The curtamous page
January 2010 Archived Notes
Jan
25, 2010 - Jak se maj!!! Happy Monday everyone! Beautiful day, isn't it? Thankfully, all is well here in Titletown! Well, I wasn't sure how to start off today's diatribe. My options were: 1) Damn Those Ice Dams! or 2) "Poor Vikings. The super bowl was so close yet so Favre". Let's go with the happier news, shall we?
I can't remember ever wanting someone to lose as badly as I wanted the Viqueens to lose yesterday. I'm not even sure if I ever wanted the Packers to win as badly as I wanted the Viqueens to lose. If you've paid any attention to past comments, you know I'm not in the Brent Fart camp. The whole wishy washy
retirement thing, the disrespect for Thompson and the Packer organization, the way he screwed the Jets and then slimed his way to the Viqueens, that all added up to me really wanting them to lose. Yet, I think the biggest thing was that I don't think I could have taken two weeks of the media fawning all over the guy. I would have had to disconnect cable TV at home, removed my car radio, put a hold on the newspaper, and abstained from any internet news completely. Maybe even move into a cave... (My beautiful bride might have liked that last idea...) I'm just thankful it didn't get to that.
Now that it's all over and the Viqueens are done, I'm happy, but a little remorseful at my attitude. I was actually actively hoping the Saints defense would hurt him and put him out of the game, preferable with a career ending injury.
Fortunately, that didn't come to pass... Anyway, the Viqueens are done and now their fair weather fans can deal with Mr. Noodle's retirement issues. I am happy for the Saints. They played well enough to earn that trip to Miami and I hope they win...
Oh yeah, the Colts won. They are good, but so boring to watch. It's like attending a Neurosurgery. (No offense meant to the Sturgeon General) A lot of talent involved, but little or no passion or enthusiasm. Weird...
Gonna watch the Pro Bowl? If I don't have anything going on, I will. I think it's a good idea to move it to the weekend before the Super Bowl. There's obviously tons more interest in the NFL before the Super Bowl than a week after so hopefully it will bring at least a little interest to an otherwise boring game. We'll see...
On to topic #2. Those damn ice dams. Last week I mentioned that I noticed ice build up on my roof over the potion extending over the back porch. Well, that wasn't what I should have been worried about. Saturday afternoon my beautiful bride loudly told me to come up from the basement "NOW!!!" as water was dripping from the ceiling onto the bed. Quick investigation into the attic area showed water dripping through the roof almost 10 feet up from the edge over the main section of the south facing roof. OH OH!!! So, we put about 10 pails
around the bedroom to catch the dripping and I headed outside. Initial inspection showed what looked to be a LOT of snow and ice over that area. I considered going up on the roof the normal way, but wasn't sure I could stay up there due to the ice, so I got the ladder and up I went leaning against it.
Well, keep in mind, by now it's close to 4pm, so I don't have a lot of daylight either. So I'm on the ladder... And it's raining too... did I mention that? I'm leaning against the eaves trough, and I can see I'm gonna have an issue. The ice is at least
6-8 inches thick at the edge, and at the point I think it's leaking in 10 feet up the roof, if I'm lucky, it's only 4 inches thick. I am so screwed. So I go back down and get a shovel and a hatchet. Yes, my hatchet... I had to have some way to start chipping that ice off, and that seemed to be the best bet. Actually, it worked out pretty good too...
So I chipped off some at the edge the best I could until I was pretty exhausted. It's not easy perched up on that ladder, trying to hold on, and swinging that little hatchet
while chipping away at 8 inches of ice. I headed down and then proceeded back up with about 10 lbs of salt. I spread that and headed in for a break. While inside I researched options and ideas. All of them start with "preventative" measures. HELLO, if I knew this was gonna happen, I would have done something BEFORE it started raining! Then they all proceed to tell you how dangerous it is to get up on an icy roof. REALLY??? DANGEROUS??? YOU THINK??? Then the rest is either chip away until it can drain or call a professional. So I figured I'm a chipper. I did find one cool idea of filling a nylon
stocking with salt, putting it over the ice to kinda melt a drainage path down through the ice. Cool idea, but remember, it was leaking 10 feet up from the edge. I don't know any chicks with 10
foot long nylons, but I figured it was worth a try anyway.
