Packers odds, ESPN/Yelich,

A few quick things before a journey north for a day. 

My buddy Zak has been moved out of the ICU into a private room.  All tubes are out and he asked why he had a broken arm. Does not remember a thing but does know and is able to communicate that  he has two kids and their names.  He was one of the elite tall crane operators, typically the tallest cranes in Wisconsin for Findorf.    

I see so many people on bikes and cycles with no helmets just rolling the dice thinking ONLY about themselves and not about how their loved ones would miss them if a drunk driver pulls out in front of them.  Sickening. 

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DON'T GET ME STARTED with the gravel pit on the other side of the 16th fairway - something real estate people seem to gloss over when looking to buy a home.  5:15 in the morning this week 45 Db of gravel grinding is waking everybody up in our area.  Not only do we have a constant amount of dust and dirt in the air but now it's FREAKING LOUD at 5:15 in the morning. 

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Congratulations to Balderdash for winning the league team championship on a VERY windy night at The Oaks.   I came in 3rd in the individual championship and would love to blame the wind but no . . . . .  it was ineptitude that did it. 

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Should finish Season 3 of Game of Thrones by Labor Day.  

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Packers are favored tonight but who cares.  They are +3 -100 dogs vs. Chicago next Thursday.  Means you pay no juice if you go with the +3.   Does anybody really have a clue? 

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In SOM I am preparing the last months 40 man roster and starters and all the logistical issues.  August went almost as planned as I wanted to go .500 but ended 12-15. The problem now is that Sheldon, the team I did not think I had to worry about went 19-8.  

So while I WANTED to be the best team NOT to make the playoffs (7 games out) so I could get Anthony Rendon a Gold Glove 3B with an OPS of  1.022 I'll have to fight a little. 

Screw pitching LOL  I'm going all in on hitting. 

Trout CF 1.087   Gold Glove

Yelich RF  1.099 Gold Glove 

Rendon 3B 1.022 Gold Glove 

Santana 1B  .885

Mancini RF .862

3 catchers average .792

Galvis SS .772 Gold Glove 

Then change stadiums (once ever 3 years) to a hitters park.  I just need to score more then my pitching staff will give up.  

A lot of people are complaining about Hieura the Brewers 2B and his fielding. It's not as bad as you think.  He has major league average range which is more important then then this throwing arm.  There are many second basemen that make less errors because they never get to the ball in teh first place. 

Lo Cain - yea - his hitting REALLY sucks this year but statistically he is the best fielding CF in the majors.  Nobody runs on his arm, he makes no errors and covers an amazing amount of ground. 

and of course Yelich posing nude for the ESPN body issue. Well . . . we all remember this cover from the past! 

  

    

Zak Update, Fireblight

My buddy Zak has stabilized in the ICU with  multiple brain bleeds, broken upper right arm, broken ribs, lacerated kidney all because a drunk driver "never saw him" and turned right in front.

I've had 2 friends die from motorcycle accidents in my life already (and I skidded on my back when I had to lay it down once - my fault). 

The Holmes  have a GoFundMe Page to help his family.  A former Marine with an autistic son and a few hockey players kids and an incredible wife. One of the few people I would trust my life with during the apocalypse.

Relief for Zak Holmes & family

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Went to the Brewer so called "game" last night.  I'm 2-3 this year and 2 of those games the Brewers were losing by 7+ after 2 innings.  HOWEVER - DJ and I still had fun but I will admit - we left WAY WAY early.   Free tickets will let you do that. HEY down by 9 in the 6th and surrounded my St. Louis Card fans. . . . . . .

I did manage to complain once to the staff though so that was good.  As DJ and I were degusting my  hot dog and DJ's shredded chicken sandwich there were 8 empty Secret Stadium sauces bottles.  COME ON - 25,000 (at one time) and they can't keep up with the sauce?  I got that corrected ASAP!!

The Cards REFUSE to pitch to Yelich.  Two unintentional intentional walks and 2 singles.  They are up by 9 and never threw him a pitch to hit.

Speaking of Yelich - he spent 4 hours naked in a photo shoot for ESPN, their Body issue for next month.

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We live in a McNeighborhood where all the landscaping plants come from McKay and this year what EVERYBODY thought was just a bad spring is actually Fireblight, a destructive, highly infectious and widespread disease caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora.

Cleveland Pear with Fireblight

Branches that look dead ARE dead and will not come back.  And if YOU prune off the dead branches you are probably spreading the bacteria unless you use alcohol to clean your blade.

So since the guy really wanted to talk trees I asked how the Ash trees were doing and he said it was bad.  Many people are doing nothing hoping it will go away and are losing trees right and left.   He said it's like people don't even know what trees they have in their yards.  They buy a house and ignore the trees.

We talked about our Autumn Blaze Maple  (urban tree of the year) which has been having issues and he said one problem was the bottom branches needed sawing off which would help the upper branches.   Trimming is pretty important on urban trees

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OH - I complain about people complaining but Columbus is in the minor leagues compared to the Sun Prairie Chatter group - OMG - they are going berserk about Madison Metro coming to SP.  The Park and Ride cost citizens WAY too much, busing is unneeded, the government does not care about spending and yada yada yada.  The people that live in Sun Prairie HATE Sun Prairie.  Hate the government, hate the roads, hate the traffic, hate the water and light bills, hate the crime, and it goes on.

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Downtown Columbus WI

The above image has given me an idea on some particular shots that I might have to try.  If you see me honk and give me the finger!   ***

Downtown Columbus WI

*** - a number of years ago I worked across from the Police Station in Madison near the square at 1 W Wilson.  A friend and I were walking back casually from lunch and another friend, a huge black friendly lovable dude and some of his friends drove by us and yelled

"HEY  I'M GOING TO GET YOU MELOTTE IF ITS THE LAST THING I DO" and gave us the finger.

Well, some people also on the street look at us little white guys and sort of back away but then every starts laughing. 

Glad nobody was shot! 

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And then Trump promotes using one of his failing golf courses for next years G7 Summits!  OF COURSE HE DOES.

Seriously - can you believe ANYTHING out of the Mad Kings mouth?

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There have been two long term studies involving tens of thousands of people about aging.  You would think diet and exercise would be the deciding thing . . . but  NOOOOOOO -  Having a positive outlook on life will give woman 14% more years and men 10% more years.  Positivity is the key.

This worries me.   But I have to look at the bright side - no really I do. 

