Form over substance….

Sometimes… it’s not the final score or were you placed that counts but how you look out there.

In our youth it was who was fastest… who was strongest? But now in a more mature state of mind I ask, who cares? It’s more of looking good out there, than the final numbers.

A friend of my father always cut quite the figure. He wore saddle shoes, had his eyeglasses darken before there were such a thing as sunglasses. He wore an ascot and was dressed to kill. Standing next to my dad, he made Pop look like a used pup tent.

The two did many things together. One day they invited me to tag along on the golf course. I was surprised they let my dad on the course, he was not quite an “in” dresser. The game progressed and dad was all over the place but no where near as bad as his friend. I spent most of the day in the wood looking for lost shots.

HOP as dad called him cut a great figure but his golf swing was anything but. There is a saying about a book cover and what’s inside. Another time we were at a water ski tournament and this guy comes down on the dock to take his turn jumping. He was decked out in the latest stuff; a great wet suite, graphite skis and a hand painted helmet with “killer” on the front. This guy was going to fly!

He was late on his cut was upside down and the crash boat was on him before he hit the water.
He had done a triple with a half wrist and a face plant and trick jumping had not been invented as yet. The next jumper took it easy and walked away smiling….so who had a better day?

So it’s not if you look like a pro, a pup tent will do but if you can walk away with a smile.
“ Killer” wasn’t smiling as he got out of the crash boat.

Please help me I am Falling………..

How come all the lady skaters fell in their fannies? Just think of all the work it took the top figure skaters not only to qualify for the Olympics but make it into the finals then perform and be in the position to win a metal.. The Years of practice…. The cost their parents went to in cash and time… The hours of coaching… The search for the right music and the costumes…. And then going out and falling on one’s tail bone? Come on!

Several years ago my brother talked me into going skating at the new Pettit Center Ice Track in West Allis WI. It’s an amazing place where our top speed skaters work out, the home track of Bonnie Blair, Dan Jensen and the new kid, Shaunie Davis. It’s a beautiful indoor ice track well lighted with benches and a warming area.

After lacing up we took to the ice. My brother played hockey in college, a fine skater. He had in five laps to my ¾ lap when the strangest thing happened. The stars came out indoors and they were swirling. This had not happened to me since the time I fell trying a water ski ramp 360 embedding my head into the jump’s surface, mucho stars.

Getting up from the ice I was ready to punch the SOB that tripped me. The only person close was a little girl who skated up and asked, “Mister, are you alright?” Wasn’t that thoughtful?

The other night while watching the ladies competition I didn’t see any of those smooth Italian guys come up to any fallen lady asking if they were alright. What’s happen to manors anyway?
Maybe they were afraid someone would notice a pizza one of the guys on the top balcony had spilled onto the ice.

Decisions...

What was I going to Blog about today? It got me thinking, a new experience. This simple word, decision, an act of choice has gotten many a person up the creek without a paddle (I know a few) and others left with a pot of gold with a hole in the bottom.

A simple question is put in front of you and you must come to a rational choice, sometimes it’s irrational but a decision is required. No reflection on Fred but at the next intersection do I take a right of a left, up ahead there is a fork in the road, do I take it? But which way?

Daily we are faced with thousands of this or that’s, Cheerios or Fruit Loops? Red or yellow socks? T-bone or Porterhouse? To get out of bed or not? Scotch or Capt. Morgan? Blond or brunette? Should I work out or go to the café and see what’s happening? Which should I buy, a Power Ball ticket or Mega Bucks?

Never mind the big ones, like do I go to Yale or Harvard? Or, should I ask her father or not? It’s the small decisions that always get you into trouble. Take last night, I am sitting on my usual bar stool and it’s ten minutes past the time I said I’d be home, but on comes the finals of the speed skating, going for the gold. So I had a choice, have another beer and watch them fly around the oval or get my tried buns home? I had a great night’s sleep. I got this decision right for once.

Calory counting, I quit….

That’s right, finished. You just have to know that you got on the wrong boat and it’s sinking.
There had to be a time when the passenger’s on the Titanic realized an ocean cruse was a bad idea. There are other great examples of would not have if I would have known.

