A mutton for your thoughts

Always good to start off with some color, brought to you by Costco flowers (as I was walking by eating some free pizza).

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Latest rumor is that because of the Holiday Art Walk that is happening this Friday in downtown Columbus during the Holiday Parade, a slew of new businesses are going to open in our downtown.

Seems some advertising works.

I've been trying to get  SOMEBODY to listen to me about advertising. Put an ad in Entrepreneur Magazine saying Columbus is Celebrating Small Town America and has open historical buildings with lowesh rent and SOMEONE would take the bait.  All it takes is one.

BUT - The Art Walk did even better.  It seems there is a pretty good buzz in the Wisconsin art world. In it's first year 36 artists are filling the downtown windows (I have three windows of the F&M Bank).  There are business owners who NEVER want to be part of anything asking if they can have an artist.  Is this the start of a Renaissance?

From what I hear six new business are looking to move into downtown.  A cupcake store (taking the place of the old cupcake store) a bakery, a restaurant (have to think they will take over Nepoli's) the antique motorcycle restoration place, Insurance and something else.  All because putting the word out that there is a town here that wants artists.

Exciting.
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Looks like we will have our first test of the new winter parking rules today/tomorrow.

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I can't even look at this - makes me uncomfortable.  

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OH - I was at home and the birds were making a ruckus and I looked out the window and look what I saw.

Two Legged Winged Winter Gray Wolf

A Two Legged Winged Winter Gray Wolf.  Very rare indeed.  He was chomping on a Junko.  I guess birds are not just exploding under our deck like I thought.

A few times in winter I would put food out at the feeder and I would see an explosion of feathers and I assumed the birds just sort of  . . BOOM , exploded as all I saw were feathers.

Speaking of birds.  There must be a Bald Eagle near the truck driving school as I see one 4 or 5 times a year.   Last week I was driving through that woods area (Indian burial ground between the North/South bound lanes) and two birds, big hawks I suppose, appeared.  One crossed the road and another got spooked by a car and dropped A BIG BLOODY LEG onto the highway!!

Well not a horse leg or anything but big enough to see it was a leg.  Glad it did not land on my car!

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Why would ANY team not play Cover 2 against the Packers!!      

16-11 in the NBA this year!!   DJ and I watched the Milwaukee Bucks last week in their triple OT game - very very exciting.  I knew they would be a quivering mess their next game as they played a GOOD team two days later.  They were down by 40 at half time  LOL   Young teams are very poor after OT games as they have not learned to conserve their energy.  Old teams recover much faster.  And since the two starters on the Bucks are 19 years old . . . . . they have a pretty young team.

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My mom has been having trouble swallowing when eating.  I think it comes with age.  If you know any elders that have eating issues get them checked out as this can bring on Aspiration pneumonia.

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OH - since we are on weather - How cold as it been the first 3 weeks of November?

From November 11 to the 21st it was the 2nd coldest 11 day stretch IN RECORDED HISTORY for Madison.  1st place was in 1880.  We had 10 consecutive days where the temp never reached 32, second only to 11 days in 1880.

At the moment we are tied in 9th place for the most days with below freezing highs!  OH - first place?  1880.  Sucked to live in 1880

You remember 1880 don't cha?  The first electric street light was installed in  Wabash Indiana and we all know from school that the first successful shipment of frozen mutton from Australia arrived in London aboard the SS Strathleven.  Hello!  Lets celebrate mutton.

Did you know the word mitten comes from mutton as school children in Scottland, to keep their hands warm, used to put their hands in warm carcasses of lamb as they went to school?  In fact wheelbarrows were invented just for this as the mutton's were too heavy for small children.

It is assumed that this is why the people of Scotland are so strong from years of harsh winters with mutton carcasses on their arms.

Have a great until I see you again! 

Rod      

City Budgets - a Convoluted Mess

I was looking at the history of the Boymatic (don't ask) and found my name is linked to it's history. 

In 1888 Jules Melotte, son of company founder, invents the Melotte Cream Separator, securing the company's future in the dairy industry.

In 1927 George H. Gascoigne founds Gascoigne in Reading, England, rapidly building a reputation for down-to-earth, quality milking equipment.

In 1974 Gascoigne and Melotte merge to form Gascoigne-Melotte, a leader in milking machine design and development.

I'm waiting for my checks to start rolling in.  

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I'm pretty sure this is a Two Footed Winger Gray Wolf in my backyard. 

