Space Stream Follow-up

That last post is out of this world, isn't it?  Granted, the feed may be black when it is on the other side of the Earth than the sun, but wait just a little bit and it will be back to daylight - and some fascinating views!  This site, the ISS Tracker, can actually show you where the International Space Station is in real time, including it's path and the sun's horizons.  You can also sign up for email alerts for when you can actually view it where you live and with your naked eye over at NASA's Spot the Station website, which I also list in the right column.  I, myself, try to see it every reasonable hour it happens comes our way.

Space Stream

Live, from the ISS...

More info here.

Squirrel Proof

Yesterday I mentioned how all squirrels are bastards.  Today there is more proof of that statement.  Absolute strawberry destruction.

'Helicopter' Season Began Today

You know, the winged seeds of maple trees.  Now they'll literally be all over the house and yard for a few weeks.  The squirrel bastards* will feast, and even plant or hide many in the lawn and garden.  I'll have to clean the gutters again when it is over.  I also saw the first signs of the cottonwood tree's spring presence today.  I have no idea where the cottonwood trees are around here, but we are aware of them every spring.  We got a little rain and wind this evening and, if you look closely at the picture, every dot in that sky is a 'helicopter.'
 Actually, this isn't so much of a complaint as it is an acknowledgement of our particular rites of spring, living where we do.  After all, so many events occur only briefly every season, especially in the springtime.  We really have to remind ourselves sometimes to try to appreciate these events for the wonder that they are.  And also sometimes be thankful they are only for a limited time...

*My latest conclusion is that all squirrels are bastards.  They seem to dig up or get into everything eventually. 

Memorial Day 2014

Happy Memorial Day!  Sounds odd, what's so happy about a memorial?  Most people are just happy to have a three day weekend.  Work on project list - check, grill out - check, gardening - check, see friends - check.

No matter how much fun you have or how lazy you feel, take a moment and remember why you have the extra day off.  There's my public service announcement.

Now, I was looking for something to post this morning but nothing stood out.  Oh, there's tons of flags and headstone pictures out there, with all types of reverent sayings on them, but I was looking for something more relevant to us.  I had to go out this morning, and I remember seeing them starting to set up the 'memorial mile' the other day, so I thought I would try to get a picture while driving down Atwood Avenue.  There are similar displays of death all across the country this weekend, this is Madison's, in Olbrich Park which is right on Lake Mendota.

I wound up taking a video of the entire mile.  It goes too fast to read, but the signs say things like '2009 Afghanistan,' followed by a headstone for each life lost.  Turn down your speakers!  The road noise is a bit much.

Recent Music Interests

I've seen a couple music videos over the last several months of bands that, well, I like them but I guess not really enough yet to give them a Latest Listening Pleasure post.  Or in this first case, Die Antwoord, they've already been featured in one of my LLP posts, plus several other posts since I first posted about them in early 2010, before I even had LLP posts as a thing.
Also the newest video posted here tonight, this is Die Antwoord - Pitbull Terrier.


Next is an old almost favorite kind of thing.  Let me say that I don't like Skid Row, but I do like Sebastian Bach.  I don't know why, but hey, I like Rick Springfield sometimes, too.  Here's my favorite of Bas' latest videos from his recent release:  Sebastian Bach - Taking Back Tomorrow.


Then there is the band Ektomorf, that I first learned of while on vacation on the Alabama coast earlier this year while perusing Blabbermouth on my Mom's ipad.  They've gotten my attention and kept it, so there is something I like.  Ektomorf - Numb and Sick.


Another recent liking is a band that had a few albums in the early-mid nineties and recently reformed for another album. I'd never heard of them before, and I'm not terribly crazy about the album as a whole, but I do like this song. Skintrade - Hardcore MF Heart Attack. 


I don't know music, I just know what I like.  PTFO

Catching Up Outside, Part II

In my haste to get the pictures uploaded, formatted and posted I forgot to mention a few details.  Not just for you, we look back here sometimes to find out when was the last time we did something, stuff like that.  So I want it on record that we got the house washed today, and the windows - inside and out.  It's still a bit cool to enjoy having the windows open comfortably.  But it is a nice feeling that we have them paid off even before we can fully enjoy them - we just had them installed last November.

The back steps are scrubbed and ready for another water sealing.  That should be pretty easy to do any evening this week, as long as the overnight temperatures are warm enough.  I also have a couple painting projects this year.  I bought black paint yesterday to do the garage trim, and eventually I need white paint to clean up and repaint the trim along the roofline at the front and back of the house.  Then there are the front railings that I should take a wire brush to and then spray paint.  And if that isn't enough, this fall I could get a start on some concrete patching and painting on the foundation.  Next spring we want to do the whole foundation but I can probably get the areas where there are no plants done yet this year.  We'll see.  I hate painting.  Wait.  No, that's right.  I hate painting.  And plumbing.

Catching Up Outside

Last weekend we had friends over for our first fire pit party of the season.  Nothing spectacular, but always a good time with good food and good friends.  (On a side note, I just bought a party game that I think will be a blast to play with this bunch!)  I think Bridget is raising her glass here, I don't believe she would be flipping off my camera.  At least I hope not!

