The curtamous page
May 2008 Archived Notes
May
19, 2008 - Jak se maj!!! Happy Monday!!! What a beautiful day to
follow-up a great weekend! I hope everyone else had as good a weekend as I did! On to the update...
Why was my weekend so great? Spent a LOT of it turkey hunting out at Zumbo's ranch! With the new job and all I didn't take any days off to spend in the
woods last week, but it worked out pretty good anyway. Friday night I headed out to the ranch after work and spent a couple hours in a blind, saw one Tom and a hen. The Tom was pretty excited and was gobbling, which is weird for that time of day, and circled behind me down by the river, but never saw him...
We were up early the next day with Zumbo guiding and saw a pretty spectacular sunrise along with quite a bit of gobbling. Saw a couple hens, and after Zumbo left to do some field work, I saw group of hens and 3 Toms in a far field messing around. But, they never got near and the nieghbors
later scared them off picking stones in the next field. I had stuff to do, so I headed out too... The afternoon got busy and I didn't get back out there...
Sunday we were up early again for a shorter hunt and saw another great sunrise, but it was a bit cooler. A lot less gobbling and no turkeys while Zumbo was on stand with me. He had to head out early for the trip to Milwaukee (more on that later) and I saw two hens before heading off to church... But the afternoon was pretty interesting. I headed back out (I HAD to go back out because I forgot something in the
stand, lol) and as I was walking to the stand I saw four hens and a nice Tom about 60 yards out in front of the blind. How's that for a kick? Watched 'em for a little while and they headed down to the river... Kinda disgusted, but I headed to the blind anyway... Got in and settled and about a hour later I could see a little rain shower was imminent. I look up the fence line to my right and see 3 heads sticking over the next little rise... then 4... then 7... (Evnetually I
counted 8 in total) and they're heading my way... all Jakes... a big group of them, all dumber than the next one... Its starting to rain, so I'm trying to check 'em out with my binoculars, trying to keep the blind from blowing away becasue the wind picked up, and trying to keep the gun dry cause the wind is blowing the rain in the window of the blind... and they just keep coming my way... the wind and rain get so bad I have to close the west window and they never even notice cause by now they are right in front of me trying to get my decoys to answer them... all of this in a pretty heavy rain... the rain stops and they all shake off the water and decide these decoys are
NOT going to answer OR come with them, so they head off to the west...
Pretty awesome! Why didn't I shoot one you ask? Well, I was waiting for a Tom and just wasn't too hepped up on getting a jake. Plus, those 8 jakes (the ones that survive at least) will be Toms next year... and one had what looked like a double beard... I I just decided to enjoy the show instead... I think it was worth it... because there's more...
As those jakes headed west, I saw what I assume was the Tom I busted in the field when I walked in off in the far field to the west with a couple hens... Well, he ended up meeting up with a couple of those jakes and tried chasing them off... then the other 6 jakes headed that way. They moved further west so I couldn't see much, but every once in a while I'd see Mr. Tom running around trying to chase those jakes away... One Tom against 8 jakes... I think Mr. Tom won, but I wish I had been closer to see the whole thing... Pretty cool...
Here's the "view" I had from the turkey blind... That's the local convent on the far side of the river... Not the greatest quality, but you get the idea...
Any
doubt why I had such a great weekend!
So, I got about 12 hours in the turkey blind this year and had a great time even though I didn't score on Mr. Tom. Another great year! Thanks to Zumbo for everything!!!
Other news... Due to turkey hunting and church commitments, I didn't make it to Milwaukee this weekend for the graduations. (That's where Zumbo was headed Sunday morning.) But the girls were in my thoughts and I hope they had a nice (and short) ceremony! Congratulations to Alicia and Lynette!!!
Before we head to our regular programing, I wanted to shout out a late Happy Birthday to our Sturgeon General. I missed putting his big day in last week's update (sorry) but if you didn't get to send out a belated Happy Birthday to him!!! He's got that big wedding coming up, so he'll need all the well wishes he can get...
With the Sturgeon General in mind, lets move on to this week's schedule!
19 Orphan Day (Spain). Provide a nice, warm home for any abandoned drink you come across.
Potluck.
20 Last episode of “Cheers” airs (1993). Who shall remember our names? Draft beer.
21 National Waitstaff Day. Dig deep for the drink slingers. A shot of Gran Ma in the walk in.
22 American astronauts walk on Mars (1962). According to that kook in the film Slackers.
Fuzzy Astronaut
1/2 tsp Tang, powdered
1 oz vodka
1 oz shot peach schnapps.
