The Milwaukee Lion

You know what they say; If you see one…

The Polish Moon Ride is tonight. You can still make it if you move really fast; as if a lion were chasing you. Yes, there is supposedly a lion in Milwaukee. The best reasoning that this could be a hoax was one man’s comment that the lion sure looked fat in that cell phone footage.

Go ride the historic south side of Milwaukee on the Blue Moon that was actually this morning; the second full moon of July. Once Polish the south side neighborhoods are now Hispanic, or Latin, something like that. Back in the day we called those from the polish neighborhoods south siders, the stereotype was they were short on brains. The north siders on the other hand, mostly of German stock, were considered nothing but brawn. At least we had that.

We could joke back in the day too.

Look at this prime lion hunting ground. Yes our waterways are avenues for wildlife. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had several lions. The Wisconsin DNR claimed for decades we had no mountain lions in Wisconsin when if you knew anyone from the north woods you knew otherwise. Heck, they had one in the Chicago suburbs a while back. Perhaps you remember my coyote tale. I thought for sure I had explained that this coyote had come up to a mother and her baby in a stroller on the trail; the mother obviously taking the coyote for a dog, but I cannot find that post.

I’ve been looking for a good dentist.

If the Friends of the Menomonee River had had their way, all this area for blocks back would have been turned native, or in other words mountain lion habitat.

The next big WORS event may not be as near as your neighborhood lion, but it is but a short drive to see what it’s all about. The Collectivo Coffee Bean Classic is fast approaching; August 16th. It will be in Waukesha on the Minooka mountain bike trails, built for cross country riders. Even if you cannot attend the event check out the trails sometime. Looks like great riding.

I had a post on the superiority of buck wheat noodles, a favorite in the Orient, versus spaghetti noodles as a night before the race boost, but I cannot track that down either. An article I saw on the best proteins for loosing weight come from buck wheat, humus and eggs; to name the more common of the ten.

Here is the percolator. The percolated coffee, you can’t beat it when going bulletproof. Your coffee gets smothered otherwise. The pictures from my birthday are still missing. They included a picture of the beloved percolator alongside my “death by chocolate” birthday cake. Fortunately I had plenty of cold whole milk as antidote. I still cannot comprehend why my weight loss has stalled. Another reason I wont be competing at Minooka is I just cannot break the 250lb barrier. That was my race weight goal to be under.

Speaking of protein, those Amazon Local deals on grass fed beef where you get maybe four pounds for $99. If you go to the farms, they are all over Southeastern Wisconsin, you can get a 25lb sample Package (okay it’s frozen but..) of grass fed beef for $200-$250. You’ll get just as much steak and other cuts. Some stew meat and at least ten pounds of ground beef from good cuts.

The $108 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.

Posting Tips

I know that you are all wondering how I create such intriguing posts for my blog. If that’s the case, I am sorry to say that posts aren’t the topic of this post but rather posts are. Setting a good cedar post for my new raspberry trellis that is. These are our front steps by the way.

I started with a twelve foot post and cut it in two. The most economical length in cedar is eight foot; at least at Menards. However, I needed two six foot posts and a twelve foot length was cheaper overall than two eight foot (four foot of wood I do not need) or even two six foot lengths.

Use those cardboard tube forms for setting your post foundations. That is the tip of the day. Read on to find out why. I bought an 8 inch diameter tube though the concrete mix directions recommended the 12 inch. The tube is four foot long and I cut it into three equal lengths with one of those reciprocating tools, which worked well. One for a post for my brother, he’s not a blogger, and two for my trellis posts.

I used my post hole digger and went down just over 24 inches. I set the tube where I wanted it centered and expanded the hole with a trenching shovel. I expanded it only deep enough so the top of the tube would be just above grade. I poured in a bit of gravel in the bottom and had my level at the ready before I started mixing the concrete. The proper concrete for this application sets in twenty-five minutes.

