The Amazing Sassy cow Adventure II

I finally broke down and purchased a mouse for my laptop with a cash advance. I told myself that I would get used to using the freaking mouse pad thingy when I got my new laptop. Well - I used it and after two months I feel I have mastered it.

Now I will dump it's ass and use a mouse.
=========================
This is a happy organic Sassy Cow. She eats good food, spends a lot of time outside playing cow games and gets 3 hours of television every day.

This is an inorganic Pic-n-Save cow. Notice her angst. He gets no television and eats junk food.

Which cow would you rather have sitting next to your child at the kitchen table.

If you said the Sassy Cow you are wrong!!! you don't want either of these cows at your kitchen table. Cows have something coming out of every orifice 24 hours a day. How do I know this? I saw it with my own eyes.

A group of us went to the Sassy Cow Creamery (SCC) Friday night and took a fun hay ride to the barns where the cows are entertained by the humans keepers.

We arrived to find a large crowd enjoying the beautiful night in the truly beautiful country setting which surrounds the SCC



People were in line for root beer floats and pie and kids were on tiny tractors playing demo tractor derby.

However - I noticed security against terrorist trying to infiltrate the American milk production was lax so I made sure the group spread out as we approached and got a better idea of threats.
You can never be to cautious in these dangerous times.

After filling our belly's with floats and pie we boarded the "THE HAYRIDE TO HELL".

OK OK - it was not anything like that but it sounds cool - maybe they could have a Halloween event and have THE HAYRIDE TO HELL.

We boarded the trailer of hay and started snapping random bouncing photos like there was no tomorrow.

We traveled for the next seven hours (10 minutes) on "THE ROAD TO THE UNKNOWN"

During the ride several of the captives tried to escape from our group. Here is Cable Guy making a break for it but we ratted him out

The guy in charge of us (Robert) seemed like a good guy but you could tell there was danger in his eyes. Oh - he was another of the shifty Baerwolf men we met on our first trip to the Sassy Cow. Yea, this acorn did not drop to far from the tree for sure .

We nicked named him "Hairy Hand".

Once we got to the barns and unboarded Cable Guy took a cue from the cows and got comfortable.

Sorry - that was just too tempting.

I'll have more photos of the meet and greet with teh cows later this week.



The cows sleep on sand. Sassy owners said they were the most comfortable on sand.

I did not take many photos in the barn as I was too intent on trying to get a cow to interview but they seemed to have some agreement to not talk. I did get to pet one for a while on her nose but at the very end she snotted all over my arm and they ended that bit of wonderment.

The ride back to the Creamery was nice and the time was filled with riveting story's of lactating from Robert.

7uyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666sw87

OOPS - THAT was Milo when I was not looking!!

MILK Trivia.

The next time you see a Home brewed beer with a label. The label was probably put on the bottle with milk. Yup. milk makes a great glue for beer labels.

And that was about it. I'll have more cow photos later this coming week but I'm worn out and my beer is getting to a critical point in the brew.

I want to thank Sassy personal for their sense of humor and many of us once we got back to the Kurth Brewery in Columbus said THAT was fun!!!

Have a great day.

Rod

Universally Inept

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Sassy Cow Road Trip

Here is a plan. Meet in or around the Kurth tonight. If you are not driving to The Cow try not to leave your car in the Kurth parking lot.

They have a tour at 7:00 and it'll take about 18 minutes to get there. The best way (I think) is to Hyway 73 South out of Columbus, then veer RIGHT on Bristol Road and follow it

The first decision you will need to make in your lactose deficient state of mind will be at a "T" intersection. Fear not - just make The RIGHT Choice and go right.

The next choice will be once you hit "N". Make a left and and you will see The Cow's red building. BINGO!!

See you in Columbus tonight!
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Very sad news for Stop Light Guy!!! Universal accidentally destroyed his original Chicago Stop Light, the one that was used as a template for making copies which were used in Columbus. It was destroyed six months ago but they failed to actually inform him and he needed lawyers to find out. They promised him it's safety when they borrowed it but . . . . . .

I HOPE he gets a pretty good compensation and a replacement light from the movie. I wonder what the replacement value is for an original.

Makes the Pitcher Car owners a little worried doesn't it.

"YEA - NO HARM WILL COME TO YOUR CARS!! - WE PROMISE!! AND IF SOMETHING DOES HAPPEN - WE WON'T TELL YOU!!!"

Here John is in happier times!!

John - next time you are in Columbus I'll buy you a beer at the Kurth. It really is the least I can do!

Wait . . . . . that didn't come out right!
=====================================
Gustav and Hanna

First Gustav - SURPRISE JAMAICA - I'M HERE!!!!!

This is the kind of hurricane where Wisconsin could feel some of the effects with rain. In the last 24 hours Gustave has significantly increased in size with some impressive banding. A ridge of pressure that has been steering Gustav west for the last few days is fading and a Bermuda High is building which will steer Big G more to the Northwest.

The real interesting thing is a High over Ohio Valley which is playing havoc with many of the models. But that is the future. Once Gustav leaves Jamaica it is goign to REALLY intensify. Very little wind shear (wind shear - like blowing foam of the top of whip cream) and deep warm water of the Caribbean will create a powerful hurricane very very quickly.

Oil Platforms in the Gulf

THEN . . . . there is Hanna!! Little quirky Hanna!

Hanna has so many things pushing and pulling at it that it''s sort of a wild card. It could hit Cuba by next Thursday or pass through the Keys on Thursday or even hit the South Carolina coast. Hannah is a mystery at the moment.
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Three years ago today Katrina slammed into New Orleans. The one thing that I really remember about this even was on Monday morning once Katrina had left and a newsman was standing in a New Orleans street saying things seemed calm, yet the street "in the last 15 minutes" was starting to flood from an unknown source.

I knew at THAT moment that the real storm was about to hit and I still get chills remembering that moment. While he was standing there with a question mark over his head I was thinking this was the beginning of some unknown catastrophe.

Today in 1960 Hurricane Donna forms near Cape Verde off the African coast. It would go on to cause 150 deaths from Puerto Rico to New England over the next two weeks.

On September 9, winds with speeds of up to 200 miles per hour battered the Florida Keys before Donna skipped back to the Atlantic Ocean. The storm then rode the Florida coastline, causing 13 deaths in Fort Myers and Daytona Beach. The state’s grapefruit and orange crops also took devastating blows and almost half of the largest mangrove tree forest in the United States was lost. It was the strongest storm to hit Florida until Andrew in 1992.

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OK - McCain has used a gimmick and taken the female Governor in her first term as a running mate. I'm not even going to get into that!!

Does he REALLY think people are that stupid????

Her main job as VP will be to carry McCain's defibrillator.

