Tiger - Shut Up and say something

Cyber Monday is here! What a crock!

Cyber Monday was invented by the National Retail Federation. It has nothing do to with people actually shopping more on line but they felt the public needed a push!

It's actually a useless media buzzword with no basis in fact but as the media keeps using it people are thinking there are more sales on Monday! Ya gotta love marketing (I do actually - I love watching these things).

In fact marketing this time of year is amazing. On CBS I found out the perfect Christmas present for DJ is a Pap Smear - that makes Christmas shopping so easy!! I asked her if this is what she wanted and said something on the order of me getting a colonoscopy! I mentioned I already had one and my ass was unremarkable (which I thought was rather disappointing until it was explained to me).

Is there a Pap Smear of the month club?
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Can anybody do any worse at trying to quell malicious rumors the Tiger Woods?? Seriously, does the guy have a press agent? A rumor comes out about an affair, a few days later he crash's his car at 2:30 in the morning, his wife who happens to have a golf club in her hand smashes the windows to get him out, he calls her act "courageous" (which I have to think most wife's would try to help?) and oddly Nike Ignite T40 19º is embedded in his cheek.

Yet - all is good, nothing happened move along move along. Tiger! make something up, all you have to say is "My wife and I had a fight" and it will all go away, instead of "no comment, it's a secret". Now you got nobodies like me blogging about it. If you would have said "My wife and I had a fight" three days ago you would not be on the front page of the USA Today praising your wife (over and over).

Now you have to buy her something nice to make up. May I suggest a Pap Smear?
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Geez - I had 5 days off and no adventures. Unless you call Blake barfing all over my car and adventure. That will teach him for getting into the garbage and eating rotting raw turkey or whatever he put in his mouth.

We went to Beaver Dam shopping and he was the come-along dog, pulled into the garage and he is looking a little green. He jumps onto the passenger seat and BLAH!! Ever see the movie Four Christmases? I was Vince Vaughn when Blake blew chow!

BTW - Four Christmas's is a pretty good Christmas movie! Rent it. Here is the trailer.




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I have to comment on the Vikings. EVERYBODY is going ape shit over how good they are but come on now.

The combined record of all the teams they have beaten is 34-64. The ONLY team with a winning record they have beaten, are the Packers.

Their last 5 games are against 29-26 teams.

And just to be fair - the Packers have played opponents with a combined 51-47. However their 4 losses are against a combined 29-15 record.

Packers play a combined 27-28 the rest of the way out.

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I've been working on a new photo website and NOW I'm working on a NEW NEW photo website to replace the new photo website. I'm sort of Favre-ing it on website creation thang! This new one will be sweet though.

this was taken in Door County on eh Kangaroo Lake Causeway at sunset.
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I just heard over a cubical "It's too close to Christmas, I can't make anybody mad". So it seems we are in the Christmas suck-up season!

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On this date in history in Sylacauga, Alabama, an 8.4 pound meteorite hit a house, bounced off a radio and hit a sleeping woman in the hip. Elizabeth Hodges became the first human injured by a meteorite. In 1911, a dog in Egypt was killed by the Nakhla meteorite.

The Nakhla meteorite was actually 40 and created a "cloud and detonations" when they all pummeled the earth killing a dog.

WHO's will like this one as it's bank related! In 1836 the Bank of Milwaukee was Incorporated. The Wisconsin Territorial Legislature passed into law legislation incorporating the Bank of Milwaukee, HOWEVER - the bank never opened its doors for business due to the panic of 1837 and other events.

Now he has some little bit of information he can hang over the Presidents head to show him who is really boss! Yea - knowledge is power. Use it for good Who's.

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Sixth warmest November ever in Wisconsin. Looks liker the next 10 days we will be in the middle to low 30's. Nothing radical.

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Caydence is getting less and less personal time with friends and family as she is ramping up for the big heart operation. No getting sick NOW Caydence. I think Josh is duct taping the house to ward off illness floating in the air. The process starts today with a trip to the doctor and December 14th is the big day. We're all hoping she will be home for Christmas.
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NUFF!

Have a great Cyber Monday!

Rod

No More Kodachrome

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Happy day after Thanksgiving. For me this is another one of the "we are not going to pay you and you are not going to work days".

We had DJ's dad and . . . friend over along with Josh, Jenny and Caydence and the 6 of us stuffed ourselves on Turkey (Caydence opted for milk). Then we all went into a Tryptophanic coma.

What is Tryptophan? Look on the right. Need I say more? I didn't think , pretty self explanatory! I mean ya got FOUR "H's" and only two "N's" and two "O's" and that big black line! WOW, WHAT is up with that!!

The big thing is once that bugger on the right takes a hold this can happen.


In other news . . . .hmmmmm . . . I have no other news.

I'm working on a Time Machine. That watch you saw the other day is going to turn into something that looks like this. Hopefully on someones wall.

The BIG news is that I got frustrated yesterday with my computers. I'm looking for a copy of Front Page or Dreamweaver. I have no way to update my site from home. My laptop has no software and my desktop computer that has Frontpage 98 has no inputs made in this century. I had figured out a work around but once I loaded a few pages the Weather Station started to burp up and everything froze. sigh. Both software's cost about $250. I had Dreamweaver School Edition but the problem with school additions is that they are only good for one computer and ONLY one. No switching. You lose it you lose it.

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Wednesday I took a road trip to the Porsche dealership and shot some look and feel photos in anticipation for an upcoming event.



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I mentioned Kodachrome because it is not only no longer made by Kodak but there is only one place in the WORLD that will process it , Dwayne's Photo in Parsons Kansas and that will go black at the end of 2010.

Dwayne's is receiving 1000 rolls a day from all around the world as people are snapping their last ever rolls of film.

Kodachrome was the first color film and was marketed in 1935. it was the first time anybody had ever seen themselves in color unless they had been painted.

Also Wednesday I was at the beautiful Columbus Family Dental and took a few snap shots.

And call me daffy but for some reason I really like this shot - I think it goes against all the common rules in photography.

So that has been me little vacation so far.

now I must go and try to get into my little office and clean it out. It seems to be where everything ended up in the big clean . . . . . of course most of the stuff seems to be mine but . . . .

have a great Black Friday.

rod





Parsons Kansas

Something way different

Good Morning from Columbus.

We had just a little over 1/2 inch of rain last night! Just thought I'd let ya know.

So the big news in Turkey-dom is which Turkey will get pardoned. Kennedy was the first President to NOT eat the gift turkey from the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board (or the NoTFat&P&EGB as most call it). But it was George H.W. Bush that gave the first official pardon and it's continued since. Many say Truman was the first but there is no record of that. Also Abe Lincoln is said to have pardoned his son's pet turkey but . . . . does that count?

What you might not know is that just like Air Force One there is an alternate Turkey in case the first Turkey is unable to perform his duties and they have also been pardoned (but they do not get the limelight).

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And now for something COMPLETELY different. This is my dads pocket watch. I think I'll make a set of three images. The first two are displayed below. My thinking is these would look REALLY cool on canvas. I don't know, maybe not, just thinking out loud.



