Thing you can’t control…..

The time on the clock… when you want to do something it seems that time crawls then flies by when you are doing it.

Your waist line…. You excerise and do all the right things and still it seems to grow. It's like the nation debit, very out of control.

Your freshly washed car…. It’s always bad timing, either the June bugs just hatched, there’s fresh oil on the road or the car in front of you just ran over a mud hole and all of these have made a mess all over your clean car.

You purchased Enron…. two weeks prior…

The price of gasoline…. You traded in your old VW for a giant gas hog SUV for you said you needed more room. Now gas is at $5,500.00 per gallon.

Lastly, I can’t control my dog or wife but let’s not go there!

Continued Monday with places that should have been avoided……………..

And the Emmy, Oscar, Blue Ribbon goes to…..

The envelope please…. And the winners are MGM, FOX, Universal and Mickey Mouse. In today’s environment it seems the only art form we have left is on the big screen and the actual winners are the shareholders of the cinema factories.
Special effects and advanced computer programs have taken over and our old world of visual art are fading fast.

Art schools today are starting with computer graphics and pen and paper drawing is a thing of the past. The old masters spent hours training their eyes and mind to see things that others would pass by. Their mastery of hand/eye coordination is now being supplanted by eye/screen vision.

Last week while working in our Thrift Shop I saw a coffee table book that was for sale. The book was the story of Claude Monte and his true profession, a gardener. Most people think of Monte as a painter but he spent his time working with plants and built a fantastic garden around a pond in Giverny just northwest of Paris. The book had many photos of his wondrous Japanese garden pond plus many of his paintings of it.

One of my favorite stops in Chicago is the Art Institute. Once inside the entry I always hook a left into the Impressionist section. And there you’ll see one gigantic Monet, the Water Lilies. I dare you to stand 12 steps back and look at the Water Lilies and not come away from it telling yourself it’s better than computer art of Shek 2 or an Andy Warhol soup can canvas hanging two room down.

Of all modern artists, Claude Monet set the style and the pace for generations to follow. To him painting was a recreation not a vocation. The same can be said of my golf game.

Our finny friends…

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Just once try to see things in a different light. It’s been suggested that’s this is one of the ways to create world peace.
Ya, right! No one would like to walk in my shoes, I have two right feet and am left handed. Try going into a shoe store and asking the clerk for a pair of right handed shoes in a size 9 for the right one and the other right one a size 12.

Now back to this blog’s subject….
It’s that season where our finny friends, Wisconsin's native fish try and reproduce. I went into writing blogs thinking I’d keep things clean and sex was the last thing on my mind. However, nature is taking it course right in front of our eyes. Yes, it mating season in our lake for Bass, Walleye, Bluegill and etc. The etc. is that I have a brother who was out late one night and coming home looked out on the lake and saw a two headed monster swimming off shore. It may have been his reflection in his car’s rear view mirror.

Over the next 2 weeks the lake fish go nuts. Which brings up today’s subject, just put yourself in the shoes of a fish. Jump in the water with me for a moment…

For 7 months you have frozen you tail off under three feet of ice. Now it’s time to rise and shine and go mate with the Mrs.
Then after a week recovery all these boats chase you around the lake throwing sharp objects at you with only one thought in mind, to get you into a fry pan. They haven’t even given you time to recover, laying on the beach, soaking in a few rays with a beer in hand.

Just when you think you’ve got it make the lake turns cool than freezes over. So it’s a tough life for our finny friend. Oh ya, I forgot. Each spring the DNR comes out with their shocking boats and fries your nose off calling it fish management.

Body check…. and not in hockey 4/26
They have teeth the size of an alligator. Their bite is worse than their bark. Once they set their minds to it they don’t let go. They pack a wallop. No, I’m talking about an Irishman but the about the common wood tick.

They are here again, just like April 15th and the IRS. You can count on our little pests to make their annual showing this time each year. These little fellows’ just love to drive both other members of my house holds nuts. For some reason they love the Mrs and our Springer…. and for some unknown reason they avoid this old hulk, could be the thick skin and you can’t get blood out of a rock.

After a long winter it sure nice to take a walk through the woods watch the new lime green leaves burst forth. Even our lazy our Springer waits by the door with the leach in her mouth begging for a walk. What can you say to her, No?
So, off we walk the three of us. The fresh spring air really awakens you. Below under foot the ferns are just starting to show through last year’s leaf cover. While high above our heads in the trees our ‘little friends are setting their sights on targets below then sky driving on the prey, Rosebud and Katie the dog.