I finally finished the drain project at the side of the house.  I put the new drain tube in a few weeks ago, before the hostas came up, but I wanted to get the tray at the end inset into the ground a little bit.  It will probably still hold some water in the tube after a rain, but surely not as much as the old one, which I had to replace due to it breaking at the elbow by the drain pipe.  It's still a bit of an awkward corner, but what else can I do?  It looks good enough to me, but I do still want to get a hose guide in that corner.

Spring is here!  The gnome has it's home for the season.

Kate has done even more planting, check out the garden here.

Happy Mother's Day 2014

Hi Mom, Happy Mother's Day!  This isn't really for you, just something different than is posted everywhere else today.  I looked around for something, but I sent you a card and like I said, that usual stuff can be found all over today.  By the way, Mom, I'm glad you liked the pictures and no, that was a cat toy they were batting around.
Here are members of Steel Panther having fun with the day, they are a (pretty good) 80's hair metal spoof band.  A bit NSFW.

This And Thats

It feels like it's been some time since I wrote about anything, but the last LLP post did take a couple days of writing here and there to finish.  It may be my longest (written) post yet.  I don't think I'll write that much tonight, but then again, I'm not sure what I'm going to write yet.  Well, time to tip my head and see what spills...

• My wife was out of town on a business trip all of last week - to Las Vegas, no less!  Sure, it was for work, but she had wonderful weather while we had cool, cloudy and wet weather all week here.  The sun did not come out the whole time she was gone.  It also sounds like she got all the free food and booze she wanted.  Oh well, someone had to stay and feed the cats.  And we missed her, of course.
• Speaking of work, I've been in training again.  All of last week and all of this week yet.  Just more of the same, onward and upward.  The problem is that the training is all day, 40 hours a week, and while I'm not being given more new work I still have many things in progress.  There is no mandatory overtime, just voluntary right now, but not really voluntary for me because I have to spend some time on the cases I have in progress.  Mostly I have kept up so far by working extra early before training and only staying later sometimes, but things are starting to pile up this week.
• Kate has been doing a lot of planting recently, with more plants coming yet.  You can catch that stuff over here at the garden site.  I'm still hoping she'll take over that site but it may be a little while until that happens.  She wants to get a laptop for that blog and some classes she will be taking this fall.  I'm not a computer hog, I'm just on it all night every night!
• We've upgraded to a modem/wireless router combo at the house, anticipating the laptop but she can use it now for her iphone.  It seems like a pretty nifty device but I haven't been able to get the printer to work wirelessly since I first hooked it up.  I'll have to take another crack at figuring it out but otherwise I may hit up StepDan if the folks come to town.  Thankfully, it is not a pressing matter, we can still use it wired.
• We're going to have our first fire pit party of the year this weekend.  I have some leftover firewood from last year, plus the neighbor's branch that I helped him get down off the telephone wire last summer.  We also removed the larger pieces of bark and mulch from around the tree out back (see picture at the garden site link, above or on the right), so I have two five gallon buckets full of that stuff to toss on the fire over the course of the summer.  It has to go somewhere so I may as well use it as kindling.
• The cats turned 2 years old on or about April 20.  I believe they are full grown, as long as we don't let them get fat.  They have been loving having the porch open for them again this spring.  Basil is getting particularly interested in the outside when we come and go through the doors, so we have been discussing the harnesses again.  They don't like them but we don't want to take them out without them on a leash.  They have not been, and we don't intend them to be, outside cats.  (There are a lot of dogs in the neighborhood, as well as questionable cats that wander about.)  But it would be nice to be able to walk them around the yard on nice days.

It has gotten to be almost bedtime and that seems to be all I can come up with.  Until next time, good night, everyone.  PTFO

Youtube Phishing Attack Warning

via Minute Physics

Latest Listening Pleasure 15 - Live! - Faster Pussycat

Last Saturday night my metal friend Mike and I took the short trek to Janesville to see Faster Pussycat live at The Back Bar. 

First, let me get this out of the way, there were two types of tickets, and I don't know if this is the first time they tried it or not, but it was not a very good system.  We paid almost 10 dollars more for 'preferred seating,' not that seating was necessary but the higher price ticket should have some clear-cut amenities and not vary depending on which staff member is manning that post, tending the bar, or taking tickets at the door.  Let's just say that the inconsistencies left it a bit awkward up front as most were seated  and there was about a four foot empty space between people and the stage.  Of course the cheaper ticket people wanted in, there was tons of room!  What got in later were drunkards and rock piggies.   I'll ask a few questions and want to see something in writing on the website maybe before I spend the extra again.  Now I've gotten my venting about the venue out of the way.  On to the show!  Do watch out - the strobe-y lights make the videos go funny once or twice.

First up, a repost of the first video just so I have them all in one post: Slip of the Tongue and Number One with a Bullet.

I know I said I wasn't going to take much video, but I did - a lot.  Five and a half songs worth.  Well, I couldn't be the one to walk up to center stage like I did at last year's U.D.O. show at the same place, it was not the same vibe.  Some that did got asked to move by the people seated behind them.  Yeah,  rock and roll, baby.  That is probably why I wound up recording more than planned.  Trying to stand back and to the side is boring, I like being in the mix up front.  That doesn't mean moshing or jostling for position, just getting as close as you can to the stage without touching your neighbor.  LOL, that's my speed these days and - quite frankly - what it is actually like when you get people more or less my age at a show!  It's the young whippersnappers that cause most of the trouble...  *shakes cane* Get off my lawn!

