Monday, October 30, 2017

World Series, Bucks Badgers, and so forth

A tad bit groggy today as I watched the entire World Series game last night.  In fact I have watched almost every inning (City council stole a few innings) of one of the Greatest World Series ever.  This is the first time since 1970 that 2 teams with 100 wins have played against each other and one of the few times both teams are the best in their league.

It's been awesome.

Meanwhile - Giannis Antetokounmpo had his 6th amazing game in a row for the Bucks with another double double and the Bucks are 4-2 against some pretty good teams so far.  Giannis now has the best first 6 games of the season of any player since 1970 when Game Score was invented. 

While the rest of the league is in love with 3 point shooters but bucks have a lot of big big guys around the basket.  It's like Wisconsin Football. Bust big dudes with really long arms.  Giannis has a 7 foot wing span. 

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In other news - American farmers just lost $18 Billion (18,000,000,000) in trade as Mexico just gave the American GOP a big fat finger and will now purchase 100% of their corn, rice and wheat from Argentina duty free in exchange for selling their cars to Argentina duty free.  Seems they don't want to pay for the GOP sponsored wall. Sucks to be an American farmer under the GOP regime. They care very little abort the middle class.  Give the rich more money so they can trickle it down (while saving 80% of themselves (at least they have a strategy no matter how flawed it is). 

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Anybody notice the costumes this Halloween? they were amazing?  People are trying to find bright spots in these times of discourse.

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Constellation Brands who distribute Corona purchased 9.9% of Canopy Growth Corp, a marijuana company based in Canada which is now the largest publicly traded cannabis company in the world.

Speaking of cannabis - 64% of Democrats, 54% Independents and 49% of Republicans now feel cannabis should be legal.  The one thing the left and the right agree on. Yet our government is going the totally opposite direction.   Free the drunk drivers even if caught 5 times because they are not that big of a threat to society but jail as many cannabis smokers as you find . . legally.

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Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority cancelled a $300 million the American Government gave to TWO guys (who gave a LOT to the Trump campaign) to fix the Puerto Rico power grid problem. 

It seems NOBODY knows who gave them the contract - that paperwork seems to have been lost. Weird how that happens.  In a time when you can record EVERYTHING, so many documents get lost in our government now.

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My forecast for the downtown small celebration. Sucked.  Yea - I COULD claim victory as it was 51 degrees Friday morning at 12:01 but . . . . everybody sucked on that forecast.  I did get the "windy' correct.   it's tough making a forecast 10 days in advance.

After Tuesday expect 6 days of drizzle and clouds for about week.  Temps bouncing between 45 and 50 for 6 days.  Maybe Sunday warmer. 
   
OH OH - should be interesting where The Badgers show up in the rankings.

Cheers

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Congrats Frey Carriage Company

First thing I have to do is congratulate Todd Frey (Frey Carriage Company Columbus) for having the "Featured Gift" in the upcoming Lands End Christmas catalog.


They only have ONE so I believe Todd needs to ramp up the assembly line.

Speaking of Todd we were at the 78 foot stretch on James street talking railings.  My vision was to have a railing that matches all the other metal things we want on James Street, benches, bike racks, garbage cans. They should all have the same look feel.  How many opportunities does a town have to reboot the look feel of a streetscape.

After talking "I" had assumed a long 78 foot railing was needed but that would have all sorts of issues, again, being on a hill. Then the idea was for 3 smaller railings going UP the step. One on each side of the step and one in the middle.  Much easier to create with no "hill" issues.  The three railing going UP the step (or down) would show people there is a step and you could do some nice artsy things to the railings and it would be a LOT cheaper.

The controversy in Columbus social media is we want to make Columbus pretty but many people are against it because "beauty" just gets ruined by drunks.

(side note) We have so many freaking bars downtown we need to limit how many liqueur licenses are issued DOWNTOWN.  Personally I'm sick of seeing so many cigarette butts in the streets.

BUT ANYWAY

They are having this issue in Fish Creek in Door County with these flowers that line both sides of the streets.



Their City Council wants to get rid of them because they cost the city $2500 a year and people throw their cigarette butts in to then and yada yada yada.   WELL - the backlash was instantaneous.  People LIKE beauty even if it takes a little more work.  It makes a community a place people want to go to and makes a community unique. It brings in people that help business.  No brainer.

That is why when I bring up planters where some of the bump outs are and hear people complain that they will only get abused by drunks . . . . maybe the problem is not the planters. 

Come on people.  Now is the time (well, next spring is) to do something that will actually make a difference in our downtown.

Get organizations like The Chamber of Commerce to step up and help their downtown.  What do all those dues that Chamber gets do anyway.  Let's get some sponsors that want to help Columbus become a beautiful place.
 Step-up and be part of the solution.

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There have been some baseball games on and I am so tired of Joe Buck and his constant drivel. Get someone that knows the game.  I heard him whining about shifts. WELL, if FOX would ever show the field maybe we could see a shift.  They are more concerned with close-ups of Yasiel Puig having a tantrum and trying desperately to get camera time.  Next game - just notice how few shots of the entire field there is - only close ups of players. 
 
Shifts work but not as Buck believes.  Shifts are made to cut down a persons power.  A shift is almost always against a power hitter and in reality a hitters On Base percentage goes up while his slugging .pct does down.  Shifts are designed to take away power.  They say yea- you can get on base MUCH easier but only 1 base.  You want a .400 OB? go for it but you can't hit a home run going that way.