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Ever since I took a photo of Unstable Homeless Charlie I've had this idea kicking around in my tiny pea sized brain about somehow making this class of people more . . . . . human. Seems people view them as a nuisance and forget that there is a real human there that has a completely different existence from you and I.

This coupled with Suzanne's Book Club for the Homeless seemed to have a small thread of a link.

Then a few days ago Suzanne came up with a crazy idea, why not take a LOT of homeless photos (with their permissions) and have some sort of benefit to raise awareness. That was all well and good but the problem on my side was getting photos without being chased. Plus the fact that this would cost a BUNCH of money but for a good cause.

Enter (maybe) United Way and some negotiations are on the horizon and when I say negotiations I really begging and pleading and maybe some groveling but we're hoping to stay away from that.

Enter Mark who runs some Homeless deal and he is also pumped with the idea and said he would gladly take us around to meet the homeless and be our "in" for photographs. This seemed like a MUCH better idea then me quitting my job to BECOME homeless.

So the plan is somewhere down the road have a super cool benefit at some super cool place to show some super cool images of the homeless and raise awareness.

If anyone wants to help in anyway of course you can contact me. Remember this is only one step away from "shall we attempt this" so it's very very early.
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On a completely different note - I will not buy anything from Sentry because I loath their stupid gobbling ad on TV!
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OK - that's it.

This blog was written PRE-coffee!!

Drive carefully - lots for things all coming together over Wisconsin weather wise the next 24 hours and it could get ugly.

Peace out!
Rod

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm not sure how much blogging I'll have today. Blake's throat collapsed last night (it happens in dogs I guess) and was making weird noises for a while and then he got up to pee in the living room so I had to get up and make sure he DIDN'T pee in the living room so like there I am at 2:00 in the freaking morning letting him out and of course he thinks this is a perfect time to lay at the end of the driveway for a little alone quiet out out time and like I'm not REALLY not dressed to run out and bring him in so I'm whispering at the top of my lungs cookie cookie which to him means come in come in and once I get him in and we all get back into bed he passes out and I pass out and what seems like minutes later I wake up and feel like kicking DJ who is oddly snoring like an old man which is odd because she does not snore at all and it's Blake who is laying on his back spread eagle so I touch him and he bolts up like his tail went into a socket and is licking his toes which makes Sierra want to cuddle with him but he's not into cross animal affairs and she takes over his bed and he goes under our bed.

When he was a puppy he would always sleep under the bed and every morning he would wake up and BUMP his head. It was like clockwork.

sigh.
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I'm dressed really sloppy today to make up for yesterday when I had to dress up extra dandy. Reason was I was going into the lions den, the Asst to the Attorney Generals Office. I had to deliver some canvas mosaic photos for DOJ. PLUS - I met with a client (that sounds so sterile, not sure I like that word, customer? sounds odd also, my problem is that I make friends with people I take photos for, they soon grow out of client-dom into friendship, that's IT, I shall call them "friends", but now it is like being call an "associate" or a "team member" hmmmm I shall call them "those people that like my pictures") ANYWAY - for some portraits for her blog/newsletter and they came out rather nice.

Here is one just to show I CAN take photos of humans.

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Big day in Wisconsin history . . sort of. In 1824 Frederick Miller was born in Riedlingen, Wurttemberg, Germany. In 1854, he migrated to the U.S. and to Milwaukee. In 1855 he purchased the Plank Road Brewery. He operated this business until 1888 when it was incorporated as the Frederick Miller Brewing Company, with Miller as president.

The question is . . .why Milwaukee??? There are some pretty interesting stories of how he got to Milwaukee. He was traveling around by river and was coming up the Mississippi . . . . .

Miller traveled up the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien and traveled overland to Milwaukee. He slept on a sack of meal on deck while waiting for a berth to open on the riverboat.

"He found out in the morning that the place had been vacated by a man who had just died of cholera. Miller rushed to the steward, got a bottle of whiskey and swallowed it at a single tilt. He lived in fear for a week, but he didn't get cholera," according to a story found in the Milwaukee County Historical Society archives. The same story said that, upon arriving in Milwaukee, Miller remarked: "A town with a magnificent harbor like that has a great future in store."

And the rest is history. On a side note Miller traveled to Bismark in the Dakota Territory and built a brewery there also. It open on the same exact day that Dakota Territory passed a law going dry!

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In 1959 on this date I90 opened between Janesville and Beloit. SPEAKING of roads, I will be the first to complain about urban planning but I have to say that as of today, East Washington is completely open and the 5 year construction job is basically finished.

I feel this was a fantastic project and the planning was superb. There were very few major traffic problems and in 5-10 years when the trees get bigger East Wash will look really nice. WELL DONE City of Madison. Whoever was in charge of the East Washington beautification should get a high five and a smack on the ass, job well done!

Now I must find coffee!

Vacation the next few days - not sure about blogging.

Happy Thanksgiving

Rod

Monday blog! Nuff siad

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OK - during the weekends I put up things I see to remind me on Monday for the blog. This is what was here when I clicked on my little edit thingy.

Pretty interesting. I'm thinking I should do this more often and then have you guys think of an interesting story that goes with it. Or at least try to figure out WHAT I was thinking when I thought this would be blog-worthy. I'll come back to this!
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Then there is Charlie! This is Homeless Charlie a Vietnam Vet. Nice guy but as most homeless people, down on his luck. Being homeless is not something that is fun and while some people think they are just being lazy for the most part it's just bad luck, no job, no home living on the street!

Charlie is having surgery next month at the VA Hospital and I talked to him for a little while. Very nice guy! If you see him near the square help him out, 1 buck goes a long way for these guys.

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Public Enemies - Congrats to Johnnie Depp for being the sexiest dude IN THE WORLD!!

Also - while all of us "in" the movie were scanning the backgrounds for a split second of air time. Stop Light Dude was watching for his Stop Light!

Here is "probably the most screen time for a signal in the the movie" and he is wondering if this was in Columbus!

Well, there IS snow on the ground. No snow in Oshkosh. Anyone recognize where this was? My screen is so dark I can't tell.
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Also - did you see that some woman's ultra sound looks like LIKE MICHAEL JACKSON!!



and now thousands of fans are flocking to her womb!

I don't know - looks more like Prince Charles to me!

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I attended my very first Vendor/Craft/Art Fair Saturday just to have the experience and to learn what I need to learn. Was it a success? I suppose for me it was - I made money (more then most I believe) and learned a few things. I didn't sell any big prints but I would have been VERY surprised if I would have. Sort of out of the average price range (which was $5 I think). Smaller prints, bookmarks and postcards did nicely. It was more of a Vendor/Craft Fair . . . not really an "art" fair. Avon, Pampered Chef, tupperware, games, toys, jewelery and other home hosting party booths were the norm.

Not sure of the attendance but I would assume it was UP TO 500 people that walked through.

Here is what my little booth looked like. Some said it was a beacon calling them.


