Movies / Wolves are good for the economy

 And then this happened early in the morning - our next house will have 7 foot ceilings. 

OH - smashed potatoes - next time I'll chop up bacon in little pieces, plus more rosemary, garlic, salt and so forth. Added onions this time.  Don't flip the potatoes too much or they call apart (which is not bad actually)  

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OMG - I'm all excited for Saturdays live Nightwish Concert.  Their first live performance in 2.5 years.  The spent a year on their 10th studio album and were getting ready of another world tour when the pandemic hit.  This is the kick off of their ”Human. :II: Nature.” World Tour.  Nobody has ever heard this music live.  I got my subwoofers ready for tomorrow night.  7:00 Central time  and 2 in the morning wherever they are. 

This is like the Glass Animals concert we attended in our basement  a few months ago. I GUESS you can call it a pay per view event. 

++++++

We watched a movie in NetFlix last night called  Chef - Check it out. It's a fun family-ish film - check out who is in it.  

Jon Favreau
Dustin Hoffman
Scarlett Johansson
Sofia Vergara
John Leguizamo
Oilier Platt
Robert Downey Jr to name a few

It's like a fun old Sunday night movie about food from 2014.   I was a line cook at one point in my life and LOVED that job (I say now) (thus the Blackstone griddle I'm thinking).  LOT'S of really good Cuban music. 

ODDLY there was a spin off on NetFlix called The Chef Show which we watched a year ago not knowing it was a "spin off". 

https://youtu.be/c_8GlcxdemA



OH and the movie I really want to see that looks hilarious The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard 

https://youtu.be/3Z2FxVT6LIE

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The Bucks.  I said last year when the Bucks bombed - it was not THEM - it was because of the pandemic.  I have to think basketball is REALLY crowd enhanced and the Bucks REALLY needed fans in the stands.  You take arguably the best team in the NBA last year. Give them 2 months off and then make them play in front of NOBODY - the great leveler of talent.

this year - fans and blowouts so far.  

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When I was a kid one of our dogs was half collie and half timber wolf.  At least that was what I was told.  Of course I was also told I was 1/4 Indian which turned out 60 years later to not me true - ANYWAY - in Wisconsin there are 19,000 deer/vehicle crashes every year  with 400+ injuries and 8 deaths on average.  

HOWEVER - looking at all the counties - counties where wolf populations are on the rise and deer populations are plateauing  - there is a significant decrease of deer/vehicle accidents which has saved over 10 million dollars.   A savings of 630% paid in compensation for the loss of livestock by the State of Wisconsin.   

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New technology that can count tree rings without damaging the tree found that Yellowstone park had its warmest year since 770.   Don't ask me how they did that - I'm not a scientist.

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Last year under the #CheetoJesus the American Government gave a away a LOT of money to scam farmers in their US Pandemic business relieve,  378 of them.  NOW the government is estimating 55,000 fake accounts were used to get money for their small/virtual businesses.   One was a "cattle farm" in Long Beach NJ.  Middle of town I guess full of virtual cattle.     

Success and failure of our first glamping adventure - Trip Report #1

We received the pop up last Wednesday and spent a few days learning and collecting things to put in it.  Like art fairs there is so many things to do BEFORE you actually camp (or do an art fair) but once we had things under control it was time to actually test our knowledge. 

Being a weather dude it was my responsibility to find a good couple days for our first camping adventure with our Rockwood 1910ESP. Just a quicky none nighter.  

Cool Kid Andy said we should to to Astigo, it was only a few miles away so if we had forgotten something just go get it - a learning experience.   NAAAA - we're good - what could possibly go wrong. 

I know right? 

So Sunday night DJ looked and Mirror Lake had some open spots for 1 nights - only an hour away and just like D-Day in 1944 there would be a 2 day opening of good weather before the Thursday rain came.  So we packed everything up, had a couple meals planned with burgers and smashed potatoes on the 22 inch Blackstone Griddle and THE BIG BREAKFAST in the morning. 

Got to Mirror Lake and site 88.  Did the "Scoop" method for backing into the site which online (before I was banned from Facebook for a week**) 50% of campers said  "I thought this was common knowledge" and 50% said "I had never heard of this before").

** - Sunday on a golf thread I said "Maybe someone should shoot down that drone above Phil Micklesons's head"   BANNED  HATE SPEECH!    

The backing was flawless.  My only worry was the site on our left (looking out) a guy was chillin' in his chair watching us - OH OH . . don't make a fool of ourselves. It's only our 2nd time putting Rocky up. 

WELL - we  were a well oiled machine like a pit crew. Seriously. We never discussed who would do what but I bet it took less the 15 minutes. Once we got it level BAM - we each did our own thing and we knew what had to be done.  Literally very few words between us.  I think we were both a little stunned how easy it was.  We were like an Indy Pit Crew.  In fact we will be faster next time with a new tool both of is will have.   