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*** NEW CITY OF COLUMBUS - 2015 WINTER PARKING RULES & REGULATIONS

- Parking is permitted on all city streets (unless marked or signed otherwise) at any time.

- Parking is NOT permitted on any city street once 2" of snow has fallen and through 12 hours after the end of the snowfall.

- Vehicles left on the street during this time will be ticket and/or towed.

Tow truck companies are lining up to open new business - it's all about jobs right?
*************************************

So the budget was passed last night but no one really knows WHAT passed . . well we do but the public doesn't.  I thought there would be a presentation or something but the whole town is sick so maybe that was a drawback.

As we all know there were massive cuts mostly because of the Gateway project but that was something we have no control of.  I think the biggest bone of contention is that we get $269,626 from the DOT for roads but that does not actually get spent on roads.  Just puttin it out there. Total revenue dropped $225,029 but it's hard to tell from year to year because some funds were moved to different parts of the budget.  No real big item is to blame . . . maybe the lack of dog licenses is what brought us down.  

The good news is that y'all will have a pretty good size reduction in your property taxes because Walker is buying some votes in a tricky way. Give money to the people instead of the cities - cities can't vote but people can.  If we don't give money to the people the city's get penalized.

The average home in Columbus is about $150,000 and that will be ABOUT $258 in property tax reduction.

A lot of people seem to think all the cuts were for roads.  NOPE - almost the same on roads and if you want better roads we will have to use our credit card.  You know those big checks you see people getting in the paper?  You should see the BIG credit card Patrick has to carry around.  Windy days are a bitch.

They did toss us a small bone to keep us a happy cheery lot with a little more in road maintenance but will it make a huge difference.  In the long run yes if we can keep it at this level.

So here are the cuts in no particular order.  Don't shoot the messenger.

Admin-Contingency fund - ($15,000) - this is our emergency fund. The Mayor has proclaimed 2015 as a No Emergency Year (NEY)

Admin-Codification - ($8,600).  I don't even know what that is.

Admin - Memberships ($820). No more late night flights to spas of Prague I guess.

Admin - Election ($2,000) - We are doing away with elections and just appointing people now!
KIDDING!!!   less elections

Various boring Admin stuff ($3,500)
Admin Payment to Enerpac ($19,500) - not touching the subject shhhhh (pretend it's not even there)
Emergency Management Repair & Maintenance ($1000)
EMS ($500)
Parks Building Repair/Tree Trimming  ($1500)
Athletic Fields Maintenance ($250)

Public Works ($41,700)  the big thing here is the Urban Forestry Grant we are losing for a GIS system that we voted on. it would have been sweet!!!

Police Department - Body cameras ($4500) - Well, we never really approved of these so do they count? . . . I guess we are saving money.

Oh - I see I'm(*) on the Police Department page,  Have to use both hands.

* why is "I'm" capitalized, why not "i'm". What is the reasoning.

We are losing one FTE officer
Other Police Department cuts ($75,200).  A moment please.

The Columbus Police Department in 2014 was operating with 2.2 officers per 1000 residents. According to the Waunakee budget here are some other towns surrounding Madison

Monona 2.5
Deforest 1.9
Fitchburg 1.8
McFarland 1.8
Middleton 2.0
Oregon 1.8
Stoughton 1.5
Sun Prairie 1.8
Verona 1.8
Waunakee 1.5
Oconomoc 1.9
Baraboo 1.9
Mount Horeb 1.8
Columbus was 2.2, now 2.0

In 2013 Aaron Adams said we were operating with 1.92 officers per 1000 and I did not see chaos in the street.  I believe our Chief is good enough keep the force running efficiently at 2.0.

and repeat after me - there have been no actual talks about contracting out our police department. The ONLY reason this whole subject came up was because when looking at the budget - WE COULDN'T AFFORD A POLICE DEPARTMENT so a question was asked, that's all.  Hopefully that has calmed down a little now.

You really did not have to repeat that whole thing - sorry!

Senior Center ($2000)
Acquatic Center ($700)
Hillside Cemetery ($5000)

and I don't see the Library on my the list at all and that is why I was surprised they were cut ($3000).

The Columbus Library is getting some pretty big street cred around America. We ARE one of the top 10 Libraries to get a special award this past year.

Check out this on the American Library Assc website.