But now I have the Art Fair bug. John Wolcott complimented my work and asked if I had ever done Art Fair on the Square. Once I cleaned up the apple juice that came out of my nose I said no - this was my first experience with a "booth". He said it cost's $500 AND is juried, meaning for $35 I have to have my work AND booth pass inspection. He said my work would have no trouble passing. Of course instead of UP TO 500 attending you get 200,000 so my chances of selling 1 print goes up a little.

My goal is maybe 2013 or 2014 for AFotS. HOWEVER - I'm looking into other outdoor fairs next year and how to set up a tent booth. I have a vision of what I want - just not sure where to get the materials.

No real stories on the fair. I have suggestions for the organizers for next year and I'll attend of course AND I'll be more prepared.

One thing I had to get used to was stopping a conversion in mid sentence when someone was looking at my stuff.

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The photo above!

I was watching Modern Marvels and the episode was on Close Combat. What got me was how all Secret Service guys carry machine guns! ALL of them. They are special made and one button and it's like a transformer pops out of your arm.

Notice the dude in the photo when Regan was shot! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM!

They showed how it unfolds. A guy will look perfectly normal and BAM - in seconds he as a machine gun in his hands!

So late Friday night for some reason this struck me as blog worthy - Lesson for the day - do not mess with the Secret Service.
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Packers - good game. Yea it was close at the end but I was expecting it to get close because what Capers does is NOT to change his game plan which S.F. had too.

It's a chess match. Do you change your defense to be soft, give up yards and chew up time? or do you NOT change and gamble the other team does not have the guns to take advantage. He gambled and much to EVERYONES surprise (including the 49ers), they DID have the guns.

A win is a win and now the Packers are in a real Wild Card Race.

On the BAD side - we lost two of the best players. Sucks but this is an opportunity for some young guys to step up. Kampmen was going to be gone next year anyway as a free agent and not a good fit for the Packer Defense and how old is Harris, 34??? He was due for a season ending injury. Treman Williams who is a starter waiting for an opening will take his place. He started last year when Harris went down and had 5 INTS! And they have Underwood who seemed to have playing time.

So the Packers who had one of the best defense in the league will be a little worse but their Offense is starting to get it's act together.

It's all good!!

Rod

By by male population. Don't worry about us!

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So this weekend all the male macho men are headed north to kill deer and drink Bud leaving all of us girly men to take care of the lonely woman folks. Yea - who really wins on this one ;-)

When I was a cook at a fine restaurant on 51 and I94 this was a big day as thousands of orange clad males were making their way north. It was almost like a holiday. If you were from another country you would think that all the protestant males were making their way to some a protestant temple in the woods. William of Orange was a hunter right? And he DID marry his first cousin (who was a babe) . . . . . just saying . . . .
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And now a verse to calm you.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before sleep - Robert Frost

Geez - I almost broke into song there!
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A new Thanksgiving tradition!!!

Since it looks like DJ and I will be having Thanksgiving by ourselves I think we will change it up a little!

Skip the turkey this year - we're going with Haggis!! A former friend asked me if I wanted to buy some Haggis as he was going to order some. He was in Scotland and loved it. Before I screamed out YEA GET ME SOME I thought I better ask what it was.

Haggis is a traditional Scotland dish made of sheep or calves viscera minced with oatmeal, suet, and onions and boiled in the animal’s stomach.

WOW - That is even better then bacon popcorn!!! How can I NOT want this.

Let me do the carving, PLEASE???

YUMMO!!!

Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties and a "dram" and a lot of Scotch whiskey is consumed along with it/them. . . whatever.

Haggis is also used in a sport called haggis hurling (this can be taken a few ways I believe), which involves throwing a haggis as far as possible. The Guinness World Record for Haggis Hurling has been held by Alan Pettigrew for over 25 years. He threw a 1.5 lb Haggis 180 feet, 10 inches. Yet another sport for the Silverdome!
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We had HomeBrew club last night. What happens in Homebrew Club stays in Homebrew club! Sorry - nuff said.

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So y'all know that I'm in a Vendor Arts and Craft Fair (meaning anybody with anything can have a booth selling any ol' garbage) and there are two Networks covering this amazing event.

Here is what FOX news was showing last night as anticipation for the event is ramping up outside the High School.

But then on the other side of the coin here is what the BBC was showing.

Clearly someone is lying.

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On this date in 1945 The Nuremberg trials began. FOX is blaming ACORN for WWII.

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QUICK - who was the 25th governor of Wisconsin. I'll let you think about it! It's his birthday!
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Speaking of my package

that is arriving today. Before we left for work DJ felt the need to de-poop our sidewalk. The UPS guy probably HATES delivering to our house (and for that matter I wonder where all of our Girl Scout Cookies are). Blake seems to think that pooping on the grass tickles his toes so it's all sidewalk pooping now. The UPS guy probably has poopy shoes every time he delivers to us.

I have no wonderful photos of poop - sorry, I'll work on that.

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Fred Zimmerman.

Here is Fred posing - he is the one in the black suit.


His claim to fame was he had a reputation as a man "who never forgot a name or a face". Seriously - that is the most interesting thing I could find on him.

Have a great weekend

always
Rod

Lincoln, Lambert and Creed Oh MY!

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What happened to Pizza Shak! IT'S GONE!! The best Pizza in Columbus. Sure, there might have been warning signs like, randomly not open on Saturday nights the last 2 times I tried to order Pizza but . . . . . now when I call I get a "this number is no longer in service" which normally means if I call back in 15 minutes it will still be not in service and if it is not in service I have to think it was hurting sales.

SIGH!

This weekend is the Holiday Open House for the downtown area. Perhaps Kim can fill me in on the details OR I can go to the Columbus Chamber of Commerce website. WHAT? - they really don't have one? What are they doing with all the money that the businesses are giving them to be in their exclusive club. The #1 thing a Chamber MUST have is a website to advertise Columbus!

If you google Columbus Wi Chamber you can get to the Beaver Dam Chamber Site pretty easy.

Maybe the Main Street Organization will have to start doing the Chambers work since Chamber is dropping the ball by doing nothing.
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I had my camera yesterday and was walking to the car, everything was so gray and rainy but the popcorn cart was like a ray of sunshine.
Did you know that a large bucket of popcorn at a theatre can have 1,200 calories and 34g of saturated fat? But it tastes soooo good. My dad, rest his sole, used to fry up bacon and pour the grease over popcorn when I was a kid. Now THAT was heaven. Bacon flavored popcorn, you just can not get any better then that.

Anybody watch The Office?? Here is a YouTube of Creed a few years ago when he was in the Grass Roots. He is the dude on the left with the striped shirt. Not a lot of air time but, oh, it's him all right.



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I received a package in the mail yesterday with some matting and backing and hinging tape. I had to bring the tape to work to try to figure out how it works. I CAN'T FIGURE OUT TAPE!!!

I also finally changed my tire last night. I put it on upside down! What an idiot.

I see Adam Lambert is being called the male Lady Gaga. I'm just not seeing the correlation.

is that a nipple thingy?

