Monday, September 28, 2015

Super Huge Blood Moon

The one thing you never want to hear when at your yearly physical.  "It's been 10 years since your last colonoscopy"

sigh!  

One thing I have learned in the last 10 years - NEVER have a virtual colonoscopy. Those are worse then normal ones.  At least that was DJ's take on them. 
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Everyone was out taking poor photos of the Blood Moon last night including me.  Oh! I was out there but you need a better camera and better lens then I do to have something wonderful. 

So I tried something different and thought I would get the Super Blood Moon with other stars.  Worked out awesomely!  



But the big news today is that NASA will announce that they have found flowing water on Mars. This is a PRETTY BIG DEAL!!   Still waiting for the official announcement but finding flowing water on mars is awesome.  MATT DAMON LIVES!! 

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My fantasy team is getting crushed by the other team getting HUGE games out of players.  I'm scoring above the league average and getting crushed. A.J. Green 227 yards and 2 TDs?  COME ON MAN!

The last 2 weeks my opponents have the 2 highest totals of the year!

So James Jones needs 4 TDs tonight for me to win.

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WEATHER - enjoy today as a cold front with about 1/4 inch of rain moves through and a very very dry air mass moves in.  Lots of sun but I doubt we will reach 60 next weekend and should have highs near 60 most of the week.  Wind chills Saturday will be low 50s (for golfers).

FALL IS HERE!

This is our Autumn Blaze Maple - it's been like this for over a month now!

This is the Maple from September 1st



And this is from September 28th



It changed a month early but then did not really lose any leaves.

And BTW - my grass seems to be growing an inch a day! WTF!!!

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That's all I have at the moment, just checking in.  I need more coffee 

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Godzilla vs. The Blob - no, it's about weather

I emailed the Vatican to see if The Pope could drop by Columbus.  I figured he would like to see a town that celebrates the guy that invented America.

They have not returned my email yet so there is still hope.
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I've been obsessing why Scotty lost (like my obsession with 911).  I think I've read 12 articles now and the media seems to be in agreement.  He did not lose by one BAD thing but thousands of tiny things.  Basically trying to out Trump Trump, being wishy washy and changing his views multiple times (in one week) and totally mishandling his finances of which he had a HUGE war chest (over $20 million) that got spent away and now he owes over one hundred thousand dollars and has no money. 
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I want to give a big thank you to the Columbus Police Department for their handling of the situation on Hibbard Street. We could have been in the national news but quick thinking of an officer in NOT shooting someone and instead using common sense and talking them down.  Bravo.

Man arrested after armed standoff


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WEATHER

While we are in this calming weather pattern there are a lot of things actually happening, it's just that we are reaping the benefits.

Going from west to east it's all starting out with THE BLOB. A patch of warm ocean that has been standing in the Pacific for a few years now causing the drought in California and generally the west and yes, weather geeks have been calling it The Blob for a while now for lack of a better term. It actually has it's own Wiki page

But, it's in a battle now with some major changes in the jet stream, that river of ultra fast wind above our heads that pushes storms our way. It's dipping DEEP into The Blob and scientists are interested to see what will happen.

Because that dip is "there" it's not "here". Remember the polar vortex?  That was a dip over us in winter. Those dips tend to last a while and if that dip is "there" the jet stream will stay north in Canada for a while meaning warm weather for us.  

In fact you do know that we are only about 6 degrees from our all time highs for this date and will stay this way through Sunday. 

Then there is the Godzilla El Nino thrown into the mix and the pros are wondering if this is the first indication that it is having an effect. Warm weather should last into October.  Monday it will cool down to only 6 degrees above normal.   There just is not anything to push any weather around. 

And then there is a cut off LOW off the coast of of the Virginia's.  A cut off low is a spinning system that somehow left the track when the jet stream moved north and it's just spinning around creating miserable weather on the middle east coast, nothing to push it anywhere so like a top it just spins and rains. 

So - the big question is will Godzilla finally move The Blob. For now - enjoy the calm warm weather, it's going to last a while and I don't THINK we will get a pay back this winter.

Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.  If that blob continues, if it stays warm ... and then you add to that El Nino, it may compliment each other and then it may be the year winter is cancelled. 


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Any brewers out there - My home brew club has recently had a few honors as one member came in 2nd place for his English Barleywine in the National Schooner Homebrew Challenge and another member is having his beer brewed by Mobcraft and you will be able to purchase it at Woodmans soon.

Also if you brew there is a new thing out by Northern Brewer. Canned Starter Wort.  Seems weird because you can make your own starter wort.  HOWEVER, this is actually cost effective, sterile and not messy!  As one member says " Instead of adding DME to an Erlenmeyer to make sterile starter wort, just pop open a can. Boiling DME is a well known cause of stove messes"

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New TV - I've watched 4 new shows. One comedy which I did not think I would like but it was actually pretty funny!   Life in Pieces was one I was going to miss but watched it and it was actually pretty funny. One of the few funny comedies on TV (I loath Big Bang Theory, any show that begs you to laugh because of an over produced WAY to loud laugh track is just fooling you into think it is funny, plus according to IMDB it's been going downhill since its 3rd season).  Then watched Minority Report and turned it off after 15 minutes.  Didn't like the actors and poor acting anyway.

Blind Spot was GREAT. Loved the show and the actors, did not make you feel you were watching bad acting. It's sort of like The Black List but I really liked the charisma of the characters. 

Watched Limitless and it was OK, I'll wait to see what the REAL show is like as opposed to the meet and greet show.   

BTW - DVRs are so handy!  

cheerio! 

Monday, September 21, 2015

Chapel of the Archangels in Beaver Dam

Last weekend's Wunderground Scientific Weather Forecast - NAILED IT!   Overall Columbus had almost exactly 3 inches of rain, less then most surrounding town's but enough, I guessto close the Kestrel Ridge golf course . . . or, no one was golfing Saturday.

Looking forward weather-wize. the only thing I see is Thursday and Friday might be cloudy.  THAT is the extent of exciting weather.  Otherwise I see 10 days of sunny upper 70's weather.  BORING!

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So I went to the DR Friday and it seems I will live a long time . . . at least according to Western Medicine Doctors.  Low blood pressure, low pulse, low cholesterol. My only issues are low pain in my knee which I HOPE will go away with time. I know what it is having been through it a few times in my life (tear in my Medial meniscus . . . .maybe it will just go away over the winter. 

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Then there is our Governor who it looks like his next debate will be at the children's table as he is now 10th out of 11 and carrying less then one half of one percent in the polls.  HOWEVER - if he gets to 1% he will tell you he has DOUBLED his polling numbers. 

His tough job now is that it seems he owes more then $100,000 to event organizers who are getting angry at his non-payment.  The owners of the Chicago Cubs are one of his top fundraisers and are still praising him and the owners of the Houston Texans who donated $500,000 to his campaign is not worried as he also gave $500,000 to Ted Cruz, Jeb, and Lindsey Graham to hedge his bet. 

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My fantasy football team took a hit in a strange and bizarre day.  It started off with my opponent owning two Pittsburgh Steeler players, the ones that scored 6 touchdowns and I was in a HUGE hole.  But then he also owned three Philadelphia Eagles players, the ones who did absolutely nothing the entire game and I had hope as I went into the Packer game with two Seahawks and one Packer. 

I picked up James Jones Tuesday and I was feeling good but having mixed feelings because I knew Marshawn Lynch would have a big game and Jimmy Graham, who I THOUGHT, was a perfect fit for the Seahawks would be awesome.  Both did nothing and unless Andrew Luck can pull 6 touchdowns out of his butt tonight, I will lose.

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Sofie (on the left), the cat that does not like human food seems to have a taste for VODKA!!

Yea - last night I walked into the kitchen and there she is licking the inside of a shot glass that was used earlier in the day for a dirty martini (I had had enough beer the day before with Elwood).

Speaking of Elwood.  Caydence and Sydney were over Saturday and they went to the GRAND OPENING of Cardinal Comics because the Frosty Princess was there face painting.  Frosty Princess I asked?  Yea - it seems if you say "Frozen Princess" three times and click your heels Disney will come knocking at your door within seconds asking for money.  Not unlike Universal Pictures did during Public Enemies with their warnings (which I ignored).