I've seen this band once before in the late eighties (or possibly the very early nineties) opening for Iron Maiden.  I remember because Frehley's Comet was first advertised as the opener but was replaced a few weeks before the show.  Too bad I don't remember much from the concert.  This night I had a few drinks early but then only water as it is a bit of a drive back home. 

Faster Pussycat has one original member though three of the four others have been with him since 2001, and even in the band The Newlydeads.  Including bassist Danny Nordahl, whom I posted about recently.  He was around in the bar (surprise!) before we got there so, yes, I was able to give him a hard time about the falling down video.  He laughed it off and got another beer -  professional drinker, methinks.  In fact, most of the bands were around all night before they were to go on the stage.  Most of us didn't care because they weren't Taime Downe, lead singer and original FP member.  I got my tee shirt before the show started.  I have to, bands don't bring enough 2X shirts so I usually have slim pickings and have to get it early and stash it in the car if I can.  Actually, the cute little girl that I bought the shirt from was Taime Downe's daughter, Katie, I think.  You can hear him say her name at the beginning of this second video when he calls an audible and they play Poison Ivy for her, which I guess they don't play live much anymore.


The band played well and I was familiar with everything they played.  Maybe 13 or 14 songs or so, but I enjoyed being there.  I've loved their music for a long, long time and hearing it and watching it from feet away was a thrill, though dampened by the venue's odd tickets and undefined rules.  I was there for one thing, to watch and listen to Taime Downe, and that is exactly what I got.  I've never stopped loving Taime Downe and Faster Pussycat since 1987 and I shall continue to enjoy them.  I did overhear Ace (Von Johnson, the newer guitarist) over at the bar say they were working on a new album.  I found that to be good news as albums come far and few between for this band, only 4 studio albums since 1987 - with a live one and a couple EP's and compilations mixed in.


Let's finish* with the last video I took, the last part of the show.  I started in the middle of a break in the song Bathroom Wall, and kept it recording through Shut Up & F**k and the finale, Babylon.


Previous LLP Posts...
LLP 1 - Pain
LLP 2 - Nightwish
LLP 3 - Die Antwoord
LLP 4 - Pain part 2
LLP 5 - Andrew Bird
LLP 6 - Nightwish part 2
LLP 7 - Paramore
LLP 8 - Newsted
LLP 9 - U.D.O.
LLP 10 - Nightwish Imaginaerum Movie
LLP 11 - Kiss
LLP 12 - Rick Springfield
LLP 13 - Hyrax
LLP 14 - In This Moment


*I say 'finish' but I will post just one picture after the break, but it's an ugly one!

Faster Daffodil! Bloom! Bloom!

We have our first bloom in our yard, or almost anywhere, a daffodil growing among the irises in the flower bed out back.  It is nice to see something in bloom, most things are barely started or have not come up yet at all.  My wife has some tulips in various places around the yard, I suspect those will be next to burst forth with color.



I went to see the band Faster Pussycat on Saturday night and had a ball.  I do want to take the time to write about it properly so I will post more later.  For now, the first of the 3 videos I took:

Friday Night Quiz

Um, never mind....   via

Red Green Live!

My wife and I went to see Red Green perform at the Barrymore tonight.  It was a nice evening, no opening act and split up with a short intermission.  The crowd leaned to the older set, but there were younger people there.  He's probably the cleanest stand up act I've ever seen, but he doesn't need to be dirty.  His humor is more the differences between the sexes and the generations, among other things. 

Red Green on the Barrymore stage just hours ago.

It's hard to describe Red Green's appeal to someone who has never heard of him or seen the long-running 'The Red Green Show.'  The show ended in 2006 (that long ago?) after 15 seasons and exactly 300 episodes.  The Canadian show was shown by PBS stations in the states, actively helping with pledge drives and making select appearances in those markets.  If you've never seen the show it is definitely worth looking up on Youtube, especially you older married guys out there!

I actually met Red Green about, oh my, it had to be about the mid 90's, almost 20 years ago!  (He's rather small and I remember my hand swallowing his when we shook.)  I happen to be going to the mall with a friend when he was doing an appearance and signing autographs in a record store.  He was selling his new videotape, which I bought and he signed.  I also got him to autograph a flyer for the boys at the lumberyard where I worked at the time.  We put it between two pieces of plexiglass, framed it with - what else - duct tape, and hung it on the wall of the break room.  It may still be there for all I know.

Overall a fun - yet early - evening (especially at over 50 bucks a ticket).  As he says at the end of every episode...  Keep your stick on the ice!

Faster Pussycat Rock Moment

I've seen this in a few places by now, so I may as well post it.  The bassist in Faster Pussycat gets drunk and takes a header into the bass drum (about 1:30 in) then gets carried off the stage.  The bassist for the opening band steps right in and saves the day!  Pretty Effing funny, to me.  Like Taime says, 'that's rock and roll' and I hope I can give him spit about it in person this weekend.

I'm a huge fan of Faster Pussycat and will see them live - very soon.  I can't believe I haven't had them as an LLP post yet, but that will be resolved, probably this weekend.  I took video of U.D.O. when I saw them last year and it took away from the experience.  This time I will try to get some video, maybe a song, but not much because I really want to enjoy the moment rather than try to capture the show right in front of me on a tiny screen in my face.  But I do want to get something on video and anything less than a complete song is crap on Youtube.  Whatever, I'll do my best and I really won't worry about it as much as I am now. PTFO

Kiss Rock and Roll HOF Induction

My all time favorite band from last night's "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame"* induction. Not the best quality video, but you could wait another month and a half to watch it 'live' on HBO.