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Meat-less chicken?  YUP  KFC is introducing it.  I have not tried Burger Kings Meatless burger (maybe today).  The main ingredient in meatless chicken is pea protein.   mmmmmmmm  pea protein

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WELL - My cannabis stock is at a yearly low.  The ousted CEO of the company last week purchased a shit-load of shares (always a good sign) and Canada is ramping up for "Cannabis 2.0" (as they are calling it). Seems Canada has had logistical issues with transporting enough leaf to stores and soon edibles and all the other interesting things involving cannabis will soon come to market.

A couple investment firms had gone from HOLD to BUY in the last 2 days.  I'm waiting for the up blip to buy a little more. Long term means 10 years remember.  I'm at year 1 and breaking even which I feel is good.  The upside is so much greater then the downside.

The good news is ALL cannabis stocks are down so it's industry wide boredom causing this not some inner issue with companies. 

Remember Amazon stock was at $16, went to $76 and then a year later was down to $10.  I bet people dumped that loser. 10 years after that it was a $245 a share and 5 years after that (right now) it's at $1,700 a share. 

Apple went from $26 a share down to $10 a year later, 10 years later (now) it's at $206.  Long term baby!   

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GREAT week coming up and a cool weekend. High of 65 on Saturday with scattered showers

Downtown Columbus

I'm at the Columbus Cycle Club meeting at Circus Brewing and got the text

 "Have you heard about Zak".  

Zak is one of the other two original Sun Prairie Home Brew Club members and a very very good friend  and "Have you heard about" is never ever a good thing to see on a text.  

I said no and waited . . . . . 

Saturday night Zak hopped onto his motorcycle and was riding home on Packers Avenue when a drunk driver pulled out right in front of him.  Zak went flying over the car and his helmet-less head hit the ground.   He's in intensive care as of this morning at UW TLC with two skull fractures and we are all praying. 

Once again Wisconsin's weak drunk driving laws take affect.  Slap on the hands, talk to you when you get your second OWI and third and fourth.   OH - I'm pissed off at Zak also - no helmet? 

Same with bicycles - you say "I have never fallen on a bike -why bother with a helmet".   Because of drunk drivers!   

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The dust up I had Friday was about HLPC is trying to make a house that was in the news 2 years ago and purchased by the city of Columbus, the Library and private donations and ALL OF A SUDDEN, after 2 years of not saying anything, they want make it a historical landmark which would nix a long term plans for our 1912 Carnegie Library.   

       

I think I'm more angry at why wait 2 years. This was in the news, council talked about it in many meetings, private donations were accrued and now that there is no permanent librarian they feel it's time to attack.

I REALLY think people who complain about government literally have no clue how government works and how long it takes and what LONG TERM plans actually mean.  I believe the current group of people in City Council REALLY have plans in order.   There ARE long term plans in motion.  Just because you don't see something does not mean nothing is in the works. 

You can't believe government and business are run the same way.  You can't snap your fingers and make it so.  When planning a fire station you plan 5 and 6 years down the road. One step at a time.  You have to wait for bonds to mature, loans to get paid off and HOPE there are no natural emergencies and ear mark money.  You have a vision of what needs to be done. Unlike 8 years ago when there was ZERO vision and council was shooting from the hip.   

Same with libraries and ESPECIALLY National historical libraries.  Just think how many things will have to be submitted to the National Forest Service (yup, you read that right) on getting anything next to the library.  Think how long that will take under the current administration in Washington who is trying to dismantle National Forest Service buy getting rid of all it's employees and cutting the budget.

And instead adding an addition the idea was floated about moving the library?  Any idea how long that would take?   Maybe a square brick building the cheapest possible because . . . nobody reads books anymore right?   Well, over 1000 books a week come out of our library and library are not about books anymore.

Nuff Said.

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So while I was downtown I took a few more images.  This first one was with a 150-600mm lens and I was standing half a block past  the old Joydeoos (or however you spelled it)

And this one of the Clock Tower

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New things coming downtown?   Another Asian restaurant and another pizza place are rumored downtown.

Oh and be on the look out for jig saw puzzles of Columbus coming soon to many businesses in Columbus. 

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You can not get the Columbus Journal delivered by mail and it's MUCH cheaper.  We tried to re-up online but Madison newspapers website is so poor and lacking information we gave up and will just let it cancel out.

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Purchased some sour milk from Pic-n-save produced by Kemps - it was still 2 weeks from must sell by but it was sour.  Got 2 free gallons of hopefully non-sour milk.  Maybe some day we will get another grocery store as PnS only have about half of what we need.  You never know.

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Maine used to export 12 million pounds of lobster to China - that number is 2.2 million pounds this year.  NOW?  Canada exports 33 million pounds of lobster to China.  Who needs America food.   

The average America eats 10 more pounds of chicken a year compared to 10 years ago.

almost EVERYTHING you buy on Amazon is made in china and of course what you buy have very very few safety requirements needed to sell in brick and mortar stores.

For instance 3,644 toy were analyzed on the site with  2,324 lacking choking-hazard warnings. 1,412 electronics listed that either didn’t meet industry safety standards or couldn’t provide information to prove they did.  44 motor cycle helmets did not meet safety regulations.

Customs and Border Protection officials imposed a lifetime ban on visiting the U.S. on a Canadian woman caught with CBD oil at the border.

And then there is the stock market run by the Mad King.  STOP listening to the daily people .

"We wonder, if you only listened to the news of the world situation and did not know the level of the stock market, where might you guess that it would be? As of now, the S&P has pulled back about 7% from its all-time high, and yet to many investors it may feel like a lot more. As we have heard, this is one of the most “unloved” bull markets in history.

 You may also recall the Wall Street adage that “bull markets die in euphoria,” which is a situation that we have witnessed on many past occasions. The last euphoric period that we recall was in the late 1990s, but that was so long ago now that much of that period has been wiped from our memories by more recent events.

The current bull market could be headed to much higher levels of bullish sentiment, but it could still take many years to get there. On a technical basis, the ten-year bull market remains intact and moving higher in a rising channel that spans around 20% from the top to the bottom if the trend. The wide channel allows for much short-term movement within the overall uptrend, and we would expect the volatility, and the mixed data and opinions, to continue for quite some time.

Phones / golf / baseball

Remember when you decided to finally pull the plug and buy a cell phone?  Remember when you finally decided to buy a smart phone?   I remember both times like it was yesterday . . . . even though I rarely  remember what I actually did "yesterday".

I decided to buy a cell phone when I purchased my Vanagon.  I love love loved that vehicle with all my heart but felt that I really needed some insurance in case it fell apart.

I finally had to give it up when the master cylinder was about to die (or me with no brakes)  and I could not find ANY place willing to fix it.

One of the issues was just getting to the master cylinder  you basically had to tip the whole van upside down to get at it. Master cylinder issues is a common problem in vanagons because at some point somebody put the wrong type of brake fluid in.