I mixed the concrete quickly using two hands on my trowel and feverishly scraping from the bottom and turning to get it well integrated. I threw a bit in the bottom and set the post as straight as possible with my level at the ready. Put a bit more concrete in and checked level again. Repeat until the post is sturdy, then fill to the top. Now, and here’s the big tip, working by yourself, quickly leveling filling, leveling filling, you may find the post is not perfectly vertical. You can wedge something, like a stone, between the wall of your hole and the tube form, quickly before the concrete sets hard, to tilt the whole tube along with the post in the desired direction. It will stay that way when hardened as the base of the concrete is set hard amidst the surrounding hard packed soil, not really deep enough to be considered hard pan, at the bottom (the tube does not go all the way down). Beats trying to adjust the post in the concrete. The secret to a perfect vertical.

The tube will also save you concrete. I may have been better of with a 12 inch diameter tube as I had to use more than two bags to set both posts. I may have come up to an even three with the 12 inch.

When shade covered my yard and as soon as my laser level could be read at fifteen feet, to hit both posts at each end of the raspberry briar, I set the second post. The laser level came to rest where it may. I measured how far down from the top it rested on the post now hard set. I measured down from what would be the top of my second post and drew a horizontal line across. I put the post in the hole and lifted it until the line matched the laser mark and noted how high off the bottom of the hole it was before I mixed the concrete. I had my level to check the vertical ready before I started mixing. I put a bit more concrete than I needed at the bottom then stomped the post down upon it until my line and the laser mark matched perfectly. My wife was there to help. We leveled it exactly vertical and she held as I threw in the concrete, using my hands. I could have, maybe should have worn gloves, but then I thought, ‘I aint no girl.’ My wife did a great job. No last second adjustments required.

I will add the horizontal bars in due course. As you can see I set the posts centered on the open ground of my raspberry briar. I set the paving stones, and will set more when I can scavenge more up, along the fence to keep the vines from spreading into my neighbors yard. This will also allow, tight as it may be, access to the vines from both sides. Waste not want not. 100 foot of galvanized steel wire, to string between the trellises, cost less than three dollars. I will post more as the project progresses

I like to eat the raspberries right off the vine. My wife wont eat them without washing them off first. I frieghtened her today, sneaking up around from the front of the house to get a picture as she worked on another of her projects. It is a most beautiful Saturday. My wife bought the pool for the dog.

“So why are you inside posting on such a beautiful day, especially since you just posted yesterday?” you ask. “Way way behind on your word counts aren’t you?’' you accuse. “Why do you even include blog posts in your word counts anyway?”

Is that what I get for trying to be helpful? And don’t forget, with every post the jackpot increases. But it is true. I have written little towards my next novel so far this month. I am just now emerging from my birthday doldrums. I wrote little and some days nothing for nearly two weeks. Never fear. The next novel, the second in the “Fortunes of Chuck Hammer Series” is again advancing. You can purchase my books here if you have an e-reader.

Our retail sales are flat due to Country Thunder. Yes, yet another mega event on this most crowded of weekends. Excuse my tardiness to inform. I knew the late Johnny Christian, a man who drummed for Johnny Cash. He owned The Middle Branch Saloon. I got to know him a bit in the years I worked alone to establish our retail business. He was a big promoter of Country Thunder. A very nice man with a lovely wife who always made us candies for Christmas. I’m sure he’s in a good place.

The $107 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.

Rushing Along

What a weekend? Yesterday was National Hot Dog Day, but you can enjoy hot dogs anytime. Parent’s Day is this Sunday; the latest National Holiday. No parents, a man and woman, no people; sounds vey important …for people. We have the Air and Water Show, GermanFest, the EAA in the city of Oshkosh by gosh, and someone is running a water slide through the City of Milwaukee Saturday; but most important and profound in the mystic hills of Wisconsin, in the shadows of trees both coniferous and deciduous the WORS Cup will convene amongst a rolling maelstrom of spinning spokes, tires, pedals and feet. To top it all off, as if the weekend were not already on overload, the IMBA Trail Care Crew is in Rice Lake this weekend.

