Jumpin Jehoshaphat

When my wife said, face overflowing with enthusiasm, “I’m going to paint the frogs.”

I asked “What are you doing to whose dogs?” Eventual understanding her intent I Sighed to myself, ‘Well, it was a nice garden accent.’

She had some left over spray paints from previous projects and went to work on the frogs.

I found myself surprised and highly impressed with my wife’s talents. She painted the frogs and they look fabulous. You’d think I would have learned by now. She calls it her masterpiece and just realized now, looking over my shoulder, that she hadn’t painted the back.

To the left is the original color scheme, seen from the back.

Reflecting on my previous post and looking to recent Supreme Court decisions I have come to the conclusion that I am meant to be filthy rich; that’s how I feel. It’s the person I believe myself to be, I know myself to be. I’m going to make the Supreme Court give me all your money.

Thanks for reading. The Supreme court will be in touch.

“End of the month, padding your word count goal again Phillip?” you’re accusing. Maybe, or maybe I’m just building my case. They will be in touch.

The $104 question: What were my three most favorite WORS races? Keeping the same question. Check out the Charity Jackpot Page link in the sidebar to possibly triple the amount.

Less than three-hundred words to go.

Industry

WORS held another successful event this last weekend and multiday road bike events are strong in the Midwest. Many of our local bike shops have been serving their communities successfully for decades. It all exists because organizers and retailers worked very hard.

But sometimes that’s not enough. The Rock Sports Complex is part of a successful model of baseball parks. When they bought up an area that Metro Mountain Bikers had built up as a mountain biking hub, they responded to the community and invested in an MTB gravity park on the existing ski hill. The biggest investment, outside of management, were the new lifts.

I imagine the lifts are paying off for their ski operation, but they are not paying off for the bike park. According to this story the whole gravity park operation is for sale for $1. This story is ongoing; as of a couple weeks ago the bike park shut down the lifts and put up a self pay station, asking $5 for riders to access all the trails, cross country and downhill.

Little Switzerland has some great mountain bike riding. The course development is driven by enthusiasts devoting their personal industry. Rough camping available on July 11th.

Park City sends me a mountain biking brochure in the mail every spring. Many events send me e-mails and I do my best in my own industrious way to inform those who partake of this blog of all those events. My various efforts at industry however have not translated to personal monetary gain.

The Craft Bike Trans Alp is less than three weeks away. The Sudety MTB Challenge, also in Europe begins only days after the Trans Alp ends. Then you can come back to the US and head for the UP and The Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic. Afterwards you could fly to Australia for the Simpson Desert Classic. All that racing, training and prep, the associated socializing will keep you very busy, but does that testify to your industry or just that you’re filthy rich?

Industry; the Bible promotes a life of industry. Remember the lumber I posted a picture of a while back?

I laugh when I drive by this new found product of a man’s industry. This lot was greenhouses which were torn down to build condos. The bottom dropped out of the housing market and this aquaponics center came in years later and built …greenhouses. Yes, the old greenhouses were far too inefficient so it’s all good. Aquaponics is fascinating. The industrious young man who built this business received no grants or subsidies. Profits come from the wholesale of vegetables. The fish only cover their own operational expenses, being sold wholesale to a restaurant. I worked with an architect who told me fish farms made good money by providing a fishing pond. A fishing pond’s largest clientele, he claimed, being single mothers who believed their sons needed exposure to the outdoors life. I’m not suggesting anything, but it might be a way to get around retail sale regulations, or not. I went their hoping I might be able to buy some fresh fish. I was disappointed. Large group tours are available upon request.

Our garden could use some replanting. We went to the Tosa Farmer’s Market this weekend. We bought cheese and coffee. We didn’t see any fresh eggs, but we got there late. Rushing Waters Trout Farm has a booth there. They actually have a restaurant at their fish farm and it is not too far from the John Muir Trail in Kettle Moraine South. It could make for a nice mountain bike outing. They have a fishing pond. Fishing is year round, no license required. Catch and release is strictly prohibited. They were highlighted this Winter on Wisconsin Foodie.