Standard operating procedures are the followed after taking a walk in the woods. A complete body check occurs in our household. Now let’s not get racy here but a body check is a must… around fifteen years ago a new breed of tick found its way north, a deer tick and which carried Lymes. One good bite from it can turn a person world up side down for a long time….

These little sob’s are hardy visible, a lot smaller than the common tick. They once did a job on Rosebud causing her a lot of pain for one whole summer. So these little mice that roar can pack a sorry punch… careful where you walk.

Book Ends…

They say all good things come in pairs. Now take the holidays, it comes in a pair Christmas and New Years. And what would red be without blue. We have red wines and also have white wines. The original TV’s were not just black but black and whites. Spring has fall and winter has summer and there you go.

How about north? It has a south… then east has west. It’s endless. For without one we’d be walking in circles. Then it takes two people to be friends for where would one people be without another? Friendless.

It also takes two people to be cousins and that’s the grand news of this blog post. Last fall we were blessed with the arrival of our first grand child. A first for us and now the good news is that a second was just born , so it now two baby grand daughters and I’ll be able to bounce one on each knee.
I’d like to send you a cigar but in this day and age it’s bad taste.

Just know that we are a glow…… with our new book ends.

Let's spread things out...

Happens each year. Spring hits and the pace of life picks up. During the winter everyone is looking for one excuse to get out there and do something, anything.
Something away from the normal and any excuse will do, " Oh, geee we are out of milk, I’ll make the run." " Gad, the car’s gas tank is on 3/4s, I ‘d better run to town and fill it." Of course the run to town and back burns ¼ tank but who cares at $450 a gallon. Pardon me I forgot the "." between the 4.50....
plus, where I was headed with this?

Oh ya, it a the server lack of winter activities, then the amazing change over to a full dance card of spring and summer events. The phone rings and you are offered an invitation at attend a this or that and it sounds great, free drinks and poo poos. Then it hits you, party fever. And you tell the your host on the other end that you’ll have to check your social calendar first before accepting their invite.

Their invitation was for Memorial Day weekend. You then dash to your calendar and see that the weekend is packed. Literally not one moment is open for free drinks and poo poos. You already have three parties out there plus it’s work week end getting the joint ready for summer fun, docks to put in, out side furniture to clean. And on top it all there’s you have a part time job at the golf course. You also have invited houseguest or two for the weekend. Back to the phone and you call in your regrets, no free poo poos.

Then in a flash it’s November and you wait by the phone, you wait and wait and no calls, you are now once again a social derelict.

Two billion and counting….

No, it’s not the national debit, it’s the amount of leaves that somehow has blown back into our small patch of glass, our yard. Last fall I spent way too much time racking and reracking and to no avail. Just looking out the window makes me sick. It looks like I made no effort at all (which maybe I didn’t). There are tons of leaves and pine needles all over.

This is the third location where we’ve lived at where every leave in the neighborhood blows in and settles in our yard no matter the time of year. Our rake should demand overtime wages. Then there are our oaks trees which wait till late spring to drop their dead leaves from the prior year. You’d think that after all these years I’d either wait till late-late spring and give it a one time good overall and that’s it….

Or, maybe I should just let it go. You know that early prairie look that laze people in Illinois have recently came up with. It’s that pre-sod buster look, plant the whole place with wild flowers (weeds) and " four’get-about-it".

I mean we live in the woods, who is going to complain about our rustic yard?
My neighbor? No, that’s OK, he’s my brother and he’s got more leaves than I do maybe I should complain to him. "Pardon me but your leaves are blocking our driveway."

Doctor Feel Good wanted in surgery...

Today’s post isn’t the prettiest. It’s about body parts and we’ll keep it clean. Bright and early this morning I hopped out of bed and immediately heard a loud snap. There it goes again, the knee. The sound was strange for it came from my other bad knee. My really BAD knee hasn’t been giving me any trouble for its so far gone that I don’t even think about even when it buckles and I find myself on the floor. This was other bad knee, which isn’t so bad, or so I thought.
Where was I?

Oh, ya, I went to grab for it and heard another loud snap. The sound and pain came from my bad shoulder which likes to dislocate. I had major repair on it as teenager. Now a 100 years later my doctor as told me it’s history as is 90% of this worn out body. Last year he told me that both the shoulder joint and bad knee joint needed replacing. Which knee? Don’t ask I’ll just point.