Why not just pick Hillary if you are trying to sway the Hillary voters - make more sense rather then pick Palin who finished second in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism.

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Now I must stop before I get irritated at political gimmickry

Rod

Too Many Cheese Curds!

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I think I had to many cheese curds at the Kurth last night. A little . . . . . slow this morning.

On the hurricane front the strengthening of Gustave has prompted Jamaica to issue hurricane warnings and the track is still aiming just west of New Orleans about Tuesday and is predicted to be a Cat3. Katrina hit N.O. three years ago Friday.

Oil rigs are starting to shut down and oil prices have been raising for 3 days.
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On the left side of the blog is a new little feature from 270toWin. This site runs simulations constantly. As we all know the popular vote is tied to the Electoral College.

Here is what they say.

"We take current state-by-state polls and turn the results into probabilities. Each simulation picks a winner in each individual state, based on the probabilities for that state. For example, if McCain has a 55% chance of winning Nevada, he will, in the long run, win Nevada in 55% of the simulations conducted."

Just a little fun thing to watch.

On a personal level there is a guy here at work that says America is not ready for a black President. That is like saying a family is not ready for a baby and must wait for the prefect time. You are never going to be "ready", there is no perfect time.

Having a black guy (I really dislike the term African American but am confused on what the politically correct wording is . . not that I actually see color, is Obama black? I had not noticed).

OK - let's say Obama is black. This is a critical time in this country. Probably the most critical ever. If he is elected President this has to help the millions of black people in America that have always thought that there was a ceiling. That you could only go so far.

Even if Obama was a Republican it would help American in the long run.

. . . . . . . .

You know - I have all these thoughts in my head but this time in history has me sort of speechless. I know the feelings but they are not making themselves into words. There are no words that will express just how important I believe this time in America is. And if I think this, think how it feels for the 36 million of black people. (God that sounds raciest somehow, I'm sorry).

I'll shut up.
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At the Kurth last night we were talking about The Amazing Race 13 coming up Sept 28th. The BEST non-scripted show.

This year teams will travel to a real-life water world where its inhabitants live on a floating city also first time visits for the Race to locations such as Cambodia (where NO ONE speaks American) and Kazakhstan, and one Team makes an unprecedented mistake on the road that ultimately prohibits them from joining their fellow Racers at the finish line (jail??).

This year we have married beekeepers who have been together for years, a married but separated couple who is looking to rebuild their marriage (I'm sure that will work out just fine), a newly dating couple who is still getting to know each other.

This got us thinking about how Left Hand Louie and I would make a great team. I can see the opening credits as the teams are introduced, the camera zooms in on two guys running on a beach in their speedo's. One, ruggedly handsome tattooed guy with a volleyball stops and waves at the camera. Then claps, laughs and points at his crazy buddy running towards him with a pitcher of beer in his hands!

The caption on the bottom says

Grinder and Louie
Beer Dudes!

Our goal would be to pubcrawl our way around the world and always be buying drinks for our fellow contestants. In fact on Louie's backpack would have a pitcher clipped to it.

In the contests Louie would be the guy that eats the bugs and I would be the bungee jumper from 1000 foot cliffs (and then vomiting as the beer continues to rush towards the ground as I spring back upward).

Life couldn’t be any better for these two friends. Grinder and Louie met while filming Public Enemies in Columbus Wisconsin and the last six months have been filled with good times. Some of the Teams refer to Grinder and Louie as “Team Drunk.”

Now they are ready for a life-altering experience. Louie is an engineer for Sub Zero. His laid-back appearance can be deceiving so count on him to be assertive, hands-on, and ready to take on anything that comes his way.

Grinder enjoys craft beer bar hopping, sports and all things funny. Grinder also loves to travel and hopes to use his extensive travels to Door County to get a leg up on the competition if they go there.

These two say they can talk their way in or out of anything by cracking jokes and keeping the mood light and pouring more beer to other racers, and they promise to bring more to the Race than any other Team. Look for them to always keep things entertaining in their own special way.

SIGN US UP!!!!
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Here are the top nine comments made by NBC sports commentators so far during the Summer Olympics that they would like to take back:

1. Weightlifting commentator: 'This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing.'

2. Dressage commentator: 'This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother.'

3. Paul Hamm, Gymnast: 'I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.'

4. Boxing Analyst: 'Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious.'

5. Softball announcer: 'If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again.'

6. Basketball analyst: 'He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn't like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces.'

7. At the rowing medal ceremony: 'Ah, isn't that nice, the wife of the IOC president is hugging the cox of the British crew.'

8. Soccer commentator: 'Julian Dicks is everywhere. It's like they've got eleven Dicks on the field.'

9. Tennis commentator: 'One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them... Oh my God, what have I just said?

I'll just leave it at that!
========================

And lastly

The baby newborn elephant is doing fine. After being pushed away by his confused mother and separated for his own safety she has taken him back.

The story is here!



No news from Sassy people so I suppose we can meet at the Kurth about 6ish??? Probably best to park NOT in the Kurth parking lot if you are leaving your car. If you are going directly to the Sassy Cow I bet we will be there 6:30ish????

There event goes from 3:00 to 8:00.

Rod

Fair and Unbalanced

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The Sassy Cow Adventure.

I am hopefully in contact with Sassy personal about the best time to show up Friday night. If you need to make plans just figure on being around the Kurth 6ish. I'll have more info when I get more info.

I wonder if their barns are in a East West orientation so the cows can naturally face North South.

Maybe some day we can take a trip to a Llama farm and see how Llama milk tastes! Next time I go to Starbucks I'm asking for a Double Shot Vanilla Latte with 1% Llama Milk at 114 Degrees Whipped No Foam.
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Many of you come up to me and say "Rod your view of the world tends to lean towards contextual objectivity"

I hear this over and over - it's so . . . . . Columbyte!

Well - I'm just taking my cue from Fox News and it's spin off network Al-Jazeera, the two best news organizations in the World.

So since SOME people think that perhaps there is more to the story, the rest of the story some say (a blatant copy of something I always said and tried to copyright, paperwork is still in Washington I guess).

Here is

The Rest of the Story

From : Todd Frey

Regarding Mondays blog…

Although the Columbus Carriage Classic tribute was much appreciated the local Columbus media (www.publicenemiescolumbus.blogspot.com) failed to report on the tragedy at the end of the closing ceremonies. The Ceremonies Great Tower was engineered and designed in the autumn of 2007. Unfortunately the tower of folding chairs, park benches and crepe paper failed under the pressure of my recent weight gain. Upon my accent to the peak of the Great Tower the entire structure leaned left, veered right, took a bad bounce and all 230 persons upon the Great Tower crashed to the ground.

