USS Cobia

Mary mentioned the U505 in the comments yesterday. That was the sub that had the Enigma codes for WWII. Actually the whole Enigma Code thing is interesting as we had cracked Enigma way back in the late 1930s. But the Germans kept changing the way they used the codes.It was an excellent machine used stupidly.

ANYWAY - the U505 was mentioned a lot in the book "Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson . . one of the longest titles I had ever seen. Excellent book (I skipped past the personal "how we got to this point" section).

ANYWAY,  the USS Cobia was pretty interesting but was NOT built in Wisconsin but is "like" the 28 subs which were built in Manitowoc during World War II

The USS Cobia was a Gato-class submarine which formed the core of the submarine service that was largely responsible for the destruction of the Japanese merchant marine and a large portion of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II.

USS Cobia 

Her first war patrol was bound for the Bonin Islands where she sank 3 ships one of them the Nisshu Maru, a troop transport carrying a Japanese tank regiment to Iwo Jima. Only two tank crewmen of the 26th Tank Regiment died but all of the regiment's 28 tanks went to the bottom of the sea.

Main gangway leading to the bow. Opening about 2x3 feet.

Second and third patrols were pretty non-eventful . .well OK I suppose it was pretty eventful for THEM at the time, attacked by Japanese aircraft and she rescued two Japanese sailors who had been adrift for 40 days.

 The Cobia carried 80 personal and patrols were normally about 2 months.  Of those 80 only 15 EVER got to go topside for fresh air - the other 65 never saw the outdoors for 2 months and stayed below in 80-90 degrees and 80-90 % humidity.  Showers were few and you COULD smoke on board!  Awesome!

Christmas Tree panel showing what hatches were open or closed

Her fourth patrol she sank two sea trucks. One of the targets resisted with machine gun fire which damaged Cobia's radar equipment and killed Ralph Clark Huston Jr., a 20 mm gun loader and the submarine's only casualty of the war.

The radar on the Cobia at the Museum is still operational and is the oldest working radar in the world. She also rescued seven surviving crewmembers of a downed Army bomber. One of the crewmembers, Jean Vandruff. You can read his account of the story here.  Here is a photo of him being rescued by the Cobia. 

After Engine Room (DJ in the middle).

Fifth and sixth patrols had some bad luck. She attacked a cargo ship, but was driven deep by depth charges hurled by minelayer Hatsutaka. I did not realize that depth charges were not meant not SINK a sub but to push it to the surface for capture. Sinking was just a plan "B". She could go to a depth of 300 feet.

Bow torpedo tubes

What got me about being inside was there was that like the above photo - not one part of the sub would have been nice to bounce off of in an attack.  STUFF everywhere and the above photo looks much more roomy then it really was.

There are parts of the ship I could not get into as they were too small for a tour.  The conning tower the actual engine room and many rooms were smaller then a bathroom stall.  The actual toilets, of which there were 5(?) had a process of 9 actions to flush.  Miss one of those things and the next guy got "freckled".    Showers were used to store food so no showers.

So that is my story - I'm hoping to get up close and personal at some point on the USS Cobia.

Have a great rest of the week, turning HOT and then turning COLD.  Your typical late summer heat up, violent weather, and then cool down. 

Thursday the Packers play, the Badgers play and the Brewers play, lets make it a trifecta!

Cheers!

Rod

So So Close - uber long blog

Spent a couple days in Door County - sort of a business trip to get a few more photos for the Pumpkin Patch Festival in Egg Harbor. While my canopy is looking good for around the Madison area if you take out the big threee pieces of canvas that have the State Capitol I have some wall space to fill.

But first - I need to tell a story of Milo. As you all know Milo hates coffee, can not stand the smell and will go out of his way to rid the world of coffee.

Last Sunday I had made coffee and Milo was outside catching more mice (there is a shit load of mice it seems in the area as we get a present every morning.) With him being outside it was safe to have coffee so I set the cup on the little area above the couch so DJ could grab it.

I sat down and was reading the paper and DJ was reading and we here MEOW!!   I go let Milo in and go back to the paper.  All of a sudden a Netflix envelope drops on my head and we look up and there is DJ's full cup of coffee, literally, wobbling on the edge of the ledge a few feet above our heads with Milo, I swear smiling over it like a cheshire cat.    MILO!!!!

Since I'm on a Milo thought wave.  We left Milo and Sierra along to protect the house and left a huge bowl of food and water for them to munch on.  We get home and open up the door and there is the garbage on the floor (oops), empty bowls and the entire canister of cat food, upside down on the floor. 

Not only does Milo know how to open the sliding doors to the house (unless we lock them) but he has also learned that knocking food in containers off the counters, SOMETIMES, opens them spilling the contents (like a dozen cupcakes) onto the floor for any animal to eat.  Blake did not feel good the night of the cupcakes!
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Door County was pretty nice except for the complete lack of cloud cover. Clear blue sky which I loath for photography.  But, I made do. One thing that was brought to my attention was that "Vince" might not be a big seller.  Seems over half of the cars up there were from Illinois.  I need to make it down to Chicago.

We were only up for one and a half days so basically we just drove around looking for targets of opportunity.  Had a vague plan but many times it's the surprise's that make the best shots.  We traveled up to Deaths Door where the ferry takes people to Washington Island and took some shots but not really anything to get excited about. However at Gills Rock I saw a scene flash by and DJ commented there might be a shot so we stopped and talked to some fishermen.

Here is the results.

Gills Rock

 This looks MUCH better large - I tried several things and everything just looked like a photograph that anybody could take.  So I tried it out a little with the same technique I used on the wooden boat panoramic.

After stopping there for a while we went to Peninsula State Park so Blake could walk his favorite trail - the Hemlock Trail.  He LOVES this little hike as it's soft on his feet and he is just in heaven.  We let him go and with a huge grin on his face he leads the way.  If you know Blake he is like walking a sack of potatoes but get him on this trail and just takes off wagging his tail.  Well, it's a long trail (for him) and is downhill the first half mile.  We started the 2nd half and found a bench and were "resting" as he was huffing and puffing and we had him sit for a few moments. 