Gus just wandered around on his 15 foot leash following us and looking a little lost on what HIS part was.  

The pop up was totally up and secure in 15 minutes.  Next we started to do the little things like lay out a big travel rug thing and we had a screen in tent ( later dubbed "the bar area") and put it over the picnic table.  

Everything was going GREAT!!!  But we were hungry.  

One of the things we came across Sunday was that the pull out propane hose connection and the attachment to the Blackstone - did not match up and on Facebook I had a post warning new Blackstone owners of this issue.

I had photos of the CORRECT connection. 

And a photo of what was needed on the other end with a link to the correct hose from Amazon 

https://tinyurl.com/ygtb9tka

I ordered one Sunday night and went to Camping World Monday morning just in case it did not come - as luck would have it Camping World had ONE - it was a return - it was perfect!

Then someone  online said it SHOULD have been included with the original griddle.  So I opened the box and put it together and NOPE - no other attachment was included.  So I put it all back in the box with the parts. 

WELL! - DJ is setting things up and I'm getting my little chuck wagon all put together and I set up the Blackstone and . . . . . . where is my connection - that silver round thingy . . . . . . . OH OH . . . . I packed it in the box with the original griddle   F*CK!  you have GOT to be kidding me!  

We can't eat until I get that connection.  OH - we do have a stove inside Rocky . . .but zero pans.  Many people take out the stoves in pop ups and we were just not going to use it - who needs pans.  WE GOT A GRIDDLE.

SO - while DJ is still doing HER thing I run to WalMart about 3 miles away - NOPE - I go to Home Depot next door  NOPE!  F*CKITY F*CK F*CK. 

We are both pretty hungry by now with no camp food in the immediate future.  SO - a very quiet and disappointing McDonalds it is. 

We get back to camp a LITTLE grumpy for about a half hour but I make a fire and get out the booze and it's all good as it's a beautiful night.  We roast marshmallows and chill out. Gus is a little concerned about OUTDOOR fire as it seems dangerous compared to inside the house fires (fireplace) but soon fell asleep on his designated chair.     

  

When we got the pup the dealer gave us some log books "to write things we needed next time ".  

The first entry DJ put was "Blackstone WITH ALL ATTACHMENTS"   second entry "shot glasses". 

ANYWAY - with the pup was a little travel toilet which we were both afraid of.  DJ read the instructions and it's really not bad at all.  ONLY PEE but it was really easy and pretty useful at 3:00 in the morning.  EVEN THOUGH - our campside was right next to the toilets 

Here is the thing - not once, in the 24 hours we were there, did anybody use them. ZERO!    I have a theory.  The park was 90% full.  Of that 90% , 80% were big RVs  10% were pop up and 10% were tent campers.  I have to think that the RVs have their own toilets!  Why use the park toilets.  

The park itself was unbelievably quiet for being almost full - alarmingly quiet!  Eerie quiet actually.  I took Gus out for a walk and there was noise from each site but none of it made it through trees (and it was a tuesday before a holiday weekend before school were out - older people)

Had a good-sh night sleep.  We were expecting to wake up at sunrise like at home when the cats walk across us.  BUT NO!!  Gus got up about 7:00 and relaxed beside me looking out my window and we woke up at 8:10.  Zero noise anywhere.   Beautiful morning. 

I made coffee and got a fire going with the bundle of wood we had (the hidden cost of camping).  BUT then we had a brilliant idea that we should have thought of the night before (still learning or actually re-learning).  

Why not make pancakes with our pie irons 

Pancakes came out GREAT!!  We made 6.  Not the BIG breakfast but it was something!  We spent the previous night before seasoning them and can't wait for our next trip when we can make hot ham and cheese, calzones and so many other things! 

So that is three dinners we can do.

Burgers with smashed potatoes

Stir fry - which is OUTSTANDING 

    

And a Pie Iron night!    

Smashed potatoes you say?   Take one of those tiny bags of tiny potatoes that you see in stores.  Boil them the night before.  On the griddle add some oil, put the potatoes on the griddle and basically smash them a little.  Add seasoning and flip them but not too often.  Smashed potatoes. 

SO - a couple things  - this is what we envisioned our pop up would look like - so clean and beautiful 

And this is reality 

To be honest though - this was a one night stand - things get messy!  Still learning where the best places to put stuff  and how to make things a little more accessible and neat. 

Packing up was just as easy and closing the pup for only the 2nd time was even easier then the first - so easy that it felt like we were forgetting something but . . I guess not.  

The ONLY hardware problem was the stairs which was metal on metal and I needed a hammer and a good kick.  Oil? maybe be?   