Root for Columbus: It Took a Village to Make Our Tree

SO - that nightmarish budget season is over and as one long term resident told me "in 40 years, I have never ever seen a more fluid budget process".   ME NEITHER - What a convoluted mess.  I don't understand how Columbus can come through The Great Recession in really good shape but BAM - now we are forced to make hundreds of thousands in cuts?

Every 3 or 4 days we were given new information that changed everything and money is being moved around here and there to fill holes and none of it seeming to go towards roads.  By the time roads came up - SORRY, NOTHING LEFT, GOTTA PAY BILLS!!

It's frankly embarrassing. All I know is that we learned a lot this time around.  Last year the two new Council members were outcasts and had no real say in how things were spent as the old school city council did their own thing just nodding and agreeing.

You really don't know what a city budget is like until you actually dive into one.

nuff said.

The Edge of Tomorrow

Let's just get to the actual facts and do away with wild rumors floating around the internet.  There are absolutely zero talks about contracting out the Columbus Police Department so you can stop the phone calls.  It would take a LOT more then a comment to contract out.  Probably a referendum and so forth, who knows.

WITH THAT SAID - feel free to call me as it gives me the opportunity to inform people of the reality and embarrassment of the City's financial situation.  

So when you see on facebook and get emails that the City Council is talking about contracting out the police department so we can have better roads, step away from the computer and stop running around with your hands in the air. You are being fed a bunch of hooey and you should no longer trust where you get your news.    

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WOW - what a weekend.

Badgers Mens Basketball scored 62 and 89 points with two wins

Badgers Womans Basketball scored 71 points an won

Badger Football scored 59 points and won

Green Bay Packers scored 53 points and won

BRING IT

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This is what happens when Sydney gets to DJs iPhone. 

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Thousands of years ago, cats were worshiped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.

Sofie thought that was funny.  

Did you know cat urine glows under black light?? 

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Went to Webbers to get tires Friday - WHAT WAS I THINKING!   I completely had a brain farted.  I had been putting off getting tires until we were close to snow and then all of a sudden I NEED TIRES.

So I thought I would get there early before they opened to be close to the front of the line.  As I drive up at 7:15 . . what???  are they having a town meeting??   I put my name on the list and I was in the middle of the blue sheet, not so bad . . . wait . . . that is the second sheet? 

Long story short. I went out to my car and watched a movie (NOT Edge of Tomorrow) AND a TV show on Netflix on my iPad and I was half way down the list. 

The odd thing is that you become friends with all these people.  It's a pretty amazing wait.  I mean I'm standing there 3 hours in and a woman stands in line and is told it will be a 4 to 5 hour wait.  The woman says "OK, I'll be in my car".    WHAT????  

When my name was called to see what kind of tires I need, I still had a hour wait.  When your name is called because you car is ready people high five you and slap you on the back congratulating you.  

In at 7:15, out at 11:30.  

My plan was to go to Duffy's but he would need a day at least to get the tires and I needed them tomorrow.  

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Watched the worst movie title of all time.  The Edge of Tomorrow - Live. Die. Repeat.  I LOVED it. If you are a game player this ROCKS. Great plot, great acting, very exciting.  Very well done and not just repeating what you saw already.   93% of people on Flixter who wanted to see it gave it 5 stars which is unheard of ratings.

Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise are pretty darn good. 

http://youtu.be/5xuBlpp4ssg   

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Were we on an oil bubble???  

  

World global oil production is surging.  The world has a glut of oil being led by the US and SADLY, fracking. 

In the last 2 years the US has gone from 3.6 million barrels a day to 9.4 million barrels a day.

Nuff said 

Rosetta

I hope everyone is excited about the Rosetta mission landing on a comet!  I mean this is something pretty darn special. A project that started 20 years ago and a mission that took off 10 years ago.  We chased that comet for 4 BILLION miles and 4 times around the sun.  Then once we caught up to this spinning ball of ice we landed on it!!  HOLY CRAP that is awesome.

Now we (we meaning mankind) have 64 hours to collect data before the batteries run out.  Solar panels will allow the ship to broadcast data for about one hour ever two days but they think they landed in a shadow as the batteries are not charging as fast as they thought. 

What they want to know is if this is the same water that seeded our planet (among other geeky science things).

Since earth did not originally have water the question has always been, where did it come from.  The most common theory is from comets like this one.  When earth was just a hunk of rock with all the GOOD minerals forming our core where did all the water and minerals come from on the outside surface.  The theory is Jupiter flung millions of comets towards earth which gave us the surface we now have.  Then Jupiter evolved and started sucking all of those loose projectiles to itself instead of flinging them our way.      

