Action Tire Repair

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

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

I think they could use a tree. 

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

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

A view from his place  - Thanks John

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

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

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

Here is a photo of main street Parakou.

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

BTW - I am pro Enerpac. 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rod       
     

What is that red stuff - and rain? Where?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Of course you can go too far I suppose. 

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

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

 Thank you Nathan. Fun times at Olbrich Gardens.

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

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

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

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

Gotta run

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

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

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

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

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WOW - I feel so small all of a sudden.

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Disc Golf’s Popularity Exploding, For Better For Worse

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

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

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