Months back, in September my plumbing was rerouted. It was one of those “or else, period” deals.
So after several weeks of mentally being upside down it was into rehab and a change of life style.
“Watch it Bud, you can’t eat that” were the home orders. Then at rehab, nurse Sherri got her whip out and told me that I needed another 30 minutes on top of 30 on the tread mill daily.

The object was to get my heart stronger and lose weight. Well after five months several amazing things have happened. First I can tell my heart is stronger for I can actually feel my toes, second my blood pressure has dropped, all positives. However, my weight has been on a roller coaster, down, then up, then down, then up, mostly up!

I’ve tried to figure this out. Knowing that my exercising has helped gain muscle mass which out weighs my lard mass helps. I also looked at intake (food), no real change there the same Ho Ho's and Zingers Then it hit me and I came up with a reason for the lack of weight loss.

Some one has been messing with the scale. That has to be it! I think our dog has a new play thing. When in doubt, blame it on your dog.
You don’t have one? That can be arranged.

The Wonder of it all……

To chase around, to be in the pink, to know you are somewhat normal… what small gifts we are given!

As I follow along the path in front of me it’s loaded with amazing things. It has taken a long time to realize just what we all have. The sun come up then it sets, then does it again, day in, day out, and as kid I didn’t think anything of it. Your friend down the block was always there, now maybe not.

Beneath the snow the seeds of spring are starting to get the itch. Once again life starts another cycle. As a kid who cared? Now, as an older fellow I feel alive with anticipation for another year. Gad, winter is long….

Soon the loons will be back on our lake. Their call will once again tell us that it’s spring. Soon the grass will turn green and the trees will bud. The songbirds will return. The practice range will open and I’ll be able to kick ass on the golf course, ah spring!

STOP & LISTEN...

It was about a year ago that deep inside I heard a sound that wasn’t there before. At first it felt I had pulled a chest muscle and it was complaining. I was out all morning getting my daily dose of semi-exercise pushing an LP truck down the road and hauling a big old hose through knee deep snow. It really wasn’t aerobic exercise but it got the blood moving or so I thought.

There was a little pressure on my right side, then after several minutes it went away and so did any concerns I might have had. So up into the truck and down the road I drove that afternoon….but sometimes it takes a lightening bolt to get a person attention.

I was way out there you might say, 65 miles from home thinking about the dear wife who was on an aircraft carrier riding it home with my son from Hawaii, tough duty for her. Then bang the pressure came back and so did a thought in my mind. A pulled muscle is a constant, this wasn’t… and a picture of my father came into my head. He was flat on his back on LaSalle Street in Chicago. He hadn't live long after a large heart attack in 1962, only minutes. My younger brother Chris had bypass surgery six years ago and my oldest brother died of heart failure so what I was having I told myself could be called a genetic heart problem…

I was ten miles south of the nearest town, Rhinelander, and a phone both and or a hospital. Over the next ten miles I drove cautiously and waited for the next big hit. The pressure was there but there wasn’t the big eye closer. I called our clinic and they said get in there ASAP…. It’s been a year, two surgeries and two card-rehabs and I am almost in the semi pink. Thankfully, I listened to my body and the little voice in my head. Heart problems run in my family. They may not for you but I suggest you listen to your own body and not pass anything off as a GAS ATTACK.

SPRING BREAK
- 25 degrees several nights back, brrrrrr
Back in the day students put spring on the map by heading to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for some early sunshine. They then graduated, worked and built hi-rise retirement condos on the beaches where they once played and opened beer cans. Now there are signs that read….
“Sorry these beaches are closed.”

In Wisconsin it wasn’t called spring break but winter break. Here, spring comes in June when schools are out along with wood ticks. We have two types of winter breakers. The first types have their travel plans set in stone. They’ve shopped airfares, car rentals, and hotel rates and know where all the McDonald’s are located. Their bags are meticulously packed days in advance with sun block and a spare pair of shades. They even set a budget and pre-purchase travelers checks, maddening hey?

Then there are the second type of winter breakers, like you and me, who right before leaving ask…
What day are we leaving?
Where are the car keys?
Where are we headed?
Do we need reservations?

This normal non-preplanning, in my humble opinion, has got to be the way to fly. I mean there is real joy in the morning waking up in some unexpected place and time frame. It’s redefining Einstein’s time and space relativity.

