Ford vs. The Beer

Well - of course I am on Fords side.  I thought her testimony(?) was commanding and believable  and the prosecutor tried to get her to slip up but did not succeed.

For his part Kav came in and went on the attack spouting how awesome he is NOW.  He interrupted people and cut the female Senators off mid sentence and WHAT THE HELL was he doing with his tongue.   It was like it was trying to escape his mouth cavity during his opening speech.    KEEP YOUR TONGUE IN YOUR MOUTH.

His problem was he was playing to Trumps base and not the 7-10 Congresspeople that are undecided.  And some of those REALLY dislike Trump.

The line of question for the left was GET THE FBI involved and the right argued WHY IS THIS ALL OF A SUDDEN AN ISSUE . . . .

The left said under their breath BECAUSE YOU SCREWED US ONCE ALREADY WITH THE SAME BS  SO - it's all up to the 7-10 voters on the right.  Do they say NYET !  Or do they tow the line blindly and set womanhood back 40 years and automatically fuel the blue wave for even the Senate.

The argument is "Well, nobody is perfect"  I say you are looking for ONLY 9 people in America that have gone through life perfect.  NINE.  Why take someone who is not perfect.  You can't find NINE people?

And seriously - If the Republicans are smart - call the Democrats bluff - do the freaking FBI check and finish the deal.  If he did nothing then the Dems can't complain right?  OR - are you afraid he DID do something.

Personally - I think he is guilty as sin.  A belligerent, entitled old white man who LOVES beer and drank a LOT.   

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Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

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Old, lower Quebec 

Augmented images - in lieu of words / OZARK

Seems to me Yelich cemented his MVP last night.  Going to be a fun weekend for Brewer fans . . I hope.

One note about the Brewer game - 11 of the 12 runs scored happened with rally's with 2 outs and nobody on.  THAT has to bite!   

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When in Canada the one thing that REALLY stood out while driving around is their complete love for yard signs.  There must be elections up there as almost every house would have 4-7 yard signs  EVERY one.  You could look down a street and see 30 yard signs.

They would have signs on every street light, big signs.  It was crazy.  The TV ad's were no different then in America.  Blatant lies and misinformation.

WITH THAT SAID - I was getting bored with my normal images and while watching the Brewer game last night took a few images and . . . changed them.

This has DJ in the image as she was looking at some shop

Driving on the way home in the U P we stopped at a beach - it was CRAZY windy

The lower city of Quebec.

And of course the umbrellas

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We started watching OZARK - OMG - it's like a Coen Bros series.  The characters are ALL outstanding and always with a TINY bit of underlying "humor". Slightly violent.  So far it has passed the DJ test for violence as it is so intriguing - one of those "What happens NEXT" and how does Justin Batemen get out of THIS situation.

On Netflix and I can see when when I asked the question on face book I got 30  AWESOME'S and and only one "didn't like it".   Most of the awesome were "we binged it"

Brewers? sleep?

These Brewer games are like playing on the west coast as they are getting over so late because of rain delays.  WHO NEEDS SLEEP! 

If you know the history between the Cards and the Brewers you know that these two teams would hack each others databases if they could.  LaRussa always said the Brewers were cheating and stealing signs. 

Well, last night Council out LaRussa'd (if he was still the coach) the Cards with strategy.  They started Jennings a lefty and the Cards put every right handed hitter in the line-up except the VERY dangerous Carpenter, a lefty. 

Lefty Jennings pitched to 1 hitter, lefty Carpenter.  Then Parelta, who is poor against lefties, came in to face all the righties.  BRILLIANT, all he had to do is face Carpenter once.  FAIL!   But as a whole strategy - it worked.   Loved it. 

On a funny note - the baseball purists had to be screaming.  A one batter starter gets the guy out because of an infield shift.  SWEET! 

One last baseball thing.  On my Strat-o-matic team this year.   I am the best team NOT to make the playoffs.  Because of this I will have first pick to sign a free agent.  In our league you can draft a guy, keep him for 4 years and then you can sign him to a long term contract for MUCH MUCH more which is 3 or 4 years (salary cap issues for longer).

So last night I started looking to see who the free agents are.   LOW AND BEHOLD -  Mike Trout (CF)  .314, .459, .632 for a 1.091 OPS is a free agent.

He should go nicely with Yelich who I signed as a free Agent a couple years ago (.321, 391, .576, for a .967 OPS) and Freddie Freeman (1B) .895 OPS. sadly . . that's it!  no real pitching, no 2B, and no catcher.   So so many injuries.

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Speaking of downtown signage.  Sorry sorry.  I know, there is nothing to be done about it. I think it's a thorn in my craw because I know so many new business owners downtown in the last 4 years that it's is such a freaking headache to get ANY information on what to be done.  With so many other issues a new business has there should not be a battle to get information on signage which it seems to be. 

One guy spent $1000 on a sign and was told he could not hang it, it was an awesome sign too. Did not meet the requirements.

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Back to the vacation

the roads and towns in Quebic are small and quaint.

Not a lot of mowing the front yards it seems. 

We were just driving around looking at the countryside.   As I stopped to take this photo of angry geese Melissa, .......

who was in the car ahead of us yelled back - Check this out!!!
And we drive up 15 yards and see this!

I'm writing the blog and looking at tiny little images looking for photos and saw this one.  Was not sure WHAT it was (it was sideways it seems).

OH - sorry -out of order.  The lower city of Quebic from the stairs from the upper city. No vehicle traffic in the lower city. 

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Economy.   in 2019 major companies are cutting employee bonuses. The 3rd year in a row bonuses will be cut for big business.  BONUS?  I worked for the State for 25 years - NOT ONE bonus . . . and no Christmas parties and a 1% raise every 3 or 4 years and a salary $10,000 a year lower then private industry.   But no one complaints because of the retirement benefits. 

They want employees to stick around and keep the knowledge in-house.

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got into a fun argument on Facebook about when a lane on a highway is ending (like 151) and everybody gets into a nice orderly line leaving the other lane empty.  You know the drill right?  Everyone is happy and then somebody zooms ahead and cuts in.

