What a man will do to avoid his wife.
Meet my dad:
Yes, that’s whiskey he’s pouring.
And, no, as a matter of fact; he’s not a bartender.
Now meet his wife:
She’s the little woman next to him. She’s also his fifth wife. Yes, fifth. As in he married four more little women before her. And at this point, it’s pretty safe to say that she’s just as crazy- if not more so- as her predecessors. (Yes, I realize that my mother is among those four little women… But I’ve never claimed to come from sanity, now have I? Nope. Moving on.)
This is the fourth of July party that was actually held on the fifth of July.
“Wow. Did you guys rent out a little hole in the wall country bar,” you ask?
As a matter of fact…
No.
This is my dad’s shop.
As in the place where he used to park the tractor.
I kid you not.
The man built a bar.
In a metal shop.
Out in the middle of the country.
In a place where you take not one, not two, but THREE rather long dirt roads to be.
All in an effort to avoid his fifth wife… who I’m convinced he only married in order to have a hot dinner on occasion.
Have I mentioned that she sings karaoke?
That’s her back there in the background… singing. She may be dancing as well. And I don’t believe that she had had much to drink at that point.
Are we kind of catching on how she might be someone one would wish to avoid?
And, yes, that’s a karaoke stage.
In a metal shop.
Out in the middle of the country.
In a place where you take not one, not two, but THREE rather long dirt roads to be.
There’s also darts, pool, kegs, loads of alcohol, and even one one of those corkboard things covered in pictures of intoxicated stupid people.
And toy cars.
We finally thawed out about a hundred of those poor little ducks that have been “living” in my freezer since hunting season, though… Peter spent the day wrapping them up in bacon and jalapeños and grilling the hell out of them.
I spent the day eating them…
And running my hand up his thigh every time he tried to win a game of pool…
Not to make the poor man lose… Just to give his opponent a bit of an upperhand.
All and all, it was a very nice fifth of July and a great way to break-in the new shop.
Although God only knows what the man’s going to do to avoid her now.








Nap Warden
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 6:27You can take the hick out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the hick (talking about me)…I want a metal shop turned karaoke bar! Go Dad!
Judith Shakespeare
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 11:43Oh Lord, don’t encourage him…
Qweenie
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 9:06LOL…… sadly this is not the first bar in a shed I’ve seen, though it is the nicest…. and the only one I’ve seen with a karaoke stage in it!
Looks like you had fun though :)
Judith Shakespeare
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 11:44There are some things that should really be “just for show”, you know? :)
Shirley
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 9:19You know, it’s our parent’s job to do stuff like this once we’re grown, don’t you?
Judith Shakespeare
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 11:45@Shirley: What? the getting married five times thing or the bar in the shop thing? LOL.
Shirley
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 12:44HA! I meant come up with ideas that you’d never in a million years consider your parents actually doing!
Judith Shakespeare
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 14:09Oh… Yeah, I saw the multiple marriage thing coming looooong ago. :)
Nap Warden
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 11:49Well your spiffy return email sent me back here…and I still want one! Go Dad!
Judith Shakespeare
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 12:06That was a spiffy little email, wasn’t it? Thanks to a nifty little plugin, I can now thread comments (respond directly under specific comments rather than just adding it to the bottom of the list)… which makes responding back SOOOOO much easier. WordPress is nifty as hell :). Now, I just have to bring myself to delete my Typepad account… Sigh.
Rachel
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 13:20I love that. I want to come play with y’all at your dads.
That’s the fanciest bar in a shop I’ve seen. You come from such good stock.
Judith Shakespeare
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 14:10I keep looking back over those pictures and thinking, “Oh God… we’re hicks.”
Fiesty
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 13:40Everyone is focused on the amazing bar, and it is amazing but my favorite thing of all is this line
“And running my hand up his thigh every time he tried to win a game of pool…”
I came to that and about died from laughter. I thought I was the only one that did that!
Glad you had a great 4th!
Judith Shakespeare
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 14:11*Snicker* When he’s playing against me, I tend to shove the cue in inappropriate places. Give me a bit of an advantage, don’t ya know.
Nap Warden
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 14:05I love this feature…Is it a WordPress staple, or did you have to install it? Very tempting…I fear WordPress is smarter than me. Am I grown up enough to leave Blogger? I. Just. Don’t. Know?
Judith Shakespeare
Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 at 14:13It’s actually a plugin that you can install… But in all seriousness, I’m thrilled with the change. I’m discovering all sorts of new things that I can do to make my blog work as I’d like it to. My problem now is figuring out when to STOP jacking with it and let it do its thing.
the planet of janet
Wednesday, 9 July, 2008 at 16:06i loooove your pool technique.
and for some reason, your feed isn’t working for me. how could i have missed this yesterday?????
Judith Shakespeare
Wednesday, 9 July, 2008 at 16:13Why, thank you! (Peter, of course, calls me a cheating somethingoranother, but I don’t mind.)
As for the feed… it may have been my fault, I was trying to fix it so that my books and music posts don’t show up in the feed itself. So I could have screwed it up for a bit. Let me know if today’s post doesn’t show up at any point… then I’ll appropriately freak. :)
Domestic Spaz
Thursday, 10 July, 2008 at 14:51I want to hang out with your family.
BriannasMom
Monday, 14 July, 2008 at 10:29I just love it! And again, I see a little bit of myself in there.
My parents actually own a hole in the wall, wouldn’t want to be caught dead in, bar here in Indy. lol.
* Just love the photos, that give the full experience of the story! You rock dear!!!