That's the theory at least.  

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Lots of wild talk about the city budget on the internet and frankly I have yet to actually SEE the "final" budget so I guess everyone on the net has better inside information. 

in a nutshell simplification. 

Columbus has a $360,000 short fall do to Enerpac property taxes being paid by the city (maybe we can borrow some money from Enerpac?) and some convoluted thing from the State that was a "surprise" (although this happens every year so . . ).  This has nothing to do with  moving funds to roads.  As far as I can see roads will be ignored once again unless we borrow money.  Again - I have yet to see the budget as the newest iteration in this very very fluid document only came out yesterday.    

I'll save my opinions on the upcoming cuts for later.  OK, just one.  Columbus has the largest Police force per capita and financially in our area Wisconsin.  Well, except for Monona.  This includes DeForest, Fitchburg, McFarland, Middelton, Oregon, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Verona, Waunakee, Ocomomoc, Baraboo and Mount Horab.  I'm still looking into other towns budgets. 

We also have one of the smallest budgeted Fire Departments but those are harder to quantify.  So when people complain about public safety . . . . let's not forget about the fire fighters that make $10 an hour risking their lives saving your cat in a house fire. 

ENOUGH!  

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Speaking of oil - once again it's crashing.  NOT that I am a proponent of fracking but one of the reason gas is so cheap right now is SADLY because of fracking.  There is a glut of oil in the market because of less demand and there is a LOT of oil in the US and Russia.  With the Chinese economy slowing they are demanding less oil so . . there is a lot of oil around. 

The good news is that this might really bolster the global economy if OPEC decides to NOT cut production.  This summer oil was $115 a barrel, now it's in the $76 range  and COULD drop another $20.  This would really hurt Russia, to bad, so sad as they are an exporter of oil.  Less profits to feed their military. 

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Karen Silkwood died in a mysterious car accident on this day in 1974. She was on her way to meet with NY Times with a folder to show Kerr-McGee who owned a plutonium plant were being irresponsible and acting negligently in a "breeder reactor" for a nuclear-power plant.

Seems she took a bunch of Quaaludes and rammed into a culvert. Oddly she was not a druggie AND it seems there was a second car in the accident that rammed her from the rear forcing her off the road. What a coincidence.

That car  was never found along with the notebook with the secrets.  

Nuff said

Later!

Bombogenisis is about to hit Wisconsin

Actually I don't think Wisconsin will get the full frontal Bombogenisis. Parts of Montana went from 56 degrees to 20 in one hour, a 36 degree drop and one station at an airport dropped 22 degrees IN SIX MINUTES. THAT, is a Bombogenisis.

What we will get is just a full frontal Polar Vortex and if you are thinking that our 27 degree high is cold - just wait until NEXT week when you will WISH it was 27 degrees. 

This is the reason we are getting this anti-hellish weather.  

The remnants of Super Typhoon Nuri which hit Japan and moved north, slammed into Alaska and then merged with the polar jet stream creating havoc.

This is so powerful that it is twice the needed energy to be classified as a Bombogenisis, it's a Super Bombogenisis (if there was such a thing).

The good thing is that this is an anomaly, and has nothing to do with the rest of the winter.  This is what happens when a butterfly flaps it's wings 10,000 miles away and because of fluid dynamics BAM - we get our asses kicked for 3 weeks.

Sadly my weather station is FUBR.  Don't buy Ocean Scientific weather stations as they are pieces of crap and only last 3 or 4 years.  My plan is to somehow get a new Davis Instruments station but those run some big bucks but are more reliable.  I need to sell more photos.

On a side point on weather - I played the new Columbus disc golf course for the last time in good weather yesterday.  Signs are up.  I guess they did not take my suggestions on safety and there will be some cars getting hit at the Aquatic Center next summer. I guarantee it.  Number 4 is a harder hole when there are cars you will throw over. Looks easy when an empty parking lot.

Maybe we can get some Mae Ward fund to plant a few trees in front of the playground on #2 also. Not that kids will be in harms way but just to give more of a feeling of safety down the road.  But I'm just a dude with a bag full of disc, what do I know!  :-)  

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If anybody starts whining about Obamacare check this out!

"Non-elderly adults = 16 to 64 years old.

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World War 1 ended today in 1918 and started the building up to World War 2.  Nine million solders along with Ten million civilians died.  Poppies are used to remember WWI because they are the first flower to grow among the dead.

