Hydro Street Brewing Co, Columbus Wisconsin!!!

Hydro Street Brewing Co will hopefully open in mid September in 152 W. James St.  It'll be a 1BBL system  to begin with.  It'll be run by Aaron and Sandye Adams who will be working feverishly to build  a bar, coolers, and tables and chairs and hopefully brewing some beer in the meantime.

I'll have more once I know more but I bet Paul Scharf, a real reporter, will beat me to it.
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WELL - that was a fun ride in the market yesterday wasn't it. I felt like I was a catcher and Nyjer Morgon was coming home!!

However - can we just say it was panic? I mean where was the horrific news? There was not any. I feel it was just a culmination of sadness over the horrific deficit-reduction deal that Obama was forced to sign off on. The good news is polls are pretty in agreement in that Americans are blaming Republicans for this one. After all - they got pretty much what they wanted.  Democrats try to sugar coat it covering their ass's saying it's not all THAT bad but they are just trying to make themselves feel better. 

So - what about economics. Why aren't companies hiring if there is record profits all across the board.

Reason? They don't have to hire. Americans HAVE FINALLY become efficient. I believe companies have found out that most of their workers were taking it easy. Companies can make the same amount of widgets with only 80% of the employees. Or they have found that those extra 200 reports were not really that important so they don't need extra programmers.

And MANY companies ARE hiring - they are hiring people in other countries! Caterpillar added 6000 employees in America the last year, and 10,000 employees over seas. Take China for instance - they are improving their infrastructure which needs Caterpillar. In the U.S? No big infrastructure projects - that would take extra money for local governments to hire people and the need to raise taxes and we all know that the conservatives do not raising taxes!

Outsourcing! Lots of cheap labor overseas.

Lots of reasons for not hiring.

OK - enough BAD news. Me? still optimistic! Why not. Everyone is running around wringing the hands. In view that as a good sign!  I love being a contrairian
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If you are reading this Friday, I'm off somewhere on a wooden boat sailing the lakes of Madison. It's day one of Grinders amazing wooden boat adventure - I'm drinking Ginger Ale as I type JUST IN CASE.  Oddly I've NEVER been on a Madison lake in a motorized craft.

Saturday I have a SU  SU  SUNRISE shoot! OH MY!!! Sunrise?
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I was asked to take some photos of the Korth Farm from the other side of the lake but since it's been so hot and hazy I could not get the shots I wanted - still I put together a panoramic image of one of my shots just to see how I can improve.

OH - check out Napoli's new Website!   Also - if you go to the restaurant and think about it - ask what kind of pasta they use with their Shrimp Capellini.   You would THINK the pasta of choice for Shrimp Capellini would be . . . . . . . Capellini.   But not here in Columbus. no no - in Columbus linguine is used.

Capellini means "thin hair". It's rod-shaped, in the form of long strands, and thinner than vermicelli.

Linguine means "little tongues" it's flat like fettuccine, wider than spaghetti but not as wide as fettuccine.

SO - I believe the CORRECT name for that dish should be Shrimp Linguine and I think they are trying to put one over on us!

Just say'n.

Gotta run!!
Have a great weekend.
Rod

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Maybe a night blog?

I think I have to write this blog at night. I always have so many "interesting" things to say at night and then in the morning everything seems so . . . mundane. Although perhaps I'm fooling myself as the blog is ALWAYS mundane so . . . .

How 'bout those Brewers. When the season started the schedule had one MAJOR bad area. The 26 games before the All-Start break as being REALLY tough, and then after the the break, 20 games in 20 days. From reports I read the 20 games in 20 days was a make or break group of 20 games.

After the 20 the Brewers would know if they were pretenders or contenders.

I have to think going 13-7 pretty much says contenders. The rest of the schedule looks good. There are no road trips from hell. No three city road trips.

The Brewers are playing a little over their head I feel but only by a couple games and the Cards are doing as well as they should. Cinci has a good team but are playing below expectations and the Pirates are sinking as they should be.

So - let's have some fun and have a trifecta. Brewers in the World Series, Packers in the Super Bowl and Badgers in the Rose Bowl, HELL - NATIONAL CHAMPS LOL.
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Congrats to balderdash for leaving State Service and joining the MG&E team.
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OH - anybody want and sunflower seeds? I have about 20 pounds of various flavored seeds. Seriously, what will I do with 20 pounds. How long will those last me!! Short boring story on how I got them but it's sort of how I got 1200 glass bombers - just extra industrial swag.
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Looks like I'll be spending Friday in a wooden boat taking photos for 7 hours, Then spending Saturday at the Boat show taking more photos. The thing that worries me is that the boat people would like a sunrise shot Saturday morning. YEA - sun rises at 6:00 meaning I'll have to leave home about 5:00 meaning I'll have to get up BEFORE 5:00. Why even go to bed!!