After almost falling over this morning, I tried to straighten which was followed a POP from my lower bad back. My body was making more noise than the O'Hare Airport at rush hour. Only one thing could help me this morning, a long hot shower. I must have run through 100 gallons of hot steaming water.

I dried off and happened to look upon my aging hulk in a mirror, what a mess. The hot water had brought out all the old war wounds from past corrective surgeries. I looked like a zipper salesman’s sample case. I started counting... five different knee surgeries, one huge shoulder surgery scare, a gall bladder surgery, one long front zipper for heart by-pass surgery and now two more are in the works. Our little hospital has a wing named after me.

I use to listen to friends of my parents and their talk about failing body parts.
It was a definite sign of advancing age but… my mother Ros was right, I should have gone to Med. School. I could have save big by operating on myself. Which self? Don’t ask I’ll just point.

A Whirl Wind Tour….

We just returned from our 2nd spring trip. The trip was to the same place that we were too three months ago, not to much imagination under the old skull cap. It was time to bounce our grand daughter on the knee and to give a little r&r to her parents.
So we road tested our new used car and it proved worthwhile taking us down and back throughout the heartland with only one problem, a flat tire.

Question - where do you pick up a nail on the interstate?

We left in 30 degree temps and were treated to weather in the high 80’s.
Get this, it was warmer in Kansas City than South Beach – Fla. As we crossed the Missouri River Bridge from Missouri to Leavenworth we run into a swarm of little flying thing that turned the car color from white to black. Welcome warm weather a true sign of spring is crap all over our windshield.

The days flew by as did some miss placed golf shots. There is a ton of rust to get off the game before the boys hit town (Tom & Fred). We then headed north driving to Omaha and missing a Toto and Dorothy cyclone by a few hours.
It seems that the mid May twister season seems to be happening early this year really nailing the lower midwest. In Omaha we had a small family reunion, the other side of the family, then headed home for the good night’s rest in my own bed.

I have to admit it was nice waking this am to the sound of 3 pairs of loons battling for the summer fishing rights to our lake. Quack-quack!

Tom Thumb or was it the little Dutch Boy…

Remember the story of the little guy who stuck his thumb in a hole in the levee to save Oslo? Or was it Copenhagen? Anyway he saved his portion of mankind. The kid had principles and high ideals.

The rest of the story goes like this… it was a cold night, he was out late after the saloon had closed. By the time the EMT’s got to him, his thumb had turned blue then purple and black. That’s right, the doctors had to take it off, the thumb that is. The poor kid was looked on as a town hero without a thumb.

In our town we a guy whose story is simalar… he’s our medicine man. Joe is our friendly drugist who for years was concerned about all his customers and their health almost more so the their own doctors. Years back a chain store showed up with a pharmacy and took away some of his business.

Later our local medical clinic, owned and operated by doctors, added their own pharmacy. In years past Joe had a run their clinic pharmacy and had done a great job. Due to the doctors mismanagement of their clinic, it went out of business and was sold to an out of town concern. However, Medicine Man Joe plowed ahead keeping his chin up with a local corner drug store.

Then a large food store added a drug counter and Joe lost more business; however, he kept his chin up for he had many loyal customers. Then last year Walgreen’s started building a store down the block… but he still held his chin high.

All through this Joe said he could compete and offer service the other couldn’t. Why was he fighting the tide? Joe had been the rock in our community, a person who cared for its people, the feeling was mutual.

But along came the knife….. The new Medicare drug program, the intention was to delivery low cost drugs, it’s outcome was to drive out of business every independent pharmacist… another well throughout out plan by our government.

Now our thumbless friendly pharmacist is behind the counter at our new Walgreens, smiling because he doesn't have the daily headaches of fighting the Medicare kind folks. It's a little sad, but knowing Joe, he's got a little green salted away for a rainy week.

Travel Log #6 The drive north….

I’ve doing it for years. You get in a car and head north. Most of drive was on a simple 2 laner, Highway 51. Now after billion of bucks most of it are 4 lanes. Years past you would spend the majority of the day traveling through dozens of small Wisconsin towns. From Dickeyville or Beloit in the south up to Plainfield and Plover the drive would take half a day. Then you had to travel through Stevens Point, Wausau and Merrill, add another 5 hours travel time.

It was all the same, rather flat and boring. By the time you got to Tomahawk your rear end was flat and so was your patience about that old Dodge pickup truck in front of you traveling at 40 mph. North of Tomahawk theres a straight stretch where you could hammer it and pass the dozen or so cars now backed up due to the 90 year farmer driving the old Dodge pick up.


