Action Tire Repair

I'm always a little surprised when I get an email from what I believe is a stranger from a far off land and then I find out they grew up in Columbus and read my blog.

Then I find out that this is his place over that dudes shoulder.  

I think they could use a tree. 

Yea - John Heidke lives in Paradise Valley and that is John Mayer (and friend).  His grandparents owned Heidke's Sweet Shop and the Columbia Inn now the Capri.   He sent a few photos.  Notice this red help can hold 2,550 gallons of red stuff.  Looks like a big red bug.

ANYWAY - he had a quick comment on The Red stuff in an email and how they love it.  I did not know that the planes and helo's will dump extra unused Red Stuff on farmers fields when they return to the airbase.

A view from his place  - Thanks John

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So I was thinking about strangers and where they come from and looked on my Melotte Photo Imagery Facebook page to see where my "fans" were located.  I've been doing some experimental promotions lately and I noticed yesterday I had two fans from Benin.

Benin?  First of all I have to apologize because I don't have a clue where Benin is.  Cotonou, Benin to be exact.  I'll give you a clue.  Benin is RIGHT NEXT TO Burkina Faso.  Yea - feeling kind of foolish now aren't you.  And to be freakier,   Cotonou translates to "by the river of death".  SWEET!!

BUT WAIT - then this morning I see I have a NEW fan from Parakou, Benin.  I have a Benin connection!   Parakou is translated to "the city of everyone".  Which one do you want to live in?

Here is a photo of main street Parakou.

I see a dish (and a goat).
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OH seems I won  a Microsoft Lottery and can claim my £750,000GBP at anytime.  All they need is some more information.  Life is good.
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Last evening I attending a huge Columbus Event.  The ribbon cutting ceremony for a new Columbus road that reach's out towards Enerpac in THE GATEWAY (insert echo effect).

BTW - I am pro Enerpac. 

I shook hands with many Republicans (even shook Fitzgerald's hands) and said high to the Chief of Police.  I felt right at home with all the people that hate me.   However the Mayor was there and he likes me which is what really counts.

Here is the Mayor holding up the BIG CHECK that helped construction costs.The big check was for $500,000 or something.  I wish small checks were big also. 
 

 

It was like a who's who of Columbus (seriously I did not know hardly anybody by name).

There was a crowd of over 7,000 (by Art Fair organizers estimates) in attendance but what I was waiting from was not the ribbon cutting ceremony but the long time tradition of smashing Campaign bottles on the new blacktop.

In Columbus whenever there is a new road Action Tire Repair - Have your work done here…and you’ll never go anywhere else again,  donated hundreds of Champagne bottles and handed them out for the ceremony.  Then all in unison everyone will "christen" (also called smashing) the bottles on the new blacktop and laugh and sing as they watch the children of the village ride their bikes through the carnage.

When asked about the ceremony, Dan Druff owner of Action Tire Repair said "oh, it's like Christmas, we make and entire year profits with every new road".

I can't wait to become a member of the CDA. Great things will happen in Columbus.

Time to get to work and put my indoor jacket on.  I'm freezing.

Rod       
     

What is that red stuff - and rain? Where?

Unless you are living in a cave you have seen scenes of planes dropping red stuff onto fires out west.  OH, that is flame retardant everyone says.  But WHAT is it!

Well - mostly water - nothing SUPER special. Water is a fire retardant right? It's also 10% fertilizer (ammonia phosphate and sulfate ions) and the red is iron oxide for color.

And here I thought it was just some major cool chemicals or something.  Water puts out fire, the fertilizer will grow plants back after the ground is burned and the red is so the pilots can see where they have dumped.

BUT WAIT - the ammonia phosphate is a big deal because if/when the water evaporates and flame hits the ammonia phosphate there is a chemical reaction which creates only carbon and water—preventing a flammable combustion.

What happens is that after the plane dumps the slurry the feet on the ground go into the red mess and create a fire break by chopping down trees and so forth.