Damn it - not ME!   The body was perfect but the engine was on it's last 100,000 miles as it already had 200,000+

Remember when a car was unsellable if it neared 100,000 miles . . .if it made it that far?

Then came the iPhone . . .who needs it.   Well, it was golf and a friend called The Black Cloud had an app that would tell him when lightning was near - AWESOME . . . . did not buy one though.  Then another friend, I will call him . . "Andy"  had a golf app that kept track of all his rounds.

That was the tipping point.

May 31 2010 was my first round at Kestrel Ridge that I recorded and I have recorded every single round since then.  I have a lot of stats LOL

ANYWAY - since my league is at The Oaks I created a spread sheet of every hole for every round, all 33 of them.

Last night, as I had mentioned I was in 1st place in our club championship,  not because I was good but because everybody else seemed to be worse them I. 

WELL . . . . that did not last long as a Aaron (I think . . . or Adam) who has the same handicap as I do CRUSHED the course with a 42 which included a 9 on the last hole.

So looking at my stats I'm actually getting better on that hole, a par 5 where my strategy is to use an 8i on the second shot as opposed to a 5W.  I would rather be 170 away from the green where I'm going length wise then a weird angle and 120-140 away.  You have a longer landing zone and more area to make a mistake and I can get the ball air born easier on the 3rd shot with a wood.

You have to use a Wood and an Iron and at and I turned them around.  It's a brain/comfort thing that seems to be working.

My average has dropped from a  7.3 to 6.7 . . .and yes - I still hate that hole.  It's not the most hated hole though.  #14 a LOATH!!!  Its a par 4 and I average a pathetic 6.7.  Took an 8 on it last night losing 2 balls after being only being 1 over par.

I did have one shot on the 11th from 100 yards.  Hit the ball great, went really high and lost it in the sun.  I was walking to the green and could not find the ball anywhere until I got close and it was literally 2 feet from the pin.  Missed the birdie putt. 

So long club championship.

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How can you tell when you house is on fire?

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We are trying to get our birch trees trimmed and it's been a problem.  When I was at Ron the bookie barber in Madison a few days ago we were talking and he said he called 4 companies in Madison to get a tree trimmed and only 1 returned his call.  Now I've been waiting for a few days for a call back.

Speaking of tree trimming - how the F* tall is that ladder.  I'm estimating 65 feet to the top of the ladder.

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So - thinking about cutting the cord to save money?  Well, your internet costs are going up.  64% in the last 9 years to be almost exact.  And 59% of internet used don't even know what speed they are getting.

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For the 3rd time in history there are four 40 home run hitters by game 125.  And one of them is a rookie.  Home Runs will shatter a record this year and yes - you can blame the ball for one thing, it's not how hard it is but the stitching that is giving the ball less resistance.

There are also 2 players with 30 homes runs and 14 more with 28. ding ding ding.

 My Strat-o-matic team will have two 40 HR hitters a 29 HR player and two players with 21 on next years Strat-o-matic team.  OH - since I might have the #1 or #2 pick of Free Agents I could get another 30+ HR hitter.  I could get Freddie Freeman (1B) or Anthony Rendon (3B). 

 I could have 3 guys with OPS over 1.000 (insert evil laugh). Yea - I'm changing ball parks next year (once every 3 years) from San Diego to I THINK Texas, a hitters park.  The league has way to many pitcher parks.

It's a pitcher league and it seems many teams have pitcher parks.  Their strategy is to have low scoring games where a manager has more input to strategy - YET - their opponents play the AWAY games (it's backwards) so "I" play their Home games so it is actually "I" that has the managerial edge. 

I want to take their bullpen and their micro managing of my home games out of play.  Best way? Score 8 runs!  LOL  YEA - I'll give up 7 but their bull pen micro managing will be a little tougher. 

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talk at ya later

  

this and that before a meeting

So I have been trying to figure out how many runs each out is responsible for taking away from an MLB team and how many runs is each base hit worth. 

The easiest way for outs would be to just divide runs per game by outs. So lets say a team averages 4.5 runs a game - does that mean every out on average takes .166 runs away from a team (4.50 / 27) ?  Seems way too simple.

yea yea not all outs are created equal but I'm not trying to be exact, just a round house idea.

On FanGraphs there is an article about Linear Weights which is helpful? 

As for runs. Linear Weights says with 0 outs and nobody on base a team will average .482 runs per inning and with no outs and a guy on 1B that team will average .859 runs in the inning.  Does that mean that a single with zero outs is .417 runs (.859 - .482).

The reason for the question is after 56 "home" games on my SOM team my defense has posted 309 outs while giving up 67 bases in events where my fielding actually came into play.

Meanwhile my opponents have recorded 230 outs while giving up 131 bases.

My goal is to see how many runs my great defense has taken away.   hmmmmmm

I'll have to read that article 5 more times.  The answer is in there somewhere.

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OK - we are up to Season 2 Episode 7 now in Game of Thrones.  As I mentioned DJ JUST decided GOT was an amazing show about the power of strong woman and is obsessed with it. It really is a show about strong woman.

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The fallout continues in TGCTours as the words Augusta and Magnolia are forbidden and if you type the word ******  comes out.   To say people are furious at ANGC  and the far right wing that run Augusta is understatement.  Remember they only just allowed a woman and people of color to play in the past few years and Clinton when he was President was not allowed to step on the course.

I've been playing virtual golf since my Commodore 64 days on a green screen and it's been very very few times any software has included an official Augusta rendition.  In TGC19  users create their own courses for others to play and HB Studios (owned now by EA Sports) caved in and just deleted any course that had the words Augusta and Magnolia in it  - without telling any designers before hand.

Check out this user created course in the Dream Team contest  Just click anywhere in the 37 minute lay through to get an idea of what people are creating. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZHlX9VTG_k

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I was not able to get to City Council but was expecting to watch it on Facebook - FAIL!!  No facebook it seems for Council.   I was looking to hear the conversation about  HLPC trying to hurt Columbus by nixing the Library expansion plans.

I will not be donating to the HLPC calandar this year.   I've been a good little solder  and NOT making my own calandar for fun and profit out of respect for HLPC for 12 years.  sigh.

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Corn - the American corn crop is down about 15% this year.  Just sayin.

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I'm amazed that America is really the only country in the world that uses air conditioning.

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Lots of talk about recession lately but the coming recession might not be as bad as everyone is talking about.   The reason is the long long bull market has been slower then most bull markets.  The stronger the bull the sharper the bear will be in a decline.

The coming slow down (it's coming) could be a tame one and not a full blown recession of the decade.