Anybody on the Square in Madison look at the  kiosks which have my Boat poster (man did they get a deal for that poster).


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Did you know that Nostradamus wrote 942 quatrains (4 line long poems) in his lifetime which he organised into centuries? Who could have predicted THAT!

Did you know that a single bacteria cell, given all the food it needs, could divide into a ball of cells the size of the Earth in 24 hours. My question is would this change gravity?

Did you know that with all of the letters DJ and I get from Chase Manhattan Bank we could wrap them around the world 5 times?

Republicans hate taxes, we all know that. The last thing they want is it raise taxes because taxes are evil. So - if you hate taxes please do the following.

1. Do not use Medicare.
2. Do not use Social Security
3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.
4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.
5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.
6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home.
7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home.
8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge.
9. Do not use public restrooms.
10. Do not send your kids to public schools.
11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors.
12. Do not live in areas with clean air.

Just sayin.

And finally - I want to give a shout out to Michelle Martin Photography - here are two photos that I stole from Facebook. Please LIKE Michelle Martin Photography - these are totally outstanding and Columbus should be proud.

Personally?  I believe Michelle is better then Wedding Photography.  I don't know the career path but she is an outstanding portrait photographer and the best I can express my thought is . . . she could hold her own with ease in New York! 

Have a great day!

Rod

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Drunk Elephants

I had the excellent fortune last night to hang out and watch the Brewer game at the Cardinal Ale House with the president of Discount Office Items, a little company right here in Columbus and when I say little I mean what started as a $25 resale of a lawn edger on ebay 12 years ago is turning into an annual $50,000,000 company. That's like a 2 million percent increase (think if he would have started with a $50 edger).

Anyway I'm not going to get into specifics about the company and all the trade secrets (like keeping the employees happy which to me seems like a bribe and caving into this "happy employee make better workers" fallacy.  Walker has it correct, beat down your employees and make them feel worthless, ONLY THEN will they strive to make their boss happy with greater productivity).

Discount Office Items is located is across from the Ale House (how convenient) and once, if you remember, I was looking for flat paper clips which Office Depot and Staples (the Circuit City of office supply stores - I never walk out with anything when I go there) and I decided I would go to DOI to see if THEY had the coveted paper clips. I walked in and all I saw were empty desks.

Well - either they were about to go out of business or they were preparing for growth. Growth it was.

Sadly I could not actually buy the clips as they are the World Headquarters and not one of the many warehouses secretly located around the U.S.  They are sort of the ZAPPOS of the Office Supply stores. Place an order before 2:00 and you should get it by the next day.

ANYWAY - I don't want to turn this into a huge advertisement as I know they would not want to get the word out but being a guy that loves business and entrepreneurship and Columbus I thought I would mention them.

I WISH when I was a kid and sold Creepy Crawlers to my 3rd grade friends I would have had an internet connection as I'm pretty sure I could have made it into a $50M company also. Or when I printed my own newspaper when I was a wee lad and went door to door selling them (normally for cookies) I would have become the non-evil Rupert Murdock.   Missed opportunities.

OH and that dude on the right?  His name is Horton.

Speaking of Horton, Cannery Wine and Spirits has a new liqueur called Amarula which is made from the Marula fruit found only in South Africa. This fruit is  known to entice elephants.  Seems the fruit drops to the ground and elephants then eat the fruit which is fermenting and all of a sudden you have a group of drunk elephants!

Well Cannery is going through it like crazy and world wide is the second largest seller in the cream liqueur category.
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Then there is the Cuisinart Coffee maker.   We had some issues with coffee spilling out the top of the coffee maker as opposed to the more normal "going INTO" the coffee pot.

I called up Cuisinart and they said I should soak the lid in warm soapy water to fix it.  I did and it did. Once again we have out coffee pot.  I had purchased an $8 coffee maker but MAN - the coffee sucked.
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One thing I have noticed with my job switching (some call it retirement). My language has gone down hill.  It seems that when a person "retires" he somehow gets more . . .enabled.  It's like all of a sudden you feel you can talk to anyone and if you say a few cuss words, who cares.  I mean, I can't be fired or anything.  I can't piss someone off so much my job is in jeopardy.

With that said does anyone had a day job for a few days a week?  LOL  I hate working at night a few days a week.  I never see the love of my life!  It's like I "retired" and now I see LESS of DJ.  I wonder if McDonalds is hiring day shift people :-)

Have a GREAT last day of the heat day!  Watch for T-Storms

Rod

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August You say?

