My BMI is 105???

One of the overlooked things in human communications is body language and I'm always aware of what I'm telling someone without me knowing it. This has been a topic of conversation from time to time on several levels as I have talked to my local Horse Whispererer and she said horses pick up on human body language on a certain level.

In Avatar you would plug in your hair to the "horse" and communicate but on earth a you communicate with a horse without even knowing it with your ass (I guess).

ANYWAY - this thought process all started when I saw yet another photo of Sandra Bullock in the paper today and then I had a flashback to an Entertainment Weekly article from several months ago.

At the time I thought the article was a bunch of foo foo. It showed a number of celebrity couples on some red carpet and it talked about what each photo was telling us. How they stood, where there hips were, the angle of the heads and so forth. What struck me at the time was that they surmised that while Sandra and Jesse were basically acting like "one" there seemed to be some small distance between them like something was not clicking on some level.  Something that was just not quite right.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm Of course you can make all sorts of predictions and so forth hundreds of times and be wrong and no one will ever remember but . . . .
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Ever take your BMI reading on whether you are overweight? I just did and I seem to be morbidly obese.

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute have a calculator and I entered my numbers.

Feet?  I have 2 (what a stupid question)
inches?  looks like each one is about 10
Weight 174

My BMI is 105.8   Normal weight = 18.5-24.9  OH MY GOD - no wonder I was told to go to a dietitian.

I don't think I'm over weight - I think I am under height!  If I eat MORE I will grow taller (my mom always said that)  so my goal is to add 12 more inches to my . . . neck (I guess that would be the easiest place).  Maybe I can add some of those neck rings I see some Africans wear??. Can I get those on State Street somewhere?  I don't think Columbus has a neck ring store, maybe the Travel Center.
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I'm looking for someone that wants they motor cycle photographed. Anyone anyone?
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I'll have to have my camera ready next time I put flea and tick stuff on the cats back. Too funny!  I put some on Milo, it's like 6 drops of fluid on his neck and he started limping around the house like he had a broken leg. Then I put some in Sierra and I almost pee'd my pants as she was jumping up and down like she was getting shocks - IT'S LIKE DROPS OF WATER!!!!!

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Stupid Netflix!  They will not have any NEW movies at least for a month after they go on sale.  I'm sort of getting dissatisfied with Netflix.  Their streaming video only has old stuff, like years old.

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Do not expect to see many Monarch butterfly's this year. The few females left are slowly making their way north but Mexico was very hard this winter.  There was a huge hail storm (killing 8 humans) that destroyed something like 50% of the nesters and heavy rains were a problem.  Add the fact that along their route in some places 100% of their nesting areas has been destroyed by farmers planting corn for bio-fuel.

The monarch migration is truly one of the world's greatest natural wonders and it needs help.

So if you see a Monarch, it is a survivor.  Also point him or her to my garden as it is a Butterfly Waystation. We need a major effort to restore the milkweed crop. I had a milkweed plant in my garden and last year I counted 6 caterpillars. I took all the seed pods and tossed them into the dump area across the fairway from my house.  I hops some of them (or all ) grow into Milkweed. 

I believe there was some school here in Columbus that had a butterfly garden??? If you know of this have them contact me. Let's get the word out. We can make some news!

Teachers - here is a A TEACHER'S GUIDE TO CREATING A SCHOOL BUTTERFLY GARDEN. If you do this I'll come and take photos of the gardens.

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OH for anyone that watched "V" last night. Geez - I guess "V" sex is not that fun . . .especially for the male!  Damn "V" woman get hungry after sex.  bummer! 

Anyone have the first 4 episodes of LOST recorded on a DVD?


So how is this month averages temps going?  Not counting TODAY the average high is 6 degrees above normal and the average Low is 2.8 degrees above normal.  Looking ahead to April it looks like we should be about normal in temp and precip but warmer then normal for the next couple weeks.

I can't believe I missed Tsunami Awareness Week, March 21-27. Sorry - my bad. I didn't see any so we lucked out.

If you are thinking about planting your garden here is the last frost map

I guess I was too early.

BTW - Being a weather geek and watching weather all my life I feel we will go right into summer.  This is a make-up year fro last year, the year without summer.

This reminds me of 1975ish where we had snow for a long time but were playing softball in March and had instant summer.  

have a great Wednesday.
Rod

NO SALE!!!

Ricky Martin is GAY? WOW - that came out of left field! WHO'S NEXT!!! Elton John? Clay Aiken? Not that it's a bad thing! Always reminds me of a very good movie "In & Out".  "Should gays be allowed to handle fresh produce"?  

ANYWAY - before I get in big trouble I have to make a correction on yesterdays blog and I tell ya Doug, you should be honored. If I had to make a correction every time I had some fact incorrect I would actually have to have another sister blog that listed all of the errors from the original blog. I would have TWO blogs. Plus I need an apology blog for apologizing to all the people or groups I have made angry.  Three blogs!   

So there is this bike ride the and it seems I have been adding an extra "i" in Heine Ride. There is only one "i" in Heine. So if you are doing a search on the 2010 Heine Ride  don't use both of your eyes.

I think I'll get our bikes off their hangers, pump some air in the tires, locate some chain oily stuff and see if I still have the ability to balance.

Blake, the first time he saw a bicycle just freaked out.  Well, he freaked out the first time he saw a big bag of leaves with a pumpkin face on it also.  He would NOT walk past scary pumpkin bag.   I was walking to work the other day and there is a monument with Martin Luther King who sort of busts out from the granite and this German Shepard was just freaked by it!

New topic.
I see a few people are getting all troubled about the bond market.  I know I just lost 85% of the readers but . . .  anyway . . . it seems the gov was selling two-, five- and seven-year notes and the sale did not go well at all.  Many talking heads said this was a sign that the current bull market was losing steam and people were afraid to put money into the government.

ACTUALLY what is happening is that investors are gaining confidence and instead of investing in safe bonds are instead putting money into the stock market. The healthier economic environment is having investors feeling more and more confident.   So when you hear that Obama will kill America with his horrible fiscal policies!  Remember where we were when he took office? America was on the brink of collapse?  Remember? 
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I won't go into this whole cutting music out of Columbus Middle School thing as I do not know all the facts.  I do know that when I lived in Fort Atkinson I was in the orchestra (1st chair cello) and the town decided to dump it's orchestra.  My parents were the tip of the spear when it came to changing city council (or whoever it was) minds and we won and I continued to play cello for many many years!   


So if you are in that fight. You CAN win!  

Something I have been looking for is when will the city pick up yard waste!

Thursday, April 29, Thursday, May 6, and Thursday, May 13, 2010
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And lastly - 477,394 pages read. WOW.   Looks like August 2nd we will go over the ONE HALF MILLION MARK!!   mark your calendars.


Have I mentioned the weather?  November 8th of 2009 was the last time we hit 70 and we should be close to record highs near the end of the week along with record High Low temps.

OH - I just got an email - My Jesus in My Hashbrowns had no bidders!
back to the drawing board I guess. . 


