If you stopped by the end of last month, then you know that I haven't told you about the Paul McCartney concert. (Either I update too slow, or too much happens in my life. It's like that old curse, "May you live in interesting times.") If you'll indulge me, I've copied parts of a review of the concert from Cleveland.com and have added a few of my own comments below:

Headlining a sold-out show last night at Gund Arena, the knighted rock 'n' roller made believers out of 17,500 concertgoers, too, as he tripped the nostalgia fantastic. The latest stop on his "Driving USA" tour was a joyride down memory lane, complete with classic Beatles songs, Wings favorites and solo hits.
Although security measures forced the concert to start half an hour late (don't get me started on that damned American security issue!), Paul sang and sang and sang and gave us an extra 40-ish minutes for the wait.

There was no opening act. Instead, a troupe of circus performers treated the gathering throng to a surreal 15-minute ballet.
One word - WEIRD! It was almost Cirque de Soliel; but I never even saw a single cartwheel.

The audience greeted McCartney with an ear-splitting roar when he took the stage to the tune of "Hello Goodbye." ... "Jet" ... "All My Loving" ... "Getting Better" ... "Coming Up" ... "Let Me Roll It" ...

Dozens of video screens projected kaleidoscopic LSD-flashback images, vintage footage of the Beatles and Wings and countless close-ups of "The Cute One." Less than two months shy of his 60th birthday (June 18), McCartney sang with gusto and radiated youthful energy.
Who would believe that Rock-n-Roll would get so old; and yet still sound so great! Oooh! and all the pretty lights on the stage.

He played a handful of selections from his new album, "Driving Rain," including the title track and "Lonely Road." He dedicated the amorous ballad "Your Loving Flame" to his fiancée, Heather Mills, who was in the audience.
Hmmmm? A tour? A trophy bride? Sounds like Rock-n-Roll really is having a mid-life crisis. LOL

His tight band featured keyboardist Paul "Wix" Wickens, guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist-bassist Brian Ray and drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. Depending on the tune, McCartney accompanied himself on piano, guitar or bass.
The Drummer was AWESOME! The Guitarist was cute. Paul would play a song, hold up the guitar, pass it off, get another guitar and play another song. He also played a handful of songs on a grand piano, and a few more on a psychedelic spinet.

During an "unplugged" segment in the middle of the performance, McCartney delivered stripped-down versions of "Blackbird," "We Can Work It Out," "Mother Nature's Son," "Fool on the Hill" and other crowd-pleasers, as well as tributes to a couple of his late, great friends. His touching ode to John Lennon, "Here Today," was a tear-jerker. In honor of George Harrison, McCartney played "Something" on a ukulele.
Sigh. I miss Lennon and poor George had such a rough time.

The second half of the show brought an extended hit parade: "Eleanor Rigby" ... "Band on the Run" ... "Back in the U.S.S.R." ... "Maybe I'm Amazed" ... "Live and Let Die" ... "Let It Be" ... "My Love" was a heartfelt valentine to McCartney's late wife, Linda.
We were a choir of thousands, all singing "all the lonely people." How ironic is that? The news had reported no Wings songs, so I was really pleased with "Band on the Run." Whoa!! Fireworks and explosions for the Bond tune. WooHoo! Awww. I can sympathize on losing your love. :(

The post-9/11 anthem "Freedom" fit in well among the blasts from the past. Two hours after the concert began, McCartney was still going strong, leading a soaring sing-along during "Hey Jude."
Through nearly every song, you could hear the crowd singing. All it all, it was an excellent show. Now I'm waiting on the "When I'm 64 Tour." ROFL :)

I have really good news about Cliff this week - he'll probably be home by Memorial Day!! Yeppers, he's been sitting up, taking a few steps, and eating a little. His trach is out, and one of the two chest tubes. With some work and a little more time to heal, he hopes to be heading home soon!!

Fortunately, I had already been talking to DO about her husband coming home. With Cliff's years of smoking and their pets, their little house was kind of dirty for a person with lung problems (he's only got one lung now) to come home to. So with some elbow grease and the help of my best-est bud, Jim, we got most of their house scrubbed up from top to bottom.

DO handles the frig and the kitchen	mIkIE getting clean water from the tub
MouseOver to see what Jim thinks of doing windows!	you gotta make a mess, to clean a mess

Unfortunately, poor Cliff wasn't able to come home yet. A problem with his gall bladder, some fever, and slow progress will keep him in the hospital for a while longer. Poor Cliff is tired of the hospital, and poor DO is tired of the daily trip to the hospital. Don't un-cross your fingers yet for Cliff and his family - a little good luck and fortune would be pretty welcome right about now.

I've been waking up with fewer dogs every morning - Zeus is channeling Houdini! I make the dogs sleep in the bedroom with me rather than have run of the house at night - I don't really like having my belongings chewed up and having them with me cuts down on that annoyance. Zeus has learned to escape!

A little back-history first: I removed a panel from the four panels of my bedroom door, so that my cat could jump in and out, at her convenience, and the dogs would be confined in the bedroom. Years have passed and my kitty has gotten older and lost some of that jumping-ability, so now I block the doorway with a flip-chair (one of those foam cushion chairs). It's not as high and has a wider ledge for Sheagra to reach.

After a year and a half, Zeus has now realized that he can just jump over the cushion and be free. Although I fussed at him, it doesn't seem to have curtailed his wayward attitude. So now it's a battle of wits to out-think my sweet, adorable, cute little boy. (Yes, I hear all those smart-alecy remarks y'all are all thinking. I am smarter and will win! )

Of course, work is still keeping me busy. I has to de-virus one of the computers. After the cleaning, I found another virus, and even another! So they cut me a check, I swung by Office Max, and now I've been going around upgrading, updating, and installing virus protection on all the company computers. After two days, I've gotten through about a quarter of all the computers. So this last week in May will be pretty hectic as I try to get the other computers done, finish up the newsletter and finish up an upgrade on the computers over at Expert Auto Collision. (On a happy note , I have finished fixing all the computers in my house and have returned them to the rightful owners. But now, on a sad note, I think my computer is having a video card problem. Time to upgrade a couple more computers so I can buy a new card.)

Guess what's coming as a July update?!?! Pictures from North Carolina!! Yeppers, that's right - mIkIE is getting ready for another trip home. WooHoo! I'll be heading South on the evening of June 27th and will stay until late on July 2nd. But I won't have much time to spend back with the puppies, because I'll be turning around and, on the evening of the 3rd, heading toward Cincinnati to go to King's Island Amusement Park on the 4th.

Spring has finally sprung. And so has all the grass, all the weeds and all the shrubs! But I do lo-ove my yard work, so it's all okay by me.

The shrub haircut nearly finished.
Waiting for the irises (or is it "iri"?) to bloom	The fountain drained, after some kids threw all the rocks into the water
Joxie and me playing frisbee
The boyz really do want to help, but without thumbs, they just no good. LOL	MouseOver to see how a little editing got me a great picture of Zeus

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I had a car problem this week - a tiny water leak appeared in a tiny, hard-to-reach hose. Luckily, I work for a dealership, so I got a break on the cost, along with a Jeep Cherokee to drive until my car was repaired. MouseOver the picture of the Taurus engine to get a closer view of the leaky rubber hose.

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Local Police Patrol Report: I saw police in my neighborhood twice this week. Early in the week, some probation officers stopped by right next door; while later on, several police cars showed up for a disturbance by some kids (probably the same one's that trashed my fountain).