82 to 58 in 10 miles

Once again I'm on battery power and sharing so it sort of short. Yesterdays blog was during breakfast and while I did a spelling check (except for the first 5 words I guess) I didn't do a grammar check and reread so I'm sure balderdash had a field day.

Today we woke up, had breakfast and it was already 82 degrees. SO - we decided to go to the other side of the bay (Fish Creek to Baileys Harbor), the cooler Lake Michigan side and have a day there. As we started to drive the temp fell from 82 to 80 to 78 to 76 and we were wringing our hands in glee . . . .74 . . 72 . . .70 . . 68 and now we were closing the windows a little . . 66 . . 64 . 62 . . brrrrr it's a little cool . . . 60 and then as we near Cave Point we see weirdness. Everything is fuzzy and it's 58 with deep fog.

PERFECT for photos.

So here are a few from the Cave Point area. The funny thing is that this is also where the dunes are - a great beach and many families loaded with flotation and devices and sunscreen all looking worried and COLD!!

 And of course a fish boil!

That's all for now - it's dark - I can't see the keys - I have a lot of photos but a lot of work to do also!

Cheers
Rod

Not Good Luck

I'm not wtiring a huge bolg today because I'm worried about battery power. The place we're staying has those 2 prong outlets and my computer has a 3 prong. It's Sunday and there are no places open to buy one so . . . I'm on battery power.

Can't watch LOST because there are no places up here that have local channels.

Anyway - Saturday DJ and I were at a tiny little wedding in Chicago - the Old town District. My brothers son was getting married. I'll have more photos of this outstanding church later. I can say it's the oldest church in Chicago and at one time was the tallest building in Chicago.

After the wedding we had a few hours to kill so we walked around the OLD Town area and it was really beautiful with blocks and blocks of these kinds of houses. Each place had a little garden in front with ground covers and I noticed that many houses had stairs leading to the front door.

WELL - since the wedding was form a big time Architectural engineer who's son is also a big time Architectural engineer they know all about the WHY.

Seems those cute little gardens were where the pigs used to be kept. Also. the stairs leading to the front door are ACTUALLY leading to the 2nd floor! They raised the street 6 feet since Chicago is actually a marsh. The 1st floor is buried sort of.

ANYWAY - DJ and I are walking down the street and having a loving moment and she say's "We are sure lucky" and swear to God I should have gotten a photo, as the word "lucky" comes out of her mouth a bird SHITS on my head! Said shit bounces off my head and hits my suit. sigh!!

We headed to the reception which as you can see by the photo was a small informal affair. The cool thing was that I could look up from my table and see this view.

We left the reception about 9:00 and got back to Columbus about 12:30 Sunday morning. Had a sleep and then took off north to Door County where we are now on a "business" trip.

SO - until tomorrow

Have a great Monday

Momma! I'm Gonna Choke You Out!

I'm hearing it all over - MOMMA I'M GONNA CHOKE YOU OUT!! In fact I think I heard Obama saying it under his breath when speaking about the BP dudes.
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There is a 20% chance of seeing northern lights in this part of Wisconsin tonight! Looking at the WKOW-TV 27 Storm Tracker We've Got You Covered Personal Weather Site it says the sky's will be clear to mostly cloudy!   WOW - talk about narrowing in the forecast on that one - going out on a limb are we Bob?  I'm Gonna Choke You Out Bob!

I should be getting my Thermo/Hydrometer for my weather station so that will be back to being fully functional again and updating to the web every 10 minutes.

Speaking of weather - Check out this FREAKING INSANE hail storm - Good Gravy!! At least stay tuned until about a minute and a half in!   The guy filming it did apologize for saying "Oh My God!" over and over and over but . . . I think it was warranted! 




The last time we hit 90 was June 25th last year. We have a chance this weekend.
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Golfed last night at Door Creek and if I could make it off the tee with greater frequency I would do much better. On #2 I'm hitting three off the woman's tee, that was an adventure. The odd thing was that I had to chip it ONTO the woman's tee just to get a shot.

In reality my 3 Wood (also known as my get out of jail wood) was great. So while my tee-off's seemed to be sort of random my 2nd shot was outstanding. In fact I hit the green from 180+ three times.Ttoo bad I had a couple 30 foot chip shots that went 5 feet! SIGH!

On the last hole the sun was setting and once I finished my 3 putt for a 5 I went to the car to get my camera.

Here is a shot just off the 9th hole at Door Creek.

137 years ago today Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis are given a patent to create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world's most famous garments: blue jeans.  One of the most wonderful things in the world is blue jean technology.
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So there was a congressional resolution apologizing for killing all the Indians and so forth.   WE'RE SORRY FOR KILLING AND TAKING YOUR LANDS  SORRY!!

The actual wording was yada yada yada . . . acknowledges years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies and the breaking of covenants" by the U.S. government, and "apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native Peoples for many instances of violence, maltreatment and neglect inflicted on" American Indians.

I suppose now BP will have to have an "I'm Sorry Statement" also and everything will be all good again!

I'm 1/4 blood American Indian but I'm registered as 1/8 because when I was born there was (and still is actually) some bias towards American Indians.

One odd thing is that it was viewed that American Indians could not hold liqueur.  The reasoning is that Europeans had centuries of liqueur entering their bodies but for American Indians it was a totally new drug and thus their tolerance was basically . . nil.  Thus . . .I've been working very very hard to get my body tolerated.
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Oh man - I was working on a few photos I took this morning of our Hosta ‘Regal Splendor’ and while it looks cool . . . . some of the photos look like I was taking photos of . . . . a butt hole . . . not exactly the look and feel I was going for! hmmmmmmm

At first I thought oooooo! that looks sexy but then I say ooooo! that looks like ass! Back to the drawing board.

Here  this is better.

Hey - I'll be in Chicago Saturday and was asked for some City Scenes - also I'll be on vacation soon so stay tuned for our newest Amazing Adventure. Not as big as the last one though - The Road trip Across America

OH MAN - the room is all a twitter as we're all getting new colored monitors!! 

I'll leave you with a raddish!

Rod

Trevor Hoffman To Be Shipped to New Orleans to Help Soak Up Oil Spill

MILWAUKEE:  In yet another embarrassing loss to the embarrassing 1st Place Cincinnati Reds and in front of a near sell out crowd of 17,697 the Milwaukee Brewer have shipped their closer, Trevor Hoffman, to New Orleans and the BP Oil Company to be used to help mop up the Oil Spill that has plagued the Gulf Coast for the last month. Manager Ken Macha admitted to reporters that while Hoffman's coveted change-up velocity has been near perfect his fast ball has only been 1 mph greater making it harder to fool opposing batters.

"When you gotta rely in a 80 mph fast ball as your out pitch your gonna be in a world of hurt". 

Macha had planned on using Hoffman to pitch batting practice but TV and Hall of Fame radio personality Bob Uecker, just out of heart surgery, was actually throwing harder then Hoffman in pre game practice. "It's all about the money".  Thus, Hoffman is on a train to the Gulf where he will act as a sponge soaking up oil.