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According to Neil Paine and his numbers - the Brewers are the 2nd most average team in baseball right now.  Number one is the New York Mets.  sadly the Mets are on the rise and the Brewers are on the fall.

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99% of all bananas are of the Cavendish variety which his facing extinction from a fungus called Tropical Race 4 which infects bananas plants through their roots and has spread from Asia to Latin America.

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GREAT weather coming for the next week to 10 days. 

CHEERS - gotta run - meeting at Kestrel Ridge.

YUM YUM Yummy /no more Augusta

I wake up this morning and see it's 16 degrees wit ha high of 28.  WOW - That IS a cold front . . . of wait . . .my weather web page is all of a sudden in Celsius.  Did Denmark purchase America while we were sleeping?   Maybe we can finally he health care and education.

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But the BIG news of the morning and people are furious - is HB - the company that created the The Gold Club 2019 has deleted all courses that gave the word Magnolia OR Augusta.  GONE - deleted. 

Designers who spent 1000 hours creating the course had it go into vapor ware.  GONE.  I guess the people who own Augusta lawyered up. I'm not sure how they can take charge of the word Magnolia but they did. 

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Americans spend $426 million a year on golf balls.  Every golfer will lose 0 to 3 balls a round but rarely will a golfer lose a club. So the golf industry has noticed and now you can click a box and have golf balls sent to you on a regular basis.  REALLY?  Who would do that LOL

One of the joys is buying a new box of balls where THESE will be the ones that will lower your handicap.  OH - it early happens.   

I purchased some balls last year that LITERALLY flew farther - loved them . . . . until I got near the greens and then BAM - they were like super balls and chips would go sailing over the green or putting they would fly off the putter.   Super low compression balls - I mean REALLY low.

Most low compression balls are in the 70 range and these were like 30  LOL 

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YumYum Thai Kitchen - I am NOT a Thai expert in ANY way so bear with me (or bare with me if you like).

We decided to order three items from Yum Yum for pickup and all three were DELICIOUS!! Went with "american" Thai at the moment and will work our way into the "exotic" dishes later LOL

First up the appetizers

5. Sun Dried Beef - Marinated strips of beef deep fried. Served with hot or sweet chili sauce. The beef is crispy and dry and great on it's own as a snack and dipped into the spicy sauce - BAM - GREAT

6. Chicken Satay (4 Pieces) Skewered marinated chicken, grilled & served with house made peanut sauce, toast and cucumber salad. - The peanut sauce with the chicken is AGAIN - fantastic. Very meaty chicken and I used both sauces

And the main event
51. Pad Thai Traditional Thai stir-fried rice noodles. Choice of meat stir-fried with rice noodles, scrambled egg, yellow tofu, scallions, ground peanuts, bean sprouts with traditional tamarind sauce topped with.

Super good - I think DJ ordered the 2nd spiciness and I think one more on the spice scale would have been nice.

Super duper happy. James Street Pizza and YumYum - The Golden food block in Columbus!!

  

Columbus should change it's name to Prairie Ridge. Seriously

The good news is that for the first time since February when The Oaks purchased teh golf course, Kestrel Ridge watered. They went from loosing 400 gallons a minutes from a non-maintained irrigation system that had over 100 leaks to almost fully functional.

It was sure working great when we built our house but went under new ownership and things went downhill. 

The first time the system went on we had water blasting into our kitchen BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM - a pretty big surprise in the middle of the night when I run into the kitchen and get bashed with water.  There was no house there the last time that particular sprinkler went on.  We always liked the normal sound but for the last few years we had not seen them watering at all.

We didn't tell Kestrel about the issue as we had a new yard and got free watering.  We just made sure that appropriate  windows were closed.

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Took this image of dew on Autumn Joy Sedum with a 105mm macro lens

     
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I gotta laugh.  I'm on a Fort Atkinson "What's going On"  facebook page and DJ is on a Sun Prairie "Whats going On" page and I swear they are all the same page.  The same exact complaints on all three,

It's creepy.

McDonald employees being rude and crummy food (yes, everybody complains about the obvious)  The water bill is way too high, when will roads be fixed, what are property taxes for anyway,  why can't we get more businesses downtown and why does our local government not care about bringing business to the community, we need another grocery store, our schools suck.

IT'S THE SAME COMPLAINTS   Columbus is not unique. We think we are but Columbus is basically Anytown USA.

In fact - Columbus should change it's name to Prairie Ridge.  A MUCH better and prettier name then "Columbus".  We would not have the hate "Columbus" brings but their really is no real reason to have "Columbus" be the name we use. 

Why not take the hospitals suggestion and just change our name to Prairie Ridge.  MUCH prettier.  Of course Columbus Water and Light will have to repaint the water tower.

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WOODSTOCK: THREE DAYS THAT DEFINED A GENERATION - PBS

Highly recommended - So many things I learned in this new documentary - The Hog Farm was the security police - I did not know that.   Max Yasger was not a country bumpkin but a very smart strong conservative businessman.   Great, new never seen before videos and images.

https://youtu.be/WEaMka89dM4


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OK OK - I'm not a vitamin freak but did grow up sickly and my mom pumped vitamins into me so I have a shelf full of different bottles with letters on then  E, A, B-Complex Fish Oil and so forth.

With my torn medial meniscus and "great" toe issues I decided, after reading a bunch, to try Glucosamine which "supports healthy joints".   So I purchased a bottle and started taking them, what could go wrong.

Last night we were watching 3 more episodes of Game of Thrones (I think it will be a hit) and realized that this weekend I had basically zero issues with toe OR knee.  Placebo?  Who knows.  I'll finish this bottle and make a game time decision.

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Remember that one cannabis stock I was touting - I hope you also remember it was highly speculative and a long term bet.  It's sucked lately as logistics issues and the firing of the CEO led to a sell off.  But all cannabis stocks have suffered. 

Still a GREAT bet I say - it's not like it's going away. 

The markets as a whole are in a consolidation period with wild swings mostly caused by the Mad King, Expect this to continue and don't get worried on the day to day swings.  ALTHOUGH - I have 45% in conservative income producing stocks.

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Five cities have raised the minimum wage to $15 up from $7.25 New York City, Seattle, the Bay Area, Chicago, and Washington DC.

In New York the city's restaurant industry outperformed the rest of the US in job growth and expansion since it began raising wages in 2013.

Seattle voted to raise minimum wages to $15 an hour back in 2015. The hike had little impact on restaurant closures, but led to higher prices and shorter workdays.  Restaurant jobs in Seattle have been steadily rising since 2015, according to the Federal Reserve.

The rising minimum wage had little to no effect on the restaurant industry in the Bay Area.
Five years ago, Chicago voted to raise minimum wages to $13 by 2019. After increasing wages from $10 to $10.50, the city saw little change in employment.