So after an hour's rest I headed back up there. The salt helped some along the edge, but most of the stuff further up just melted the ice and it ran a little and re-froze. But by now I'm pretty determine, so I get to chipping. I get a pretty good system going and start to make some major headway. The only big issue is all the ice is FULL of salt, so as it chips, it hits me in the face, and I have salt ice/water in my eyes, mouth, nose and ears. Not cool,
but I get a pretty good patch about 5 feet wide and 2 feet up chipped away, but now I'm almost dead, but at least I haven't fallen off the ladder yet. I head back down for more salt as well as my 4 foot long nylon
stocking full of salt and head back up. Did I mention it's raining harder now? I spread another 10 lbs of salt and try to position the salt filled nylon from the edge of the ice up as far as it will go. Then I head in...
Now it's dark and I'm beat, but an hour later I decide to head back up the ladder one more time to check on progress. The salt is working OK, but the only way I can do more is to get up on the roof, and I'm just not doing
that in the dark, so I head in and call it a day. We put more buckets out and take it easy. I'd have to deal with it the next day and hope for the best. When it quit raining, it kinda stopped leaking, so I had hoped that it was fixed. But at 2am it was pretty much pouring outside and thusly pouring in the
bedroom, so fixed it was not.
Sunday morning, got up early and it's still leaking, so I head to 8am church. Figured I better pray as a first step. Plus, if I fall off the roof, I might want to be straight with God
before hand. When I get home, it’s raining pretty heavy, and the radar shows no real hope that it'll end before noon. So, I actually get out my rain suit, pants and jacket, cause I figure once I'm up there, I'm staying until it's done or I'm dead. So I head back up the ladder with a small shovel and my hatchet. Luckily the 2 foot wide area I cleared out the night before is ice free, so I have good footing to get off the ladder and on the roof.
The nylon worked OK, but not nearly far enough up the roof to make a
difference. So I start chipping when I realize the ice is no longer frozen to the shingles. This is VERY good (and possibly a small miracle) because I can now use the small shovel and get between the shingle and the ice and pry off pretty good size chucks off the main sheet. This makes the going MUCH faster, and probably safer. I'm making REALLY good progress now and kinda realize that there is a LOT of ice up here. Literally TONS of ice. But within about an hour and a half I get all the ice off the roof, except a couple REALLY big chucks that are hanging over the deck. I figure I better get them from below cause they will likely break something. The last main act is getting off the roof, and surprisingly, I did. (That church thing was a pretty good move.) Then there's clean up. I get the big chucks off over the deck, and have only one small issue where a 500 lbs piece slide down and cracked a board on the railing. Overall, I'm happy, but I have TONS of ice piled up everywhere, and the stuff is NOT light and is slippery. Go figure, huh? So I clean up the best I can...
I get in the house around noonish, pretty much just as the rain is easing up... The dripping has stopped and we're home free... Since this is an 85 year old house, I have plaster and not drywall ceilings, so I really don't have any damage either, so I lucked out there... I may have to paint in summer, but that's it. So the moral of the story is: Get the snow off your roof and prevent ice dams! That and go to church...
Wow... that was almost as long and drawn out as a story from the Foreign Minister!
Friday night we had our annual company holiday party. Got together at the boss's house and ate, drank, and talked smart. Had a pretty good time, but I need to keep in mind that martini's are not meant to be consumed at the same rate as beer. That can be a problem. However, as long as you don't mix 'em, you don't feel too bad the next day. You don't feel "normal" but it certainly isn't agony... Unless of course you have to crawl up on a ladder and deal with ice dams.
Been making good progress with my motorcycle "project". Becoming an expert welder, assuming using JB Weld classifies you as a "welder". Saturday, before the ice damn issue, I got the tab glued back on to the main portion of the fairing piece. Then yesterday I figured it might be a good idea to test fit it before I finished it and found out it wouldn't work. I re-attached the part and was hit with an immediate "Oh Shit!" moment when I saw the hole for the bolt was a good 1/2 inch off. Then I noticed that the bracket the bolt fits into could be "adjusted"... With a hammer of course, but I think it will work just fine. Now I just need to do a bunch of filler and re-enforcing, and then it’s on to painting and finishing. I really hope this works...
Quick update on the "Raise You a Dime" painting I was mentioning a couple weeks ago. I got in contact with the artist and long lost hunting buddy Frank. He's doing well and offered to send me a couple prints for a small fee. I got one for myself (Probably to go up in the shop) and one for the Polish Prince of St. Johns. Looking forward to it as I think they will be nice. Frank and I have also traded a few emails reminiscing about the old days when I was still hunting there. Sure brings back some great memories!
So, I haven't heard any negative response to my new feature, so I'm continuing on with it. Well, I didn't hear back any response at all, which isn't surprising, and I doubt I would care anyway... So here's this week's reason why you're fat.