NOW - in the PERFECT world you would have 2 lanes zipper in in the front which would keep people calm and be very efficient.  But we all know that is not how the real world works. The REAL world is not efficient and most drivers are just bad drivers ( left lane is the 'fast" lane and so forth).

They zoom ahead and THEN have the nerve to get pissy when they are not allowed to cut in in front of people which makes absolutely zero sense.

They are angry because they are not allowed to cut?  seriously?   If you were in Costco with one checkout and a long line . . . it's OK to cut in front of people because there is so much space beside the line?

I call that being a bully.

No one likes long lines but DEAL WITH IT!  Just because there is space beside the long line does not mean it is your right to cut in front of people.

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Nuff said

 
 

2581 miles later . . . . Columbus us beautiful . . to a fault

After 2581 miles in a car driving through Canada, the U.P. and Wisconsin I gotta tell ya. Columbus is still one of the most beautiful towns around.

Of course that beauty comes at the expense of not having a thriving business district but you have to pick your poison.  Beauty or business. 

The Trans Canadian Highway is basically a 2 lane road that goes from small town to small town.  Every town had a character and while driving through you could clearly see what the stores were and the basic flavor of the town if you were shopping.

Trans Canadian Highway 

Every town always had some famous statue of some beaver skinned hunting dude with a canoe and so forth.  Or a big fish or a big tee pee or an iron bridge and so forth (one town IS called Iron Bridge).

So when we finally drove through Columbus after 2581 miles is was such a beautiful town . . . but not one reason to stop and not one clue what the store fronts were.  Our attention is drawn to the 2 or 3 large back lit signs and American flags.   Not one store sign can been seen at all from the street.  Drive through, no reason to stop.

I think what the city has done is combined both worlds so neither of them work. A few large signs to draw your attention AWAY from all the other stores trying to make a living. . 

HOWEVER - it's a beautiful town for sure.

Were still decompressing from the journey.  It was mentioned to us that DJ and I were both pretty quiet and we noticed that we were both subdued Saturday.  I think the "not bad" stress of 8 days on the road wore us out a little.

So I'm just going to mention some things and post photos that stood out on the trip to Canada for the next week.

One thing you can't by 6 packs of Canadian beer.  They just don't make them.  They only sell

pints and they ONLY sell beer in grocery stores.  There are no "liqueur" stores in Canada.  If you want wine or the hard stuff you have to go to a SAQ (Société des alcools du Québec) or whatever the Provence calls it's particular government run liqueur store.  This explains why we could not find any beer stores LOL  OH - and we were looking.

We had to ask a person who spoke 10% English and figured it out.

Most things seemed inexpensive but then you have to add on about 15% tax (it's a socialist Country you know) teh price go up.  The exchange rate is about 72%.  For every 72 cents you get 1 Canadian dollar (which are REALLY cool)    The odd thing we noticed is that of you buy a certain quantity of lets say donuts or pastries they would say (in French)  Buy 1 more and you don't pay tax . . . .which I still don't understand but we always purchased one more.

They do not use pennies which was surprisingly awesome.  You would not think that NOT having pennies is a big deal but WOW.  I LOVED not having to deal with pennies. Everything is rounded up or down. 

There are no $1 bills but loonies and twoonies.  $1 coins and $2 coins. 

loonies and twoonies and a dime

And with that said (what was said?) the pastries were AMAZING - better then anything we have eaten in the States.

and of course there are Tim Hortons EVERYWHERE . No! I mean EVERYWHERE. If you think Starbucks is everywhere - go to Canada and look for a Tim Hortons.  They are like a upscale Duncan Donuts . . but better.  Every town with more then 1000 people have at least ONE Tim Hortons.

I wish Columbus had a Tim Hortons.

another odd thing is when using a Credit Card (the best exchange rate) everybody has the same exact machine.  Learn it once (as it's all French in Quebec) and every exchange is the same.

We stayed in Beaupre which has a huge church and the highest ski hill in Eastern Canada. Could not see the top for a few days from clouds a few of the days from our condo.

But they did have a HUGE church.  The Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.   In 1658 a shrine was put in the spot to honor Saint Anne the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus according to apocryphal Christian and Islamic tradition.

It became a hit and a goto destination for those wishing to . . do whatever people do.  Everything kept getting bigger and bigger and a Basilica was build in 1876.  It burned down in 1922 and a new bigger better one was built in its place.  A small little one.

With a quaint, homey inside

A mix of Gothic and Roman.  I did not notice at the time but my brother who started as a Stain Glass artist and is responsible for the deconstruction, cleaning and reconstruction of the stain glass on top of the ILL State House (below) point some things out.

State House Illinois 

He noted that the stain glass at the top of the Basilica had iron workers, and jack hammer dudes and so forth.   They wanted a church for ALL the people. 

In the coming weeks if another photo of the Basilica pops up you will know what it is.  We stopped at a little hamburger joint that was across the street.  It actually had the word "hamburger" in a sign  . . .unlike McDonalds where the menu was 100% French. 

Well . . . . .DJ order a grilled cheese and it came with American Cheese, as did our burgers . . . but you did get poutine. 

Poutine, the national french fry. Nobody orders "french fries" as with everything you get poutine which scared the heck out of me.  But it's AWESOME of course.

French fry's, like 5 Guys with fresh cheese curds and gravy on the top. 

 

You eat it with a fork and it truly is REALLY good.   The Old Fashion has it in Madison and in Canada every McDonalds has it.

So that is it for today.  Getting pretty loaded with photos and I have so so many.

Talk at ya tomorrow. 


 

Canada Day 3

Before I day 3 happens and observation.

I've never been in a foreign country.  Oh, I've visited St. John USVI and Illinois is pretty weird but nothing compares to this.  You go through life sort of not paying attention and doing things that come naturally but YIKES.  Here you really have to pay attention to  . . . everything.  Even shopping at a super market is a little taxing at the check out where 0% of everybody speaks English.

A waiter in Quebec yesterday was explaining something to us and Stacy politely says 'English please"? and the waiter says " Oh, I am trying"  and slows it down a little so we understand 3 of the 10 words. 

So moving forward to yesterday.