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I know there are only 10 Milwaukee Buck fans in Wisconsin but there is getting to be a pretty big buzz going in Milwaukee with their new rookie Brandon Jennings. The guy is awesome scoring 55 points the other night (29 in the 3rd quarter). 4.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists. The Bucks are clicking WITHOUT Micheal Redd who has been injured for a number of games. 1st place but a lot of Home games so far.

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I've not sure I have ever purchased a Stephan King book. Kink is the #1 threat to the global paper supply. You would think the environmentalists would be gunning for him. His newest book is about a small town (pop, 5000) that has a force field plopped over it and it's citizens must fend for themselves. The newest book is his 17 #1 best seller. Of course that in reality means nothing. I worked in the book industry and being #1 is just an arbitrary selling point. Does not mean he actually sold that much. Although normally they do because, well, it's #1 and people ALWAYS buy the #1.

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Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address today in 1863. I tried to read ALL of it so I could explain what it was but after my 4th try and only getting to the 3rd paragraph before I drifted off I gave up. I guess it was better to hear it then read it.

Here it is and maybe someone can give me the cliff notes on the last part. I just can't do it. WHO WILL BE THE FIRST. Remember - start at the beginning. How far can you go!

Here is an actual photo of Lincoln at the Address. He is hatless in the middle looking down (probably checking his zipper) just before he gave his speech.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

OK - I drift out in the middle area but come back at the end for the finale'.


have a great day



always

Rod

Packers have the #1 Defense in the League

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I received a call from the upcoming Vendor and Craft Fair being held Saturday 9am to 3:30pm at the Columbus High School and they seemed pretty upbeat. Looks like 60 booths with a wide variety of things from Mary Kay to people selling cement. There will be concessions and so forth.

Of course Char from up dar in Schofield has been screaming at me to DON'T BE NERVOUS and bringing up things I will need that I had not thought about (I've never done this before). Receipt book, cash box, make sure my zipper is up, stampy thing, bags . . anything else?.

I will have my postcards (must order more) and bookmarks. DJ and I stained my tri-door set up. Wish I had more prints but . . . all in good time.

One thing I have been doing as I slowly populating my new website with images

Melotte Photo Imagery

and I'm finding all sorts of wonderful shots that the owners of the cars do not have and I bet they would want. This was taken at Public Enemies Days (the first and last I fear as Chamber called it a failure while most of the people involved said it was a huge success). I have a lot of photos but in one of my learning processes I found it's easy to take photos and write down names . . . . but then you have to match them all up! OOPS! Lesson learned. No . . not really . . I'm still at a loss on an EASY way.

I have all the names in a notebook. I think I'll just put all the images on the web in my portfolio page. I have shots of every car that attended.

Some people say that this style of image reminds them of old postcards. I'm advancing into the past.

And of course here is the love of my life, the woman that keeps me grounded and on my toes (also called the only sane member of our family).

My One.
and Blake

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SO . . . . NOBODY told me the Silverdome in Detroit was for sale. Someone purchased it for $500,000. I'm not going to say how much our overpriced yet modest home cost but if I would have known I could have purchased the Silverdome it would not have been a HUGE stretch to take out a bigger mortgage. I could have practiced my golf IN THE LIVING ROOM!!

But someone else bought it and I have an idea what it can be used for. THE FASTEST GROWING SPORT IN AFGHANISTAN. Goat Grabbing! (also called Buzkashi) a sport with 20 players, 20 horses and one dead headless goat. What could be more fun! Seriously - I can't make this up, it's real. I found some photos but I won't post them.

It's like polo with a dead headless goat. Of course he would be dead I suppose. Would that make dead and headless redundant? One implies the other? If you are dead you are not necessarily headless, yet, if you are headless you are most certainly dead.

Deep thoughts.

But think of all the untapped market for paraphernalia. We could make GoatCheeseHeads.

OK OK - one photo I found but I made it kid friendly! Notice the "fan" with the big ass gun! I guess security is not as much of an issue as it is at Packer/Viking games.

Oh those whacky Afghans are at it again.

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Speaking of the Packers. According to Football Outsiders who take all luck out of the stats and factors in WHO a teams opponents have been. The Green Bay Packers have the best Defense in the NFL. 13th best Offense and 32nd best Special Teams (Vikings are 8, 17 and 1).

And finally -from the BBC who for the 1st time ever broadcast an NFL game played in the U.S. bacl to the UK. Here is the commentators blog. Pretty interesting about Green Bay and his experience.

What a weekend in Titletown!

This comes from a the BBC.


Talk to ya later.

Cheers - always

Rod

Who really needs sleep anyway.

I'm a little sleepy today. I was up late working on a little practice project and lost all track of time. When I woke up with the "Y" stuck to my cheek I figured that the below image was good enough for. . . . .whatever.

I found the car at Russ Darrow in Columbus. It's the Camero that was used in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", well the THE Camero but one like it I suppose. I had the photo but never got around to giving it to the shop. They seemed to always be closed when I was driving by.

Anyway - here it is! Not really a screen saver but it does look cool blown-up.

I was on a car kick because MY car was becoming a nuisance. Actually the tire was a nuisance as it was losing the ability to contain air which I believe is one of it's main duties. Every 3 or 4 days I was having to put air in it so I guess it was not an anomaly!

After I got back from Left Hand Louie's who was constructing a Art & Craft Fair booth module I figured I would change the tire and put the spare on. I had not done this with the Subzero, Subareas, Subarctic, DAMN IT, Subaru. So I started my search for the tire, lug wrench and other manly toys and found most of them. Took out the pretty black tire, placed the tire winch under the appropriate spot and . . . wait . . . how do I turn the thingy.

I tried all the tools but none worked. I knew there was one I was missing but where where where was it. I looked and looked and finally found it stuck to the bottom of the spare tire cover. SWEET.

So I started to raise the car and all was going perfect. I had it just so the tire was touching the ground and felt now was the time to take off the lugs.

I grab the lug wrench and with full confidence of my manliness attempted to turn the lug. It didn't budge. Tried another - not a 1000th of an inch. Wrong way? Nope - the problem was this tiny little pretty shiny black girly-man lug wrench. What a piece of crap. I could get zero leverage on it's little dainty 5 inch handle. SIGH!

You know I was just on a website that said "Depending on how tight the lugs are you might be able to remove them by hand. " WHAT? I hope not LOL

SO tonight I'm going to Mananas, Mansards, grrrrrrr Menards to by a big manly lug wrench, the big + kind.
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The big news is with Caydence - as Jenny has on her blog " her surgery is tentatively scheduled for the morning of Dec 14th." She has a "Atrioventricular Septal Defect".

------------------------------
Not sure if any of you are watching the new History Channel show called WWII in HD. It is pretty good. A ton of never before scene color footage. The war as seen through the eyes of 12 people. Lots of really great history footage from the 40's. It's really showing you how life was back then.