The GREEN SLIM is the cool stuff but I have not seen images of that yet. This is a liquid concentrate of super absorbent polymers. Mixing with water creates tiny “bubblets” of water surrounded by a polymer shell.  this actually glues water to houses!!

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Friday, all of a sudden there are dump trucks rolling down the 16th fairway.  At first we thought they took a wrong turn but then 4 more showed up and then more and more, right in front of our house (well, the back actually).   All dumping giant piles of dirt.

I figured it out.  They are making a roundabout on the 16th fairway so when the cart girl comes down there won't be any accidents.

I love roundabouts.  Seems Nathan on the CDA (of which I will soon be a member of) does not appreciate them.  WHY!  There is nothing bad about them. They save SO MUCH fuel and are basically accident free and when there IS an accident it's only a fender bender.  There has never been a T-Bone accident on a round about, no deaths!

Of course you can go too far I suppose. 

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I hear there are major plans in the works for Hwy 60 through town and also the southern exit of 73/151 will be closed fora while in a year or so.   Here is the plans that will make travel about Columbus more convenient.

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I did some senior photos Friday.  I think I have a winner for the yearbook on this one.

 Thank you Nathan. Fun times at Olbrich Gardens.

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I was in Madison Thursday (Friday? am I getting days mixed up?) and it was POURING and lightning and thundering a ridiculous amount which seemed like a lot but only about 1.3 inches of rain fell on most stations.  Columbus only received 0.47 inches.

Here is a chart for the last 4 years of rain in Cbus.     

What surprise's me is that I remember last year and it NEVER RAINED!!  But it actually did rain, we just don't remember tiny storms.
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Preparing for the New Glarus Art Fair this Sunday.  Today I'm getting freon or what ever it is that goes in ACs put into my 200,000 mile car.  I use the AC like twice a year, seriously, but after an art fair I think I might like a cooler ride home rather then open windows.   Why are people afraid of sweat anyway. I've never understood this.

AND BTW - cars do not operate better with the AC on rather then windows open. Urban myth.  Windows open cars use less fuel.  

Gotta run

Got some portraits to take care of this morning in Madison so cant spend a lot of time.

Came in 2nd in the Amber contest - I expected to not win since my Amber was unique with a cinnamon flavor from what I believe was the Crystal hops which is viewed as the most pungent of the new triploid Hallertau family of hops.  I like it but . . .it's an Amber  zzzzzzzzzz

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Finally watched the 2 hour premier of season 3 of Hell On Wheels - WOW - what a powerful well written show.  In my top 4 of best shoes on TV.  If you have not watched it Netflix has the 1st two seasons. 

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Jenny took this shot of Sydney working on her iPad.  I guess Jen got some sunglasses from tag and grab and baby Sid wanted to wear some.

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WOW - I feel so small all of a sudden.

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Disc Golf’s Popularity Exploding, For Better For Worse

Very good video on how Disc Golf is exploding across the country

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9212381

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This is an awesome video on air traffic control - 24 hours of planes

Congrats to Caleb and Alison

More on these two later! And no Caleb is not sleeping.  Actually I interrupted their score keeping.  Sorry guys.  

Went to the Brewer game last night with Mike, The Postman-2 and Elwood.  We had those free BP tickets so our seats were not the best.  Except for the fact we could not see center or right field they were GREAT!!  Actually they were the worst seats I have ever had a Miller Park.

So after Elwood and I when Hot Dog hunting we moved.

One thing is that everybody get's a $10 coupon for free stuff (no change given) but GETTING anything is a pain in the ass. 

You have everybody in line because there are no vendors so all the lines are long.  PLUS you still have only seniors working the concessions.  Seriously, what a FUBR operation.  I am all for seniors but there was no coordination.  One line had 3 people working and 3 people talking.  One old guy was making hot dogs, ONE AT A TIME.  I put my order in for 3 hot dogs I literally, it took 5 minutes because three dogs at once overwhelmed him.

