Grinders Island

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Friday, August 12, 2011

Augmenting with Photos

Posted on 6:15 AM by Unknown
First I must report a name change - "whosinmybasement", after moving to sunny Florida and now becoming part of the problem (all that voting stuff) is THE NEW "Sirwho'sgotnobasement". A name that is 25% LONGER then his last name!
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Angel has a new website Angels Scrapping so make so you make appropriate changes.

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Then there is this whole Bert and Earnie thing with the online petition calling for them to get married.  PEOPLE - THEY ARE PUPPETS!!   Think of what the Tea Party would say if Obama legalized gay puppet marriage.

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For anybody that watches Big Brother - I NEVER thought I would be routing for Brendan to come back into the house but just seeing the look on Daniels face was worth it.  I think last night there was two of the dumbest game playing moves in the history of Big Brother!

First there was Lawon who HAD to make the biggest, stupidest boldest move in BB history!  It was so bad that unless you saw the show you will not understand but purposely trying to get voted out BECAUSE you THINK you will come back with . . . . special powers?   WHAT?    Lawon, you didn't come back AND you still have no special powers!

But he had help from Kalia and Dani who THOUGHT he would come back - so they voted out THEIR OWN TEAM and of course who replaces him.  THEY ARCH ENEMA (pun intended) Brendan.  Every move they made was always the very worst decision they could make. 

Kalia who always said she was a strong black woman (OK, I'm going to get a tiny bit raciest here but why is it on reality shows black woman always have to prove how STRONG they are) kept changing how she played.  First her and Dani had a plan, well, Dani had a plan and she went along with it all along saying it was HER idea.  Then when she realized she was not playing HER game she changed but . . . too late, she had alienated everybody but the devil.

Her and Dani are so screwed.  

------------------------------

balderdash had his leaving State employment party and I missed it!  Sorry man! 

I heard that many IT departments for the State have a 40% vacancy  and are trying to hire but there is no one out there. The problem is that WHY would anyone want to work for the government. There is no incentive.  You get lower pay and no benefits and old equipment. One of the reasons people became public servants was never the pay which is always lower but because of the benny's. Sacrifice now to have more later.  Now - no benny's, AND no pay.      
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Where do all the Red-winged Blackbirds and Cow Birds go.  In the last few weeks they have all left the area and my feeders are not being emptied in half a day.  The Cardinals and smaller birds have a chance.  BUT - where do they go . . .south? 
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I need your opinions - I have two looks of the same shot - which do you guys like more.  The first was the original which I really liked but then I started thinking that it had that gritty feel that I've seen before.  So then I went with a glassy look.  Comments?  I really like both (perhaps I'm blinded so both suck).



----------------------

Any butterfly experts?  This little guy had no fear of me, or he REALLY loved the Garden phlox.   Any ideas on what he is?


I ripped out my New England Aster yesterday as it had botrytis stem rot.  In it's place I put a Russian Sage.

The butterfly garden has been under systematic attack by the Japanese Beetles but with a daily walk-around I've been able to hold off any major damage.  Still some of the petal flowers have had wear and tear.  Here is the current condition.  Notice the defoliated Linden trees in the background.


And of course a close up.

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Went to Sassy Cow yesterday to get some string cheese and stopped at Webers to get new tires.  WHY do people insist on getting there so early and waiting in line.  I was there at 2:00 and had 4 new tires put on my car and drove out of the parking lot at 2:15.

On the way I drove up behind a Transformer.   


Notice when I have nothing to say I augment with photos!

Have a great day
Rod

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Thursday, August 11, 2011

American Men

Posted on 8:06 AM by Unknown
I got an email in my spam folder this morning with the subject.


HELP: 17 Russian women need a sponsor in WI

Well - always trying to help the citizens of the world I though what better place to show 17 Russian woman then rural Wisconsin.   Then in the actual text.

17 Russian women are moving to WI and are looking to experience an American Man. 

YEA BABY!! - they have heard of American Men!!

Actually this all stems from WWII. IN WWII one of the biggest exports to Russia was condoms. Millions and millions of condoms. They had multiple functions. The solders could put them on their guns!! The thing was that American Condom makers sent millions and millions of condoms to Russia and all of them had "Extra Small" printed on the sides. Of course back then one size fit all so . . . .

I did not respond to "Natasha" and her 17 woman.
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Last night in golf - sigh. WHY WHY WHY. I was in my middle/late season flounder as I always seem to get. The days of lower 40s are gone, distant past and the upper 40's are now being played.