Rod

Brain Clicks

So lets see here.  I had a F-Day on Friday and didn't blog.  However in the afternoon I did go to see Avatar in 3D and was disappointed that it no longer is in 3D so I guess I'll never see a 3D movie.  I was in the over 50 crowd on a Friday afternoon. There were maybe 8 of us in the theater.

I tell ya - Avatar is outstanding. What an amazing piece of eye candy.  Saying it is a cross between movies cheapens the movie so I won't say it's a cross between Dances With Wolves, Rendezvous With Rama, Lord of the Rings and The Blue Man Group.  Not gonna do it.

I don't buy DVDs, never have. OK maybe I did purchased Public Enemies (which we have not watched the DVD yet LOL) but I'll buy Avatar Blu-Ray on April 22, (Earth Day and my moms Birthday).  There will be ZERO extras on the DVD, nuttin but movie.  Extras will be out in November I guess.

BTW - I did not know Uhura in the newest Star Trek is also the scantily clad Neytiri in Avatar.  

Also - there are two sequels "in the works".  Plus - in case you do not know it the love scene is shown in it's entirety in the DVD and insiders say it is outstandingly erotic in a non-human sexual way (if that makes sense - you know what I'm talking about of you have seen the movie). It's the tails baby!!

After seeing the movie my fractal flower reminds me of some of the fauna on Pandora.

 


I picked up my  140% below poverty level buddy on Saturday and he talked about his latest experience with dealing with humans.  I guess he called to set up an appointment for a primary care giver. After being on hold for a while they said "Your caregiver is just about across the street, why not just go over there". He thought that was a great idea because he would be put on hold again.

SO - he goes across the street to get an appointment. 

The person at the front desk says "you can't just walk in for an appointment, you must call, however - we do have a courtesy phone down stairs".  sigh.  So he goes down stairs to get an appointment IN THAT BUILDING and is put on hold.  As he is on hold, I'm sure he is complaining and a nurse asked what he is waiting for and he explains. "Well, that is just 4 doors down the hall, I'll take your papers and get you an appointment".   sigh!  

So we are driving to Columbus and I take the back roads and my minds eye keeps clicking off images of the farmland.  Being a photographer the trick is to get lucky and be in the right place at the right time and there is a lot of luck.  BUT, you can to make your own luck just by seeing images and knowing that the right light will make a great image. So when that happens you know where to go.

The 5th image that my tiny brain that clicked I felt I had to pull over and stop being lazy and take a shot.

So now we're in Columbus and after getting beered-up we started on some yard work. Brian worked around one of my rock walls and while he was obsessing over tiny bits of dirt and twigs I was working on the rest of the lawn raking and clearing dead stuff out of the two gardens.

As his tiny bits of dirt and twigs were consuming his time I started taking photos of yard waste so who am I to talk about not getting things done.

and that is my weekend up to Sunday.

Heinie ride answers - pretty flat - some rolling hills - the wind is the biggest worry I would assume. Go to this address to see the elivation changes - pretty pretty small. Notice the biggest hill is 60 feet in like 5 miles!  LOL 

As for cars.  the MOA is to drive a car to the ending, leave it and drive another car back since it's not a circular route.   Questions can go to Sharon and Doug . . somehow!


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I'm not going to get all political on you and I'm not going to say whether I like or dislike the Health Care Bill but I think it's great (oops).   While it seems the Foxpublicans (not the real Republicans who still think for themselves but the ones that listen and are swayed by the FOX faux-news channel) are all angry because the Devil they know seems to be better then the Devil they don't know.  I feel the devil we DON'T know can't be worse the the devil we DO know.  Again - like most things I say DO IT - STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT IT AND DO SOMETHING.

The main thing I here normal people worried about is the MANDATE to get health insurance. Well, there is also a mandate in most states so you HAVE to have car insurance but I hear no complaining about THAT. It's all based on income level and there is ZERO provisions in the Bill for policing this.  So if you don't get it that is fine, don't get it.  HOWEVER - don't go to the emergency room and try to get free care like you can do now!   

Now people with insurance pay for all the free visits! Also for the people that say it's against the law to MAKE people pay for health insurance.  You already ARE being forced to pay for health insurance.  Every check you get the Fed's tale out medicare so this is not new.  Perhaps instead of complaining about THIS bill you should try to get rid of Medicare. 

I say relax, try it, learn the REAL facts and if you don't like it, vote for you favorite Republican who is putting all his efforts into killing this Bill (as opposed to working on crime or education or anything else).

nuff said.

Blank Walls and Dirty Sidewalks

I have been trying to get some data on DJs dad's old WIN 98 computer (which literally takes over 20 minutes to boot up) onto his new glitzy touchscreen 22 inch computer and I thought it would be easy.   The first indication that all was not going to go as planned was when I tried to hook up the internet and realized . . . he has dial-up.

Seems new state-of-the-art computers with a terra bite of memory and more RAM then my laptop has in total memory . . . .does not have a modem for dial-up connections.  Who KNEW!!

No problem right?  Just put a flash card into the ISB port and copy.  Wait . . . no ISB port on his old computer.  dang!  OK OK . . . .no problem.  I'll just bring a floppy disk and copy it onto that.  I copy the data and go the new computer . . . . . wait . . . .there is no floppy disk drive?  I'll take the disk home and copy it onto a CD. . . . . . .wait . . . I get home and,  "I" don't even have a floppy drive. . . . .hmmmmm . . . . . I'll just burn a disk because I noticed he had two disk drives on the old computer. . . . .wait . . . there is no burning software on THAT computer.

Well . . . . I'll just email the data from one computer to . . . .oh yea - only one computer has a connection so I'll just email it to myself.

Have you TRIED to email a few megs of data from a dial up through AOL/Yahoo?  I was so many clicks ahead of the computer that I think I froze it.

I took the disk to work where we have 1975 computer (I thin it's an 8088 - but with two 19 inch monitors) and put the data on a flash drive.

HOWEVER - as I was at Mels, a neighbor, seeing how I was so technology advanced ask if I could fix their Charter internet.


It seems they could not get their DVD player working.  They called Charter and were told they had to crawl behind the TV and unhook the Charter cable and hook it up differently in order to watch the DVD.  Then when done with the DVD, again,  crawl behind the TV and rehook the cable for TV.

I think is a big bag of bullshit!

So I crawled behind their TV, looked things over and hooked everything up CORRECTLY!!  It all works great now.

Except there phone no longer works!

sigh!

So Robbie - any chance I can call cabelman later tonight about 5:00?  Seems they have Charter phone and I disconnected it.  Weird set-up I must say.
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New topic

I was looking at other artists work looking for inspiration and saw a guys work I really loved.  I did not want to copy it but felt there was some knowledge there that I could twist around and use it differently.  His style was different but there was something I loved.

So I contacted him and after a few compliments I asked "How do you do that" type questions!  After showing him what I did so he could see I was not going to copy him he explained about his "textures".  BRILLIANT!!

A lot of my work involves layers upon layers of  . . stuff.  His secret (which I will now reveal)  is that he had a collection of textures he used in some of his layers.