If you remember there were stern warnings of  taking photos of Columbus and putting them on the internet. Well, I had an entire blog of photos (Public Enemies Photos)  and told them through this blog, if you have a problem contact ME personally!  They only contacted me AFTER the movie came out and it was a compliment from the 2nd Asst Director who said they read the blog daily and were entertained.

They were feeding some false information every so often leaking info that filming was at one place when it was at another.

I got "scolded" on the set at a picture car meeting in Oshkosh for 7 was a
highlight!  Along with getting yelled at when I got this shot from a picture car during rehearsal.

"YOU WOULD NOT BE SITTING THERE HIDING IN A CAR DURING A BANK ROBBERY WOULD YOU?

"Well, seeing that everyone running was getting shot, yea I would".

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Where was I - Oh yea (it's the coffee typing now).

Sydney and Caydence were going home and they were told to say good-bye to Baba and Bwian and they came into the room where we were playing poker and out of the blue gave Elwood (Bwian) big hugs.

WELL, Elwood who is intimidated by children, gave a big slightly awkward hug back and said that was the first time in over 50 years he had hugged a child. It was too funny!!

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PHOTOS

Chapel of the Archangels in Beaver Dam  


 
From the Balcony
The Archangel
Climbing around the attic



Nuff Said for today! 





Thursday, September 17, 2015

Chapel of the Archangels

Blog #1500 - nothing special.

All sorts of weather coming our way - chance of a T-Storms this afternoon as the first ripple wave from the approaching front moves through but the main event will be tonight around 9:00.  Pay attention to this one as there could be some rotation possibilities.

LOTS of rain with some locally heavy downpours in the 1 to 2 inch per hour chance. We're looking at 3/4 to an inch of rain tonight in a short period!  Then clearing tomorrow as the front stalls just south.  That strong LOW moves up the stalled front from the south and clips Wisconsin tomorrow night around 9:00.  The models are in some disagreement but the European model has been pretty good lately and another 1/2 to an inch of rain for Friday night.

Rain should linger Saturday morning.  The NAM model says much of the day but it's been forecasting like it's a Chicago Bear so . . . . .

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I think I tore my medial meniscus last Saturday throwing some free style Frisbee (ultimate Frisbee on steroids) with Elwood. It
would be the third time for that knee.  First time was high school on the tennis team, second time was playing softball in the 90s in a tournament and now.  I'll find out tomorrow. Not a big deal for most things but jumping, twisting and diving seem to not be what my knee wants to do.  WHO KNEW!  No blog tomorrow - DR appointment.

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 I had the opportunity to shoot some photos at the Chapel of the Archangels in Beaver Dam. It's a wedding chapel owned by some people I met at Hydro Street a few months ago.  I'm not sure why but whenever I'm asked to take photos of a place the attic is always a destination.  I've climbed around the attic of the Columbus Auditorium and up to the clock tower and now I was in the attic and clock tower of this 120 year old church.

Downstairs where it's a little cooler is where the color was (and a few beers).
There is a reception area and nice dance floor in the basement and this is the 1st floor.

NOT saying the attic was not a pretty cool place to visit but I'm not sure I would bring a wedding party up there.


What I marvel at is that this was built in 1903 and completed in 1905 by hand basically. It was a church for 112 years   It's located on an Indian Mound and is 6 stories tall, the tallest building in Beaver Dam.  It has beautiful stain glass which I have not gotten to yet.  

SO - that was my excitement last night . . . besides the GOP debate which I missed the middle part over because I was getting angry and had to watch Venessa on Big Brother (the poker player) win again and is now in the final three.

Speaking of the GOP - most organizations have Walker coming in 10th out of 11 last night!

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Seems a lot of people want to buy my latest beer. Sorry, can't do it.  HOWEVER - it should be on tap at a new LARGE brewery in the works in Sun Prairie which I'm involved with (being the treasurer of the Sun Prairie Worthogs).   I'm also shopping it around to a couple other breweries in the area.