He would have none of the sitting.  He looked at us with a huge grin and happy sparkling eyes and  BARK!!    WOW - he never barks.  He wanted to GO GO GO.  Remember, he's 14 years old and according to the UK Kennel Club the average life span for a Cardigan Welsh Corgi is 11.7 years.

Well - we started again and he was a little trooper huffing and puffing and we made it.

Have you ever seen what the Iron Men looks like the day after the race?  I've always wanted to push them over and run because I knew they could not catch me.  Blake was sore on all for legs.  He had problems getting out of his bed, the sides were too high!  He spent the next day in the car sleeping and as of Monday morning he is still very sore and can not move a lot - I think I'll have to call the vet for pain pills.

We went to Cave Point as I had an idea for a shot but once we got there - it was CRAZY busy. Two bus loads of Japanese (not that I have a problem with Japanese), a biker gang, a group of knuckleheads swimming, and 4 or 5 large families, yea, not a great time for a serine scenic photo.

However - as luck would have it - the very first thing I did was stop at the entrance and snap off some photos. It was nothing I had not seen before . . . but maybe I just did not SEE it before.  Maybe it was the lighting (we went from clear blue to total blah cloud cover in like 10 minutes).

I had walked through that opening every year for the last 40 years but on that particular day something drew me to the scene. 

Opening to Cave Point

 
And as I was taking that shot (actually I ran back to the car to get a remote sensor of the camera) the cycle gang roared in, the buses can in, the knuckled head were looking to a place to swim in Lake Michigan and so forth.

OH - I forgot - another shot from Gills Rock.

I'm still trying to figure out how to crop this. In a 12x36 pano?  I don't know - it's vexing me - maybe a perfect square?   Here is the pano.

Maybe a vertical pano - I don't know.  I swear I took more shots but seems I didn't - the round bobber things are the stars!

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Seagulls - wanted to get a seagull perched on something - never happened!

So I took some shots of seagulls in flight - they looked like snapshots of seagulls in flight that anybody could take (like me).   Hey - I'm tossing things out there to hear any comments (good comments) - sometimes I stumble on something (Rainy Day in Madison was one of those).

 

Jonathon

 On the way back to Columbus we stopped in Algoma for a lighthouse shot - BTW - the temperature in Algoma Friday at 2:30 was 68 degrees!!

Also on the way down from Door we stopped at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum to tour the USS Cobia.  I have a bunch of shots on the website of the inside and will be making some posters but here is one of the outside of the ship.

I'll have more tomorrow - this is getting rather long!

Warm end of the week coming up!

Have a good one.
Rod

doughnut shake down

The biggest news I can think of is that finally, FINALLY police have cracked the doughnut shake down that was happening in Greece. Seems two Bulgarian men and a Greek wrestling champion were using violence to bully their way into the doughnut bigness. Police had to pose as undercover doughnut vendors - WHEW!!!
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Anybody see the celebrations in Libya? Why can't we in America go nuts and shoot guns in the air with wild excitement - that would ROCK!!! Think about how a Green Bay Packer game would be so much more fun if after a touchdown we were allowed to fire indiscriminately into the air.

There was one scene in Libya last night where a group, looking a lot like Mad Max characters, were kneeling for a camera cheering and a group was standing behind them. All of a sudden the kneeling group started hooping and screaming and shooting their guns, INCHES from the heads of the guys standing in the back (who looked VERY surprised).

Celebrations are so fun!
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Game of Thrones - AWESOME book!   Seriously!!!
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Brewers are on the cover of Sports Illustrated and I have now heard a few national sports people at ESPN wondering if the Phillies are actually the favorites anymore. You know this little winning streak is looking less and less like a streak but more like . . normal. The second half plus a few extra has the Brewers 33-11. NOT too shabby. Can you call 44 games an anomaly? I've been putting money on the Brewers every game - not even carrying who is pitching. Just plunk it down like a monkey! Doing fairly well :-)

*******
Packers are 9 point favs over Indianapolis Friday night.
Packers are even money to win more then 11.5 games, the only other team to have an over/under of 11.5 is New England.

Green Bay is 2nd in winning the Super Bowl behind the Patriots. +650 (bet 100 win $650)

Wisconsin is -180 to win MORE then 9 games this season (meaning bet $180 to WIN $100, plus your $180 back).
The Badgers have a 25 to 1 chance of winning the BCS Championship.
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I just saw they opened a new Zip Line in the Catskills - it's 4.6 miles long and 600 feet above the ground at some points. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. DJ and I almost went on a zip line in Squaw Valley - we were pumped but . . . . Closed on Mondays!! RATS!!!

Columbus should have a zip line - maybe from the water tower to . .UDEY Damn!!! 
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Walker Walker Walker - not a great week for the Cheesehead Pharaoh. First . . did you hear his announcement about how many jobs he created last month? hmmmmm I didn't either. Two moths ago he had a big presser and was touting 9,000 new jobs. This month all was quite. Move on.

OH - Wisconsin LOST 12,500 jobs! (damn liberal Democrat's are to blame).

Then with the recalls going badly for him (they went very badly, not catastrophic but very very bad) he is feeling some pressure. So he decided that it's time to talk to his socialist friends "and mend fences, let's all work together".

Well, his little butt buddy Fitz had to vacuum his dog and could not make it to the big meetings. In fact all of the Gov's buddy's had some other very important things to do . . . . geez, it was almost like they were distancing themselves from him.

I'm sure State employees will get a HUGE jolt today or tomorrow when they see the paychecks - NOT AS ADVERTISED!!! A TON comes out this check. Hundreds of dollars extra. Instead of $80 for Health insurance, $250!! SWEET, that will make people happy.



OH - interesting graph of the GOP hopefulls.

Lastly - you have all heard that Obama's approval ratings are declining.  No worries - they are well within the norms of a President.  The thing that is out of normal is that his likeability ratings are still very strong.

Have a great couple days!