Oh the humanity. Miraculously there were no injuries. The intense blows to the ground were cushioned by popcorn centerpieces created by Ellen Gorton at Carousel Antiques. In all human tragedy there are those that quietly saved lives and see no credit. Just prior to the closing ceremonies Alice Schmidt popped fresh popcorn to top off the centerpieces.

Law enforcement investigators believe that many would have perished if not for the heroic acts of Alice. Being that only the most virile men and fruitful women were selected to climb the Great Tower the entire future of the City of Columbus was once again saved by Alice Schmidt.

Despite the “do not eat the popcorn” signs placed throughout the park, a drifter, never seen at a Carriage Classic before, was reported by many witnesses. This drifter was spotted numerous times with what appeared to be artificial butter flavored topping dripping from his chin. Columbus Police Investigators are seeking information about the drifter known only as “grinder”. He was last spotted near the Christopher Columbus statue on the west edge of Columbus with an M-80 and a microwave bag of Orville Redenbacher’s Theater Style Popping Corn.

Other than that the Columbus Carriage Classic was once again a big success. Without community support the Columbus Carriage Classic could not succeed. Countless volunteer hours and generous financial sponsorships by Columbus Citizens bring the event to life. Thank You!

The Winner in the
Ltd Beginner A Artistic Non-Equestrian Bizarro Carriage Class

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Here comes Gustav

If I were you I would be filling up my cars with gas. I bet once Gustav nears the oil wells gas prices will be going up this weekend.

Gustav has been hugging the North coast of southwestern Haiti this morning and the storm should stay as it is until it wonders away from Haiti's high terrain.

HOWEVER once past Haiti the deep warm waters north of Jamaica and very little winds aloft there will be a ton of fuel being added to Gustav. This is going to be a major hurricane. Once it hits the open waters of the Gulf with nothing in it's way and no major weather systems to impede it's progress it'll cause a fair amount of havoc to the oil wells.
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In 1883 the loudest noise ever heard happened as the island of Krakatau exploded.

Heard 3,000 miles away, the explosions threw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles into the air, created 120-foot tsunamis and killed 36,000 people.

The volcanic eruption cooled the earth by several degrees.

Krakatau, which is still active, Indonesia.

This has some meaning to me because I was really pulling for the name of our rock band to be called Krakatau. However, for some reason the other members of the band really liked . . . . . . Wonderhorse.

The band had a brief yet storied life brought to an end when parents would not let us travel out of the State. We played at the Jefferson Homecoming and a few other towns in southern Wisconsin but refused to be the opening act for puppet shows an the fair.

To this day I believe we were the only touring High School band with timpani and a psychedelic light show.

Mike on the timpani.
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NEWS FLASH!!!!

Jets decide against Brett Favre and get trade voided.

Green Bay takes Favre back.

In a sudden turn of events, the Green Bay Packers have traded Brett Favre to the Chicago Bears.

In return, Chicago is giving us back Door County, Eagle River, Minoqua, Crivitz and the left lane of the Interstate.

In other sports news Michael Strahan has decided to stay retired!
=================================
Rod

The Drunken Mayor of London

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Are we making a field trip to the Sassy Cow Friday night and then back to the Kurth??

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

During the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, as the Olympic flag was being handed over to the drunken Mayor of London the song being played in the background was the British national anthem, God Save the King or Queen (which ever one needs saving). The song is also the national anthem of New Zealand and Cayman Islands, and the royal anthem of Australia, Canada, the Isle of Man, Belize, Jamaica, and Tuvalu and WAS the national anthem of America for much of the 19th century until we had that little disagreement about coffee with the British.

At that point Samuel Francis Smith wrote new lyrics. Oddly the little tune he was writing lyrics for were from Muzio Clementi's Symphony No. 3 which is REAL REAL close to God Save the King or Queen. He had never heard Clementi's symphony before and had no idea of its association with the British national anthem.

But here is the thing. The first verse is

My country, 'tis of thee

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!!! What is the message those 5 words are trying to convey.

My country is of me?

When was the last time you saw all the verses??

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our father's God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.
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Here is something I bet you did not know.

Next time you look into a field and see a bunch of cows all standing around - they are probably lined up facing north or south. I guess there was a study just completed and it seems cows all around the world like to align their bodies in a north south direction.
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Then there is that little thing about politics happening. It seems a Democratic delegate and a Clinton supporter has decided that since Clinton is not going to be nominated she is switching sides to support McCain. sigh! In an interview she said that since McCain was Pro-Choice McCain is her choice.

WHAT???? Did I miss something? McCain is Pro-Choice? I'm pretty certain that a republican nominee is not pro-choice.

I will not get into my thoughts about how I seriously think (and I mean that) McCain is starting to lose his ability to reason things out. If elected he will be the oldest elected president ever, by a LOT.

If George Washington was alive today and President he would be 276.
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But lets get serious for another moment, TV. Dancing with the Stars. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!!!

Two of the dancers will be Susan Lucci (61) and . . . . . drum roll please . . . . Cloris Leachman (82). Don't toss her too high!! I hope Warren Sapp is not her partner.

Also, one of DJ and my favorite shows CHUCK premieres Sept 29. Tony Hale from that outstanding show no one ever watched Arrested Development (AD) joins the cast as the manager of Buy More. Tony was Buster the guy that lost his had to a shark in AD.

If you ever want to rent a great show on Netflix get Arrested Development - it is really an intelligent well written funny show!
===============

Garden update.

Things are winding down a little EXCEPT for the fennel which is taking over the garden and my Astor's which are still not blooming.

I took this photo of a butterfly. I have seen him flitting around for a few days now along with thousands of solder beetles and a LOT of them are having sex!!!!!!!

I think this is some sort of brush footed butterfly but I can't track it down?

Solder Beetle

Solder beetles are actually related to the firefly but can not light up and are highly desired by gardeners as biological control agents of a number of pest insects.

They consume grasshopper eggs and aphids. The adults are especially important predators of aphids. Their eating habits have made them a very beneficial beetle around most vegetation since plant life is not part of their diet.

WHEW! they are everywhere!!!
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Talk at me!!!

Sassy Cow???

Rod

Columbus Carriage Classic Amber

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I've discovered I have a odd way of looking at how long I have lived in Columbus.

In real time it's been about fourteen months. But when people ask me I find myself wanting to say six months. This has happened a couple times and at first I thought it was just another brain cramp until I realized . . . . six months ago was when Universal came to town and I started blogging about it PE and Columbus.

For me, my time in Columbus is BPE (Before Public Enemies) and APE (After Public Enemies). BPE I was your typical person that worked in Madison, lived in Columbus didn't know anybody and could never figure out when the Kurth Brewery was open.

APE I feel like I'm part of the community (whether they want me or not), have more non-sport friends then I have ever had, know a few business owners (including the Kurth) but still I don't know when the Kurth Mansion is open.