*I feel the way Paul Stanley feels about this 'honor.'  If you don't know, look it up.  He's talked a lot about it lately to anyone who will listen.  Probably because his book just came out, too. (I'm about a hundred pages in so far.)

Five Years Blogday

I missed it, but April 8th was my 'blogday.'  Happy Blogday to me!  Five years now.  Wow.  This all started back in 2009. 

Thanks to all who have visited and even more thanks to all who have commented!

Weak Week

What a week so far...  At least it has been very nice weather-wise, we've had highs in the sixties.  Plant sprouts are taller and, if my eyes aren't deceiving me, the lawn has turned slightly more green.  Next week will start off cooler, below average again with highs in the 40's.

Sam Dekker and Ben Brust after the loss.

The week started by waking up Sunday and avoiding all the articles on the Badger's one point loss the night before in the Final Four.  Oh, I got around to watching and reading most things eventually, but it was a hard pill to swallow.  68 teams go in but only one lucky team finishes with a win.

We'll get 'em next year, boys!

Instead I used my time on Sunday to get started on yard work.  I got the front and back yards fully raked, and I dug up and replaced the drain extension on the side of the house.  There is still some work to do there, though, so maybe I'll post a picture when it is completed.  Other than that there is not much to be done outside yet.  Kate has cleaned up the garden and planted a few things earlier this week.  I'm still hoping she will take over the posting at the garden blog.  I can take pictures easily but she would be better at describing what is happening back there.  My posts tend to be short and dependent on the pictures I take.

Yesterday morning I coughed really hard and threw my back out again.  I did go to work but left after a half day and took today off to try to recover.  I have to go in tomorrow, I just have too much to do.  Also, I have some time off later next week and I'm going to need to have some loose ends at work tied up and a good back to get done what I have in mind.  Back problems never arise at a good time, there is no good time.  I just do what everyone does - deal with it as best you can and carry on.

Badgers - Final Four

source

Tomorrow night, 7:49 pm CT, 24 hours from now!

Lawn Worries and Summer Projects

I've been a bit concerned about the spottiness of brown in the lawn since the snow has melted.  I don't remember seeing anything like this the last few years since we've been here.  It is too early for me to be very worried, though.  But there is a known squirrel den above and I really hope it is not from their droppings all winter.

I am glad spring seems to be coming now... well, eventually, but with it will come much work to be done.  Very soon I will replace the drain hose thing on one side of the house, I'm sure I'll post about it so you'll see what I mean then.  and a couple manly things to make in the garage this summer with power tools and wood.  Some screen guard 'lids', for lack of a better term, for the garden so the squirrels can't un-plant what my wife sows in the fall for the next season.  And I keep thinking about a cat box container under the basement stairs.  It would so much help the sweeping we have to do in the area.  The idea seems practical, the design is still under consideration, still a secondary project if anything else comes up.

And then there are all the regular spring things to do as with anybody that wants a respectable yard and landscape.  May all your neighbors feel the same way.  PTFO

Fifty Degree Clarity

Just to set the record straight - and because it has been bugging me - we have about 4 1/2 months between average fifty degree daily highs, just to clarify some recent posts.  November 10 to March 28,  according to the Weather Channel.  

Sorry, it was just bugging me.  As the kids might say - - #OCD

Fifty Degrees!

We finally hit 50º today (see earlier post)! I looked it up and the last time we hit 50º was on December 4, 2013, so I guess I exaggerated  a bit - it is not 6 months between 50º days even if it feels like it. Today we will almost hit 60º, but yes, there is snow in the forecast...

Final Four! and Superstitions

The Wisconsin Badgers are in the Final Four!

Congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers and Bo Ryan for earning a trip to the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four next weekend in Arlington, Texas!

It's pretty good being a sports fan in Wisconsin.  I enjoy it.  Most of the major Wisconsin Badger sports programs have enjoyed consistent success for some time now, about two decades actually, to bring respect to the university and teams.  The Green Bay Packers have been pretty good for a while now.  The Brewers have a wonderful stadium and game day experience, and on the field they are always trying.  They have issues but it could be worse, at lease they made the playoffs a few years ago.  And as for the beloved Milwaukee Bucks, well, bless their heart. ;-)

I've become aware that when I post something about  a game, like 'Go Badgers', in a post it never usually turns out well.  That's gotta be my OCD.  I rationally realize that nothing I write here, nothing I wear during the game, nothing I habitually have to do every game because I'm afraid to break a streak, none of that matters to the outcome at all.  Get over myself.

I'm far from alone.  You don't have to be OCD like me to have sports traditions, or more aptly, superstitions.  I'm not as attached to mine as I used to be, obviously since I'm writing this now the night my team punched their ticket to the Final Four.  But I do have them still, but they have changed, lessened, actually, the last few years.  For all Badger Men's Basketball and Badger and Packer football games I still always have to wear my gear.  Team t-shirt, hat, sweatshirt/pants, jersey, or all of them plus more you don't want to hear about.  And I do have little rituals still, but not like I used to.  There used to be candles, statues, flags, straws and even a gnome!  Wait, I still use the Packer Gnome.