Looking at the weather which looks like things will get MUCH cooler, it was decided the best day to visit Quebec City would be Sunday.  The plan was to go to drive to Quebec, park and wander around.  Seemed simple enough right?  Yea - parking might be a problem but it would work itself out. Nobody has died looking for a parking spot . . . right?

We had our GPS and my brother had a big map. What could go wrong.  So far the GPS was proving to be better then a big map, we would lead the way.

So off we went. Destination was somewhere near the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, address 1 Rue des Carrières.  The route is running smoothly until the GPS has us turn onto to tiny little alley and then onto a different tiny yet busy alley and onto a tiny little street which now has 4 HUGE buses at a stand JUST as this huge church is letting out. Who new the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec would be letting out at the EXACT instant were were coming up to it.

Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec - in a quieter time

packed street

There are people EVERYWHERE and buses and cars and it was chaos.  Zero parking that we could see.  We stop in a bus area and are told where the underground parking is.  It was like 50,000 people as a Badger game just let out ,if the stadium was on the Square and the only signs were in French.

We park giving a machine a credit card but not really knowing what will happen but we cross fingers.  It's an ADVENTURE!

We are out and rubber necking with the throngs of tours guides. At one point I could see six different tours guides with 25 ducklings in tow. Our first inclination is to get a beer which was a lot easier then we thought it would be.

Why did I ever take LATIN in High school.  Big help that was.  I should have gone to Latin America (joking).

SADLY - I left my reading glasses in the car so my French reading was even poorer then normal.

So, I have my first beer (first of many) out of the country.

Of course we had to have poutine. Poutine scares the crap out of me (not literally).  It's French Fries, with cheese curds and gravy.  WHAT COULD GO WRONG! 

Nothing - it was amazingly good.  The gravy is not a thick roast beef gravy but lighter and I tell ya, I have had fries 3 times now, called pommes frites, and every time there are really good.  Sort of like 5 Guys.  A little over done and mushy and excellent.

And for Rich the Ref, the gravy to pommes frites ratio was very good.

We walk around the upper city and try to take photos. The big issue is there are a few of these in the harbor which seem to carry an entire city with them.

To get a scope of size - below the 5th orange lifeboat from the right you can see a line to passengers going back on the ship.

This is the last weekend of summer and it seems everybody is out one last time.

Some cool signs in the Upper City

I mean this seriously.  Since Columbus has a business killing unenforceable sign ordnance. Columbus should  make all the sign downtown the same. Like the above.  People tell me they have no idea what is downtown and it's because the signage is a jigsaw puzzle that nobody can focus on more then one at a time.

Then we stumble  across a small ally full of artist.

And vendors

  And blocks and blocks or outdoor restaurants and pubs

Anti trump caricatures. are all over

Street musicians everywhere.

DJ and I decide to go to the lower city or old Quebec which was built around 1608.

To get there you can take a small tram for $3.50 or stairs down 5? stories 6?

 Here there is no vehicle travel and twice as many tours going on.  Very touriststy but on a good way.

Everyone is very very friendly and polite, not like America at all.  In fact so far on this trip America comes off backward and conservative.  America is the 3rd world country.

This basically what every street looks like.

And everything is clean, no litter, no garbage. Trash cans everywhere, flowers everywhere.  I think that woman on the left is taking a photo of an ugly American I think.  If only I had a shirt made out of a flag.

DJ is in a shop and I take a look around and spot this.  What's this?

I investigate.

I'm not sure what my favorite one is - all I know is they must have rain problems.

It was about this time where I saw the Packers were pretty much had the game wrapped up.

A 5 story tall mural - hard to tell what is real and what is not.

Well, maybe not THAT hard.

DJ took this show of a street and the thingy that you can ride up to the upper city.

That's it. I'm worn out.  Can't type any more.

Talk at ya tomorrow.

   

Into Canada - day 1 and 2

I suppose I should write something since I AM out of the country . . in a way.

At the moment we are in Beaupre Quebic which is about 20 miles from Quebic City where we spent the day today.

We took off Friday morning to rendezvous with my brother, his wife, her sister and her husband in Beaupre. We went the southern route through Chicago which is not as bad as most say but still butt ugly.  We had Waze helping us but for the 1st part of the day the car was pointing north on the screen but we seem to be driving backwards . . . . which was not a help.

We get through Chicago and Gary and so forth and head across Michigan which is Wisconsin but with worse roads.  Yea - weird. Not much to tell you about about Michigan as we headed east.  We have never actually gone EAST.  Port Huron was the stress point as we would have to actually cross an international border which I had never successfully done in my life being turned back with Elweed a few decades ago . . go figure.

SO - we near the border and my stress level is increasing. We pay the toll to cross the bridge and get in line which is one car ahead of us.

We pull up and hand over the papers and I  take off my cap and sunglasses and smile. The officer asks why we are coming to Canada and I panic and step on it . . . . almost. NO TRICK QUESTIONS COPPER!

Until I remember the answer and say "vacation".  That was the hard one.  Really only 3 questions.  My brother was grilled at the northern border (I laugh).  We are entering Canada which looks a lot like Michigan which is just like Wisconsin.   WHOO HOO

The goal for night #1 is London which is a couple hours from Toronto.  Nothing to report.  Nice hotel in a town that is a collage???? town?  Seemed like a LOT of younger people wandering around . . a LOT.  We ask the hotel dude about food and he says the street over has everything you can think of.

True true . . but nothing is actually recognizable except Tim Hortons which is more prevalent the Starbucks. We went to Pizza Hut (don't laugh, comfort food).  Sitting for 9 hours does not really work up an appetite.

We wake up early-ish and are heading east.  All is well. The road is empty until we start to get near Toronto which means are 60 miles . . OOPS . . . 96 kilometers away.  We're at a top speed of 62 mph which is 100 kph.  There are signs saying it's a $10,000 fine for going 50 kph over the speed limit

Here comes Toronto

which is 100 mph.

HOWEVER - with the currency exchange it is ONLY $7,600 in American money.  YEA - making money already eh?