Shake and shoot.
23 Declaration of the Bab (Baha’i). Bab was the heralder of the Beer Bellied One (Buddha). Full calorie beer.
24 International Jazz Day. Booze it up with the be-bop. Wine-spidodi.
25 National Wine Day. The only day of the year men can drink wine in a bar without feeling all sissified.
House wine.
Couple of beer days in there, which is always good, but that fuzzy astronaut sounds interesting!
Kinda of a manly fruity drink... and can you believe its been since 1993 that Cheers has been
done? Wow... I'm old...
Motorcylce is going well... getting acclimated to it and even changed the oil this weekend... Wanted to change the plugs too, but the damn Honda has some goofy plugs that seem to require a special sized socket... pain in the butt... Anyone out there have a 18mm deep socket I can borrow?
Works going pretty well... Hopefully I'll get placed this week at a local company so we start making some cash. It'll mean going back to the grind and not being able to go to our office everyday, but that's part of the deal... It should work out well, and we already have a holiday off next week... Sweet! I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day next Monday...
Hmmm... Not much else I can think of... We have the big wedding the week after next (I hope that she doesn't come to her senses and reconsider!) but that's all I have going on other than work... kinda sad... Well, I got other stuff going on, just nothing worth mentioning... lol...
No
idea how frequently or on schedule I'll be doing updates geoing forward, but
keep checking in to see...
So I guess that's it for today. But as is the tradition, before I go, a few words of wisdom for our junior members... More college/graduation wisdom...
"Economists report that a college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man's lifetime income -- which he then spends sending his son to college." - Bill Vaughn
As Red would say, "Keep your stick on the ice!"
curtamous
May
12, 2008 - Jak se maj!!! Howdy folks! Happy belated Mother's Day to all you wonderful Moms out there!!! Hope you had a great day
yesterday! I hope everyone is having a great Monday! Looks like a good start to me... The sun is out, even if it is a bit cool, and a start to another great week! I hope everyone enjoys it! Lets get started!
One of the highlights last week was a trip out to May-Mor Park. The yearly spring
trek out there again proved fruitful. I'd say that on my fourth cast or so I caught a nice 24" northern. He/she was pretty beat up from spawning, as is usually the case, but it sure was fun. I'm sure Mr. Rick was smiling down from heaven... I didn't get any more hits but had a very nice time watching the carp role into town... So the fishing
won't be good for long. But the eldest and his buddy headed down a day later and caught two smaller ones, so hopefully the tradition continues...
Busy weekend behind and another busy one ahead. This weekend we had Jake's birthday party on Friday. Burgers and brats and all the fix'ens... Beer too! Had a few relatives over and then he had a couple friends over that evening for a fire. Nice time... Today is his actual birthday (18th) so if you see him wish him a happy adulthood!
My god-daughter's birthday was last Friday, so if you missed it, wish her a happy belated birthday. Happy Birthday Amber!!!
Sunday, I had some early church duties to fulfil, and then it was the FDA Chair's youngest daughter's college graduation. I started out with my sisters and niece at a nice chinese buffet. THAT was good!!! I've been to a couple over the last month or so and they're pretty good. All you can eat is
my style!!! Then we headed to SNC for the commencement! LONG! The keynote speaker started out by saying she'd keep it brief. Well, we waited quite some time for her "brief" speech to end. But it was good, and overall, though long, it was a very nice ceremony. I had other commitments so I couldn't head over to the FDA's place to party, but I hope they had a great time! Congrats Tara!!!
Next weekend is as busy with TWO graduations in Milwaukee on Sunday. Alicia gets her diploma and
Lynette gets her Masters. I don't think I'll make them but I certainly hope they have a good time. I wish I could be there but I send my
best to them both. Congrats!!!
Let's see what's on "tap" this week...
12 International Limerick Day. Revive the lost art of barroom ribaldry.
Irish whiskey.
13 Word “cocktail” first used in print (1806). Replaced the less toothsome term bittered sling.
As many different cocktails as you can stand.
14 Anniversary of Geronimo’s Corn Liquor Rebellion (1885). Apaches rose up against a ban on reservation moonshine.
Firewater.
15 Las Vegas founded (1905). Took the mob to make it fun. Ten High Whiskey.
16 Animal Day. “He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”—Dr. Johnson.
Road Dog Ale.