I feel like I really have only lived here for 6 months. And both DJ and I love it.
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I received a letter from the Columbus Auditorium Corporation that I should forward to you.

Dear Public Enemies Blog.

Thank you so much for your Blog donations of $334.22 to the Columbus Auditorium Corporation. 2008 will bring us closer to begin our work to restore the Columbus City Hall Auditorium. The Columbus City Council voted to approve amended language in our lease agreement. The changes will make it possible for CAC to apply for State and Federal funding. The Council also voted to approve the replacement of the roof on City Hall and to provide the upgrade for elec. Poser to the Auditorium. This will enable us to proceed with our plans to REVIVE the Auditorium. The CAC is looking forward to bringing quality family entertainment back to Columbus and surrounding Communities.

Robert Schirmacher
Treasurer CAC

I bring this up because it SEEMS that some of the Council members that voted YES are now rethinking and getting cold feet.

Just keeping you informed.
=========================================

You're asking yourself - why is Todd Frey up there on a 100 foot tower.

I was as surprised as you are when I attended the Closing Ceremonies of the Columbus Carriage Classic Sunday night. The big Firemen's building in Fireman's Park is larger then it looks when inside. Who would ever believe, when looking at it on the outside that THIS was going on inside.

That entire tower is made of folding chairs that I had to put away when it was over. And those guys can REALLY drink a lot of lemonade.

But let's not be so serious for a second. What the Columbus Carriage Classic needs are POSTCARDS!!!! I'll have to look around to see if I can find anybody that could get some postcards into the stream of things. hmmmmm how about Note cards also????
==============================

Speaking of Postcards - I am now dealing with Corporate America. I had Walgreens Corporate Office call me about putting PE post cards in the Columbus Walgreen's.

Talk about making things complicated. Vendor numbers, logging into websites, making agreements, minimum orders - DUDE - I'm a guy with a camera, not a thriving National company of 100 employees. Am I going to have to fly to Cleveland for a meeting with top company execs? IT'S A ONE DOLLAR POSTCARD!!
==============================

And while I was putting away all of those folding chairs I was thinking of what I had to do once I got home. I had to bottle Grinder's Island Columbus Carriage Classic Amber (GICCCA).

I have to say in all honesty that Im a little exited about this batch. Many of you have asked about how the brewery is going and I have to say that my first brew - Scorched Earth Brown is . . .well . . . . perhaps a little too scorched and some of the bottles have been poured down the drain. Sad - yes!

When I was finished brewing batch #1 I said "this will need a miracle". Well my friends, it seems miracles don't always happen.

Brew #2 is actually drinkable but because I made SUCH a mess with boiling batch #1 I did not have the rolling boil needed for batch #2 so it's a little light - but drinkable . . .for me!

HOWEVER - I bottled Columbus Carriage Classic Amber, a Classic Amber (go figure) and not only did it have an outstanding color but it tasted pretty darn good out of the bottling bucket. Let it bottle condition for a few weeks to get the carbonation up and it'll be fine. My first real success!

=========================

I was talking to Cheryl Frey at the Closing Ceremonies last night and was SHOCKED!! All I'm going to say is that I will be on alert the next time Cheryl is spotted near the Christopher Columbus Statue. That's all I'm going to say, I don't want anybody getting in trouble or asking any questions.

Let's just drop it and move on. Disregard the above paragraph.

Cheryl and I both want to hear the the story behind that statue - how long has it been there. Did Christopher Columbus erect it when he discovered Columbus? Is it life size?? It would have been cooler if Napoleon would have discovered Columbus on his way to conquer Austria. Now THAT would have been something to talk about.

** all names have been changed to protect the innocent - any name that looks like a real name is some sort of freakish coincidence.

This reminds me of something that happened when I was a wee lad.

Me and some other ne'er-do-wells were in possession of an M-80 firecracker and looking for something to blowup. We had a pumpkin so being good little ne'er-do-wells we decided to put the pumpkin in the middle of the street and blow it up.

The street is a very very little traveled street where cars never ever go down it so we felt pretty safe. We put the M80 in the pumpkin and lit the long fuse and ran.

I swear - not 2 seconds later a little VW Bug comes careening around the corner going 40 - hits the large pumpkin square. The pumpkin flattens as it goes under the bug BUT is so large if lifts the front axial of the bug off the ground rendering the front drive tires useless. And it stops with the pumpkin firmly lodged underneath.

All is quite except our hearts which are now bursting out of our chests is we watch from behind a house. Just waiting for the VW to explode in a blinding horrific fireball. The driver get's out and starts swearing and it's about that time we get our bravery back and run like hell in four directions.

We did not go back to the scene of the crime.
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Have a great day
Rod

Odd's & Ends, Bits & Pieces, This & That

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With a title like that you can hardly wait I bet.

My Sony Ericsson (yea - it's spelled right . . looks weird) phones people on it's own. Super!! It's a slider phone and when it is . . un-slid it is locked. Problem is that the unlock button is right on top and if there is enough pressure to press the unlock button it there is also enough pressure in that same area to make a phone call.

Twice yesterday it called people who answered the phone and got no response. That's the other irritating thing - if it's going to call people randomly it should at least SAY something. It's also call our bank a few times.
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No more free live sex on TV Showtime.

With April getting the boot on Big Brother Internet viewers lose it's free sex shows with April and Ollie. HELLO!!! Do they not understand the concept of the show?? Camera's on them 24/7. They joke about being sneaky but there are now cameras that can see in darkness. SURPRISE!!!!!

The Mole - I keep forgetting to mention The Mole. What a good outcome to this wonderful show. The right person won and the right person was The Mole and the loser was the woman no one wanted to win.

Coming in a month is the VERY best unscripted show - The Amazing Race and at the same time Survivor starts AND The Office.

My boss has just discovered The Office and I am jealous. He as so many shows to catch up on.

My mom hates the comedy but I feel it's like a roller coaster.

On a roller coaster you are suppose to be scared. It's all right. With The Office, you are suppose to feel . . . squeamish and awkward and uneasy. It's hilarious.
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Olympics Relay - I like watching some of the racing in the Olympics. I was on the track team for a while in high school . . .until I had to run laps. I was a sprinter and was one of the reasons in high school my nickname was Flash. NO NO - get your mind out of the gutter, the other reason was I was a photographer.

I ran the 50 yard dash in 6.9 seconds(world record is 5.15 seconds). I was commenting last night and wondering when the last time I had actually RUN, you know - just take off and sprint. It's an awesome feeling when only the tips of your toes are touching the ground.

Sure - you can sprint across the road or grab a purse and run every so often but it's not the same thing.
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Politics

OK - on one hand we have McCain who can not remember how many houses he owns (we all have that problem I think) and on the other hand we have Obama who has too many fireplaces in one his houses! How do you decide who will make the best President ??????