WOW - where did the 5th hottest July on record go!!!

I hope everybody happened to see Sectin G, Sundays Best in the Wisco State Journal this weekend. The back ONE HALF page was all me as there was a huge advertisement created my little 'ol me.

In other news DJ and I were driving around Fox Lake Saturday and came across the worlds largest Restroom.

This is actually called The Singing Tower and was erected by some dude in 1955 (I think) in honor of his wife (the facts here could be a little fuzzy).  But as luck would have it they built it right next to some restrooms and the towns people felt the need to make sure people knew where they could pee (perhaps too many people were peeing in the lake?).   So his memorial now has RESTROOM on the side.


I tried to go up it but the doors were locked and I all of a sudden felt the need to pee somewhere.  Weird.
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So this weekend I'm covering the Antique & Classic Boat Show and then the next day I'm covering "the fastest growing classic car meet in the Midwest" “Cars and Coffee” in Lake Mills. Although it's not actually a "Classic" car show. More of a "everything" car show with Lamborghini's and so forth.

It takes place right next to Sweet Lips, the gallery which now will hold more and more of my canvas photographs.

And if THAT is not enough tooting my own horn I have a new website  RodMelotte.com which will hold my images AND words AT THE SAME TIME!  My last site I could not have any words to go with each photo.
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I suspect the stock market to zoom today with The Bill.  Funny how everybody got upset in the last few weeks for having the people they voted into office doing exactly what they wanted them to do.  Democrats get all crazy because the Republicans won't budge but at the same time Republicans get all crazy because the Democrat's won't budge.

Then when their is a compromise no one is happy except the stock market. GEE - who knew it would go to the last minute!  Who could have predicted THAT  LOL   I had my $$ out of the market last week and Friday morning put it back in!

OH - here is a speech from Obama in 2006 before he was President.

"The fact that we're here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. Leadership means 'The buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit."

hmmmmm - This is sort of like when the liberals are all for redistricting until it's the Republicans turn.  Democrats were totally AGAINST raising the debt limit when a Republican is President and vice versa.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm all liberal and all that but if people would just step back and look at BOTH sides . . . . . . there is a lot of hypocrisy going on, on both sides.
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I was talking to a guy yesterday and he received $10,000 from the government in a settlement. Seems back in the 70's during Nam there was some big protest in Washington.  A huge group of hippies were arrested and put into a stadium for holding. Well, there was some sort of illegal thing going on and a class action suit gave each person who had kept their arrest papers a sweet $10,000.

Speaking of hippies - I'm 34% Hippie!  How do I know?  I took The Hippie Test.    

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Jenny is doing a bang up job selling Tupperware.  It was Earl Silas Tupper's birthday the other day, the inventor of the formerly patented "burping seal".

Did you know that in early 60's there was a very strict dress code required for Tupperware ladies, with skirts and tights worn at all times, and white gloves often accompanying the outfit.

Here you see one such enthusiastic Tupperware party.  You can almost feel the joy and wonderment as the ladies are being amazed at the magic of the burping seal.  Obviously they are just shocked that the woman is not wearing her white gloves.

Burping seals.

I'm thinking that Jenny's parties are much more fun.
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Only one more warm day after today.  Should be in the low 80's by Wednesday.

Have a great Monday.

Rod

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Not a good day for consumable liquid.

You have to love science.

"Science" has determined that after having 500 volunteers watch many many movies the winner of the all-time saddest movie is . . . . THE CHAMP (1979).

I watched the trailer and that is 2 minutes and 13 seconds I wish I could get back. INTRODUCING RICKIE SCHROEDER. That is sad in itself. And what about those 500 volunteers. That is one cheery group I tell ya. Yea - I want to watch a hundred or so of the saddest movies every! THAT WILL BE SO MUCH FUN!!!
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However - on the movie front I can not WAIT to see Aliens and Cowboys. This is a BRILLIANT idea.



AWESOME!!!

Another movie which is coming out that is moving me is called War Horse.

Taken from the horses point of view in WWI it follows a horse's journey into WWI. Horses have always been deemed expendable in wars. There is a new memorial in London, the Animals in War Memorial for the millions of animals, including horses, which have been killed in conflict while serving their country. An overdue tribute to the millions of conscripted animals that died in war.

The monument is inscribed with:

"This monument is dedicated to all the animals
that served and died alongside British and allied forces
in wars and campaigns throughout time"

"They had no choice"

The movie while tough ends happily! Here is the trailer.