Scarlet corn poppies grow naturally in conditions of disturbed earth throughout Western Europe. The destruction brought by the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th Century transformed bare land into fields of blood red poppies, growing around the bodies of the dead and once again after WWI in 1914 vast fields of  barren earth were covered with the red poppies.

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NBA system is 7-4 so far ATS.

Significant Bombogenesis Heading Our Way

knowitall - I'm not in Dane County and I know what a gray wolf looks like. Unless there happens to be a wild large grey dog that looks exactly like all the gray wolf photos I see on the net in the middle of a field eating something.   Am I suppose to report this??
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That's right - this ain't know Polar Vortext heading our way - this is called a Bombogenesis or BOMB CYCLONE all caused by Super Cyclone Nari.    Get your snow blowers out as we will have a LOT of snow Monday - at the moment 4 to 6 inches in an all day event but it could be more.

A Bombogenesis has an EXTREMELY quick drop in pressure when two very large air masses collide with each other.  Super Cyclone Nari will hit Alaska and it is so powerful (way bigger then Hurricane Sandy) and with such strength it is disrupting a rather large piece of the jet stream and basically messing up the entire northern hemisphere.  Heading to Florida? Sucks to be you.  This is an airport closing event and I would not be surprised with school closings Monday.

Sadly this is just the beginning. There will be ripples of badness for 2 to 3 weeks as we get the actual Polar Vortex consuming us in  November. There is no brightness at the end of the tunnel for a number of weeks.  

Just saying. 

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I have been quiet about the whole budget thing because for ME it's been a learning experience.  It's not the budget but the logistics of when things happen that has confused me.  When do we talk about big things when do we talk about line items of $1000 and so forth.

We start with a small 48 page Columbus budget and then it seems every day more is added changed replaced augmented deleted and pretty soon you have 200 pages all looking alike and no dates on any page from 12 departments and funds you have never heard of.  Mae Ward Fund??  What? 

I was so organized and then I wasn't. Lesson learned. Plus just when you have a clue you find out the city needs to pay an extra $200,000 in property taxes for so and so and we deal with that the best we can BUT WAIT - On November first the State gives us our final Expenditure Restraint Program Percentage - OH - we need to find another $160,000?  Yea - that's simple. What!!  it's like 4% of our budget which is already skinned to the bone?

At least we get paid $3 an hour to figure this all out!

sigh.

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A friend of mine was hit by a car in Madison and is in rough shape.  It puts a greater emphasis on getting sidewalks on Avalon which is EXTREMELY dangerous and is a catastrophic accident waiting to happen.  

I have almost been hit and have almost hit joggers and walkers on this street.  Then seeing kids on bicycles and walking around cars just scares the crap out of me. Then in winter snow piles up on the curbs and narrows that road by 6 more feet.

ANYWAY

Today I look for or buy some new gloves and get the snow blower ready.

It's all I got!

RM

   

  

Democrats R E L A X

knowitall - Actually I did see a gray wolf.  My parents had a half collie half timber wolf when I was young and on 151 a few weeks ago I will guarantee I saw a gray wolf in the field.  That is why I was wondering about the howling.  I was told wolves have a longer howl.

Still wondering about the tracks in the back yard a couple of winters ago.

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This is hilarious AND it really does work.  We have tried it and purchased it and it's wonderful for those "special" times.

http://youtu.be/ZKLnhuzh9uY

We first saw this at the worlds largest HyVee in Springfield ILL.

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Seems the Democrat's polling was poor this round.  In fact almost all polls were skewed to the left across the country.  BUT not to fret.  IT'S THE MID TERMS.  As a number of articles have mentioned, mid terms are when old white males vote.  If you watch Matlock, you probably voted.

The news this morning said that across the country this was the lowest turnout since the 1930s for the mid terms and many states had record low turnouts.

Something else was noticed.   When the democrats saw such huge numbers in the presidential election they assumed it was all for democrats when in reality . . it was all for Obama.   The young crowd normally do not care about fancy advertisements and agendas.  Freakonomics (the book) said that  people vote for people that like.  Well seems young voters vote for people they LIKE or they don't vote at all.

But on the whole the country is moving more progressive with minimum wage increase gaining ground and marijuana becoming more and more legal while at the same time government is turning more conservative . . . for the time being.

The young voters will return in 2 years because Presidential elections are taken much more seriously then mid terms.