Rod

Agora Report

The gardens lately have been covered with some sort of butterfly/moth and I'm having a tough time figuring out what it is. Anybody have a clue? Also - WOW, everything is covered with Solder Beetles which is a good thing as they eat bad things in the garden.

 
Also yesterday took a photo of Blake when he was wondering around the yard.

 

14 years old and still acts like a puppy (pees on the carpeting)  but I suppose when I get up there in that age I'll be peeing on the carpeting also so . . . . actually the new algorithm makes Blake 69 years old unless you put in the average weight which makes him 75.

Then I caught this little guy at our feeder - we have about four that drop by. It's a family as we see male, female and two young ones. 

Anyway I had the 3rd annual Agora Art Fair Saturday and I was "in-tune" with the weather.  I looked at the radar and there were scattered showers on the Mississippi River.  So we get in the car and are bouncing down HWY 151 which if you are pulling a trailer REALLY SUCKS!   It's construction is poured slabs and every slab seems to be rounded.  You don't feel it in a car but with a trailer it's hell.

So we're bouncing down 151 and  BOLT!!     Wow - a streak of lightning - THAT's not a good thing to see when driving to an art fair.  BOLT  BOLT!!     hmmmmm  OK so DJ looks at the radar on the iPhone and there is now a big multi colored blob heading towards Fitchburg.   The timing looks really poor.  

It gets darker and darker and drops of rain start hitting on windshield.  By the time we pull into the area where I'm suppose to put up the canopy we are in the middle of a torrential rain storm.  People are hiding inside their canopy's and others (like us) are just sitting in their cars.  

We look at the radar again and there will be a break for about 15 minutes. I tell DJ that the plan is to get the top of the canopy up before the next storm.  The rain turns to a sprinkle and we bolt (just like lightning) and feverishly put the top of the canopy together.  We're in a hurry because it takes two hours to set up and be ready to sell so every minute counts. 

We get the top together and the next rain comes!  Back in the car!!

Finally the storm ends, blue sky comes out and we're able to set up.  We were about 15 minutes late but all went well.  It was the best fair yet for me. 

Interesting was that within the 1st hour I had sold the below 12x36 canvas image.  Then the woman who purchased it said "can you hold it for me" and 20 minutes later another person wanted to purchase it and a few others were really looking at it.   As DJ said - this looks MUCH better BIG on canvas then on a computer. 

Another thing was that one image that no one looked at last year has all of a sudden sold three fairs in a row.

I only had one comment (that I heard) sort of insulting a shot of Miller Park.  She said it just looks CHEAP!!  Otherwise all the other comments were just making my head big!  

Vince was a big seller - who could have predicted THAT one LOL. In fact I ran out of them.

Coming in 2nd was Fall in Madison.

For State people I saw Joe Koberstein and Judy Page.  Judy says Hi to everybody at 1 W Wilson.  Joe says you guys can all go jump in a lake you losers!  Well, he might have said something like that.   

On to Sun Prairie September 10th.    Going to Door Country Wednesday.

Have a great Monday - storms tomorrow!

BTW - Ben “Coach” Wade and Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth will be in the next SURVIVOR - SOUTH PACIFIC 

Rod 

A good Day a Bad Game all "Lumped" in one

Like to thank all for the emails and so forth for that last post! I try not to say to many controversial things but . . . . .  I spend 30+ years in Madison surrounded by all sorts of people.  I have walked in some on the darkest south side neighborhoods and have felt no fear (perhaps that was foolish).  I've hitchhiked through the south side of St. Louis at dusk and had no problems.  I've been robbed at gun point by blacks and beat up by whites, I'm an equal opportunity victim.  But HEY - shit happens and everything is all individual.   The troubles at State Fair Park this year where families were getting robbed and beat up by gangs of teenage girls does not put me on guard worrying whenever I see a teenage girl.

Just sayin.  I was not really THAT worried but it's good to have a heightened awareness at times. 
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Then - in an exciting bit of  news - The BP gas station in Columbus has some of the highest rated lump charcoal you can find.  In fact the reviewers were all excited thinking this is Maple Leaf Lump repackaged as Grove Lump Charcoal.


" burntime, this charcoal set a new Whiz world record, burning longer than any charcoal we have ever tested. Longer than Brassiero, longer than Kamado extruded coconut. " 


" The smoke is exceptionally mild and very pleasant. There is no harshness or strong woodsy aroma in the smoke at all. Frankly, this is one of the best-smelling charcoals we have ever experienced. When starting the fire in a cooker the fire spreads fairly quickly, with no sparking or popping while burning. Also, when started with a MAPP torch, there was very little sparking and popping. There was the occasional mild pop, but nothing like we are accustomed to. The charcoal burned at a maximum temperature of 690 degrees, not rip-roaring, but plenty hot for most grilling uses."


" this charcoal is relatively inexpensive, easy to light, smells fantastic and burns FOREVER. We give it our Recommended rating. "  
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Yesterday was the big golf outing/Brewer game and a fun day was had by all (until Adubya, on the phone said "B*tch what the F*ck you want" to his girl friend and she hung up on him but I'm sure the texting that went back and forth afterword before adubya fell asleep smoothed things over. . . . . I guess you had to be there).

Golf was pretty good but adubya had his worst round of the year which was still 5 better then my score.  But the real story happened BEFORE we even got our clubs out of the truck.

You see, GETTING the clubs out of the truck was proving to be a very large problem.  It was a tight fit, 4 bags of clubs and 4 carts with a topper thingy on top to keep everything in.  We got to the parking area, and lifted up the handle of the tail gate and the handle breaks.  

hmmmm - we can not open the tail gate and the topper thing is connected to the tailgate - FIRMLY!

There was pulling, pushing, tugging, keys being shoved in random openings, strangers being asked to screw drivers.  Network (who is in charge of test patterns on a major network) is reaching inside pulling on random pieces of metal and nothing was happening. Balderdash had gone to get a knife and I believed we were all about to die so I put down the camera, stuck my hand in the corner, pushed a little knob and what was took three young males 10 minutes took The Elder about 4 seconds. 

After that debacle we golfed with adubya teeing off from the tips  (like 3000 yards longer then the rest of the foursome).  