Tony’s BLT
One pound of fried bacon on a toasted Italian bread with lettuce, tomato and mayo
OK... I see the bread and the bacon, but where is the lettuce and tomato? Yeah, who cares...
I don't think this is courtesy of our "Tony" either, but you never
know what that boy is up to...
Just so we're not just focusing on the food aspect of weight gain, here's this week's cocktail schedule:
25 Nut’s Day (Egyptian). Nut was an Egyptian goddess, but you can interpret it anyway you like.
Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale.
26 Anniversary of the Australian Rum Rebellion (1808). Armed drunkards responded to oppressive liquor laws by overthrowing the government.
Fosters.
27 Water Conservation Day. “I never drink water because fish $%&#@ in it.”—W.C. Fields.
Hard liquor, neat.
28 National Kazoo Day. Bring one to the bar to entertain your friends!
Three Stages of Friendship
1/3 oz Jack Daniels
1/3 oz tequila
1/3 oz Bacardi 151
Mix and shoot before they shoot you.
29 W.C. Fields Birthday (1880). “‘Twas a woman who drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her.”
Gimlet.
30 Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Birthday (1882). Raise one to the drunkard who whipped up on Prohibition, the Depression and the Nazis.
Wet gin martinis with a lemon twist.
31 National Brandy Alexander Day. Think the brandy distillers had anything to do with this one?
Brandy Alexander
1 1/2 oz brandy
1 oz dark creme de cacao
1 oz half-and-half
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
Shake the brandy, creme de cacao, and half-and-half with ice. Strain, garnish with nutmeg.
Wow, what a great week! I'm definitely in on Tuesday for Fosters, one of my favorites. Despite my overindulgence, I will likely try a Martini on Saturday. I'm not a fan of "wet" martinis, as I like mine bone dry, but you have to try something difference every once in a while... To finish up the week, perhaps I'll mix up a few Brandy Alexander’s on Sunday while I watch the Pro Bowl.
But I'm making mine the right way... With ice cream...
Well, last week I released the BBC Newsletter... You know what? I got almost ZERO feedback on it! I solicited a response from the Foreign Minister just to make sure it wasn't offensive in some way, and he said it was one of the best ever. Although his opinion is likely somewhat tainted as I'm sure he's thrilled his drivel covers three pages of this year's edition, but still. No one said ANYTHING... Weird... Well, if anyone ever reads it, I hope they like it...
Big sister Number Two's birthday was last week, but we're going out to celebrate it this
week Thursday at Red Lobster. Over the years I've heard disparaging comments about Red Lobster and more than a few jokes about it, but I really like it... Maybe it's just me, but I'm looking forward to it. Happy birthday sis!
Wow, that's a pretty big update for the middle of January... Hope I can keep it up in 2010. Ha!
Ha! Before I go, a few words of wisdom for the junior membership...
"Any person on the roof during the winter or performing work on the roof from below is risking injury and risking damage to the roof and house." ~ Home DIY Website
Duh!
As Red would say, "Keep your stick on the ice"!
curtamous
Jan
18, 2010 - Jak se maj!!! Howdy everyone! Happy MLK Day! You know, I pretty much don't miss anything about my "old" job, but we used to get MLK Day and President's Day off as holidays, and I kinda miss that. They were both "bunny hunting" days for me, granted the weather cooperated, so if I was off right now, I'd probably be out at Zumbo's chasing and not shooting rabbits. Oh well...
Not a whole heck of a lot of exciting stuff going on, so we'll start it off with NFL playoff news... Saints won... That was good... Colts won... Not a shocker by any means... Jets won... THAT was a little surprising, but a pretty good game... The Jets defense is pretty darn good... J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets! Last and most least, Brent Fart is an arrogant, asinine, egotistical diva... That last touchdown just shows what he's turned into, and he plays for a totally classless organization. They deserve each other... Enough said... Go Saints!!!
I scored on last week's "Half Price Hookup" for a gift certificate at "The Kilt", so The President should be happy. It turns out the
offer was on Friday (not Monday) at 9am so I logged in right on time and ordered one. Good thing I was right on it too as the FDA Chairman tried a while later and they were all out. So to all you BBC members,
never fear, the VP took care of things again!
Anyone ever have issues with ice dams on their roofs? I haven't had any major issues before, but I have a pretty large overhang on the back deck and I noticed water/ice "underneath" on the bottom side dripping/freezing. So I crawled up on the railing of the deck and shoveled off some more snow, and I have about four inches of ice up there that was under the snow. Holy catfish! So I scraped off the snow and threw a bunch of salt up there. Hopefully the warmer weather expected this week will thaw it out and that I don't have too much damage. We will see...