BUT WAIT - We found a craft beer vendor and I was in line to get a couple Sierra Nevada Torpedoes (only $7.75). It was taking forever so I timed it. On average it was taking 1:10 minutes PER BEER.  So we had 10 people in front of us and 14 beers to pour before I got my turn.

Then when I get up to the front the guy says I need to wait. 

You remember the Carol Burnett Show whit Tim Conway as the old shuffling guy.   IT WAS HIM!!!   Seriously, the dude shuffles to the other side to pick up more cups and the line I'm in is trying REAL hard not to laugh.  He brings over 15 cups and shuffles back for another bunch.

I'm not cutting down seniors but this was just a funny situation. He really did shuffle. He got back and we joked around and ALL the seniors were apologizing for taking so long.  People were all smiles but now I know why Mark Attanasio was giving away free money. If you stand in line you won't see the horrible team on the field.

So we get back and change seats to THIS view.  Slightly better. 

OH - there is Caleb and Alison down there in the front row.

Here is the story.  Caleb is taking a photo of Alison and me being a camera dude I offer to take a shot of both of them.  So I take a shot and ask where they are from and I find out they are from Iowa, Muscatine Iowa to be exact . . well Caleb is, Alison is from Ames Iowa.  (Did you know there are no other towns in America named Muscatine)?  Very unusual.

In fact Muscatine's very first name was actually "Casey's Woodpile" before 1833 when it was just a trading post. 

ANYWAY - I find out that  Caleb and Alison are doing something The Postman-2 and I did a large number of years ago and they are on a ball park mission.  They are seeing 5 parks in 5 days(??).  Wrigly today. 

But here is the kicker, and I hope I got this right or someone will be surprised.  They got engaged 2 days ago!!  WHOO HOO!!!   Their goal is to see all 30 ball parks so they are getting 5 out of the say.
I would LOVE to hear your experience guys, email me if you have any stories (grinder12000@yahoo.com).  I'll post it here.

The Brewers won so I'm now 2-1 doing MUCH better then they are. 

Here is an iphone shot of the full moon and Miller Park.  I turned around and saw the full moon and got my iPhone out.  As I did this others turned around and by the time I was down there were 10 people taking photos!  

The ride home was uneventful except for me getting car sick.  WOW - I always drive but in the darkness in the back seat for some reason I felt like crap.  That's never happened before.

I finally got home to Columbus about midnight and still felt horrible and laid on the couch.  Crawled to bed about 1:30 and at 5:30 there is some sort of tracked vehicle outside our window on the golf course beeping and going back and forth - COME ON MAN!!!  5:30?

So I'm a little . . . tired as I write this.   

That's my story - I gotta get some food in me!  Cheers!
Rod

Paint By Numbers?

Is there a "Talk Like You're Tweeting Day" yet?  If there isn't I think we need to create one. #ridiculous    This would mean that since the average word is 5.1 characters and you can use 144 characters in a tweet including spaces each comment can be only about 22 words. #nothingelsetosay

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SO - tonight I'm going to the Brewer game #losers with The Postman-2, Mike and Elwood.   Should be fun.  My last game was a complete 4 hour 8-10 bore-fest  #zzzzzzzz

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I've been putting on the finishing touches to some Senior photos which I'm not that fond of doing because I just sort of like to go a little crazy sometimes.  But now I have two more sets I have to do #notenoughtime

Here is a crazy one that I did for The Postman-'s son Delou.   I think this one will go in the yearbook #yearbookoncrack
 

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So yesterday at 6:45 in the morning the editor from Disc Golf Magazine is contacting me asking for my photos WITH the names of all the people IN the photos.  I was hoping to get the names the night before but Mike at Glide Disc Golf did not contact me so with 10 emails back and forth with rush rush going to press this week kind of talk I was a little stressed out trying to find names.  #stepawayfromthecoffee

I finally did get all names but holy cow it was early for that.