All in ALL a success and the attachment is attached to the griddle - Gus had a GREAT time, no ticks and can't wait for trip #2 WITH griddle. 

LIST OF THINGS NEEDED

Blackstone Grill ALL attachments 

Shot glass

Blanket for Gus

Smaller gray water hose
extension cord for inside Rocky

Small cast iron skillet 

10g gray water tank

paper cups

small tarp for firewood 

1 more Stabilizer  jack 

Cheers 

         

Getting ready to camp is hard work

 Just like art fairs - preparing to camp is so much harder then actually camping.  We have had our camper for 6 days now and have made pretty good strides on understanding all it does. . . . . mostly.  The only thing we have not obsessed over is the propane part but all in good time.  

My chief worry was on how much could we put in it for packing.  Fear of the unknown.  WELL - it seems a LOT!  No worries.  

Gus has totally learned how to navigate the stairs. He was so afraid. He would stand inside and his little legs would just tremble as he looked all the way down to the ground.   We purchased some stair carpets made for pop up and he is fine now.  No issues and EVERYTIME he goes into the pup he has a huge grin and is excited.  

We're taking a trip to Mirror Lake later this week for a one nighter shake down cruise to see were er have gone  wrong. The one thing I found was the pull out hose for propane and our 22 inch Blackstone griddle was that the two ends were not compatible.  Had to buy an extension hose which we wanted anyway.  I don't want to cook right next to the camper.  

SO that is what we have been doing the last 6 days.  Learning. 

OH - I've been banned from facebook for 7 days.  On a golf thread I commented "somebody should shoot down that drone above Mickelson's head"    BANNED!!!   Hate speech. 

sigh!  No biggie.  I don't mind being banned but for THAT reason?  Come on man! 

We gave a live concert we are attending  . . . in our basement.   Nightwish is FINALLY going to perform live for the first time in over a year.   They put out an amazing "album" and a week later went into lockdown.   Then Marco their bassist decided he had had enough and quit the band.  

He really is more of a front man but Floor Jenson took over the lead.  It's all good Marco performs with all sorts of other groups anyway.  In fact in Europe it seems to be a common thing.   Marco has tour with Delain (my 2nd fav symphonic metal group) 

My gut says that since Delain broke up during the pandemic and Charlotte Wessels and Marco got along so well a new band will form. 

https://youtu.be/ChP7su4Glig

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OK - nuff said  
     

SO far so good with a Rockwood1910ESP

 

IT'S HERE after 209 days on order.

Actually it's been off the line for 2 weeks but with the severe lack of semi truck drivers it was stuck in Indiana for a few weeks.  

The dealer went through it pretty quick and not knowing what we didn't know many things were like yada yada yada.  But we got it home

   And  . . well . . . we all know the most important thing is getting a pop up level.  

SLANTED DRIVEWAY ALERT !!!

Who did not know our driveway was THAT slanted.  Didn't look like it but yikes.   It was a challenge we ALMOST got right.  We were one random piece of wood away from perfect.  OF COURSE camper extraordinaire and Cool Kid #1 Andy immediately showed us the error in our ways last night. 

The stabilizers were pretty extended.  We actually knew that but . . .again . . . lacking what we really needed we made do with our first attempt.  You know what happens if you are not perfect level?  Door does not fit properly.  

AND Cool Kid - NOPE - no water heater.  Some Rockwood 1910s have them and some don't.  Like the solar panels - some have them and some don't (still learning about those). There are no real life instructions on those.  Electricity makes my head spin but I want to learn . . somehow.   We need a Pop UP Solar Panels for Dummies      

The only issue at the moment is the radio that DID work and now does not and the dealer said he liked the WiFi light on top of the pup at night.   Well, we saw no light and I saw no more bars on my phone on or off.   Also the radio buttons are all not working. 1st world problems. 

I THINK we need to unplug the battery and reboot the system - not sure if there is a battery kill or what.  HEY - we're learning! 

So that is the current obsession.   Gus is learning how to exit the camper. OH - he can jump IN but exit is an issue.  Those steps are small and his length is a problem.  He's tried everything LOL  So far his best attempts are jump to the bottom step, not the first.  We need to find carpet remnants for that bottom step . . or something.  Metal and paws are not a good combination.

Cheers - stay cool 

    

  

Manufacturing after the ambulance goes by - Drug sniffing dogs are an excuse to search - Dark sky

 You know how the road is when an ambulance goes by and all the cars are trying to get back in line?  It's chaos.  

Well - Covid has done that with manufacturing.  

As I have been investigating why our pop up is STILL not in our driveway I've been talking to dealers online and so forth.  It's chaos.