17 Anniversary of the first Kentucky Derby (1875). “It’s a fantastic scene—thousands of people fainting, crying, copulating, trampling each other and fighting with broken whiskey bottles.”—Hunter S. Thompson.
Mint Julep.
18 Largest Margarita ever made (7000 gallons) was assembled in Orlando (2001). Stand back, boys, I’m going in. Huge Margarita. Huge.
Limerick Day??? I'll supply the limerick... Someone else can have the Irish Whiskey for Jake's birthday!I
I have chanced on a great birthday present,
Not expensive champagne, duck, or pheasant,
But a lim’rick — some humor
To dispel the old rumor,
That a birthday is not something pleasant.
Actually, a pretty good week, isn't it? Cocktails, Vegas is 103 years old, Min Julips, and HUGE, HUGE I say, margaritas... WOW!!!
Word is there was a skiing banana up at Fish Camp. Please see The President for details...
Here's an oldie, but goodie... I wouldn't post it but its been written with Wisconsin ties...
A young guy from Wisconsin moves to Florida and goes to a big 'everything under one roof' department store looking for a job.
The manager says, 'Do you have any sales experience?'
The kid says, 'Yeah. I was a salesman back in Wisconsin.'
Well, the boss liked the kid and gave him the job. 'You start tomorrow. I'll come down after we close and see how you did.'
His first day on the job was rough, but he got through it. After the store was locked up, the boss came to see him. 'How many customers bought something from you today?'
The kid says, 'One.'
The boss says 'Just one? Our sales people average 20 to 30 customers a day. How much was the sale for?'
The kid says, '$101,237.65'.
The boss says, '$101,237.65? What the heck did you sell him?'
The kid says, 'First, I sold him a small fish hook. Then I sold him a medium fishhook. Then I sold him a larger fishhook. Then I sold him a new fishing rod. Then I asked him where he was going fishing, and he said 'down the coast,' so I told him he was going to need a boat, so we went down to the boat department and I sold him a twin engine Chris Craft. Then he said he didn't think his Honda Civic would pull it, so I took him down to the automotive department and sold him that 4x4 Expedition.'
The boss says, 'A guy came in here to buy a fish hook and you sold him a BOAT and a TRUCK? Is that right?'
The kid answers, 'No, the guy came in here to buy Tampons for his wife, and I said, 'Dude, your weekend's shot; you should go fishin'.''
That's always funny!
New job is going well... Last week was a bit hectic as I spent three days with my bags packed anticipating going out of town to never have it happen... Oh well... Otherwise, my sanity level is returning back to normal... "Normal" for me at at least...
On a sadder note, my sister-in-law's father passed away last week. (My wife's brother's wife's father) Ron was a great guy, and in pretty good health, but fell over on the golf course last Thursday. Pretty much exactly how he wanted to go. I didn't know him all that well but the little I did I really liked. I first met him when my brother-in-law asked for help in moving a bed. It turned out to be a HUGE kingsize bed, and here I thought I was stuck with this old guy helping me. Turned out I was the one helping HIM! Just met, doing something so silly, and we had a great time! Pretty much tells you what type of guy he is. He was a good man and will be very much missed. Our sympathies and condolancanes from the BBC!
Well, that's it for today. But as always, before I go, a few words of wisdom for our junior members... This is specifically for our graduates from a commencement speach...
"Your families are extremely proud of you. You can't imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be a most opportune time to ask for money." - Gary Bolding
As Red would say, "Keep your stick on the ice!"
curtamous
May 5, 2008 - Jak se maj!!! Happy Monday! Such a beautiful day it is!!! To start off, I want to send out my apologies for again missing an update. I would have sent one out last week, but I had no computer! Last Monday was my first day at my new job and I was computerless.
I am now employed by SRCTechnologies in Green Bay. I've joined a group of ex-Nielsenites that are starting up a new company. We're getting our feet wet and hopefully off the ground
soon doing IT consulting. We hope to then move into IT services as we evolve into a more permanent business plan. Its a really great opportunity and its pretty exciting everyday. Right now things are a little slow, expecially compared to my last place of employment, but its also really cool to be starting off like this. Not really even sure what I'll be doing next. The first step is to get our name out there and get some consulting gigs lined up. Not sure what that
will mean as of yet, but it could involve some significant travel if we land jobs out of the area, which is likely. I may be posting updates less frequently (If that's possible) if I start traveling. Obviously, we'll keep you posted on our progress.