As for Columbus here are the results

2189 votes cast

Governor
Burke(D) 53.6%
Walker (R) 44.6%

Attorney Gen
Happ (D)51.7%
Schimel (R)44.3%

Sec of State
La Follette (D)56.9%
Bradley (R) 37.32

Treasurer
Sartori (D)50.2%
Adamczyk (R) 41.6% is that a real name or did Ann fall asleep at the end of his name? 

Rep Cong Dist 6
Harris(D) 52.9%
Grothman (R) 43.0%

State Senator Dist 13
Zahn(D) 54.5%
Fitz (R) 45.4%

Rep Assembly Dist 37
Arnold(D) 58%
Jagler (R) 41.3%

Sheriff
Weaver(D) 51.7%
Richards (R) 48%

YES 80.62%
NO 10.4%

WOW - when did Columbus turn left.  I knew a number of years ago that Cbus was starting to lean that way but that is quite a shift.

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Road Projects 

WIS 73 (US 151 interchange) 2015

WIS 16/60 Intersection 2016

WIS 16 (industrial - Manning) 2017

Wis 16 (151 Interchange - North part of Columbus) 2021

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Sydney and Caydence at Halloween - Sydney is in Pre-School and Caydence is in kindergarten 

Polar Vortex coming our way!   it's interesting that a cyclone approaching Japan is actually having an influence on Columbus and the midwest   it is going to be brutal next week with highs more then 20 degrees below normal.  A frozen tundra for the Packer Eagle game in 9 days.  

Enjoy this warm weather while it's here.  

RM

Wasn't as close as I thought

Yup - I thought it would be a lot closer but in reality it all came down to a 15 foot jumper with 30 seconds left.

What?  What did you think I was talking about.  The BUCKS man The BUCKS!!  Those crazy guys in Milwaukee that are sweeping the state in excitement are 2-2.  Four games and 4.8% into the season and they have already won 13% of the games they won all last year!  It's a wild ride my friends.  

OH - and my system won both it's games in blow outs last night ( play Orlando tonight).

In other news I could not even watch the morning news this morning but when I did I saw President Walker yelling 4 more years.  But that is not the bad news ( Oh, I was not even disappointed last night, there was no chance in hell of Burke winning - more on that in a second).

The bad news is we have a cold wave coming and unlike other cold waves this one does not have a bounce back to normal associated with it.  Actually it just keeps getting worse for a few weeks.  A week from now we will WISH the high was 32 degrees as that would be warm.  Get your winter coat and mittens out.

Balderdash is taking his Animal House trip to Las Vegas this weekend, upper 70s for them. 

Back to politics, now it's time to put up or shut up for the conservatives.  It's all about hating everything about Obama but not having any of their own plans - well here ya go.

Wait - the economy is doing great, gas prices are falling (saw $2.99 this morning), Affordable Health Care is actually working and the country is doing great (I said the country, not Wisconsin)!  DAMN IT OBAMA!! 

Walker has said he does not think minimum wages serves any purpose and even though in Illinois their new republican Governor wants to LOWER minimum wage . . .it was still a good night overall for wages country wide with a number of States saying they want to raise the minimum.      


But don't get depressed (or excited) - it all swings the other way in 2 years when Republicans have like 25 seats up for reelection and Democrats have 10.  Checks and balances!
*******

-----

Remember Howard Dean?  Remember that yell that the Republicans caught and BAM - his campaign was finished?  That is exactly what happened to Mary Burke. First time I heard that one commercial about plagiarism, BAM - her campaign was over. Walker hit a home run with that ad.  I have hated all three campaigns the Democrats have used against Walker.  I emailed each candidate and told them - dude (and dudette) you are not reaching the people you need to reach. Get some fire in your belly.  It was like watching Milk Toast run for office.


At least maybe now on facebook we can get back to kitten photos again.  Although I did see kittens voting so . . . . .

OK OK - cute kitten photo of the day.  That is little Sofie and huge Iggy on his back. Both the same age, about 9 months but one weighs 4 pounds and one weighs 9 pounds. 

   
And speaking of cute - here is Sydney and her school photo - she is 3.  I think there is something in the Columbus water.  No - that is NOT a full size ladder.

Heard something outside last night.  Took my phone and recorded a pack of Coyotes.  I'm thinking they were about 100 yards away.  Probably circling our Water Czars old house.  I think it was why he moved, to many children were looking tasty to the pack.