It's an East Indian Porter.  Meaming LOTS of European hops which are more earthy then American citrus hops.  Dark, delicious and very hoppy but very balanced.

India Pale Ale (IPA) were consumed by officers of ships while the lessor known East India Porters (EIP) were consumed by the sailors.

IBU?  International Bittering Unit is a measure of how much hops is in a beer.  ABV is a measure of how much malt is in a beer which is also alcohol.  Your tongue can only register 100 IBU.

A Miller has about 10 IBUs

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Have a great day - watch the weather tonight, pay attention.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Budweiser Metallica? Seriously


Looks like a major change is coming weather-wize for this weekend.   There is a cold front approaching Thursday night with a lot of moisture and instability associated with it. HOWEVER - this front should stall along the WI/IL border Friday during the day.  Meanwhile there is a surface LOW coming our way.  With so much moisture still hanging around and this rather strong LOW we're looking at another 1/2 inch of rain with maybe some embedded thunder lasting into Saturday morning.But it depends exactly where the cold front stalls.

Highs Saturday will be in the middle 60s.  After Saturday a high Pressure will move into the area for an extended stay with temps next week in the middle 70's and no rain on the horizon after the Friday Saturday excitement.

Sorry - I thought this was larger!  

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I know we are all excited over the GOP debate which CNN is hopefully wanting to make into an actual debate. But if you are not "into" any of these candidates there is always a drinking game you can do to make it fun.

Scott Walker (who is now in 10th place and dropping) - take a drink every time he says the word "fighter".

Rand Paul -  take a drink every time he says "real conservative".

Ted Cruz - take a drink every time he says "defund" and "Planned Parenthood" in the same sentence.

Donald Trump - take a drink every time he says the word "huuuuugh!" or offends anyone (Please drink responsibly).

The Democrats get their chance next month with the Party of Five having their debate and you are introduced to the other three candidates.  

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The National Snow and Ice Data Center says we have lost 240,000 miles of arctic sea ice! That whole El Nino thing will be interesting as the LAST Godzilla El Nino had a somewhat stable world to do it's thing. THAT is the fly in the ointment.

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Speaking of Frozen stuff.  There will be a Princess from Frozen at Cardinal Comics GRAND OPENING downtown Saturday from 1:00 to 3:00.  If you have kids you know all about Frozen. Sydney sings the Frozen song all the time and now sings it in Spanish (I never sang songs in Spanish when I was a kid). 

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I am all for promotion (particularly self promotion**) and while this almost literally gives me a gag reflex a brilliant promotion.

Budweiser (some people call it beer but it's made from corn and rice) is teaming up with Metallica.

They are going to park a tanker truck next to a Metallica concert to catch the vibrations - then can it and sell it with a Metallica logo. Metallica infused beer.   Well, it can't make it worse can it?

 ** - I was once told by a wise Taiwanese elder that if you don't promote yourself know one will. Perhaps I took that to far?  Naaaaa!   It goes with the other sayings like "you make your own luck" and so forth.

Speaking of beer  - Super giant Anheuser-Busch InBev, that foreign company that is the largest brewer in the world is planning on buying SABMiller, the 2nd largest brewer in the world.   TOTAL DOMINATION! 

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There is a "new" artist I have fallen in audio love with, Elle King. She has sort of a 40's sound to her which I can't explain.  I created a Pandora Station and the other tracks I'm being introduced to have an updated 40's and 50s sound so it seems I was a little right but I can't really explain.

Very unique voice.

https://youtu.be/uwivioswp1Q


I've always had 40's music as comfort music and I wonder if my parents had anything to do with this.  Not that I was born in the 40's but they must have listened to a lot of 40s and 50s music.

OH - DJ introduced me to Elle King but I thought it was LA King.  It's more like L King I guess.

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Vanessa Rousso - one of the the worlds top poker players has made it to the final three in Big Brother and has been amazing at reading people and controlling the 3 month long game!  There have been a number of poker players on Big Brother and Survivor but all of them, up until now have been arrogant bullies.  This one uses her brains.