My last day at Nielsen we had a going away bash. My buddy BO from Chi-town even showed up. From what I remember, it was a great time!!! Things got pretty bad
at Nielsen before I left, but will (and already do) miss the people there. It consistantly had a great group of core folks that worked and played hard together and I can never thank them enough for all the great times! But sometimes you have to move on, and this was one of those times...
Been riding my Goldwing... Only when sober though, so that's been cutting down on my opportunities. Two weeks ago I got it registered, licensed and insured, and then the next day I got my motorcylcle temps. Get this, two stops at the DMV, and I don't think I was there for more than 25 minutes... In total!!! No lines and quick service... Go figure! I am hoping the weather stays nice and warms up a bit so I can get out on the bike more. It will take quite a bit of getting used to as its bigger than any bike I've ridden before (like 4 times bigger) and its been a while since I was on any bike.
But its a good time...
Been no problem with libations lately (more on that later), so lets keep 'er going. This week's schedule!
5 Cinco de Mayo. Like St. Patty’s, except the Mexicans chased out frogs instead of snakes.
Tequila.
6 Orson Welles’ Birthday (1915). Drink no wine before it’s time. And it’s time.
Paul Masson Wine.
7 Homespun History Day. Remember that time you drank a keg all by yourself? Let the world know!
Truth Serum
1 oz Courvoisier
1 oz Cointreau
Juice of one lemon.
Shake with ice, shoot and tell the troot.
8 Moslem New Year’s Eve. We must drink because they cannot.
Desert Water
1 1/2 oz Tabasco Sauce
1 1/2 oz tequila
Pour Tabasco into shot glass, then use a spoon when you pour the tequila, so they don’t mix. Shoot.
9 Victory Day (USSR). Better luck next time, Ivan. Black Russian.
10 Human Kindness Day. Alert your bartender. Shot on the house.
11 Baron von Munchausen’s Birthday (1720). German adventurer/storyteller drank his way around the world.
Something adventurous.
HEY! Its Cinco de Mayo!!! Tequila tonight!!!
I hope everyone enjoyed their May Day! I hope you were on my mailing list for my annual May Day greeting!
If not, let me know and I'll get you on next year.
Well, this past weekend we held Fish Camp 2008. Wow! What a time! I headed up Thursday night and went on a runner with the SEC-Staqte and Comptroller. Checked out the local establishments. That was a tough start... Not as bad as a water run, but close... Slept pretty late on Friday and then the crew started arriving... Friday was a blurr, although we did manage to get some work done, but the Beer Can Chicken was AWESOME!!! A late night ensued and I was relagated to the garage with the "next generation". Ouch!!! Squirrelly boys and VERY out there. Slept in very late on Saturday, which was fine since the weather was terrible. By late afternoon it was better and good enough to fish, but the SEC-State and I had to go on a rescue mission, and just in time too. That evening's stuffed pork chops were phenominal!!! That FDA Chairman sure can cook! Another LATE night
followed (and the garage was even COLDER), and Sunday the camp started to break up. I ended up spending a little time in the boat, but certainly not much, and ZERO fish were caught.
The SEC-State and FDA Chair's new cottage on Leigh Flowage is really something. Much nicer and more up to date than any of us are used to, but it sure is nice. Running water, flush toilets, heat and even carpeting! (The kind of carpeting you vacuum and not just sweep too!) I "think" I prefer something more rustic, but it sure was nice. They've got a really nice setup there and I'm sure they will enjoy it for a long time. I hope to spend some
time there with them too... ;-)
The SEC-State and FDA Chair stayed there last evening as well and reported in last night. Seems they felt more investigative work was needed on the local establishments...
They'll have to get us a full report...
Oh
yeah, I did post the new Fish Camp stuff last week, not that its any help
now... Its out here...
Glad I got all that out of my system. Hopefully now my life can return to a more normal state of existance, at least for me... But there is a lot of stuff coming up too...
Got a couple birthdays coming up this week... My God-daughter has a birthday this week and the Cheif Inspector turns 18 next Monday. Happy birthday to them both!!! Then its also graduation season and we have a few college grads this spring, so the weekends will be busy for a while... Then at the end of the month we have another wedding coming up... Should all be a blast!
Don't forget Mom's Day this Sunday! Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there!!!
After all the time off I should have more but that's all I have time for today. But as always, before I go, a few words of wisdom for our junior members... I found two, so its a double-header!
"Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own." ~ Aristotle
"A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest." ~ Irish Proverb
As Red would say, "Keep your stick on the ice!"
curtamous
Last Updated: Sunday, June 01, 2008
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