Nearing Toronto the highway goes from the typical 4 lanes to TWELVE and as we are passing the city DJ says "This is like a video game" and I look and we're going like about 85 MPH and people are passing us!     

Toronto seems to take forever until FINALLY there is a sign that says ENTERING THE GREEN ZONE.

And YUP - green and beautiful.  But we're in need of a rest stop.

Of course all the signs are English but using alternate words.  Circulation Fluid is a big one. Lot of Circulation Fluid signs.       

So Rest Stop.  Have not seen any but we keep going past big ONROUTE signs. Ah Ha - ONROUTE is what Ontario uses.  It's a privately owned rest stop company that has Burger Kings and Tim Hortons (Timmy's) and gas and the whole nine yards.  SADLY - it was a little confusing getting in and we ended up parking with the trucks.  Don't Ask.

We get gas for the first time and try to use our credit card and things are beeping and lights are flashing and it says SEE ATTENDANT.   GULP!! 

WELL, it seems at that in that station American cards need a signature and I have to pre pay.  The lady asks how much we want to spend on gas . . . . ummmmm . . . $30? Gas is $1.27 but I have not thought about the ramifications  . . YET. 

We get our gas which happens to be only 6 gallons.  As we are driving I'm trying to figure out how much gas is.  hmmmmm  3.79 liters per gallon and the current exchange rate of 1.30 and . . . . forget it.  

And we drive on. Montreal is the next big thing.  We drive and drive and drive and I'm getting tired but there are no ONROUTES for a while.  We finally pull over and DJ drives . . . . PERFECT TIMING.  She will drive through Montreal.  

One small problem

Hope it's not important. 

Our world turns upside down and we learn we know less French then we thought. 

Not as nice as Toronto. Butt ugly actually as the elevated bumpy highway three stories (2 story's in American height) takes us through the middle of town and into the tunnel which if you look closely is falling apart. 

Still not really knowing what some road signs actually mean (and it gets WAY WAY WAY worse) but we're doing well as we start to put the butt hole of Montreal behind us. Average speed is about 70-75 MPH on The 401 which is straight and smooth and clean.   

So many high end cars. Very very few Subarus but many Porsch's,  Jaguars, BMWs, and a Lamborghini two, no really! 

We call my brother who by now is in Beaupre as he started a day ahead of us going the northern route through Sue Saint Marie over the top (our route on the way back).  He does not believe or trust GPS and has a big map (no comment).  

I now understand why France is a 3rd world country. They use way too many letters for EVERYTHING.  And nothing at all makes sense.   Nobody speaks English and every sign is 100% French.  EVERYTHING is French. The radio is all French, signs are french, gas stations are French and everybody talks French.  We are in French land.    

I am so glad our GPS interprets everything back to English. 

Long Story Shorter - we make it to Beaupre about 8:00 our time Saturday. The population of Beaupre is only 3,752 which if I do the math conversion correct is 3,122 Americans but I could be wrong. 

And we relax.  Tomorrow (sunday) - Quebic City which is AMAZING!  

The old City - Quebic

Charter / Cubs / Brewers / Hurricane / Politics /Fast Lanes

Ever since my modem and router were upgraded for free to get 200 meg download from Charter we have been having some issues.  220 meg at times and 20 meg at other times.  As I was on the phone talking to a very nice person and her boss, my speed was fluctuating and they were looking at charts and graphs and running tests that made no sense.

My computer was showing 24 meg download and they were piggy backing my computer and THEY were getting 140 meg.  They sent a technician out yesterday.

YIKES - she had the personality of a grumpy person who hated her job. 

HOWEVER - she was good.  After taking of "traps" on the line and doing some upgrades she saw my modem was acting up.  SO - she switched out the modem for the newest one that they have been using for 4 months.  I said - wait - I JUST got the newest ones (I was told) two weeks ago.

OH - they don't use those modems anymore. 

WELL, this was the one they gave me at the office TWO WEEKS AGO.  She said they "suck".  If you do not have this modem (on the right) you do not have the newest one. Modem on the left router on the right.

 The slowest we have seen so far is 157 meg download on 2G on the other side of the house.

If you have a choice try to split up your 2G and 5G. If you put everything on one it COULD slow it down.  Your house thermostat does not need 5G.

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I listened to the Cubs post game chatter and post game talk by their coach.  The Cubs are REALLY tired. They still have 7 more games in their hellish schedule that started August 20th. Still not up to what the Brewers had to go through but it will be worse for them with 31 games in 30 days ending NEXT Thursday . . .if there are no rainouts.

Their coach said all his guys need is a day of rest. The last ACTUAL day off that they had was August 13th.  Boo hoo.  The reporters asked about the brewers pitching and his comment was "They got some arms in that bullpen and there are some they did not even use".  Sounds like a compliment.

He also talked about how the Brewers are NOT the team they faced earlier in the year.  YEA - I believe the Brewers did a GREAT job adding talent. I am love loving their use of analytics.  Modern baseball ROCKS.     

In 7 of the last 8 games, they faced a left handed starter which earlier in the year was a huge problem with all the left handed batters.  With Schoop, Granderson and so many right handed hitters and role players added they are OK with lefties now. 

The Brewers now have a 98% chance of making the playoffs (The Bears had a 96% chance of beating the Packers going into the 4th quarter LOL).

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Hurricanes - scientists know more about interstellar travel and the atmosphere of Mars then what goes on inside a hurricane.  Seriously - what happens inside a hurricane is still unknown.  It is SUCH a chaotic catastrophic atmosphere nothing survives.  Instruments just cannot measure what is going on.  It's totally alien.

So when Florence went down to a cat 2 - everybody is stumped on WHY! Hurricanes are not an exact science.

As Florence was downgraded Trump tweeted that Florence was growing and becoming stronger. COME ON - a dog can make better forecasts (Gus the Weather Dog on Facebook).   "Hurricane Florence is looking even bigger than anticipated. It will be arriving soon. "

He also tweeted 3000 Americans DID NOT die in Puerto Rico from the hurricane - FAKE NEWS  They died AFTER the hurricane, not his problem. 

In his last two campaign rally's that all Americans pay for  76% of his statements were false or misleading. 