I got started on a project for the motorcycle this weekend. The lower front right panel on the fairing has a broken piece where it connects on the bottom. So I took it off and I'm fixing 'er up with some JB Weld. Hopefully... First I'm re-enforcing a couple spots, including a
chunk that's missing where it attaches to the fairing. This will take multiple coats for sure. Then I'll reattach the piece, and then add a few more layers, and maybe a rivet or screw, to re-enforce it extra good.
Then if I can find some matching paint I'll cover it all up like new. I used JB Weld on a couple other plastic repair jobs, and it worked really well, so hopefully it works great here too...
Spent much of Saturday doing work type work. First I headed over to our church's school to install some new networking equipment. That went surprisingly well, but as you can imagine, there's a lot more to do there. The tech guy there is really cool and easy to work with, so it won't be a big deal helping out. Then I headed home to work on a project for a company out east. Kinda major stuff, and even more surprisingly, that worked out really well too! It was a major step in getting preparing to complete a couple major projects there, so I was pretty happy about that one. Overall, a pretty good day!
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Frelich family. Marcella Frelich, their matriarch, passed away last week. She was 93 and a mainstay at our little church on NN. She and her hubby Wencil were good little Bohemians and they both taught me a few a few phrases in Bohemian. In fact, Wencil,
who passed away a few years ago, always greeted me with "Jak se maj" or responded with a "Dub je" whenever we met. I really enjoyed them both, and heaven is
now a little better with another Bohemian on board...
Mr. Comptroller had a birthday last week... Did you wish him a Happy Birthday? He also shared his birthday with Ma and Pa Nelson's anniversary. I wonder how many years it would have been... "Must" be over 60 for obvious reasons... Right sis?
We're going to start a new feature this week on curtamous.com... These will be coming from a web site that explains why you might be a bit overweight and features
a signature dishes that I'll be highlighting. Thanks go out to the Sturgeon General for the link. The inaugural dish comes directly from him,
and "almost" made the newsletter...
The Steakinator
2 8oz Prime Angus steaks with braised short rib, cheddar cheese, bacon and a fried egg on a toasted cheese and garlic sourdough bun.
Tell me that won't fill you up and make you a happy camper!
Since man cannot live on greasy, fatty, empty calorie, garbage food alone, here's this week's drink specials:
18 Festival of Women as Cultivators (Persian). Bet the ladies were excited about this one.
Farmer’s Cocktail
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz gin
2 dashes bitters
Stir ingredients with ice, strain.
19 Neon advertising sign patented (1889). Never again would drunks wonder, “Is that a bar?”
The first alcohol you see advertised in neon.
20 International Hat Day. Your chance to finally wear that fedora in public.
Mad Hatter
1 oz vodka
1 oz peach schnapps
1 oz lemonade
1 oz Coca-Cola
Shake with ice, strain.
21 National Hugging Day. Don’t forget to hug your toilet at the end of the night.
Get acquainted with the liquor you hate the most.
22 Lord Byron’s Birthday (1788). “Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; the best of life is but intoxication.”
Brandy.
23 Humphrey Bogart’s Birthday (1899). Last words: “I never should have switched from scotch to martinis.”
Scotch rocks.
24 First canned beer sold (1935). Science occasionally comes up with something useful.
Twelver of your choice.
Ok, tell me that Farmer's Cocktail doesn't intrigue you. I may have to try one tonight in honor of MLK Day. The Sausage Stuffer was obviously related to the Lord Byron in more ways than one... and if the Viqueens win on the 24th, I'm going to need a twelver of my choice to get me through the day...
BIG BIG BIG BIG NEWS!!! I "just" received the newsletter back from the proofreader (Thanks to the FDA Chairman!), so as of right now, the
2009 Bob's Buck Camp Newsletter for 2009 is COMPLETE!!! Please go
HERE to check it out. As was started last year, I will be primarily delivering the newsletter in electronic format. (Just like the rest of the print industry, we're experiencing hard times here at BBC Publications Inc.) The only exception will be for the Mother of The President. Last year certain individuals failed in their promise to hand deliver it to her, so this year
I’ll take care of it myself. Otherwise, I'll also print them out and deliver them on request.
Just let me know...
Personally, and I think I say this every year; this may be the BEST edition ever. Seriously! We've got some really good stuff in it and I'm very proud of those that took the time and effort to contribute to it. Next year will be the TENTH edition if you can believe that! It may also be the last edition, but we'll see. If we get that far, maybe we'll put 'em all together in a nice bound copy called "Ten Years at the BBC: 2001-2010"! Maybe we'll even get it published!
