EVERYBODY SING: Fourteen Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Truck . . .

Yea - you know that photo I had of the storm (see yesterdays blog). Everyone said I should send it to various local news agency's. That was my goal but I could not find any email addresses on ANY of the TV websites.

Finally I was sent the addresses and as I was going to send the photo the TV was covering tornadoes and other activity and well . . . . my photo had become yesterdays news. Who cares about a wall cloud when they can have fuzzy grainy almost tornado photos.

According to Tony Laubach a tornado chaser "That block of clouds is probably a wall cloud, but definitely scud tags underneath. The striated clouds above the block is/are a shelf cloud, usually associated with severe, gusty thunderstorms. They rarely do produce tornadoes, although its not terribly unheard of."

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What's that song? fourteen-hundred bottles in the truck, fourteen-hundred bottles of beer!

To continue the story that I began yesterday . . . . .

. . . we left the warehouse with the bombers strapped to the truck and all was going smoothly. Our first real excitement was a quarter mile away as we had to crest a rise to the railroad tracks.

As Pat drove over the tracks we had our first bit of bottle music as the bottles swayed back and forth chattering to each other.

We stopped tightened the straps and moved on at 35mph.

The drive from Randolph to Columbus to Marshall to just outside Sun Prairie was for the most part trouble free, except for a few hidden and unexpected dips that were exciting but we made it to Pat's barn.

As Pat drove up to where he thought he would store the bombers he said "I severely underestimated the height" (as did I).

So it was on to barn #2. Pat backed up the truck and our original plan was to just stack some skids and drag the bottles onto the skids. Although this was now going to be somewhat dicey as the height/weight issues were causing some minor stress.

I, of course, lightened the stress by saying that at least we could salvage most of the bottles.

After attaching a "Come Along" and bending some pretty large steel bands on the silo we attached the "Come Along" to the barn hoping that we would not bring down the barn. Pat backed the truck up to the "not the most solid stack of skids" I had ever seen and we started, 2 inches at a time, to move the tower of glass towards the end of the truck.

As the tower neared the dreaded rock off point the truck started to dip which was expected but . . . . it was not dipping enough. We would have about a 2 inch drop which would only be a worry at the very end. SO - why worry about it now!

Things were going smoothly with various small tweaks to the process and we were pretty pumped until only 5 inches were left on the truck. We had run out of winching room.

There was only one thing we could do. The ol' pull the tablecloth out from under the dishes act.

After saying some prayers and nervous laughter Pat jumped into the truck and with me standing next the the tower ready to steady the 1000 pounds of glass with my bare hands Pat started to move the truck forward.

Five inches I yelled.

Four inches.

Three inches.

Two inches.

And then we took a few breaths and Hail Marys.

Pat moves the truck three inches.





You have seen the films of when a brand new battleship slips into the water for the first time and how it rolls and heaves back and fourth?

That is what the tower of glass did. Like a drunken sailor lurching down the street. Like Ahman Green dodging tacklers down the field. We held our breath.

It stood solid!!! Pat went to unhook the Come Along and I said "NO ! I think that is why it is still standing. Don't unhook it.


And there you have it!! Phase One is complete. Planning for Phase Two is under way.
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Back to being sane!

I'm calling the PE Celebration a success. The downtown streets had people roaming and it looked like the shops that were open were getting customers. There were street singers and all sorts of action.


I talked to a number of families that were traveling through Columbus avoiding the Interstate that stopped and were enjoying the festivities. Dave on the Hay Wagon also talked to travelers that stopped out of the blue. This is VERY important to people to know.

They were just traveling through and STOPPED!! This area is a serious gold mine if we can get events on the boulevard. The City Hall is a beacon. All eyes catch the clock tower and then travel down to events in the boulevard. This is where a farmers market SHOULD be. To this reporter, fixing the boulevard is a long term no brainer. Then tie it to the whole street to the Train Station.

The two hay rides were always packed and turning people away. What we should have done is have the T-Shirt stand where they would disembark the wagons. T-shirt sales were not as expected but MANY people did not even know we had T-Shirts. There are many still for sale and I'll have a photo of them and info tomorrow. We needed more people out selling them.

Crossing guards would be a good idea and many people had problems finding the children games.

It was awesome having two bands on the boulevard. It was like it was meant to have music. The acoustics were great.

I was very pleased to see people on the parade route and I hope the Picture Car Drivers will spread the word and we will have more next year. HOWEVER - NOT having the cars on or VERY VERY near the boulevard is a deal breaker for most of the drivers.

And I hope The Fireman have their ride on that date also. Or some other cool ride. Have a multitask event was really a kick of fun for both groups.

Have a day.

Rod