When reporters contacted BP officials they expressed interest in the entire Brewer bullpen to help soak up oil balls. "I think if we could lay the entire bullpen staff end to end we could soak up 36 feet of shoreline.  We can use those chaps more effectively then the Brewers are using them". BP CEO Tony Hayword was heard saying.

Brewer GM Doug Melvin suggested pitching coach Rick Peterson could be thrown in in the deal "He has a lot of hair" Melvin was heard saying. "That can be useful in times like this."

This prompted most of the Brewer non-pitchers to get hair cuts and jump for joy that the bullpen was being bussed south and used for humanitarian purposes.

Rickie Weeks (seen in the back of the photo) just got back from oil soaking duty and is happy to be back with the newly energized Brewers.

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In other news my good friends at NBC4i in Columbus Ohio "Good People make Good Food" had an article on their website titled.


Woman Gets Probation For Choking Groom's Grandma After Wedding Brawl 

So I'm trying to start a new viral buzz phrase which will sweep the nation.  "Momma!  I'm gonna choke you out!"  So here is your homework - today at least once utter that phrase at an appropriate time.   Momma, I'm gonna choke you out!

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I was told just this morning that I should not have mentioned that I have my office equipment booby trapped in case someone thinks that if I'm gone they can grab it.  HA!  it worked!  Now people are looking for the booby traps and will not notice the OTHER things I have going!  I am so freaking clever.  

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Sorry for no report from the CDA meeting Monday night.  My leg was numb from my Basel Cell Carcinoma extraction and I could not make it. DJ says it looks like they took a melon baller to my leg.   I tried to make it but I kept walking in circles trying to get there.
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Did you know that every copier made since 2001 has a hard drive that keeps a copy of what was copied?  So next time you are making a copy of your taxes just know that all that data is on a hard drive that is not yours.

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It's golf league night and I'll see if my round Sunday will carry over.  I was at Yahara and was still in the 30's after 8 holes!

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Chad Ochocinco - class act dude! He did not make the finals in Dancing With The Stars but he took the news with grace and I respect his demeanor. At least he didn't sob or anything! But I wonder if he and Cheryl Burke have anything going?

In other Ohio news (oh man I'm becoming an Ohio suck-up) 261 years ago today - King George II of England grants the Ohio Company a charter of several hundred thousand acres of land around the forks of the Ohio River, thereby promoting westward settlement by American colonists from Virginia. But the BIG news is that tomorrow 504 years ago (where does the time go!!) Christopher Columbus dies.

On August 3, 1492 he set out with three ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta (known of it's beans), and the Nina. On October 12 he sighted land which was the Bahamas and claimed if for Spain, then later in the month, he sighted Cuba which he thought was mainland China. HELLO!!!! The Bahamas and China are not ever close to each other.

THEN in December he landed on Hispaniola, which he thought might be Japan - And we name cities after this guy?? He returned to Spain with gold and Indian slaves. Did you know that the American Indians refused to be slaves so Columbus would cut off their hands?

. . . . . I had about 4 paragraphs written about cruelty and Columbus but erases it. If you want to read about it go here - it's pretty bad.

Columbus and the Native Americans


ANYWAY - have a great Wednesday!

Rod

DAMN YOU VILE CAT!

WELL - I went to see Dr Slashandcut yesterday to get a hole cut in my leg and I never received any pain killer AND I was told my leg would actually not be one foot shorter as I had expected. So now I have to call my Chiropractor Dr Droessler (who is fantastic) and inform him that I won't need a massive realignment.

Did you know your legs take the longest to heal? Fastest is your face.

But this morning as I was getting ready to apply a new band aid to my wound when my cat Milo who HATES coffee saw my full cup sitting on the table, jumped up and calmly knocked it over spilling the entire contents onto my bandages! DAMN YOU VILE CAT!

WHY WHY WHY - he will sniff out coffee and just knock anything over that smells like the magic elixir. He loathes coffee! Is this normal? I know caffeine is poisonous to cats so I wish he would drink some (well, sometimes I wish that). Perhaps he knows it's poison. He is pretty smart. Not sure how much reading he does during the day though. He's more like a dog actually. 
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HEY - did you hear that Columbus has to pay an EXTRA $75,000 to Dodge County because of the filming of Public Enemies?  It's all from the detour messing up roads for nine days from State Highway 16/60 to Highway T during the filming of the movie!  So I'm boycotting Dodge County.  I think Universal should pay for it.     

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I wrote a letter to the Food Network. - I was watching the Unwrapped The Best of Frying  (or something like that) and one of the segments showed a plate of refried beans!  Here is the kicker - THERE WAS A FLY ON IT.  it was rubbing it's little fly hands and flapping it's wings!  YUMMO - I replayed it - up - a fly!  I think it was smiling also!
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Survivor - Russell just does not get it does he! I think I'll apply for Survivor 22. Seems every 5 years I apply and since it's on my bucket list this could be the last chance I have. If I wait 5 more years how much brain power will I have! I will be about the 8th oldest castaway ever but I believe I have an advantage. PLUS - I could blog on the island!

I think I would be pretty good at the game and very entertaining. The friendly funny trustworthy guy that keeps tossing gas on any fires and then backing off to watch what happens! I believe I would play Survivor in the same style I play poker tournaments (which I'm pretty successful at). Sit back and play ultra conservative waiting for my moment. Stay out of the line of fire and wait for the numbers to whittle down. Then collect the outcasts and become a beserker unit.

In poker I have two completely opposite personalities and as soon as people understand that I'm a weak tight player I just go bonkers and become a huge friendly bully! They never see it coming. I play with ruthless abandon, take no prisoners and win or flame out in a blaze of glory. There is a time in any tournament when people start to think they could win and they tighten up and it's that exact point when I tear into them.

Of course I would need help but those would come from the ones that are just hanging on. They are in the bottom end of their alliances, join my bottom feeder alliance and become a power. But here is the fun part. I don't care if I win!! (insert evil laugh) I just want to create chaos!

GAME ON!
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Dancing With the Stars - wow - I've never watched an entire season of DWTS and am completely impressed. I always hated the Tom Bergeron as a host but he's pretty funny at times.

Anyway - if you love dancing ya gotta check out this dance last night by Nicole Scherzinger (former Pussy Cat Doll who I respect much more now) and the Pro Derek Hough, outstanding!




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LOST - well - you won't be hearing me talk about the upcoming finale as I'm a season behind!

Speaking of lost here is one that got away. Since I became serious with photography I've been listening to my brain more often. I have this thing where I see things and my brain takes a photo of it. In the past I have ignored my brain but now when I CLICK I react.

Sunday, DJ and I were taking my mom back to Fort Atkinson when I CLICKED on a scene. I got off the highway and found a road that would take me to the spot I was looking for. My mom looked confused but DJ said this was a normal occurance and not to be afraid.