The thin was I birdied the hardest hole on the course. After struggling for the 1st 6 holes I hit a 262 yard drive down the middle. Then hit a perfect 7 wood 170 yards to within 5 feet (went 5 feet past) and hit the putt for a 3. The key was the 2nd shot and I REALLY concentrated! WHERE IS THAT ON ALL THE OTHER SHOTS!!

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I've been slaving away on the Boat shots and have 65 up on the new website. Since I have not a lot to say at the moment here are some of the ones I really like.

Comments are always appreciated - balderdash helped me on one as I thought it was "ok" and he really liked it - it turned out to be a fan favorite - The Umbrella's on the Square.

Some of these I'm just putting out there - I don't know what to think of them yet.





 




Workout room in the UW Porter Boathouse


Just a few of the 65ish.

Cheers!
Rod
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Monday, August 8, 2011

Weekend Update

Posted on 6:18 AM by Unknown

Dolphins interested in Favre question mark? It is where you go to retire isn't it?  Favre "Can I bring my tractor to South Beach?"

And so it begins.
---------------------------

I did not have a chance to see the Saturday Columbus Journal until Sunday as I was ON THE ROAD AT 5:00 IN THE MORNING on Saturday.  But I see it was the John Pratt edition as he and his lovely wife were featured on the front page and page 9.  Interestingly enough the F&M Bank - JUST as a coincidence, is having a huge celebration on the same day he officially leaves the bank.

WOW - that tells ya something doesn't it.   

In the F&M bank celebration on Sept 1st there will be Civil War re-enactors who will re-enact  how John was actually hired during the height of the Civil War. 

According to the article, Pratt (known sometimes affectionately as WhoInMyBasement, shortened to WhoIt during his Public Enemies period ) is already planning on renting his basement out to snow-bird guests (which was the very first thing I thought of before I realized I would actually miss HIM).

One thing that was leaked about Pratt was that he is a certified scuba diver and actually part of the ultra elite Columbus Seal Squad which is always on the ready to fend off terrorists which might swim up the Crawfish River.  (Rumor has it the Chemical Company fire was a terrorists act as they were near the river but no evidence has come forward.)

ANYWAY - so long old friend.  We will see you in your basement.
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Back in reality (2nd cup of coffee) I spent a good amount of time on 4 of Madison's 7 lakes.  Lake Waubesa (also call Lake Wasabi by someone from Georgia). Upper Mud Lake, Lake Monona and Lake Mendota and drive by's of Gilligan Island (that area where you see all the boats on weekend from the belt-line "lot of nudity and drinking on weekends").

So I'm slowly trudging through the hundreds of photos.  Sunday I was at the Cars and Coffee car show in Lake Mills and have 70 shots there PLUS I have Columbus Horse and Carriage work from a customer or two. - BUSY!!

Horton - I have not forgotten about you!!

So the Classic and Antique Show is a whole blog in itself which will come when I get all the shots finished.  If you are looking for the photos go to  RodMelotte.com - upper left corner in "portfolio".


Classic Wooden boat flying by! 3rd dude from the left used to work in 1W Wilson.

 Car Show shot



Notice the Texas License plate.   Dallas has had 38 days above 100 this year!  SWEET!!   The weather pattern is really very interesting over Texas.  It's like a giant umbrella right over Texas holding in the heat.  All the fronts and weather systems hit this giant dome of ultra hot air and bounce off sliding to the north.  All around the outside of the dome storms are popping up but nothing can enter the dome.

SOMETHING big needs to happen and until a hurricane wanders into the area this could stay like this for a while.

ANYWAY - have a great Monday - I need to get to work.

Rod
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Friday, August 5, 2011

Hydro Street Brewing Co, Columbus Wisconsin!!!

Posted on 4:25 AM by Unknown
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.
-------------------------------------------- 

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?
-------------------------
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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Thursday, August 4, 2011

Maybe a night blog?

Posted on 8:21 AM by Unknown
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.
-------------------------------

Congrats to balderdash for leaving State Service and joining the MG&E team.
--------------------
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.
---------------------------------

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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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Drunk Elephants

Posted on 6:37 AM by Unknown
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.
-------------------------------------------
 
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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Monday, August 1, 2011

August You say?

Posted on 6:11 AM by Unknown
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.
-----------------------------------------

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.    

----------------------------------------------

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.
---------------------------------------

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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