Half Way Projects…

Last year I offered a series of designs for our new church’s windows. They were to be done in stain glass and I let a few people look at the designs. And no, the subjects aren't copies of the the windows of the Cathedual at Chates France wherein heavenly bodies looking heavenly. How about a duck? a sunset? a waterfall? The subjects were of the wonders that surround us. All of a sudden within two weeks I had 9 windows “sold” and was out on the street getting quotes from glass studio’s around the country.


We (the board) received the first 2 quote and recovered from heart failure (literally) Then a small shop in Iowa sent theirs. Bingo! They were half price. SOLD! Now we are in a waiting game.

This little shop is in the middle of a southeastern Iowa corn field and they are swamped. Not due to the summer rains but swamped with work that they are trying to finish. They are full bore into revamping windows of a San Francisco Cathedral.

Our wait is going on three years but there is light at the end of the tunnel… Next month the first 4 windows are due with the balance to be set in November…. Maybe. Guess what I’ll be up to? Overseeing. I’ve taken lessons from Rosebud for the last 40years.
And no the window subjects aren’t of Saint Ralph and the holy mother Edina

Labor Day...

It's a very import date, for on this day 295 years ago Mr. Jack Labor of Birmingham England invented labor. He was doing the usual, nothing, sitting under an apple tree when one fell off a branch and landed on his head. He looked around at all the other red round objects. He thought to himself " What a mess they are making of my front yard."

He then had his wife pick up all the apples and pressed the juice out of them and put the juice into bottles. He then continued on his three month nap doing nothing, waking he had found out that the jucie had turn into high spirits.

You got it.... due to Mrs Jack's labors we now have Apple Jack. Cheers, now you know the rest of the story.

Papa again….

Rise the flag its was a boy. Sure I love our three grand daughters; they put a gleam in my eye. However, I know Rosebud has big plans in helping those three young girls down the path of lady hood.

But it's a boy!!!! … well now, I can teach him to spit in the fire, do something in the woods, hit a golf ball with a curve on it, swear like a bloody nun, and to always tell the truth, almost.

There were many things that my own grandpa past along to me. I use to think that the slow gray haired gentleman use to let things slip by him... but no! He took all things in without comment holding judgement to himself. It was only when there was a serious question at hand he would comment. It's then when we all would listened.

I was fortunate to have had one of my grandfathers alive when I was a lad. The other past too early as did our father. When my dad was out busting his rear end making a living it was grandpa who stepped in and gave me confidence. I hope that I’m still around to do the same… but as our youngest dear daughter taught us, “Carpum Deium” enjoy the day. As for tomorrow's troubles, they show up tomorrow.

(So how come the National Florist Association hasn't come up with a grandparent day?)

Wisconsin’s Newest Sport.
Blast a Pike.

Its a lot of fun. First you need a fishing license. Next you need a boat, a real big boat… maybe a ship, like the USS Abe Lincoln. Next, you pitch all the garbage over board. You are loaded and locked ready for action. A safety helmet is optional.

Now when the Northern Pike comes to the surface to see what’s what, you open fire. With an M-16 you can’t miss, trouble is that there isn’t to much of the fish left to clean and cook. It’s just like being on vacation, that being the journey is the best part. The only trouble is that are only two lakes in the state that can hold an aircraft carrier the size of the Lincoln and trailing a ship that big with my mini van just will not work.

The Jets??????

Oh, come on, who said sports have anything to do the SPORT?
Just think of the car deals, TV comericals, and land deals Big Country will be making in the Big Apple. Look out Donald Trump!

Here's
Jimmy Olson,
our ace
lumberjack.


See here is proof! He was 80' in the air without a landing net. One slip and there's a hole in the ground somewhat like his profileand it's not first bounce or a fly.

In a day he took down three oak trees, all very big ones. I told him that you couldn't pay me enough green stuff to go anywhere near those trees... he told me it's FUN and that he felt bad about billing me.

He charged $125 per tree, cleaned up his mess, took the big stuff and left me the burnables. There aren't to any "deals" around any more but our LumberJack - Jimmy the tree guy is one of them... real name with held upon request.

Jimmy Olson…
He was the go'fer for guy for the man with a big S on his tailor mad blue outfit. Both worked for a major metropolitan newspaper. He wasn’t even a second banana like Friar Tuck to Robin Hood. The important thing here is that with out a second or three banana’s the bunch falls apart. Our story plot falls apart and doesn’t thicken.

What would it be without Larry? Curly, Mo and Walter?
Or try Abbott and Smith…what happened to Costello?
Try Sigfired and Tom without tigers.
Can you imagine a Nascar Race without a pit crew? The driver would have to unbuckle, jump out of the car changing four tires, fill the tank and clean the wind shield then get back in the race.

How about a baseball team without a catcher? Here’s the pitch, and the balls headed past the umpire and into the stands… and all the runners advance home. At times some EXTRA pro's are requird and that’s it, period.

Right now I have this fellow taking down two huge oak trees before Mother Nature brings them down on our home. The guy is 80 feet in the air topping the thing swing like an ape. Yet, he knows what he’s doing with safety lines, hard hat and the whole works. He even has a guy on the ground to catch him first bounce or a fly.

I also know what I’m doing. Hiring a guy to do a job that just a few years ago I would have tried to do and failed. So here’s to all the Jimmy Olson and Roger our lumberjack. He’s got to be out of his gord dangling 80' high on a 3" branch?