My beautiful blonde sister Number Two celebrates her birthday this week. If you see Connie Thursday be sure to wish her a Happy Birthday!
That'll do it for today. With the newsletter, you should have plenty of reading material to last you until next week. But before I go, a few words of wisdom for the junior membership...
"May you - Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no-one is watching, make love like it's being filmed, and drink like a true Irishman” ~ Anonymous
I was looking for something to commemorate the completion of the newsletter, but I couldn't pass that up. THAT's how to live life!
As Red would say, "Keep your stick on the ice"!
curtamous
Jan
11, 2010 - Jak se maj!!! Happy Monday all! So, is there anything going on that isn't all about "The Game" yesterday? I didn't think so...
First off, what a GREAT game!!! I don't think you could have asked for a more action packed, exciting, riveting, phenomenal performance... Except for the end result at least. Even that was OK I guess, considering the circumstances. Funny thing, I had a "feeling" those circumstance would unfold. Not a prediction or anything, but I had this "thing" where I felt there would be some early turnovers, a big deficit (I actually thought a 21 point deficit), and the Packers would come storming back and win it... Obviously, I had that last part wrong.
OK, let's addressing the reffereeing issues and the missed calls... Supposedly THREE big blown calls... The Fitzgerald touchdown where he OBVIOUSLY pushed off on Woodson and caught the touchdown. That one hurt and likely
could have meant 3 instead of 7 for the Cards? That's the game... BUT, that was just 1st down. What were the odds they didn't
7 score anyway, like zero? Next, the 2nd play in overtime and the late hit to Rodgers in the helmet. They "hadn't" been calling that all game, so I was OK with it. Rodgers got hit like that at least once before and Warner at least twice and there were no flags then, so
at least it was consistant. (Even though they called that stupid roughing penalty on Jenkins in the 3rd) But why the tickey-tack holding call on that play? That seemed pretty weird... Finally, the "facemask" play. Sorry, but that should have been called, but I'm not sure what the result would have been. The replay shows the referee looking RIGHT AT the play, so even if he was watching the ball, he should have seen the facemask grab. Then it would have come down to whether it happened before or after the so called fumble. Even if it was after, at least the Cards would have had to win it instead of given to them...
But I'm not bitter about it. The Packers played an incredible game to catch up and considering how incredibly sick Warner played (For my older readers, sick=really great), it was almost a miracle they
were even close. I would have preferred the defense show up for the game, but overall it was a really great
performance and I can live with that. Now someone just needs to beat the Viqueens...
My only real problem with the game yesterday? Trying to keep up with the "beer on every
Packer score". Whew! Two beers in the first half (plus the pre-game warm up) wasn't bad, but the second half was rough keeping up. I had to chug after that onsides kick because I knew another one was coming... Anything for the team, but I guess
even that wasn't enough to pull them through. We'll get 'em next year!
Is there anything else going on? Maybe a few things...
The President is now online and has an email address... WOW! He even sent me an email this weekend!!! Topic? "Half-Price Hookup" certificates to "The Kilt" being offered on local radios stations. That man is ALWAYS looking for a deal...
He assigned me the task of getting it taken care of...
Quick update on my "firemaking" endeavors. First off, I am pretty much convinced that the "top down" method of starting fires is the way to go. Weird, but seems very effective. Basically you put down some big chucks, then smaller chunks, then big kindling, then little kindling, and then knotted paper... The fire works its way down with little or no fuss. It does require good kindling though, and luckily I found some so I've been good to go. Been working the process in my basement woodstove, so now I have to try it in the fireplace... Last week I also mentioned the "char cloth" I made, so I've been refining my skills in starting a fire without matches or a lighter. Got a flint and steel and I've managed to get flames fairly easily with the char cloth, magnesium, and good old dryer lint. Of course this is all in the basement with no pressure, but I'm pretty sure I could do it out in the woods if I ever had to and had what I needed. Like I said last week, I hope I never find out...
Mass was said yesterday in DePere for my father-in-law so we headed to St. Mary's for 10am service with the in-laws. They have a really nice church there, at least by my
standards. Even ran into the SEC-State and his beautiful bride. After we headed WAY OVER to the west side of DePere for breakfast. Excellent little place called the Oak Street Cafe (I think) and
we had a great old fashion breakfast. I'd highly recommend it... Especially if there is a high scoring Packer game later in the day...
So, is anyone wondering what the story is on this pic?