The other thing you noticed at Tomahawk was the woods started or what is left of them. Those that are natives to the northwoods (all three of you) have no concept about the drive north. Only southerners get the itch. It seems the closer you get to the Lakeland area time expands, as does the remainder of the distance to get there.

Last week I once again had the Drive North. I was down in Illinois visiting old friends with golf bag in hand. Bucking Chicagoland traffic once again I was reminder of why we chose to live in the north, not that there is anything wrong with Chicago area people. So for four days we had fun and game and then it was time to drive north….

Once again time and space expanded, weird, Startrek here we come.

Another nature happening…
it’s the Honkers…

The massive V was thousands of feet in the air. The sky was clear and you could almost make out each bird as it winged it’s way northward. At such distance you could barely hear the calls between the birds. They were repositioning themselves with another bird taking the lead. and the lead bird falling back taking a rest somewhat like NASCAR.

Over a period of 5 days the majority of the Canadian Geese will pass overheaded flying to their spring nesting grounds far into Canada. Our place is located near one of the first bodies of water that opens up from winter ice allowing the birds to land and rest. It’s one of the beautiful things about nature’s calendar as is the first Robin of spring. Even our flowerbed is showing positive signs. Gad, my blood is following, all this spring stuff almost makes me want to do push ups.

All these spring signs means I must prepare our place as well. First is to get up the deer netting before they trash the flowerbeds. Next is to take down the bird feeder so that our friendly bruin doesn’t make mice meat out of it again. Then we must get our Springer dog to the groomers before the wood ticks take over and carry her away.

Add in another two weeks of manual labor putting the docs and boats in the lake and just maybe… I’ll be ready for the fishing opener, oh ya, I got to renew my license. And one last thing… I must say a thank you to the man upstairs that the hundreds of Canadian hookers don’t spend an overnight in our front yard.

As I said those big birds are a thing of beauty at a distance as is my kisser.

Knock - Knock… whose not there?

That’s just my point. This site is very small, small in readers… to get it where is it is going, or where it should be or I'll deep six it. I need your help in passing along www. Littlebigdeal.blogspot.com. So, just get a friend to log on who has half a mind as we all do and needs to waste a moment each day.
So for today… knock knock-
whose there?

It’s the return of the first Loons and I don’t mean Brownie or the Huntster.
No better than that!
Early this am the first lost Loon of the season appeared and parked it’s tired rear end in front of our cabin in the small patch of open water. It then went looking for breakfast so did I.

When I returned this pm even the golf balls that I tired to hit across the lake last week had headed to the bottom as the ice had melted during the day.

So our feathered friends are with us once again and will be "quacking" their tail feathers off all night. It’s them telling us they were here first and that we’d better suck it up and get use to their calls…. It’s smile time in the north.

They’re nuts!

The lake ice is starting to go and has been for a week. It's 6 to 8 feet from shore and out in the middle it’s turning black. It’s a very good sign spring is here and a very bad sign for a group of hearty foolish people.... late season ice fisher- people. Thankfuly they have the brights not to drive out onto the ice.

Yet, there the still are out drilling holes and dangling lines through the ice.
Yesterday it got to me, I questioned how’d they get out there without swimming in 35 degree water with all their fishing gear?

I stopped that the Island Sports Shop and asked the same question…..
Here’s the answer…. The guys group together and one of the nuts brings a long extention ladder which they use to span the open water. They place plywood strip over the open rungs. This creates a causeway to the feeding ground of hundreds of hungry bluegills.

I’ve gone through the ice twice in mid winter at a minus 5 degrees… it’s not fun. Even with an outside temp of 45 the water is still breath taking. It's like those polar bear dips you see on Tv. They cut a hole in the ice and people jump in the water to raies funds for this and that cause....yet I don't see these young kids staying in the freezing water to play polo. They all have a scew loose, what would their mothers say?

ANY IDEAS?
There is a huge void. It’s between the Christmas holiday season and May Day. It’s the time of the year that’s in never-never land, a land of gray fog banks and blank stares. We are now just coming out of this tail spin. It’s a time when we all need a good jolt of something and that something that doesn’t come in a bottle.

I don’t care where you live in good or fowl weather or next door to paradise a break from whatever and where you are is needed. Everyone needs a break in their status quo, a big shaken up and I don’t mean a head on.

Due to some things beyond my control I haven’t "broken away" in over a year.
Oh, I’ve taken a day or two trip drive down the driveway road the road was long enough. And that break away I am talking about should come in the oh-hum time of the year, Dec.- April.