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I'm glad to see others have gotten my phone call from Portland saying the Cops (their words) are going to come after me for four things I have done.  Maybe we can all go together to jail??

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The US budget is 222 BILLION more then last year do to the tax break for the rich.  I guess Republicans are no longer the fiscal conservatives.                 

Speaking of politics - there is a new front runner for the Dems in 2020.  Elizabeth Warren.   Looking at all of the primary's so far.

Woman are winning almost everything they touch. 
Unapologetic progressives are winning.
People of color are winning.

although at two of my sports books (for fun)  Kamala Harris is the front runner for the Dems.  President Blow Horn is not even listed as in the top 30 to win in 2020.    Will Smith has a better chance of winning it seems even though Trump is the odds on favorite to be the Republican nominee.

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You know - I try to calm down the political rhetoric but when I do people complain to me about not having enough political rhetoric. I'm so screwed. 

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OH - went to Fast Lanes for a burger.  Had a "build your own burger" with a Split Top bun (I HATE Pretzel buns) with caramelized onions (they call then sauteed), cheddar cheese and Cajun mayonnaise  on the side. 

Very good - burger to bun ratio was good. Still a frozen patty but when asked for pink or no pink.  I asked for pink and it is EXACTLY what I got.  Still the burger was too big but the bun/burger ratio  was pretty good.  Excellent burger and I get it a 7 out of 10. 

I gave The Oaks a 5 out of 10 (and told them in my review).  I called The Oaks burger a frozen, over cooked tasteless patty with an over sized bun that sucked up ANY residual flavor or juices the cardboard patty had at some point in it's life.  5 out of 10.  They have not "liked" my comment yet.

I did compliment them on a few other items but stay away from hamburger.

DJ had tacos at Fast Lanes which she said were outstanding.  So far 4 out of 4 meals at Fast Lanes were really good.  Sadly they need to hire more people.  Our waitress was excellent but a little over worked. 

That is a problem in Columbus - not enough workers to fill jobs.

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Look for a major cool off NEXT weekend.  Into the 60s.  80s until Tuesday then a big cool down with rain starting mid week next week.       

No blog tomorrow but perhaps on Sunday?? 

Cheers!

maximum rainfall which meteorologists compute to be theoretically possible

Looking for bird feeders?  Go to WS Ag Supply in Columbus - spend a little more to get a GOOD feeder. One that the bottom comes off to clean - also they have a GREAT deal on on Tick seed that small birds love.  Great place for bird food.

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So I have been trudging through a book called "Road of Heavens" written by the head meteorologists who was the point of the spear in forecasting Hurricane Camille (1969).

I remember this Hurricane because I was on a vacation with our neighbors in NY City in 1969 and I was pissed (as much as a little boy can be) as I was missing the day to day action.

What Trump said about Florence was SO inaccurate yesterday - once again just making up shit.  OK OK - a little nit picky but HE'S THE PRESIDENT - you just can't make up false facts.

Rain and "water" will not be a record event.  It literally can not.  "So much rain fell in such a short time in Nelson County that, according to the National Weather Service at the time, it was 'the probable maximum rainfall which meteorologists compute to be theoretically possible.' "

Birds drowned in their nests.  Livestock drowned from lack of oxygen while standing in fields.  There are records of 27 inches of rain in 5 hours.  One place had 5 inches of rain in 1/2 hour. There were no CoCoRaHS at the time but one area reported 40 inches on rain in 12 hours. 

Personally I have observed a 3.5 inches per hour rain rate for 5 minutes and it was unbelievable. But that?  OMG!

So Mr. President - don't give me that shit about a record amount of water coming your way.  And Camille hit Florida first. The east coast was as it was exiting the country. 

WITH THAT SAID - this will be a VERY big deal.  When they talk about 5-10 inches of rain they are talking about THREE STATES - not a small area like we have had in Wisconsin.

In today's money Camille cost Americans $11.3 BILLION.

I can bet you Trump will say a President has never had to deal with such a large disaster, which would be false.

And what about the pig poop. The Carolina's are the home of pigs with 2,300 hog farms that produce 10 BILLION pounds of liquid pig poop a year which will all wash into your house if you are near the 40 inches of rain that is forecasted in some parts.

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Check out this voice mail I received yesterday.  Here is the transcription

“And once again expired after that you will be taken under custody by the local cops as there are four serious allegations pressed on your name at this moment we would request you to get back to us so that we can discuss about this case before taking any legal action against you the number to reach us is 207-387-7039 I repeat 207-387-7039 

OH MY - I better call the local gendarms, what did I do now . . 4 times.

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Do you hate your letter carrier?  Then do this. Amazon is selling and delivering Christmas trees this year.  Yea - you can order a 7 foot tall Fraser Fir and have your letter carrier deliver it.  SWEET!!

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The polls for the Democrat's taking over the House keep getting better (if you are a centrist or liberal) as it's up to 81.6% chance now.

Trumps approval rating is all of a sudden falling off a cliff, well, floating gently off a cliff at least.

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Watched a documentary of Margaret Michelle, that one hit wonder who wrote Gone With The Wind.  If was her only book.  One and done.   Very Very interesting show.  They did not mention how she was really into porn as she was writing the book.  Glossed over that part LOL  She did like her erotica.  BUT - I DIGRESS!

She was killed when a speeding car hit her s she was crossing the street.  It was on PBS.

I mention this as we have been TRYING to watch the season finale' of Victoria

https://youtu.be/upPaZi-MLc0

Victoria is a fairy tale for all ages and in reality Victoria was an AMAZING woman (Victorian Age and all that).

ANYWAY - amazon Prime has been locking up every time we try to watch it.  Not enough bandwidth.  We get 220 download in the day and 30dl at night!   Charter is coming by today to look into it. 

yea - I ran (ambled) upstairs to call Charter and am looking for their phone number.  I get to the Charter site and it asks for a ZIP code to see if there is an internet outage in the area . . . . wait. . . . what?  . . . . OH!  I will know there is an outage if I CAN'T GET ON THE INTERNET! 

