A gem in the rough

What’s there to do in our little town on a cold winter day when the boys are out of town? Why head to our local Thrift Shop and hunt for hidden treasure.

So there I was checking out the real bargains like used electrical fuses and ski boots that went out of style two decades ago. After checking out the men’s thread department I realized half the stuff was my old clothing that I had donated last year (not that they were worn out just that it was a slight fit problem.) This was rather depressing so I headed to the book department. Yes, our little store has it all!

I spent 20 minutes at the used paperback book racks which were filled with 10 year old Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum novels most of which had also come from our own book shelves. But finally I happened onto one that hit me… it was a very thin paper back from the publisher Frommer’s. They are the folks who produce travel guides for all the states and around the world.

This one is different. For instead of telling you where to go and how to get there it tells you how to pack. Imagine a book on packing a travel bag or in olde English a suite case. In the book it gives you detailed drawings of how to prepare your ”stuff” for a long period of travel. Can you imagine? Gee, for 60 plus years I’ve been doing it wrong. I always waited to the last minute and just threw my stuff in a bag.

Now with a little time on my hands (no Packer games) I spent last weekend practicing packing. The book showed me that there truly is an art form to packing, folding shirts and undies take practice and at the other end as well. So now I am ready for our trip south in several weeks… there will be no more looking like I slept in clothes at the other en. I’ll be a dapper Dan and a complete fool for I don’t speak the language except…. “bonjo pronto.”

Today's one liner... " A fine is a tax for doing wrong... a tax is a fine for doing well."

Trip Planning…

It could be for a week-end trip just to get out of town or several months out of the country, its all the same. You’ve got to get your act together. I have a younger brother who was always on the road and quite frankly I don’t know how he pulled it off.

He pack on Sunday, leave on Monday and return Thursday or Friday. This wasn’t weekly nor monthly but be did this for many a decade. How many socks, tooth brushes and whatever he left on hotel rooms has got to be in the thousands. Then talk about turn around time… this was for his job and how in the heck he plotted out his travel, ticketing, lodging and meals is boggling. Then there were his weekend turn arounds. Doing the wash, checking in with the kids and other family members was beyond me. No way! Small wonder that he had bypass surgry and at times had a short fuse.

We are in the process of planning a trip out of the country for a short stay. Needless to say, I’m leaving the packing to the expert. I last time I did my own packing we had to do a lot of shopping at the other end for things likes razors, underwear and etc. However, I do have my sack of jelly beans stashed away.

Two liner… “Going to court? You are putting your future in the hands of 12 people not smart enough to duck out of jury duty…good luck”

Its over, the season…

Oh, the Super Bowl (Bore) ? Yaeh, but it’s just another game of out east teams. 90% of the rest of the county could care less. It’s months before August rolls around and the summer camps begin with college football and the pros working up a sweat. Baseball you say ? Come on, get real.

Maybe you and I should start another football league. I know there is a spring football league in Europe and one that played indoors with 5 ½ men. But its not here (USA) nor “real” smash mouth football.

Just think we could sell franchises in towns that would kill for something to do.
Here is a start list of possible towns… Death Moines, Omaha, Dayton, Peoria and South Bend. All these towns are need of real football. And what else are you going to do on a Friday evening except sit at Whitman’s and complain about the fishing.

-19...
just another day at the pole!

You know its cold...
when your dog heads to the door shake it’s head and returns to it’s soft warm bed.

You know its cold when your furnace gives up in frustration.

You know its cold when your match refuses to light.

You know its cold...
when your car tires are frozen to the ground and your engine can’t bust them lose.

You know its cold when even Rosebud will not go cross country skiing.

You know it cold when your nose falls off.

You know it cold...
when three pairs of socks doesn’t do it and your toes curl up to your rear end.

Yeah, were in the middle of a cold snap again, one of the many positives of life here in northern Wisconsin that and high taxes, and power outages. It’s why it’s called God’s country. God may have created the place but everyone knows he lives in the Caribbean
One liners:
Those that live by the sword…getshot by those that don’t

Green and Old… I mean gold
It’s both and this is written prior to Sunday’s lick off. Who’d tunk? 13 and 3 and still in the game. The guy is 38! What were you dong when you were 38? I had problems just getting my shoes on. And I for one was in a lot better shape than 99% of my friends.