So now I'm walking around taking photos of blank walls and dirty sidewalks to use as textures in my work.  I was walking to my car yesterday and saw a particularly wonderful dirty sidewalk and stopped to take a photo.  A guy walking past me, I'm pretty sure, either thought I was crazy OR had just stolen the camera.

Oddly sidewalks are great as they are 50% gray and perfect for measuring the amount of light.  Your hand is also 50% gray when it comes to taking light readings.  If you are using your light meter on your camera focus on your hand to get the perfect reading. 

So while I did not use any of my newly photographed textures in anything I did spend my typical 2 hours a night in my digital darkroom. Creating some new images of Porsche's. 

I took this images last last fall.

For lack of a better name

Porsche 1

Porsche 2

And here is the odd thing. I had not thought of Porsche's for a while but was pretty involved in them last night. Driving to work today I passed a pretty sweet truck pulling a very very expensive trailer with Porsche 928 written all over the sides of everything and I have to assume a Porsche 928 was inside.  The truck looked like it had living quarters inside of it.  Sweet rig.
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Happiness.

One of the things I noticed in golf was that you NEVER can be as good as you want to be. Golf is a game with a carrot always dangling in front of you.  This is why I really don't care if I get better.  OH - I want to do well but constantly striving to get better is wasted effort as you will never ever achieve perfection and if you never can achieve the ultimate goal . . .why bother. I'm happy as I am!!  22 handicap is fine!!  Do be an angry golfer because you are not perfect.  Even Tiger gets mad. 

I mention this because there have been studies on happiness and it's sort of surprising the results.

For one thing, on average, the greater your income, the less happy the respondents were. Another thing is that between 41-50 you are the unhappiest and 61-70 years old  you are the happiest.  In fact from 15 to 41 it's all down hill as you get more and more unhappy.

During the day, you are least happiest during the core of the day (at work) and happy before and after work.  Your most unhappy point as at noon.

The happiest day of the week is Saturday and Wednesday is the most unhappy.

And oddly, the more possessions you have the less happy you are.

Nuff said.  I'm getting rid of everything so I have nothing but will be happy.

Rod

Have a unhappy Wednesday - good luck

Sales of "Jesus In My Hashbrowns" have been tepid but I did get an inquiry on ebay from a customer that seemed interested.  However he or she was looking to trade a piece of toast which seemed to have Jesus burned on it but they also said Jesus seemed to look a lot like Mayor Bob of Columbus.

So I'm thinking that perhaps we should put Mayor Bob In My Toast up for sale WITH Jesus in my Hashbrowns on ebay.  What do you think??? Do you think we could get Columbus on NBC News?  Maybe Fox the Christian Mock News channel?

Just between you and me Jesus is looking more and more like Justin Timberlake. 
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I am SO pissed off at my DVR and Direct TV this morning.  I FINALLY got caught up to the beginning of THIS years LOST.  However I read that last nights LOST would run 6 minutes over time so I went into my settings on my DVR to make sure I recorded an extra 15 minutes and SAVED.  HOWEVER - I did not see that the settings would ALL revert back to the default settings.  So in doing so I lost the 1st three episodes because it only kept the last five.    DAMN IT!!
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I did watch Pacific -Episode Two and feel it was rather disjointed as you really did not get the entire picture of what was happening except a lot of bloodbath.  The war in Europe was easier to understand as you have moving lines of troops and fronts!

For informational purposes there were 11,000 Marines on Guadalcanal who had a total of 14 days of food with them which would have to last for 4 months.

With the victory on Guadalcanal the Japanese were on the defensive. This was a huge huge victory.

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Join Sharon and Doug Caldwell in the 20th Annual Heinie Ride, Saturday May 8th. DJ and I are going on ride it.this year.  It's a 23 mile bike ride. 23 miles is not that long at all.  Typically if you can ride 12 miles you can go 20 and there is Pizza at the end.   They even have their own website now. Check out the Home of the Heinie Ride It'll be a hoot!!!!!
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I went on and on about my fascination with Goth Rock and I think people have the wrong idea about just what Goth Rock is.  It's also called Symphonic Rock and is typically played with a full orchestra and choir.  My newest favorite Goth Rock band (Nightwish) has the London Philharmonic on stage with them for the BIG concerts.

However - as I explored this musical genre (genrea) I found a band Ritchie Blackmore formed in 1995 I believe.  If you remember Blackmore was one of the members of Deep Purple and Rainbow. 

Well Ritchie and his wife Candice Night went a slightly different direction and if you are in an Enya-ish, Loreena Mckennitt mood you will like them.  I found them on Pandora.com which is a fantastic place for music.  Type in an artist and you can listen to all sorts of music you have never heard before.  




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Ever have a DVD that plays trailers and you can't get out of the stupid trailers and get to the main menu?  Here is a trick.   On your remote - hit STOP  STOP and then PLAY - you should get to the main menu that way on most DVDs.

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I think my mom had a mini stroke!   I was not going to mention this but perhaps this will help educate a little.  I called her Saturday and things seemed off.  She could not think of common words.  She was not confused or slurring but the words just were not there. Common words.  She was frustrated that she just could not think of the words she wanted to use.

After I got off the phone I was doing some research and it could have been a thyroid condition or maybe an ITA (mini stroke - which is a REAL stroke but a small one lasting a few minutes to a day).

I called Sunday and all seemed right again until I confused her by saying it was the wrong day (my bad) and then something clicked and she was back to 75% of her vocabulary again!

I called Monday and could not get an answer.

Yesterday I called and she said she spent the night in the Hospital.  She was confused at her vocabulary and she ALSO thought she had an ITA - the PROBLEM was that she could not TELL the people in the hospital what she thought she had, the words were not coming out.    So they treated here for lack of fluids because she was dizzy (which she wasn't but could not tell them that).

They sent her home telling her to drink more water and there was nothing wrong that they could see.

So when I talked to her yesterday I said "ITA/mini stroke" and the light went on and she said YES THAT WAS IT and wrote it down and is calling her doctor today.

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Have as good of a Wednesday as you can. Research says that Wednesdays are the unhappiest day of the week with noon the lowest point in the entire week for happiness.  And if you are between 41 to 50 you are in your unhappiest years of your life so . . . . . . if you are 41 to 50 at noon on Wednesday you are VERY VERY unhappy.

I'll have more in this tomorrow.

Rod  

I Saw Jesus In My Hash Browns Take The Wheel!

Talk about a surprise.

Here I was eating my breakfast and all of a sudden I look down and there is Jesus, the King of Kings, the Heir of all things, the Lord of All, the Source of Eternal Salvation staring up at me.  I jumped back in shock.  OH MY!!   


Then Milo jumps up and tries to eat Jesus!  NO MILO!!!  DON"T EAT JESUS!! 

After my shock I immeadielty started to think of what he was trying to tell me.  I believe it was a way for him to make me some money so I felt eBay would be the ticket.  Thank you Jesus!