I got to the spot which was about a half mile away and sadly, it was not perfect.  BUT - I took a few photos anyway.  I tried to yell at the cows to move and face the camera but they were not listening.  Here is the odd thing,  there was a field of cows all staring at me and as I was leaving at all started to poop at once!  What's up with that!  The last time I was taking photos of cows one started to pee in the middle of my set of photos!

I'm glad humans are not like that!

Anyway - here is the shot.

 I had this sent to me - a Squirrel obstacle course.  At the end of the clip I think I would like to train a squirrel to steal candy bars for me!




A friend of mine at work went to the emergency room yesterday.  He came in, called to me and said he had a massive heartburn attack and could I help him.  I got my bottle of anti acids and a 7-Up for him.  

About 10 minutes later my stand-in boss took him to the emergency room.  I immediately called dibs on his chair and phone but now I guess he is coming back tomorrow as he is OK. Just a heartburn.  In all seriousness I should have told him to take an aspirin JUST IN CASE . . . . and then called dibs on his chair and phone.

HEY - in this economy it's every man for himself when it comes to office equipment. I have a few of my things booby trapped just in case someone tries to take my stuff prematurely.


Have a wonderful day
Rod

Why is bird poop white?

With a title like that we shall see if NBC4i Columbus Ohio censors me.  LOL 
 
What's going on in Bangkok anyway?  The Land of Smiles?  I've missed the WHY on this stuff?
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DJ and I were watching "Hoarders - Buried Alive" the other night, not on purpose but we flipped by the channel and after 5 seconds it was like watching a train wreak.  So after that show was over some show called "Odd Addictions" or some name like that and it was about four people that were addicted to weird things.

One woman shopped a lot, big deal move along, they cured her.

But then the next three offered us true weirdness.  One woman ate chalk!  You know, like blackboard chalk.  Just ate it, crunch crunch crunch, 5 or 6 sticks a day like popcorn. Since there was nothing WRONG with it and it's not BAD for you as it is only a porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone and it's in toothpaste anyway . . .they did not cure her.  

Then some dude ran for 20 miles a day. Run Run Run always running, 140 miles a week.His fiancee was going to dump him if he did not stop running 4 or 5 hours a day.  They did not cure him and she dumped him.

Then there was this woman that would go into a tanning booth for at least 2 hours a day. She looked ridiculous.  She had 6 accounts and would go from one to the other.  They would warn her about skin cancer but she would say that was all in the future and she did not want to look like a white pasty freak like everybody else  . . .well . . . . . . so then they brought in a woman with a Malignant Melanoma and that pissed her off and she quit the show!

Great show! Normally these types of shows have victories as they right the wrongs! Not this time.

The reason I bring this up is that I had a Malignant Melanoma about 20 years ago. They took a scoop of skin down to my muscle fibers on my shoulder.   Sunburns are so so so very bad for you. They will catch up to you at some point. And I'm an American Indian with darker skin.  Today I have to go in and get cut again.

This time it's a Basal cell carcinoma - the most common type of skin cancer and the least dangerous. In fact the only thing it does is look bad, and I didn't even know it was there so how bad could it look!! . Here is the kicker - IT'S ON MY SHIN!!!  Good gravy I'm not looking forward the THAT!!  It's not like I have EXTRA skin on my shine or anything.  The last time someone messed around with my shin was in softball when a guy threw his bat and it cracked my shin open for 3 inches down to the bone!  I used duct tape to tape the skin back together  (I had no insurance) It actually worked! I think I was injured more often on the bench then in the field. I broke my tail bone on the bench.

There are two ways fix a Basal cell carcinoma - frozen section histology which is essentially a very accurate "deli" slicer or OR paraffin embedded fixed tissue pathology - yea yea try looking that up on Wikipedia!! Not a clue - I'm just hoping I get some pain killers, whether I need them or not!
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On to funner subjects.

Ever shop at Woodmans? Do you hate it as much as I do?  Well . . . .Yahara House, Madison’s clubhouse for the mentally ill, will yank its grocery account Monday from Woodman’s Food Market due to the discount grocery retailer’s recent decision to drop mental health coverage.

The thing that got my attention was that they did a side by side comparison of grocery stores to see what prices were REALLY like.  WOW

Woodmans was 20% cheaper then the next lowest place. Hy-Vee (I love Hy-Vee).  In fact for every $100 you spend at Woodmans you would spend $120.79 at Hy-Vee, $132.22 at Copps, and $139.30 at Cub Foods.  (Copps and Pic-N-Save are both Roundy's).

Since Columbus is looking for yet another grocery stores (that has onions you can not put your fingers through) this interested me. I wonder what store we're getting.

No news on Piggly Wiggle but here is some interesting Piggy news.  Did you know that Piggly Wiggly was the first store to have aisles and checkout lanes?  They were the first to mark a price on every item. The first to use refrigerated cases to keep produce fresher longer and the first to put employees in uniforms for cleaner, more sanitary food handling.
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Birds - what is UP with bird poop! I went to take the clear bagged garbage out today and while noticing the crows made a mess of all the clear bag garbage I saw a TON of white bird poop on our driveway!  WHAT HAPPENED - did a 20 mile long flock of Passenger pigeons fly overhead? My mom used to talk about Passenger pigeons. Their flocks could be 1 mile wide and 300 miles long and take hours to fly over.  ALL dead now!  The last one died in 1914 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her name was Martha and she was in the Cinci zoo.  That is Martha on the right.

I'm still trying to figure out my moms story - something does not add up!

Speaking of white poop - what is up with the whiteness. Well it seems birds do not pee (which seems like a very very good thing) and their kidneys extract nitrogenous wastes from the bloodstream in the form of uric acid so it emerges as a white paste.

Brown poop, in case you are wondering, comes from the pigment that arises from the breakdown of red blood cells in the liver and bone marrow . . . HEY - no one ever talks about it. SOMEBODY had too!  I always thought it was the average color of all the food I ate - that never made sense either.

FASCINATING!!

ANYWAY - I had to yell at a grackle this morning for wasting bird food at our feeder. He was just shoveling it out which is beak making a mess. Maybe the cardinal asked him to do that, I don't know grackle-speak well enough yet!

This little painterly finch drops by every day eating thistle seed.

I have a reply going to the Letters to the Editor this week of the Columbus Journal. Reserve your copies today.

Cheers
Rod

Fresh Dead Cows - same day pickup!

All you guys that live in Madison or other larger then 10,000 towns get your weekly newspaper type fliers with car deals and so forth right?  In Columbus (pop 4,500) we get them but they seem to have a slightly different feel.  The one we got a few days ago had this front and center.

I guess there is no pickups on Sunday's.
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So I find out that Columbus Wisconsin was name AFTER Columbus Ohio! Seems Elbert Dickason and his wife Obedience (great name, I'm sure that would go over well now) liked Columbus Ohio so much they decided to call their new town Columbus.