Talking about movies  - this looks GREAT - could be hideous (like the USS Indianapolis movie) . . .I'm betting it sucks. . . . but the trailer looks GREAT

https://youtu.be/mnP_z3qXDCQ

talk at ya tomorrow - No blog Friday.  Perhaps the weekend though. eh?

eh?

Sorry sorry - no blog yesterday - had issues.

I was in the emergency room.

Sunday did not start off a well.   I decided to go horseback riding with some friends. It turned out to be a BIG mistake! I got on the horse and it started out slow, but then it went a little faster! Before I knew it, we were going as fast as the horse could go. OMG

I couldn't handle the pace and I fell off. My foot got caught in the stirrup and the horse dragged me.  It wouldn't stop!! I was freaking out!  I slammed my head, banged my elbow and tore my shoulder.  Thank God the kind manager at Wal-Mart came out and unplugged the damn machine.

The guy had the nerve to take my change.  I couldn't go on the Elephant or Motorcycle ride either....He barred me FOR LIFE!  I will never go to Wal-Mart again.

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HOWEVER - before that came Saturday.  I picked up Elweed early and instead of going to Club LaMark for breakfast we went to 5 Guys for burgers.  On the way back we stopped at Jimmy Johns for a couple subs for later and then DJ made some amazing apple crisp in the afternoon and I think I ate a pound.  Then around 8:00 we ordered 2 pizzas from James Street Pizza.

WELL - normally all is well but the next morning I had golf at 7:30 and I would not be near a bathroom for 5 hours golfing.  YEA - I needed The Situation Room for sure.

Ended with a 101 at Five Mile Creek, one of my least favorite courses I know. Got back in time to watch football and broke even on Fanduel but only because I could not change anything Sunday morning when Elweed called me on the 5th hole. HE won 2 out of 3 - I split my 2.

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I heard the Packers were 0-111 when trailing by 17 in the 4th quarter. WELL YEA - I bet MOST teams are in the 0-111 range.

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Everybody knows I love pizza.  As a kid, EVERY Sunday the family would drive from Fort Atkinson to Whitewater for Gus's Pizza.  We actually knew Gus and it was a long standing obsession (he cried when my dad passed away from lung cancer - I remember that).  We purchased my dulcimer across the street and I remember buying my first single from the record store across the street (Led Zepplin Immigrant Song - 1970).

ODD thing is - Gus's always had these amazing potatoes they would pressure cook.  Guess what!  Pic-N-Save has them in their deli now - I LOVE LOVE them. Great big french "fries"

ANYWAY - NOW - I find out every year 2,300 people report to the emergency room from pizza related injuries. YEA - WHO KNEW.     PIZZA BETRAYAL!

This includes cutting themselves (my mom used a scissors to cut pizza) and burns and falls. The data comes from the CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from hospitals.

But fear not - while pizza accounts for 2,300 injuries. BOOKS account or 11,800 injuries!

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The CUBS - remember when the Brewers played something like 21 games in 20 days and lost their last 6 games before the all star break?   Well the Cubs are in a stretch with 31 games in 30 days.  They lost a day off Thursday with a make up rain out.  The Cubbies have lost 5 of the last 7 and have 8 more games in the next 8 days before they get their first day off in a month.  MEANWHILE the Brewers have every Thursday off the rest of the year.

The Brewers play 17 games in 20 days and the Cubs play 20 games in the next 21 days.

Speaking of Ryan Braun - he's having a pretty darn good 2nd half with a .367 OB and .492 slugging. adding up to a .859 OPS.

I've always been a fan of Arcia and his amazing range at SS.  Since the AS break he has an OB of .301 and an OPS of .645.  Very doable for a SS that takes 1 hit away a game with his range. Just don't play him in daytime games.  He hits .131 in daylight (84 ABs). 

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I gotta laugh. Sweet weird Sam on Big Brother is being used as a pawn and put on the block. She has done absolutely nothing in the game, has no alliances and is basically a satellite.  I bet the house guests think she is a sound man or camera man.

Here is her  diary room talk.  This is so hilarious! Such a sweet little dear! 

And Angela - WOW - the ice queen. What a bad life this beauty has had. seriously.  FORCED to be a

gymnasts all her life by her mom. Her brothers hated her for wreaking the family - she HATED gymnastics but practiced 8 hours a day from age 5 to 17.  She hated her mother for making her do it.

At 17 she quite.  Took up pole vaulting in high school and broke every school record.

Seems she is an ice queen with no feelings because she was forced to hide her feelings for 17 years.  She said she would cry in the back seat of the car every day after practice. 

Reminds me of iTonya - I LOVE that movie

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SO - our school system is having issues with picking up kids.  People screaming at each other and cutting in line. I hear it's been chaos as nobody is following the rules. I THOUGHT this was all "fixed" this year.  And not one police officer in the area (as of last week). 

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Weather - this is easy - take today and do the same thing for at least 10 more days.  Thank you Hurricane Florence.  We have blocking HIGH Pressure or is it a blocking hurricane.  Both will push against each other stalling BOTH. The HIGH wants to go east but is blocked and the hurricane that wants to go west but is blocked.  

Good news for US - not so much the east coast. 

We will be north of Maine eh. Driving the wheels off our car and talking french eh.   and yea - they really really do say eh after almost EVERYTHING eh.  At least that is what I was told by a Canadian.  We shall see.  Interesting blogs next week eh?  

Cheers!  

Is it Pence? / Football / Big Brother

SO the REAL football season has started - the not faux Collage football season.   Yea yea . . Badgers are good-ish but to me it's as exciting as watching high school football.  You will never see 90% of these players again and the games are rigged anyway with officials from each conference slanting games and if you don't believe that you have a short memory.  NOT a fan of the NCAA.

Remember when the refs did not put the ball down in time and time ran out for the Badgers crushing their run a few years ago?  Remember when the lights went out in Las Vegas?  If you go on the road to another teams conference you are at their conference officials mercy.

WITH THAT SAID -  I have watched more Badger football this year already then I did all last year. LOL   I'm guess I'm a fair weather collage sport fan.

HOWEVER - if you want a sure thing wager bet on the Badgers to win Saturday - for a sweet $23,000 bet the Badgers to win and you will increase your bank roll by $100.  A sure thing baby!!  Gotta love minor league football.