Also saw episode #2 of "V". Still good. And if you have not had a chance to see the new Star Trek movie that comes out on DVD today - it is way way good! One of the better space movies behind Serenity (voted #1 best Space movie of all time).

Backtracking a little, "V". Lots of people you will recognize in "V". Elizabeth Mitchell from LOST, Morena Baccarin from Serenity along with Alan Tudyk also from Serenity and last night I saw Rekha Sharma the Vice President from Battle Star Galactica.

I watch too much TV. beep beep my geek watch is going off . . . ON ME!

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On the weather front - October was the 3rd coldest EVER for the United States but the 6th WARMEST ever world wide. We got screwed.
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Have you seen the trailer for Sherlock Holmes? Looks pretty freaking good. Who cares if it's not the Sherlock we're accustomed too.




All I have today.

Finally - I'm working on a new website - check out a work in progress Melotte Photo Imagery site. Lots of pages still need to be added but if you don't start something it never gets done. That first page is always the hardest.

Have a great day and

Peace - Always

Rod

Not a bad call at all for Belichick

I like to yell at the coaches as much as the next guy and of course in my mind I'm always right. Never mind the fact that the coaches have forgotten more then I will ever know in my lifetime about football EVEN though I play Madden 2007 (the last PC Madden). Doesn't matter, I know I'm right.

First let's look at coach Mike III (the third . . . .Mike Holmgren, Mike Sherman, Mike McCarthy). First - let me say I had money ON the Packers to win outright (+140) but I lost Pittsburgh AND Detroit to the spread so I'm not having a super genius week.

While everyone was running around with their hands in the air saying we're doomed I was saying all week that the Packers are NOT that bad at all. Offense is ranked 8th and Defense is 5th, both BETTER then the Vikings. The difference maker has been Special Teams which was ranked 32nd.

I'm not a huge fan of McCarthy and I don't have anything REALLY earth shattering to complain about except I think we have to take his little red flag away. Isn't tossing it onto the field when you have used it twice already a delay of game penalty? And isn't tossing it when you will have the ball on the 1 foot line ANYWAY a little excessive?

On the other side of the field is the Cowboy coach who KNOWS the game is lost but keeps on playing his starters because what are the chances that they will get ANOTHER injury. Daaa!

Anyway - linesmakers know what they are doing - remember LAST Monday when they came out and said the Packers were favored but quickly the betting crowd pushed the line to a big Packer underdog. This week the Packers are favored by 5.5 points over SF.

But the coach everyone is talking about is Bill Belichick's big 4th down decision in last nights game NE/Indy game. Just like 95% of other American people I thought "what a dumb ass"! What total bone head play. Go for 4th and 2 on your own 28 with 2 minutes to play and up by 6? ARE YOU MAD-DA?

BUT WAIT!

Just like other thing we think we know like wearing a hat is important for keeping you warmer (wrong) and years of jogging will ruin your knees(wrong) we all thought going for 2 yards on 4th down on your 28 was stupid! But no - it was the smart play that didn't work. Here is why.

4th and 2 is successful 60% of the time, if you miss you give the ball to Indy, who, on average will score a TD 53% of the time with 2 minutes left on the 28. So doing the math the Winning Percentage would be

(0.60 * 1) + (0.40 * (1-0.53)) = 0.79 WP which is 79%

By going for it the Pats have a 79% chance if winning the game.

If you punt the average punt will net you 38 yards giving the ball to the Colts on about their 38 yard line. Historically with 2 minutes and on the 38 yard line a team, will score a TD 30% of the time. So the punt gives the Pats a 70% chance of winning the game.

Going for it was the right thing to do even though it LOOKED dumb as hell.
---------------------------------------------------

In other news of which I have very little.

Yes yes - some of you might have seen me in the Attorney Generals Office Friday AND without hand cuffs! Let's just say they like my artwork and are trying to figure out how the people of Wisconsin can pay for it (which has mysteriously tripled in price).

Also, I have word from Schofield that Char is having an open house all next week to show off her new WALL OF ART! :-)
-------------------------------

I playing with a new toy.

I'm just not sure if I will use it

for good or evil???

Do I use it to create unnatural disasters and world domination? It's really tempting. What if I went in front of the Columbus City Council and said "Give me One... Hundred... BILLION DOLLARS! or I will flood West James Street". Yea - you got it! They would tremble and call for a vote or a referendum or even a city wide ballot to see what the towns people thought!

Can anybody say 2012??

OK OK - I will use it for good. I actually have a vision in my brain that involves a Porsche. All I need is a camera (STILL getting fixed).

----------------------------------------
So they found a "significant" amount of water on the moon. My thinking is that it is waste water from the Apollo landings. Probably dumped it during a flyover. I wonder if it was yellow. You would think the astronauts were taking a lot of Vitamin B and we all know what THAT does.

---------------------------------

Ed Gein murdered his last victum on this day in 1957. The inspiration for Norman Baits in Psycho and Silence of the Lambs (Anthony Hopkins won and Oscar even though he was on the screen only 24 minutes).

I bring Ed up because Mr. Gein was "believed to be somewhat odd" . HELLO - YEA - YA THINK??? unlike the normal, "he seemed like such a good man" or "he never caused any trouble and was quite" which you always hear.

In another sad thing, on this day in 1999 the work starts on another mammoth bonfire** at Texas A&M. THIS year would have been the 100th year anniversary of this tradition and it is truly an amazing bonfire. 70 workers at a time and 7000 logs are used. The one in 1999 was almost 6 stories tall when it snapped. . . . .

**The word bonfire is derived from the French for "good" (like in bon appetite) but the practice of having a bonfire is believed to be derived from the Celtic festival of Samhain when animal bones were burnt to ward off evil spirits. Bonefire??
---------------------
The Lawrence Welk show was canceled on this date in 1957. I have heard that I had some relative that played the slide guitar on the show. Since my dad was a music teacher and we had a band that played in parades (Melotte's Melody Mix-ups) on a flat bed truck I never doubted it. On anotehr note, on DJ's side of the family has relatives that were on Family Feud with Richard Dawson.

Remember - Vendor and Craft Sale this Saturday Nov 21st ONE DAY ONLY 9am to 3:30pm at the Columbus High School- come by and stare at the Crafters and Artisans, I'll be the one sitting by himself knitting or something. This is my first one so I'm not sure what goes on, do I get things tossed at me? Do I have to do a little jig to entertain people?

There will be some sort of raffle so bring some dollars.

Nuff said, peace out! OH YEA - it's peace day here. HONK of you are for peace! WHAT IF I DON'T HONK!! WHAT IF I HONK REAL LONG!!! oh those people irritate me.

Have a great Monday

Blank Slate Friday

OK - y'all know I'm a hard rocker that likes loud heavy base music and probebly blew his ears out many years ago. But dang. Am I getting old? Did you see the CMA's a few nights ago? Lots of music. Unlike the MTV Awards and other so called Rock Awards shows which seem to be 80% Hip Hop.