I am not alone on this for a "spring break" has been a national item for decades. The only problem is that it’s not recognized as a legal nation break plus it comes at all different times from area to area. We need to start a movement both to legalize spring vacation and standardize it’s date and length.

To start the band wagon rolling we need a real corker of a name, maybe "Tan & Burn? Well almost but you get my point… any ideas?

What lies beneath?

For months there was a beautiful cover of white snow. Yes I said beautiful. No I am not regretting the presence of spring. What I am regretting is what I left undone last fall and all the half finish projects that are on "OUR" to do list which was thankful covered by mounds of snow.

Yesterday instead of attacking the foot long list I sat back and calculated the amount of time required too make a dent in the list. By rough estimates it will be mid December went things are caught up with but that’s not allowing for any playtime (fishing & golfing).

One item, which I had to add, was road repair. Apparently while plowing a late season snow storm a had the plow at an improper angle and dug a long hole in the drive., that’s got to be fixed. Then there’s a need to cut and split firewood an on and on an on…

I think I’ll put off some of the hard stuff and get to the really important items, like putting new line on my fishing reels, cleaning up the boat and painting the dock…
wait a minute the Masters golf tournament is on talk to you all later….

Go fly a Kite….

Spring, it’s kite flying weather. Those poor people in mid America certainly haven’t had time for any thing but to say thank you, thank you for another near miss. But some haven't been as lucky There were reports that Dorthy's Toto landed somewhere in Indiana. Sadly, the twisters this year have been more than highly active, as were the hurricanes last fall.

The alarmists out there point to this and that which have caused the May-lay of climate changes thus causing all the carnage. Kiterna did a job on us whipping out a beautiful area and a not so beautiful city. I don’t mean to be disrespectful of the Big Easy nor the gulf coast, however there comes a time when a question needs to raised.

Ten years ago a Mississippi River flood hit and took out much of western central Illinois and the federal government step in and said NO, NO to rebuilding in a flood plain. People living there couldn’t rebuild and if they did insurance companies were to offer insurance no matter the cost. There wasn’t one company who even thought about selling in that area.

So New Orleans gets nailed and 90% of the town which is well below sea level gets submerged. Now the town is slowly rebuilding with huge grants and donations. It is hoped that they will finish in time for the next big blow will swamp them again? Logical?

Their founding fathers built the place on a swamp, then all around the town realtors and capitalists further subdivided the out laying swamp land making a killing. Then they left it to the US Army to protect family homes built a swamp that’s been sinking for year., sinking at a rate of 2 to 3 inches a year.

Town history aside, great food aside…. I would leave the question of rebuilding the Big Easy up to the insurance companies. I ‘d ask them a question…
" Are insurance companies willing to insurance New Orleans and it’s property owners?"
I think they all would sadly say… "Go fly a kite."

Great Expectations….

All the excising, all the mental gymnastics, all the forward thinking down the drain with just one swing of a golf club, make that several swings.
Looking forward to something that you have been away from for months is very trying. I can only compare it to a jail prisoner counting off the days to his of her release.

The anticipation in enough to cause ulcers or worse, baldness.
For months we have looked outside, one word, ugly. Then finally we see some melting outside, oh joy spring! Well almost, for it will be weeks before we are allowed on a golf course up here. So, I packed a bag and headed south…… south is anywhere out of the snow line where some very wise golf course owner has his sign up "Open for Business".

We’ve watched the West Coast swing, then the Florida swing, sat through March madness so now it’s your turn to swing. After a day’s drive south I teed it up… Took a few practice swings… and told myself…‘easy’ on the back swing…I pulled the trigger and pound the first ball deep into the woods. Well then, I simply made a slight adjustment turning this and that, took another swing and a second ball followed the first deep into the woods .

GOLF, what a grand game.
It’s 95% mental, 15% physical... not off the tee I’m shooting 6, I am dead in the game extremely alive, but whose counting!

Stumbling Forward, maybe…

March 28th was a big day. No the stock market didn’t go nuts nor the sky started falling, chicken little. There was not a peace announced in Iraq nor was our family’s Power Ball Ticket was chosen.
No, the big happening was on March 28th and it was bigger that all of the above. The last puzzle for getting us truly into modern age happened when we stop an Altell Phone store and signed up for service. Once again I have my nose buried in an owner’s manual and it has only taken me two hours to get a dial tone on our hand danny cell phone.