OK OK - that is not the only reason.  The Badgers are 34.5 point favs and the Badgers are 27-13-0 ATS After 1 Unders (All Lines) in the last 8 years.  BAM - BET THE FARM. (kidding)

As for the Packers - lots of talk about Khalil Mack on the Bears and how he will chase  Rodgers . . . really?  I bet he does not even get 15 snaps Sunday night.  If you were the Bears and spent 141 million on a player would you play him if he had ZERO preseason conditioning?  Yea - he worked out but no real contact or anything.  Would you risk injuring a $141 million player on a meaningless game (this year?)

The game last night - horrible - this NEVER happened last year.  Each team had 10+ penalties AND over 100 yards in  penalties.  Never happened last year.

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Boring week in Big Brother as we move into the final stage where players start to eat their own.  Last night Derrick Levasseur, who I consider the greatest player ever was a guest.

Derrick was an undercover cop in real life.  A typical jar head looking guy, older then most of the cast.   What he did was amazing.  He told the viewing audience exactly his strategy and then checked each box off as he went.

He slowly changed his look AND language so subtly that no one noticed as be blended in. Then he would say to us "I'm going to arrange for so and so to get voted out without ME getting any blood on my hands" and then he did it.  One by one.  He would put ideas in the other players heads and have THEM do his work.

In the jury house, where the booted people are sequestered, they would tell their story and you would see light bulbs above their heads   DERRICK!!!

What he mentioned last night was that many players don't understand "jury management".  OH - it's easy to kick people out but you have to do it so they will ALSO give you $500,000.  It's a delicate dance.

Russel on Survivor was perfection at booting people out, but everybody truly HATED him. He lost and it was the last time that a BAD/MEAN person ever got close to winning on non-scripted social games shows.

One thing I did not think about.  When a player is booted they get a parting "good-bye" and sometimes the person that was the reason for his eviction rubs it in their face. REALLY?  That is the last impression you want to give?

OK - had to say something after a very boring BB week.

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Bookies have Pence as the odd on favorite for writing the Op-Ed piece at -150 (bet $150 to win 100**).

**If there’s a positive sign next to the odds, that indicates the amount of money you would win if you bet $100. If the odds on a tennis player said +150, that means that for a $100 bet, you would win $150. Now if there is a minus sign in front of the odds, that is the number that you would have to bet in order to win $100.

 Here is one thing - it was mentioned that the 25th amendment was discussed and dropped.  Well, If Pence is the instigator he can't bring up the 25th amendment and follow through because HE would replace Trump. THAT would be tricky right? 

I read an article about WHO wrote The Piece.   The writer looked at it from a different view.  As a publisher.  First "senior official". Not a thing. There is no "Senior Administration Official" title.

However, if you see how the NY Times has used that term in the past it's a very very high up person.

Then the fact that is "anonymous".  Would a low level guy be allowed to write a piece about a near coup?  So the NY Times are REALLY putting their reputation on the line.  Big media REALLY dislike people saying things and NOT putting their names on it.  When they say "unnamed sources" they have more then ONE name associated with whatever is said.  Unnamed but not unknown.

You can bet "anonymous" was talked about at MANY high high level meetings at the TY Times.

So when we find out who it is (we will) it won't be some guy we never heard of.  It will be a name that someone who does NOT follow politics will  knows.

I'm betting Pence. (well, I'm not actually betting - I bet $10 on Clinton at even odds and thought it was a lock LOL).

OH - did you see last night at a Trump rally.  He said if he is impeached it will not be HIS fault. It will be the voters fault.     ummmmmm   OK!

OK - the odds of Trump getting impeached as of August 30th  YES +300  NO -400

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Weather - no rain in site for a long long time.  a slow warming trend and by NEXT Saturday we should be in the 80s with nothing but sun AFTER this weekend.

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have a great weekend

My newest windmill to chase.

My newest windmill to chase.

Thanks Clark for explaining about the busing rules that are NOT governed by the Columbus School District - HOWEVER - that brings up even a greater concern.  The total inability to communicate this to the residences of Columbus.  WHY is this NEVER explained to anybody.

One of the BIGGEST complaints I have heard this summer is the total lack of communication skills that the School District has. You would THINK that a school would understand that communication is a pretty important thing.

I said this on a facebook page, before I was banned for arguing pro fluoride, that the Districts communication is abhorrent.  They put out a half assed  newsletter full of unanswered questions on a late Friday afternoon and leave all of the parents in a tissy all weekend. Unforced error. 

In this case, they blame the City for not having enough crosswalks. Why not blame the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for a stupid busing rule. When people have been complaining ALL summer they never mentioned WHERE the rules are coming from. They took the blame themselves before throwing the city under the bus.  Unforced error.

Transportation to Public Schools - General Information

Transportation to Public Schools 

On a side note - I was curious. When I was in 1st grade I walked to school, by myself, every day - it was 0.8 miles and the world was a MUCH more dangerous place then then it is now.

And I did it with no shoes uphill both ways. Oddly typing that I remember I would sing the whole way (probably why no one walked with me).  Yea - I was in choir in high school . . . and orchestra, and a rock band (Wonderhorse).

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Then the Brewers - just when you think you have seen most things . . . . The Brewers scored 9? (was it 10? or 8?) runs in a row WITHOUT a base hit driving in those runs.   Thank you Cubs.

I will also say publicly that balderdash was correct and I was wrong.  Miley is good.

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Remember that homeless guy that gave his last $20 to help that woman?  And how she raised $400,000 on a Go Fund Me sight?  Then there were questions about where that money actually went and they went on TV to explain it was all good?

LIES! - SEEMS in REALITY - they spent most of it and there is none left for the homeless guy!  They told the homeless guy that if he dropped his lawsuit they would get him the money sooner or later.   He didn't and now they are in deep shit for spending most of it on themselves.

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James Street Pizza now has slices. 2 for $6 between 11:00 and 1:00    I know I know I'm a cheereleader but I lust for another pizza and must wait until Saturday.