If you would wish to purchase a copy of Hashbrown Jesus go to this eBay page

BTW - if you want your own Hash brown Jesus he is in Crystal Farms SouthWest Style Hashbrowns.  They are REALLY good even without Jesus!


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It's NOT McDonalds that is making you eat more!!!  


Researchers, with absolutely nothing else to do have been studying paintings of The Last Supper.  It seems as the ages go by the serving sizes have been increasing.   In fact in the last 1000 years the main course has increases in size by 69%, loafs of bread 23% plate size 63%.  In fact a coworker who I shall call "Cathy" noticed that in the painting of The Last Supper by Lucas Cranach the Elder they seem to be eating a puppy! 

The Last Puppy

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I mention food because yesterday some of you MIGHT have noticed that I did not blog.  This is because I had a call back on bloodwork. Seems one of my readings was high and they were concerned.  My sugar level was at 136 and they thought I had to have a hemoglobin test to see just how close I was to dieing.

So I was told I needed to fast for 12 hours starting Sunday night.

I started to binge eat and drink for 12 hours to make up for the time I would not be eating OR drinking while I slept and Monday at 7:30 I was having some guy force a needle up my arm looking for a drop of blood.

The last person that took my blood was awesome. I didn't even feel it and it took 5 seconds.  YESTERDAY - wow - I could feel the needle ripping through my vain slowly.  WONDERFUL!!  THANK YOU!

They took my blood pressure and it was 110 over 60 and my pulse was 62.  I was barely alive.  It seems on my last bloodwork  every one of my stats were great except my good cholesterol was low-ish and my sugar lever was "elevated" as they called it. (Some might call it freakishly high).

At noon I got my results and I'm not going to die.  My hemoglobin came back a stellar at 5.6 so I'm good to go back onto my all white food diet!
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The more I look at my Hashbrown Jesus it is looking more and more like either Miley Cyrus or James Brolin (who could sort of look like Jesus.

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Anybody watch Dancing With The Stars and Wannabe's last night?  We did (for some reason) and I tell ya - I THINK I could beat Buzz Aldren in a dance marathon.  I'm sure Ashly Costa was thrilled to have Buzz as a partner. Actually Buzz was cute but he seems to have slowed down a bit after he hit 80 years old. 

Evan Lysacek the gold medal skater was funny as he never looked at his partner - it was more like a singles competition with some woman following him around.
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Of course the big news was in the Columbus Journal about some guy urinating on the Police Station at 6:30 in the evening.  "He appeared to be intoxicated"  AND AND  it's against City Ordinances to pee on the Police Station.   Our new Police Chief Danial Meister came down hard and is going to send a message to other urinateors to pick a different building next time and peeing on the police station is just bad judgment. 

Oddly two hours after "the event" the same guy was found to be disorderly and police were called to the scene.

I better stop while I'm not getting EVERY ONE mad.  

Have a great Tuesday
Rod

Don't Frackalize Me Bro!

How are your brackets!!! I picked Murry State!!!!!  YEA BABY!!!   The problem is that I picked them to win another game . .against UTEP! , not Butler. My biggest losers were, of course Georgetown but they were only going to the semis and would lose to Ohio State and Marquette who whould lose to West Virginia in the Semi's.

I was 9-7 overall.   I have Wisconsin losing to Kentucky in the Semi's also. I new I should not have picked Sand Diego to beat Tennessee. Today I need Missouri to beat Clemson and Utah St to beat Texas A&M (sorry guys)

Final four, Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky, Baylor.
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Take a look at what happened to the snow cover from March 4th to March 17th. 

Speaking of snow - meh!   MAYBE an inch of wet snow on the grass - nothing more. There will be no FOUR INCHES as they were trying to tell us a few days ago. 

Of course with that flashing above you I fear some of you are now going into convulsions!
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It was so nice out I I decided to get to the driving range and hit some balls.  My goal is to actually golf better this year.  Seems last year I took a year off from actually caring how I did!  It was the first year NOT playing in the Nine Springs League and I honestly think I needed to just get a away from golf.  OH, I played but I did not put too much thought or effort into it.  

So last night I hit about 50 balls and actually tried to get my weight going the right direction (not falling backwards).  I think I did well.  In fact I did pretty darn good for hitting off a mat. I started with a hook and slowly straightened the balls out. AND more importantly - I was falling FORWARD.  Of course once I hit a real course and have a target I'll tighten up instead of wailing all loosy.

Kestrel Ridge is in great shape.  Last year was the 1st year they were never closed for more then a half a day from water.  Typically they would get an inch of rain and be closed for a week but they have really worked on the course.  The new Sup has done a great job wit hthe drainage problem.  Columbus has suck a messed up water table. So close to the serface. 

HOWEVER - today I can't move.  My back hurts and my pecs hurt.  I guess I have not used THOSE muscles for a while.

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And before I leave you for the weekend - something completely different.

Some bizaare Black Eyed Susans . . Fractalized!  Think what this would look like 20x30!!  :-) 

Have a weekend!
Rod

Columbus man WINS World Ice Fishing Championships

YEA BABY - BRING IT!!

Doug Bussia from Columbus WI won a Gold Medal in the 2010 Olympics of Ice Fishing last Sunday up dare in Rhinelander. The seventh annual World Ice Fishing Championships involved 11 countries. He said his secret was that his team was familiar with the fish (crappies) "A lot of the teams are used to fishing along the bottom, so since crappies are notorious for rising in the water column they ended up missing them,". Since the other countries involved had never fished for crappies it was a home water advantage. (The American team came in last in Poland last year).
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Weather - bye bye amazing weather. Have you noticed that the talking weather heads are now backtracking a little? Not as much snow as they were predicting. Of course since this is Boys Basketball Tournament time people will talk about the storm for YEARS when in reality, this is normal spring weather.

Next week will be sort of wet and in the middle 40s - normal weather.

Speaking of the Winter of 2009/10 here are the official maps.

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Lots of talk in Waterloo about the High Speed rail. It will basically cut the city into two pieces with sound walls, fencing and closing of intersections going up! Waterloo ain't too happy about the High Speed Rail.

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Soon you will see my postcards in Walgreens again. In high level open door across the counter talks with high level management I will have a postcard rack on the counter (soon). The Columbus Travel Center is my next step. As for the Wisconsin State Capitol. It seems that they do not allow any digitally manipulated photos to be sold. I have news for them - the ones that are selling NOW are manipulated (and are sort of bland actually).

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The big thing in my head is a show that I believe I'm the only one that watches it. Caprica. Best hard Science Fiction show on the tube (hmmmmmm tube, sort of like calling a CD an "album".) Anyone remember Lake Street Station in Madison? Pretty soon people will say "Remember Blockbuster?"

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On this date in 1953 the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee. An interesting thing here is that Milwaukee County Stadium and it's parking lot was one of the catalyst for the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to LA.  The success of the Milwaukee Braves and their huge parking lot was something Walter O'Malley saw as a big money maker as he had basically zero parking lot.

If you ever get to see the special "Lords of Flatbush" it's a fascinating story of Dem Bums.