If you recall the blog last year called "Going Commando at Miller Park"  when the temps were just silly, this year the weather was perfect and there was no commando. (BTW - we believe last year that adubya was forced to sell his car after having our sweat soaked clothes baked for 3 hours in his black car in the Miller parking lot). 

So we get to the parking lot and balderdash shows us the secret way into Miller park which saved us 15 minutes at least. Once parked we knew we would not lose the truck because we were behind a car with SV TH LRD on their plates which we THINK was Save the Lard but that makes absolutely no sense since you don't save lard.  Moron cooks.  

I did not take my camera into the park, been there, done that and it was much more relaxing.  The game was for the most part boring but we had a great time.  The guy in the seat ahead of me was more concerned with the stock market and I tell ya - I LOVE the Club section and next time I'm going to by one of the cupcakes on the carts - they look so good.     

Not much news happened and on the way home. We stopped in Pewaukee at a dive bar on the lake and had an Octoberfest and adubya insulted his girlfriend and we cheered as two guys that looked fresh out of Deliverance caught fish from a boat. 

We left and about a mile away I realized I had left my phone on the picnic table and we drove back and I hopped out of the truck and it seemed I was just sitting on it.  OOPs - my bad. 

balderdahses highlight of the day was when we were packing up and he had my camera and spotted a hot chick and took some photos of her. 

AWESOME - I think this will be next years Sports Illustrated Cover. 

OH - adubya took a photo of us with our rally caps on in the ninth and posted it on facebook. I don't know if EVERYONE can see this.   That is aduba in the lower left corner looking like Sluggo.  Then me and Network (the one guy that SHOULD wear a cap and balderdash . . . . . I just don't know what to say about HIS cap.)

Rally Caps 

That's the story - have a great weekend.

Rod

High Anxiety

I was looking at the garden yesterday after mowing the lawn and and was amazed at the variety of bugs.  It was like the Mall of America for bugs.  Truly - I was considering getting a chair and sitting in the middle and taking photos (I still might).  So many flying bugs I had never seen before including the little humming bird moth I shot last year.  But then as I was among them I JUMP back when I saw this one.

HOLY CRAP he was HUGE!!   AND SCARY.  I find out SHE is a Black and Yellow Argiope.  They do not eat humans but bad bugs in the garden. (also called a corn spider or a writing spider). An interesting thing is that there web is almost invisible yet she makes herself very visible to keep large animals from blundering into it.

But this was no the only reason for High Anxiety.  This came from work last night.
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As you know I work at Cannery Wine and Spirits in Sun Prairie once a week, more as a hobby actually - it's an awesome place. 

Anyway it has a certain kind clientele for the most part as we have expensive beer, good wine, home brew equipment, cheese and steaks high end liqueur and just lots of good good stuff.  If you are looking for Bud, Miller, Coors you only go there because it's handy, certainly not the cheapest. You get my point?

So the night starts off with a young guy looking around the store talking about the prices of the tiny airline size $1.49 bottles of vodka or UV or Rum.  After 15 minutes of mindless banter he says good-bye and Pat (one of the owners) and I agree that that guy would need to be carded since "His girlfriend outside was REALLY not of age for drinking".

As the night goes on I start getting more and more . . . . worker type people buying cases of Bud, Miller, cigarettes, 3 older guys come in and buy a case of WARM Spotted Cow.  Not the normal people I'm used to seeing.  In fact I sold more Bud in one night then I have sold in like forever (we don't sell a lot of Bud). And there are a lot of other people looking at the store like it's the first time they have ever been in.  I tell one woman that I will be giving a tour in 15 minutes if she would like to sign-up as there was still a spot open. (she declined ).
  
Then the young dude comes in AGAIN and buys a little bottle of Vodka - I card him and yup, he's 22.  OK, then more Bud walks out the door.   I talk to a woman who is buying Marlburo's and somehow we get on the topic of closing times and she says in FLA stores close at 12:00.  I find out she is with the Carnival - AHH HAAA!!!  The carnies are in town.  Not Mr. Eds Magical Midway who are mostly younger but these guys seem more older.

ANYWAY - It was about 15 minutes to closing and I had a known customer looking at wine when two . . . . . how should I say this . . . . individuals of color (black dudes) come to the door.  One stands just outside the door while the other comes in dressed in a dirty big tee-shirt, pants down around his knees, one eye pointing the wrong way, right hand grabbing his crotch (maybe it's that "size" thing) looking around at the high end stuff.   hmmmmmm.

Well - this is not ordinary and I'm not appreciating the one guy hanging outside the door one bit.

After 5 minutes the other guy comes in and they are speaking Ebonics I think but I can not actually understand anything.  The tall dudes phone rings and he answers "Bitch, what da fuck you want".

OK then, I know that is how I answer the phone when DJ calls but I don't sound so angry. After an unintelligible conversation they continue looking at stuff and short dude comes up and says "Where you Kanye be" 

What? my what?  "Kanye"

ummmmmm and I start walking towards the liqueur praying something comes to me.  Let me remind you that I have had a gun pointed at me in a liqueur store so it's not like I'm all innocent or nothing, I've been had once, I'm no virgin to the whole gun to the head thing .  When a drunk guy came in a few months ago and slammed his hand on the counter and said "GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY" and pointed his finger at me.  . . . . I did not find it as funny as he did.

ANYWAY - I'm walking walking with Kanye Kanye Kanye in my head  - WAIT  COGNAC!!  OK - whew - I point out the cognac and he says "Dat all ye got?"   I say were not big cognac drinkers up here (I don't even really know what it is, I think it's like Brandy).

They seem disappointed which actually relieves  me a little.  They seem to know different cognac.  So they are looking around sort of splitting up and talking gibberish to me and are looking at the top shelf vodka.  Tall dude says something on the order of "You could make a million with dis hear store down south" and I give a nervous laugh and he says "YOU LAUGH shi" and the short dude turns and says "you laugh" and I stop laughing.