Well, it's a painting from Deer Hunting in 1967 at the DeBroux camp by Frank
Emrick. I was lucky enough to hunt there in the '80s with Dad and Mr. Rick so it really brings back some great memories. Plus, it has some other Denmark ties... Here's the caption from the "Frank Emrick" website:
“Raise You a Dime” is a scene from deer hunting 1967. The participants are all dead now except for Norb Novak, (with back to the viewer) a salvage dealer from Denmark, WI. From left to right: Bob Schwaller, a picture framer and former neighbor from Appleton; Jerry Behrens, a barber from Waupun; Jim Hendrick, dentist and my spouse, Donna’s, brother-in-law from Waupun; Bob DeBroux, Bank Branch Manager and Donna’s younger brother from Bellevue, WI; and Larry George, a grocer from Denmark, WI.
Life is short.
Pretty neat stuff... Frank (Bob DeBroux's brother-in-law) is a painter (obviously) and created this masterpiece... If anyone is interested, there's a LOT of background info and related stories... The left hand side of the Jack/Ass team
and I have been reliving some old times via email concerning the work... Fun stuff...
Hey, the venison sausage is EXCELLENT! Been slowly working through mine... Sometimes it works out really well that no one else in the family likes it...
After getting new tires on the boy's car, the catalytic converter went out... AND THEY ARE NOT CHEAP!!! If you want to donate to that cause, just let me know...
The car is starting to smell "lemony"...
Did some more reading over the weekend... Read "The Road"... It's an award winning novel and it's just been made into a movie. Interesting read, but possibly a little too much for me in a literary sense to understand why it’s won so many awards. I doubt I'll ever read it again, so if you're interested in my copy, just let me know...
Here's an interesting list...
YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE WISCONSINITE WHEN:
1. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
2. "Vacation" means going up north past Hwy 8 for the weekend.
3. You measure distance in hours.
4. You know several people who have hit deer more than once
5. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.
6. Your whole family wears Packer Green to church on Sunday.
7. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
8. You see people wearing camouflage at social events. (including weddings)
9. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
10. You think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and venison.
11. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
12. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill's Fleet Farm at any given time.
13. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
14. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
15. You refer to the Packers as "we."
16. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
17. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.
18. You have no problem pronouncing Lac Du Flambeau.
19. You consider Minneapolis exotic
20. You know how to polka.
21. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
22 You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.
23. Down South to you means Iowa.
24. A brat is something you eat.
25. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.
26. You go out to fish fry every Friday
27. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
28. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
29. You find 0 degrees "a little chilly."
30. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Wisconsin friends.
Any you particularly disagree with? I find #6 funny as there were a LOT of folks at church yesterday decked out in green and gold!
#27 is just dumb though... We never get frost after June...
This week's schedule... We may need it to get over yesterday's loss...
11 First American discotheque opens (1963). Another gift from the treacherous French.
Harvey Wallbangers.
12 Jack London’s Birthday (1876). Answer the call of the wild. Yukon Jack Whiskey.
13 Blame Someone Else Day. Shift that accumulated shame elsewhere. Your roommate's good scotch.
14 Sanford & Son debuted (1972). When you get your bar tab, pretend to have a heart attack.
Ripple.
15 Feast of the Ass (Roman). We’re 90% sure they were talking about a donkey.
Jamaican Ass-Kicker
2 oz Barcardi 151 Rum
6 oz chilled Jolt Cola
Pour the rum over ice, top with cola.
16 US Prohibition begins (1920). AKA What the Hell Were We Thinking Day. Rum Runner.
17 Benjamin Franklin’s Birthday (1706). “Beer is proof that God loves us.”
Anchor Liberty Ale.
Pretty uneventful...
I'll skip the whiskey and scotch, and definitely the Ripple, but the rum sounds
good... In reference to prohibition, what WERE we thinking???
The Comptroller celebrates a birthday this week... If you're in Madtown at all, wish him a
great day... Happy Birthday Adam!!!
Good progress on the newsletter... Got it thrown together and in "pre-draft" stage. Now it needs graphics and the first proofread... Then I'll volunteer someone to take a second look followed by a final review and it'll be done... I usually let it sit a few days in between each step so it's fresh and I'm more apt to find errors. That doesn't mean I'll see them all (like last year) but I do the best I can with what I have... Which is not much... Anyway, keep your eyes open...
I think that's it... Back to remorsing over the loss... But, as always, with a few words of wisdom for our junior members...
“That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.” ~ Richard Bach
That's in interesting perspective...
Is
"remorsing" a word? Anyway...