Also - something close to my heart is that in 1954 just a couple months after I was born Parker Pen in Janesville won a 5-cent-an-hour wage increase in contract negotiations. After the raise, male employees made a base pay of $1.95 an hour while their female counterparts were paid $1.62 an hour.

In case you are wondering. A nickle raise would be about $0.40 in today's money so they went from $15.06 to $15.46. About a 2.5% raise.

My dad worked for Parker for 20 some years which seemed like a long long time to work for one company (I'm on year 22 now for a major Government). Again - I'm like my dad.

BTW - that is my dad, my older brother Ralls and I've been told that is me but, I don't know, I think this kid was stolen my gypsy's and I replaced the original Rod.  I think my real name was Octavio. 

Have a great Thursday.

Rod

Top of da mornin'n to ya!

According to Micheal Scott today is the closest day the Irish will ever get to having their own Christmas.

Today the world celebrates yet another Catholic holiday, Lá Fhéile Pádraig.

Patrick's father and grandfather were deacons in the Church. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. He escaped and returned to Britain, became a bishop and later returned to Ireland to "save" the Irish.

One of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. After teaching God's word for 30 years he died on March 17, 461 AD.

Originally BLUE was the color of Saint Patrick but in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 against British rule (an idea that was influenced by the ideas of the American revolution) the solders, on March 17th decided to wear green as a political statement in hopes of catching attention with their unusual fashion gimmick.

Some places like Chicago pour copious amounts of green die into the river- in Madison they go all out!

DAMN IT - I had to use that photo for the holiday.

My original "blog thought" was about how humans are blessed with randomness. Everyday we walk outside and see a beautiful random sky.

Yesterday I was walking to my car and the high cirrus clouds really gave everything a wonderful depth and I could not help but take a photo. 

The last two days driving to work has been about 30 minutes before sunrise and the horizon has been so beautiful! 
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HA - we're warmer then Florida! Everyone on Spring breaks are colder then it is in Wisconsin then they will come back this weekend to . . . . garbage spring.  I see many places are calling for gloom and doom. Well - 3 degrees below normal ain't THAT bad.  I see all the talking weather heads on TV are saying low 30's and 2-4 inches of snow.  I doubt it very much.  Remember they want you to tune in and watch the weather, the worse it sounds the more you will watch.  Also remember that if they go extreme and it does not go there, no one remembers.  If they say the REAL forecast and it does go extreme everyone says they missed the forecast. 

-----------------------------
Speaking of beer.

I DO NOT DRINK GREEN BEER - This is beer abuse and it's just wrong! 

The entire city of Madison gets about 1 case of the beer I savored last night.  I drank one of 4 bottles and loved it.  A Fullers 2008 Vintage Ale.  This ale will continue to grow and change flavors over the next 12 year.

It was Dark Gold with a big foamy two finger head that settled quickly The smell was of apple with sweet malt. The taste was very rich with a tangy caramel apple taste, some alcohol and more sweet malt and a dry finish. I took this shot just before I took my first taste.  I see my table is a tad crooked LOL

have a great Green Day

Rod

Columbus applying to be Googleized!

At the moment there is no broad band (is that one or two words) in Columbus. We can get fast internet from Cha Cha Charter which has worked out nice for $38 a month (if you are paying more you are getting screwed) but now it seems Google is looking for a community to welcome Google with open arms and have "FOR FREE" Google install their new fiber optic lines.  One of their requirements is that want it to be hassle free. No whining, no complaining you are getting something no one in the world has  . . . .FOR FREE!!  

Charter has speeds for about 5 meg per second downloading. Google would have 1 GIG per second downloading. So the powers in Columbus think that we should apply. Madison, Milwaukee, Marshfield and Appleton have applied along with some other towns in other states. The Mayor in Duluth  Don Ness jumped into Lake Superior.  We will THROW our mayor into the Crawfish river!!!   HOWEVER - Columbus has a lot going for it even it it does not fit the requirements.

We are a "green" city. Columbus was awarded a grant of about $150,000 to help make the town the FIRST town in Wisconsin to have all LED Street Lights (not stop lights, street lights). Columbus is gaining a lot of buzz around the state as we have been designated as a Energy Independent Community.

In the March 2010 issue of Wisconsin Builders Columbus is front and center.

The article by Melissa Rigney Baxter reads




Full speed ahead


Columbus takes citywide approach to going green 

Drivers have two parking options in Columbus: with or without a plug.

A leader in sustainable living, Columbus, a city of 5,000 people in south-central Wisconsin, is one of 23 communities that received grants through the state’s Energy Independent Community Partnership pilot program.

Deciding how and where to spend the money is difficult due to the lack of direction, said Steve Sobiek, director of economic development and energy sustainability for Columbus.

“There are no road maps,” he said. “We are the first generation of leaders, and there are no examples in Wisconsin of doing this. We have to accept the fact that there’s a risk, but we need to mitigate those risks and do our homework.”

Columbus was one of the first pilot program communities in the state, Sobiek said. The city aggressively mines many sources of grant money to help meet the state goals without burdening taxpayers, Sobiek said.

For instance, a $225,000 Community Development Block Grant, paid for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, helped cover the cost of converting all of the city’s streetlights to LED. The conversion is projected to save $10,000 and 221,908 kilowatt hours per year.

“We were able to procure the grant so the city was not on the hook for $225,000,” Sobiek said.
In his dual role as leader of economic development and energy sustainability, Sobiek is breaking new ground for Wisconsin. His is the only office in the state to combine those areas, he said.

In that position, Sobiek aggressively pursues a blend of economic growth and sustainability. His work is in conjunction with a committee of key community members who form the Greater Columbus Energy Task Force, which includes the past and current mayor, private employers, the local hospital president and representation from the local school district.

“They really set the tone,” Sobiek said. “We’ve had a lot of progress for exciting programs.”
The city, for example, landed grant money to help pay for two Prius hybrid plug-in vehicles and an electric truck for public works functions, moves made to reduce fuel consumption, he said. The city also was among the first to adopt a neighborhood electric vehicle ordinance allowing electric cars on city streets, and the parking lot at City Hall is equipped with electrical outlets.

Bridging the gap between municipal and commercial interests, a public-private partnership between Columbus Water & Light and Brookstone Homes is building up to 10 energy-efficient homes in the city to educate the public on green building practices. The first house was completed in December and sold in January.

The city’s residential construction permits held steady in 2009, Sobiek said, which shows the city can promote sustainable practices to save energy and spur economic growth.

“We’ve been really successful encouraging economic development with energy sustainability,” Sobiek said.

“We’re bringing people from the region to Columbus.”
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There is a lot of things going on behind the scenes that are not newsworthy but a steady moving forward. There is a new dog food plant being built in the Town of Columbus (going towards Fall River) and while it's not IN the City it will create jobs and growth.   What I like about SIM CITY Columbus is that the leaders have been visiting other small towns all around Wisconsin looking at what works and what is not working. getting ideas on what other towns have done and getting first hand experience on the let downs, draw backs and victories in other small town Wisconsin communities. 