There is a huge glue shortage from China.  The freeze in Texas stopped all production of foam which is needed for RVs, a factory that supplied laminated sides for Rpods completely burned down this past winter,  there thousands of tons of wood in Canada that can't make it across the border as it waits for tariffs to be reversed from the last President, at Menards in Green Bay PVC pipe shelves are empty because that factory shut down and is still catching up, there is a HUGE chip shortage which is slowing the manufacturing of hybrids and electric cars and RVs and now chickens. 

Yes - Chickens -The main chicken people picked the wrong roosters to impregnate chickens, seems they are not that into it and they need a different rooster . . . . . strain. 

OH - who's making out GREAT from Covid besides hardware stores and almost RV dealers (if they had product to sell)?  Veterinarians.  In the past year 12.6 MILLION new pets were adopted.  Vets on average saw 3-4 new pets a week,  now it's over 10.

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Something MOST people know - Drug sniffing dogs are a joke and only used so police can search a car with an excuse.   For instance Karma - a drug sniffing dog at the border. 

Since 2018 the dog has sniffed drugs and 100% of the time he has sniffed drugs. HOWEVER-  Less than 30% of the time were there actually drugs in the vehicle.  The reason is these dogs take clues from their handler who REALLY want to find drugs - so the dogs, like all dogs, want to please their handler and thus "smell" drugs and then the police have an excuse to search.   I could train Gus to smell beer cans 100% of the time in a car. 

When I was an alderman the police wanted Columbus to support a drug dog so they could catch more crooks.  ummmm - no - so you could search cars with an excuse. Remember when our police in Columbus  pulled over 100+ cars in a couple hours downtown on a Friday night?  some cars were pulled over 3 times for a licence plate light that was burned out.  They wish they had a drug dog for sure.

That was the time the Chief and I had it out publicly and he was forced to apologize to me. Loved it.  I respect our Police Department, I did not respect the Chief and I pretty much told him. He said he read my blog every morning - I said maybe you should be doing police work as opposed to reading blogs on the job  LOL 

ANYWAY - I do love poking the bear WHEN it's deserved.

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The Illinois Chamber of Commerce’s president says the state will “blow past” $1 billion in legal marijuana sales this year. 

I was in S Beloit Friday - 7 lanes with 8 people each and 25 waiting outside.  As I was there each person took about 5 minutes and from what I could tell from a distance and from asking people around me I would estimate $40 per person in pure tax revenue (not sales - tax revenue).  The budtender said its like this from noon to 8:00.  So - extrapolating that out it's $280 every five minutes which is $3,360 per hour which is $26,880 in tax revenue . . on one Friday night at one place.  Although it IS the largest cannabis shop in Illinois.

The only thing the Chamber warned about was they would blow past $1 BILLION  IF - surrounding states did not legalize cannabis - WELL - don't worry about Wisconsin then.      

Michigan retailers sold $154 million worth of legal marijuana in April.  Meaning $38 million in tax revenue in April.

Science 

"A review of the use of cannabis in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder found "improvement in ASD symptoms, such as social communication (core symptom), noncore behaviors (self-injury, restlessness, rage attacks, agitation, aggressiveness, irritability), and comorbid conditions (anxiety, epilepsy, sleep problems/dysregulation, ADHD/hyperactivity/concentration)" and that "an additional benefit with the improvement in comorbid conditions is the reduction of medications used in some participants."

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Our 25th wedding anniversary camping adventure starts early June - getting a little stressed with 2 other families also camping they the yare set.  US? - we are in limbo. 

Oh - the plot of land we purchased 5 acres) at the top of Door County is 4 miles away from an official International Dark Sky Park**. 

** " land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment. The land may be publicly owned, or privately owned provided that the landowner(s) consent to the right of permanent, ongoing public access to specific areas included in the IDA designation.  " 

So awesome.  

MLB - NFL, POKER, Knees

I might not be good at words but I do pride myself as being a competent arithmetician which is probably why baseball fascinates me.  All of those numbers.  

For 40 years I have been trying to beat MLB with no success. Now with latest attempt #41 I am up 8.03 units.  I'm ecstatic even though my ROI is pretty putrid.  BUT - it's more for fun and a way to stay in touch with more teams than just the Brewers. 

My machine gun approach to MLB actually makes sense.  In the NFL you can be a sniper and pick and choose games as there are only 255 total.  But baseball is basically a 50/50 game where literally any team can win any game. It's truly the long run.  Not so in the NFL and NBA where they need spreads.

For instance - the Bucks moneyline a few weeks ago was -4000. The Hawks tonight are -1200, who wants to bet $12 to won $1.  

In the NFL there is a total of 255 games a year by the entire league.  In baseball there are 2430 games.   THUS - wagering on 10 games a day but with a smaller amount seems to be ( to me) a smarter way to wager on baseball.  The long run.  