Okay, I still have my game day superstitions and rituals, but at least I know that none of them can really affect the outcome of a game on TV.  They only make me feel like I helped maybe by doing something.  Or worse, hurt the team because I forgot something, say, put the flag out.  I hate it when that happens.

Go Badgers, really, grab that national championship!

Last Monday For A Long Time

I didn't check it out for myself but I believe it.  For a long, long time.   Baseball season is just waaay too long.  But pretty soon baseball will be all a sports fan has besides, well, golf or racing - and there are arguments on just how those two things equate as a 'sport' to baseball, basketball, football and hockey.  Oh well, any one of them - baseball, golf or racing - would certainly help when I want a weekend afternoon nap!   Okay, I'm kidding, but just a little, go Brewers!

via Bits and Pieces!

Red Green - Yes, Dear

Just Say Nothing below, more here.

Spring 2014

Today is the first day of spring.  I took this picture yesterday, and today all that fresh stuff was gone but we still have the bigger piles left.  After tomorrow our highs are below freezing for at least the next several days, except maybe 33ºF on Monday, with snow in the forecast next week yet.  Yeah, happy spring.

Weather has been a major topic on my site for some time now.  I'll have to try and get away from that.  We all have gripes about our weather sometimes but that doesn't mean you want to keep hearing about it, right?

Happy St Patrick's Day 2014

50 Degrees, 4 Seasons

A few weekends ago I went to the store in the morning, like I usually do, mostly Saturday morning because it is double coupon day.  When I got home my wife asked me what it was like outside.  I don't know, I said, probably 25ºF or so.  She got out her phone and looked it up, it was 2 - Two degrees!  I had gotten so used to cold by then I was that far off.  Today is in the mid 20's and I'm freezing outside!  I'm starting to have to think about the temperature every day.  Do I warm up the car or not?  Which jacket and how many layers do I have to wear?  Snow?.. Again!?

We've had just a few days above freezing recently and my internal, um, thermometer, I guess, is thrown out of whack again.  I swear, if it ever hits fifty degrees and sunny it will feel like summer.  That's what happens to people in Wisconsin in spring.  And also why we wear shorts when people in California or similar think they're freezing to death.  Perspective.

50 degrees - about 10ºC - to me, in Wisconsin.

• Summer:  Fifty degrees?  Never as a high, and only as an overnight low maybe early or late in the season.  And then it would be a great night for a fire pit in the back yard!
• Fall:  Fifty degrees goes from an overnight low to a high temp for the day, when you start appreciating those warm days of summer weather that may still show up now and again, if your lucky.
• Winter:  Fifty Degrees?!  Yeah, right.  Below zero wind chill factor sometimes.  You got about 6 months in Wisconsin, give or take, between normal 50 degree days otherwise, so you goddamn better get used to it.
• Spring:  Fifty degrees would be reason to rejoice.  Shed those jackets and sport the shorts!  At least until the reality that it isn't quite summer yet sinks in.  It is pretty entertaining to watch the occasional 'tough guy' who refuses to admit he's chilly.  Still, fifty means we can open the windows on a nice sunny day to air out the winter stir-craziness.

Yeah, still haven't seen 50º yet....  but hopeful.  We should get close a couple times this week.

S & BJ Day

Probably NSFW!

This And Thats

When we got back from Alabama I wrote a post every day for a week.  Since then I just haven't felt like writing much of anything.  I feel I need to write something, but the mood hasn't really hit me yet so we'll just have to see what comes out...

• I ordered my new glasses yesterday.  I've had trouble reading the newspaper for a while now so I was due.  The frames I picked out were only a hundred bucks, but the lenses I got were mighty expensive.  Oh well, it's something that I'll wear almost every waking moment every single day.
• I glossed over it, but we had a really good time with friends last Saturday night.  My wife puts a lot of work into cooking, cleaning and decorating for these things, but she enjoys it greatly.  I try to help where I can but staying out of her way is usually the most help to her.
• The weather has finally seemed to turn toward spring.  We have gotten above freezing once or twice in the last couple days with more on the way, so they say.  I'm still not convinced that we haven't gone into a new ice age and won't believe otherwise until I can sit outside in a t-shirt comfortably.  I kept my chin up about the lingering winter for quite a while but have finally succumbed to the exasperation everyone else has had for months.
• Which reminds me of the word snirt.  The term coined for the mounds of dirty black snow and dirt by the sides of the road as melting begins.  The ugly part of thawing out.
• Work continues to take up my life all week.  I'm still on mandatory overtime and will be for at least this whole month.  Probably the biggest reason I have been neglecting this space somewhat.  I've put in for a little time off this next quarter, I hope it gets approved.

I've been stuck at this point in writing for a while now, so I guess I'm done.  Good cheers to all and go Badgers!

Happy Mardi Gras

We had a Mardi Gras themed party with friends last night. My wife again put out a great spread of food, here is the king cake from a local baker.

Sorry, just not in the mood for writing today but I wanted to post this.  Terry got the baby.

In Like A-Lyin'...

It is only a few days from the beginning of March and we are much below the 'average' temperatures for this time of year.  Tonight's low is -11ºF with wind chills of up to -30ºF tomorrow morning.  I guess I'll have to warm up the car tomorrow - wait - I've been warming up the car every morning for months on end now, this is supposed to stop happening, right?