Weird - the world did not come to an end and restaurants did not close.  The only real thing that happened was employees got more money to spend and help the economy . . . . and themselves.

CYP1A2-1A the caffeine gene / Lunar 11 rule / Aaron is Rodgers fading

"Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes . . . Families are torn apart: men, woman and children are separated. Children come home from school to find their parents have disappeared." - Anne Frank  

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In my never ending search for truth and justice I have come to see that LED Light bulbs are:

1. two words, light AND bulbs and
2. won't last 25 years. Why you ask?

Because in the last month I have replaced 2 burnt out LED bulbs that are less then one year old.  How do I know that you ask?  NO - I do not have a spreadsheet (I should though, nice idea) It's because I started putting dates of installation on all non-incandescent the bulbs so in 25 years when I have to replace one I will be like WOW - how awesome is that.

BUT NOOOOOO - I replaced one today I put in 9/11/18  and I replaced one last month that was just about a year old.  Normal use, at night - nothing special.  FAKE LIFE EXPECTANCY.

And then there is the fallacy of caffeine. 

Caffeine was on my mind because I went to get blood work and they  NO - bklack coffee is NOT fasting.  Well crap!!

So I started to think about caffeine.

 I first noticed that caffeine does not rule me when I was on a week long bicycle adventure and a coffee machine was broken and people were all weirding out.  I was sitting and having my orange juice and people were complaining and I said I had not had coffee for like 5 days? What was the big deal?  WHAT? the table gasped?     

I had not even noticed.  I had never even looked for coffee, not on my radar at all. I can never remember ever getting the so called buzz from a coffee.  I just like the flavor. I like the warmth.

Last week DJ and I ordered RISE Nitro Cold brewed coffee.  It's REALLY nasty stuff and I looked and it had 180mg of caffeine in it's little 7oz can.

So the other day about 1 in the afternoon I brewed some coffee which I assumed had about 90mg of caffeine and then just for kicks gulped down a Nitro Cold Brew with another 180mg to see what it tasted like (nasty) .

It was a boring day (happens when you are retired from time to time) so . . . .I took a nap.  You would THINK 270mg of fresh caffeine would prevent this.  I guess not.

I mentioned this on Facebook and a guy said "Try eating a few chocolate covered espresso beans" .  I HAVE . I love those but . . . why only a few.  I have gulp down 2 entire packages like candy (it is candy-ish isn't it?  I mean how much caffeine do they have.  I would not think that much.  They certainly did not perk me up.  I felt a little guilty but that's it.

So from a massive amount of research I have done in the last 5 minutes . . . .

"Apparently there is something called the "caffeine gene" which controls our reaction to caffeine. In simple terms, some people have genes that are more easily affected by caffeine than others. People who are more strongly affected by caffeine are more likely to have gene variations in their DNA. Overall, genetics plays a significant in how caffeine affects you."

and

Toxicology grad student here. You are what we call a fast metabolizer of caffeine. Basically, we all carry a gene that metabolizes caffeine called the CYP1A2 gene. 

Individuals who are homozygous for the CYP1A2-1A allele are "rapid" caffeine metabolizers, whereas carriers of the variant CYP1A2-1F are "slow" caffeine metabolizers. There are lab tests for this gene, but basically, if you can drink caffeine in the evening and still go to bed, you are a rapid metabolizer. On the other hand, some people have a cup of coffee and have the jitters for the rest of the day.

WELL - that is actually disappointing. What if I need a pick me up.

*****************

I have a photo project I'm working on.  The Moon.  I've seen so many photos of the moon that are frankly . . .boring.  YUP that's the moon alright.  For instance - this one I took last week.

YUP - that looks like the moon to me!! And this is the dummy version for the internet.

So I plan on taking shots that will draw you in.  I have visions!

So I've been looking at how to take BETTER shots of the moon and one is using the Lunar 11 rule
(as opposed to the Sunny 16 rule),  There are so many "rules" in photography. The "rule of thirds" the rule of "apologize AFTER you take the photo" rule and so on.

The Lunar 11 rule is for getting a starting point for the correct exposure which is harder then you would think. The moon is VERY VERY bright!

First what lens are you using.  Let's say it's a 200mm lens

Handheld the minimum shutter speed should be 1/200 to get a decent image** - so lets say you have a 200mm lens and you are going to soot at 1/200th of a second

**100mm lens 1/100,  50mm lens 1/50,  600mm 1/600 and so on 

1.  put your F stop to  f11
2.  shutter speed 1/200
3. ISO 200

and that is a starting point.

See what I did?   f11 is the constant and your shutter speed should match the ISO.  NO METER as your meter will try to average the black and the white out so metering is useless (unless you change you camera to spot metering but screw the meter for this).

Put the camera if on a tripod on selftime so you are hands off when it clicks for super clear images.  Phones will take crummy images of the moon.

Does anybody have a telescope?  What is the size of those lens??  A friend in golf league says he can see the rings of Saturn.

Remember Sept 28 2015 - the super moon?   here is a shot to remember LOL

***************

Speaking of golf. I seem to be the club house leader after round one of the Club Championship.  Even

though I had an 8 on the last par 5.

Lesson - you can always take an unplayable lie.  YEA - I wish I would have remembered that.

Nice tee off on #9 at The Oaks(1).  I like this hole - do well on it.  I take out my trusty 3W and SMACK, hit a 4 inch tree solid and the ball goes backward and halfway down a steep hill (2).

The ball is way above my feet and I think I have that accounted for until the ball hits the club and it shoots left towards a deep trap.  BUT NOOOOO  it does not go into the trap.  It's on the lip(3).

I know I'm having a good round with a birdie on #7 a par 3.

I get to the ball and it is literally about shoulder high and I'm taking a baseball swing at it except with
a golf club.  The toe of my 5i is pointing straight up.  I smack the living shit of it and it rolls about 10 feet(4).

OK - clear shot to the green and a 8i gets me to maybe 30 feet from the cup(5). Chip to 10 feet(6) and 2 putt for an 8.  And I'm still the leader.

I gotta say - my Gap wedge which I used twice was embarrassingly high!  I was about 85 yards and this thing went 100 yards straight up and 90 yards out.  I don't think I've ever hit a ball so high and so short. I would have been in the hole both times but the earth rotated away from my target.

********************

The big news this morning seems to be that Ed Smart has come out as gay.

1. Who the hell is Ed Smart
2. Why do we care?

Also my buddy Umping the Little League World Series had 2 games yesterday Carribean vs. Australia and  Asia-Pacific vs. Latin America and one game tonight Northwest vs. Mid-Atlantic

**********************

How about those Packers.  Let's take a deep look at the 53 man pre season roster . . . .  NO - JUST KIDDING - I don't even pay attention to the Packers for a few more weeks.  Packers are 3rd on the list for sports interest with Brewers (1 game out of 1st place) and Bucks.