I had this same feeling when I drove a semi. After driving ten hours then sleeping, I’d awake from a short nap not knowing where in the Sam hell I was, talk about dis-com-bob-u-lation, I hadn’t a clue. Yet, up around the corner was a new town, a new area or experience like the sunrise over the Blue Ridge. A new day brought a new adventure (like New York City traffic).

So go ahead enjoy your spring! As for us? We maybe headed south, that could be anywhere for everything is south of here except the U.P. and possible Duluth.

Easy to Follow Instructions…. 2/20/06

I am working on improving this Blog Spot. The content needs to be kicked up a bit and so do the graphics. With this thought in mind I unwrapped a late Christmas present and oh, joy it was a Canon Digital Camera. Thank you, thank you, dearest kids, who went together and got us this wonderful present; now we are only ten years behind technologically.


Shirley, this ought to liven up the Blog (and don’t call me Shirley). Now I can illustrate what I am trying to describe and save thousand of words, for pictures are worth mucho paragragho. Simple, I told myself. Then I opened the Guia del usuario de la camera…. You got it. The instructions are all in Espanol. It’s a Spanish camera meant for the California market or as we Midwesterners call it, northern Mexico.

I spent half a day converting my little Latin language knowledge into Espanol then back to Latin then into English. After finishing page two I knew I had a problem… this would take months. Then I remembered my French Lawn Mower. The owner’s manual was written in two languages. What you did was flip it to the backside and read forward in another language, English.

So I went back the to Canon Camera owner’s manual and flipped it to the backside and found
Pare’lve Franca…. What I am saying here is that it may be a few more Blogs till we have the sights of summer in northern Wisconsin…. We need a common language in dollar domination. If by chance you are wondering about the photo, it isn't cheeseland. It's of the rings of Saturn, no, not the car and one of it's satelites, the moon Giles.

You’re fired…. 2/18/06
Why is it that every two years, not four, we have to put up with people that don’t know a thing about where they are and fail at interviewing some very interesting people. They seem almost to have no idea what they are involved in, sports.

For far to many Olympics NBC has cover both winter and summer games using people that just haven’t a clue about the sports (which are the Olympics)

There was a time when the Olympics were covered by ABC. This network actually hired commentators that were acquainted with most of the sports they were covering. Most were past contestants who would hit the nail on the head. “How did you do that triple ‘whatever’?” and not the present “ What color socks are you wearing?”

Yes, NBC does have a few that get it right, like Dan Jansen and Dick Button but come on what do Katie, Matt, and Bob Costas have in common with the athletes? Zero. Yes, they have been around, Yes, they can interview almost, but why not bring in people that have knowledge and feelings for individual event that get the big picture.

Personally, I get way too much of the Today show people anyway, once a week is far too much for me. Wouldn’t it be in the best interest to bring in fresh faces, people with a love of sport and a little knowledge of the broadcast industry?

John Claude Killy retired after four Olympics so should Matt and Katie, out with the old in with the new.

Heavy QUESTIONS…

In today fast paced world, isn’t time to slow down and ask … Why or Who and How?

WHO are the biggest losers? I am not talking about you stock market guys… but about a TV show featuring some very over weight people working their buns off to lose weight. They those air head TV executives except us to watch folks sweat? This has got to be the ultimate waste of time. Folks here watch it on their sofa while eating deep fat fried cheese balls.

WHY haven’t we come up with an alternate energy source? …. It’s been thirty years since there were gas lines and prices that were through the roof. Back then President Nixon told us we had a problem… we still do because we haven’t done anything. No, there aren’t gas lines like there were, we just can’t afford the stuff any more. Instead of Congress giving themselves another raise for jobs undone, let’s put their next raise into figuring out how to burn water in our cars.

HOW is it we put a man on the moon and we can’t come up with a simple federal tax program?
Just think of all the government employees and private accountants that would all of a sudden have to come up with a way of adding to the GNP if we simplified the tax system. Then again it might put quite a few attorneys out of business, that would be a shame!

WHO are the biggest complainers? …. It always the person in the back of the line. It’s the person who shows up late and expects a seat in the front row. It’s the me, me, me folks. May I cut in?