THEN - the world finds out that in Ohio you can no longer take the voting machines home for a sleepover. It seems many of the machines would go home with workers because of the fear that the virus protection in the machines was inadequate. Yea - OK - allow people to take the machines home seemed like a good idea to stop tampering. What could possibly go wrong.

AND - in one list bit of political news. Bush as declared Florida a disaster area. I think 50% of American declared Florida a disaster area 8 years ago!
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On August 22 1776 The Redcoats landed on Long Island to capture New York. The army of 24,000 man. Five days from now 232 years ago, the Redcoats marched against the Patriot position at Brooklyn Heights, overcoming the Americans at Gowanus Pass and then outflanking the entire Continental Army.

It was at this point when General Washington ordered a retreat to Manhattan by boat and got a bunch of artists to paint photos of him doing this.

As luck would have it the Redcoats discovered Long Island Ice Tea (equal parts vodka, gin, tequila, rum and triple sec with 1 1/2 parts sour mix and a splash of cola) so it took much longer to capture New York then anticipated. In fact it took until September 11 for New York to be captured and it remained in English control until the end of the war.
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On this date in 1933 the Barker clan robs a Federal Reserve mail truck in Chicago, Illinois, and kills Officer Miles Cunningham. Netting only a bunch of worthless checks.

Perhaps some of you know of this incident.
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Got an email from Pam in Oshkosh who has tried the NEW Schlitz - she loved it saying "It's awesome! " hmmmmmmm I am now concerned about Pam's well being.

She says: Rumor has it, there is going to be a major push/campaign for it, featuring the original recipe coinciding with the release of PE. You must have noticed all the billboards had Schiltz plastered all over them.

What can first the rumor or the billboards! I'm not sure Universal has it THAT together to time it.

In other PE news - Stop light dude has gotten lawyers in involved to get his stop light back from Universal. It seems all his contacts are drying up and no one seems to know where the stop light is!!
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And movies - I am going to be waiting in line for the opening of The House Bunny!

sex related humor, partial nudity and brief strong language - a bunny is tossed out of the Playboy Mansion and becomes a house mother to a loser sorority. WHAT COULD BE FUNNIER.

How original! and look - there is a height challenged girl!! TOO TOO FUNNY!

OK - The House Bunny is going against The Rocker! Both will make about $8 million. Rainn Wilson of The office will have to prove he can be a leading man and and Anna Faris will have to prove she has ANY following.
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Rod

Budweiser American Ale - The Ale Revolution Begins

NEW
Public Enemies Columbus Merchandise
WWW.PublicEnemiesColumbus.Com

In October 2008 Budweiser will roll out a brand new beer and I am sure you will see a few ad's for it. It's called Budweiser American Ale and for the first time in a long long time a Macro Brewer will be pushing Ale instead of Lager.

The difference in ale and Lager is that Lager is fermented cold with yeast that stay on the bottom of the batch. Lagers are more crisp and cleaner tasting.

Ales on the other hand are brewed warm and the yeast floats on top. This makes of a stronger, sweeter more full bodied but cloudy beer.

Lagers rule when it comes to the market place but in the past 10 years more and more craft breweries have been making ale and taking away from market share from the big boys and their insipid weak tasting alcohol liquid they call beer.

So once I found this out I felt I should go onto the homebrewer forum to hear what people were saying and I was a little shocked.

First - the beer, here is what Anheuser Busch officially says about it. - it's an amber ale, 5.2 percent ABV. IBUs (International Bitterness Units) 25 to 28. It's made with two row pale barley and caramel malt. Bittering hops are Palisade, aroma hops spicy Saaz and Willamettes and piney, citrusy Cascades. It's also dry hopped with Cascades.

WOW - OK - breaking that down into layman's terms, they are making an ale, but deliberately going light on the hops... and deliberately choosing a yeast that won't have a lot of character... and they don't want it to have any sweetness....

But one thing that that strikes me is that Anheuser Busch has formulated a beer AND advertise's that beer as 'dry hopped and using top-fermenting yeast . . . . . Joe Common does not have a clue what that means so who are they advertising this too?? Ale and Craft brew drinkers.

But here is what most home brew people are thinking. This will lure normal Bud drinkers to try an ale just to see what the difference is and once they realize that ale actually tastes better then lagers, the lager drinkers will look for other ales to try, never to look back.

More macrobreweries are looking into ales and watching how this all shakes out. The ale revolution as begun. With "nostalgia beers" like PBR and now Schlitz being released (interesting story about Schlitz**) maybe some of the other macrobreweries will blow off the dust on their ale recipes.

On the bad side is you know that this beer will be at every bar in the country and might knock out the one craft beer they have on tap.

**Schlitz - As late as 1976 there was only one brewery selling more beer then Schlitz and that was Bud. But because of cost-cutting in the recipe and just some dumb mistakes the beer became, in what many drinker's thought — undrinkable, turning what was once the world's most popular brew into little more than a joke.

Pabst who now owns Schlitz (after the 1981 workers strike) interviewed old brewmasters and found notes about the original recipe and are once again be making the original brew. The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous. In fact in Milwaukee there is a waiting list for 6 and 12 packs because people are buying it so fast.

Still - is it nostalgia? or flavor.
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On August 23 1883 the trial of Frank James, Jesse James brother began. Frank turned himself in a year earlier. His brother Jesse was murdered the year before and thinking it was only a matter of time before he was also killed figured the courts might be a good way to NOT get killed.

It was better then he had hoped.

Even though his gang had killed many many people Missourians saw them as heroes who took money from ruthless bank and railroad companies and redistributed it to the poor.

hmmmm sounds oddly like another bank robber I have heard about.

After the trial began, several prominent witnesses testified to Frank's character and how he had fought for the South in the War between the North and the South. Rural Missourians were unwilling to convict the legendary Frank James. The jury found him not guilty.
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Here is something a kid wrote about the Olympics and Greece.

In the Olympic Games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled the biscuits, and threw the java. The reward to the visitor was a coral wreath. The government of Athen was democratic because the people took the law into their own hands. There were no wars in Greece, as the mountains were so high that they couldn't climb over to see what their neighbors were doing. When they fought the Parisians, the Greek were outnumbered because the Persians had more men.

and in the same vain

Without the Greeks, we wouldn't have history. The Greeks invented three kinds of columns - Corinthian, Doric and Ironic. They also had myths. A myth is a female moth. One myth says that the mother of Achilles dipped him in the River Stynx until he became intolerable. Achilles appears in "The Illiad", by Homer. Homer also wrote the "Oddity", in which Penelope was the last hardship that Ulysses endured on his journey. Acutally, Homer was not written by Homer but by another man of that name.

Seems pretty close to me!!
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have a great Thursday!