Wormington Organic Fertilizer has a booth at the farmer’s market. They sell bags of 100% worm castings; that would be…   It sounds like a city you’d find in England; Wormington.

The Fourth of July is on Saturday and most everything will be closed, including farmer’s markets. I drove by the farmer’s market downtown this last week. But why would I want to pay for parking? I didn’t stop.

That green really makes the green pop. Our cucumbers will take off any day know and cover that wire mesh; a meager example of my industry. At least it gives us something to eat. My greatest labors of industry these days are of course the development of my books. I would also highly recommend this collection of short stories.

“How’s that coffee diet doing for you Phillip?” you ask. At the farmer’s market we bought coffee from the local Hawthorne Coffee Roasters, a shining example of local industry. It is good, though I cannot claim to be a judge as the brewing in our home is of an inconsistent quality. I fail to understand the difficulty in grinding the same amount of beans and adding the same amount of water into the machine every morning and not getting the same result, but that’s just me.

So I had to ask myself, what is the difference between all these fancy coffee makers and the good old percolator? First of all, the local roaster shops and aficionados like my brother, brew their coffee with open filters; simply pouring the hot water through the filtered coffee directly into the cup themselves. My brother uses a hand grinder to grind his coffee beans.

Taste is determined by water temperature. That is why Mr. Coffee was a big hit when it came along; temperature control. The percolator requires the water to reach boiling which creates a more bitter brew, which some people like and may even go well with the bulletproof coffee.

Mold and bacteria in coffee machine’s tubing will influence not just the taste of your coffee.

Your k-cups excel on quality control (also on providing variety) but they are ridiculously expensive. (if they are not to you, you’re filthy rich) With the growing cost of electricity you might want to percolate your coffee on a gas stove. I bet your generic coffee maker is always plugged in with a little clock display and a light telling you the machine is off. I looked for percolators at Boston Store but they only had one and it was electric. Sporting good stores sell percolators for camping.

One thing is certain. Having illustrated the potential savings, possible health benefits and nostalgic flavor of percolated coffee on this blog, my blog, this time next year percolators will be all the rage. Why waste your hard earned money?

See how I changed the topic and dodged mentioning I’ve slipped on the bulletproof diet and gained weight? Always project success and never apologize for winning.

The $103 question: What were my three most favorite WORS races? Keeping the same question. Check out the Charity Jackpot Page link in the sidebar to possibly triple the amount.

The Longest Day of the Year

The Devil’s music is coming to Milwaukee. Everyone is all a flutter even those who had previously declared what despicable human beings the members of The Rolling Stones have been. Not to mention that the image of the elderly playing Rock n’ Roll just looks so very wrong.

But all is not lost. Bicycling is strong in the Midwest. The Intelligentsia Cup Race Series is on in the Chicago area next month, though I am unclear as to what intelligence has to do with Chicago.

Mountain biking? WORS is in Eau Claire Wisconsin for the Red Flint Firecracker; not a race I will be attending. IMBA has put forth this trail building video. Metro Mountain Bikers will no longer be sending out e-mail notices so ‘Like’ them on Facebook so you can follow their activities.

Need a bike? Emery’s is having a big sale.

You may have seen the big bike crash in Waukesha on the news. We are in the middle of the Tour of America’s Dairyland here in Wisconsin. Tomorrow’s event will be in downtown Milwaukee at the Schlitz Brewery. Today they were at the Milwaukee Mile. And if the idea of bicycles on a race track make your eyes cross, The Milwaukee Indyfest will be here in three weeks.

My wife and I went to the high speed ferry port to pick someone up. I never thought much of the ferry and think even less of it now. What transportation station/ hub or port in this case, in the whole world over, doesn’t allow for pick-ups and drop-offs? That would be the Lake Express Ferry terminal. Note my refusal to offer you a link. Five-dollars just to park. Oh yes, visitors can park for free for three hours; after you buy a pass for five-dollars. Okay, so I have to wait in the car. Then as the passengers begin to spill out into the parking area out come the nasty faced terminal workers yelling “You can’t stop here, move your car!” as three seconds after pulling up our guest was already putting his bag in the trunk and my wife was getting in. They jumped on every car that pulled up with a relentless fury. There were no bike racks either.