Here is something  you do when the shot is a great shot BUT a little fuzzy!  CHEAT

No one can see the fuzzy because there eyes are now so fucked up they can't even read these words  LOL   #crosseyed

I think my donut is a little churny in my stomach after looking at that.

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My mom FINALLY is getting a hearing aid.  I had to get tough with her.  She hates to spend money.  What got me was that last time I was in Springfield I was talking to my brother and DJ and mom were together and my mom says "I haven't heard anything they have said all day".  DJ says "Don't worry, it wasn't anything worth listening too". 

They had a laugh but I decided I needed to have some tough love with my mom.  She had been talking to her friends who told her the hearing aids they got in the 60s were not worth it and she should save her money.  sigh!
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OH - in Fitchburg I was talking to The Wizard my barber and a woman comes in with a look on her face that was not  . . . . normal.  I parted ways to attend to the woman because she looked like she was interested in my art . . . . sort of.  There was an oddness going on but I could not place it. 

Just like Susie the Waitress who can tell exactly how much people will tip as they sit down, I've been able to assess people when I talk to them.  I can tell the difference between the lookers and the buyers.  I've gotten pretty good at ignoring or attending people but this woman was confusing me.

So we talk a little and she really likes this and that and we come to the Yahara River photo which is one of my better sellers.   

So she is looking at it and says "How do you get that Paint By Numbers" look. 

I froze but remained expressionless.

Backstory - in Green Lake a woman looked at a photo and said those exact words when looking at an image.  THAT image has never been seen at an art fair. 

Then a year later a woman said those exact words to me on another photo and I believe I turned white that time before she introduced here self as Kitty ByGosh a Public Enemy friend who was hoseing me. . 

WELL - here it was happening again but it was not Kitty but a stranger . . . . . as I said - I froze but remained expressionless.

LUCKILY - the attacker was SHOCKED at my non-reaction and thought SHE had just sort of insulted the wrong artist.  As soon as she had a SHOCKED look on her face I knew I had just been duped and pointing my finger at her yelled  YOU!!!

and we had a good laugh.

That art fair keeps getting better - had a large 20x60 canvas ordered last night   #yippee

That's it for now

What a Weekend

Yikes - no sleep for me this weekend.

I've been freakishly busy this morning with some very high strung publishers from the east coast!  More on that later (below).  


Saturday I had the Agora Art Fair in Fitchburg which as many people were saying - Is as good as Art Fair on the Square, but without the hassle.

Yea - the tents go over the horizon!  And the quality of the art is outstanding!   Personally I had my best show to date and STILL would have had my best show if the woman who owns Epic had not come by and said, almost literally,  "I'll take that and that and that and that and will you take a check?" As I was writing up an invoice in a somewhat nervous state I looked and saw the check book open with the words  EPIC SYSTEMS CORPORATION on it.

But then she said "Oh, is it too late to add one more?"

All this was about 15 minutes after the show started!  YIKES.

But that was just the icing before the cake was cooked.  It was a good day.

That is my canopy with the rounded top.  This was taken about 3:00 in the lull but I had a big rush at the end.    THAT was a fun day.

We gut up at 4:45 and got home about 7:30.  Long day but worth it.

BUT WAIT - I have to be up early to shoot for Disc Golfer Magazine.  The Mad City Open was taking place with professionals from all over coming to Madison and Tokan Creek, and OUTSTANDING Disc Golf Course (costs $8 to play there).   

There I had the privilege to see one of the top disc golfers in the world, Cale Leiviska.  Cale's current rating is 1040, the best you can have is 1047.  He was amazing.

 
My GOOD drives can go about 240 feet and then I put my arm in a sling.  Cale (and the other 3 in the finals) were throwing an easy 500.

This guy Grant Hilsabeck looked almost exactly like Aaron Adams from Hydro Street

 But before I could shoot the men I had to shoot the woman which was an entirely different atmosphere.


While the men were all laughing and jovial the woman were all business.  There were only 3.


I introduced myself and the one that looked like a REAL pro said "JUST DO NOT STAND IN FRONT OF US WHERE WE CAN SEE YOU".


