Tribal Council Bitter

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I was talking to some people the other day about the Columbus fireworks and they were totally impressed. The fireworks last 7 minutes longer then Rhythm and Booms in Madison. There are more in Madison but better in Columbus and the ground show will knock you socks off (almost literally).

Plus - Columbus is louder.

I mentioned the smoke ring the other day and courtesy of Sean Stewart and Todd Frey, I have a few shots.

The first is from Sean from the actual gas/diesel explosion


and here is the result that floated in the air for 20 minutes above us.


Well - I just could not resist playing around a little with Sean's photo. I hope he does not mind!

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Something BIG about Columbus is going to be announced in the next few days by the Columbus unsung hero, Steve Sobiak. ! It's a secret and I can not tell you. That guy is like the Wizard behind the scenes traveling the world looking for businesses to come to Columbus.

OK OK - not that I know what it is but I did hear Boyd Kraemer our City Admin mention something that I believe sounded like . . . . . . . The Udey Dam Skywalk or the Columbus Regional Space Port but I might be wrong!

I'm sure some downtown business owners will have a fit because that's NOT what we need. What we really need are more antique stores and what good would a regional space port do anyway we really should be concentrating on the Udey Dam Skywalk that will hover people OVER the Crawfish river it a dizzy elevation of 5 feet ABOVE the water.

So I say - Steve, put down that pipe and concentrate on the Udey Dam Skywalk and not the Space Port. Good Grief. Get a Space Port and pretty soon illegal aliens will be flocking to Columbus.

I believe Lake Mills has those alians pretenting to eat those "burgers". Does Lake Mills have a Space Port?

I will await his BIG news.

Speaking of the downtown. At the last CDA meeting a question was posed (which I will not print because I forgot the actual question . . . lets just move on shall we?). It seems when a new antique store opened (and is very successful I might add, odd how a place with a plan and is open gets customers) other downtown people complained. They want stores but only stores THEY like.

At the moment ANYBODY can buy a building and pretty much open ANY kind of store. We could have 10 tattoo shops and CASH stores and there is nothing Columbus could do.

So the question is . . . . do the people of Columbus just want to fill a building with ANYTHING? Or do we want to start to shape Columbus into something specialized. It's a tough question.

I'm a member of MainStreet who's mission is to preserve and beautify Columbus's historic downtown, promote it as a business/event center and foster it as the heart of the community.

The downtown is the heart of Columbus. This area should be the epic center of taxation. The center of the donut. If you have ever played SIM CITY you will understand that the center is the key to any well run city. So the question is, what should be done?

Deep thoughts. People should get involved. The MainStreet group is a growing, energized group of people that care. We have yet another new member and are alway looking for more. We actually get things done and have a plan. (Contact Kim Bates (920) 623-5325).
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Marty at Pizza Shak says "We're open again". After an unfortunate incident, as of last night the ovens are cooking pizza again and on July 25th bring in a Public Enemies ticket stub OR the laminated Premier ticket to Pizza Shak (112 E James) and get a free soda and slice of pizza. Compliments of MainStreet ORG and Pizza Shak.

We love Columbus so much we could eat it.
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Guess who is coming home this weekend! Caydee will be making her way to Columbus on Saturday (with the help if Josh and Jenny). News from Jenny's blog is they are washing baby clothes and boiling nipples!! WOW that is harsh!!

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What is this wet stuff coming from the sky??

Be ready for round 2 later today - more rain and more violent. The pot is being stirred as I speak..

Took this as we were leaving for work today. Cool cloud.

There was some real beauty driving to work with pastels over the Budweiser Distributor plant. It was sweet and made me thirsty for anything not Bud.

And speaking of beer. I tried my ESB last night (Extra Special Bitter). It was GREAT but young/ WOW - malty, velvety-smooth, very little carbonation (on purpose) not "bitter" but a fair amount of hops!!!

Perhaps not for everyone but for my hophead friends that like beer with a LOT of flavor this will be a pleaser and one of the brews I'll have to make a label for.

My last few experiments have been . . . . so so. I have a RED that needs more aging (I hope), and an Indian Brown is fermenting as I type. A cross between a Scotch Ale, an I.P.A, and an American Pale with caramelized sugar. I have my Porter ready to bottle as soon as I get off my butt and then my One Putt Twelve IPA is on deck for bottling.

My next brew will have to be another Pale Ale which seems to be popular but I can no longer get Jasmine hops so I'm looking into Magnum, Pearl and Cascade hops which is what Sierra Nevada Pale Ale uses.

Have a great weekend
Rod