I'm always intrigued by poker players as I pretended to be one for about 8 years but that was online poker and I did very very well.  However the NFL and a few Republicans brought that to an end (all the Republicans were voted out of office their very next election LOL).

They didn't make poker illegal, they made it so banks could not transfer money that might be gambling money because poker is a "luck" game, there is no real skill to poker they said.  Yea - OK right.

OH - horse racing is OK, Fantasy Football is OK. Draft Kings is fine.  Poker?  pure luck.  I GUESS.
 
When I played I loved playing on European sites because Europeans play a different style then Americans.  There are lots of "tells" with online poker if you know what to look for.  But for me brick and mortar poker (as opposed to online) is just to to slow.  25-30 hands per hour compared to 100 online (200+ if playing 4 tables at once) and I get bored and have way to many tells. I tried some of the big games in Columbus (there are so big ones) and I was worthless.  

There are a few people in Columbus that have played in the main event in the World Series of Poker. I ALMOST did one year.  One hand away.  sigh!

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Nuff said!

cheers!  
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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Horicon Marsh

Took a spur of the moment drive to the Horicon Marsh and found the go to place for future photos in the fall.  Go to the Horicon "TernPike" Auto Tour and Hiking Trails top left on that map.


Take the driving tour and stop at the floating boardwalk.  THAT is the best place I have found yet.

Sadly since this was a spur of the moment I did not have the lens I needed for the best photos.  Having a clear blue sky which I hate for photography I did not think I would be taking large scenic photos.  BLAH!!  Damn it. I was forced to take close ups of turtles.


I did manage to get one sort of shot of the floating boardwalk to give you an idea but on a windy day and a 200mm lens it was not the cleanest so I had to mess with it to cheat.


And on the way out of the Marsh we came across an Egret!



And these guys overhead making a racket!




That's it!  We'll go back later in the fall.

Rod


Monday, September 14, 2015

We're #53

random sentences because that is how my mind is working today

Getting close to post number 1,500.  How exciting is that!

I received my first credit card with a chip. Now I need to upgrade my Square reading to except chip cards which will cost me $30.

Living on Vista Circle we have the wonderful sound addition of explosions and general quarry beeping and rock grinding early in the morning! AND THEY START EARLY!!  Had to get up and close the windows.

It's going to be an awesome week weather-wize.  Highs in the 80's and low's near 60 and low humidity.  Rain Friday and then back into the middle 70s.  

The game changing Godzilla El Nino continues to grow. Game changing meaning that "we" have been stuck with a Pacific high off the coast of California for 3 or 4 years now creating a drought (perhaps you have heard of this). 

Well, this  El Nino has a very good potential of rebooting things and pushing this out of the way and changing things dramatically.  Wisconsin has had cool summers for a few years now and this could change along with rain coming to CA.

I'm expecting a warm fall and a warm winter (thunderstorms on Christmas). 

Anybody watch any football this weekend?  That new rule about Extra Points officially started.  Last year 99.3% of extra points were made.  This year 93.7%. So far so good.

My fantasy team ended with 104 points, 12 points higher then predicted while my opponent who was forecast to beat me AND was predicted to win 13 games needs Carlos Hyde of the 49ers to score literally 7 touchdowns tonight in order to beat me!   I'm feeling comfortable.

CORRECTION from last week - I have NOT literally played 2 million hands of online poker - that should have read 1.2 million hands. Not counting practice hands I have on some pretty sophisticated software (I can play JJ (the glass hammer) 2000 times in a row, which I have). 

I received an email on my government server that says "I saw your business today Mon, 14 Sep 2015 and found it very interesting. . 

Well, that is just fine - "what do you think my business does" might be my first question.

NEXT SATURDAY - The new Cardinal Comics (who seem to be doing very well an 111 S
Ludington) is having their grand opening this coming Saturday with LOTS of things going on.  If you have a kid you might want  take them down and check the place out!  OR just check it out your self. I just read Wolverine Old Man Logan  very good.

Narrow Street.  The County is coming in and paving Narrow Street.  This is the first I heard about it and I have no idea why the County is doing it.