Then I find out from my good friends that write the Cbus Transit blog (Moving People in Ohio's Capitol)  that "the state legislature created Ohio's capital in 1812ish it happened because there was a big uproar over whether it should be Chillocothe or Zanesville. When they (finally) decided, they were just gonna name it Ohio City, but one state legislator loved the stories of Columbus as a child and convinced them to change the name." 

So Columbus Wisconsin COULD have been named Chillocothe (from a Shawnee Indian name Chalahgawtha, meaning "principal town).Or we could be Ohio City Wisconsin but actually there already was going to be a Ohio Wisconsin - however when the dude took his horse to Washington to register the town they could not read his handwriting so the town became Rio Wisconsin! (true story).

Then I find out that the Cbus Transit is NOT going to have Street Cars but it was Cincinnati getting Street Car funding. They were just touting the victory for Cinci.

So now that Cbus Wisconsin has adopted Cbus Ohio and we anticipate revenue sharing (in theory)  I feel I should talk the Capital of Ohio into getting rickshaws and dumping their buses!

I've already ask the Transit company if they have any OLD buses Columbus WI could have and I believe they might or might not be taking me seriously.  So if our City Administrator Boyd Kraemer wakes up some morning and sees a bus or two parked on his lawn he can thank me!

I have not gotten any official confirmation on the bus deal yet but I'm sure there are meetings and paperwork going on as I type..  

WAIT A MINUTE - in the below clip - - - - - did I see a rickshaw at the 9 second mark??



Everything is moving back downtown? Isn't that what black holes do? Hands on Children? is that wise? And . . .what street????

ANYWAY - as I was looking around for the history of Columbus Wisconsin I found this site.  The History of Columbus City which oddly says "Elbert Dickason, constructed a home and lumber mill on the western side of the Crawfish River in 1839".  What a freaking coincidence. He did that in Wisconsin also!!!  WOW!!!  Life is to weird sometimes!
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I was talking to a woman today who was going on a vacation to Peru. Doing a lot of hiking and so forth.  THAT would be on my bucket list for adventure vacations!  So I was looking around and found this blog Heike's and Martin's adventure as they circumnavigate around the world! . . although now I see it happened 4 years ago LOL

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I was reading the Garden Web and there was a thread about the "dumbest mistakes you have made" while gardening.

Well, most of the comments were about putting the black landscape fabric on the ground. Most people will tell you that  landscape fabric is a scam and it really does not work at all.  Been there, done that, waste of money. 

Then there is the cutting of lines while digging.  But I believe MY experience is one of the best! 

Elweed and I had a wheelbarrow loaded with dirt - it was super heavy so we decided it would be smart if both of us took a side of the wheelbarrow and worked as a team.  So we each grabed one side and counted off,  1, 2, 3 LIFT!!  
That lasted no more then 1/2 second as we assumed each of us would lift at the exact same time with the exact same amount of lift.


In less then 1/2 second the barrow was on it's side and we were on the ground laughing.
And we wonder why my DJ worries about us?


I was at the farmers market Wednesday and took some more photos of some of the flowers for sale and found another Pandorian Perennial.

That had nothing to do with anything but I like the image.

Have a GREAT sunny weekend!

Rod

Bad Maple!

The rainfall over Columbus Wi in this last storm equaled 1.39 inches of rain. Columbus is 4 square miles meaning the total amount of water that fell on Columbus in the last day is ABOUT 966 million gallons of water. Also, the total weight of that water is about 289 thousand TONS.

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I see 6,675 people like NBC 4 while only 3,496 people like WSYX ABC 6

WE'RE #1 WE'RE #1

Did you  know the first significant building to be built in Columbus OH was a penitentiary?   I still can not find WHO named the town Columbus.  I bet we have more Christopher Columbus stuff up here then Columbus OH.

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As predicted we did not get through an entire round of golf last night!  I had had a running debate with the league president about golf and I was so sure we would not get an entire round in that I did not even bring my golf clubs to work.  BUT - as luck would have it he had a false sense of security and said GAME ON with some comment about me and tampons.

So I race back to Columbus, get my clubs and 7 layers of clothing and race back to Door Creek. The first three holes were in dead calm. Not a breath of wind.  This was not a good sign at all I felt.  About the 4th hole the winds springs up and a few minutes later I feel my first drop of rainr.  DAMN YOU ADUBYA!!  By the time we get to the next tee box the wind is howling and a rumble of thunder. Strike one.

I'm golfing hideously as my 7 layers are not helping.    RUMBLE - strike two.

We're on the green when it happens,  FLASH, -  and I swear, by the time your eyes got to the S on Flash the one guy in our foursome with a cart is 50 yards away flying back to the clubhouse. Strike three - game over!  I was there for no reason!  Now my back hurts AGAIN which was the reason I was not going to golf in the first place.

BUT - I can not fault adubya! It was I that caved in and got my clubs even though I knew we would not finish.
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So we're talking about the "high speed rail" that will be outside my window at work and the lack of parking and so forth.  Well, one thing led to another and rickshaw's came up and I feel we need rickshaws in Columbus!

Since we do not have a taxi service (like our adopted sister town Columbus OH . . .even though they fail to recognize that we have adopted them) we should get a rickshaw company to open up.  That would be SWEET AND AND . . . it would be GREEN!!! So I urge Steve Sobiek our Economic Development/Energy Sustainability Director to look into rickshaw companies as an alternative to taxi cabs.

The Amtrak needs to get people from Madison to Columbus and a rickshaw ride would be just the ticket! If Columbus is to be the Green/Energy Sustainable Leader - rickshaws are the way to go!

The above photo demonstrates how a rickshaw would work in Columbus! Notice the lack of a carbon signature behind the rickshaw.     
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Remember when people were "down" on Columbus Wisconsin and all the problems we were having. I'm looking at Columbus OH's most popular news articles

Police Identify Man Found Dead On Sidewalk
3 Shot, 1 Killed During Apparent Robbery Attempt
CPD: Teen Fatally Shot In Chest
Shelter Likely Will Euthanize 17 Pit Bulls, Including Puppies
4 Stabbed In Fight; Transporting Medic Involved In Hit-&-Run

WOW - the Udey Dam debacle seems a little tame. Sure we had a guy pee on the Police Station but I would rather have pee guy then a dead guy on a sidewalk any day.
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I was reading the paper Saturday and noticed that the Fall River United Methodist Church was having a Motorcycle blessing.  What?  Do they hand out bongs in Fall River on Sundays?

And lastly - in Avalon Park four trees were planted and I have to stand up and applaud them for their choices.  Two  Autumn Blaze Maple, the 2003 Urban Tree of the Year and are fantastic (and seedless) and two Norway Maples (Emerald Green) which could be a problem down the road as it's roots tend to really chop up the soil and any roads nearby.

So - 2 out of 4 are GREAT!!

Gotta run - cheers - Rod

It's been a long long long time!

Fifteen years ago yesterday I went on a date with a woman I had been passively stalking for a while. It was a lunch date and I remember walking back to work, I was next to the library and I said to myself "I'm going to marry this woman". Of course I then admonished myself for thinking that after one date but I told myself "give it a year, let's not get crazy".