Rod

Jaw Dropping Gorgeous

NEW - Public Enemies Columbus Merchandise
WWW.PublicEnemiesColumbus.com

It seems Georgia has been attacked by Russia. At first I was worried about our peanut crop and Jimmy Carter but then I realized it was not Georgia in America but the one in Europe. WHEW!! No wonder it was not on the news as much as I thought it should be.

But now I'm reading that the Georgians (who call themselves ქართველები) want help from America.

HELLO!!!!! We have the Olympics at the moment. We're a little busy ourselves!!

If you want to impress your friends at the water cooler just start talking about the 2008 South Ossetia war. Here is what happened. South Ossetia, a State like Florida, declared independence 16 years ago and I guess Georgia just realized it.

So Georgia sent in troops and attacked. Russia, who is like a cat seeing another cat attacked Georgia just because well, it saw another cat, it's what they do. Of course Russia could not stop themselves and went into Georgia by mistake (they forgot to hand out maps I guess).

There is a lot of he said she said and finger pointing and frankly . . . . I got a little bored with the whole mess.

Back to the Olympics!

Hooray for Shawn Johnson. I was tired of her always getting the Silver. She always smiled at getting Silver but you could tell she REALLY wanted a Gold. When she finally won it she could barely contain herself . . . until she was on the podium and the National Anthem was playing and she was making a goofy little face the whole time.

And what's with her little march anyway. Does she always walk that way? Anybody else see that little march she does like a little solder?

So the International Table Tennis Federation wants woman to wear skirts and shirts with more curves to attack (attract - oops) more fans! I feel that something more akin to the beach volleyball outfits would work.

BUT THEN there is the Great Christmas Lights Swimsuit Debacle of 2008. Spain's synchronized swimming team are banned from wearing swimming suits with little lights sewn into the fabric. Can they not make up their minds??? Too much . . too little.

Hey - did I miss this event?? What if you had a little girl whose goal was to be a Olympic Ribbon Twirler. Would you quit your job and move to New Jersey to have some Russian coach train her for the next 15 years?

Is this something that would be useful later in life? Go on tour with Twirling With The Stars.

And what about those Gymnastic Stationary Ring guys. Have you ever tried that? Remember in High School. I would just hang there.

I want o see the legs of those guys - I bet they are scary skinny.
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OK - Jaw Dropping Gorgeous

I received in the mail yesterday Sue's collage poster's and it is beautiful. So beautiful that so far every person I have shown it too actually has their jaw drop. Julie at Julie's Java House said "Now THAT is what I'm talking about". A few people wanted to buy them and the print will soon be made into postcards and another project I'm working on.

I'll have them for sale online - have to get the logistics's going with a new web address. www.PublicEnemiesColumbus.com will soon be up and running.

So - with that I must go!

Rod

Unparalleled Controversy

Watched the uneven parallel bar competition last night (as opposed to the even unparalleled bars) and saw the controversy unfold. I think the real controversy is what is not being talked about that much and it's the stupid rule changes. But first what actually happened.

He Kexin, China's 37 year old gymnast and Americas Nastia Liukin (actually a Russian) tied in the uneven parallel bar competition. Normally in the past this would have had both He Kexin (37) and Nastia Liukin (18) win a Gold Medel and all would be happy. . However THIS year because of the world wide lack of gold (because SOME people were giving out too many Keys To the City) they said NO MORE TIES.

So they decided to create some odd tie breaker system. Here how it all went down.

Both woman started with difficulty score of 7.70 and you can now forget that number as it does not come into play here.

There are six judges and none of them are very good. I say this because of another silly rule. If you have a contestant in the Finals your country can not judge. Sounds fair until you realize that this means the Countries who actually know what they are doing and what perfection is are no longer judging. Only the countries with poor athletes are judging. The "B" team is judging.

He receives scores of 9.30, 9.10, 9.10, 8.90, 9.00 & 8.90
Nastia receives scores of 9.00, 9.30, 9.00, 8.80, 9.00 and 9.10

He averages 9.05
Natsia averages 9.03

But wait - you throw out the top and bottom picks, so NOW

He averages 9.03
Natsia averages 9.03 and it's a tie!!!!

Here is where it gets murky as I have heard and read conflicting tiebreakers but I will go with Bela Karolyi's (coach Mary Lou Retten) explanation. You now'a throw'a out'a the smellest score'a of each'a girl'a. So you toss an 8.90 for He and a 9.00 for Natsia and He wins.

Who wins? No, He wins. The little girl? Yes He wins. But I thought you said the girl won. Yes He did.

Must I continue this?

There are many ways you could look at the tie but in the end . . . . . . He won no matter how many times you crunch the numbers.

I thought you said the girl won. He did!

Moving on . . . . .

Then there is Horseless Water Polo games. Good God I just get tired watching these people swimming back and forth. Then I read today about the 10K SWIMMING MARATHON!! Holy crap! OK but WAIT. It's FULL CONTACT SWIMMING.

Yea - they swim like they are in the paleton in a bike race. All grouped up in a bunch, there are fouls for hitting other swimmers and swimming over the backs. They form in packs to keep other swimmers away. They wear transponders to see who comes in first but in reality it's to scoop knocked out swimmers off the bottom of the bay!

Yea - sign me up for that one!!
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Moving away from the Olympics I have news on the Mosquito front!

A while ago at the Kurth I was able to obtain a can of Bug Off from Cable Guy and it's a hit on the golf course. So much that a few of us are looking into buying some cans. You can only buy a case of them from the Superior Chemical Corporation the same people that bring you barrels of Aero Drop Dead Residual Insecticide. YEA BABY!!!

ANYWAY - back on topic - new findings about DEET are telling us that we were wrong about DEET. In the old days of research they thought that DEET blocked the mosquitoes sense of smell. NOW we find out that mosquitoes just think that DEET stinks. Well - WELCOME TO OUR WORLD MR. MOSQUITO!!

How did they find this out? Read further.

Scientists recorded individual neurons on the mosquitoes little antennae and Mr. Mosquito thinks DEET has an "unpleasant" smell. Isn't that precious!

So next time you go to kill a little mosquito you better check to see if it has a neuron collar on it's little antennae - those things cost money.
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Hey - a big HEY to Kelly's Mom!!!

I'm always surprised at how many people read this blog (and saddened at the same time at how bored people must be) .

A woman was walking by our house a few weeks ago walking her dog and told DJ "I read your husbands blog EVERY day".

To all of you that read this and are silent - A sincere thank you. If you see me say Hi (so I know who YOU are).
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At some point I have to mention

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus

It seems Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell are going to donate their pay check from the movie to Heath Ledger's two-year-old daughter Matilda.

So what is this movie about?? It sounds pretty interesting and is on my radar.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day. It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom.

Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality.

Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick.

Valentina is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate.

Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win.

In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all...
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Have a great day

Rod

Public Enemies Trailer

OK - perhaps a teaser of a trailer but still a pretty good production. I like the first more then the second even though the second as some newer material.



I like the first one better but here is an updated version!





Caffeine

I tried a new candy bar called Snickers Charged. Yea - the shiny packaging got me all excited so I purchased one. It has 60mg of caffeine, 50mg of taurine, and 10% of your daily value of Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, biotin and Pantothenic Acid. The caffeine is a little less then a typical 8oz cup of coffee. Not that exciting but if companies can find a way to put caffeine in anything they will certainly try.

Personally I have only felt a caffeine buzz once in my life. I think it is more of a placebo but Starbucks certainly does like the wonders of caffeine. In the latest tests Starbucks have the most caffeine in their coffee. It's what makes people come back for more and more and more.

Even Dunkin Donuts are looking into new caffeine donuts. One donuts will have the equivalent of a cup of coffee.

Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if caffeine was never discovered. No caffeinated soft drinks or Hershey bars or coffee.

OH - Snickers Charged had no effect on me and tasted pretty much the same.
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Grinders Island Brewery Double Chocolate Stout Doggie Beer Bars!

There are two major bi-products from making beer. The first is an astonishing amount of packing peanuts which come in the boxes I receive Austin Home Brew. I have "talked" to the owner about this and he said they tried organic packing peanuts but rodents seemed to love them.

His suggestion was to find a local company that use's them and donate. So if you know any local companies in Columbus that use packing peanuts! Let me know.

The other is barley. two to three pounds of it.

My first few batches I tossed the sweet grain into the garden as compost. It all seemed like a good idea until I saw Blake in the garden eating the dirt and or rolling in it. I looked it up to make sure dogs and barley were compatible (I guess rodents have problems) and they are.

So last night I was brewing up a batch of Double Chocolate Stout (a 3.5 hour process) and without thinking too much about it figured I'd make Grinders Island Brewery Double Chocolate Stout Doggie Beer Bars!

Of course I've never done anything like this in my life and thought perhaps 4 minutes about it and dove it. What could go wrong!!

hmmmmm - perhaps I should have thought of this JUST A LITTLE LONGER.

First of all before I get people emailing me - there is NO actual chocolate in the bars. It's chocolate malt which is malted barley. Barley that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then quickly halted from germinating any further by drying with hot air. THAT is malt.

Well - after I was finished sparging my mash in preparation to creating my wort (I love that kind of talk) I had 2.5 pounds of sweet/sticky hot barley. A very yummy mixture actually with five different malts.

I mixed in a bunch of peanut butter, flour and a few eggs!! Put the goop on a cookie sheet and back for 15 minutes, then another 15 and then another half hour until I got frustrated and said hell with it - they will never get crispy.

Blake LOVED the "bars". Of course he also loves poop., I'm not really sure if it's better then poop or not. Maybe that will be a tag line.

Grinders Island Brewery Double Chocolate Stout Doggie Beer Bars!

Healthier AND Better Then Poop!

Dog owners will know what I'm talking about! He got sort of crazy after he had some and DJ thought he might be drunk but I believe there has to be fermentation involved to create alcohol.

Anyway - I'm looking into REAL recipes now and perhaps I have to dry the grain before making treats. I've seen some dog treats recipes and . . come on. Do you really need 10 ingredients - I need something real simple with flour, eggs and peanut butter. Dogs eat anything. Maybe I have to make them into cookies instead of bars. That way they would dry out faster.

hmmmmmm - Hey - I actually found a recipe for spent grains - Blake will be happy!
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Young Chuck, moved to Montana and bought a horse from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.'

Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'

Chuck said, 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.'

The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?

Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'

The farmer said, 'You can't raffle off a dead horse!'

Chuck said, 'Sure I can Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, 'What happened with that dead horse?'

Chuck said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00.'

The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?' Chuck said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.'

Chuck grew up and now works for the government.
==============================
SUMMIT CREDIT UNION - DAMN YOU

Yea - remember when I lost a debit card a while back? I called the Credit Union to get a new card Friday and they said they could not do that. Now that they knew it was lost one they HAD to cancel the card. I said can you wait until after the weekend? No. They said deal with it (basically - not their words).

So they canceled the card and I cut up the remaining card.

The PROBLEM was that they canceled MY debit card!!! Not the joint account. DJ say - well - at least we still have one card . . . . . . . no honey - I sniped it up! grrrrrrr

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Packers - if anyone wants a tape of Saturdays game let me know before I actually burn the tape as I never want it to be used that tape again.

Hey - it's preseason on the road with 11 starters not even making the trip.

Opening night is Monday September 2nd AT 6:00.

That's right - the Packer game September 2nd, Monday night has a 6:00 starting time - I just saw the tickets with Brett Favre on them (sort of funny).
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Have a great Monday!

What? No Synchronized Weightlifting?

Now wait just a dog gone New York minute. First I can not find Mens Synchronized Swimming and then I can not find Synchronized Weightlifting (either sex, you really can't tell) . Where are all the good sports.

Then I saw Team Handball which looks NOTHING like real handball. Is this REALLY a sport???

Sheesh!! Water Polo? WHERE ARE THE HORSES!!!!!

Sure - we can have water walking but no Synchronized Swimming!!!


And talk about cheating. Who REALLY wants to wrestle this guy.

Did anybody watch the Chinese Synchronized Diving? WOW! Seriously awesome - I wonder what the Synchronized Diving Commentators do between Olympics! I'm still thinking that the Chinese won the Gold using a Hologram.

At the same time as the 2008 Olympics is the World Headless Competition! This is a little know event that is not shown on TV because well . . . . it's a little creepy!


Back to reality - sis you know Michale Phelps has size 14 feet?

Remember this guy??

Here he is today
And I bet you thought I'd find some bad photo!!!
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Back here in the States The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood (I'm trying to keep the Chinese theme) on this day in 1939.

Also on this day but 30 later in in an entirely different reality The Woodstock Music Festival started in Bethel, New York. 186,000 tickets were sold but more then 400,000 attended.

There were only two deaths, one from a heroin overdose and one from being run over by a tractor in a neighboring corn field. There were two births!

After the concert Max Yasgur, who owned the site of the event, saw it as a victory of peace and love. He spoke of how nearly half a million people filled with possibilities of disaster, riot, looting, and catastrophe spent the three days with music and peace on their minds. He states that “if we join them, we can turn those adversities that are the problems of America today into a hope for a brighter and more peaceful future...

If any of you ever get a chance to see Tom Brokaws Special called 1969 (oops 1968 - DANG!! wrong year) on the History Channel check it out, you will not be sorry. ANYWAY - pretend we're talking about 1968.