They pick up a beautiful bottle of vodka ($35 range) and put it on the counter and starting talking about the Black and White cigars behind me but I'm not sure if that want some or are just talking.

MEANWHILE the known customer is taking a very very long time looking at wine but has one in hand and is now looking at the secondary beer cooler . . . . just hanging out . . .thank you.

Well, it's not 5 minutes to 9 and I must tell my new "friends"  "5 minutes to closing . . just sayin"   "Shi man? where we from stores open 24/7 shi"   "YOU got REMY"?

remy remy remy - I have heard of Remy . . .Remy Martin, a brandy I think.  Nope - no Remy.  "You got no Remy? Shi."

So they come up with cash and are paying for the vodka talking about the lack of Remy.  "Mah, you gotta get remy, remy and cranberry , you get remy and cranberry and you fuck yo bitch all night long".

I was confused, should "I"  drink the remy to fuck my bitch all night long or should I administer the remy and cranberry to my bitch so I could fuck her all night long but I felt I should ask this question at another time. Perhaps Pat will know or I'll ask Kathy.  Being the owners of the store they should know.    
I did not want to sound too white after all.

They left about 9:02 laughing about something the bitch said and I walked to the front of the store and locked the doors!

In retrospect I should have started talking deadwood-speak to them, they would have appreciated it.


Have a great day!
Rod

Busy Tuesday

It's been a busy week. It's Art Fair week which means I run around getting everything in order. I don't think people realize how many little things need to be prepared for an art fair. It's like setting up a small store from scratch every few weeks.  From matting prints, framing, cleaning glass, figuring out exactly what will go on walls, figuring out the set-up as every location is different, ordering prints putting hardware on canvas packing, book work and so forth.

The Agora Art Fair in Fitchburg is a big deal with newspaper articles, TV ad's and what not.  THEN! THEN!  I had to write a resume and cover letter for my old job with the State as they want me to come back and work one day a week, plus I still have images of the images of Classic boats I'm going through and a Car Show I have not looked at yet AND Lake Mills images AND Fox Lake which I have not had time to get to yet. 

AND AND  I have to mow the lawn today and get ready for 3 days in Door County to make sure the gallery up there is stocked AND make sure teh gallery in Lake Mills is good to go.  SHEESH - so much for taking it easy!

Of course what do I do?  I get a huge book to read in my "spare" time.  George R.R. Martins "A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One"; On amazon 80% of the 2,043 reviews give it 4 and 5 stars.  A couple in the Home Brew club LOVE the series on HBO and I looked up the book and wow - everybody says it's a classic.

One review said this - You will LOVE this book if:

YOU ARE TIRED OF FORMULAIC FANTASY
YOU ARE TIRED OF ALL THE HEROES STAYING ALIVE EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE UNDER CONSTANT DANGER
YOU ARE A MEDIEVAL HISTORY BUFF
YOU LOVE SERIOUS INTRIGUE WITHOUT STUPID OPPONENTS
YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BIASED OPINIONS AND DIFFERENT TRUTHS
LEGENDS
WORDPLAY
LOTS OF CONFLICT
MULTILAYERED PLOTTING; SUB PLOTS GALORE
SUPERLATIVE VARIED CHARACTERS
REALISTIC MEDIEVAL DIALOGUE: not to the point that we can't understand it but well done.
HEAPS OF SYMOBLISM AND PROPHECY
EXCELLENT MYSTERIES
RICHLY TEXTURED FEMALE CHARACTERS
LOW MAGIC WORLD
SWEARING, SEX

That last one were the kicker for me!!

I've read the 1st chapter AND the Prologue which I never read first.  I always save the prologue for when I need a break in the plot.   I tell ya - I'm hooked already.   The one thing I was worried about was the dialogue - I picked up a sailing book with pirates and so forth and even though I knew all the words . . . I could not really understand what they were saying.  I thought maybe I was having stroke or something.  Or like when I tried to watch "A Midsummers Night Dream"  the movie with Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer.  After 15 minutes I had not actually understood one thing.  The words were there but I did not understand . . . I mean  "Since lion vile hath here deflowered my dear."  WHAT? WHAT?

ANYWAY - the dialogue is perfect.  Just enough medievalness.

One thing I read though is that the Kindle version  - 100% SUCKS!!!  No one likes the editing for Kindle - I thought Kindle was verbatim????   Why would they have to edit for Kindle?
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Before I forget - Public Enemies Celebration will happen the August 27th in Columbus.  You know, I think Michelle and I have benefited the most out of this whole movie thing.  I know I have and Michelle got a big boost in her photography business. 

Make sure you check out my news website  RodMelotte.com
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WOW - how about those Brewers - last night had to be the best defensive game I have EVER seen one team accomplish!  A triple play, four double plays and an out at home!!

In the last 20 games:

Fielder is hitting .403 with a .683 SLG (he will be a Brewer next year - don't worry)
Braun .364
Betencorp (who ALWAYS is a 2md half hitter) .338
Hart .329
Kotsey .318
Lucroy .305
McGehee .297
As a team they are hitting .293 with a .444 slugging

BUT WAIT  Pitchers in the last 20 games have a 2.23 ERA - the bullpen in their last 47.3 innings have a 0.60 ERA.  WOW!!!

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Thursday I do the whole play 18 holes of golf at 7:30 in the morning and then Brewer game in the afternoon with Adubua, Balderdash, and Network so that will be a uber fun day.  I hope I golf better then last year when I totally sucked.  I'll walk the course this year. When I cart-it I always do worse as I don't have a chance to dwell on my last bad shot and make corrections.

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Michele Bachmann - is it just me or does she look like some crazed person about to kill a puppy or something.  Of all the photos Newsweek picked that one? 

Elwood has two sisters, one very liberal and one very very VERY conservative Tea Partyish.  The conservative one said that FOX is way to liberal for her tastes.  Elwood said WHAT?? FOX is to far leaning LEFT? Yes she said.  So he says, if FOX is leaning LEFT who has the right side of the media. She say that is the problem with America,  ALL of the news organizations are slanted left, the REAL Americans, who are actually in the majority, have no news on their side.  Every news organization lies to keep the majority of Americans clueless.