The problem with the Packers is Rodgers . (in very simple terms)   Is he still an elite QB?  He is actually worse then the league average in a number of areas.  On balls thrown 11-25 yards he is much worse then the league average.  He ranks 32 out of 41 on play action passing yards in the past 4 years.

Rodgers is on the down slope of his career and he will either be REALLY good this year or blah.

OH - many people are down on the Brewers because  . . . . THEY ARE 1 GAME OUT OF FIRST!  The Cubs and Cards have the same issues as the Brewers.

Think the Cubs are happy with their bullpen after last night?  Winning 5-1 in the bottom of the ninth and lose 7-5  YEA - that is a happy bullpen. Think the Cubs are saying "If we lose by 1 game that is the one?"

The Brewers are 4 games closer then last year at this time and have won 6 of the last 8 games.  Starting pitching has been surprisingly good lately and the only weak spot is the bullpen . . . like everybody else.

*******************           

Expect a recession in the next 6 to 18 months - Yield curves

I can't get the Game of Thrones theme out of my head.  WHY you ask? (as you should).

10 years ago another brewer said I HAD to watch this new show Game of Thrones so I watched it and was hooked like the rest of the world.  DJ who is not a fan of violence opted not to watch it.

Fast forward 10 years and I am watching GOT with my daughter in law and am on Season 7.  DJ was multi tasking and realized  . . . hmmmmm .. . . interesting and fascinating show.

SO - she is now  binging on GOT and we have foregone actual life an in the last 2 days I have watched 7 episodes of season one and she is crazed wanting MORE  MORE  I NEED MORE!!

MEANWHILE - a prequel is in the works set 1000 years before GOT. Staring Naomi Watts and Josh Whitehouse will reveal the “horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history” and “the true origin of the White Walkers.” 

************************

THANK YOU to all of the businesses and individuals that donated to bring Christmas decorations back to the Columbus downtown. Over $13,000 was collected but $8,000 is still needed. 

BRAVO Columbus - seems some people do care.

***********************

Anybody know about installing a .dll?    I downloaded a Astrophotography software and it seems it would run without CV210.dll    I have the fear of the unknown.   Does it install itself?    hmmmmmm

More info is needed.  I found this out about midnight last night so I have not really had a chance to look into this.

************************

I'm loving the SPAM RISK and TELEMARKETER notifications I'm getting on my phone now!




***********************

HEY - if you are looking for used office furniture, chairs, desks, microscopes (they had a few) lights.  Everything office. Check out Madison Liquidators.

I needed a new chair and after seeing new chairs were like $400 I checked those guys out.  I picked up a WONDERFUL Steelcase chair for $50 - it's GREAT!!  Looks like a new one is $351.

Almost right across from UW Provisions in Middleton - do NOT follow your cars GPS though.  Pretty easy to get to just off of Hwy14 but it's still 45 minutes from Columbus.


**********************

2019 City Street Project - begins Thursday, August 15

Street repairs are scheduled to take place August 15th - August 20th 

2019 street repairs are scheduled to take place August 15th through August 20th, weather dependent. To ensure this work is completed on time the crews will be working on Saturday August 17th as well. Repair work will take place at the following locations;

-             Selden Street from Fuller St. to Main St.

-             Waterloo Street from Manning St. to Williams St.   Our project stops short of School Street

-             Maple Avenue from James St. to Hibbard St.

-             Sunset Road from Warner St. to Dix St.  (patching on westbound lane)

-             Lewis Street from Narrow St. to Harrison St.                                        

-             Lewis Street from Narrow St. to Prairie St. (patching on southbound lane)

-             Lewis Street from Prairie St. to School St. (patching on southbound lane)

-             Lewis Street at Fountain St. intersection (patching on southbound lane)

-             Lewis Street from Washington St. to Franklin St. (patching on southbound lane)

THANK YOU current government for taking care of our streets! 

********************************

The New England Patriots are the oldest team in the NFL BY FAR!   A breathtakingly old 27.9.  62% of all NFL players are on their rookie contracts at $1.06 million per year compared to the first NON-rookie contract of $5.8 Million per year.

The Brewers open up next year at home vs. the Cubs  march 26th!

Aristides “The Punisher” Aquino a rookie for the Cinci Reds who play in a stadium just slightly bigger the n Breeze Stevens in Madison has hit 8 home runs in the last 9 games and 7 home runs in the last 6 games and he has only played in 12 games total.  Not a bad start.

*******************

The congressional generic ballot based on polls that ask people which party they would support in an election has seen a long, slow and very very steady decline for the Republicans.

In 2018 the generic poll had Democrats winning 50.7 to 42.0. At this point in 2017 the Blue was winning  46 to 38%

THIS year the blue leads 46.1 to 39.9.   Another blue wave?  Will the coming recession hurt the GOP?

I don' t even want to look at the market today as it will be wild (I literally have not . . yet . . and now I will).   WHOP - down 471   Shit!

Seems the bond market is flashing recession warnings.  Inverted yield curve.  There have been 5 inversions of the 2 and 10 year yields since 1978 and all were precursors to a recession.  The last one was in 2005.  We can expect a recession in the next 6 to 18 months.   NFL owners are betting on 6 months and want to get the contracts with the Union done BEFORE the recession hits.

************

The average temperature in New Jersey is up 3.6 degrees since 1895.  TWICE the average of the rest of America but 3.6 degrees is an important number “has emerged as a critical threshold for global warming” and indeed the signatories to the 2015 Paris accord agreed that urgent action was needed to keep warming “well below” that level.

Lightning strikes were recorded 300 miles from the North Pole.  The most northern lighting strikes ever recorded.

Everything is fine!  nothing to see here.  fake news .

Things I learned from the Doctor.

Things I wonder about.

Why did HLPC wait 2 years before trying to steal the Library annex so instead of creating a new wonderful expansion to our award winning library they want to make it into a "historical" house that just sits there.  Will they refund the $200,000 from private donations for the expansion?

They say the library can raise a red flag and challenged but it's not in their hands.  I'm all for preserving historic relics but this power grab that will hurt Columbus in the long run is disgusting.  It's like HLPC does not WANT Columbus to grow. 

********

Not all and actually MOST Republicans are white supremacists, but virtually all white supremacists are Republicans. Republican politicians  have done all they need to do to keep the very wealthy in power and destroy the middle class stirring the resentment that leads to right wing white terrorism.

**************

Things I learned from the Doctor.