Is it just me but when I see an older war movie with men getting slaughter, it's the horses that move me! They have no choice.
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I had a bad day the other day. Started with our Cuisinart coffee maker. The lid seems to not want to let the fresh brewed coffee into the container. Where does it go? Everywhere. I cleaned it and did whatever I could but. FUBR!

Then I was going to bottle my Indian Brown ale but at the very last second I realized that I needed a bladder for my Party Pig. The bladder is like a CO2 cartridge and expands when the beer empties. WELL - I drive to Sun Prairie (about 15 miles), drive back and fill up a case of bottles and get the beer into the pig.

The problem was that there is a "O" ring that seals the compartment. I started to pump up the pig which activates the bladder. After about 10 pumps there is an air leak. I stop, and unscrew all four screws and readjust and screw it all back and start pumping again. pump pump pump sssssssssssssssss DAMN IT - I grab the screw driver and go through the routine. tighten and pump pump pump sssssssssssssssssssssss

ARG - 4 times I had to take it apart, I don't want to screw to tight and that does not work, I try without the "O" ring at all, nope.  My last attempt is to tighten the crap out of it as I
m getting desperate.  Well, on time number 5 I think I got it. I pump and pump and it's all going well . . . .

The the bladder activates and I let out a cheer when all hell breaks loose with the extra pressure.  I have a catastrophic "O" ring failure.  Beer is now SPRAYING out on 3 sides in a needle-like spray that travels 10 feet.  DAMN DAMN WHAT DO I DO.

I take the pig to the sink holding my hand over the leaks, I want to save my beer. I loosen the screws in a panic but OF COURSE, this releases more CO2 been which, OF COURSE, makes the bladder expand, which, of course creates even MORE pressure.  I feel like BP now with the oil leak.

The beer is spraying out on 4 sides and my hand can not contain all the leaks.  AAAHHHHHHHH!  

after about 7 minutes all the beer is gone. I stand there dripping in beer, a tear moistens my eyes, HOWEVER, you would think this would be the end of the story BUT WAIT!!

I start to unscrew and the bladder and like a slow motion movie the bladder starts to exit the pig.  In a deep slow motion NOOOOOOOOOO my hand goes to cover my privates (not really but for somereason it was my first instinct , makes no sense at all). The pig bladder, now fully expanded . . . .  EXPLODES.

BAM

This is not like a balloon popping, this is seriously loud, one of the loudest things you will hear unless you are in a war.  My hair flies back and beer mist sprays the kitchen, walls, ceiling, everywhere. I expect the neighbors to think I just blew my brains out and police will soon be here.  IT IS LOUD!!!

Beer gone.

And I stand there in a fog.  Sad yet, happy to be alive.

sigh
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I now have large canvas images in Sweet Lips in Lake Mills and will have more and more going in as I get them made.  Finally I have a gallery.  I've been asked a few times "where can I see more" and I really had no large place to show my work that is not a few hundred miles away.   Exciting.

BTW - I have a new piece.

 Have a great Thursday.

BTW - we had 0.62 inches of rain Wednesday to Thursday 7AM and 0.27 the day before.

One last thing - Michele Bachmann's hair and make-up bill was $4,700.

Cheers
Rod

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Are Those Fries French?

I'm a little sad because a few of the people that made Columbus feel like home are moving of have moved away.  When DJ and I moved to Columbus our very first experience with the towns people of Columbus were the were the people running Sharrow Drug and we knew this was a great little town after that experience with real friendly people (not just polite).  They are not leaving.  However once Public Enemies started we came into contact with Kim from East James Gallery and John from the F&M Bank. Even though we did not "hang" out together they were a big part of what we felt Columbus was all about.

Friendly, warm and so forth.  Yet both are moving or have moved and it just makes me sad.  Columbus will miss you guys!
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Moving on, who needs those guys anyway, WE'LL DO JUST FINE WITHOUT THEM!!!  (please come back, I'll open an account really - F*ck Summet Credit Union, they screwed me again).

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ANYWAY - we made it through the heat wave. So far July has been 5.5 degrees above average which is a pretty big difference and as of yesterday we have been above average for 10 straight days with five days above 90, the hottest was 97 last Wednesday. AND, NOAA has been right on with the forecast even a week out saying Wednesday would be the hottest day! Let's not forget all the times they get it right.

We have had 14 clear days and 10 partly cloudy and I feel it has been not as windy as typical.

The big news with the heat wave was that the City Council voted and pass a resolution saying that all council members who do not have air conditioning will be allowed to take out interest free loans from the F&M Bank to create a cool sleeping room on hot summer nights!