So now, even if I do one day become filthy rich, I will never take this ferry nor recommend it to anyone. There were two types of people disembarking. One, awe in their eyes, who took the ferry as a novelty. The other type, noses in the air because they are just so superior to everyone else.

Yes we went fishing. After church in Madison on Sunday I took my wife to a secret fishing spot my grandfather used to take us. An historic property of a distant relative via my maternal grandmother. Extremely friendly people and conversation accompanied our fishing. I caught a small bass and bullhead, both of which I released of course.

Earlier in the month we used our numerous gift cards to see a movie; “Jurassic World.” It was packed even on a Tuesday night. They only had tickets available for the 3D show. People are starving for good entertainment, and this was a movie which was the same as the previous two (or was it three). Same super smart dinosaurs, same stupid people, same miraculous results.

Can you believe it has been forty years since “Jaws” was first released. Search for it in theatres. It really is one of the best films ever made. Two might not have been as good of a movie but it was even more horrifying, and then…

My wife was complaining the other day that the dishes weren’t washed. To make up for it I decided to bake her a cake. You should have heard here surprise when she came home.

Something went terribly wrong with the frosting. I am still researching the best cake recipe. “You haven’t finished.” she said.

My diet is still on. I found I can get by with less sleep on this diet without losing focus …or becoming grumpy as can happen at times if one hasn’t slept. I expect my weight to start going down again any week now.

The $102 question: What were my three most favorite WORS races? Keeping the same question. Check out the Charity Jackpot Page link in the sidebar to possibly triple the amount.

Summer Trails

Last night was another meeting of Metro Mountain Bikers. Tonight, the Milwaukee County Trails Council will be holding a free event at the Mitchel Park Conservatory, most commonly referred to as The Dome, from 5-7pm. The Hank Aaron State Trail cuts right through the county and off shoots straight to the domes. I suspect most every interested party in the event will arrive by car.

Yes! The removal of the lining in the river by my home, a flood control device, is about to begin. Something our neighborhood was promised never would happen. They’re pumping out the water now, this June 10th; I heard the pump pumpin. Over the last decades that I have been back here in Milwaukee, we have had our heaviest rains and flooding, citywide, in the second half of June. Our neighborhood was flooded itself June 22nd, I believe, many years back. That is why they gave us the flood wall; and a nice paved trail along with it.

The removal of the liner is for the fish, but this river is too shallow, therefore to warm, to support any fish spawning. The DNR  said so, so it must be true, especially since they are in favor of this supposed restoration of fish habitat.

It is a nice trail, though confined to the neighborhood. Not being connected to a system of trails holds certain advantages, especially in these days of crime. It keeps getting worse.

The naming of trails came up at the mountain bikers meeting. It was mentioned that naming trails after people was not recommended unless the person was dead, which led to a unanimous consensus. …My condolences.

Yes, Wednesday Night Racing is on at The Rock. Their affiliation with Metro Mountain Bikers has all but vanished. Report was that some twenty-five racers participated this last Wednesday using parts of the public section of trails.

The odd confusion over the Odd Tuesday Ride has been resolved. Their will be three more this month. (on the odd Tuesdays, 1st 3rd 5th, not Tuesdays with odd dates) The Maintenance Mondays are going swimmingly. The Facebook page is the best source od information if you are looking to volunteer. The next meeting will be in Waukesha, the second Tuesday, that would be an even Tuesday, in July.

This Saturday is the Fat Tire Tour in Milwaukee. An event I consider a practice in debauchery. This year’s theme; Animal House; enough said.

The $101 question: What were my three most favorite WORS races? Keeping the same question. Check out the Charity Jackpot Page link in the sidebar to possibly triple the amount.