Ok . . . . .  I will admit that MSNBC and NPR are slanted left but I listen to the big 3 networks and they all seem fine.     
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The Department of Homeland Security has recently announced the creation of a program called “If You See Something, Say Something.”  Posters, billboards and advertisements will be placed in airports, bus stations, movie theaters, and gas stations around the country, in addition to the videos that will soon begin playing non-stop inside 600 Walmart stores. This propaganda campaign will be promoting one consistent, repetitive message – the people around you cannot be trusted, watch them carefully at all times!

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Finally - I have not had a chance to check up on Columbus's newest cool thing - the Brew Pub.  When I get any info I'll pass it on.    OH - I did get an email from Karen saying "We are looking for managers in Columbus"  Gain access to positions working from your residence with companies like Apple, Coleman, Adidas, Compaq and much more...

If you are serious about a career change, we want to hear from you.  $256.95 PER DAY!!!!

WOW sweet - I have to click on a link and apply to some place in Isla-Colon Bocas-del Toro,
Republic of -Panama.

What could possibly go wrong!

Augmenting with Photos

First I must report a name change - "whosinmybasement", after moving to sunny Florida and now becoming part of the problem (all that voting stuff) is THE NEW "Sirwho'sgotnobasement". A name that is 25% LONGER then his last name!
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Angel has a new website Angels Scrapping so make so you make appropriate changes.

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Then there is this whole Bert and Earnie thing with the online petition calling for them to get married.  PEOPLE - THEY ARE PUPPETS!!   Think of what the Tea Party would say if Obama legalized gay puppet marriage.

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For anybody that watches Big Brother - I NEVER thought I would be routing for Brendan to come back into the house but just seeing the look on Daniels face was worth it.  I think last night there was two of the dumbest game playing moves in the history of Big Brother!

First there was Lawon who HAD to make the biggest, stupidest boldest move in BB history!  It was so bad that unless you saw the show you will not understand but purposely trying to get voted out BECAUSE you THINK you will come back with . . . . special powers?   WHAT?    Lawon, you didn't come back AND you still have no special powers!

But he had help from Kalia and Dani who THOUGHT he would come back - so they voted out THEIR OWN TEAM and of course who replaces him.  THEY ARCH ENEMA (pun intended) Brendan.  Every move they made was always the very worst decision they could make. 

Kalia who always said she was a strong black woman (OK, I'm going to get a tiny bit raciest here but why is it on reality shows black woman always have to prove how STRONG they are) kept changing how she played.  First her and Dani had a plan, well, Dani had a plan and she went along with it all along saying it was HER idea.  Then when she realized she was not playing HER game she changed but . . . too late, she had alienated everybody but the devil.

Her and Dani are so screwed.  

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balderdash had his leaving State employment party and I missed it!  Sorry man! 

I heard that many IT departments for the State have a 40% vacancy  and are trying to hire but there is no one out there. The problem is that WHY would anyone want to work for the government. There is no incentive.  You get lower pay and no benefits and old equipment. One of the reasons people became public servants was never the pay which is always lower but because of the benny's. Sacrifice now to have more later.  Now - no benny's, AND no pay.      
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Where do all the Red-winged Blackbirds and Cow Birds go.  In the last few weeks they have all left the area and my feeders are not being emptied in half a day.  The Cardinals and smaller birds have a chance.  BUT - where do they go . . .south? 
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I need your opinions - I have two looks of the same shot - which do you guys like more.  The first was the original which I really liked but then I started thinking that it had that gritty feel that I've seen before.  So then I went with a glassy look.  Comments?  I really like both (perhaps I'm blinded so both suck).

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Any butterfly experts?  This little guy had no fear of me, or he REALLY loved the Garden phlox.   Any ideas on what he is?

I ripped out my New England Aster yesterday as it had botrytis stem rot.  In it's place I put a Russian Sage.

The butterfly garden has been under systematic attack by the Japanese Beetles but with a daily walk-around I've been able to hold off any major damage.  Still some of the petal flowers have had wear and tear.  Here is the current condition.  Notice the defoliated Linden trees in the background.

And of course a close up.

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Went to Sassy Cow yesterday to get some string cheese and stopped at Webers to get new tires.  WHY do people insist on getting there so early and waiting in line.  I was there at 2:00 and had 4 new tires put on my car and drove out of the parking lot at 2:15.

On the way I drove up behind a Transformer.   

Notice when I have nothing to say I augment with photos!

Have a great day
Rod

American Men

I got an email in my spam folder this morning with the subject.


HELP: 17 Russian women need a sponsor in WI

Well - always trying to help the citizens of the world I though what better place to show 17 Russian woman then rural Wisconsin.   Then in the actual text.

17 Russian women are moving to WI and are looking to experience an American Man. 

YEA BABY!! - they have heard of American Men!!

Actually this all stems from WWII. IN WWII one of the biggest exports to Russia was condoms. Millions and millions of condoms. They had multiple functions. The solders could put them on their guns!! The thing was that American Condom makers sent millions and millions of condoms to Russia and all of them had "Extra Small" printed on the sides. Of course back then one size fit all so . . . .

I did not respond to "Natasha" and her 17 woman.
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Last night in golf - sigh. WHY WHY WHY. I was in my middle/late season flounder as I always seem to get. The days of lower 40s are gone, distant past and the upper 40's are now being played.

The thin was I birdied the hardest hole on the course. After struggling for the 1st 6 holes I hit a 262 yard drive down the middle. Then hit a perfect 7 wood 170 yards to within 5 feet (went 5 feet past) and hit the putt for a 3. The key was the 2nd shot and I REALLY concentrated! WHERE IS THAT ON ALL THE OTHER SHOTS!!

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I've been slaving away on the Boat shots and have 65 up on the new website. Since I have not a lot to say at the moment here are some of the ones I really like.

Comments are always appreciated - balderdash helped me on one as I thought it was "ok" and he really liked it - it turned out to be a fan favorite - The Umbrella's on the Square.