Plus - one guy said shifts should be illegal. Ummmmm - fielders have no special place they have to play. In fact many times they play in the wrong place because that is how it's always been done.  Like bunting - it's counter productive.   You will score 1 run more often by NOT bunting. The only person who should EVER bunt is the pitcher.

BTW - way to misuse your bull pen Dave Roberts.  Maybe you should let your Starter pitch more then 4 innings in a 7 game series.   

NOW - don't get me wrong - I am all for not having ANY "Starter" at all but you can't just decide to change how you do things from day to day.  In the perfect world you would never have a pitcher see a batter more then once in a game but you can't just make that switch on a moments notice.

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20 Republicans have said they will vote against the newest tax cuts, particular the one that says eliminate the state and local income tax deduction.

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Narcan will soon be available at all Walgreens as an over the counter stymie for the effects of opioids.   That is going to be a tough buy, walking into a Walgreens and buying a few doses of Narcan on a Friday night!

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Vaping (which just makes people look dumb) is now illegal indoors in all of New York State. No more going to the mall and getting a blast of nicotine-laced, apple-berry-popcorn vapor in your face from some teenager thinking he looks cool.

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A fee proposed by the National Park Service (who's funds were cut by our government as a needless  waste of space) are looking to raise the rates to enter to $70 a day.

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75% of Puerto stall has no people or drinking water. Still, Trump calls it a victory.

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Geostorm the movie was suppose to premiere almost 2 years ago but it was held up.  It tanked and after the 1st weekend still needs over $250 million to break even.  Not going to happen even world wide. 

Anyway - have a great day

OH - remember - 2 to 7 Friday you can walk James Street . . . You can do it anyway but might get hit by cars speeding on it in the morning. It's sort of open already it seems if you go around the barriers.

Cheers.

 
 






Tuesday, October 24, 2017

This and that for a cold Tuesday

Holy crap it's ugly out. Just wait! - NEXT Tuesday we might not hit 40, not that that is that much better then the 46 and 30 mph winds today!  I guess it's time to pay the piper for the 75s

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How about Giannis Antetokounmpo making all the headlines in the NBA this year.

The 1st 4 games
Points scored 37, 34, 44, 32
Rebounds 13, 8, 8, 4

A metric that is used to assess the total stats line for a player is called "Game Score" .   In the past 35 years only 2 players have ever done better then The Greek Freak in their first 4 games of the year, Stephen Curry in 2015-16, and Michael Jordan in 1989-90.

The guy is a human highlight real and the Bucks are 3-1

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Speaking of sports you could care less over - My Strat-o-matic team went down in flames . . well . . .no flames at all actually.  I scored 5 runs in a 17 inning playoff game and 3 total runs in the other 5 games total.

In REAL life Aaron Judge for the Yankees struck out 27 times in his 13 playoff games.  In my league Freddie Freeman (.293, .396, .556, 111 RBIs) struck out 15 times in 27 AB's. 

My team which had the 3rd most runs and 2nd most HRs did not hit ONE HR is 6 games.   Our slugging pct was .215  LOL

+++
Elwood and I won 6 of our 9 Fanduel contests. Well, you only have to be in the top 50 to double your money. We went through a couple tough weeks but have recovered nicely in the last 2 weeks. 

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A lot of sunset photos a few nights ago.



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If you don't complain nothing happens.

Looks like MPs Town Tap changed their profile image on Facebook.  Well done.

I contacted Bush Beans last week with some photos of some beans I tried to eat.  When I say tried to eat . . . I mean I would never let them near my mouth.


Some sort of gelatinous substance in that can.  They ignored me until I put this on their Facebook page.  All of a sudden I got a response. They are going to call me (they say). Or maybe it's their lawyer calling?

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New art work on our bedroom wall.


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I had a meeting in the Koch Brothers tower on the Square yesterday and had a good view of the work going on at the post office.  New hotel?


See that square hole bottom right?   20 years ago they were digging that room and I took a photo of a back hoe operator.  2 hours later I found out he died when his back hoe fell into the hole killing him that morning  CREEPY!!

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Mitchell Trubisky of the Bears had the worst QB rating of the year Sunday - yet the Bears won.

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OH OH - back to my virtual life - I'm in the Bob Barker Spay & Neuter Pro-Am. Check out this score card


So disappointing.

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Purdue Pharmaceuticals changed the formulation of OxyContin making them a lot harder to pulverize into a powder. Prescriptions have fallen by 40% for their pills.
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Funny Gus story - EVERY TIME when we take him out and his paws get wet  he will run in to chase Sophie and slip and fall on the hardwood floors.   Sophie does this on purpose I believe.
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Democrats are raising a CRAP load of money for their congressional races. Double the amount the  Republicans raised at this same point in 2010 and 4 times as much as the Democrats raised in 2016 and 2014.

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NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center came out with their Winter Forecast.  Wisconsin is in the "normal" range for both temperature s and precipitation but most of the US will be warmer then average for the 3rd year in a row.

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The Air Force is making preparations to put their nuclear armed B-52s  back into 24 hour readiness by installing new beds for the crews inside the planes.  Everything is running smooth in our government.  Maybe we should Tweet more about the NFL - the REAL problem.