WHY can’t we quit faulting others? …. It’s because we find it hard seeing faults in ourselves.

HOW did I get into serious questioning? …. I looked into a mirror, shocking!

SPRING FEVER….. 2/16/06

Augusta, Georgia has the azaleas, Washington DC is known for the blooming of cherry blossoms, Kentucky has the greening of bluegrass (ah bluegrass!), Chicago and Boston have their St. Patrick’s Day parades. The farmers of Iowa get their equipment into their John Deere dealer for spring maintenance, and we folks in the snow belt watch the white stuff melt turning our roads into a muddy quagmire.

As the Earth wobbles on its axis, causing the seasons to change, we all become anxious for the signs of spring. This is especially true if your is neighbor happens to be Santa of the North Pole.

Ah, spring is a thing of beauty as we await the return of the harbinger of spring, Mr.Robin. He is followed two days later by tick season, followed by black fly season, then by our 12 days of summer. Get your sun block ready.

The other nice thing about the coming of spring is the movement of the sun and the longer hours we have daylight. The sun also brings out the accumulation of winter grime on our home windows which drives my fair lady nuts. While she's doing the windows she pulls from her pocket my “To do list”. It'a amazing the things that I put off and need a kind reminder.

But the biggest sign of spring is the itch I get to prep our boat for another season of stalking Moby Pickerel. Last fall I made mt own list of over due repair items on the old fishing scow. Of course I lost the list over the winter. I guess I’ll head to Fred’s Place for some spring fever medications and make a new list with the help of a few local experts.

You have a HOBBY? I won’t tell.

Once a year I take out my art box. Ya, art box. Don’t laugh it’s what got me through school and put bread on the table. The old art box has pen and ink, pencils and art paper, charcoal sticks and even pastels, all the things to draft pretty pictures of our landscape or beer cans.

At one time I was able to draw a straight line and walk one as well. I even got past the point of connecting the dots and coloring by numbers. For quite a few years my creative juices were flowing commercially. There were ad layouts that would blow the socks off clients who in turn made some bucks selling “STUFF”. Then I hit the wall, burnout. This was followed shortly there after by the advent of computer design and the ship left port without me.

But now dear friends the juices are once again flowing. Deep inside, I am urged to create something, or it could be gas? I’ve just got to remember where I put my art supplies or did I drop them off at our Thrift Shop? Anyway I go through this thing once a year just like the bears that come out of hibernation then trash my bird feeder.

So anyway I am developing a new hobby, it’s thinking I should have a hobby.

MEGA THOUGHTS and how the cookie crumbles

These are not purchased from MEGA Wal-Marts but are superb ideas that are locked in the back of our minds just sitting there rattling around. Knock, knock come out where ever you are. It takes practice in chasing down these little gems.

How is it possible?

Each great mind (everyone has one, almost) has to find a way to express itself.

Some minds just keep going and going. There is no on/off switch, they are on 24/7. Then there are the latent minds where only dynamite or half a bottle of merlot can flip the on switch. All of us have something that can affect or help others, it’s just a matter of will power, willing yourself to stop and “think”.

It’s a matter of time control or lack of it. Nowadays I have a little spare time between runs to the dump. I try and spend a few moments in quiet thought. I was in the grocery store the other day trying to decide which brand of cookies to buy when a quiet moment hit me. As I was lost in thought a boy and his mom passed and the boy asked, “ Mom, what’s that man doing?” His mom replied, “Quiet son, don’t you see that man is thinking.”

I went away with a package of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. This simple choice I have determined will have a long term positive effects on oat farmers, raisin growers, our local bakery department but most all the effects on my waistline which will be MEGA, MEGA>

THE RIGHT STARTING PLACE… 2/13/06

Many people have asked (make that a few)… How did you get started down the right road so early in life? Well the answer is you need the right help at the right time.

Fortunately, I am left handed, so I had left handed tutors in the beginning of things. Literally, someone noticed early on that I was not following the path that others lead, namely Craig Johnson. Everything Craig did I did backwards. Where he crossed his t’s, I crossed my k’s. Where he dotted his I’s , I dotted my o’s. This was not due to a rebellious nature on my part. Oh, no, for I thought I was doing it just like everyone else.