One year and 1 month later we were married in Las Vegas! Best bet I have ever made.

The above flowers are Veronica Peduncularis "Georgia Blue" and are a ground cover. Each flower is about 1/4 the size of a penny and I love these little guys!  All the internets say it's rated for zone 6 but Elweed walks around stealing other peoples ground covers. . . . . well . . .he says steals but he snips tendrils off and sticks them in his pocket and then grows then in his window garden.

This is what the rockery looks like standing while standing on a chair looking down.  Blake was a little worried because he does not understand how humans can balance ANYWAY, much less standing on a chair and I was hoping mommy would not see me.  

Blake calls us "mommy" and "daddy", Milo calls me "Rod" and "The One Who Feeds Me" and sometimes just "My Captor's"

#1 - three Variegated European Dogwood
#2 - Veronica Oltensis "Dainty" or "Mini- Speedwell"
#3 - Thymus Praecox "Red Creeping Thyme"
#4 - Phlox Subulata "Emerald Blue
#5 - Phlox Subulata "Emerald Blue - also called Little Brian
#6 - Veronica Spicata? - you bought it
#7 - Sedum Selskianum Variegatum
#8 - Veronica Peduncularis "Georgia Blue (creeping speedwell)
#9 - Dianthus Ed's Best - also called Big Woolly
#10 - 'Jolly Bee' Hardy Geranium
#12 - Saxifraga
#13 - Thymus Glabrescens
#14 -best guess is Dianthus Alpinus
#15 - three Upright Red Chokeberry
#16 - common weeds
#17 - Dianthus "Artic Fire"
#18 - Lamium Maculatum "Beacon Silver" not seen in photo
#19 - Vinca minor Periwinkle
#20 - Galium Odoratum "Sweet Woodruff" not in photo - behind Chokeberries

We planted two Goldflame Honeysuckle this weekend.

 #1 - Heuchera "Plum Pudding Coral Bells"

 #2 So Sweet Hosta

#3 Goldflame Honeysuckle

Gotta run
Cheers 

Rod 

Columbus WI to Adopt Columbus OH

I've been noticing that some readers in the past few weeks have been coming to the blog via my very good friends at NBC4i, Columbus Ohio - News That Is News. This confused me more then my normal daily confusion and then upon further investigation . . . . .From the NBC4i News site.

That's right ladies and germs, not only is this blog on CBS Channel3000 -  More News Then You Can Actually Stomach but also NBC4i,  News That is News.  So now I'm looking for an ABC affiliate (I don't acknowledge FOX as an actual news worthy Network).

With the two Columbus's now linked together I feel it is time that we adopt Columbus OH as our little sister.  I mean we are both basically alike.  We both have hospitals, both have golf courses,  both have an Amtrak station within 88.5 miles, both towns have multiple stop lights!  We're almost like twins! Sure the Ohio Columbus has 706,000 more residents but we have stealth and are nimble while Ohio is clumsy and really . . .they have parking meters!!  LOL  Need I say more!   I feel we should start a revenue sharing program where we will split our towns profits and Columbus Ohio will split theirs!!!    What could be more fair.

Then once we get that going I urge the Columbus WI City Counsel to start assimilating the other 29 Columbus's in the U.S (saving the Columbus Air Force Base for last as they could be a problem).  Once all the Columbus's in the country are acting as one - we will have POWER!!!

Columbus, Ohio (first)
Columbus, Arkansas
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Illinois
Columbus, Indiana
Columbus, Kansas
Columbus, Kentucky
Columbus, Mississippi
Columbus, Montana
Columbus, Nebraska
Columbus, New Jersey
Columbus, New Mexico
Columbus, New York
Columbus, North Carolina
Columbus, North Dakota
Columbus, Texas
Columbus, Wisconsin (best)
Columbus Air Force Base (last)
Columbus City, Iowa
Columbus Grove, Ohio
Columbus Junction, Iowa
Columbus Township, Illinois
Columbus Township, Indiana
Columbus Township, Iowa
Columbus Township, Luce County, Michigan
Columbus Township, St. Clair County, Michigan
Columbus Township, Minnesota
Columbus Township, Missouri
Columbus Township, Nebraska
Columbus Township, North Carolina
Columbus Township, Pennsylvania

With that said. Some of the revenue sharing we will get from the our new Ohio Columbus friends  can go for

THE CITY OF COLUMBUS WATERFRONT REDEVELOPMENT CONCEPT!

Every plan needs a vision. In the past the visions have been in the  "let's buy a building and move it a few blocks and then abandon it" style visions!  Which are pretty cool but not actually "progress".

But now that the dark ages of Columbus have gone and we have all factions of City Government (Except the Chamber)  working as one the CDA (Columbus Development Authority) has proposed an actual plan AND it looks like that have thought about it for more then an hour.

The vision is to make the fixing of Udey Dam into something that will bring people to the town.  The mill pond which will be formed will become green space, a recreational area, residential and commercial area along with a river walk and horse and buggy trails. There will be a bridge across the dam.  Wisconsin's biggest antique mall will get a face lift. And much much more.

The City Council voted and supports the plan and the money we will receive from Columbus Ohio (if MY plan works) will help fund the project!

Stay tuned!
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I'd like to begrudgingly congratulate Cardinal Ale House, Columbus Family Restaurant, Countryside Ford AND Frank Porth Chevrolet  (Good People to Turn Too), Discount Office Items (I think the paper had Supply but the real name is Items),Home Expressions, Partners Dance Studio (more on dance later), Red Bud Homes Services (Quality Carpentry Skills At An Affordable Price), True Value, Vita Plus, American Packaging, EnerPac, Columbus Antique Mall and Kindred Kids . . . . WOW - is that like all the businesses in Columbus??

Notice that PublicEnemiesColumbus blog is missing from the list! Well - I did not need yet another award anyway and last time I was presented with the award I was almost gunned down as I was leaving  the ceremony by a State Trooper.  484,927 people have read my mindless drivel about Columbus and THAT is all the reward I need. 
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In OTHER news items.  We had a different bird at our feeder this morning among the normal group of fethered friend. Four White Crowned Sparrows who were passing buy going north stopped in. They must be migrating through Columbus for the summer. They summer way way up in the Alaska area and only travel through Wisconsin in the spring. The weird thing is that the four we had just ran around the ground looking for food. They looked sort of funny.



What got my attention was that Milo also noticed them. He was making odd noises and looking out the window. He knows most of the birds but seeing something new perked him up and he was the one that drew my attention to the new birds. 
(not MY photo).
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In some sad news Frank Frazetta passed away.  If you do not know who Frank Frazetta is you are not a male.

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On this date in 1816 a new dance was included in a ball given in London by the Prince Regent called a waltz..  It was termed "indecent" and  "it is quite sufficient to cast one's eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs and close compressure on the bodies in their dance"  "So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society . . .yada yada yada. . . ."