Ok ok - was I just bitched slapped?  LOL


Plus our round was in a very wooded area so any shots were REAL hard to come by.  Especially if I needed to have faces.

You don't have lies like this in ball golf. 

OK - can you guess who the pro is (1st place), who the model who took up the sport 2 years ago and as gone "all in" for disc golf (2nd place) and who the relative new girl (who would kick my ass).

 New Glarus is next on the schedule that USED to hold the record for art fairs.


Gotta get back to work.


Rod

"The Day the Clown Cried"

I was on Channel 3 yesterday - 5 seconds!

After my doctor visit I decided to take a run out to the Pope Farm Conservancy to take a look at the sunflower field and while I was there Channel 3 show up and low and behold, they filmed me taking the below photo.   So in the last 5 days my cat has been on Channel 3 AND me!  

I've been working on my new website and one of the features will be the ability to do this!  In fact I can have people take a photo of any room and measure something in the room. Then I can correctly size and display any image showing them what works and what does not.

BTW - if anyone has ideas for better wall color let me know.   Perhaps a green?

ALSO - I'm looking for rooms to take photos of as demos.  If anyone has a cool, clean (not a lot of "stuff")I would love to come over OR you can take a photo for me of your room.  Any rooms are great.   Just measure one thing near a wall so I can scale everything.

Rod

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Then I get a call yesterday fro the owner of Glide in Madison.  The guy looks and sounds just like Alton Brown on the Cooking Channel and he wants me to take photos of The Mad City Open at Vallarta-Ast DGC (Tokan Creek) for DiscGolfer Magazine, the official publication of the Professional Disc Golf Association.   COOL!  

That will be Sunday, Saturday there is the Agora Art Fair, one of my favorite fairs. 

OH - the doctor just wanted to touch base on my prescriptions.  I have great bad cholesterol (like I don't have any bad cholesterol) but I lack GOOD cholesterol.

He said I should live a long time (well, unless cancer rears it's ugly head I suppose).  Blood Pressure 100/60 and heart rate of 66.  I asked him about my super hero ability to hear my heart beat in my head and he said that is not uncommon.  WHEW!   I thought I might explode or something. 

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CAYDANCE - LOOK BEHIND YOU!!!!  

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Sadly all of the warblers and birds that would sing songs to wake us up have flown south.  Currently we have a flock of some sort of sparrow and the normal red wing black birds, grackles and so forth eating the bird food.  Sharks in a frenzy. 

Oh - here is a photo of Mel and Edgar Harrell at one of our luncheons ( luncheons meaning crystal chandeliers, fantastic steak and all the trimmings) .  I believe they are telling shark jokes.  

What do sharks eat for dinner  . . . . whatever it wants.

  
Sorry - HEY - I never said I was politically correct. 

I've been reading Edgar Harrell's book "Out of the Depths" which is pretty good.  

If you listened to that youtube video I loved the part where he was about to jump into the black water and he says "There are times when you pray, and there are times when you PRAY.  Is this the end of life?"   

That is such a powerful presentation.    Check it out.

http://youtu.be/O9KEirureew  

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WORST MOVIE EVER!  

I was shocked.  Jerry Lewis made a movie in the 70s called  "The Day the Clown Cried".  it's a movie about the Holocaust.  WHAT???  REALLY?  yea.

Lewis plays a clown in Germany and is taken prisoner when he makes fun of Hitler. He is sent to a concentration camp and does his performance for children and eventually walks with them into a gas chamber.    OMG!!!

The last scene has him and the children laughing while the gas surrounds them.

Sigh - the movie never made it to the public as once filming was over Lewis realized this was a horrible idea.  

For anyone who wants here is a link to the script. 

"The Day the Clown Cried"

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And on a political note.  I am so sick of the Capitol singers.  I tend to lean left but there is this common sense side of me that says "get the f*ck out of the capitol losers".   Seriously all they are doing is drawing attention to their buffoonery.  They are not furthering a cause in anyway but making the left look stupid.  