There has been more interests in the "old" Hydro Street with a few STRONG interests.  Of course when I mentioned this online it became an anti government whine on how "we" are an anti business government.  All I will say is if a business depends on a visit of a governmental official, how strong is it in the first place.  

Moses Malone pass away Sunday, he was 60. Three-time NBA MVP. First player to go into the pros rigt out of High School.

OH OH - I was talking to a Madison bus driver last week and how bus drivers hate the 1st few weeks of school in Madison.  Seems the gangs (mostly teenage girls now) all try to be the biggest baddest assholes and beat up bus drivers.  He predicted there would be a big fight at the Memorial Football game - YUP - knife wielding girls had a big fight.

And people wonder why people move to towns like Columbus. According to a website Best towns in Wisconsin we are #53!  We get a B+ in Education, A- in Housing, B+ in Jobs, this site is used by the  Wisconsin Real Estate people.   Our downfall is Weather and things to do outdoors and our health and Fitness grade.

Gotta go!!!

Friday, September 11, 2015

Chaos In The Sky

I have watched almost every thing I can find on 911.  Sort of obsessed I would guess on everything 911.  The best thing I have seen and it's been on recently is called "9/11 Tapes: Chaos In The Sky" and is a collection of all the tapes from Air Traffic Controllers and the Military during the chaotic few hours.

It's is truly fascinating listening what was going down behind the scenes.  For instance NEADS the North East Air Defense Sector who is responsible for protecting the east coast were a few minutes away from starting a "faux" war exercise when things started happening and "Is this real world?" kept getting ask or was this part of the exercise.  

As one commander said "we went from an easy day to full on war mode in one hour".

If you get a chance look for "9/11 Tapes: Chaos In The Sky".

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I like to call myself a patriot but it seems the word "patriot" has been stolen by the far right with all the tea party bullshit and so forth.  It seems being a proud American has turned into some sort of political position.

America has a rich history, our folk tales our mythology and our heroes.  Our country was founded on the concept of laws and now some royal lineage or race or military power.  We we continue to grow and change laws for the better and learn from mistakes.

I find it appalling that a group calling itself the tea party is using my patriotism to spread their lies, BS, anger and bigotry.  

Sorry sorry.  I had a bout of Revolutionary War fascination and while The Greatest Generation might be the WWII you can't just say the people that actually created our country were not the TRUE Greatest Generation.

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Science wins over talking TV heads.  High today is 63 and NOT low 70's as they advertised last week.  Next chance of rain will be Thursday and we should warm up to 80 by Wednesday after a few cool but sunny days.  More clouds as time goes by today as a upper level trough moves through but will clear off for a sunny cool day tomorrow.  Nothing but sun until late Wednesday.

AN odd thing was NOAA was saying don't be surprised by waterspouts over Lake Michigan for a few days.

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I took these covering a parade in Clyman a while ago!



Iggy



Have a great weekend - GO PACK!!  

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

budget season, oh joy!

Well - it's budget season, oh joy!  Just when I free up a night with golf league vanishing I have extra City Council duties.

Last week we went over "infrastructure" (I don't like calling it "roads" as there are more to roads then meet the eye) and last night was Senior Center and the Sewer Budget along with a "how can we please you" session which was a good thing. This means "what numbers and in what format is best for doing budgets" for you guys!

Last year seemed rather  . . . . convoluted with a number of surprises but now that a majority of us have been through this once it should be easier.

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So far this year Columbus has had 10 new single family homes and 7 multi family homes!  Seems like a good thing.

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In things you could really care less about . . . or actually you could not care less. I had my fantasy draft Friday night.  I upped the stakes a level this year as the last two years I have been in the money coming in 2nd place both times.  Ching ching.

So using the same technique as in the past 2 years I THINK I did well but in an unconventional way according to the "experts".

I picked 7th and my #2 pick overall dropped down to me and I picked up

HB Marshawn Lynch - SWEET

but by the time my 2nd pick came around there were 8 running backs chosen and the top 4 WRs so I picked up

QB Andrew Luck which was my #1 pick for QB - SWEET

but then I had to wait 13 more picks.  The 3rd round is where things start to get weird and the top 10 WRs were gone and I NEEDED one.