To say the boat left the dock ten years ago when it comes to our being plugged into new electronic gizzmos is an understatement. The other scary thought also happened last week when we stopped at a photographer and had our passport shots taken. It wasn’t the thought of traveling to far away places that was up setting but what developed in the pictures.

The pictures showed two older people looking like they belonged in a home. One wasn’t the face I shaved every morning nor the other that I give a morning kiss too, our pictures were slap in the face. One showed a baldheaded, baggy eyed, person with three chins, and a complexion worst that the Namibian Desert. Even Rosebud looked a little long in the tooth. I think the only country that would allow these two entry would be Transylania. There they have enough ugly monsters running around the landscape that we’d fit right in.

In short I’ve aged and just don’t like to admit it. I guess I’ll just have to suck it up and stumble along.

It’s coming …. The most wonderful time of the year… April 15th

So the plot is to have a flat rate income tax… everyone pays a straight percentage of their income. This sounds too simple and it is if you have a simple mind. When I look at this concept I keep coming up stubbing my toe.
This simple fair-minded plan really looks good on the outside but think of all the problems it would start. Consider the "what abouts", the poor and under privileged who aren’t in a position to pay taxes, i.e. Ricky Williams, he’s in treatment or Donald Trump, who doesn’t have the time to pay, he’s to busy.

With a flat rate our unemployment figures would jump off the charts… tax attorneys, CPAs and accountants would be throwing themselves out of basement windows. Their unemployment lines would circle the block many a time. Also the paper and printing industry would suffer a huge recession throwing Wall Street into a panic – down we go!

Second, the words every person comes into play. You know right out of the block there would be exemptions. When congress would first starting writing such a change they would be first in line to dodge the tax. They would also exempt every federal employee, followed by every lobbyist that contributed to his or her re-election fund.

Then there would be a percentage discount from the flat rate if you a shirttail member of his or her family or had the identical last name.
This would also hold true if you were left-handed or had the same hair color!
Do you see where this is headed? Right, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Just sign your 1040 and the accompanying check and smile or move to Columbia with your hidden funds in a carryon…and I don’t mean Columbia South Carolina.

Let’s hear it for the Heartland…

I’ve lived among the trees and lakes in northern Wisconsin for many a year. Putting up with winter especially in March and April when most of the culitzed world is having a thing called spring is a little trying. But when our spring comes (June) we look forward to summer (July) then to fall (August).

To the south of here the heartland farmers are already engaged in this year’s planting and hope for a good growing season. Having been a lad and walked the cornfields of Iowa and Illinois with my grandfather and father I have a feeling for the land ( Iowa) that others see flat and boring. I have hopefully passed this feeling onto my son taking him hunting in the fall.

Another thought is the business end of the people that till the land. Many people, mostly city folks, grumble about the about the taxes they pay the government to help support the farm folks. Then they head the local Jewel Food store and grumble about the high prices of food stuffs. Stopping at the local gas station they grumble about the high cost of gasoline. They even grumble about the returns they are getting from the bank and their investments in the stock market.

These chronic grumblers have risked a lot less then the heartland farmers whose fortune are tied into the weather, grain speculators and huge subsidized farmers in other counties. So hats off to ethanol burning cars and truck engines, pass the corn flakes please.

P.S. If any of you think Iowa is flat and boring I’ll take you on a fall hunt. If you last a day I’ll buy you a ‘Made Rite’ dinner and corn fritters on the side.

Ain’t life Grand…

We live in a spot that has a great view of the southeast sky. It’s somewhat in the wrong direction if you are an afternoon person. But the view is wide open across our lake. It’s the direction that we often get great sun and moon rises. This early am when I came down to offer you my views on the world economy and global cooling I was hit between the eye with a blaze of orange and golds. Then slowly a huge fireball arose from over the trees, the SUN!

Yes there is a sun in northern Wisconsin! Two out of thirty days per month is the general average for views of the sun. This lack of sun turns everything blue and it’s a hard hit to take. But when we are treated to what we were given us this morning it’s all the more rewarding. Just think… if we had this grand showing every morning there would be a lot more positive attitude floating about.
Actually this wouldn’t happen for the novelty would wear off. It would be like having a streak dinner nightly, or something else nightly. And if I were allowed to go to our local saloon nightly that too would become boring as well (sad to say).

There is only one thing I can handle in large doses and that’s family and friends. So, let all count on the little stuff that we sometimes overlook like the sunrise we had this am. Oh… and as to our view out to our west windows? It isn’t much, just some half dead trees but let’s not go there.