Sure, when I'm alone in the car I'll listen to Linkin Park, Disturbed, Slipknot, Korn Avenged Sevenfold and Papa Roach but I have no problems at all with Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and many other NEW Country musicians. Taylor Swift won a ton of awards at the CMA's and what I find fascinating is that her first hit was produced when she was 17 years old AND she writes ALL of her music.

County Music is not what it use to be. It's normally not twangy (except for Sugarland which drives me up a wall) and when you have Kid Rock and Hootie (Darius Rucker) playing country you know it's changing.

BHack to Ms. Swift. She learned to play the guitar from a computer repairman who showed her how to play 3 chords. Then because she did not fit in in school she started to write songs about the kids that treated her badly. She has been trying to get into the music industry since she was 11 when she gave demo tapes to every company in Nashville (and was rejected by every company). So when she won Entertainer of the Year it was not something that just happened by chance.

If you did not see her opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, here it is!



She admits she has never been more nervous in her life (and it shows as she was a little pitchy) here is her opening of the CMA's. One funny thing is that in the award of Entertainer of the Year she opened concerts for ALL of her competition in the past year! Not bad for 19 years old. I like when she throws the chair! Our red chair is too heavy - she must be strong.

BTW - one of the few non-lip sync performances. Remember - this is a "Country Song".


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Survivor - I'm not going to say anything about last nights show because I know people DVR-it. However - I will say that this is going from being the worst Survivor ever to very very enjoyable and last night was SO MUCH FUN!! My opinion of evil Russel is changing.

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I don't really have much to comment on besides leaving my cell phone at home which is bugging me. Nobody ever calls me but just the fact I don't have it . . . . I remember 1999 when people were just getting cell phones and I laughed "WHY would you ever want a phone with you, what could be so important! COME ON PEOPLE!! GET A LIFE"

I have sunken so far in 10 years!
-------------------
I put 12 canvas prints up in West James Gallery last night. OH! West James Gallery is having a big Christmas thing this weekend. Check them (it?) out.

OH yea - this is interesting and has to do with Columbus . . a little. The Appleton Common Council voted and approved the new College Ave bridge aesthetics look which included the inset patterns on the inside wall adjacent to the sidewalk . This was also approved by the Bridge Design Committee.

I hope Columbus has input that the DOT will go along with and I hope we do as good of a job as they did. The bridge opened last week.

Here are the results.


OOPS!!!
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I have a new uninspired beer label for my Bavarian Hefeweizen.

I call it my Heidi-weizen and while It's not my most wonderful label - I HAVE TWO!! Collect them all!


It's a great beer BTW! I might have to work on these labels to make them more professional as I'll be brewing more of this style. I was in a hurry.
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from our leaders!
Open House and Ribbon Cutting
of the
New Columbus Community Center
and Senior Citizen Center Parking Lot
Tuesday, November 17

5:30pm-7:00pm

Ribbon Cutting at 6:30pm

Come see the new offices of the Columbus Recreation Department and the Office of Economic Development and Energy Sustainability serving Columbus!
--------------------------------

Testosterone? - I don't think so.

.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MAN - LET ME EAT MY DONUT!

I sit down and have my big juicy donut whispering to me "eat me eat me, you know you want to" and a co worker opens the door to my office, and when I say office I mean cubicle and there is no door but there is a threshold of no return to step over, and he starts talking about a problem I had ignored yesterday because I only found out about it like at 3:00 and you know it takes a LEAST an hour to get ready to go home and I'm all like I can't even think about this now because if I do it'll be like stuck in my brain and I might have a aneurysm or a hemorrhage or a hemeurysm but he won't leave and starts talking about other things until finally I talk him into getting more coffee because he seems run down.

Then I look down and see I actually purchased YESTERDAYS paper from the box and after reading 5 pages I'm all like I know what is coming next and so I decide to read some TIME magazines that were left on my desk which has the headline "Jay Leno Is the Future of Television" from September 14th. AM I IN A DOCTORS OFFICE?

And earlier this morning I wake up and DJ wakes up and she is puking all over like there is no tomorrow and I'm all like wow where did that come from and she feels bad but didn't feel bad when she was sleeping so I decided I have to go out and by baby things for some reason but that is ridiculous.

I think this is all stemming from the Lovastatin incident (spelling checker thinks I really mean Molestation incident - let this be a lesson to not always agree with spelling checkers) from the night before.

This would normally not be a big deal but I was on my very last Lovastatin and as I was going to bed it dropped on the floor and as luck would have it rolled 10 feet and went under the stove. AWESOME - what great fantastic luck.

So I get on my hands and knees and don't see a thing. I get a flashlight and am laying on the floor and Milo see's me doing this and being a cat finds this whole thing amazingly interesting and he wants to help.

It's way under so I get a tape measure and lay down again and he lays down IN FRONT of me to get a better view which blocks MY view, and to top it off the tape measure looks like a REAL fun thing to play with as I try to get the little blue pill.

I shove him out of the way but then HE can't see so he gets in front of me again and while this is going on Sierra the playful cat has become interested in Milos tail. SIGH

I'm almost getting the pill and Milo is grabbing onto the tape measure to "help" and Sierra grabs Milos tail. Milo JERKS out grabbing the tape measure with a claw which then flings the little blue pill across the floor to under the dishwasher. DAMN IT!

And Blake who is outside starts to bark.

Luckily Milo is now chasing Sierra and they are out of my way and the pill is only a few inches under the dishwasher. I get the pill, take the other pills (1 for LDL, 2 for HDL) and give Blake a doggie cookie and go I to bed. Ten minutes later Milo, all 12 pounds falls on top of me, Sierra jumps up, circles the bed 4 times and curls up in a place where I can no longer move for the rest of the night, Blake enters, climbs into his bed, burps, groans and falls asleep. And the 5 of us are all snug as a bug.
--------------------------------------------

Note to Char. I tried to mail your piece yesterday but . . . . Post Office was closed. I should have it in the mail Friday (boxing it up today, mail tomorrow).

Kitty B'Gosh - Vendor and Craft Sale at the Columbus High School 9am to 3:30pm November 21st (1st day of hunting). First time for this event. Looking like 30-40 vendors! Not a clue what will be there. Probably all sorts of deer meat booths LOL

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And lastly - I think I have to start a new class at the UW. How to protest effectively. It seems if you work near the square you are always walking past someone protesting something. The problem is that lately I can't figure out WHAT they are protesting.

A few weeks ago there were a bunch of people all in black tee-shirts with signs and even after stopping to read the signs, I had NO idea not only what side to take but WHAT was being protested!! Then yesterday I walk out and see a bunch of testosterone with two legs and flannel mingling around with signs and after reading the signs I knew it was something to do with a building but . . . For it? Against it? MAKE IT CLEAR!

Speaking of testosterone. I see it is Chippendale season coming and seriously - when I see these guys I'm not sensing testosterone at all. I'm feeling more estrogen if anything.


Rod

NO - NOT THE KNIFE

I picked up a new book called "Licensing Photography" and was trying to stay awake while reading it but when I woke up I did come away with a few tidbits of information. MAN, did I screw myself during the filming of Public Enemies.