WR DeAndre Hopkins - I would later see WR is my weakest area which does not really concern me because in the last 2 years I'm always able to fill in with weekly pick-up.

The other picks went great

I got my #2 overall TE pick Jimmy Grahm and My #1 overall DEF pick Seattle

SO - we shall see how things go.  Big money riding this year!  I seem to be a Seattle fan this year (along with the Packers).

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Then there is BIG BROTHER.  I know I know  snooze!  I get it.  But for people that love "game theory" or have played thinking strategy games this is just an outstanding show.  Pure 100% strategy, not what you think it is if you only watch 1 episode.  It's like the board game Diplomacy, seriously.

Last year the game was dominated my an undercover cop who morphed himself  into the people he was playing with. Changed his talking patterns, his looks to fit in and dominated.

This year we have the #2 female poker player in the world who at first I hated and now I am in awe.  Being a rather good poker player myself (at one time with literally 1.2 million hands of online poker - I had specialized software) I can appreciate how she is controlling the other contestants to do whatever she wants them to do.

Just when you believe she backed herself into a corner with a wrong move, the next week you see that she was thinking way way farther ahead then you believed.  It's truly awesome.

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Weather - I've been really curious to see what happens temperature-wise Friday and Saturday.  The talking heads on TV have been SO conservative for a week when every scientific forecast says something else.       

Heads - middle to upper 60s Friday and Saturday.  Science says 61 and 62.   LAST Saturday the Heads were saying lower 70s and Science was saying 63.

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Did you know that only 18% of student loans of $100,000 go into default?   Loans of $1000 to $5000 34% are defaulted.

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Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting from the Big Bang Theory (I dislike that show) and Sofia Vergara from Modern Family (I LOVE that show) tied as the highest paid female TV actors last year, each making 28.5 MILLION dollars on their shows!  

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McDonalds uses 2 BILLION eggs annually and will switch over to 100% cage free chickens this year and all antibiotics will be gone by 2017. And remember - McDonalds will go ALL DAY Breakfast starting next month.

 OK - nothing else at the moment

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Doctor B and Bubba

SO! Brady got off on a technicality - basically the Players Union said that since no one told the players WHAT the penalty was of obstruction of justice or whatever they could not be penalized.

Now we see why lawn mowers have a warning that you should not pick them up to trim hedges while the mower is running.  

But in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal as the REAL penalty that actually means something and really hurts New England is the loss of draft picks.  This is a long term hurt and is much much more harmful then an elderly QB missing 4 game.

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An image of the hops I picked except I can't find a square old barnwood frame.  I can find a 22x28 frame so I might have to redue it.

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Final night of golf league was last night and I went from great shots to suck. Disappointing season after last years best ever season.  I think it was boredom, lack of concentration and a set of new clubs.  I only golfed at one other course this year which leads me to think my concentration a little null.

When I made contact I was really pleased but unlike last year way way to many mishits.  Add another new used driver with a new shaft and never hitting it outside until league play . . . that was a little tough.  Plus I was in my best shape in at least 15 years. Wasted year.

For anybody who cares.  sigh

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I was contacted by the Weather Underground asking if I would like to make a guest appearance on the Weather Underground Show which airs 5-7pm on the Weather Channel, If . . . .anything exciting happens in Wisconsin.  WELL, WHERE WAS THAT LAST MONTH!!

I sent in all my information.   My station had 3000+ hits last month and 280 so far this month,

Vista Circle KWICOLUM2

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I cannot believe Walker blamed all the Police shootings on Obama. Seriously.  Heard it last night. In fact he said that since Obama took office police shootings are up.  Fact checking that is just another lie as they are actually down.  Good God is this guy for real?  I think he is dry trumping for attention.

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I have a new app for my phone.  I knew of the website but not its an app.  It's for movies.  It's called Run Pee.  It tells you when the best time to run to the bathroom during a movie.