“Rushed” is one of the most entertaining books I have read in a long time. A mystic fantasy trek across Wisconsin; traveling hidden fissures of supernatural origins. I found seven e-books for free on Amazon’s Prime Day.

The image above is of no supernatural origin though I often wonder the origins of the creature at the gate. It is no fear of disappearing into some unseen parallel universe that will keep me from attending the WORS Cup, simply our schedule. The same can be said for the Collectivo Coffee Bean Classic in which I had hoped to participate. If I am lucky I will stop by to see the Elite racers and snap a couple of pictures.

I received a percolator from my wife for my birthday. As suspected, the Bulletproof Coffee is much more enjoyable with what some may call bittier or harsh percolated coffee. The butter and coconut oil have a tendency to smoother that great slurp worthy coffee flavor. I remain however perplexed by how my wife believes she can brew the coffee differently and get the same result. Sometimes it’s like I’m living in an alternative universe.

You’ll have to settle for this picture of our garden. (The dill is supposed to protect the cabbage) My birthday photos have disappeared from my camera, including two my wife took of me with the Mayor of Milwaukee who came to a neighborhood meeting (just for my birthday I assume). Our home is far from exempt from the strange and unexplained. The number of things that have disappeared over the years, even the meticulously filed is mind boggling. My parents appear gifted with ESP as at times they demonstrate an uncanny ability to repeat conversations my wife and I have had at home word for word.

How’s that for a paranormal, or rather a panorama. The dog vanished from the panorama when the computer put it together; spooky. Sometimes I punch a key on the keyboard but the letter doesn’t show up on the screen…. My wife is dreaming. literally like in her sleep like, of me fixing up our entire yard. Here is how it looks now. The cucumber is beginning to take off as we are finally getting some warm weather. I’ll have a useful tip for setting posts in concrete next post.

A great liberation occurred in Wisconsin on my birthday. An end was brought to that criminally orchestrated John Doe investigation here in Milwaukee. That same afternoon my wife’s and my phone called each other at the same time, both leaving voice mails of us walking out to our car. A thought came to me. So I tried to turn off my phone and remarkably it stayed turned off. That is odd as since my wife and I went to a movie and I tried to turn off my phone it wouldn’t; it would immediately turn back on. This occurred every time I tested it, until the John Doe ended. Yes, I wrote about giving Scott Walker a book at a public meeting almost twenty years ago, …throw me in jail. A day or two ago the phones called each other again and now my phone wont turn off …again. The lady on the radio suggested their may be other John Does in progress.

I know what your thinking, “You’re just not that popular or successful or even remotely interesting that anyone would care to include you in an investigation.” (yet still you read) When I changed our phone plan with U.S. Cellular to save a few bucks some months ago the lady looked at the screen and said, “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” She called the other sales person over. Some minutes later two police were rushing up to the door when the one suddenly called the other back and they sped away. The hand was on the door handle.

I’m not saying anything, just stating the facts, nothing but the facts.

Ah, the peach tree. Bending with bounty I was forced to trim away those fruit laden branches at the cost of multitudes of future juicy goodness. If I hadn’t the tree would tear itself apart under the weight of its own ripening fruit. I also chopped off a big part of the top. If I can’t reach it, it has no purpose. Those peaches exist for me to partake of their deliciousness, and for the enjoyment of any I may deem worthy.

The $106 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.

Water and Sleep and the Fourth of July

Let me begin with useful information before attempting to entertain. Some suggest a glass of water before sleep is very healthy; keeping the blood fluid.

In accord with the bulletproof diet, I get their e-mails, the best way to quench one’s thirst and rehydrate is to drink plain water with a pinch of Himalayan salt. The diet also recommends mineral water, and in true bulletproof fashion they will be marketing a bulletproof water upgrade at their Biohacking Conference in October.