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President Air Horns approval ratings continue to drop to 39.8%

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Canopy Growth - that Cannabis stock I purchased a few months ago for $24 a share, well, it's at $51 a share now.   I looked into MedMen a OTC company but they are burning through money so fast they will have t o sell more stocks which will deflate their current prices.   Nice company but too much debt.

Canopy Growth has a CRAP LOAD of money and while speculative as they have not made a penny yet they have a freaking good infrastructure.

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So according to Bob Woodwards new book Trump had a practice interview with a practice Mueller and it ended wit ha 30 minute rant about hoax's.  It did not go well.

Of course you have a choice - believe Trump or believe a 2 time Pulitzer prize author. 

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Don't look now but the Brewers and KC Royals are the hottest teams in baseball.  The Brewers have a 86% chance of making the playoffs.  The Royals, well, still the 2nd worst team in the majors if you look at power ratings.

Brewers are favorites today to sweep - Cubs are in a 23 games in 23 days stint that is ALMOST perfect timing. Just like the Brewers before the All-Star break.   Sadly they have a 40 man roster which made the last 3 innings last night meaningless.   In the REGULAR part of the season those last 3 innings were be VERY important  in regards to the bullpen.

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OH - getting a "NOT ENOUGH BAND WIDTH" error when watching Amazon Prime?  REALLY?  with 220 meg download??? What's up with that?

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RAIN TODAY - after today we are fine for a Long time - I do not believe we will get the remnants of Gordon

School system bus / Rain / Canada

SO - The Columbus School system is throwing the City DPW under the bus by blaming them on the lack of crosswalks in the Kestrel Ridge area and  FORCING the school system to not be stupid.

As one resident put it  "Busing logic this year, you live more than 2 miles, you are eligible for free busing, but your bus stop is over a 1/2 mile away and it puts you inside the 2 mile zone, so you get to walk by all the houses that were denied the same busing as last year."    

So NOW - if the City makes the roads safer by adding crosswalks the school will take away busing.

Way to make The City the bad guys by taking away busing . .  as opposed to fixing your moronic busing rule.

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So we are preparing for a rather extensive road trip to north of Maine.  Beaupre Canada to be exact. Where French is the official language.  GULP!

I've never been allowed into Canada.  Elweed and I were stopped at the border at the Canadian crossing in Montana many moons ago.  Elweed had no ID with him thus we were ne'er-do-well's.  THIS time I have my passport and we're ready-ish.

So if you want an adventure follow along when we take off in a few weeks. DJ and I have always said if we were on the Amazing Race we would be the first couple not to make it out of the US (no longer as that has happened now) .

Will our phones work up dare?  Seems the answer is MAYBE - we will have to contact ATT about roaming charges.  And yea - we're driving, it's the BEST way to see the world. Have to learn street signs and I'll be getting some Canadian money today.  It's not made out of paper you know eh. It's a polymer.  Plus there are no $1 bills but there are loonies and toonies.  $1 and $2 coins.  No pennies. Everything is rounded too the nearest "nickel".

hmmmm - seems to be a $10 charge to convert American $$ into Canadian $$

and yea - from what I have read "eh" is a real thing and almost at the end of every sentence. We shall see eh?  And Maple Syrup - it's on EVERYTHING.  Quebec makes 75% of the worlds Maple syrup.

We're taking the southern route there and the Trans Canadian Highway back.

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We were sitting on the deck Saturday afternoon and I had the camera set up for storms or what ever and took this.  The Maple tree NEVER turned green this year.  Never a good thing but . . what can ya do.  This over processed image is from 5 photos blended together.  Nothing special but instead of erasing it and never seeing it again . . I'll put it here.

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SAD - just heard Frabonies on Regent street closed!

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RAIN - When we moved to Columbus in 2006 I had to set up a new weather station for CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network). I needed a brand new professional rain gauge put into a perfect (almost)  place.

I was looking at the 1854 reports today. The MOST rain in a 24 hour period ended July 23 2010 with 5.87 inches of rain.  However - of course the great Columbus flood gets #2 AND #3.  June 8th 2008 5.50 inches and June 9th 2008 4.45 inches.

Saturday - the rain did not start until 4:39 although I ran to the store earlier and RIGHT at the intersection of Dix and Maple - it was pouring. South of that intersection - sun,  it was odd.

We have had rain 7 of the last 8 days totaling 5.38 inches. The problem is it's really hard to forecast exactly when the rain will happen. The total amount of rain is very accurate but the WHEN is a problem.

Today into tomorrow one last round of storms. Later today a pop thunderstorm or 2 but more likely all day tomorrow as the front SLOWLY exits out of the area and we get 3 days of sun before Sunday when the remnants of Hurricane Gordon enter the state.  YIPPEE

One week ago this blog said we were looking at 6 inches of rain on the next week.  Going to be pretty close to that.

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James Street Pizza - WOW - had a couple pizzas Saturday and I really think they have something special going.  Is this the catalyst we have been looking or for 10 years to spur interest in downtown?

OUTSTANDING pizza!!  Bravo. and I'm not saying that as a cheerleader.

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WOW - President Air Horn has had a BIG drop in his ratings in the last 2 weeks.  Well, BIG for someone that has been REALLY consistent with people hating him.  Lowest disapproval ratings (taken from 100 polls combined) in 6 months. Some pretty good "A" polls have him dropping off a cliff (we can only wish) with approval ratings in the 36% range.

The forecast for the BLUE winning the house has also increased dramatically.  At the beginning of August there was a 70.1% chance of the Democrats winning the House.  Now at the beginning of September it's 80.3%. 

This does not count people like Elweed that will vote this time. He did not vote in the last election because of voter suppression by the Republicans.  People who do not know a REAL, ACTUAL person in poverty will not understand the road blocks the Republicans put up to keep the poor from voting.

When you can't justify spending $1 to buy a notebook and pen do you really think a person in poverty can justify spending $20 in bus fair and half a day to get a voter ID?

He WILL vote this time.

Look at Florida.  The reason there was a surprise in who the Democrats elected to run for Governor was because ALL the people who did not vote decided it was time to vote.  The Blue Wave seems to not be going away.

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