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For my lawyer friends.  43% of the people that took the CA bar exam passed.
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Coming to a TV near you - Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is spending $10 million in TV ads calling for Trumps impeachment.  I wonder if Fox will buy any ads.

Trump is only 0.7 away from his worst approval ratings.  Currently at 37.6 (day 278) his lowest was 36.9 on day 221.

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Look for maybe some snow showers Sunday Morning and NEXT Wednesday morning. The weather will actually be a tad better in Door County this weekend with highs around 45 but not really any  . . . . long term gully washers" or anything.  The the best outdoor weather though.





Friday, October 20, 2017

Defending Columbus

So I spent this morning defending city government from people blaming "us" for not having a McDonald's faster, the high cost of food in our grocery stores and why we need a ladder fire truck.  WE SUCK - OH OH - and of course "WHY ARE THE ROADS IN COLUMBUS SO PITIFUL" .


James Street is looking GREAT in my book!

So many arm chair engineers and construction workers in this city.  At one point a guy said if I complain so much (????) maybe I should run for office to fix things.

ummmmm - I was defending Columbus (somebody has too).  I even defended our Police Department which do a fine job at keeping us safe.  The issue was "why do we need 22 police officers for a town of 4500".  ummmmm . . . . He did not know that Chief Miester has 11 virtual clones that do not get paid.  It's a secret. They LOOK like police officers but are actually unpaid holograms. Only 11 real bodies. 

One issue was of course the slope on that 78 feet on James Street.  People were worried that drunks coming out of the Cage would fall . . . . . yea - we need to make sure drunks have it easier to walk.  HEY - the sidewalks are flat, what more do you want to keep drunks upright!

I complain a lot because I want perfection but I will defend Columbus until my second to last dying breath.

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So a few nights ago DJ and I are sitting on the couch getting ready to watch Survivor (which I have applied for a few times) and eating pizza. 

Gus gets up and goes to the door and in a timid way rings the out out bell . . .softly.  I get up to let him out and as I approach the door Gus is nowhere to be found.

I walk back and see Gus is eating my pizza.    GUS!!!!    He's getting too smart . . . at least smarter then I.



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If the Yankees beat Houston they will have beaten Cleveland who won 100 games, and Houston that won 100 games and will take on the Dodgers who won 100 games.  I'm hoping for a Dodger / Yankee Series. 

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Bucks - wow - Giannis Antetokounmpo, 37 points Wednesday night and he looked tired (as most players do in their first few games).  Heard on The Dan Patrick Show that Giannis is a once in a generation super star player.  The Bucks got him when he was 19 years old and every year he has improved.

No literally - if you look at ALL of his stats, EVERY YEAR he has improved in every category.  No really EVERY stat improves every year.  Even the amount of assists goes up. A super star at the old age  of 22. 

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Did you see that Deforest water rates are going to climb 56% next year?  OUCH!!

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Yesterday was the greatest sports day of the year.  The only day you can watch all 4 Major sports all at once.  Only the 3rd time since 2010 and 17th time since 1970.  PLUS - I was playing my
Strat-o-matic baseball playoffs online at the same time (I'm behind 3-2 against the best team in the League, they have ungodly good pitching which is dominating my really good offense. Still  HEAVEN though.

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OH - the new brewery.  Cercis Brewing  - Pronounce like Circus and substitute the "Cs for an "S" like "Sirsus".

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80% of Puerto Rico remain without power or drinking water 1 month after the Hurricane.

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Today the last car will roll off the assembly line in Australia which will literally be the last car manufactured in Australia. Zero car manufactures left.

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The FAA is investigating Yellville Turkey Trot where a town tosses out a turkey from a plane.  Yea - it really happens.  They should make a joke about that on a sit com.  :-)

 

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FUN WEATHER FACTS   The average temp deviation from a 30 year norm this year

Jan +4.9 degrees
Feb +9.2
Mar +0.2
Apr +3.4
May -1.2
Jun +2.0
Jul -0.1
Aug -2.1
Sep +3.7
Oct +7.5 so far

The outlook for the next 8 3 month periods are normal temps with above normal precipitation. Nothing major. (results make vary)

Short term it goes back to 5 degrees above normal (brrrrrr!) Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday actually below norm. Cool and sunny NEXT weekend with high Next Friday about 44 and sunny for the celebration on James Street. 

75 sunny and windy this Saturday.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

My inner Andy Rooney came out

#IHearYou 
______________________

October 27th there will be a small quiet "Grand Opening"  celebration of James Street opening with a  small celebration where you can walk on the street.

To say I'm disappointed in Columbus would be an understatement as once again we dropped the ball in getting the word out that we are open again.  We should have had a BIG celebration that would have gotten at least two of the networks (CH3 and CH15) to come and broadcast the road is open.

We could have had 2 or 3000 people on the street selling our downtown to outsiders. We had years to get this done and I though we were.  It's a no brainer - free advertising, fantastic PR, a once in a multi decade opportunity.  WASTED.  

If you think small you are small. 

You ask - "Rod - if you are so gung ho why did you not get involved".  Well, I thought it was happening. We could have had a street party with a band and food vendors and all sorts of downtown festivities.  Have those big search lights - CELEBRATE!!!!  