Some of these I'm just putting out there - I don't know what to think of them yet.

 

Workout room in the UW Porter Boathouse

Just a few of the 65ish.

Cheers!
Rod

Weekend Update

Dolphins interested in Favre question mark? It is where you go to retire isn't it?  Favre "Can I bring my tractor to South Beach?"

And so it begins.
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I did not have a chance to see the Saturday Columbus Journal until Sunday as I was ON THE ROAD AT 5:00 IN THE MORNING on Saturday.  But I see it was the John Pratt edition as he and his lovely wife were featured on the front page and page 9.  Interestingly enough the F&M Bank - JUST as a coincidence, is having a huge celebration on the same day he officially leaves the bank.

WOW - that tells ya something doesn't it.   

In the F&M bank celebration on Sept 1st there will be Civil War re-enactors who will re-enact  how John was actually hired during the height of the Civil War. 

According to the article, Pratt (known sometimes affectionately as WhoInMyBasement, shortened to WhoIt during his Public Enemies period ) is already planning on renting his basement out to snow-bird guests (which was the very first thing I thought of before I realized I would actually miss HIM).

One thing that was leaked about Pratt was that he is a certified scuba diver and actually part of the ultra elite Columbus Seal Squad which is always on the ready to fend off terrorists which might swim up the Crawfish River.  (Rumor has it the Chemical Company fire was a terrorists act as they were near the river but no evidence has come forward.)

ANYWAY - so long old friend.  We will see you in your basement.
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Back in reality (2nd cup of coffee) I spent a good amount of time on 4 of Madison's 7 lakes.  Lake Waubesa (also call Lake Wasabi by someone from Georgia). Upper Mud Lake, Lake Monona and Lake Mendota and drive by's of Gilligan Island (that area where you see all the boats on weekend from the belt-line "lot of nudity and drinking on weekends").

So I'm slowly trudging through the hundreds of photos.  Sunday I was at the Cars and Coffee car show in Lake Mills and have 70 shots there PLUS I have Columbus Horse and Carriage work from a customer or two. - BUSY!!

Horton - I have not forgotten about you!!

So the Classic and Antique Show is a whole blog in itself which will come when I get all the shots finished.  If you are looking for the photos go to  RodMelotte.com - upper left corner in "portfolio".

Classic Wooden boat flying by! 3rd dude from the left used to work in 1W Wilson.

 Car Show shot

Notice the Texas License plate.   Dallas has had 38 days above 100 this year!  SWEET!!   The weather pattern is really very interesting over Texas.  It's like a giant umbrella right over Texas holding in the heat.  All the fronts and weather systems hit this giant dome of ultra hot air and bounce off sliding to the north.  All around the outside of the dome storms are popping up but nothing can enter the dome.

SOMETHING big needs to happen and until a hurricane wanders into the area this could stay like this for a while.

ANYWAY - have a great Monday - I need to get to work.

Rod

Hydro Street Brewing Co, Columbus Wisconsin!!!

Hydro Street Brewing Co will hopefully open in mid September in 152 W. James St.  It'll be a 1BBL system  to begin with.  It'll be run by Aaron and Sandye Adams who will be working feverishly to build  a bar, coolers, and tables and chairs and hopefully brewing some beer in the meantime.

I'll have more once I know more but I bet Paul Scharf, a real reporter, will beat me to it.
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WELL - that was a fun ride in the market yesterday wasn't it. I felt like I was a catcher and Nyjer Morgon was coming home!!

However - can we just say it was panic? I mean where was the horrific news? There was not any. I feel it was just a culmination of sadness over the horrific deficit-reduction deal that Obama was forced to sign off on. The good news is polls are pretty in agreement in that Americans are blaming Republicans for this one. After all - they got pretty much what they wanted.  Democrats try to sugar coat it covering their ass's saying it's not all THAT bad but they are just trying to make themselves feel better. 

So - what about economics. Why aren't companies hiring if there is record profits all across the board.

Reason? They don't have to hire. Americans HAVE FINALLY become efficient. I believe companies have found out that most of their workers were taking it easy. Companies can make the same amount of widgets with only 80% of the employees. Or they have found that those extra 200 reports were not really that important so they don't need extra programmers.

And MANY companies ARE hiring - they are hiring people in other countries! Caterpillar added 6000 employees in America the last year, and 10,000 employees over seas. Take China for instance - they are improving their infrastructure which needs Caterpillar. In the U.S? No big infrastructure projects - that would take extra money for local governments to hire people and the need to raise taxes and we all know that the conservatives do not raising taxes!

Outsourcing! Lots of cheap labor overseas.

Lots of reasons for not hiring.

OK - enough BAD news. Me? still optimistic! Why not. Everyone is running around wringing the hands. In view that as a good sign!  I love being a contrairian
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If you are reading this Friday, I'm off somewhere on a wooden boat sailing the lakes of Madison. It's day one of Grinders amazing wooden boat adventure - I'm drinking Ginger Ale as I type JUST IN CASE.  Oddly I've NEVER been on a Madison lake in a motorized craft.

Saturday I have a SU  SU  SUNRISE shoot! OH MY!!! Sunrise?
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I was asked to take some photos of the Korth Farm from the other side of the lake but since it's been so hot and hazy I could not get the shots I wanted - still I put together a panoramic image of one of my shots just to see how I can improve.

OH - check out Napoli's new Website!   Also - if you go to the restaurant and think about it - ask what kind of pasta they use with their Shrimp Capellini.   You would THINK the pasta of choice for Shrimp Capellini would be . . . . . . . Capellini.   But not here in Columbus. no no - in Columbus linguine is used.

Capellini means "thin hair". It's rod-shaped, in the form of long strands, and thinner than vermicelli.

Linguine means "little tongues" it's flat like fettuccine, wider than spaghetti but not as wide as fettuccine.

SO - I believe the CORRECT name for that dish should be Shrimp Linguine and I think they are trying to put one over on us!

Just say'n.

Gotta run!!
Have a great weekend.
Rod

Maybe a night blog?

