Cougar Creek Mardi Gras 2013 is almost here!

Everyone in the Krewe of Cougar Creek has been working on their part of Mardi Gras.  We have 50 adults and 15 children so there's a lot of food to prepare.  Some of them are baking King Cakes, others are preparing the Shrimp Remoulade, (that's a lot of avocados), Chicken Gumbo, Crawfish Etouffee, Jambalaya, and of course, we need the Red Beans and Rice. 

Yesterday, the float decorating krewe was hard at work. 

Mike puts the finishing touches on our Pirate Ship "mermaid".

Mark gives the mast one last check.  "Does it look OK?"

Today we decorate we setup tables and chairs, iron tablecloths, create centerpieces for the tables and decorate the rest of the house.  The Cougar Creek Band will setup their equipment in the loft and by 4:00 p.m. we will be ready to play some music and party!  

Deployment

Yesterday was the day for the mobilization and deployment of the Cougar Creek Band to play at the gig at the Hope Marketplace Cafe.  I say that because of the amount of organization it requires to set up for a gig (5 microphones plus stands, plus music stands, plus cables, two speakers, the mixer, the bass amp, the keyboard and accessories, chairs, rugs and last, but not least, the instruments). 

At this time of the year we only have ten band members, trombone, sax, trumpet, accordion, bass, drum, guitar, two mandolins and a keyboard.  We toss in a harmonica and washboard now and then.  It only takes two pickups and one Outback to move all of the necessary equipment to a gig and we have TWO gigs this weekend.   The setup and the take-down takes about an hour each.

Setting up at the cafe.

We played last night to a "standing room only" house.  It was a lot of fun.  We had a second line up and dancing on many of the songs.  The place was rockin'.

That gig is over and we have moved to our staging area at Mandolin Ann and Bass Man, Neil's house to setup for the Mardi Gras celebration on Sunday. 

Let the good times roll!

A question for you.

Why aren't you dancing with joy at this very moment?      is the only relevant spiritual question. ~Vilayat Khan

 OR, if you're not dancing with joy, how about a leap?

This is a photo of Retired Mountain Man in 1974.   We were swimming off the dock on Kiebert Point.   He was getting ready to take the big jump into the lake. 

 

I think as we get older we have a tendency to stop doing anything out of our comfort zone when that is exactly what we should be doing.  Take more big leaps!  There's not much time left for "out of the box" activities.   Are you open to try something new and different?  

Just do it.

Let's Dance! Go Girl!

Tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 8th is Ravishing Beauty's last day at work!

A warning:
The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.
Abe Lemons

Don't worry about it:

 There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.
Sophia Loren

Time to Dance!

You have to put off being young until you can retire.
Author Unknown

Lets go dancing!

Another milestone.

Our Trombone Man shared these photos with me and pointed out that our band is finally on a marquee!  We are the real deal now!