It's a very very good summery of 1968 and you really wonder how the world survived. So many things were going wrong. You think these are hard times but this ain't nothing! I'm glad I was not old enough to really know what was happening in the world as I would have been scared shitless.
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This being Friday we all know that Saturday and Sunday are coming. Many of you retired people are not aware of this "weekend" thing so I will not blog on the weekends for retired people.

This way they can wake up. Look for the blog and when there is no new blog they will know it is either Saturday OR Sunday (depending how long they slept). It's a public service.

Plus we're having a guy come out tomorrow morning to talk about finishing our basement. Were not going to take his offer as it's from the Owens Corning Basement Finishing people and we have read ALL about them. But might as well hear their pressure sales pitch as they try to sell their $70 per square foot basement system.

Speaking of oppressive work places.

My sup was just talking about a place where he worked where a lead worker told his workers to leave a post-it note on their computer when they were going to the bathroom.

My sup found out about this (he was their sup at the time) and told the employee to leave a yellow post-it note if he was just going pee and a green one for going poop.

He stopped this process after a few days and some laughter!

I'll have more on that Monday!

Rod

Favre - Dorff - Dillinger

At The Kurth last night I had the pleasure of talking to a woman who works in Columbus but lives in Black River Falls(??). We talked about Dillinger and she said there was a bar in Lyndon Station (the only town where I was almost hit by a house . . . more on that later) that had a photo of her brother(??) sitting on Dillinger's lap.

It seemed that Dillinger would stop at the speak easy on his way to Little Bohemia and since the internet connection was rather slow in the 1930's no one knew he was the NOTORIOUS KILLER BANK ROBBER JOHN DILLINGER!

He was just a real nice guy that EVERYBODY loved.
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In the middle of July there was an interview with Stephen Dorff

Brent Simon: You mentioned Public Enemies — what was that experience like, and what's the tone and look of the film?

Stephen Dorff: It was awesome. We just finished last week, and it's a full-on gangster flick — 1934, the last year of Dillinger's life, and shooting real Tommy guns and hanging out of cars, having a ball. It was a journey, with a bunch of great actors. Johnny (Depp) was incredible to work with, and very sweet to me. I've known him for years, but had never gotten to work with him. And Marion Cotillard is an incredible actress; Christian Bale, the list goes on. There's so many great actors in that film. I had a really good time with Michael on it. It was long, but I think it'll be a really good movie. I think they're talking about a trailer or teaser going up soon, and it'll probably be out next summer.

hmmmmmmmm!
=========================
OK OK - Ricky Weeks can NOT turn a Double play for the life of him! It's a head case thing now I believe.
=========================
Farve - from Football Outsiders - the Gods of numbers and REAL in site to football.

Brett Favre: We’ve run the new projections. Not good. Favre is moving to a team with a weaker offensive line, and away from perhaps the deepest receiver corps in the NFL. He relied more on short passes in 2007 than his gunslinger reputation might have you believe; 54 percent of his throws were listed by Football Outsiders as Short (five yards or less), which was five percent higher than in 2006. Green Bay’s receivers led the NFL in yards after catch in 2007, and they’re certainly a good bet to do so again with Aaron Rodgers throwing a bunch of three-yard outs.

Of course, you’re thinking that New York’s receivers, used to compensating for Chad Pennington’s “noodle arm,” would have a bead on YAC(Yards after Catch), right? Nope. The Jets ranked 26th in YAC overall, and 15th in YAC by receivers. Oh yeah, there’s also Ryan Grant and his 161 DYAR (11th among running backs) versus Thomas Jones and his -36 DYAR (just above Cedric Benson). So, there’s your complementary running game down the tubes. Will defenses back off with Favre under center? To a point, but the message is clear. Brett Favre was the engine in an efficiency machine, and he’s now in a situation where he’ll have to make more things happen. Historically, the more he’s “just havin’ fun out there” because he has to, the more sacks and interceptions will pile up.
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One of my many super hero traits (perfect pitch and the ability to visualize music and flavor with colors) is the ability to see things straight . . . . . or actually to get annoyed when I see something NOT straight.

Recently when driving to work we have seen a car that has an American Flag on the back trunk - AND IT'S CROOKED???? It just bugs the hell out of me! HOW can someone put on a bumper sticker CROOKED!!! Can they not tell it's 10 degrees leaning? Were they drunk? Do they just not care?? I honestly do not understand how you can do this.

There is a State van that has an entire decal crooked. AAAARGH!!!

I can understand the advertising thing where it's meant to be crooked to get your attention. The Columbus Library has a metal plaque next to it's door that is crooked.

Michelle's photos are crooked but that is a different animal and now she has ME taking crooked shots - they are meant to be crooked. But bumper stickers are making me have road rage :-)
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OH - anybody else in the Kestrel Ridge subdivision get a letter saying there will be a neighborhood meeting September 2nd?

I was putting in some top soil and a certain neighbor is drives up and informs me that SHE got a letter and there will BE A MEETING. Well - LA-DE-FREAKIN-DAA! oh - don't get me started!!

We didn't get a letter. calm down rod - go to your happy place.
============================
Check out this slow mo lightning - it's awesome



=========================
Being hit by a house.

I was on a 500 mile week long bike tour and we were passing through Lyndon Station. Also passing through was a large house on a trailer. I was in the corner that comes into main street and a guy comes up and tells me I better move before a house hits me!

It was the closest I have ever come to having a house hit me.
==================================
Lastly - I have mentioned this before about beer being good for you (in moderation) but here are some more facts.

Drinking beer in moderation will . . . . .

Lower rates of heart disease. Consuming alcohol in moderation (defined by the U.S. government as no more than two drinks per day for men or one drink per day for women (sucks to be you guys)) may lower coronary heart disease risk for some people by 30 to 60 percent, even those at high risk because of diabetes, hypertension or a previous heart attack.

Aid in bone formation. Beer contains silicon, a mineral that helps build bone mass. Dietary silicon has been shown in one study to improve bone density in the hips of men and premenopausal women.

Prevent cell damage that can lead to cancer and heart disease. Hops and malt used to make beer are rich sources of disease-fighting antioxidants. Beer also contains polyphenols, the same antioxidants found in wine, fruits, vegetables, and green and black tea. Ales and lagers generally contain more antioxidants than light and nonalcoholic beers.

Lower rates of diabetes. In one 12-year study, regular light to moderate alcohol intake was associated with a 36-percent lower risk of diabetes. Moderate consumption has been associated with reduced insulin resistance and reduced diabetes (conversely, heavy drinking and alcohol dependence is associated with increased insulin resistance and increased diabetes).

Protect against ischemic stroke (responsible for 80 percent of all strokes), Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Moderate consumption has been linked to improved cognition and memory.

So - drink up!!!

Rod