Here I am sitting on the very first photos IN THE WORLD of Johnny Depp filming a new movie on location and the biggest Japanese Movie Magazine contacts me and asked if they could purchase some photos for $25. DAAAA!!! Here I am writing a blog with 10,000 people on that day reading and sucking up my photos and I'm so caught up in the moment tell them to DOUBLE it and we have a deal. I get $50 and three magazines?

sigh! stupid stupid stupid

One last thing about photography. I had Christmas last night as I received a big box of canvas prints. I think I'll have to charge people more as I did not account for the time it takes to open the box. Seriously - from the time I started to when I finally got the last print out it was ONE HOUR! I had bubble wrap all over and freaking packing peanuts everywhere (Blake does not like the taste of packing peanuts, they are nothing at all like marshmellows

DJ made me sign a release form so I could use the knife (no running, no flipping it, no trying to stick it in the floor) but I don't think she knew I would be slashing with it for an hour. It did fall on the floor once, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! No one was permanently injured.

Anyway - I was amazed that they actually look better in real life then they do on the computer. Canvas ROCKS!!!
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Sixty-nine years ago today was the largest storm ever to hit Wisconsin. My mom told me the story of this.

She was in country school, way up north in Wisconsin in 1940. The day started out in the mid 60's and sunny. Many of the children wore short sleeves and she had a dress on and it was almost like a party atmosphere the weather was so wonderful.

It was about noon when a farmer enter the one room school house and told the teacher to send the students home. The teacher refused but then the farmer showed his rifle and said "SEND THE CHILDREN HOME, NOW!"

So my mom was walking home in no special hurry but it did seem like it was getting colder and a little more windy. But she only had to walk like three miles so . . . .

The wind was getting stronger and it was getting colder, very cold and she had reached the woods and had decided to stop for a little while as it was getting REAL windy and she huddled near a clump of trees in shelter waiting for the storm to pass but it was getting real bad and she was frightened.

In the distance she her her brother Wayne "Evelyn. . . . Evelyne" and she yelled out. They made it home just as the snow started to come down.

In a matter of 8 hours the temperature went from the mid 60's to 20 degrees and was still dropping. There were 20 inches of snow and 80 mph winds that night. 154 people lost their lives, mostly hunters who were in short sleeves along with thousands of cattle and millions of turkeys that could not survive the 20 foot drifts.

eight hours earlier it was 62 degrees

The storm was called the Great Armistice Day Storm. It was a pan handle hooker and the barometric pressure is the lowest ever recorded in Wisconsin (28.66).

The farmer in the above story was a weather watcher and had noticed his barometer was dropping faster then he had ever seen. It was when he realize it was not broken he decided to put things into his own hands.

Because of this storm NOAA decided they needed to be a little more accurate with weather forecasts. What they did was instead of one BIG office in Chicago they created many smaller offices around the region.
---------------------------------------

In 1964 the Rolling Stones played in Milwaukee to 1,200 fans. As a reporter wrote in the Milwaukee Journal after the show.

"Screams from a thousand throats drowned out all but the most insistent electronic cacaphony and the two-fisted smashes of drummer Charlie Watts. Unless someone teaches guitar chords to chimpanzees, the visual ultimate has been reached in the Rolling Stones. With shoulder length hair and high heeled boots, they seemed more feminine than their fans. The Stones make the Beatles look like clean cut kids. You would think it must be some kind of parody - but the little girls in front paid $5.50 a seat."

HEY - my mom would not let me have a Beatles haircut.

------------------------------------

DJ had a pet peeve moment. She says she is always answering the phone at work and I guess yesterday someone called asking for a number of another agency. DJ then starts to give the number and halts, the woman on the other end can't find a pen to write the number down. sigh!
+++++++
We went to the new Hy-Vee store on the way home last night. Nice place, wide aisles a TOM of food, HUGE deli. Good liqure department with a nice wall of craft beer (not as good as Woodmans though).

HOWEVER - we went there looking for our #1 Favorite Pizza Bellatoria Pepperoni Thin Crust. It's is a GREAT Pizza and even my buddy Elweed thought it was the best he has ever had. BUT, they did not have it so I found the Manager and told them to get it. She was very friendly and wrote it down and they will call me when they get it.

SO - what's for supper? hmmmm We purchased a Rotisserie Chicken but I think I picked up a Rotisserie Cornish Game Hen by accident. I was making the potatoes (again - I got to use a knife) and DJ was working on the chicken and I said- that's it??? Only one side? No no - that is the whole thing honey. Really? What will YOU eat, at which point my knife privileges were taken away.

That's it for today - I'll tell the exciting story of the rolling Lovastatin under the stove for another day.

Rod

Stop taking the leaves.

.

Once again I'm rudderless as I took my camera in AGAIN to get fixed. The last time the shutter locked and it cost $300. Then it gets back and the previously working flash/hot shoe was not working. I could not fix it right away as it was pretty fall color season but now, it's in dry dock as we're in gloomy gray sleepy season (the season before pretty cold white snowy season).

I felt like I had just left Blake off at the vet as I was walking back to work with only camera strap in my hand. I immediately thought of taking some sort of funny photo . . no wait - DAMN IT!! sigh. I'll take a photo of me crying . . . . no damn it. Stop Stop.
-------------------------------

On the good news front. The beer pipeline is back in operation and I have to get to work on a beer label. I created a Bavarian Hefeweizen, an authentic German-style wheat beer that is light colored and fruity with clove-like spicy notes and it tastes GREAT!

I'm not a big wheat beer fan but had a Sierra Nevada Kellerweis and liked it so much I had to make my own Hefeweizen.

As some of you may know I had some infection problems this summer that have been fixed and a had to pour a good amount of beer down the drain. Some equipment was hiding some nasty foamer bugs. One of my brews already had a label ready for it. My Scottish Ale.


And I would be remiss (I'm not even sure what "remiss" means but it came out so . . . ) if I did not post the label of my always popular Amber label.

Next up is my Award winning Porter (well, it's my best Porter and I gave it a medal) and I'm sure people will like THAT label. I'm experimenting a little and oaking 1 of the 5 gallons with Jack Daniels soaked American oak chips.

Still, I'm having artistic problems with my Hefeweizen - I want to call it a Heffer-weizen but I can not find any cows wearing lederhosen on the net. You would think SOMEWHERE some farmer would have put lederhosen on a cow and taken a photo! Must I do it? I believe I have found a hole in the internet image bank and must somehow exploit it.

I have adubya's One Putt Twelve IPA a week away from giving the thumbs up. Tasted pretty good two weeks ago, a little harsh around the edges but that was expected.

BTW - adubya - I give you shit but I hope you get better.

-----------------------------------

Stephan King took my idea about Columbus and made it into a book . . . sort of. His new book "Under the Dome" takes my idea about putting a dome over Columbus (Columbus to get New Glass Dome - March 9th) and tweaked it to be a domed force field where no one can get in or out. My lawyers are looking into how I can exploit Stephan King.