The one problem Columbus has with getting new businesses to locate here is that . . why should they?  Sun Prairie is just south, Beaver Dam is just north, why would you put your business in a small town.  

So the leaders had to figure out an clever angle.  Let's go "green".  Let's promote our little city as a community that cares about the environment.  

BRILLIANT!!

I tell ya - I'm completely impressed with the direction Cbus is heading.  Mayor Bob is doing a fine job, yea - he is conservative but that is not a bad thing. I call myself a liberal but that does not mean I'm anti-conservative. What I like about him is that he actually listens and thinks about what he is being told.  Yea - odd right?  Someone that uses common sense?

I now rest the subject. 
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I have a request to all gardeners. I am looking for gardens that will have very late day sun so the flowers can be back lit.  If you know or see any of these gardens that have clear ground to their west let me know so I can watch for flowers. 

I have two photos below that are back lit sunlight  - one you have seen before but not THIS iteration. A few of you that are signed up for my email list will get a copy of this without the watermark (still low res though).  Sorry about the water mark but there comes a point where I have to protect my images.  I've been finding a few copy's on the net lately.  (I'm not talking about you Mr Kraemer - no worries LOL).

And another one  . . . . well - I thought I had the other one but I grabbed the wrong folder - dang it. I worked on it for hours last night!  grrrrrr  

OH - nevermind - I found it..

These and others will be available on canvas.

You know this whole art fair deal is chock full of logistics and decision making - seems easy from the outside but once you actually start to work towards something it's a pretty big undertaking.  I'm actually getting a mock up of my canopy to see what I need to fill it.  $CHIHG $CHING!!  Anybody want to sponsor me LOL  I could use a 1% business loan!  I have much more respect for Art Fair people then I did a few months ago. It's a lot of work!!

At least I'm getting a Credit Card Processor - I can get my own cash from me soon.  If I need some money I'll just use my machine and get some. 

And speaking of weather.


 I suppose all of you have heard the word snow in the forecast for this weekend.  Almost makes you want to watch the weather more doesn't it.  Well - this weekend will be basically like last Saturday!  No big deal. the ground will be so warm IF there are snow flurries they will melt.  The LOW will be 30 degrees!!!   It'll be windy and cool - LIKE SPRING!!! 

Rod

Generational attitudes

Well - here Columbus had a Beer Fest but I didn't attend.  I could not justify spending a beautiful day inside drinking beer for $50 when I could be outside  . . . . drinking BETTER beer and working on the yard.  It's not often you can get a start on yard work in March.  The last thing I wanted to do was sit inside thinking about all the work I could be doing outside.

From other home brewers I hear it was pretty bad anyway. 
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In other Columbus news there is the 1st meeting of the Columbus Historical Society Tuesday at 6:00 at West James Gallery. RSVP 623-5325.

On a side note - WHAT THE HELL is happening to the Udey dam NOW. Does anybody really know?  My god! let's just blow it up and be done with it.  Now we find out OTHER towns want to get rid of it because by fixing it it raises the water level and kills crops.

sigh.
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We were walking back from getting coffee and for some reason Fall Out Shelters came up.  This kind of ties in with the below bunch of words I guess.

My parents had sort of a half-ass Fallout Shelter in the 60s. I'm not sure how long we could have survived, maybe a couple weeks.  It was fun to play in though. I did hear them talk about that time in the early 60's when they were pretty sure America would have a nuclear war.   Remember "Duck and Cover"?  we would all hide under our desks.  Yea - that would work.

Actually I have heard that the government knew none of these things would work but it made the government LOOK like they had control of the situation.   I wonder what we are being told NOW that is easing our nerves but in reality we're on the brink.

Every time I hear a tiny news blip about something odd, I always wonder if in 1 year I will say "I remember when I heard this for the first time".  The downfall of civilization.

The one thing I AM very very concerned over is something that is slowly getting more and more news play.  BEES.  People!!  this is a REAL problem.   No bees, no crops!!!  And no one knows why they are dieing.  If we continue to lose 30% a year . . . .

It seems the worker bees leave the hive and never come back.  The current thinking is that the worker bees know they are sick and fly off to die knowing that they do not want to infect the rest of the hive.

Scientists know the symptoms but not the cause. CORN could be a problem. Corn Syrup could be killing bee's (what does THAT tell you) and it's a combination of a number of things.  One thing is that bee keepers that did not do a good job with bees (slumlord bee keepers) are going out of business and the ones that really take care of their bees are fairing better.

You will see a rise in the price of Almonds this and it's because of the lack of bees. What's next.  Worry about the bees.  
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Has anyone been watching the Tom Brokow special on Baby Boomers?  Pretty interesting.   A Baby Boomer is the generation born between 1946 to 1964.  This is the generation that was born after WWII, 76 million of us.  It's the first generation that actually thought of itself as different.  We want to do things OUR way and not how our parents did it.  

That got me thinking about other "generations.  After the Boomers there is Generation X, born 61 to 81ish.  This generation had relative world piece and their perspective is shaped by the end of the cold war, the fall of the Berlin wall, and US economic problems such as the 1973 oil crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the early 1980's recession, and the savings and loan crisis, all instilling a sense of economic uncertainty.

Generation X has the highest education levels but is the first generation where they actually are making less then their parents at the same age. In fact men make 12% less than their fathers had at that same age.

Then there is Generation Y. Sometime called "Echo Boomers" or the Millennial Generation, 1982 and 1995. Instant communication technologies such as the internet, email, texting, and IM and YouTube, Facebook explain the Millennials' reputation for being somewhat peer-oriented due to easier facilitation of communication through technology.(not my words . . way to large for my vocabularity)

Also called the "Trophy Generation", these dudes are way into competitive sports, as well as many other aspects of life, where "no one loses" and everyone gets a "Thanks for Participating" trophy which symbolizes some perceived sense of entitlement.

I just find all this fascinating. One of the big problems is that as Generation Z get older and deeper into the workforce they seem to feel they are entitled to certain goals because . . they have never lost in the past because everyone is a winner.

ANYWAY - this all comes from watching a special and I got carried away with questions.

Anybody watching "Pacific" on HBO - pretty good.

OK - gotta work.

Cheers
Rod

Wisconsin-Past, Present and Future

Join my email list - just put JOIN in the subject - nuff said

RodMelotte@photo.net

Also - I'd like to really thank you guys for submitting information on Art Fairs, Spring Green, Milwaukee and the few others.  the one problem I'm having is many shows are juried  and the organizers want a photo of my canopy all set up to make sure I'm worthy plus images of my work. Seriously, Im not sure what I shoud send??? And since I don't have a canopy yet it makes it tough.  This will be a learning year for this adventure.

I'd like to thank koobaddog  our loco expert on the Capitol for posting this in teh comments yesterday and I thought it deserved it's only place for more to see.

I plan on getting some very close up's of this work so you can see the amazing details 

Click on images to increase there size.

The title of the work is "Wisconsin-Past, Present and Future" completed by Edwin Blashfield in 1909.