OH - all of the democrats are saying "YOU CAN'T TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHT FOR FREE SPEECH".   Oh good grief. 

SO - to me that says they are all for entrapment.   They know the police can't win, they are being assholes and hiding behind the Constitution to do it.  They are making sure that tourists stay away from the capitol (which they are).  I guess if they believe Walker hurts Wisconsin (which he has) they can also hurt Wisconsin (which they are).   

There are smart ways to protest and stupid ways to protest. In thus case the left decided to be stupid and carry things to far.

That is my common sense position. 


I know many won't agree with me but that is how I feel.  I used to go into the Capitol, it's beautiful.  No more.  

More Indy and other stuff in my head.

Sooooooo - I guess the huge storms that were lighting up my phone last night with warnings . . .never happened?

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Placed a few "fun" wagers today.

Green Bay OVER 10.5 wins.  They should not lose a home game this year so all they have to do is win 3 away games.

Philly Eagles UNDER 7.5 wins - Hideous schedule home AND especially road. They only won 4 games last year and I believe they have their top three receivers out for the year.

New Orleans  OVER 9 wins. 

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FACEBOOK - DO NOT "LIKE" things.

You know when yo use "“If I get a million likes my dad will get me a car.”  or when you see things like name a movie with "A" in the title.  DO NOT DO IT!!!  

It's called LIKE Farming and every time you LIKE something some one is making money and MAYBE putting Malware on your computer, or attempting.

When the page gets enough fans (a hundred thousand or more)the owner might start placing ads on the page. Those ads show up in your news feed. They could be links to an app, a game, or a service they want you to buy. It could be a “recommendation” for a product on Amazon where the page owner gets a commission for every purchase made through the link. Or more nefariously, the page owner could be paid to spread malware by linking out to sites that install viruses on your computer for the purposes of identity theft. Bottom line: access to your news feed is lucrative. 

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OH - So I walk into my office and there is this familiar smell and this big "?" appears above my head.  What is this wonderful odor . . .and why is it in my room.  I stand perplexed looking at the window.   Wait, I know that smell and my gaze moves to the left toward my carbonating beer.  What what do I see?

My Party Pig who has been a very good pig so far has a needle size stream coming out of it's snout traveling 3 feet towards the closet door, hitting the door and dripping down.

FUCK!!

I pick the pig up and move it to the bathtub and tighten things down.  Once it calms down I moved it to the cooler in the basement.  The odd thing is that yesterday was the exact day it was ready to drink.  3 weeks carbonating.  Luckily I think only about 12 ounces flew and were lost on the carpeting.  All is well now.

The beer was/is an Amber (zzzzzz) for a contest.
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I mentioned yesterday that I always learn something new at the reunions.  This time I learned that there were TWO planes in the rescue.  A PB1 which could not land and the rescuing plane that was ordered to NOT LAND was a Catalina PBY.

The odd thing is that my dad flew a Catalina PBY in WWII which is weird as it's yet another thing DJ and I have in our "Kennedy/Lincoln" relationship.

We both grew up next to slaughter houses (Jones's / Oscar Meyer). Both have entrepreneur brothers 7 years older, both sets of parents had the same age difference which also happens to be OUR age difference. DJs dad was rescued by a PBY, the exact plane my dad flew. Both brothers were in a drum and bugle corp.  and I could go on . . . .    

ANYWAY - I'm reading Edgar Harrells new book "Out of the Depths".  I HOPE you all watched that video from yesterday - it's NOT boring and I can now.  There is a photo of DJ's dad in the book.

At first I had trouble reading it as it seem God was mentioned in every paragraph.  Now I'm not anti God or anything but I was feeling like it was being shoved down my throat.  Bit after talking to Edgar and finding out he was the company chaplain, well . . . . .I understand.  Also he is such a wonderful human being.