Thank goodness the CDDC and JD Milburn are doing SOMETHING.  

The weather forecast is for temps to be about 50 and sunny. 

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Another conundrum is that 78 foot step that was created in the terrace area on James in front of The Cage.  The issue is railings.  

It seems there are to trains of thought.  My vision was a long railing to keep people from falling and breaking their legs and suing Columbus but others think a railing for getting up the less then 12 inch step. Or both? 

Here is, once again, our opportunity to make Columbus something special with a nice looking railing  that matches all the other objects we need like creative bike racks, nice looking trash containers and so forth.  But at the moment basic black steel pipes are the front runners.  BORING!  

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Anybody else see Gordon Haywards horrific injury last night in the Celtics game.  OMG! it made me sick. Less the 5 minutes into the very first game and his season is over.  Dislocates ankle, fractured tibia.

Look at the faces in the crowd (except for the dude that has money on Cleveland)



BTW - the Bucks play the Celtics tonight!

I think basketball has the most horrific injuries.  Yea - football you won't remember your name after 10 years so that is pretty bad also I suppose.

On a side note - remember Frankie Muniz from Malcolm in the Middle? ( he was Malcolm)?  He has no recollection of ever doing that show.  Strokes and a heart attack took that away.  

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 Since I'm on a rant - remember how I said MPs Town Tap had pretty darn good burgers?   COME ON MAN - this is how you advertise your place?  A fuzzy image of someone smoking a cig in front of a building?

   

Columbus needs to make an ordinance that will keep people from smoking and tossing the cigarette butts in to the streets.  I know there have been complaints about apartment dwellers tossing their butts out the 2nd floor windows.  This does not make me want to go into any business that has cigarette smokers loitering in front of an establishment.  Filthy vile habit that will kill you in a long slow painful death where you choke on your own phlegm.

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BTW - being the only NBA fan in Wisconsin , Thon Maker the Bucks back-up new center is awesome. He is a Sudanese-born Australian out of high school. A  7 '1" 3 point shooting center.  The bucks have a REALLY tall team with REALLY long arms.  It's their thing.  Thon has the highest standing vertical jump of any player over 6'11 (32 inches).

The world watches Giannis Antetokounmpo become a honest to God super star this year (Kevin Durant says The Greek could be the greatest NBA player ever) with his 7 foot wing span.  Many people do not know the Bucks players have long long arms.  While the NBA goes small ball the Bucks are tall with very long arms.

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“Being President doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are” - Michelle Obama

I can't wait to see what our acting President does in a REAL crisis!

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I'll probably get in trouble for even mentioning our Police Department and the city attorney is probably sitting up a little straighter all of a sudden.  Seems people get irritated when I speak my mind.

The September 15th smack down of Columbus citizens by the CPD was a "Drug Interdiction" that included agencies from Columbia County, the State Patrol and Lodi, Fall River, Rio and Portage also went though this . . . . . operation.

Traffic stops were for legal violations such as speeding, failure to obey traffic stops, blinker violations and pretty much anything.

K-9s conducted sniffs to find drugs and so forth.

So it was not purely a Columbus thing.  Some drugs were found with felony cannabis arrests.  K-9s were alerted but never found drugs any real drugs in quantity.

K-9s have been found to not really do anything but give the police a reason to search.  The problem is that in tests a dog can read it's owners body language and will give a false positive to please his owner which will allow an officer to search a car.  Give that dog to a different handler and his positive sniff percentage drop like a rock, at least that is what I have read when researching K9s but that is for another blog.

SO - bottom line. This barely legal shake down was NOT a Columbus Police Department hair brained idea.  It was a Columbia County hair brained idea.  So when I blamed our Police Department I was wrong and I apologize.  I was blaming the wrong group.  My opinion has not changed one iota. 

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Baseball - the average game this year was 10 minutes longer then last year and 21 minutes longer then 2 years ago.

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Jeopardy - I actually saw this yesterday.  The winner of Jeopardy won with $1.  This has only happened once before, in 1993.

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Weather - 7 of the next 10 days are going to be pretty windy with temps above average

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OH - the 4 happiest places in America are all in States with legal cannabis - go figure!  Personally I'm for decriminalizing - the jury is still out on legalization for me.

Have a great middle week.

  
  

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

The Red Rocket!

I think Gus's is trying to emulate Harvey Weinstein when he goes to the dog park.   Yea - everyone says Gus is just trying to show his dominance.  WELL - he is dominating his favorite play toys for sure.  We had to take one toy away because it was just say to funny.

He had this long snake thing with a big smiley face on one end.  Well here we are just watching TV and Gus starts banging away and the snakes happy smiley face is bumping against THE RED ROCKET!   boing boing boing. 

Long snake went into the garage for shorter toys.

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I think I might have to mow the lawn for the last time today.  MAYBE one more but I refuse to mow in November. Grass needs to be long for the winter so . . . . .

Sadly our Autumn Blaze Maple is is having root problems. Seems clay that has been compacted by the builders is not the best thing for Maples.  When I dug the hole I filled it with water so it would soak in overnight.  The next day I had to bail the water out as it had not even sunk down one inch.

Now it turns color late July which is fine as it keeps it's leaves for a long time but is done before all the other trees.