We were talking about betting on golf in golf league last night a few golfers in our league had my exact experience.  They had $$ in 5Dimes and the only way to cash out (they were closing to Americans) was through BitCoin. We both had to google bitcoin desperately to figure out what to so.  We got our funds out  once the funds were now in Bitcoin we found that after a week we were up both up about 10%. (BTW - BitCoin crashed 10% last night THANKS Elon Musk - still up 54% though)

ANYWAY - the odd thing about 5Dimes was that the founder went missing 2 years ago and turned up dead. The rumor NOW is he is NOT dead but running the operation secretly.  ANYWAY

rereading this blog I don't know why I segued into poker - I'll find out.  - OH I see it's about cheating

NOT like Absolute Poker which I loved. WHY?   Send $100 to Absolute Poker and they would automatically double it in one month if you played 1 hand of poker.  WELL - seemed to good to be true right?  NOPE.  I think I put a total of  $700 in and it was doubled to $1400.  I played many many more than 1 hand and cashed out a year later - BEFORE - they were accused of cheating. 

I found some old books with passwords last week. Seems I had 26 online poker and blackjack accounts before the GOP sponsored the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which broke up that wonderful money making deal. (Island vacations, road trips around America and so forth).

Funny thing - of the 7 Republican lawmakers that sponsored the UIGEA . . . not one of them won reelection the next year.  They said poker was not a game of skill - it was a game of luck, thus unlawful. 

But - - - I digress. 

So I golfed with this guy last night.  

He was subbing for  . . .somebody and wow - he had a swing as sweet as Vogelbach on the Brewers - BALL GO FAR.  (Watch  Vogelbach's so so sweet . . did you see him beat out that strike out pass ball last night  LOL   Slowest guy in MLB I think was "flying" down the line  LOL)   

So Donald  never tee'd off with a driver but used a 4 iron. On the 15th hole at The Oaks  he topped his 4i and it went about 60 yards so for shits and giggles he was talked into using a driver just t osee what happens - didn't count. The tees were way up but he hit the trap in front of the green on the fly - 340 yards - - ON THE FLY!  

On the 16th hole I hit my driver 190.  He hit his 4 iron 45 yards past up on the hill, about 235 yards.  WITH A FOUR IRON.   

We were talking and he said he was just learning the game this year after dabbling most of his life. Awesome nice guy!!   

BUT - here is the interesting part ABOUT ME!  

We all know my issues with my left knee and how UW wanted to totally replace my knee.  A second opinion in Columbus said - NO - don't do it . . YET.  There were other medical issues (PMR).   WELL - the knee has steadily improved where pain was a steady 1 to 2. 

Eight months ago I started taking Glucosamine.  I told DJ a month ago that geez - me knee feels GREAT.  I'm aware of it but that is all.   

Last night golfing I was thinking I might talk to Kestrel Ridge and see if I can walk 4 holes to see how it goes.  I was trotting back and forth to the cart with literally zero discomfort.   OH - it still makes a farting noise when I put a tee in the ground and squats are not in my future but . . . . . 

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OH - dang _ was going to mention all of the world wide shortages and reason - maybe tomorrow - NO POP UP YET!!!  (shortages,  glue, foam and so forth) 

Cheers - warm weather coming         

 

         

Crabapple trees - Ed Harrell SAD!

 It's sad when your BEST hair is HAT hair.  

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We have had some issues with three of our trees.  The Autumn Blaze Maple, after ten years of being outstanding all of a sudden is not.  In fact in the last 2 years SEEDS have appeared. Autumn Blaze Maples are not suppose to have seeds and the leaves start to change color for autumn the first week of July.   

A company pumped 30 gallons of fertilizer into the soil so we shall see what happens.   Then our Pear tree was getting empty branches and it is something that is going around Columbus that nobody is fixing so we had those branches cut off. Some sort of disease that kills pear trees.   

HOWEVER - they noticed we had apple rot on our Don Wyman crab tree.  It's an outstanding tree but normally only had flowers for 3 days.  They sprayed it and . . . . . we are now going into week 3 and it is still looking like this.  13 days of this amazing bloom so far and not one flower has fallen off.   

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I see the GQP cancel culture has canceled the party of Reagan  and it is now the party of the #CheetoJesus.  As Mitt said - the party will not gain ONE vote but will lose many.   The QAnon party believes following a loser who lost the House, lost the Senate and lost the Presidency is a smart thing.  Democrats are cheering. 

I do feel sorry for ACTUAL Republicans as they watch their party become a party of conspiracies and hate. 

Pants are a tool of the oppressor (I don't know what that means but it sounds funny).

*********************************  

Sad not sad.  Had St Louis and the OVER 7 last night  LOL  I got lucky. Five runs in the 11th inning got me out of a hole.  