In fact, 11º is the highest we'll see until Sunday, they say.  And why not throw in some snow?  Not a big storm, just a little here and a little there for days on end.  After all, a fresh layer of snow covers all that dirty melting stuff and makes everything beautiful.  Right?

Okay, I'm starting to lose my patience with winter.  That's all I got.


If you want more, watch this short video about the water on our planet. It's worth the while!

Wild Child by Nightwish

After writing for here every day for a week I have taken over a week off.  Nothing new, except maybe one girl we know having an affair with a friend of mine then wanting a divorce from her husband with a baby on the way from her new beau and kicking her husband out of the house so the new guy can move in all in about 2 months time, no, nothing going on but for work keeping me busy with mandatory overtime.  So until I have more time and energy, know that we are well, and still holding out for springtime.

Here, enjoy two of my favorites at once, Nightwish performs the WASP song 'Wild Child.'

Alabama Beachcombing Bounty

The only thing left that I haven't shared from our trip to Alabama is the shells I collected on my walks along the beach.  I could have collected hundreds of the mid-size and smaller shells, but I mostly looked for unique, good quality shells. The picture above shows all that I brought home with me except the starfish.  And all but two shells are now on display in a vase on the hallway shelf - where cats cannot get into it.  I think it turned out pretty well.

Alabama Vacation Pic Dump

Well, everything I wrote about happened even if the order might be a bit fuzzy.  My brain is foggy enough on its own, but going back to work after a full week off has fried it pretty good this week.  Enjoy the pictures, I took the liberty of captioning them because, you know, I'm just that kind of guy!  And I captioned all 34 pictures, so it's like another, usual length, pictorial blog post!
Happy Friday, everyone.

All pics are after the break.

Alabama, Part 4

Thursday morning I took another walk on the beach before anyone else was up.  I gathered just a few more interesting shells and another starfish, this one would break on the trip home, though.  It was very chilly out and ice was everywhere, even in the pool.  We went out for lunch and had some leftover spaghetti for dinner that Dan had fixed us the night before.  Sand was all over the now-drying roads, also we saw water softener salt at the intersections.

 

And I finally got some more smokes and some whiskey for our last night.  We were running out of everything.  We had only packed supplies for 3-4 days but we did do a couple loads of laundry in the condo so we had clean clothes to wear.  In the afternoon, Kate and I checked out the indoor heated pool and hot tubs.

Friday morning we were finally leaving town.  Not that we wanted to, but it was time - past time to get back home.  Again I awoke early, early enough to catch the sun rise over the gulf.  We had a longer drive to the Mobile Regional Airport than it would have been to Pensacola but we didn't want to wait one more day to fly out.  Mom and Dan were gracious with our unexpected stay and drove us to the airport.  Again this airport seemed even smaller than Madison's and for some reason that surprised me again.

Thank you for checking out our trip to Alabama last week.  If my writing seems somewhat less than enthusiastic it is only because my brain is fried from trying to catch up at work this week.  Alabama Pic Dump tomorrow - but for now, Thank You Mom and Dan!

Alabama, Part 3

Monday was pretty stressful around midday.  We found out that our flight out the next day was canceled due to weather, weather that we didn't have yet.  We settled down once we were rescheduled for the same times on Wednesday.  So we went out to eat again, maybe even for lunch and dinner, I don't remember. I think it was after dinner that we all walked down to the shore, though.  It was a wonderful view in any direction, especially my wife's direction. ;)


On Tuesday it got interesting.  It was rain with temperatures at or just below freezing during the day.  We went out to lunch at Lambert's - home of the Throwed Rolls, I remember this one because of the weather.  The roads were fine while we were out.  On the way back we stopped at a few places so I could get some whiskey, but to no avail.  Stores were shutting down.

These people did not know how to handle a little ice and it scared them.  Or rather, the a lot of ice that would eventually accumulate because they don't have salt or experience scared them a bit.  Anyway, I got a picture of icicles on a palm tree and on a porch, and settled for a couple beers that night.  Oh, and the 'chase the ace' game kept us entertained, along with watching the news people freak out.

Wednesday morning I was up early again so went down to the frozen beach.  Ice coated everything, yet it was thin, rough ice, not a slippery as it could have been had it been thicker.  I did not slip on the beachwalk or the frozen beach but I could have if I tried.  It was this morning that I found a lot of interesting shells, large shells, and even a couple starfish up on the beach.  I also saw quite a few dead jellyfish on my morning walks.  I did find a small sand dollar for my Mom but, unfortunately, it broke on the way back upstairs.  It was the only whole one I saw on the beach, any day we were there.

When I got back to the condo things got weird again.  Or flight out that day was canceled.  Again.  Pensacola airport was shut down until further notice.  Later our flight from Atlanta to Madison was rescheduled for later that night, but there was no possible way to get to Atlanta in time even in good weather (unless we could fly there!).  My wife spent a lot of time on the phone; we could fly out of Mobile, about an hour and a half away, on Friday or we could wait until Saturday to fly out of Pensacola, a half hour away.

Alabama, Part 2

On Sunday morning, January 26, I got up relatively early and before everyone else, so I thought I'd venture out and down to the beach.  It was a bit chilly out, but there was no one around yet and I seemed to be one of the first to leave my footprints on the shore.  I found several shells, but nothing very interesting yet.