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Lost 100% of the photos on my iPhone.   This will be the last iPhone I purchase as this is the last iPhone (8) with a HOME button.  All facial recognition from now on.  Screw that.  My photos?  I had to restore my phone to factory settings which was fine because I had everything backed up in the iCloud.   I THOUGHT.

I mean they came forward from my iPhone 6 right?   Well, I got everything back BUT the photos.  I went to the iCloud and the photo file is empty.  I even had the special button clicked correctly.

Devastating.

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We got our new trash and recycle barrels.  Some people did not get them. How can you miss a house when you are giving them to EVERY house. Sadly when they emptied my recycle they only emptied half of what was in the container.  I have no idea how this happened but . . not a big deal.  A lot less garbage flying around our neighborhood for sure.

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Anybody who has donated to the RNC is helping Trump pay $1.1 million for his sexual lawsuits. Maybe we can elect Harvey Weinstein for President. He seems to have the right stuff for being President.

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What the hell is going on with so many people wanting Kaepernick to become a Packer.  The guy was 3-16 his last 2 years with the lowest  completion percentage for starters in the league.  REALLY? we think this guy is the answer?

And speaking of that guy - his latest complaint alleging collusion is a BIG deal.  If it is found that there was ONE instance of collusion the entire CBA is terminated.  This gives a LOT of power and leverage for more lawsuits.

++++

With Rodgers being OUT the odds of making the playoffs is down to  50.2% (from 79%). I think all "we" have to do is go 5-5 the rest of the way to make the playoffs so we can lose.  At least Sundays are now free.

And then there is Wisconsin.  Not really a big collage football fan (it's rigged) but Wisconsin is 5th in the Nation?  And Jonathan Taylor? Twice the National talking heads and local talking heads say he is one of the best freshman running backs ever?   What?  EVER?  ummmmm . . . . we shall see.

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Went to Monks yesterday and ordered a Philly Cheese steak. I was asked if I wanted chicken or beef.  WHAT?  Seriously?  I have never had a REAL Philly Cheese Steak but I'm pretty sure chicken was not one of the options. 

My bucket list sandwich is a real Philly Cheese steak.  Best one I ever had was in Winter Park CO.  It did have green chili's on it and ever since that sandwich I have been obsessed with green chili's.  I don't think they have green chili's in Philly but . . . .

Monks in the Sun Prairie Madison Metroplex is not at all like Monks in Wisconsin Dells.  Totally different and not at all as good. Not even close. It's a fake name to cheat you.

Had a burger in MPs Town Tap in Columbus - excellent.  The bun to burger ratio was perfect.  The Caribou in Madison had GREAT GREAT burgers and switched buns.  Now all you eat is a huge bun that fills you up and you don't even notice the burger.  It's all bun.  After 30 years they really screwed up.  PLUS it's not freaking 1/2 pounder which is why America is getting fat.

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Finally had a good week in Fanduel.  We keep putting our virtual money one players that get hurt.

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As of Sunday 85% of Puerto Rico has no power.

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19% of all apparel purchased by Americans was (were?) purchased online.

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Before I started brewing beer I was a wine enthusiasts and worked at a few of the better wine shops in Madison.  I found out yesterday that one of my favorite winery's burned  Stag's Leap a 1st growth winery in Napa burned.  They wines are now rocketing up in price.

A lot of LEGAL cannabis farms have burned also.  One place had been growing cannabis for 40 years and was 3 days away from harvesting their first legal crop.  100% burned.  Maybe this will be like the hop shortage which really helped bring new and exciting hops to the craft beer industry.   Cannabis farmers across the nation are rushing to the rescue with seeds.

Carry on! 





Thursday, October 12, 2017

Downtown Columbus - under construction

Being a cheerleader for our downtown I was excited to see the rain.


This was taken with my phone.  I am curious what I can do with a real camera so Friday when it rains I'll take some shots with a camera.  I also need to take some images of The Kurth.

Picture this with a few trees to soften the hard bricks. 

So the shopping list is 8 trees, one decorative railing, maybe 8 nice trash cans, 4 bike racks and a few more benches.  Then put the extra decorative thingy's on the light poles (which all have outlets for Christmas decorations).

All we need is for community business'sess to step up and volunteer making some of these.  If not I'm worried we will get cost saving default boring black objects.

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Gus The Weather Dog who already hates winter and is asking for a coat says you will not need sunglasses in the near future, at least until later Sunday. Zero sun until then.

We have two systems heading our way.  The first one is a LOW Pressure trough that will enter our area Friday giving us warmer but water filled drizzle air.  Then as that moves east a heavy cold front hits Saturday with thunderstorms and a LOT of rain.

Sunday - the day I always hope is rotten because we have football to watch will turn sunny with highs near 52 and really windy.  brrrrrrrrrr

Looks like a fantastic week NEXT week and even heading into NEXT weekend.

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When are we going to get SOMETHING for teenagers to do in Columbus.  Just askin'!  It seems to be all about small kids.  Don't teenagers need something?

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My East Indian Porter is doing GREAT.  The last 2 batches the last 2 years have been off as I could not find my regular hops.  My double Chocolate Stout is about to be dry hopped tonight with Saaz hops.  Slightly different then normal as I made a mistake and put the wrong hops in at the wrong time.  They changed the font on my hops and without reading glasses I put the taste and flavor hops in at 60 minutes instead of 10 and 5 minutes.   I still put in the bittering hops at 60 minutes but will dry hop (putting hops in after 2 weeks of fermentation) which will add flavor from smell which his actually the noses part in this whole thing.