So after staying after school for weeks and failing to get it, mother hired an outside tutor for the winter. Yet, I found myself in third grade once again still dotting my o’s. To this day I still dot my o’s thanks in part to my wonderful third grade teacher(s).

Jimmy V said, “Never give up!” With this thought in mind I went on to fourth grade. Then later I tried many a time to do a two-ski dock start, water-skiing. It wasn’t till I got smart and went for help at FRY BROS. SKI SCHOOL that I found a correct ski instructor, Mrs. Fry. Now I am not saying I could not have learned a two-ski start with my brother’s guidance, but drowning was a good possibility at the time.

This same lesson applies across the board, for the last person who should teach you something is a family expert or a friend. It is a known fact that people just don’t listen to either. It’s always the guy down the block or in the next village that’s a true out of town expert.

NEWS FLASH: Tune in tomorrow for proof of Alien life forms, This blog site just recieved a photo of men from Mars... no one on this planet would be caught dead with what they have on, double knit sports coarts.

CRRECOT SLLEPNIG, THE MRAK OF INLLETEGNCE… 2/12/06

I’ve noticed a cutting statement or three about my poor typing/spelling. So in reply I’m sending along a note that I received (i before e except after z) from a great guy, a couzin-in law, Chuck Dennis…

Typoglcemia
Believe it or not you can read this…
I cdnolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch taem at Cmabrgide Uinrevtisy. It deosn’t mttaer in wath odrer the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihngn is that the frist ltteer be in the rgith pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you still raed it whit out a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlole. Scuh a cdonition is arppoiately cllaed ,,, Typoglycemia..

Amzanig huh? Bet you touhght I selpt thruogh smmuer scoohl typin calss whit Kttiy & Jaon?

FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET….2/11/06

There, I see it… it’s a blur running across the front yard. It something small, no large, no it’s both. It’s two things? Wait, let me check this out…

The thing stopped in front of a tree, oh it’s our English Springer. She thinks she’s a great hunting dog, for she just treed two gray squirrels.

This is our second dog. The first dog was another English Springer we had for fifteen years. It was more Irish that English, having a mind of it’s own. Mandy was a good-hearted dog that helped raise our three kids always wanting to be in the middle of things. Four years ago she passed on to where dogs go. It took us several years to fess up to that fact that we missed a dog under foot.

We applied at Springer Rescue, an organization set up to save dogs from being put down, then went on a two-week vacation last spring. Enter Katie dog…. upon our return there was a call from a shelter in southern Wisconsin. During the drive down we both agreed not to take any dog if it wasn’t right. It had to be healthy with a high hearted spirit.

Sure that worked, not! We spent some time bonding with the dog. We were half way through the door with little Katie dog on leash headed home went the shelter assistant said, “ By the way…” We now have a lighthearted dog that had been hit by a car with a broken leg and had both hips displaced. What were we to say, NO, we’ve changed our minds?

So if you are ever over to our home and you see a blur in our yard, it’s Katie the Springer limping along chasing her friends up a tree.

RISE & SHINE

As an early Olympic contestant in ice fishing I got a jump on the field and was out on the ice early this AM and shot this wonderful sun rise... BUT SOMEONE CHANGED THE SUN! Must have been the prune juice and Morgan, an early eye opener. That's our wonder dog with me, she's playing with a 10 lbs. snapper. Gotta go, it's the prune juice kicking in. That 10# snapper is gold medal winner, watch me on the medal stand tonight, then we'll have dinner, fish of course.

Olympic Update:
What about BRASS, NICKLE & TIN … 2/10/06

Who breaks the tape first, who has the most grace? Who is to judge? We all do. The Olympic Games are upon us and super hype is here with people and nations in quest to be the best… for Gold, Silver and Bronze

Competition, it’s what drives the world. In striving to be Number #1 we give laurels to the best and look with amazement to the fastest and the flashiest, giving lip service to second and third place.

So who is fourth, fifth, sixth or even in last place? Some of the best stories are found in people who try their best and just don’t make it. i.e. Eddie the Eagle, Great Britain’s snow ski jumper that tried his best but wasn’t up to the standards of the Flying Finns. The games have now outlawed competitors who don’t measure up to the standards. They need the time to sell TV commercials and not cover people like Eddie.