It spans the entire front wall of the Assembly Chamber and measures around 37" x 18 (could be way off on that) . The piece reads from right to left. The past is respresented by Native Americans shielding their eyes from the future -it's looking pretty bleak for them -and the various soldiers from wars in which Wisconsin had troops (Civil War, Spanish American).

In the center there is a seated figure whose name is, "Wisconsin" - of course. She is surrounded by the original explorers of the land (Marquette, et.al.) and 3 women who symbolize the 3 bodies of water that surround our state: Lakes MI, Superior, and the Baltic Sea.... Ok, the Mississippi River. (I use this tactic during my tours to see if the kids are paying attention. 8 times out of 10, they have no reaction.) Note from Rod - because they are looking at the naked women!

The woman standing in front of WI and pointing over to her left is "Today" - she is showing WI how her state is growing and becoming industrialized (on the far left horizon between the trees there is a dome, and more to the right, smokestacks). The people behind her are those of the day - families, farmers, miners.

At the far left stands "Future" in the pink blouse. Beside her is "Conservation" pointing to the tree and telling Future, that if she wants her state to grow and be prosperous, then she should watch out for her natural resources. Which, in 1909, was pretty profound on the artist's part.

That's a big nutshell. Sorry, I get carried away.

Note - I am finding it very hard not to insert myself in there somewhere in my beer costume, SO FAR I have managed to stay respectful!  
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The snow streak ended at 93 days tied for a 6th place finish on the all time consecutive snow on the ground list and tied with 1971.  We had six inches of snow on Saturday, two inches on Tuesday and a trace on Wednesday.

With spring here I think I'll plant my garden this weekend, you don't think it's too early do you?

Seriously though looking ahead I don't see anything cold at all for the next 10 days. Canada is pretty warm and the only cold air north is in Alaska so I'll be watching for movement there but . . . nothing is happening yet.

So with spring here I have been looking at my garden photos.  As you may or may not know I was not a gardener until I moved to Columbus and I had a clean slate for a yard (not even grass).  So I started obsessing about perennials and gardens.

I did not even consider my gardens as a photographic opportunity when I started, hell I was just happy ANYTHING grew.

The below is of Garden #3.  I call it the butterfly garden with the clay garden behind it.  My buddy and I built the retaining wall and so far no one has been injured. The plan is to extend it this spring by about three feet.

The funny thing is how many golf balls I find inside the garden from Kestrel Ridge ( we saw a Kestrel Hawk this morning flying by) . This will be the 3rd year for this garden.

This next shot is one of DJ's moms Day lilies that I brought from the old house with purple cone flowers and Threadleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata) which are one of my favorite. The clay garden is 3 years old and I'll have to show you the Coreopsis canal sometime. Since it's on the bottom of the hill it gets drenched with a ton of water in heavy rain.  So I built a canal that channels the water safely through the Coreopsis like a little river. 

This macro shot is from a random Annual.  As I continue to terraform our yard I took a few packets of random wildflower seeds and sprinkled them where I'll plant Jolly Bee Geraniums this year (I wanted to get the soil going and reduce run off). It turned out a little more "wild" then expected but there were some pretty pretty flowers.

Sierra got out one day and she has only been caught once (DJ).  When my buddy comes up he ALWAYS leaves a door open or she has learned that when Blake goes out she can hide UNDERNEATH him and scoot out.

Here she is acting like a Tiger.

And while I was looking through my multiple harddrives I came across this photo.  This was another one of those places I saw and stored away the location for a future photo.  The first time I saw this field I was driving home from golf and as I drove past it I knew there was a photo there at some point in time !

So last summer on the hottest day of the year (near 100) I saw a cloud and since we were in the area we drove a few extra miles and I took this.  It's actually a High Dynamic Range photo but had some processing flaws I could not overcome so I added some MORE processing and I like it. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and you have a chance to pick up all the dog poop that is now appearing in your yard.

And for anybody that see's me on the street - no I'm not joining the Marines. Just a short hair cut

Do you remember the days when there were ad's on TV reminding you that you should know where your kids were?

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?  They were always on at 9:00.

Rod

The Ghost of the General Assembly

The Doomsday Seed Bank which is dug into Platåberget Mountain which is near the village of Longyearbyen, Svalbard** off the coast of Norway added three new seeds this last week.  A mold-resistant bean, a German pink tomato and a wild strawberry plucked from the flanks of a Russian volcano (Russia has volcano's?) .  I HOPE they have dandelions and quack grass seeds.

The reason you need those two seeds is in case of a natural OR man made disaster happens which kills all the plant life on earth, one of the most important things will be to build up industry again and  one way would be to put dandelions and quack grass everywhere so company's like Trugreen will be able to lead the way to recovery. There first job will be to kill all the dandelions and quack grass and you know THAT ain't going to happen. 

** I'm pretty sure they picked a place with so many letters so no one can actually pronounce it. No one can  ask directions when looking for the place. 
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koobaddog - I have something for you but your email address in your book seems to be written in some American dialect I can not understand to perhaps some Scandinavian country's language. HOWEVER - I see the book you let me borrow is actually Chuck Chvala's book as he has his mug shot plastered on the back. Maybe I'll contact him.

ANYWAY - koobaddog is a tour guide at the Wisconsin Capitol and she had some interesting talking points when she was looking at my images.

One was the ghost of the Assembly Chamber.  SO, I had to go back and look for myself and take some photos.  What I had forgotten ALREADY was that I could spend a lifetime in that building taking images of all the unseen art that is hidden in shadows so . . my work is not done.

I have to find a REAL place to exhibit this project . . . before I'm dead.

So after work I went to the Assembly Chamber and set up shop (before I forget,  koobaddog, you will have to show me how I can get in the balcony. From the main floor there is a glare on the  mural, I need to be upstairs). Also, think how my canvas works would be with some written information next to it explaining the details and interesting facts.  People would just soak that up!!

This is what the mural looks like from about the middle of the Assembly.

NOTE - you will see some dots - those are not dust. I have been told those are happy spirits from the past that float around. Although you will hear some "techno" people say they are shadows from the diaphragm in the lens caused by the bright skylight because each dot has 6 sides!  Yea - good one, if it was only that easy we would have all the answers!  Move along!    

While I was taking this shot which takes about 3 minutes and 5 separate images I was looking around and noticed the Eagles in the corners. They are in darker shade and the contrast between the sky light and the Eagles are huge and a  real problem.  To me they look like they are covering their privates like in soccer.   I knew Eagles did not play soccer in Wisconsin way back when those things were designed so I had to look into the birds when I was finished with the mural. And why do eagles have wings AND arms.

So now that I had the entire mural I had to go deeper to get the ghost.  As I was setting up for the ghost shot a tour of name tagged suits came in and I THINK the tour guide was an Assembly person because she said  "this is where I sit"  (and I took all my stuff off her chair).

So they all started looking for the ghost and I helped out and pointed.  It seems that once the mural was finish someone said "we need a Badger in the mural".  I'm sure this pleased Edwin Blashfield  who was probably THRILLED and said like " Well LA DE FREAKING DAA!   I will gladly put a freaking badger in the freaking mural and I am so glad you thought of this once I was freaking finished".