As Red would say, "Keep your stick on the ice"!
curtamous
Jan
04, 2010 - Jak se maj!!! Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has had a great start to 2010! So far so good for me, but my butt sure is dragging this morning. Not sure why... Maybe I'm not sleeping well with my holiday belly in the way... Could be!!!
Had a typically quiet New Years Eve at the Nelsons... Did pretty much nothing while my beautiful bride fretted over the whereabouts of the boys. I did of course stay up to ring in the New Year, but some traditions
fell by the wayside... First, there were no classic comedies on the tube. Usually I'll spend the night watching Animal House, Caddy Shack, Stripes, etc. but none of them were on this year. Bummer... Then I forgot to get myself some oil cans (Fosters Lager) to ring the New Year... So I substituted Miller High Life Tall Boys... Pretty much the same... The boys survived and 2010 arrived. Good deal...
Welcome to 2010!
New Years Day and the day after were spent tree hopping. New Years Day we spent with the in-laws and had a pretty nice day. Started at our house with home-made Old Fashions and proceeded into DePere to visit the brother-in-law's trees. Good food... Good drink... Good times... The belly was definitely in expansion mode. Saturday we spent with the Nelsons and hit the FDA Chair's, my place, and the SEC-State's. The FDA Chair started things out right with some of his Mexican Quiche, which is basically fried/baked cheese on a nacho chip. Delicious! At the SEC-State's we had a "soup" feed. Some chili, broccoli, baked potato, and cream chicken varieties. Being a soup lover, it was EXCELLENT! On top of that there were oatmeal cookies, some sort of delicious quadruple chocolate cake, and some scrumptious pistachio tort for desert. I'm not a big desert guy, but that was too good to pass up! Luckily, there was enough to fill my tank! Overall, another GREAT time!!!
The President gave me a call on Saturday to let me know that he had "our" venison sausage done. The local meat monger made us up a batch of his homemade variety so I stopped over there to pick up my portion so I could distribute some to the Nelson clan during tree hopping.
(So much food around that I haven't even tried it yet!) Since the temp felt like 90 below zero, we didn't spend much time chatting but he did inform me that he is again grandpa. Dan and Mellissa were blessed with a bouncing baby girl on Christmas morning. What better gift could anyone get on Christmas? The little
bambina will get shorted on birthday gifts during her life, but I'm sure Mom and Dad are very happy. Congrats to all the Mathis clan on another
blessed addition!
Skipper was in town last week for the holidays so we got together two nights for a few suds and old times. He stopped over Tuesday night for the Badger game and then Wednesday night we headed to Circle Tap to meet up with Tommy. Wednesday night I was supposed to head into town with them to watch volleyball but work interfered. Probably just as well cause that would have been a tough
night, but we did have some beers and a few laughs... Great to see the old high school buddies though. Just like old times only 25 years later... Happy New Years guys!
GREAT football week. Tuesday night the Badgers put a smack down on the Hurricanes in Florida. After Miami scored that quick touchdown early we were pretty worried, but it was pretty much ALL Badgers after that. The 20-14 score definitely didn't reflect how much the Badgers dominated, but that was their own fault due to repeated mistakes. It did make it interesting though when Miami score late and then recovered the onside kick, but the Bucky defense held up and sealed the win.
The only downer was that all the national talk before, during, and after the
game was about Miami, even though the Badgers rolled them. Anyway...
Congrats Bucky, but now there are expectations for next year!
The Packers also laid a smack down on the Cards yesterday to make it 2-0 for Wisconsin teams last week. With the
starters in early the Packers definitely showed who was the better team yesterday, so now they have to prove it again next week Sunday. Let's hope they can do it! Highlight of the game? Late in the 4th they showed some fans in the stands with a sign that said, "We'll Never Forget You Brent!". Hilarious! So here's hoping the Packers roll and the Viqueens choke!
Another sports note... Badger hockey team won its last Badger Showdown taking down Merrimac and Yale, two highly ranked teams, in dramatic fashion as both were close games. Kinda sad it'll be the last Showdown as that has been a college hockey staple for some time. But budget cuts and a desire for a more flexible non-conference schedule contributed to the change. Badger hockey is alive and well though and they should be a top 5 ranked team soon... Let's hope they keep it up!
The younger boy blew a tire on his car Saturday so I spent considerable time and money yesterday running back and forth to Green Bay to get two new tires on the backend of the "new" car. Couldn't get an appointment since it was Sunday so I just had to drop it off. Kinda of a pain considering we just got the car, but that's life...