We shall see if it works.

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The Tonight show ratings are down 26% from last year.  I loved Jimmy Fallon but not so much on the Tonight Show.  Too much fake laughing.

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FEMA is providing 200,000 meals a day in Puerto Rico. Sadly they need 2.8 million meals a day and people are starving.   LUCKILY our government has decided to help them by LOANING them 4.9 billion.  This is like loaning a million bucks to a high schooler and saying he has to pay it off  . . HOW?

Puerto Rico barely had an economy to begin with.  How do you rebuild when you had nothing to begin with. Do you rebuild to what it was?  Puerto Rico has no exports.  They have no real economy.

+++++

See that shit storm the Mayor of Fitchberg is having?  OUCH.  Government is meant to help the people I thought. Dumping Boys and Girls Clubs that was a major thing for the black community will not win you friends.

++++++++

Dana Delany 30 years later. 
I watched the pilot of Chine Beach. It stands the test of time . . . . . and so does Dana Delany.  OMG - there were some scenes that would not be allowed on our conservative networks now.  Still a fantastic show.

I was looking her up and she has really been in a lot of things I never watch.

I watched the show when it was on in the late 80 early 90s but could not find in on DVD.  Seems the problems were SO MANY songs and so many lawyers.

But - it's on DVD now and I purchased season one to see if it held up.  YUP!





https://youtu.be/Fn8XSTZ6cgs



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What was the first concert I ever attended?  Jethro Tull, Aqualung tour.  February 16, 1975  - I think they are the group I saw second most, 3 times. Alice Cooper 3 times and  Pink Floyd 6 times.

WAIT - looking things up - I saw the Dark Side of the Moon Tour March 4th 1973 - was that my first concert?  I was front row blankets at the  Coliseum - my mom and dad were there.  Maybe Tull was my first WITHOUT my parents (they were in the seats)?  I'm so confused now. 

**************

Well anyway - have a great day.

Rod





Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Not much

The GOP - Working Hard Every Day to Make Failure a Virtue 

______________________________

BRRRRRR - Gus the weather dog (aka Mr. Humpy) hates winter all ready. Fear not though as warmer weather is on the way after rain.   With a high today not hitting 60 and the next two days just above 60 it feels all is lost (average is about 62 now) but Friday we will be in the low 70s again  but a rainy cool weekend after. And when I say cool I mean average.

Sunny next week and above average.

Gus the weather dog 
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So Madison had a surprise tornado.  Nobody saw THAT one coming.  There was JUST enough upper level shear to spin things around.

Elwood was up on Saturday and we had planned indoor activities due to the coming rain.  The rain never really materialized and about 3:00 I saw one more line coming our way.  A swift storm and that was it.

We are watching WonderWoman and DJ calls down.  "There is a tornado warning".  WHAT?   Sure enough.  Then we see that there is a tornado ONE BLOCK FROM ELWOODS APARTMENT.

What is it with Saturdays with Elwood.  One year he is marooned at my place from a flood (Grinders Island).   Another year he is marooned because of a blizzard and now a tornado next to his apartment. 

The tornado was an EF 0 causing damage but no injuries.


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1000 ISIS fighters have surrendered to Kurdish authorities since they were defeated in Hawija a stronghold.  Where is this in the network news???   It was in the New York Times

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After gaining a little momentum from Hurricanes, Trumps approval ratings (an average of over 100 polls) are dropping once again to near all time lows.  The Ipsos poll which is rated as A- and leans right has him at 35% approval which is basically his base and will stand by him when he is impeached.

OH - this whole decertifying the Iran Deal Trump is boasting about is mostly symbolic.  It's just Trump marketing and making Congress do the heavy lifting so he does not have too.  In reality it will do nothing.   Certifying is not even part of the terms. All it does is make Congress vote in 60 days which they will do and nothing will happen.  The adults in Congress do not want to decertify.   Trump COULD just pull out of the deal completely if he really wanted.  He is just giving his base (older white males) another blow job to make them happy.
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OH - Before I forget - make sure you remember there is a Greenbush Bakery next to the old American TV store and they are OUTSTANDING.  I am so over Duncan Donuts and their horrible tasteless donuts!  Seriously.  I have gone there 3 times since they opened in Sun Prairie and BLAH!!

Their coffee sucks also.  Drink ANY coffee after a bite of doughnut and it tastes so much better. Or just pop a teaspoon of sugar in your mouth and sip some coffee.  Same thing.

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7% of the running power stations in Puerto Rico failed bringing the total back to 5% running.

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The GOP paid Mike Pence to protest at a football game giving him $250,000 to do so.  NOT fake news.

+++++++++++++++

Blade Runner 2049, a movie I REALLY want to see only has to make 150 million more to cover the cost of producing it.  Pretty disappointing box office but GREAT reviews.

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I've been told to look at James Street to look at a large traffic bump and if the DOT is going to fix it. Seems to be right in front of American Family Insurance ???  More on this later.

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I STILL have no idea what is going on about snowmobiles as the video of the last council meeting has not been posted yet so . . . I'm clueless what is actually going on (although clueless is my comfort zone) .