I wonder what they would make of Dancing With the Stars!   Any of you that watch non-scripted TV knows that the beauty of these shows is seeing how people grow and act when everything is not scripted for them.  Dancing is the same.  I tell ya - I am SO impressed with the final 5 in this contest but Nicole Scherzinger from The Pussy Cat Dolls and the pro Derek Hough dancing the Paso Doble was amazing good.

Check it out!

IF you can't see the whole vid here is a link

Nicole Scherzinger from The Pussy Cat Dolls and the pro Derek Hough dancing the Paso Doble




If you have not seen this show you really should watch the last few episodes, Mondays! Just amazing dancing!

Have a cold wet Tuesday!  It ain't gonna get much better for a few days.

Rod

We're all Doomed

I'd like to congratulate Ashley Jackson the Daytime producer and NBCi in Columbus OHIO for getting  engaged to  . . . . Omar.   Come on . . Omar?  Who names their kid Omar.   Did you know an Omar is a fine grained stone with a bubble in it.

UPON further review - I guess Omar is a very popular name . It ranks 340 out of the top 1250 names. Did you know you can spell Omar . . .2 ways? (Omarr).
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As we speak (well . . .sort of) their is a plane flying overhead spraying Bacillus thuringiensis, Acephate or Carbaryl to kill Gypsy Moths. This reminded me of the good ol' days when I was a kid and the DDT fogger truck would come by killing mosquitoes and all the kids on the block would run behind the truck in the fog. It was great fun and now explains a few things!


Now when I walk to get coffee I'll have Gypsy Moth larva dropping onto my head as I walk.  I'll take a good look at my pillow tomorrow morning.


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It REALLY feels good to set my ass in a chair for 8 hours!   This weekend was rather tough on the old body with planting.  Every spring we work on another part of the yard landscaping and this past weekend was "The Big Plant" weekend. The big surprise was the Goldflame Honeysuckle which was way bigger then I thought.  This is a rather woody plant isn't it! I had to rethink how and where I was going to put this beast.

Also the Red Chokeberrys were fun with their 30 pound root balls. Nice that we got FOUR of them!  Then I planted some of DJs gradma's (the high priestess of the Daylillie foundation in Wisconsin) daylillies.  Josh rescued a bunch from our old house in Madison. These had not been separated for maybe 20 years so the clumps were rather mammoth and I felt like Norman Bates hacking away at the giant cluster of Daylillies trying to separate them.  "I just go a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Shut up! Shut up! I'll carry you, mother."

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OH - my mom.  All the tests came out good.  Blood is flowing to the right spots and there is no significant problems.  She is doing better and better every time I talk to her even though she does not think she is but, she is around herself much more then I am so she does not see how she is getting better.

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I hope everyone got their yards mowed because this week is not going to allow you to mow.  Later tonight and tomorrow we should get a lot of rain. Clear Wednesday and then a copy cat storm for Thursday and Friday.  NEXT week will be a better week.
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WOW - I got a lot of images lately - feast or famine.  I feel guilty if I don't have something good at least once a week and I was getting stressed with my lack of goodness lately.  BUT - I think I have the next few weeks covered now.

This first one is another fractal image.  I don't have many of these (only 3 actually).  It's one of those "wow that's neat" things but in reality this process comes up with a lot of garbage most of the time.
This blows up great for a background for you computer.

Then as I was driving back to Madison with Elweed for Saturday planting the storms were passing over us and the sky was outstanding.  Took like two hours to get from Sun Prairie to Columbus. 

 
I have a few of these so I'll just post a couple today and save some for later in the week. The problem I'm having is that on one hand I want to make them a panorama but by doing that I don't get all the clouds!

What do you think??? Full?? Panorama? I'll post the other one near the bottom so you can clear your mind.

The last image if my Georgia Blue OR as Elweed calls it, Veronica Peduncularis.

And the Panorama.

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I guess all the anti-techno people are all a little crazy lately.  If you did not hear about the stock market on Thursday we almost had a Three Mile Island meltdown as the DOW dropped 1000 points in like 2 minutes.

The catalyst was that some guy that previously had a job, instead of selling like 10 Million Dollars in stocks accidentally typed a "B" instead of an "M". The computer programs saw BILLION and the auto sells took over instantaneously. Then all the other market computers starter talking to each other and THEY started to sell.  The computers were out of control and acting on their own!

It was like a financial Battle Star Galactica and the Cylons were the nations financial computers. The experts STILL do not know what happened.


We're all doomed!

Nuff said for a Monday

Have a SWEET day.

Rod

We're not ALWAYS Bumbling Idiots

I was watching the baseball game last night. It was a late game on the coast but since I didn't have to work today I could stay up late.

I use to go to bed when I was younger with a small radio next to the bed and I'd fall asleep to the Brewers on late games. It always seemed so magical somehow.

Anyway - the 7th inning comes and some dude is singing God Bless America and the crowd is all like do I have to sing and who is that guy and I need to pee and get a beer and not really paying attention.

Remember 911 so long ago? One thing it showed me was that while Americans can have all this bickering between Parties and Party wanna-be's, when push comes to shove we all form into one large cohesive very strong group. Remember all the flags on mail boxes? Remember talking to strangers and that feeling that we are all in this together?

When our backs are in a assumed corner and we are forced to work as one unit, don't fuck with Americans! Yea - we might be arrogant, loud and stupid at times but the one thing you can't say about Americans is we back off from a fight.

I'm not getting into the REASON but you have to admit that when the evidence that is put to us is overwhelming we can think as one. Maybe it's not just Americans but humans as a race.

Look at the Ozone "hole". You never hear about that anymore. Oh it's still there but it is smaller and thicker and the reason is that humans decided it was time to fix it. There was overwhelming evidence that it was a REAL problem and we set out and started to fix the problem.

Oddly the fix is actually creating another problem as the thicker Ozone hole is actually speeding up global warming and melting the ice caps faster but . . . . what can ya do.

Sometimes it's just good to know that we're not always b idiots trying to run a planet. When the aliens land we will fight them a pretty good fight until we are eaten for desert.

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So I see Mr. Ed's Magical Midway site is up. I took photos for them last year for practicably nothing and I thought I gave them some pretty good photos - yet - I'm not seeing many on their site. A lot of dark or washed out shots. Did they lose my disk??

Here is one of my favorite photos. I WISH I know who the girl was.

Have a good weekend - I'm of to Fort Atkinson!

Rod

Counting on the Redbuds

The response to counting all the Redbuds in Columbus was underwhelming. Don't make me do this by myself, you know me, I'll just make crap up!!!

So here is my plan for NEXT year!  I'm going to put a paragraph in the Letters to the Editor for volunteers next April to help out. I figure I'll get a bunch of maps and block off sections.  Then drive up and down every street and map all the Redbuds! Should not take too long, it's not like we are Madison.

Maybe I'll have a contest on how many Reduds are in Columbus!  Maybe a photo contest and we can give awards to the best Redbuds in the city.  How about The Tour of Redbuds.

Did you know that redbud flowers are can be used in salads and for making pickled relish.