Thanks to his girlfriend's dad for helping him get the spare on the car...
That would have messed up Saturday big time if I would have had to head out
there to help. Sent him a "Merry Christmas" box of beer in
gratitude...
Been burning lots of wood in the old wood burner. Pretty much through one quarter of the wood I made last
summer/fall (probably 1-2 face cords), so I think I'm pretty much on pace to burn around 3/4's of it with ease. I kinda want to hold over about a quarter of it or so for seasoned wood for next year, but we'll see how that goes. I'd rather burn it all and make more than to have too much left over. I've got a pretty good system going
with the use of the new wood racks, but I'm running low on "starter" wood. I'm working on a new system for starting the fire so we'll see how that goes...
"Top-down" method...
Worked on a little project yesterday... Ever hear of "char cloth"? Basically, you take some 100% cotton cloths and "char" it in a sealed metal box in a fire. I used the wood burner of course. The char cloth is used to start fires in emergency situations as it supposedly takes a spark very well. Not that I need the stuff or anything, but it was kinda neat to try and I'll put together a little fire starter kit with a magnesium bar and some flint to add to my hunting backpack. Hopefully, I will NEVER need it...
Spent some time over the holidays plowing through some books. Read Desperation by Stephen King, which I thought was a newer release, but my dear brother clarified
it as a 15 year old book. Hmmm... The guy pumps out so many books it's hard to keep up! It was a decent story but nothing fantastic. Probably not something I'll read again but you never know. I
also picked up a pile of books at the Goodwill store (In my mind the BEST used book store in the area) so I'm on that now. Got a collection of short stories I'm reading. Good time of year to read, but it definetely cuts into my productivity around the house... :-)
After a delightful holiday season, do we need more celebration? Sure, why not... Here's the wine list... (To my 4 faithful readers... I can't believe some of you skip this! It's as much a history lesson as it’s an
electronic drunk fest...)
4 Electric blender invented (1910). AKA Annoy the Bartender Day.
Blender drinks.
5 Ulysses S. Grant elected president (1872). Fullbore drunkard seizes power.
Presidential Margarita
1 1/2 oz El Presidente Brandy
1 1/2 oz Cointreau
1 1/2 oz Tequila
Juice of 1 Lime
Pour ingredients into a large glass. Add ice and let sit while preparing drinking glass. Rim glass with lime and salt, fill with ice and add a lime slice. Pour contents of large glass into salted glass.
6 Anniversary of Jimmy Carter’s encounter with a UFO (1969). Swears he wasn’t drunk.
Crazy Horse Malt Liquor and a bowl of peanuts.
7 Flying V guitar invented (1958). Like musicians weren’t getting enough chicks already.
Vodka tonics.
8 Elvis Presley’s Birthday (1935). Hail to the King.
Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Luv
6 oz vodka
6 oz water
2 tblsp Cherry Kool-Aid
Combine and shake it like Elvis for 30 seconds.
9 Chingay Procession in Honor of Kwan Ying (Chinese). Best Chingay Procession of the year. Trust me.
Procession of Pink Elephants
2 oz vodka
1/2 oz Midori Melon Liqueur
4 oz pink lemonade
Mix, drink fast, wait for the parade.
10 National Day of Loneliness. Elvis records Heartbreak Hotel (1956). Whiskey sour.
Good week!
Grasshoppers! A couple Presidents... (Well, Jimmy is a great man, but he was a lousy President...) Musicians and the King! (Elvis) But what is with equating a Whiskey
Sour with loneliness? I'll have to think on that...
Oh, a late shout out to the FDA Chairman... Tom&Jerrys served at his home during tree hopping... Just like the old days... Yummy... Thanks!
Here's a little mystery for you out there... I was doing a little investigative work over the holidays and ran across this... It's a print by a local guy and it has some ties to my past... Anyway, very cool painting and it's called "Raise You a Dime"...
Any ideas? Recognize anyone? More info next week for those of you interested...
Not much progress on the "site" changes, but perhaps I'll get to them soon... On the newsletter front, I received the "last" submission... Well, as it turns out, the "next to last" submission as I have not yet retrieved The President's article, but he says it's done... I sent out a final note this morning to those that did not submit an article just to see if there's any last minute interest... We will see... Depending on how busy I am, it may be done by the end of the month, which would be pretty good for me...
Well, I do believe that is it for today... With that I'll end, as always, with a few words of wisdom for our junior members...
"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man." ~ Benjamin Franklin
Ben was a wise man...
As Red would say, "Keep your stick on the ice"!
curtamous
Last Updated: Monday, February 01, 2010
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