Author: Brian (iweb) Allen

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Train Trip to Colorado

Karen, Katherine, and I headed to Colorado Springs, because of my job.  We decided to take the train with Katherine being so young.  Also, train rides are a lot of fun.

We started out by driving to Dyersburg, Tennessee, which is where my aunts live and it happens to be an Amtrak depot.

We caught the train around midnight with Katherine sleeping through most of it.  It was delightful waving to my aunts on the platform as the train pulled out of the station.

Brian and Katherine on TrainWith Katherine sleeping, the first leg of the trip went quickly.  We have never had her sleep for a long period of time in her car seat, but it didn’t cause any problems.  Karen’s back didn’t have more problem than at home while sleeping.

We had breakfast in our room as we arrived in Chicago.  It was enjoyable seating in our room during breakfast.  We got to see the Sears Tower on the skyline as the city came into sight.

When we arrived in Chicago we finalized our tickets with Amtrak, we dropped our luggage in the Sleeper Car Lounge, and we headed out to see the sights.

We brought our GPS and turned it on to see what attractions were nearby Union Station.  We decided to go see the Sears Tower, which was just couple blocks away.  It ended up being closed due to the lack of visibility, but we later had lunch in the Corner Bakery on the first floor.  We walk over to the Federal Reserve Building and on the way we passed the Chicago Board of Trade.  At the Federal Reserve, we got to see a millions in three different piles including ones, twenties, and hundreds.  The ones made up a 4 by 4 cube; while, the hundreds filled just a brief case.

After lunch, we returned to the station and waited for our train.  The train ride to Denver was nice, too.  We had dinner in the dining car with Katherine.  She gets all of the attention.  In the observation car, Katherine enjoyed the world going by at 80 miles an hour.

The ride from Denver to Colorado Springs was good, because it reminded us of the outlet stores for our return trip to Denver.

While in Colorado Springs, we had fun in the hotel pool, shopped for used mystery books, and Katherine saw snow for the first time.  We enjoyed some good food and even the Colorado Springs Christmas parade.

But, the trip did have some problems.  We all got colds.  Bummer!

We enjoyed our return trip home, which included more snow in Chicago.  My aunts were so nice for helping us with getting to and from the Newbern train station.

We hope to make the trip again, but Karen’s back is our top priority now.

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Dad’s Pond is Coming A Long

My dad’s pond to doing very well this summer even though the season started with a late season hard freeze.  The summer heat has not been the best for the fish, but the plants don’t mind, because they are getting lots of sunshine.

Water Lilies

To see more of the photos click this picture.

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Baby Pictures

We have been snapping pictures everyday since Katherine Elizabeth Allen was born.  Click on the picture below to see them.  To read more, click over to our baby blog.

Click to see more pictures.

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Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza 2007

My folks called and indicated they were thinking about heading down to the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza at the Flying Monkey Art Center in the old Lowe Mill.  I checked with my pregnant wife and she said go!

We headed down around 7:30 and arrived as John Lowe was playing.  Everything was setup on the east side of the Lowe Mill so, the sun was down behind the building and everyone was sitting on the grassy lawn.  I spied my friend Dave Gallaher and had to give him an update on Karen’s pregnancy.  Dave indicated he would be playing after the next act, Robert Hamilton.  Dave reminded me that his cigar box guitar is a Lowebow made by John Lowe.

John is a one-man-band playing under the name Johnny Lowebow.  He is playing the drums with both feet and sliding on the Lowebow with his left hand while strumming the Lowebow with his right hand, which also is holding a drum stick to play a snare drum while strumming.  I know that sentence was a mouthful, but you had to see him performing.  When he signed my arm band, I asked him if the performance was like exercising.  He said it was a full cardo-workout.

Robert Hamilton, of Low Country Messiahs, came on next accompanied by Shane Speal.  They played a great mix of tunes with both musicians playing cigar box guitars.  I picked up a copy of Low Country Messiahs’ latest album, Biscuit Palace.

Shane Speal is founder and curator of the National Cigar Box Guitar Museum, which he brought some of it to the festival (see the picture above).

Following Robert Hamilton was Huntsville’s own Microwave Dave Gallaher.  Dave started his set with some traditional songs of his before picking up the Lowebow to play “Trail of Tears”.  The crowd has thrilled to hear Dave play.  He has been entertaining Huntsville for many years.  You can check Dave playing with the band The Nukes all around Huntsville and the southeast.
Click the photo for more pictures.

CigarBox Armband

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House Remodeling

We are slowly remodeling our house.  Everything started in our bathrooms by pulling down the wallpaper.

Presently, we are working in the dining room.  We have pulled down the wallpaper and repaired the walls.  (The wallpaper was hung without the walls being prepared correctly.)  As of today, we have painted the walls with “Linen White” and “Earth Tone” from the Behr paint collection.  The trim will be done in “Clamshell” from the same collection.

After the dining room, we need to get back on the baby’s room.  We still are needing to paint the trim in that room.