Ravinia Festival

Another day and more planning for the backyard. It's still too early with iffy weather to really do anything. Painting the decks and planting some ground cover will be the first orders of business.

The Blackhawks won a thrilling game in overtime to even the series at 2-2. Patrick Kane was brilliant as he scored two goals including the game winner. I was up until almost midnight before the game concluded. Then I was too pumped up to sleep right away. Coco was a true soldier and fell asleep next to me on the couch midway through the 3rd period. His first words when he woke up was "did the Hawks win?" That put a smile on my face.

Duke Energy wants to raise their rates in North Carolina to help offset the cost of moving their coal ash waste away from waterways. Recently, they polluted two major rivers with this waste. Whatever happened to corporate responsibility? They want consumers to pick up the costs for their piss poor strategic planning. They'll probably get their wishes. The Governor of North Carolina is a former Duke Energy Executive whom the company donated to quite heavily. If you pay the cover fee you usually get to dance with the one you bought and paid for!

The good people of Jackson, WI are getting close to having a new clean drinking water source. The poor souls had their water wells contaminated by a pipeline spill in 2012. The new source should be available by the end of this summer. The cleanup cost is in the millions and the end result was even less regulations for these types of companies. Big business and campaign donations run Wisconsin as the people certainly don't.

The Ravinia Festival (www.ravinia.org) in Highland Park, Il released their music schedule today. The website actually keeps crashing right now as so many people are trying to buy tickets. It's a truly beautiful music theatre located in a ravine on the North Shore. The train even stops and lets you out there. This year such legends as James Taylor, Willie Nelson, Tony Bennett, Carrie Underwood, Hall & Oates, Joss Stone, John Mayer and the Beach Boys will be playing at this legendary gem of a theater.

Later