I think I have to write this blog at night. I always have so many "interesting" things to say at night and then in the morning everything seems so . . . mundane. Although perhaps I'm fooling myself as the blog is ALWAYS mundane so . . . .

How 'bout those Brewers. When the season started the schedule had one MAJOR bad area. The 26 games before the All-Start break as being REALLY tough, and then after the the break, 20 games in 20 days. From reports I read the 20 games in 20 days was a make or break group of 20 games.

After the 20 the Brewers would know if they were pretenders or contenders.

I have to think going 13-7 pretty much says contenders. The rest of the schedule looks good. There are no road trips from hell. No three city road trips.

The Brewers are playing a little over their head I feel but only by a couple games and the Cards are doing as well as they should. Cinci has a good team but are playing below expectations and the Pirates are sinking as they should be.

So - let's have some fun and have a trifecta. Brewers in the World Series, Packers in the Super Bowl and Badgers in the Rose Bowl, HELL - NATIONAL CHAMPS LOL.
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Congrats to balderdash for leaving State Service and joining the MG&E team.
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OH - anybody want and sunflower seeds? I have about 20 pounds of various flavored seeds. Seriously, what will I do with 20 pounds. How long will those last me!! Short boring story on how I got them but it's sort of how I got 1200 glass bombers - just extra industrial swag.
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Looks like I'll be spending Friday in a wooden boat taking photos for 7 hours, Then spending Saturday at the Boat show taking more photos. The thing that worries me is that the boat people would like a sunrise shot Saturday morning. YEA - sun rises at 6:00 meaning I'll have to leave home about 5:00 meaning I'll have to get up BEFORE 5:00. Why even go to bed!!

Anybody on the Square in Madison look at the  kiosks which have my Boat poster (man did they get a deal for that poster).


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Did you know that Nostradamus wrote 942 quatrains (4 line long poems) in his lifetime which he organised into centuries? Who could have predicted THAT!

Did you know that a single bacteria cell, given all the food it needs, could divide into a ball of cells the size of the Earth in 24 hours. My question is would this change gravity?

Did you know that with all of the letters DJ and I get from Chase Manhattan Bank we could wrap them around the world 5 times?

Republicans hate taxes, we all know that. The last thing they want is it raise taxes because taxes are evil. So - if you hate taxes please do the following.

1. Do not use Medicare.
2. Do not use Social Security
3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.
4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.
5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.
6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home.
7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home.
8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge.
9. Do not use public restrooms.
10. Do not send your kids to public schools.
11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors.
12. Do not live in areas with clean air.

Just sayin.

And finally - I want to give a shout out to Michelle Martin Photography - here are two photos that I stole from Facebook. Please LIKE Michelle Martin Photography - these are totally outstanding and Columbus should be proud.

Personally?  I believe Michelle is better then Wedding Photography.  I don't know the career path but she is an outstanding portrait photographer and the best I can express my thought is . . . she could hold her own with ease in New York! 

Have a great day!

Rod

Drunk Elephants

I had the excellent fortune last night to hang out and watch the Brewer game at the Cardinal Ale House with the president of Discount Office Items, a little company right here in Columbus and when I say little I mean what started as a $25 resale of a lawn edger on ebay 12 years ago is turning into an annual $50,000,000 company. That's like a 2 million percent increase (think if he would have started with a $50 edger).

Anyway I'm not going to get into specifics about the company and all the trade secrets (like keeping the employees happy which to me seems like a bribe and caving into this "happy employee make better workers" fallacy.  Walker has it correct, beat down your employees and make them feel worthless, ONLY THEN will they strive to make their boss happy with greater productivity).

Discount Office Items is located is across from the Ale House (how convenient) and once, if you remember, I was looking for flat paper clips which Office Depot and Staples (the Circuit City of office supply stores - I never walk out with anything when I go there) and I decided I would go to DOI to see if THEY had the coveted paper clips. I walked in and all I saw were empty desks.

Well - either they were about to go out of business or they were preparing for growth. Growth it was.

Sadly I could not actually buy the clips as they are the World Headquarters and not one of the many warehouses secretly located around the U.S.  They are sort of the ZAPPOS of the Office Supply stores. Place an order before 2:00 and you should get it by the next day.

ANYWAY - I don't want to turn this into a huge advertisement as I know they would not want to get the word out but being a guy that loves business and entrepreneurship and Columbus I thought I would mention them.

I WISH when I was a kid and sold Creepy Crawlers to my 3rd grade friends I would have had an internet connection as I'm pretty sure I could have made it into a $50M company also. Or when I printed my own newspaper when I was a wee lad and went door to door selling them (normally for cookies) I would have become the non-evil Rupert Murdock.   Missed opportunities.

OH and that dude on the right?  His name is Horton.

Speaking of Horton, Cannery Wine and Spirits has a new liqueur called Amarula which is made from the Marula fruit found only in South Africa. This fruit is  known to entice elephants.  Seems the fruit drops to the ground and elephants then eat the fruit which is fermenting and all of a sudden you have a group of drunk elephants!

Well Cannery is going through it like crazy and world wide is the second largest seller in the cream liqueur category.
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Then there is the Cuisinart Coffee maker.   We had some issues with coffee spilling out the top of the coffee maker as opposed to the more normal "going INTO" the coffee pot.

I called up Cuisinart and they said I should soak the lid in warm soapy water to fix it.  I did and it did. Once again we have out coffee pot.  I had purchased an $8 coffee maker but MAN - the coffee sucked.
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One thing I have noticed with my job switching (some call it retirement). My language has gone down hill.  It seems that when a person "retires" he somehow gets more . . .enabled.  It's like all of a sudden you feel you can talk to anyone and if you say a few cuss words, who cares.  I mean, I can't be fired or anything.  I can't piss someone off so much my job is in jeopardy.

With that said does anyone had a day job for a few days a week?  LOL  I hate working at night a few days a week.  I never see the love of my life!  It's like I "retired" and now I see LESS of DJ.  I wonder if McDonalds is hiring day shift people :-)

Have a GREAT last day of the heat day!  Watch for T-Storms

Rod