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STILL waiting for our pop up. 

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WOW - have you seen videos of the Israel Iron Dome shooting down 500 missiles? yikes. 

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Bun implants are up 22% this past year.  Meanwhile, the removal of breast implants surged 8% in the past year. Seems artificial breast have a finite life and need to be removed from time to time.  Is it really worth it?  

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MAN - Covid has been GREAT for some businesses - swimming pools, 97,000 new pools in the last year  24% more then the previous year.  LL Bean has sold more outdoor furniture in the first 4 months then ALL of the previous 2 years.   RV construction is WAY WAY behind.  A rep told me they have never ever had this demand.  There is a 360% increase in the demand for travel duffel bags, 400% increase in paddleboards,  and a 500% percent increase in demand for outdoor furniture.

Covid has made people enjoy the outdoors.
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And Sadly - Ed Harrell passed away suddenly a few days ago. He's been mentioned on all the major news outlets.   Here he is with Mel, the last 2 surviving Marines on the USS Indianapolis.  Both are gone now.  Ed was an amazing story teller 

  this is probably one of the best stories about the Indy I have heard - better then any movie - it's long but fascinating 

https://youtu.be/tslQHkZt7dI

Enough babble for now!  

****

OH - My SOM draft seems to have been really good for having the worst draft places!  24th in Free Agents and 24th in Rookies. 

Three REALLY good starting full time pitchers with a combined 2.97 ERA and 3 really good batters - HOWEVER - Orlando Arci who was slated to be my starting SS for 2 years until I could find someone else . . . is still in the Atlanta minors.  

MEANWHILE - my team this year is 10-29 and that is a little better then it should be  LOL  Covid was very bad for my team. 

  ****

Warm weather is coming - really! 

Cbus Weed Commissioner - Ian Anderson - Thomas Weaver- Time traveling

The first ACTUAL rock concert I ever attended was Jethro Tull, the Thick As A Brick Tour.  A friend  turned our Fort Atkinson high school orchestra on to this flute playing rocker and on May 3rd 1972 a friend and I saw our first concert. 

I went on to see Tull 2 more times and then drifted away. 

Tull had a very linear arc on selling albums.  Thick as a Brick and Passion Play were their peak with Stormwatch the last REAL Jethro Tull album.   HOWEVER - Ian Anderson did not just stop recording. 

I mention this as I picked up "A".  Ian Anderson's first solo album even though the record company forced him to call it "Jethro Tull".   I had not heard ANY of this music and it is REALLY REALLY good but different.

I LOVE it.  It's like when a long lost band (like Garbage?) comes out of retirement with a new album except its 40 years old. It's like a "modern" updated Jethro tull . . . . from 40 years ago.  There are at least 7 songs I truly love (All the even number songs LOL) 

Not many rock bands headed by a flutist.   Now I must look at his other 7 soso albums. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAHKWlugQ80

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SO - it seems Columbus has a Weed Commissioner and he REALLY pissed me off last week.  

I was having a bad week anyway when I brought up No Mow May and maybe Columbus should look into this.  I was NOT expecting the blow back from people saying NO - WE DO NOT NEED THIS. 

I was shocked - people were so against the idea that someone might not mow their yards for a month -   THE HORROR - MOTHERS HIDE YOUR CHILDREN.  But I digress on the No Mow May.

I was furious at an announcement the NORMALLY understanding and friendly Columbus Government put out. As one person in our government said  "It sounds like it was written by a Nazi".  

Notice is hereby given that any person owning, occupying or controlling land within the City of Columbus shall destroy all noxious weeds on the land.

 . . . . . if any person shall fail or neglect to destroy any weeds as required in Chapter 106, Article IV, of the City of Columbus Municipal Code, he shall, without further notice, destroy or cause all such weeds to be destroyed and cause the cost of such summary destruction to be charged to the owner of the property upon which such weeds had grown. The cost of such destruction shall take into consideration the reasonable wear and tear on the machinery and equipment necessary for such destruction.  As provided by state statute and local ordinance, the weed commissioner, his agents, representatives and employees, may enter upon any lands upon which any weeds are growing and cut or otherwise destroy them, without being liable to an action for trespass or any other action for damages resulting from such entry and destruction

 OK -I'm fine with the intent but holy macaroni who the hell wrote this.  

I'm a cheerleader for this community but THIS, this is not how a city government informs its citizens that the person spraying your garden is YOUR problem and you will be charged.   

Who gave this belligerent post the greenlight to be broadcast to the world. What the heck is DPW thinking with this aggressive in your face verbiage.   WOW and sigh!   

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Thomas Weaver?  Who is this?   