This could not have come about when grumpy old Whosit was in charge of handing out free money!  Getting ready for bed and a cool sleep on a hot summer night has became a lot easier in Columbus!!  We do need clear heads running the town you know.
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Did you know that all but six US House Republicans and most of the Senate Republicans took the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" that states they will NEVER EVER raise taxes regardless of circumstances, and will oppose any elimination of deductions or tax loopholes unless they are accompanied by reduced tax rates.

When they signed the pledge, they promised that under no circumstance, not war, not danger of the government defaulting on legally and properly owed debt, not danger that the infrastructure will crumble us into Third World status, will they tolerate an increase in government revenue.


And we're supposed to respect these people and look to them for leadership?
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Ever wonder what kids around the world eat for school lunch??

Check out the Today I learned something New blog. 

I'm really liking France - ARE THOSE FRENCH FRIES???  Pass the Mussels! (adubya - please notice I did not type muscles). 

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This Saturday Elwood was up to "work" on the yard. We were going to gorilla garden our neighbors dieing clematis.  They moved away in the dead of night leaving their $12,000 landscaped yard going to the weeds.  It's very sad.  They have a  Piilu clematis laying on the ground and we were going to snatch it before it became dead.

Well, it was warm and the beer was cold and we spend perhaps 8 hours planning and got 10% finished with installing a new lattice (sp?) but . . that was pretty much it!

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cat owners - Milo has a scrape on his temple.  I've had cats get this from time to time. It's like feline baldness syndrome or something but his has a big red scrape.  Should I put something on it. I know he would LOVE a little spray of Bactine.
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Yes - there will be an NFL season and you know what team benefited the most from the lock out? The Packers!!  The off-season is when most teams reboot, give new players time to get to know each other and memorize the playbooks, get new coaches and players together.   DIDN'T HAPPEN.

Pat teams like the Packers are SO FAR AHEAD of the curve this year.  The first Packer game is only 19 days away!!!   BTW - rumors are that 'ol #4 could be coming out of retirement. Yea - believe it.

The Packers have a pretty hard schedule this year especially the very end of the year when that play 7 teams that could be above .500!!   They start with the Thursday Night game against New Orleans and have two Sunday night games one in Atlanta and a Sunday night game ON CHRISTMAS against Da Bears in Lambeau.

They have a Monday Night game against Minnesota in Green Bay and play the morning game on Thanksgiving.  Final game of the regular season is January 1st against Detroit in Lambeau field!

BTW - there will be NO college games January 1st.
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And finally - it's sad to see Kestrel Ridge Golf course giving up the battle (they never started) to the Japanese Beetle. The beetle defoliated one of the trees in front of our back yard and 5 more trees on our fairway will have no leaves within a few weeks - they are doing nothing.  They can put in new sand traps but are anti-tree and are leaving them to die!   Linden/Boxwood trees are going the rout of the  Elm trees.

I was told Columbus had a ton of Elm trees at one point before the elm bark beetle killed all the trees.

 BTW - I was digging in my garden and found a Jap Beetle larva AND KILLED IT!!!  

So I leave you with bad larva!

Have a nice Monday
Rod

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Golf Gods Striketh Down

Golfed last night and it was not that bad out at all - just warm. Nobody was really complaining at all.

ANYWAY my life goal was to become a bogey golfer and I was feeling like I was finally achieving my goal as my last 9 hole rounds were starting 5 weeks ago were:

46
46
43
54
44
45
46
40
46

One burp on a 54 when I completely lost it.

So I purchased a club as adubya said I should - a gap wedge of 53 degrees I believe and last night would be my first round with it.

Here is the problem - the new club was GREAT except just getting close is not actually getting it in the hole. My putter left the building and I ended with a

52

A 9 on a par four and a 8 on a par five will really kill a round. I got off shaky with a 30 yard drive, then my recover shot sliced way right in the opposite direction and then my recovery shot from my recovery shot landed 70 yards from the hole. My gap wedge put me to 3 feet and I could salvage a bogey but I then two putted!

All in all take away those 17 strokes on two holes and I felt I did "well".
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You know - all of this redistricting the GOP is doing is not that bad. I mean seriously - the Democrats would be doing the same exact thing. The thing that is hard to take is that in these days the computer can dissect down to the house what will be the best for each district for each party.

It's one of those times where the data is so good it seems unfair if you are on the wrong side. So you, you can complain all you want but the other side would do the same thing.
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I'm going over photos I took from Lake Mills and this is the other side of Bartels Landing (or beach . . whatever).

That's it for today - I was up until 12:30 last night watching the GREAT Brewer game seeing guys break then ankles (Drew, very very ugly)  and collar bones (Gomez).  Both out for the season.  The 9th inning was a miracle and our coach completely out played their coach!!  

Have a great day
Rod

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