What about the hundreds of other people, the BRASS, NICKLE, TIN medal winners?

As a past track runner I saw more people’s rear ends than open spaces and didn’t mind. As the title of everyone's favorite movie, it's just got to be “ Being There” that makes the hours of practice rewarding, gag, give me the golden honey weise.... So I raise my glass to you fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers, it’s the trying that counts.

We losers have to stick together for there are a lot more of us than winners.

BALANCE THIS! 2/9/06

This morning I just stopped off and filled my old car’s gas tank for close to fifty dollars. Then I stopped at our mailbox and picked up our mail or I should say bills.

Thumbing through the pile I spotted the monthly health insurance premium notice of $800.
Our property tax statement was there, add another $2,800 along with our monthly electric bill of $90. Add Direct TV for $45 monthly. And yes this is the heating season so I opened the lid on the LP Propane tank and surprise, you need a fill of 400 gallons at $1.70 per gallon. Add to this the need to eat….$$$.

This retirement thing isn’t quite going the way I thought. Rosebud, the wife, and I sat down a few years back and looked ahead. We wrote a budget of living expenses to see what the future might have in store for us… plan ahead, her father use to tell me. Whooooa. I thought I had.

Now I’m not saying that we are selling pencils on the street corner, but underestimating a few things didn’t help… the same holds true with those clowns in Washington no matter what color signs they wear. We’ll get by, but for the next generation, I have a bad feeling in my gut that the back door to the store was left open for years and the shelves are being emptied.

Then every four years a new fellow get up and tell us they have the plan to close the store’s back door, but someone’s foot is always in the way. I have half a mind to give someone hell, however that would leave me with no mind at all and the only thing I hear would be my own echo.

UP DATE, UP DATE... 2/8/06

Just returned from a trip to the medical captial of the midwest, Rochester MN.
Not much has changed since the last time we spent some time there. The south end of town now has pave streets and they added additional sky walks between the downtown skyscapers.

The town and Mayo Clinic does offer hope for many who travel there but there is something about the place that makes your skin itch. I went to see a good friend who has spent way to much time there this winter. While I spent a day and half with him it seem like a week. Not because of him it's the feeling of the place.

In the morning I spent 40 minutes on a tread mill listening to a guy next to me, from Canada, telling me about his medical history. Not that I minded for it was a lot better than listening to Matt and Katie on the Today Show. Then in the bar at dinner this gal just would not quit talking about her self and about the same thing, her health. I think my good friend had heard her same story for a week as well.

If and when I ever return to Rochester I must remember to bring with me all my medical records in a leather bag so that I don't look out of place. My good friend has only under a week of getting zapped and he is as itchy as I was to get out of Rochester.... keep smiling Fred, rehab after what you have just gone through will be a breeze.

A NEW MONTH…… 2/8/06

A year is just too short. Have most of you noticed that each year seems shorter that the prior?
With the passing of each, the following year seems to pass quicker. Remember as a kid when you rolled that large rock down the hill? It barely moved at first then at the bottom it was going like a bat out of hell. Or thumbing through a book and the pages fly by especially at the end? At the end things just move to fast.

Einstein spent years on figuring the relativity of time and still he ran out of it in the end. After giving this problem a lot of thought I’ve come up with a solution, an expanded year. We need an additional new month to the year. Thirteen would be ideal.

As winter is way too long it would be added it to spring or summer in the Northern Hemisphere, in the Southern Hemisphere their winter would be longer. (too bad, we out number you guys.)

Think of all the benefits it would bring, there would be added business for manufacturers of lawn mowers, boats, swimwear, tanning products, ice cream cone makers, sun glass companies. It’s endless the economic impact this new summer month would have. Plus it would slow down the endless advance father time is having on all of us.

Here’s the kicker, I get to name the month… how about WOBBINEMBER….?

Sorry…. I have to post three days in advance as I will be on the road visiting an old friend
who is in need of some smiles….. he also needs some of your good thoughts!


Selling at the right time… 2/6/06

Many of you have asked… “How are you so successful?” The answer is complicated. I have this system of playing the markets. It’s knowing what’s hot and what’s not, and that’s not all.