STOP taking aspirin every day - does more harm then good unless you have heart issues.

I tore my medial meniscus (again) and have had 2 arthroscopic operations in the past.  Now it seems, after a large study - arthroscopic surgery is needless as the cartilage will fix itself if you take care of it.   YEA- could take 2 months . . . but so does arthroscopic surgery.

When you turn 65 there are all sorts of new shots that are open to you. I had my first last Friday that takes care of 13 different bacteria for Pneumonia, and it hurts more then a flu shot.

Fish Oil is back in vogue and really helps your triglycerides.  My blood pressure is 117 / 67 and my heart rate is 65.  Am I even alive?

No need for the doctor to put on his rubber gloves.  Scientists say STOP DOING THAT!   PSA blood work will tell you more. 

*******************

25 years ago today was the first day without baseball when the players went on strike.  The sport lost me for 10 years as I refused to pay attention. 

*****************

There is a new Facebook page for gardeners in Columbus - Columbus Wi Gardening ...something.

Check this out - we believe it's a four horned sphinx. The moth is something to behold with a wing span of 3-5 inches. 

***************

50% of all opiates pills sold in the US were sold by 15% of the pharmacies. Shearer Drug in Clinton County, Kentucky sold on average 96 pills per person to every human in Kentucky, per year in a 8 year period.

After a mass shooting in Christchurch New Zealand the government voted 119-1 to outlaw most automatic and semiautomatic weapons and purchased over 10,000 weapons from citizens.

The NRA lead Republicans will not like THAT!   Every time there is a mass shooting the NRA makes money like clock work.  Sick! 

*****

Seriously?  Which part do they not understand?

Kestrel Ridge continues to fix the golf course after many years of neglect and they keep finding hidden problems they were not aware of when The Oaks purchased the property.  The irrigation system was FUBR!  Thus the reason my fairway has not had water all year.

Then some bozo idiots purposely ran over an expose sprinkler head and ruined it creating a river running down the fairway.  Luckily they are fixing things.

**************

While at Fast Lanes last week a family walked in with an adult-ish teenager wearing a tee-shirt.  It said.

Get'r Drunk

Get'r Done 

and people wonder why small towns have a reputation for being ignorant?  And the adult family was OK with this?  Seems so.

********************

Attorney General William Barr said he was SHOCKED that Epstein was not under suicide watch - even though he knew it weeks earlier and said nothing. Interesting isn't it.  Epstein has all 11 phone numbers for Trump on his phone. 

++++++

That day care that burned down killing 5 kids were inspected?  Was it actually inspected?  A day care with only one smoke detector IN THE ATTIC passed inspection?  Maybe somebody should look into THAT! 

+++++

Cincinnati, Ohio's vice mayor announced that prosecutions and charges of 100 grams of marijuana or less will be dismissed.
 
Nuff said

The Boys, The Tar Spots, The Moon

I heard this morning that the very first Porsche is going on sale for $20 million - well  Laa Dee Daa   wake me up when the expensive cars hit the market.  Nick Mason's (Pink Floyd) Ferrari 250 GTO is worth $40 million and he has a couple.  AND drives them to the grocery store  LOL  No really he does.  He said why own a car if you never drive it.

+++++

Meanwhile on the Kestrel Ridge Golf Course the 16th fairway is flooded as drunks golfing drove over the exposed sprinkler head (on purpose) and now this morning the fairway is underwater.  The head has been exposed for a few weeks and this is the first time the fairway has seen water all year. Maybe the dead grass will grow back?

I contacted Kestrel and they said irrigation has been an issue all year and they are in the process of fixing it.  Yet another thing the previous owner failed to fix.

Speaking of previous owners - The old Sentry and hardware store are getting cleaned up with mowing and so forth.  This has to be a good sign for MAYBE? things to come?  The bank (I think) owns them as the buildings were foreclosed.

No need to clean up if nobody is looking . . . right?

****************

A lot of crop dusters in the area spraying lately.  Reason is Tar Spot on corn.  Tar Spots on corn is something Mexico deals with but not the Midwest . . until 2015 when a hurricane from the Gulf brought up spore's (or whatever) into Illinois and now it's spread to Wisconsin. 

Tar Spots stop sugar production in the ears that will lead to small and malformed kernels.

********************

I was skimming a majority of the first few paragraphs of an article about Jupiter's Red Spot dissolving and ran up stairs to take some photos with Big Boy - my new lens.

WELL - Jupiter was right next to the moon and was being blasted with light so I took a photo of the moon instead . . since I was there.

Some of you might recognize this ancient object that seems to have been there forever.

I read the REST OF THE STORY and no - nothing is happening to the Res Spot.

*******************

While you are looking into the sky you might notice more military aircraft from Volk Field as the Northern Lightning exercise begins Aug 12 through the 23rd.  I love it.  I miss the sound of planes.  Too quiet around here LOL 

I grew up with railroad tracks across the street in Fort Atkinson and for a year I lived in the closest apartment  (on Oak street) to the longest runway - RIGHT in line with the runway.  They landing lights would light up the room.  Exciting!

********************
 
Speaking of the economy which Obama started and Trump threw gas on it and is claiming he started the fire. 

There is a recession coming. How do I know that?  Listen to the NFL owners who are, for the most part, all Republicans.  There is a labor issue coming next year and negotiations are in the preliminary stages but from what I have heard from a couple of sources the negotiations will not take long as the owners really want this to be over BEFORE the recession hits (not IF but when)

They are saying January.   

So my feeling is that the Republicans NFL team owners who are ACTUAL Republicans and not the nitwits calling themselves Republicans (The Moscow Mitch clan, who have no problems borrowing money and no real financial plans except what helps us NOW) know what is really happening with the economy.

Real Republicans are saying recession - end of the year, beginning of next year. 

+++
Sadly I lost a reader when I mentioned that I believe Trump is Making America Angry Again (MAAA).

My mom and dad leaned left AND right which made me have to actually think for myself and choose when way I would lean.  I chose the "human rights" side as opposed to the "make more money" side even though my family moved a lot because we could not afford rents.

WELL, this person lives in a divided relationship and is/was distraught and canceled the email subscription.   One side of the relationship continually insults me and makes insulting comments on my business page and the other is wonderful and uplifting and friendly.  I feel sad and hope this individuals marriage transforms into something good again.

Trump is tearing apart families with his rhetoric and is dividing the country.

Nuff said

BTW - right side -

Have G-Island emailed to you automagically

***********************************

Couple flower photos - this is of our Humming Bird Mint that had some birds plant Black Eyed Susan's among them. 