Later we took a drive, they took us on a loop up to Mobile and back.  On the way we stopped at a local restaurant, one of the 5 or 6 Tacky Jack's in the region.  Tacky Jack's is a colorful place, inside and out.  It seems to be one of those places that must be visited when in the area.  If I'm down there again I would like to try a different location.

After lunch we hopped on the ferry across Mobile Bay.  It was an interesting trip, lasting about 45 minutes, that took us past a few platforms on the bay like you can see above Kate and Mom in the pic.  I took a picture of an informational sign on the ferry to read later.  That platform (different than the one in the picture - there were dozens as far as you can see) is in only 11 feet of water! 

After the ferry and a short drive into Mobile, we found the USS Alabama in a complex that included several planes, helicopters and tanks.  We didn't pay to go inside or board the ship, but we were able to see much just from the parking lot.  It would take several hours to do the tour and see everything, but I was happy with what I saw.

It was a long drive, but since it was Sunday the traffic was good and we loved our stops and all the scenery.  I didn't take pictures of where we went to dinner any time on this trip, so I forget what was dinner this night, but we were good with everywhere we ate out on this trip.  We did NOT go to the Waffle House, but I probably saw 18 different ones - they were everywhere.

Alabama, Part 1

My Mom and her husband Dan left for the gulf coast of Alabama shortly after the new year and are staying until the beginning of March in a luxury condo on the Gulf of Mexico.  As a Christmas present, they offered trips to all their kids to come down and spend some time with them.  We had never taken a vacation in winter before so we accepted their generous offer.

A week ago Saturday we flew from Madison to Atlanta to Pensacola.  As we were flying from Atlanta to Pensacola I thought of Mike Firesmith, the Hickory Head Hermit in the right column.  Perhaps we flew right over him, I'm not sure where he is exactly in Georgia.

The Pensacola airport was a bit smaller than Madison, I'm not sure why that surprised me.  Mom and Dan were there to pick us up and drive the half hour west to Orange Beach, Alabama, kind of a suburb of Gulf Shores.  The Blue Angels fly out of the Pensacola airport.  They said they've seen them flying since they've been down, but we did not see them in our time there.

The development where they were staying had two buildings, the tallest buildings in the area as far we could see.   Luxury condos that were built at an unfortunate time, in the late 2000's when the market crashed, so only two of the four planned buildings were built.

We arrived about midday and settled in after a lunch out.  Temperatures were probably in the low sixties, not very warm but better than where we came from.  Madison was about to get another blast of stupid-cold air.  Meanwhile, we were adjusting to this view:

Super Sunday 2014

My precious Packers are not playing today, but otherwise there are several reasons to support either team in this year's Super Bowl.  My reasons lean to ex-Badgers and conference, meaning I will be cheering for the Seattle Seahawks today. If they do not win, then I will be happy for Peyton Manning and Montee Ball.  Either way, my Packers are not there so my disappointment is over no matter who wins today. I just hope it is a real good game to watch.

Have fun today, everyone! 

Home!

Better late than never.  Details later, tonight we play with the cats, just relax, and go to bed.

Wouldn't It Be Nice..

Watch and mute the first, play the second.  Watch at least as long as the song plays, anyway...

This And Thats

Been kind of a slow week around here.  I haven't done this in a while now, but here's a bit of this and some of that...


--I've tried to post twice now this past week, but blogger still won't allow that.  Just wanted to share a couple great things from B&P - but not enough to save, upload to my flickr, then post.  How does everyone else post pictures they find?  Upload? By url?   So far I get the impression that it is a glitch with Blogger, but this has been over a week now since it started.  Lately when I try to add a pic by url it freezes so all I can do is close the whole Blogger tab/window.  I think this is what is called hyperlinking, and I've heard that it can be frowned upon.  I never thought my little site would bother anything.  I'm showing my lack of computer smarts here, aren't I?

--Another 'Polar Vortex' is upon us.  Stock up on bread and toilet paper! *Yawn.*  Temperatures will generally be single digits during the day and negative single digits over night, actual F temperatures.  Just another day in the life, lately...  Many people around me are starting to get a little exasperated with the weather.  I've just been calling it the 'dog days of winter.'  I don't like it either, but what can you do?

--It has been an exciting/disappointing/laughable year for sports in Wisconsin.  Milwaukee Brewers:  Braun gets busted for doping and the team nosedives.  (On a side note: Work friend and personal good acquaintance Al has passed.  Second from the left in the pic here.)  Badger Football:  Another disappointing end to what started to be a very promising season - and yet another bowl loss - but expectations have been high.  Green Bay Packers:  Only won the division because the division was terrible.  Still, you got to have something to hang your hat on.  Milwaukee Bucks:  I have no words and they have no game.  Badger Basketball:  Here we still have hope!  They started out 16-0 but have lost their last two games.  Hopefully it's a good wake up call.  Everyone has fun shooting baskets but everybody has to play a little defense, too.  If they can get back to that, they may still go far.


That's enough for now, there are other things I need to do in my short time before bed.  PTFO

House Cleaning Here

I've been doing a little house cleaning, so to speak, around the site and such.  All lists in the right column have updated links if needed and some new additions here and there.  I have also been holding on to some video links for a while now, yet I still haven't posted.  Now is the time.  Just an interesting time lapse video from last year about our city, Madison.