The Redbud is also known as "The Judas Tree" because, according to legend, Judas Iscariot used an old world relative of redbud to hang himself. This is why the tree is now so weak-wooded; it refuses to grow branches that would be strong enough to hang another.

With that said we're thinking of putting a redbud in our front yard next to the Don Wyman Crab. I don't think anyone on our area has a redbud yet as people are just now starting to plant trees.
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Oddly yesterday was the 60th anniversary of  of a sever wind storm that hit many states. Green Bay recorded 92 mph sustain winds. Madison and I assume Columbus had 84 mph sustained winds! 

And if you are wondering, this past April was the 4th warmest ever and March. world wide was very warm.  This chart shows where it was warm and cold in March.

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For the last year I've been planning on taking a photo of the barn on Kestrel Ridge from our house.  Sooner or later there will be house in front of it so I thought I needed to get a shot before building started.

Of course I'm standing on the exact spot a redbud would go so . . . .
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Speaking of wind - we had our first golf league night last night and it was rather blustery! I was mediocre (for me) and only made a fool of myself a couple times. HOWEVER - my former buddy who I'm making beer for, adubya, stole my thunder.

So adubya is the best golfer I know and even though I loath his talent I still manage to golf with him from time to time.

Well last night on the last hole we had a flag event. Closest to the hole on the 2nd shot would win a prize selected just for the winner (oops - sorry - I was forced to watch Let's Make A Deal in the waiting room yesterday . . .along with Matlock). Well adybya crush's his drive 300 yards and it lands on the green!

Well LAA DEE FREAKING DAA!!

I hit my drive about 240 and I still have 75 yards to go but I'm pretty happy. I see that somebody has already hit a close 2nd shot and I have to go up hill over a big bunker. WELL - My shot lands 4 feet from the hole -WHOO HOOO!!! I'm totally pumped. But adubya only has to putt his 2nd shot and of course he wins! grrrrrrr!!!

BTW - I missed my 4 foot downhill putt, missed it coming BACK up hill and holed it for a FIVE!
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Saturday my buddy Elweed and I have some work to do. Arriving will be a Summer Ninebark, two Gold Flame Honeysuckle's, two Annabelle Hydrangea's, an Aronia Erectra (Red Chockberry) and three Cotoneaster Acutifolius(Peking Cotoneaster).

He's pissing me off a little lately. He calls me on the phone ( why did I teach him to use the phone)  and out of the blue will say "How's the Sedum Selskianum Variegatum doing?".

What? Which one?  then he get's all huffy like I'm an idiot because I don't know all the names for my plants!  He'll say "  sigh  YOU KNOW the ones next to the Lamium Maculatum, YOU BOUGHT IT don't you even know what you are buying??".   Like that helps me so freaking much!  I bought a pretty plant with cool green leaves!!!  Must I know the name also??  I saveed it from the plant factory!  I have over 200 plants! I can't remember all of their names. (hardly any actually).

Sedum Selskianum Variegatum

hand held shot of Saxifraga

that is why I have my Lasagna Garden blog - so I can remember and document what every thing is.

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Mom update - tests went well, MRI MRA EEG EKG and so forth. The results show is tomorrow so I'll be road trippin' again.  The good news is that she is open to moving to Sun Prairie into a Senior Apartment where DJ's dad lives.  Great place and she should be real happy once she gets there but moving from a home after 40 years has to be tough.

She does understands that it's a little more then she can handle.  HOWEVER - she is getting better.  Not loopy at all (except for the typical Melotte loopyness) and only a word here or there are(is?) missing.

So have a great but cool weekend, expect a lot of rain tomorrow! maybe an inch total.

Rod

Sick of Garbage - in the Redbud (not Red Bud)City !

What has Columbus lowered itself to now! 

No longer can I make fun of the City Government, no longer can I make fun of Udey Dam or the constant moving of buildings downtown.  Now I'm forced to make fun of . . . . . garbage pick-up.

sigh!

This is not the Columbus I have grown to love to make fun of!  HOWEVER - I think HAVING to put garbage in clear bags is a crock of BS.  The official reason for having to put your garbage in clear bags is so the Garbologist who pick up our unwanted waste can look at each bag and decide if the contents are actually garbage.  I'm sure do that!  However - crows also look at every bag also.

Have you noticed that the crows (my favorite bird and the only bird to "play") will hop down the street looking at the bags and pick the clear ones because they can see the juicy tidbits inside. They rip open the clear bags and as I was driving to work Monday there was garbage all over the streets nest to the clear bags! The crows skip the white bags completely.

The next thing you know it will be forbidden to smoke inside a clear bag!  
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Saturday as I was watching would could be the beginning of the end of the world (meteor) we were viewing "Up In The Air" which was a pretty good movie up to the end. The ending sort of faded away and I was told it's one of those "make you own ending" movies.  I hate that!  I payed good money to see this movie and I don't want to "make my own ending". I should get some sort of discount. When I see a movie I don't want to have to actually THINK what happened!

We also watched Public Enemies! A movie you have perhaps heard of.  We saw it in the theater and had watched all of the extras that came with the DVD but had not actually "watched" the movie.  Pretty darn good!!  Much better then the 1st time we watched it as the first time most people were watching the backgrounds and not the actual movie.

We also saw some of Close Encounters!   What a great movie this is STILL!!  Do you know that it was THIRTY THREE YEARS AGO that it came out?

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Speaking of Columbus!  Every spring I am totally in love with this town.  Living in Madison for 30 years I had forgotten how beautiful a small town can be. Columbus is called the Red Bud City but I think it's is the Flowering Tree City as there are flowering trees EVERYWHERE!

There are houses like this everywhere in the town.! 

But then I've been driving around lately and I swear every other house has a Red Bud. In fact Columbus actually has it's own strain of Eastern Red Bud, the cercis canadensis "Columbus".

I propose that perhaps NEXT year we get a group of interested people, map out Columbus on a grid and drive down every street and map how many and where the red buds are in Columbus!   If you feel like this might work let me know. It really would not be that hard if we had 4 or 5 people. 

If we are the Red Bud City we need a count of the red buds.  Maybe even have a contest for the biggest and best!! Then maybe we can talk the city into donating a number of red buds for planting. I'm not a huge fan of the red bud but since we call ourselves "Red Bud" lets embrace it and spread it. Let's DROWN in Red Buds and make this a HUGE thing!!

Maybe the Chamber of Commerce can put this on their website . . . oh  wait . . they don't have a working website.  Red Bud City in ILL, population 3200 has a real nice website, did you know they have Antique malls, golf courses, pubs and a hospital?  They have a big City Hall with a bell tower! They have three highways that all meet in the center of town at their one stop light! And there are 8 specialty shops! wow - what a wealth of information  I'd like to move there!

Wait - it's in Illinois!!  Never mind!

HEY - on my other blog (Lasagna Beds for Beginners) I was asked about my Autumn Blaze Maple the 2003 Urban Tree of the Year!  I want to high five whoever it is in Columbus that decided to plant more of those fantastic trees in the Avalon Park area!!  WELL DONE!! 