       And this is of Elweeds garden

 **********************

The Boys!  GREAT show on Amazon

OK OK - only watched the first episode but on IMDB it gets higher ratings they Stranger Things (which we watched Season One and is OUTSTANDING).

NOT for children - full frontal nudity (male) and graphic-ish violence (as seen in the trailer but that is the worse) that DJ is OK with so far.

https://youtu.be/tcrNsIaQkb4


OK - that does not show the whole concept of the show.  try this one on


SO - NOW - we have the rest of GOT season 7, Season 2 of Stranger Things and Season 1 (already Season 2 was ordered) of The Boys AND Season two of Black Sails.

DANG this is the Golden Age of Television.   No more reruns of Murder She Wrote.

**********************

Watch out for storms this afternoon.

Grinder Jumps the shark

Yesterdays blog " Columbus Community Hospital jumps the shark"  is under wraps as I seemed to have aggravated a few people LOL

*******************

What the hell - Do I need anger management?   YEA - get that ass hole out of the White House and I will be a MUCH happier person . . . . no really . . I think the yellow clown is MAAA - Making America Angry Again.

Honestly - I do think that.

So yea - yesterday I went off on PR Health (whoever they are) when they deleted "Columbus" AND "Community" out of their name.  One of the arguments coming my way was   UW Health does not have Hospital in their name because they are bigger. . . WELL - I go to UW Hospital which is PART of UW Health.

Do we now have Prairie Ridge Hospital?  Or is it just Prairie Ridge Health (which is also in Beaver Dam and Sun Prairie it seems)  Can't we have Columbus Community Hospital as PART OF Prairie Ridge Health?

Just sayin.

DONE.

OH yea - I'm TRYING to be a kinder gentler human. 

**************************

The United States is having a record year in the lack of  violent weather. One of the calmest years ever as far as tornadoes.  Meanwhile climate change is REALLY screwing with things.

***************************

I have my yearly physical this afternoon.  I believe this will be the first time I have ever gone to an exam with body complaints.  From osteoarthritis in my left big toe to what I believe is a torn medial meniscuc in my left knee which should heal itself in time . . . I hope.

I have read numerous articles about unneeded knee operations being forced on people.  And having two torn medial meniscuc and two operations from sports from decades ago (I played a LOT of baseball and softball, like 6+ games a week) . . . . well . . I will talk to the doc.

When asked "how long has it been since you did not have SOME pain in your body" I can say about 8 months.  ALWAYS something hurting.  MAN getting old has all of a sudden reared it's ugly head.    I'm glad the right side of my body is doing GREAT.  I just make more right turns now.

Actually I think more LEFT turns as the right side is strong and my left side lags behind. Like having a flat tire - I lean left. 

***********************

This is the month I try to solidify JUST missing the playoffs for my SOM team. 

When I look at next years offense I wring my hands with glee and then I avert my eyes looking at pitching. So the PLAN is to be  just out of the playoffs and pick up Justin Verlander as a free agent.

I cannot beat the best team in the league (3-12 against Middlesex) so I'm going for longevity.

SORRY - I see I put that graph up once already - my bad

*************************

Finished Season One of Stranger Things - OMG - what a great series.  DJ loved it even when it was "scary" a little.  If you have NETFLIX and have not seen this it is NOT a kid movie or a teenager movie or an adult movie - it's all three.

All three age groups are trying to  get to the bottom in their own way!!   BRAVO   The closest thing I have ever watched to binging (sp?) .

https://youtu.be/b9EkMc79ZSU


On to Season 2.

Some comments

I enjoyed this more than any new show I've seen in at least few years. Best kid actors I think I've ever seen.

watched the entire season in one sitting. what a great goddam show

Okay everyone, when I say this, don't take it lightly... This is the BEST first season, for any TV show, in f**** history! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll feel nostalgic, and you will piss yourself with fear. I've been waiting for over a decade, for something to be as good as this was. Absolutely stellar.

This had me crying and screaming like a baby more than once. Best show I've watched since Breaking Bad. It is definitely on that level. I don't know who chose the cast but each and every actor/actress nailed it. I started the season last night and I just finished it. Truly amazing. You gotta watch it. Call out of work sick if it comes to it.

I don't watch a lot of TV. Probably because there's so much bs out there. But I have to say this is one of the best things to hit TV ever. Not one dull moment. Thank you Duffer Bros and co. You folks are amazing.

******************************
Every year since the 1950s Major League Baseball pays a dude $400 for 4 cans of mud that is put on 240,000 baseballs used in in MLB.

This mud comes from an undisclosed location on the Delaware River where a unique composition of clay-rich dirt and brackish water create a unique mud that is rubbed on EVERY ball by the umpires before the game.

Rawlings tried to make a ball that did not need the mud but pitchers balked !

I was just surprised they only give the guy $400.

***************

Cannabis jobs.   In May 2016 for every 1 million jobs posted in America  231 of those are in the cannabis industry.  In May 2019 it was up to 915 jobs.

***************

On the Dan Patrick show  they were discussing speeding and Dan was asking how fast you can go OVER the speed limit - what is the norm.  He said he is comfortable going 15 mph over the limit - REALLY?   he said 65 mph limit he is good going 80.

 He asked the Dannettes and they were in the 9-15 range.  REALLY?     

A police officer from Michigan called in and said in Michigan they will give you a break if you are less then 15 over.  If they are in a good mood.  REALLY?   

I used to say I was an aggressive driver, never had a speeding ticket or a moving violation but I'm like a grandpa as I rarely go over 10 above the limit   Normally 5-8 over. 

Here is the funny thing. They were interviewing Peter Gammons on the phone and Gammons says  "Dan I really have to hang up, I'm being pulled over for talking on the phone". and he hangs up.

So Dan and the Danettes are betting on if he got a ticket or got off.   Gammons calls back and they ask if he got a ticket.   Gammons says "The officer came up and I told him I was on the phone with Dan Patrick and the officer said "That is great, here is your ticket"".

another guy called in saying in Texas there is a 40 mile stretch with an 85mph speed limit . . . . so 100 is OK?

********************

Stock market - no worries.  This is NOT some long term ugly stretch. Not even close to hitting any support levels. The markets are consolidating and there is no real danger. Expect a lot of volatility for the next few weeks but do not worry.  It's all good. The Obama rally is still going strong.

********************

By 2022 the cannabis industry is projected to be a $23.4 BILLION industry.

Its so weird that in Washington DC you are not allowed to vote in Federal Elections since they are not a State.  Meanwhile the Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser  tweeted, "It's time to legalize marijuana. For years, marijuana possession has been a pipeline to prison for people of color. We must replace that pipeline with jobs, equity, and pathways to prosperity." 

Enough!   have a GREAT weekend - it will be wonderful