A wise investment sage once wrote… “There will be growth in the spring”. I tried applying this to my system and it almost worked. But what in the heck was the sage talking about? Which spring and what growth? Our spring happens to fall in the months of May/June, but to the other half of the world, the southern hemisphere, their spring is September/October. So if you’re in Australia or Ecuador you are either 6 months ahead or behind. If you are following the markets this could be very confusing especially if you are a confused person.

Now as to growth… if your living room wall turns green you have a problem, the same holds with unwanted things either on your body or out in your lawn. This is not the economic growth that we wise investors are looking for. If it were we would go out planting dollars in the yard hoping they turn into green backs.

For years I practiced buying high selling low. This just didn’t quite work and it got us on the wrong side of a downward curve. Finally I wised up and when faced with a “what in the hell do I do decision” I would ask a simple question… what would mom do? She was always right.


Know it alls… 2/7/06

I just read an article in our paper, the Lakeland Times, from Jan. 24th. Yes, I am always a little late in reading our local rag. Actually I was using the paper to start the fire in our wood stove. According to the article it stated “Health” Magazine said the most depressing day of the year was Jan 24th. Holiday bills come due on this day and by now New Year’s resolutions are out the window, plus it is usually cold and dark.

Then the article pushes a book on you entitled “ A Life of Balance” by Dr. Kathleen Hall.
Dr Hall offers tips to creature happiness and energy in your life. Here are a few of her tips.

FOOD: suggestion - get the family involved. Family members set up the menu and have something different than the normal. The Doc suggests mango salad and black bean lasagna, gag… how about a great steak with mushrooms and onions.

COLOR: suggestion - bright colors make a happy person. The Doc suggests bright colored table cloths and bedding (this ought keep you awake at night). You should accessorize your wardrobe with a bright scarf and shoes… how would you look going to the office with a pink scarf and yellow shoes, not me thank you.

HAVE FUN: suggestion – turn the TV off two nights a week and play board games, cards or watch a funny movie. The Doc says this will get your endorphins going… what the heck is an endorphin? The last time I checked they were OK. I had to hold two mirrors upside down to get even close and they were pink with purple strips.

LASTLY: suggestion - introspection and time alone. The Doc says you are to look in a mirror and ask the question, who am I? If the reflection doesn’t answer you are to walk into the closet, close the door, and listen till you hear something. That would be easy for me because my stomach would do all the talking.

If these four items above do not break the funk you are in, then there is always a trip to the British Virgin Islands, which is Doctor Birch Bark’s suggestion.

I am posting tomorrow’s blog today… There is a Super Bowl pre-party and I just don’t trust my memory esp having to entertain out of the their minds guests from out of town,


Pass on a BLESSING 2./5/06

Thankfully life goes on. Looking back to April of 1999, it was an amazing time for our family. Sure, on the 15th taxes were due but several days later a much needed gift was given to our family. A donor family from Minnesota had a very big heart and donated lungs of their daughter to our daughter, a very sad moment for them, and a joyous one for us. In their sadness they truly gave us the gift of life.

Every morning as the sun tries its best to break through Wisconsin skies I stop and give thanks for life… the life of family, friends and especially a family in Minnesota. If your driver’s license doesn’t have an organ donor sticker on it, stop by your local DMV office and get one and then tell your family that it is your wish to be an organ donor. For in the end, life is the biggest blessing of all and a smile is His other giant gift.

April is Organ Donor Month. Yes I know this isn’t April but I am going to be on your cases till your have signed on the donor card dotted line! As they say in church ‘your donation is much appreciated’ not that I am looking toward your early demise.

#5 travelogue ….ON TOUR 2/4/06

Another year of the PGA, the Professional Golf Association, is now under way. The players start with a thing they call the West Coast Tour. They start playing golf in the Hawaiian Islands for several weeks then head into southern California and Arizona. This occurs while we poor folks are swinging snow shovels and not golf clubs. However we have the answer.

We call it the southern loop. No, it’s not a plane ride to Florida or Alabama to play golf for a week. Oh no, that would be too easy. Our southern tour is a simple car ride down the road for afternoon/early eve socializing. First we hire a caddie, a designated driver, fasten our seat belts and crash helmets, then head south in the general direction of the nearest saloon.