So Brett is going to be out there trying his best to win one for the Vince. Win or lose he is still a winner. How can anybody cheer against the guy? I even think many die hard Giant, Bear and Viking fans deep down have a semi soft for the boy from Mississippi. I am an old Charger fan as well and I just think it would be a great game if the two teams made it to the super bowl. But it really doesn’t matter for as we all know the NFL is business.
If I were betting I wouldn’t, for that would spoil everything… I am going to open a beer of two and just sit back and watch the old master try to out smart the kids in the white jerseys and have the fire place a full bore. So hail green and gold for it can’t be any worse than the Bears bust of last year… let’s just hope everyone make tha’ bus. Monday pm… Ok, so they lost so have 30 other NFL teams and don’t give me “Wait till next year…”

Today's One liner "the race sometimes doesn't go to the swiftest nor the contest to the strongert, but its a good way to bet." Twain

When you know its wright…
Ever doodle on a paper place mat? About 8 years back I daydreaming on a piece of paper. It was right after one of our kids got married in our very small church where two is company and three is a crowd. The old church I’d worked on many a year changing light bulbs trying to keep up it’s warmth and charm.

The moment you walked in you were elbow to elbow to the person next to you. The point being that many of our friends could not be invited to our kids wedding due to the lack of room. Months later a close friend died and his funeral had to be elsewhere. That did it. Out came the paper and a pencil and the wheels turned picturing Mr. F. L. Wright panning a design for our church expansion.

After the work of many and setting to rest the nay Sayers we have a new beautiful church with all the bells and whistles. But something was missing, a finishing touch, stained glass windows. Out came the paper place mat and pencil once again for a bit of warmth and charm seemed lacking…. Two weeks later, presto, 9 designs that “sold” in a two week time. Unbelievable nine different families came up with the funds to pay to the building of the stain glass windows. Something must be Wright with Mr. Wrong....Grand showing Thanksgiving 2008

TODAY'S ONE LINER.....
“Your shinbone… it’s for finding things in the dark.”

Dressed to kill…

A few of you know of this DVD title. It’s from a veery weird DVD that’s out from a comedy concert held quite a few years ago. Find one, put it in your DVD player hit the play button and you are stopped cold by what you see. It’s a standup comic dressed as a fruit cake or maybe ready for a straight jacket, one in the color of magenta. That’s everyone’s first observation, ‘what in the hell am I watching?’ you ask. Then it hits you, one of the classics of all time, I kid you not.

But like all things, looks can be veery misleading. I mean who in their right mind would have voted for a freak for president Mrs. Lincoln? Well, he does dress well! And what comes out of his mouth sure is better than looking at him. He just wasn’t another pretty face… So, don’t take my word for it about this DVD, just ask Brian or Claire, so thanks kids. For all of you others that don’t know of Eddie Izzard’s stick, try it on for size.
today's one liner.....
“ Light is faster than sound…
that is why some people appear bright until they speak.”

Done that, read that… 1/16

So it’s library time once again… this time of year it’s a weekly thing. I mean the saloons are a bore for all the yoyo flatlanders down south so there is no one at Whitman’s to at laugh at or with. I should go down hill skiing you say? Get serious!

Then it’s a long time between Packer games and it seems that national networks only telecast the really big hoop games and not the Bradley Braves? What are they? They are some non-politically correct athletic team, that’s what. So, here we are between baby sitting jobs occupying time and space. Its three weeks between our trip south, way south, when we put our springer dog in jail, pack the bags and start hick hiking.

So, it’s a time thing… what in the blazes do I do other than shovel snow… head to the library and find a good book of course. Well, I did and read all three of them… I even check out their DVD’s all three of them. Rosebud told me that I should increase my workouts- tread milling is fine for squirrels. It’s gotten so bad that I’m back to editing my “One Liners”, my collection of other’s quot’ables. I leave you with one...

“ nothing is fool proof…to a sufficiently talented fool.”

Our little friend…

Its a red squirrel that lives in our wood pile. Our wood pile was a rather large one last fall. With the advent of cold weather I keep hauling wood in for our evening fires and disrupting the poor lad. Each morning when I let the dog out he greets us with squirrel chatter. Meaning… “If you touch my wood pile one more time you guys are dead meat.”
I have messed up his den many a time. His den is a mass of leaves and things collected things that he arranges in a very heart warming way. To bad squirrel… that wood pile is strictly that, a wood pile, he’d better park your rear else where.

It’s the way of nature up here in the far north, dog eat dog, man eat squirrel. Oh, that was the theme of holiday movie that’s just out, “ Alvin meets Chip and Dale”, its a sham! Pure Hollywood. Speaking of shams… Raindeer do not know how to fly! They take United Airlines flight 101 out of O’Hare to Miami Beach