Funny Story - we were at the Columbia Club for a VERY fancy lunch and we had two chaplain's at our table.  One was talking about when he was "working" on base and in the field he would speak and console servicemen and after every talk he would give the servicemen a piece of candy.  Always, one piece of candy.

The reason?  He said that the servicemen always felt so wonderful 10 minutes after meeting with the chaplain.  It was a sugar rush!   LOL

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I think disc golf has helped my ball golf game.  Ever since I took up the sport my ball golf game has turned around.  Last week I hit 7 out of 9 fairways.  I've never walked down the middle of the fairway so often in my life.  KNOCK ON WOOD.  Maybe it's the twisting I do for disc golf?    
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Here is a photo if the Hyatt in Indianapolis.  For some reason when I was sitting in their super comfortable chairs looking at this scene I reminded me of the Jetson's or so "building of the future" from 1950.

Hyatt - Indianapolis

This was taken of Matt Meinema who owns PEARings Frozen Yogurt.  Sort of like Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt in Sun Prairie. 

Matt Meinema who owns PEARings Frozen Yogurt

Just before I took the above photo we were at the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument which is in the middle of Indianapolis.  There was a lot going on even late at night.  What an awesome city Indy is.  ANYWAY as we were leaving a couple stopped us and asked if we got any good shots and the guy told us how to get the best shot. 

So here we are. 11:00 at night walking down dark alleys and climbing up 10 floors of a deserted parking ramp, DJ leading the way.

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument was designed by a German architect, Bruno Schmitz and completed in 1901.

The Indiana World War Memorial Plaza  is a 5 city block plaza for the solders of WWI.

It's a pretty awesome place.  

That's it fore now

Rod

Band of Brothers - USS Indianapolis

I had the honor and privilege to attend the last reunion of the survivors of the USS Indianapolis this past weekend and every time I go to these reunions I gain more knowledge.

This being the last reunion it was special and very teary eyed.   As you all know my father in law is one of the last two Marines surviving.  One Navy Commander called these survivors "The Greatest of the Greatest Generation".

In attendance was Hunter Scott who when he was 11 started a campaign to posthumously exonerate Captain McVay.  He was called "The Hero, of the Greatest of the Greatest Generation"  YIKES.

His story is told in the book "Left For Dead", by Pete Nelson and he is now a Navy helicopter pilot who's job is to hunt submarines. 

Here is a photo of DJ, Hunter and I.

I pride myself in being a mans man and not tearing up except in the final scenes of Private Ryan and maybe a little in Field of Dreams (tossing the ball with dad) but o' man.  This weekend was tough at times.

When Edgar Harrell was saying what could be his last good-bye to Mel, DJs dad it was tough.

Edgar gave a presentation that was truly riveting - I mean really!!   I have the 54 minutes below and when you have a chance you will not think it was a wasted 54 minutes.

http://youtu.be/O9KEirureew




The very cool thing is that I talked to the producers of what will become an 8 part mini series not unlike Band of Brothers with their story.

Hear they are interviewing Mel who played hard to get all weekend.

I am so far behind on photos it's crazy.  With 3 projects and another coming up later this week AND art fairs 3 of the next 4 weekends . . . YIKES!!  But I'm getting a shot here and there processed.

This was the very first shot of the Hyatt in Indianapolis from our 10th floor.

Here is a War Memorial from Indianapolis (BTW - Indianapolis AGAIN, is just an awesome city.  If I had to live in a city I would pick Indianapolis).

The odd thing is when you are taking photos  of buildings you can always find the exact center by lining up your tripod with the lines on the floor.  Except I guess this memorial.

I'll have more shots of this awesome city in days to come (along with War Birds from Truax and other things waiting in my que).

I have a lot of great shots including some where DJ led the way down dark alleys at 11:00 at night and climbing up 10 floors of a deserted parking garage to get some great shots.  She led the way.

This was just outside our hotel at an intersection.  Taken about 10:00 at night.

ANYWAY - gotta lot of matting I have to do so I'll get back to you.