And movie references to Wisconsin.

There.  I'm not saying my 'house' is totally clean, but just one room at a time, and this room is done for now...

Forty Degrees of Winter

Yesterday morning when I left for work the local TV station of choice reported -14ºF.  This morning when I left for work the same local TV station of choice reported 26ºF.  That was a 40 degree difference from one morning to the next - and still below the freezing point!  Precipitation this evening has been rain, only the temperature has fluctuated a bit and the ground is still frozen so roads have gotten icy.  With temps around freezing and the rain/ice combo I don't think we'll be running any early morning errands.

That's it.  I just wanted to relate that here.  I wanted to do it earlier but we went out for dinner and drinks and you get distracted and stuff happens...  Happy Weekend!  For the rest of the season, hopefully, our weather will not be news.  PTFO

Surviving the Big Chill

It actually hasn't been too hard to deal with this deep freeze lately.  Our cars have started every day even though it has been right around -13ºF each morning this week as I have left for work.  Just be smart and bundle up, and my wife has started her car at work a few times during the day the past few days just in case.  Work has been a skeleton crew on Monday and Tuesday.  Even though today is only a little better, almost, if not all, came to work today.  Strange how you can just get used to even the harshest conditions.   The cold has done wonders for our cutting further down on smoking - not that we smoked a ton before.  Also, with this weather the difference in our old and new windows is HUGE.  As it is the furnace is running very often, if we had not replaced the windows I'm not sure it could keep up near as well.  Now on Friday we are expecting more snow and for a time it may even turn over to rain, they say.  Progress!?  Or probably ice...


On a side note, I will not be making a collage video of NYE.  Sorry, friends, I just didn't have enough good video to go through the trouble.   Blogger is a little balky right now (maybe almost frozen as well) so I can't add another pic at the moment, so here, just watch last year's video again, same bar and mostly the same people.  PTFO

Fahrenheit/Celsius and Degrees Symbol

The high temperature for Monday is -13º Fahrenheit (-25º Celsius).  Wind chill expected may be up to -50º F (-46º C).  The low temperature that day is -25º F (-32º C).  The governor is talking about closing the schools in the state (,others are looking into if he actually has that power, but that's another odd story altogether).  That is wicked, stupid cold, and will be 'going plaid' - my wife's reference to the Spaceballs movie.  Tomorrow is actually supposed to be nicer than it has been in a while, but at only about 23ºF (-5º C) it is the mild calm before the proverbial storm.

On a related note, I like to know what I'm reading (and writing) and in the U.S., well, we're about the only ones that use Fahrenheit exclusively anymore.  So when I read something about temperature from another part of the world I want to understand what is being related, especially at this time of year for us in the northern hemisphere.

Because of this I actually (finally) took the time to learn how to make the º symbol (alt - 0186).  I also now have a widget on the right side that converts C to F and back, just so I have a handy place I know to go and check what I read more easily than going and googling some converter - if I feel like going through the trouble.  Perhaps I can learn enough, if I use it enough here, that I'll just understand the difference naturally.

Anyway, the point of this post was to complain about the cruelly cold temperatures coming up.  We'll survive, it certainly isn't the end of the world.  But it is unusual and will make for a very bad day for a lot of people.  Hopefully not us or you.  PTFO

2014: The Morning After

First, the night before rant: 
As I write this we are waiting for friends to arrive for a short NYE party here, then we'll all go out to the bar.  Exactly the same as the last two years, and I feel even worse about it.  Why not just a house party?  I'm too old to want to go out for 'amateur night,' anymore.  We waited and waited for someone to come up with a different plan, hoping one of our friends would step up.  That didn't happen so a couple days ago my wife invited everyone over for the same thing as the last two years, snacks and drinks here then move it to a local bar that we never go to normally but have been to for, well, this will be three years in a row on NYE.  I'm getting too old for this.  It is not a holiday to me, it is Tuesday and tomorrow is a day off and the Capital One bowl at noon - go Badgers!

Maybe one of these years I can get my way and stay in and go to bed early.  I've had enough.  Period.  That's enough of me ranting.  This narration will now pick up tomorrow morning, so we'll see how it went.  Exactly the same, I presume...

Now, New Year's morning realizations:
I was pessimistic, as usual.  The nap helped me A LOT.  My wife looked absolutely beautiful.  The bar was not overly crowded.  And we have pretty good friends. 

Hung over?    Well, yes, we got home about 1:30 in the morning and I wound up staying up until 4 a.m.  Now I have just a short time to finish writing this, shower up, and finish reading all that I want about the Badger game at noon.  All in all, an earlier night and less alcohol is what I would like out of NYE, even though it never really turns out that way.

Sometimes I can be a whiny little bitch and I was the last few days about going out last night.  I'm not saying I'm wrong, because I would still like to act my age more and not go out and not drink too much, but it never really turns out as bad as I fear.  Oh well, lesson learned...  And next year it will probably play out the same way.  Just wait. 

Happy New Year, everyone!



I didn't get a lot of good pictures, but here is Jerome and Terry whooping it up about midnight.  I did get some video, I will take the time to review those later and reserve the right to post one if it doesn't suck.

Oh, and flickr is still being a real pain.  I may have to find another way to get my pictures posted on my site.*

*fixed