I have always been a sucker for time travel and first contact books and when I stumbled upon Shawn Inmon's  Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure and finished book 3 of 5 - I was floored.  The dude (sorry Shawn) writes like I do (except with a better spelling corrector and punctuation).  Pretty much off the top of his head it seems.

SO - I finished book 3 and am waiting for book 4.  So - what do I do.  I can continue to read Baseball PRospectus cover to cover but I needed more.  SO - Shawn (we're best friends now LOL) has a so far 13 book series (the dude has written 23 books since 2017 when he quit his job to become an author and all of them are huge rating winners on Amazon)  . . . .where was I . . . . 

I decided to start his first Middle Falls Time Travel series "The Unusual Second Life of Thomas Weaver".   It's a winner!   

 

BASICALLY - a down and out 54 year old takes his life and wakes up as himself as a 15 year old with all of his 54 year old brain functions and memories, now seeing what high school in 1976 is really like.   (remember square dancing in gym class?  I do)  

So many references to 1976 that bring back memories - Marathon Bars? when did those disappear?  But the one part that hit home is Thomas has to go to school and MY person demons come back to haunt me. 

Where is my locker, what is my combination, classes? where are they?  And of course, Thomas realizes there is a future serial killer in his class. What does a 15 year old with kind of information do with it. 

90% of the 400 reviews give the book at least a 4 star rating. All his books are rated so high!!  I JUST saw book 2 is "The Redemption of Michael Hollister" (the serial killer)  96%  4+ stars.

I am just floored with the number of words in this guys head and so far I have been astounded by his writing skills and storytelling.   There NEEDS to be a movie somewhere in his future.  

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Speaking of Time travel,  remember Garbage the rock band from Madison?  My wife went to school with one member and my daughter met Shirley Manson and she actually stopped a concert when Jenny as being crushed in the front row. 

She stopped in mid song - Josh had his hands around Jenny holding off the crush and Shirley stopped and said "MOVE THE FUCK BACK OR I'M NOT SINGING ONE MORE NOTE, I FUCKING MEAN IT".  it was awesome.    

Their 7th studio "album" comes out June 11th  No Gods No Masters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXZB-YiYIak

;

 

OH - My awesome wife who is mother to my awesome step daughter who is an AWESOME mother also.  Yea - I married above my pay grade  

OH - and just a side note - see that second curve on Hwy 42 in Door County going to the fairy?  We have an accepted offer for 5 acres just to the left of that curve.  A Boreal forest. 

MLB wagering - so far I have not sucked  +1.3 units per day averaging.  

Carry on. 
      

It's coming YEA! (Rockwood 1910ESP (Extreme Sports Package))

 Good news - our pop-up is being shipped and we should have it in the next "few" days.  A Rockwood 1910ESP (Extreme Sports Package).  Solar panels on top,  OH - it's Glamping!!    

heated mattress
Solar Panals
WiFi Booster
Under Awning LED
Outside shower 
Bluetooth and USB ports

HEY - when you are 67 years old (good God) sleeping on the ground (on purpose) is not as wonderful as it used to be.  

So many people retire and sit around waiting for . . . the next TV show?  We need something to create more memories - good, and AND ugly!     

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

Aaron Rodgers GROW UP DUDE!!     

"One issue is that the Packers don't rally have anybody in charge to take control of this whole mess the closest thing they have to that person is Mark Murphy, but Murphy has six other members of an executive committee who, in theory, have power over him. And the executive committee has nearly 40 persons on a board of directors who, in theory, have power over them. And the board has thousands of shareholders who, in theory, have power over them.”

SO - the Packers flounder and Rodgers is all pissy about a QB that was drafted last year?  Good Grief. OH - if he wants to play full time for Jeopardy I TOTALLY understand.  I'm pretty sure Alex Trebek never got a concussion from the show. 

So you have an MVP QB who has had 1 of the last 4 Great years and is 37 wanting to do what his dream job would be. 

If you love him let him go! 

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

Cannabis news 

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted to legalize medical cannabis flower - THANKS A LOT WISCONSIN 

A new analysis by New York’s state comptroller projects that legalizing marijuana will generate $245 million in annual revenue by fiscal year 2024-2025.   Thanks a lot Wisconsin

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation reported that marijuana sales set another monthly record in April, with nearly 2.5 million cannabis items purchased—worth almost $115 million.  need I say it? 

A new study smashes lazy stoner stereotypes by finding that frequent marijuana consumers "engaged in more physical activity than non-current users.”

A survey of Alabama doctors found that 70% support allowing medical cannabis and 42% support legalizing marijuana.

Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure

 WOW - I finished book 3 of 5 in a 5 book trilogy and am wonderfully content.  Yea - "5" does not make a trilogy but it's really a 3 book trilogy and a couple of add-ons  LOL   

Rod - what are you talking about!  

An Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure which is what I believe is the most fun adventure I have ever read.  OH - I never made it through books like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" as it was too irrelevant.  I like hard science fiction and historical dramas but this?  

 As Patton said  "I do love it so".

This is a review of the first book that I can not say it better so - I copied it. 

"He's done it again!

Shawn has transported us to another time, quickly pulling the reader through a doorway of imagination and adventure.

Not only has he made each step along the way feel new and exciting, but he also expertly tugs on your sense of nostalgia. This is a story that could have been written forty years ago with the great science fiction writers of that time, but it also translates so well into this era that younger readers who don't remember books from back then are still on the edge of their seats, eyes wide open at 3 am as they flip to the next page instead of going to sleep.

A Door Into Time is a great read that ends with a satisfying finish while opening the door (pun intended) to the next volume.

I'm heading over to get in line for the next book.

You should too!"       

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

I finished book 3 as it promised to tie up all the loose ends and it did wonderfully!  Everything explained.  BUT WAIT!!  Book four - without revealing too much (Yes Alex does make it back to our time,we all knew he would) 

And then this 

"Alex Hawk spent a decade trying to return from Kragdon-ah. Now he is safely back in the twenty-first century with daughters Amy and Sanda and his loyal, giant dog.

All is peaceful and good until, ten years later, Alex hears an incredible commotion in the basement where the door into time still stands safely behind a brick wall.

The wall has fallen. A giant warrior has stepped through and uttered four words in a language Alex has almost forgotten: "Manta-ak! We need you!"

OMG - I say this LITERALLY - I have chills just reading that last sentence - SERIOUSLY - knowing who the giant warrior is I know this is a BIG deal.  He would never ever come through the door unless it was life or death.  Shawn Inmon has created such a rich tapestry of a distant civilization and the humans are SO REAL.  I know that that "giant warrior" came through the door as a last resort. 

I have never felt this way over a book before - THAT is powerful magic from an real estate dude who quit his job 5 years ago to become a full time author. 

I find his writing so fascinating.   My mom was prolific in writing and I put her poems into a book and published it  "Snapshots Along the Way bu E.V Melotte"  (#17,264 in American Literature (Books)) in the top 20,000 baby!!   and my brother is currently writing an historical western with a TON of research.   ME?  Well fighting dyslexia my whole life slowed me down so I just blog a blog about whatever crap is in my head today LOL

My mom had a bunch of stories about growing up on a subsistence farm. She has a fascinating stories. One about about crawling out her window as a little kid and visiting a group of roving gypsies - I'm still trying to find it in my computer LOL but here is a tiny story - I got a ton of these non-poem"snapshots" I'm putting together. 

"Pa once had an opportunity to join a county crew for a few days work on the roads. Naturally he grabbed a chance to make a few extra dollars. When the job was finished the crew was offered the right to help themselves to all they wanted of a barrel of red clover seed. Pa took a generous share, knowing that red clover would improve our poor soil. He broadcast it liberally over an area that was to become a field after the stumps were pulled.

 Either the foreman had brought the wrong barrel or Pa had misunderstood. He had broadcast turnip seed over the whole field which came up packed shoulder to shoulder . .  with turnips.

That year Pa sold our potatoes, which were a salable crop, and we lived out the year on a staple diet of turnips."

++++

 Dwight Schrute would be proud    We are slowly typing the stories into digital as all were typed on her light blue Corona typewriter. 

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 I'm back up an running on gambling. BTW - Grinder comes from my old Blackjack days a few decades ago which turned into Texas Holdem which started this whole writing thing for me when Full Tilt Magazine hired me to write online gambling articles which gave me island vacations and a trip across the US to get re-married in a vortex in Sedona. - but I digress.

After I discovered errors with what Scores and Odds dot com was posting I realized that I was using flawed information and corrected them with a few (eight?) emails.  They actually thanked me and are making changes. 

SO - it's been 2 days with corrected numbers which is what I really enjoy reading - numbers.  DJ commented once - "I walked past him and his book was just pages and pages of numbers". 

So - 2 days  up 9.14 units - YEA let's see  average 4.5 units a day for 162 days  729 units  LOL  YEA - that will happen  IN MY DREAMS!   HUZZAH!!  

OK OK rambling.   

BTW - now Mr. Inmon (the author of the book) has me and my wife saying GUNTA as a greeting and  The GREAT on Hulu (an awesome fun series about Catherine the Great) has us saying HUZZAH!! a lot.  Sort of  like Deadwood when we would run around swearing all day. 

ANYWAY - That is about it for today - gotta go to work on numbers  

Have a GREAT week - rain FINALLY coming this afternoon 

OH - no camper YET!!   Gonna cancel Wyalusing on Friday if it is not here.   

Rod