For instance - a really good movie I want to was Mission Impossible Rogue Nation (the best of the series)   it says the recommended time was at the 51 minute mark right after Iisa says "He'll fine me. I've seen to that"  You have 4 minutes.  But if there is an emergency pee go at the 1 hour 20 minute mark after the motorcycle chase. a 3 minute break.

You can also set it so there is a timer that will vibrate in your pocket of an upcoming pee break.

Ya gotta love technology.

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Then there is Doctor B and Bubba who chased done a drunken driver on their horses in Madison. Too funny!

Police Incident Report

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My new best friend Helen Avakian (we're still on a two name basis) who reads the blog will be performing at The Hop Garden in Paoli this Sunday.   DJ says try the Farmstead Ale - it's awesome . . .and she is not a beer drinker.  Yea - when I have a new beer I made and ask her to try it she will put literally one drop on her tongue and say "that's good".  sigh


I've asked her to perform in Columbus (she said yes). . . .when we actually have a venue (there is hope).  Speaking of venues, I'm working on getting a beer garden going in Columbus at Firemans Park. It would be great to have something every Friday evening outside with performing artists and GOOD beer but NOT in that caged in area where it feels like we 're trapped in some dive road house. Something where people can sit under trees on the grass, sipping beer listening to music. We could even utilize the outside of the Pavilion.  It's a vision held by a number of people.

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This image will be in a new book about Columbus that is at the printers.  

Nope nope not that one - sorry - I found this in my files



It was this one of Enerpac - I always get the Enerpac ones just to create controversy!  :-)


I have not seen the book, all I know is that it's all about Columbus and its history and since Enerpac has been part of Columbus since 1910 and makes the worlds largest hydraulics it gets mentioned.

They were part of building Miller Parks roof as one of their small projects!

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Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Goodby summer - hello summer

A lot of Autumn Blaze Maples in Columbus have started to turn color already - seems early but when I drove around it was not just mine. 

Here we go with the heat.  Very interesting weather.  A huge change in the overall weather patterns in the entire US.  This is a big glob of heat moving north, way north into Canada.   Here is the odd thing.  A lot of the moisture making it feel sticky is coming from evapotranspiration from the corn. 

The corn is releasing moisture into the air as it dry's.  WHO KNEW!!   Yesterday was the last day of meteorological summer.  On average evapotranspiration reverses and streams and ground water start to refill because crops no longer need the water as before.  However that is the "average" date and with our cool summers that we have had the past 3 years it's a little longer in Wisconsin.  

Expect the next two days to flirt with 90 and then into the upper 80s until at least Sunday but that end date for heat has been slowly sliding so I would not count out Monday still being warm. 

Longer term we are looking at a very defined El Nino effect and Wisconsin will have a much warmer fall and into winter.  The Godzilla El Nino is still growing and I will not be surprised if we have a thunderstorm on Christmas this year.   This will mean big rain for California and a much warmer winter for the upper midwest  . . including fall.  

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Speaking of politics.  

Bernie sander still is struggling and don't get your hops up.  He is way way way behind where Obama was and still gets only 5% of the black and Hispanic vote. And he is not even a Democrat so . . . .

Then there is Biden would would be the oldest President EVER if he ran (he won't).  The Clinton media problems are only media and while it looks like she is eroding a little that is what it is. a LITTLE.  She is so so far ahead of anybody it's crazy.  

On the other side we are still dry trumping with the Donald who loves attention but Ben Carleson (the guy with zero political ability but a very large brain) could be a problem but Ben has zero chance of anything.  Walker keeps sliding as he misspeaks and then has to ask the Koch Brothers what he SHOULD have said. 

OH the Canadian wall thing, "I was confused - sorry".  YEA - hard to confuse BUILDING A 5000 MILE WALL!!!     

It's Bush or MAYBE Christie vs. Clinton. 

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Then there is Auschwitz - sigh.   Europe is in the middle of a huge killing heatwave and the people at the Auschwitz Museum thought they were being so kind when they installed a mister system to help people cool off.   You walk into the museum and sprinklers over your head would mist a gentle spray on you . . . . . . . seems some people did not appreciate that.   

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