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Nuff mindless blither



  

Friday, October 6, 2017

Wreak of the Shipwrecked Brew Pub

https://youtu.be/LmJZG9kPceE


 We had a long talk with the owner of the Chocolate Chicken which is located across the street of the
former Shipwreaked Brew Pub.

It was a hot day at 90 degrees when  at 11:30AM someone reported smoke upstairs in the living area and an office where the owners ran 6 other businesses. They ran upstairs with a fire extinguisher but it was already too late.

Employees the rushed upstairs as  the fire departments started arriving.  People were throwing boxes and filing cabinets out the windows trying to save the records for other 6 other businesses. 

Every Fire Department in Door County (unconfirmed) arrived for the next half hour creating a domino effect as Green Bay and other stations in the area were called in to cover for the Door County engines.

Over 100 fighters were on hand as teams were sent in but the house was so old with so many additions and hallways and tiny rooms it was a nightmare and like a puzzle and getting lost was a worry.

14 fire fighters were injured with dehydration and heat stroke with 3 being med vac'd to Green Bay.

After two and a half hours they decided to not risk lives and blew the horns of the trucks signifying no more ventures inside. Let it burn.  Too dangerous. keep the outside controlled 

3 hours it was out but flared up later that night but was extinguished.  The GOOD news is that the downstairs was saved. Totally.  However, with so much water damage (over 3 feet in the basement) the building was a loss.

Meanwhile at the Chocolate Chicken the ice cream shop air conditioners were turned off in the sweltering heat and things were melting. Pictures were coming unglued and dropping to the floor. 

The brew system in the basement was saved along with a LOT of beer.  Also found were hidden rooms filled with old whisky (unconfirmed).  The fire never reached the ground floor but the water did. 3 feet of it.

The final result is they will rebuild and the plan is to be open in the spring.  The issue is that the new building cannot be grandfathered in and new ordinances and set backs will change the look and feel.

This will actually help The Chicken as they will be more visible. With the 2 biggest weekends of the summer coming this and next weekend (it's NUTS, over 200,000 people in Egg Harbor alone) they are gearing up for a busy few weeks, espicially with  so many people looking at the former site.


It was a slow season in Door as Chicago schools let out the 3rd week of June and then went back the last week of  August.  This bad because Door County loses all their employees and are covered with kids from Slovakia this year.  Door County tourism is all about Chicago (a crap load of Cub fans).

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In other random news

Looks like one of the actual ADULTS running the country and keeping us out of nuclear is getting canned today.

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Puerto Rico bonds fell 31%  after the President said The US will wipe out all of Puerto Rico's debt.  Then the budget director TRIED to walk back that statement.   

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Netflix is hiking the subscription rate up a dollar.

++++++

54% of republicans now say homosexuality should be accepted in today's society.  WOW!  this is a victory?

+++++

A friend of mine works in the butter industry. Grassland Dairy Products makes 1/3 of all butter in the US and butter sales look to be 10% greater then last year.  I think it's all from deep fat fried butter (a real thing) and fairs.

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GOOD GOD - Not ANOTHER snow mobile trail controversy in Columbus!  5 years in a row?  COME ON!!  We have spent more time on snow mobiles then the trails have been open.  All this for 2 freaking weeks a year?  What a freaking waste of time.

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same shot, same date,  2 years apart.  Global Warming?



Have a rainy weekend . . .well, Saturday will be all rain.  Sunday AWESOME - don't get used to it.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

ZERO PERCENT.

This being near the 60th time we have come to Door County we pretty much know what to expect.  NOT THIS TIME. 

Early October it's always amazing fantastic color time in Door but this year.  ZERO PERCENT.  We were talking to Mathew the fish boil guy and he was also commenting on the lack of color this year. 

We sort of know Mathew because his father was the guy that brought fish boils to Door in the 50s and my parents new him.  We started going to fish boils in the late 50s and my dad who seemed to know EVERYONE was friends with him.   Dad was a Mason and had a knack of talking to everyone and anyone, a trait that I seemed to have picked up.  I remember dad flashing his ring a few times when the family was in some sort of distress. 

ANYWAY - no color.  Not one speck.  NOT complaining though.  This is scene from our balcony as we wake up.  



Yea - we had a fish boil last night.  AS always - really really good. 


 Mathew also owns Caseys BBQ in Egg Harbor. The guy probably hates fish after doing this 10,000 times. 

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I'm not going to get into this whole gun thing.  Even after Las Vegas America is near an all time low in gun homicides.  Sorry my liberal friends.  OH - gun suicides are near an all time high. Take away guns and suicide deaths drop like a rock.  Bottom line - More guns = more deaths.

What happened in LV is nothing new. America is not changing  There have been mass deaths for hundreds of years.  in 1873 150 African Americans were hanged. In 1949 13 people were killed by a neighbor. 8 concert goers were killed in 1903. 

"If we focus on mass shootings as a means of understanding how to reduce the number of people killed by guns in this country, we’re likely to implement laws that don’t do what we want them to do — and miss opportunities to make changes that really work. Gun violence isn’t one problem, it’s many. And it probably won’t have a single solution, either."

Although the killer DID own 42 guns with a few AR-15s

I'm sure our lair in Chief is breathing easier now that we are not focused on his FUBR Puerto Rico mess he wants to just go away. 