On the "Too Funny" note. The Germain government should have secretly put up a big wall the other night so when the Germain residents woke up there would be a big wall in the middle of Berlin. THAT, would have been funny.

34 years ago, in the middle of the night my mom became deathly cold. She woke up shivering so badly my dad took her to the Fort Atkinson hospital. They ran tests and could not find anything wrong. She slowly got better over the next day or so.

One week later we learned that the Edmund Fitzgerald had sunk with all on board. She had some distant relative on the ship and she became ill at about the same time the Fitz sunk. And we wonder why my great great great grandmother was hung as a witch?

OH - one thing about our new Mayor. During the elections one of his big stomping points was the leaf pick-up situation in Columbus, or lack of. Well, we have been augmenting the area under our deck by trying to make better dirt for a LOT of Sweet William next spring.

I've been putting better dirt, grass clippings and leaves when I can find ONE in that area. My plan was to go to leave piles laying in the street and grab some. BUT NOOOOOOO!! Every freaking time I go to get leaves - THEY ARE GONE!!! DAMN YOU MAYOR BOB!!(insert shaking fist).

And finally - I'm freaking out. This Vendor and Craft Sale is on my nerves! Left Hand Louie had a great idea fora way to hang my canvas images but now I realize, I NEED A CASH BOX. But the sad part is I feel so . . . .weird even thinking I NEED a cash box. It's like if I have one it means I expect to sell something, which I don't. Will having a cash box put a curse on me? Do I need to have cash in it? Where can I get some cash. Maybe I'll just get a big box of money! F&M Bank has money don't they? I wonder if I can borrow a box of money for a day.

Have a nice Tuesday. Remember "V" is on tonight.

Rod

Stop blaming Rodgers

It seems that since FOX came out with a stat a few weeks ago about how long it takes to get sacked it's become popular to blame Rodgers for taking too long. All of a sudden you see five guys chasing Rodgers out of the pocket, he runs and get's sacked after 4.5 seconds and people all yell RODGERS!!!!

Never mind the fact that with a three man rush all three are getting through seemingly untouched.

I feel that while this stat that FOX came up with is interesting, it's wrong. I was watching other games and looking at how much time quarterbacks with a real front line have and they were taking 4 and 5 seconds regularly. There was no auto-throw at 3.1 seconds. And when they had pressure it was from one guy, not the entire defensive front line.

I believe Rodgers is being pretty darn politically correct when he takes the blame for the Special Teams being totally inept and blaming himself for the defense having problems (do the Packers still have Barnett and Kampman?).

Yesterdays loss falls 100% on the 30th ranked Special Teams in my view.

BTW - Packers are 1 point favorites over Dallas next week.
-----------------------------------------

For some reason last Wednesday I received a ton of hits from either Google Images or a place called The Daileyhaha. I typically have about 300 readers a day now but had 1400 from all different ISP's on Wednesday.

I say this because as I was trying to figure out if I was having a SPAM attack (does not seem so) and I saw I was getting a few random hits from BING. One odd actual "search" question was:

Why are cows mooing loud.

I hope he found out. The blog, I fear was no help at all. Doing a little research cows moo at about 87 decibels but it depends on their age. I put that question in and am not sure how they found PEC.
--------------------------------------

My Sunday Adventure.

In my Sunday adventure I went to church. Now this is probably no a big adventure to most of you but for me it was. I have some church in my past. My dad was a president of a church in Fort Atkinson and a very good friend of my parents was, who was a Reverend was fired from the Methodist Church for preaching PEACE during Nam. So since this happened during some sort of stage in my life the whole church thing soured on me. Oh, I'm spiritual but my personal belief is that you can still be a good human without having to going to church.

But Sunday, Caydence, Josh and Jenny's little girl, was being baptized so I was going to be churchafide. Never having observed a baptism before it was all new to me.

The star for the show was Caydence and all gathered around Josh the proud papa and Jenny (far left).

Of course Caydence was fascinated by the ceiling fans (she loves the one in our living room).



All was going smoothly with singing and prayers when all of a sudden out of the blew the Pastor** breaks out into song. I felt I was in "Church Musical" or something for a second. Do all Pastors sing? IS this something She had a wonderful voice

** Pastor is derived from the Latin word pastor which means shepherd. Lots on interesting things about Pastors and their profession. It seems there are a lot of x-pastors. It also seems "Pastor" is just a job title.

ANYWAY - the big time came and Caydie was being a very good girl. Here is the photo with the God Parents, Left Hand Louie (also know as Terry to normal people and he's actually not left handed at all) and Krisx (also know as Kris).

And the actual deal.

After this came the part that disturbed me for a few moments. The Pastor took Caydence and started walking down the aisle and everyone is ooooing and ahhing and, well, I figured I would never see her again as she was being whisked away to some secret religious organization to learn to be a ninja or something and she would come back in 18 years and say "Hello Grandfather I have missed you deeply" just before she kills some assassin who was behind me and was just about to kill me.

But I was wrong.

So then we went to J and J's house to celebrate and watch the Packers Special Teams SUCK!

But, I won't get into THAT! (my system had Tampa Bay covering the spread).

But again - I shall not mention that that shall not be mentioned. I actually mentioned this above as I wrote most of this last night when I was feeling sad.
-----------------------------------

On to happier things.

I took this image when in Lake Tahoe. I'm thinking of making it into some big long canvas thingie.

OH!! - I'm going to have a "booth" at the COLUMBUS ATHLETIC BOOSTER CLUB VENDOR and CRAFT FAIR (also known as the CABCVCF) November 21st. I'll have more on this as I relearn the facts. Y'all come to see me ya hear?

My Saturday adventure.

My little wine tasting and art show Saturday was excellent. People seemed to appreciate my work and oddly many people said I was way to inexpensive (they also did not buy anything so . . . ). Well, one woman was sort of drunk or slow and I'm not sure she ever saw my art but did like the wine.

My feeling is that art should not be only for people that can afford it . . wait, that did not come out right!

I remember seeing a painting at a booth at East Town. I fell in love with it. this was in my beater car and broke all the time stage. But this painting called to me.

I purchased it for $140 (25 years ago, $276 in today's money) and man, that purchase REALLY hurt my financials. I think because of this I have problems charging the HUGE prices galleries charge. Sure, I could maybe make a lot more money but at the cost of shutting people out. Regular people who can not afford art deserve to have it also. Times are tough, perhaps having something you really like on your wall will cheer you up.

ANYWAY - I'm just trying to justify low prices. NOW - if I find a gallery in Door County that will show my stuff, that's a different story. Door County is my 2010 project. I've gone to Door every year of my life and know the place pretty well. Oh, it's on baby!! Door County is in my sights.

North Lake Tahoe
(should enlarge nicely)

BTW - if you click on the image and it's still small, right click on view Image and it will enlarge.

I envision this as a 24x6 image or 36x9 (6x1.5 would be silly), I don't know, I'm just making things to see what people like and don't like. I've been surprised at how many people are commenting on a Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly image.

Have a very nice Monday!

Rod