is free falling. i’m making peace with it now, or attempting to. i don’t like computers, but i still hate to see anything fall from a cliff.

this machine is still ok. look, here i am online.

i think i will use this as an opportunity to decrease my computer time.

the paper wrote up about the check fraud. they called it a “mail scam” which is actually something quite different. no matter, the story is mostly true and fairly accurate. it would have been nice if it was pointed out that all the checks were cashed IN THE SAME DAY.

i am ready to move on past the check fraud situation… past the super wal-mart and the internet gambling place… past the piles of broken computers and devices i have seen pass through my grubby hands. i will even pass the broken glass from the employees car window and the fallen wind chime, and i will walk until i smell some pizza.

(i had a pie at mancino’s today for lunch on my way to pick up my kid from camp. it was mighty good.)

satchel out.