The Autumn Blaze is a cross between the red maple and silver maple " brilliant orange-red color, dense and healthy branching, and a vigor that enhances growth and protects from insects and disease."  It can grow 60 feet high and 40 feet wide and is a fast grower.  Ours has grown perhaps 4 feet in two years from 10 to 14 feet! AND - is seedless!  no whirly-gigs to mess things up!


Back in Columbus Wisconsin I was driving past a house near "Who's" place and took a photo of their rock garden with a pear(?) tree and a Red Bud in the background.

I asked if I could take some close ups of there rock garden and they looked surprised and said of course - well . . . . . . . it looked better from a distance.  My buddy Brian would LOVE to get his hands on that garden and fix it up, it could use some TLC.

Then later in the day DJ and I took a ride around the country surrounding Columbus because the clouds were pretty nice for photography!   I showed her where the steer and oak photo (Hamburger Hill) was taken (Hwy 73 and Steidtman Road).

You can see this framed in the West Side Gallery in Columbus along with two other framed panorama's and eight of my canvas works (well, seven at this very moment).

Our ride was uneventful but we did manage to capture this moment.

That's it for today - no blog tomorrow as I'm taking mom to many many tests in Fort Atkinson.  Be back Thursday!

Cheers
Rod

Columbus is Ground Zero for an Alien Attack.

I fixed a couple blogs - 

My personal garden blog - Lasagna Beds for Beginners
My Flora blog - MelottePhotoImagery - Flora

HERE THEY COME!!!

We were watching "Up In The Air" Saturday night and something caught my eye so I looked out the window. It was about 9:15pm and what I saw gave me goose bumps. All I could say was WOW! WOW! WOW!  and it was gone.

The meteor was about 1/4 the size of the Full Moon and bright fuzzy green. Lasted for 3 seconds and I had time to really focus on it.

The first thing I did was run to the computer and log on to Facebook as DJ and without my reading glasses typed some incomprehensible words about a "HIGE metior".

Reading other peoples post one guy said he looked at the Weather UnderGround radar and there was a streak that started right over Columbus. It seems the air space over our little town was the entry point. What does that tell ya!! THEIR COMING!!!!

I now believe the reason I was no allowed to listen in on the meeting with the Columbus Development Authority was that those guys in the suits were "government scientific researchers" who were here to set up a landing base for the Aliens. Yea, maybe they are already here!!!

Ever talk to those guys at Day One Pizza? If you have, you know what I'm talking about!!
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Before I forget about it.  I was contacted by a woman who is in charge (by default) of a Columbus HS reunion. Any suggestions on a good place for a reunion?  Jodie-O's?  LOL  At first she was thinking of The Kurth but its a little small. Any other unique places???? 
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How Ryan Braun Helped My Golf Game.

I've been watching Ryan Braun on the Brewers swing and miss lately and he just has a fantastic swing.  Actually what I marvel at is his back swing. The bat whips around his body and it's like on a spring, once it goes as far as it can go BOING!!!  it springs back.

I've noticed when I'm on a driving range and am just ripping the ball, my back swing will spring back like that but I had forgotten about it.  So yesterday I decided I HAD to play a round even though my back was still a little iffy.  League starts Wednesday so I better see how things go.

My goal was to RIP the ball, only aim when I set up and then just rip it.

Success.  Probably the most consistent mediocre round I have had in the past 5 years. Never a hole above a 6. Never a miss hit.  Oh, a few off line, too far, too short and so forth but my drives (which are my bug-a-boo) were down the middle with good distance.

In fact my drive on MY hole was one of the farthest I see on the course.

Living on the 16th hole of a golf course has really shown me how normal golfers do.  WOW!  Being in a league I tend to golf with others that are also in leagues so I tended to think that "my" golf talent was what the typical poor golfer does.  But after seeing what normally happens on a golf course I see a 22 handicap golfer is WAY better then Joe Common golfer.

I hit my drive 230, against a wind uphill yesterday and of ALL the golfers I see at Kestrel Ridge that drive was in the 5 this year.  ME??? Top 5?  I have to think that the average drive on that hole is probably about 170 yards. 


Granted, it's a course in a small town, not Door Creek or Black Wolf Run so the pool of talent is not that great.


Here are some images I took while on the course yesterday.

Right side of #10

#15

If you have golfed at Kestrel you know that #18 will tighten the old sphincter a little with houses on the left side.

Well - I had been hitting every fairway with ease so I was not nervous at all  so I ripped away. This is where my second shot landed.  100 yards to go. Meaning I went about 260 straight down the middle!  WOW!!!  (I feel like George Takei).

Sadly my 2nd shot went left, hit the side of the hill, bounced left with great vigor and ended up near the barn.  (The hole is closer to that tree).

I then managed to pop the ball up and over the green to the trap on the right side. Then up to the OTHER side of the green and two putted for a 6.  WHEW!!!

#18

This is #12, a 150 forced carry of wetlands which I stroked a perfect ball 5 yards past the hole and 3 putted!  VICTORY!!  This always plays long for me.

The story here is that some hacker playing from the tips was getting all pissy that I was taking photos.  I never held him up once but he seemed to think that if I was 250 yards ahead he might accidentally drop me in my tracks . I figured they way he was going he would take three strokes to get near me IF he was aiming for the fairway (which I had to think he was not) .

Anyway - I let him pass and took this of #12

And that is my golf story.

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I have many more things on my mid and images but I will leave you with this.

(things on my mind)
Clear garbage bags!
Two movies - Up In The Air? and "Public Enemies" (perhaps you have hear of the latter). 
Columbus in bloom!


It seems to me that we have a bumper crop of dandelions this year. There just seems to be a TON of them.

So while I hear people complaining about dandelions in their yard I found this place on Ridgeway yesterday. You think you got it bad?  This is the mother lode.  OR! OR! Aliens in dandelion form!

Actually dandelions are Taraxacum and are in the Asteraceae family. The entire plant is edible! Each dandelion genetically identical to the parent plant from which it came from!

Oddley the dandelion is a beneficial weed, with a wide range of uses, and is even a good companion plant for gardening, but is often thought of solely as "bad". It has been described as "a plant for which we once knew the use but we've forgotten it"

In fact, the plant is good protection for grasses and grains in areas prone to armyworms, and its ability to break up hard earth with its deep tap root, bringing up nutrients from below the reach of other plants, makes it a good companion for weaker or shallower-rooted crops, including tomato plants.

Dandelion leaves contain abundant amounts of vitamins and minerals, especially Vitamins A, C and K, and are good sources of calcium, potassium and fair amounts of iron and manganese, higher than similar leafy greens such as spinach.

Dandelions are important plant for bees. Not only is their flowering used as an indicator that the honey bee season is starting, but they are also an important source of nectar and pollen early in the season.

The dandelion is the official flower of the University of Rochester

Nuff said!


Cheers
Rod