Normally it’s a place called Whitman’s. After saying hello to the regulars for half an hour, we head to an electronic marvel, a Golden Tee machine. For three bucks a person you can get in a round of golf at various courses designed by some very devious person. The machine lets you choose a club and swing type, hook or slice. You can even putt on the greens, fantastic.

All the rules of golf apply and are seldom followed especially by your opponents. The object is to kick butt while having a few brews before hitting the road for the next stop. There are around 6 to 8 “next” stops each with it’s own drawing card.

One next place has an electric hunting game where you blast ducks off the wall. Another place is called Idle Hours Resort (Bar), a very appropriate name for idle people. Another place is run by the Adams family. Literally, it’s scary. All the characters from the TV show are there, even Lurch the bar tender.

To play on our tour there is no qualifying nor do you need a Tour card from the PGA, just bring your wallet (or purse).

SUCH PROGRESS….. 2/3/06

To go along with yesterday’s post, I was thinking about our parents and our kid’s grandparents.
In a snap shot of history, mankind was stuck in a rut for hundreds of years. Only Leonardo had any idea of what could be round the corner and that was 550 years ago. Just think of all the advances since 1900, the time of our parents or grandparent’s birth.

Here are some….
Coke in a bottle…Beer in a can… TP on a roll… Electricity in the home… News casts that are current… Music in the palm of your hand… Coast to coast travel in hours not months…Salad in a bag…Elevators on the outside of buildings… Fidel Castro president of Cuba (will he never go away?)…On time trains or trains at all…Paperback books… Roadways leading to anywhere (sometimes off a cliff)…Books on tape or DVDs… Selling water in a bottle…Hilary as president (no way)… Popcorn from a microwave… Men walk on the moon…Smallpox and Polio become history… I know I’ve missed something. What amazes you? Let’s hear about it.

Back in the days….. 2/2/06

Remember when… Cokes were a nickel, comics were a nickel, Saturday movies were a quarter, a Dairy Queen was beautiful? The old good days…things were a lot cheaper way the heck back then. The price of gasoline? Don’t make me cry …none us wants to remember the price of a gallon of gas - 35 cents! You can’t even buy a 1970’s men’s polyester leisure suit from our resale shop for 35 cents.

It may seem cheap, gas at 35 cents a gallon, but remember we really had to bust our butts for a buck back then. Now if a clerk hands you pennies back in change you’re affronted. Get this…. our high esteem of value has devalued our values.
Put simply…“cheap things cost more” even at Walmart. As for expensive things, what isn’t?.

I just bought a US saving bond for a new grandchild because back in the day that’s what my grandparents did for me. The denomination wasn’t huge, triple digits, and then I started thinking about current values and where they will be when my grandchild cashes in the bond at a bank. Will the teller no look at her like I looked at the clerk that handed a few pennies in change?

In short, it’s just like birthdays and get well cards; it’s the thought that counts. I’m thinking I’d better double up on the bond I just sent., don’t want to be known as grandpa Scrooge.
Oh, Happy birthday…brother! a day late.

P.S. I’ve been meaning to brighten up this blog site with a few choice Pix’s from American’s Dairyland but we either are out of cows or I can’t remember what my daughter told me about transferring pictures. So daughter please respond in kind…

Where were you?….. 1/32/06

November 1963, September 2001, December 1941. Some dates stand out from others because they made people think of something else other than themselves…. Heavy thoughts for most, for sad events are remembered with heavy hearts. So I ask, why can’t we turn the apple cart around?

Instead of the dismal, let’s think about the pretty, bury the sad, and think about the happy. Daily we are hit between the eyes with downer newscasts, also lots of advertising is negative tell us we are over weight or have a bad complexion. Here’s an idea… Let’s start a good news TV network.

All the news would be smiley stuff. We’d take only advertising that benefited mankind. Love, hope, and charity would be our call letters, positive, positive thinking…
Think of all the good it could do?

Ya, you are right, I got the shakes thinking about it, this newscast wouldn’t last about a week before going chapter 11. But still just a bit of good news in our national media would be a real shock. Don’t tell me there isn’t any good news, there just has to be. If not let’s make some…. But, wait, no one would know that it happened.

Ok I’ll shape up… tomorrow’s blog will be on the lighter side. Today is not the 32nd of Jan!