And what better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than on the water. The family gathered at my brothers lakefront residence in Lake Country. The day ended with a fabulous fireworks display over North Lake. Scant attention was paid by most to a paper lantern, one of many launched by fools of some kind, that failed and landed in a tree above where we all sat. It’s combustion failed to spread. I heard Shawano, a city known to my ancestors, held their last fireworks this year in response to past fires associated with the event.

What greater purpose does water maintain than to hold fish to be caught? Not sure. Yes the holiday outing included fishing. As my brothers were more than happy to command and navigate indigenous craft about the lake for the enjoyment of their spawn, when it came to getting rods to work and worms on hooks my name, proceeded by uncle, rang from the mouths of all.

My mother reminisced over my grandfather as she watched her grandchildren fish. I reminisced myself as I wondered how in Heaven anyone could tangle up a rod like the one I was trying to untangle; knowing well that I had been successful in accomplishing the same impossibility, leaving my grandfather cursing in words that would never be considered a curse today as he worked to undo my handiwork. Of course I didn’t drop the rod and walk away as if nothing happened.

Yes I caught a fish. As I frustrated over the tangled line, I thought of my grandfather. Task accomplished I cast out the small yellow jig and the largest fish of the day struck as the lure hit the water; a yellow jig, as the day was overcast at the time. The brighter the day the lighter the color of your lure. White works on a sunny day. Sounds counterintuitive but it’s true, straight from the Buck Perry school of fishing. A bobber was set to keep the lure from dragging on the bottom. You just jiggle it in slowly in this case.

An eighteen inch large mouth bass; a keeper. I brought it in on the boat landing and lifted it into the air. The result was an onrush of a horde screeching and squealing children. They sounded like dozens though ten would be a more accurate accounting.

“I want to touch it.” rang shrill in my ears.

“No, put it down. I want to step on it!”

“No, I want to step on it!”

I of course remained unshaken amidst the oratory assault, my mind consumed in contemplating that age old question; ‘Why would anyone want to step on a fish?’

Having asked my wife twice to get the bucket out of the car a persevered the deafening shrill against my ears. ‘She must be walking up with the bucket by now.’ I thought, lifting my head only to find my wife sitting right where she had been. The third time is a charm.

I felt worse for the fish than for myself over the intense sharp volumes surrounding its capture, as it waved calmly in the bucket, into which one of my nieces tried to drop her line to catch it again. I always intend to eat what I catch but the thought of attempting to clean the fish, surrounded by tiny prodding fingers driven by interest lacking judgment, could have easily resulted in a digital disaster. I released the fish after it quieted down. He moseyed away as if to say, “It’s about time.”

And I really look like crap in that picture. My wife had said something to me a week previous. The doctor, my sleep clearly recorded on my CPAP, told me to get more sleep. The last month or so I have not been able to sleep much at all. I also gained a bit of weight. You cannot lose weight without good sleep. This last Saturday morning I slept ten hours.

Believe it or not the weight dropped quickly.

Then I baked a cake. I didn’t slice it. My wife, protesting my choice of frosting claimed she would never eat it. That didn’t last long.

I have also been very active the last several days. I intend to create our downtime space in the basement. The basement upgrades advance slow and steady, but mostly slow. My goal being to make our upstairs room where we have the TV into a prayer room. Consumed with a sudden urge to have some place nicer than the corner of our bedroom for prayer I set to work at a blistering pace. Our family room has been crowded together with my downstairs office.

It is good to pray. It is good to pray with your family. Often we are completely ignorant of all that it takes for God to answer our prayers. It’s best to just be grateful when He does, even if you’ve forgotten or given up.

In the process I made radical rearrangements of the entire house. I was surprised at my wife’s reaction. It seems she has her own designs on how the furniture should be laid out. I ensured her that I know best. You can imagine how that went over. I’m still waiting for the fireworks.

At times like these it’s good to sleep, after a cool glass of water, with one eye open.

The $105 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.