HOWEVER - because he or somebody had ADD and everything has to be symmetrical in the Capitol something has to vanish.  So a Civil War hero was painted over and replaced with a short-legged, heavy-set omnivore of the weasel family. And all the politicians were happy because there was another weasel in the Assembly.

HOWEVER - in 1970ish a varnish was put on the mural and it was turning yellow so in 1988 they worked on taking the varnish off and in doing so . . . . . .the Civil war dude started to appear.

You can see his hat and a little of his face on the left knee just above the badger.

The Ghost of the Assembly Chamber

I then turned around and took some quick shots of one of the Soccer Eagles to see why he was covering his privates and it seems perhaps it's just the way he looms from 30 feet below him.  I don't know, seems strange.

All I know is that I have a lot more work to do in the Capitol.

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I received an email yesterday from a former friend telling me that perhaps I should not blog if the only thing I can talk about are the RED HOT MILWAUKEE BUCKS!!   He suggested perhaps Toe Fungus would be more entertaining.

Even though he is now a FORMER friend I do appreciate requests because I know many people probably want to know all about toe fungus!  Of course I know toe fungus as Dermatophytic onychomycosis which is what everyone in the Melotte clan calls it when we are sitting around the supper table talking about it. 

Did you know that 8% of the population has Dermatophytic onychomycosis?  Perhaps one of the doctors that read the blog can pipe in this fascinating conversation.

As I was doing my deep research on this common problem . . . I just got grossed out.

For more information visit your local library.  The easiest way to get rid of toe fungus is to just rip out your toenail and be done with it.

Have a great day
Rod

A Snirt for your Thoughts!

According to United States House Committee on Agriculture, General Farm Bill of 1985: Hearings Before the Committee on Agriculture, page 924- Snirt, a mixture of snow and dirt is the term popularly applied to the windrows of dirt along the roads during a winter.


I'd like to thank koobadog for coming to my building and explaining some thing s about my prints! Some pretty fascinating subjects and I would urge all of you that if you have not taken a tour of the Wisconsin State Capitol you really should.

When I was on our 6th floor putting up my prints up a woman with a British accent came up and was marveling at my work and said that more people should pay attention to our Capitol. She said "In Europe you have to pay to tour a building as beautiful as our State Capitol".

Now there are more things I must photogize and in the next few days you might see "The Ghost of the General Assembly"

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You can tell with the photo on the top of this blog that I'm a little desperate for things to photograph.  I've sunken to taking shots of black garbage snow!

This is not the best time for taking images so when this happens I start to play around and "practice" techniques and ideas just to see what works, what does not, what sucks and what's "cool".

The next few images actually look better 20x30 (I assume) and are not meant to be small but . . . very few of you have 30 inch computer screens.  But - I'm putting them out there any who.

Day lilies from my Clay Garden

Tulips from the Capitol

much prettier then snirt
  -----------------------------------------------

It seems the earthquake in Chili shifted a few things including the Falkland Islands by 10 feet so expect your GPS units to be a little screwy when you drive there. 
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I'm sort of laughing at the Brewers in Arizona.  Seems our weather the last few days is better then in Arizona!  That played in 43 degree and spitting rain yesterday!

And lastly - how about those Milwaukee Bucks!  Winning 10 of last 11 and beating Boston last night and solid for the Playoff's!

I have nothing else!

Rod

Use it or lose it.

A coworker made the comment that his Prius has more computing power then the Apollo Space Capsule. I mentioned that he probably did not need to use his slide ruler that much in his car but then I started to think about using a slide ruler while driving . . . .are there any laws against this? Maybe someone should get a bill in congress forbidding the use of a slide ruler while driving.
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They say you never learn if you never make a mistake. I say this is rubbish because if you never make a mistake . . what's the problem. Just don't make a mistake.  That saying only comes from people that make mistakes to make them feel better.  I mention this because obviously the producers of the OSCARS have never made a mistake. I know this because people who have practiced and have a life long commitment to making mistakes . . such as I,  have a lot of practice at either covering up, said mistake, of making excuses that are plausible.

So when during the death part of the awards where they show all the movie people that passed away they forgot a few pretty big time people. Farrah Fawcett (19 movies) who was in 19 movies, Bee Arther who was in a few movies that were nominated for Oscars and Henery Gibson who was the leading man in "Nashville".

So their excuse was "we ran out of time". WHAT!! YOU RAN OUT OF TIME?   Do you mean that James Tayor's song was two minutes and thirty seconds so some one could not make the cut?  Was that it? OR maybe you were afraid the show would go to long by that extra 15 seconds? Yea -I understand THAT one.

Why not a 'WOW WE FORGOT" and apologize. Micheal Jackson was recognized for his seven movie (notice the tepid applause). I'm pretty sure if it was a time thing you could have dropped Jackson an no one would have noticed.

Fawcett AGAIN got screwed by Jackson.  Not only does Jackson die on the same exact day Farrah dies, taking away Farrahs death thunder, but then HE get's mentioned and she gets NOTHING!   

sigh!

Speaking of movies! Alice in Wonderland!! HOLY CRAP!! Johnny Depp!! YOU ARE A GOD for Disney. Largest IMAX opening weekend of all time CRUSHING AVATAR. The largest March opening EVER for regular movies. It made 30 million MORE then most forecasts! Alice was the 6th biggest opening weekend of all time and Johnny now owns the three biggest movies in Disney history.

The movie itself was attended by 55% female with 54% under 25 and received an A- from those people. Over all only 9% hated the movie while 55% gave it an "A" and 25% a "B".

One big thing was this gave the industry faith in 3D technology.

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I took my mom to the new DOC yesterday and we came away with her feeling pretty good. All of her ailments were from the fact that she is getting old. NOT some scary problems like her old Doctor had her believing. The old Doc would keep saying things like "let's go in and look around" type stuff. The new Doc says things like, "you are getting up there in age and while there are problems they are not life threatening". She came away feeling MUCH better.

The main thing was to keep moving and keep getting exercise. When older people break a hip the the real problems come from the fact that they are laid up in bed and THAT speeds up everything.  KEEP MOVING!  Use it or lose it.

So I tool all the chairs out of my moms home.

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Madison/Columbus now is in the top 10 for most amount of consecutive days with snow on the ground. We are now 7th at 97 days. We can probably get to 6th beating 1971 if we make it to tomorrow but then it gets tough. To get the 5th we have to get to Monday and that ain't going to happen.

Look at this massive storm heading our way!

 Do ya like all the fog?  You do realize that when you enter fog you are shifting realities a little. Fog is caused my a shift  in reality streams.  Things in your life are just a little different then when you entered the fog.  You enter fog and your life is heading in one direction and you exit and it is just a little different.  You might not even notice any chance but . . .it's there.

Yea - most people think it is humid warm air over cold ground but come one.  It's a Space/Time warp for sure.
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Have a great Tuesday
Rod