It was a little windy but if you listen you can hear them pretty well.  I just had an expert listen, he said they were probably wolves because I saw a wolf last week.  But - then he listened and nope, he said those are coyotes.

  
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Ever notice that in all iPhone ad's the time on the phone is ALWAYS 9:42?   That is the time Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone in 2007. 

------------

nuff said!

RM 

Government gridlock is great for business

But first - knowitall - you worked with a wiccan  at DHS - you just didn't know it.

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My smaller cat has gotten into a very disconcerting habit.  She will jump on my shoulders when I walk by, BUT, somehow never uses her claws.  It's actually pretty amazing that I don't look like I have been whipped or something with claw rips down my back. 

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I had the most amazing dream the other night and woke up with tears in my eyes - WTF!!  THAT has never happened before.  And the odd thing was that I did not wake up and the dream ended, it ended and then I woke up.  And I can remember almost the entire dream, it was like a movie. 

It started in current times and then went backwards like Benjamin Button.  My house and then my house without trees (but holes in the ground) and then my mom shows up and there are grocery's to buy and then I'm younger and all of a sudden there is my dad and we hop into our little yellow MGE and he's driving around showing me all the places HE went to when he was young . . . . . places I have never seen before and then we pull over, he jumps out, gives me the keys, I look back and he is smiling and waving good bye and I drive off and I wake up.

OMG - I have tears in my eyes again - what the hell!  Am I have in a stroke? 

My dreams are either bizarre or I'm vacuuming (I call those nightmares).  Never like that one! 

curious

My dad died of lung cancer from smoking - it's a hideous hideous way to die.   

Well, that's a buzz kill isn't it.

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I've have this old dog eared book for like 25 years ago called "Don't Sell Stocks on Monday" and one of the sections is The Political Stock Market Cycle and we are about to hit an important point in that cycle.

Mid Term Elections - it's AWESOME!!  Even though the book was published in 1986 somethings are still holding true.  

Put your money into the stock market on Mid Term election day and 17 out of 18 times you will be up in 3 months, 18 out of 18 times you will be up after 6 months and 18 out of 18 times you will be up after one year.  On average 8.5% gain in 3 months, 15.0% in 6 months and 15,6% in 12 months. 

Year  3mth     6mth   12mth

2010  8.8%   14.9%     3.7%

2006  4.6%     9.4%     6.7%

2002 (8.7%)  2.0%   14.9%

1998 13.7%  21.9%  22.0%

1994 3.4%    13.1%  27.1%

And it goes keeps going on like that.

Typically mid term elections increase gridlock as the Presidents party NORMALLY loses seats to the other side (in this case Republicans will win more seats) which brings more gridlock. 

After the Mid Terms the Presidents party all of a sudden has lost seats and fiscal policies are tweaked to get more federal spending, more disposable income more social security benefits and to keep interest rates and inflation down.  By the time the Presidential election happens the party has danced their way into peoples hearts and wallets and if done correctly his electorate will vote his party back in. 

Of course AFTER the election then "normally" it's time to fix things.  

Gotta love politics and politicians.  Nasty bunch.    

And business loves gridlock because politicians normally have goofy ideas on how to "fix" things because the other side has no clue when in reality both sides really have no clue and are just winging it.  

There is a reason our founding fathers thought it best to have checks and balances. 

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On this day in history in 1964 voters in Washington DC, for the first time ever, could vote for a President. 

Also in 1998 The Body was elected Governor of Minnesota. 

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watched half of Snowpiercer . . . need I say more.  Actually I'll watch the last half maybe brewing beer because I don't really have to pay attention. Maybe the ending is great but it seemed rather repetitive to me.

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Anybody see the Badgers Chris Borland on San Francisco?   15 tackles and 3 assists!  WOW!  Not bad for a short guy! 

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OH - I was contacted by a rather large Interior Design Company looking for rather large prints

   

   this one would be 8 feet wide.  The cool thing is they are EDAC certified. What is that? It means Evidence Base Design for Health Care facilities. "EBD suggests that particular types of artwork have a direct effect on patients and can help create an environment that eases anxiety, decreases stress and, in fact, speeds healing."

How cool is that!!   

They have a number of images they are looking at and were wondering if I would be open to working with them now and in the future.

WELL YEA!!!    

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Tomorrow - first day for my NBA system  64% ATS last year with 167 picks.

I Twitter them out if curious  @grinder12000    just sayin'

Have a great Monday! 

RM