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Ever think about tackling Eli Manning? You next chance is coming if you are a LACharger.

Five teams have less then a 5% chance of making the NFL playoffs.  Cleveland, San Francisco, LAChargers,  NYGiants and DA BEARS.

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Off to breakfast.


  

Monday, October 2, 2017

Road trip, TGCTours, Las Vegas, and so forth

 I have a group of friends in Las Vegas (balderdash and his group) and all are safe.  I'm sure we will hear that if EVERYBODY had guns it would make the police deportment's job much easier.

Tremendous acts of bravery by the LV Police Department.  I do so respect police officers.  Yea yea I can rail on their actions because I wear my emotions on the outside of my skin but I have a shit load of respect for them 90% of the time.  It's hard for me to carry a grudge (which seems to be a Columbus thing - grudges).  I just can't do it.

The LV massacre is one of the largest mass shootings in American history. There will be anti-gun conversation once again and once again nothing will be done.  The NRA will make sure of that. 

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The Children’s Health Insurance Program which dropped uninsured children in America from 13% to 4% is set to  expire this month. Let's see if the GOP wants to help or save that money to create jobs.

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ANYWAY - By the time you read this we will be in Door County but don't worry - all cameras are trained on the windows and doors so ... (dot dot dot) .

Sunday I took Captain Chaos to the dog park for his romp.  It's funny.  We drive  up and see 4 humans standing around and their dogs just sort of standing around and Gus is like a missile and just runs at full speed into the small pack and creates instant chaos.  It's a good thing.

When we got Gus we thought (and were told) he would be a good therapy dog. Didn't know that the therapy would be for DOGS.  So many times we have been told that little Rubeus or Draco or Falkor or Eltas never liked playing and running around UNTIL Gus taught him how.

All these dogs just stand around and then BAM, Gus shows up and you have 20 dogs all romping around chasing and being chased with glee.  And yea - there is a whole lot of weenie licking which I am REAL glad humans got out of that habit when meeting each other.

One woman said she was so happy to see her dog having a good time and actually playing.  Gus seems to bring happiness to all things (except butterfly's).

And names?  COME ON.  Every time we meet a dog and ask his or her name it's some name that I
Gus with his favorite friend and Mr. Pug
can not pronounce and/or have never heard before. I have a memory like a gold fish when it comes to dog names. I will never remember Jango Fett.  Probably why everyone remembers GUS.

ANYWAY - if you have a dog you must get him to the Columbus dog park. Friday there were 22 dogs all having the time of their lives.  The "bad" dogs are always in a different fenced off location. 

All Columbus needs now is something for teenagers to do. We keep getting playgrounds for children but we have nothing for high schoolers.  We treat dogs better then the kids we want to stay and grow up in Columbus. They are bored.  We need a dog park for high schoolers.   

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Being a 20 year member of CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network - I was one of the first volunteers) we saw that 100% of the CoCoRaHS stations in Puero Rico went black.  Sunday, the very first station came back online.  I'm sure Trump will call it a major victory and stop all aid now.

Side note - Trumps dismal approval ratings are going back south after climbing 2 points to 38%.

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Want to know what country gets googled the most?  It's Iran.  The least, Tuvalu, but right in front to Tuvalo is Comoros.    Yea - me neither.

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In 2016 the Unites States spent $3.6 Billion arresting 600,000 cannabis users and charging them with felonies.  What a load of BS.  $3.6 Billion that could have been used in educating children about opiates. I hope the Columbus Police Force has visited our schools and talked to middle schoolers about drugs.

Four guys were indicted Friday in New Jersey for having 45 kilos of fentanyl.  About 18 million lethal does of an opiate which is driving the problems (perhaps we should spend some of that 3.6 BILLION on that instead of cannabis.

*******************************

OH - I see Trump says OJ was framed.   What a freaking embarrassment our President is.  I like how Ken Burns was talking about Vietnam (he seems to know a thing or two about history) and comparing our government NOW to the FUBR government that created Nam.  It's almost exact.

 For every 5 Americans that retire from blue collar jobs, only 2 are being replaced because Americans don't like hard work so there is an extreme shortage of construction workers and so forth.  YET - our government wants to, and is deporting the people that are willing to do that work. Yea -makes sense.

If Columbus has a population of 5066 with almost full employment (which is what the U.S. almost has) and we kick out 10%. Does that make Columbus stronger?  Is losing population a good thing for the economy?  Less people spending much less is a good thing?   Trump and his cronies seem to think so.  Ask the Wisconsin dairy industry how it's going with their workers. 

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Kevin Can Wait - WOW - what a horrible show that was.  IMDB voters rated it a 4.2 out of 10.   Last year it was in the 6s.

++++++++++++++++++++

In my virtual world I have climbed to the 2nd highest amateur tour on TGCTours.  With about 150 members in each level I'm now in the 5th highest.

I had so issues with getting my head in the game in last weeks tournament.  Of course I thought I could make that creek 160 yards away.  No.  Came up a foot shorts.  The problem was "I" (the real me) could not really see because MY vision was from behind that tree and I had a limb in my face.

OH - only people that got the game on Day 1 day wear those pants! 


We're not staying in Fish Creek this year - going to be a little south in Egg Harbor.

Fish Creek 


Cana Island Light House 


See ya tomorrow!