MOTHERSHIP HOVERS OVER COLUMBUS

As you all know each of the last three Wednesdays after golf league I drive home and see flashing lights in the sky! Some of you think I'm crazy and while this could be partially correct, on this case I had witnesses. I had Vice Presidents of Banks, professional cattle hoof trimmers, housewives and all sorts of other professional people agreeing with me.

Of course many of you said "Rod, take a photo of these so called lights". Well, taking a photo of a twinkling light at night was not the easiest thing to do. It would be like taking a photo of a majestic soaring Eagle from 2 miles away.

So I waited. Last night I was driving home and . . THERE THEY ARE AGAIN - this time I would track them down if I had to drive to the end of the earth and  I would sift sand through my fingers looking for some trace of them if I had too.

I FOUND IT and at first I was pretty sure I had stumbled upon an un-cloaked  Klingon warbird. 

But wait - what evil was this - it was changing shape before my very eyes.

Meet Winfred Mandody - the guy that has been baffling Columbus residents for a while now.  He lives in the Kestrel Ridge Apartments and fly's a light emitting LED kite at night.

Winfred has been flying kites for decades and I believe he started flying them where he grew up in Pakistan.

When he first started to fly this kite he knew it might raise some eyebrows so he informed the Columbus Police and dispatchers at 911 who said thank you and then failed to tell any other shifts!  Calls were coming in right and left of the strange lights in the sky.

I know when I mentioned it on the blog and Facebook I had some responses from others saying "YEA WE SAW THAT ALSO -  WHAT IS IT!!"  Well, you are not along.  It seems he get's a large number for people driving buy looking for the lights.

As I was there last night talking to him a car slowed down and came to a stop on River Road.  Mothers and children come out of their apartments to gaze at the sky and he said he has met many many wonderful people with his hobby.

Groups of bicyclists will travel miles looking and one time there were seven cars parked across the road.

I asked how high last nights kite was and he aid it was about 100 feet up.  There was a very slight breeze which is perfect for the LED enhanced delta winged kite with a 3.7 volt battery.

Winfred first saw the kites in China and was fascinated.  He talked to the owners who said they could be purchased but it was a two hour trip.  Long story short he finally purchased this kite from the Chinese gentleman and brought it to America.  Originally from Michigan Winfred moved to Columbus about 3.5 years ago and loves Columbus.

 I had the honor of having him reel it in (which is not an easy thing to do even in a gentle breeze).   

 
So there you have it.  I gotta say my conversation with Mr. Mandody was fascinating and I believe if there was a place in Columbus where you could buy these kits they would be a HOT HOT item.  Columbus would become the kite capital of Wisconsin (if there is not one already). We need a kite shop in Columbus!

Mystery solved.   Thank you Winfred for making Columbus curious.
----------------------------------

The only other thing I have to talk about was two incidents that took place near the Square in Madison yesterday. 

I was going to lunch and was waiting at a stop light on the outer circle.  Not paying attention I was just standing and saw a car in the near lane come to a stop. I looked up and saw the light was now red (for them) and started to walk.

ZOOOOOM - some lady on her cell phone runs the red light going 30. Never even slowed down.

THEN - on the way back to work I'm waiting on W. Wilson and that stupid law where vehicles have to stop for pedestrians (this law probably wastes millions of gallons of gas and causes more accidents then . . . .anyway) and a pick up and a car stop to let people cross and  SCREECH   BAM!     Someone not paying attention (cell phone?) rams the pick up at a very high speed (like 30).  All the pedestrians start to laugh and a police vehicle waiting to turn is a witness.  OOPS  -  what is that, like 4 points on your license and a $175 fine?    The woman was probably on the phone or texting her work saying she might be late and did not notice the wall of vehicles in front of her.   

PEOPLE - PAY ATTENTION!!!  You think you are safe but . . . . . .
-------------------------

I had a booth at the Stoughton Arts and Crafts and Fun Run and Car Fair and during a slow time (which was from 11:00 to 3:00) I managed to get out and take some photos of the very large assortment of vintage cars.
 

This is a vintage 19XX Red car.

Before I started to work on this shot my reflection is in the photo 5 times. 




Side note - (I do not work for the mentioned site) Adubya turned me on to www.buy.com    I had heard of this place but had never really looked into them. WOW - next time you want to buy some gizmo go the buy.com and look at what THEY will sell it to you for.  Free Shipping normally!  I ordered a FM Transmitter for my iPhone. Best Buy had it for $99.  I got if for like $46 - free shipping.   Last week I ordered a back-up battery for my iPhone, normally $29 - I got it for $10 free shipping.  Took 4 days to get it.


 I just happen to need iPhone things but they have many many items.

Have a great Thursday
Rod