The Cucumber That Ate Cleveland

My Frau discovered this mutant giant with the cantaloupes.

An errant pickle vine found its way off the reservation and produced this monster.

She thinks we should prepare it somehow for a meal. I briefly considered pickling it. Whole.

I’ve nixed both ideas. It's probably tough.

Big Stuff on the Road

I would bet you that even Don Quixote doesn't know where these wind turbine parts are going.

I sure don't.

I frequently see these towers tooling down the road accompanied by their pilot vehicles and I've often wondered where they're coming from.

Where they made somewhere else and enter through the Port of Green Bay or is there another answer?

A little Googling led me to Tower Tech Systems in Manitowoc.

But how do you explain one of these heading south of Green Bay towards Manitowoc?

Living Below Sea Level

Today marks the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in the history of the United States.

Many residents lost their lives and their homes with total property damage estimated at $81 billion dollars. Today, a massive project costing nearly $15 billion dollars is well under way to connect and strengthen the levees, flood walls, gates and pumps to protect the residents and cities that failed five years ago.

Read more about the project and see a Hurricane Katrina then-and-now slide show .

Selling Out

The recession has taken a toll on individuals, the Federal Government and also U.S. cities and states.

Many cities and states are looking for ways to raise cash. In order to raise cash to fix and rebuild streets and bridges, Indianapolis voted last month to sell its water and sewer utilities for $1.9 billion, including the assumption of about $1.5 billion in debt, to a charitable trust. Other cities are considering following suit and privatizing utilities to raise cash.

How bad is it for states?

A recent report by the Pew Center on the States says that states as a whole face a trillion-dollar gap between the $2.35 trillion states have set aside for pensions and other benefits and the $3.35 trillion needed to pay those benefits.

See a slide show on the worst state budget gaps and the Pew Center on the States report.

Stink Dog

It was bound to happen before too long.

The other day, while out for a walk, Girlfriend materialized from some really dense cover bringing with her an eye-watering stink.

Skunk.

See that wet patch on her shoulder?

That is the source of the stink.

Lots of scrubbing and an afternoon on the porch to dry-out and the this Lab was allowed back in the house.

Sunset

This is a Zepaltas California Rose.

2008.

Porch-sitting and watching the sunset with friends is a pastime that is hard to beat.

Fire! An Update

Here is the published account of the circumstances surrounding the fire.

The Things They Carried

Want to pick-up a book that you're going to struggle to put down?

Check this out.

Tim O’Brien is a veteran of the Vietnam War and he’s penned a remarkable collection of short stories about cowardice and courage, personal struggles and the reality of war.

It is one of the better books I’ve had an opportunity to enjoy lately.


Learn more about it here.

West Fest

Went to West Fest last weekend.

This is the part of Sturgeon Bay that is west of the bay.

Formerly the town of Sawyer.

They had the street blocked-off where the old Mac's Sporting Goods used to be.

Live music, cold beer and grilled food. The Cowboy Kettle Korn man was there too.

Girlfriend stayed at home for this trip - but someone else's chocolate
Lab was scarfing-up all of the stray kettle popcorn that hit the pavement.

Fire!

Friday evening we were sitting on the porch with a couple of friends eating smoked trout, fresh cheese curds and sipping Ketel One Martinis.

A storm was rolling-in and the lightening strikes all around us were pretty spectacular.

Anyway, we're sitting there chatting when I point out that there was a really bad smell in the air. Within moments everyone else notices it too.

I know this smell.

I will never forget this smell.

It is the smell of burning shingles, paint, carpeting, wiring, PVC and furnishings.

It is the pungent and nauseating smell of a house on fire.

In the high winds we cannot see smoke but the unmistakable smell tells us that the fire is somewhere to the south. Probably close.

Within moments the first fire engine speeds past and turns the corner heading south. This is followed by more apparatus, an ambulance and volunteer responders racing to the scene of the fire.

The vehicle above is a tanker shuttling water from a creek a couple of miles away.

It's a bitch to fight a fire this way - hauling your water.

Saturday morning we drove down the road to see what was up.

Sure enough - a mile south is a newer house completely burned. A total loss.

The suspected cause was lightening.

Mark Neumann

I was tooling down the highway recently and wouldn't you know it - there was Gubernatorial Candidate Mark Neumann's campaign van.

I interviewed all three (major) candidates for the office of Governor last March for purposes of publishing their views on hunting and fishing and related matters over at the other blog.

Mark Neumann is a decent sort of guy. Of course, so are the other guys.

Observations From the Road

I was in Neenah last Thursday to meet with people about day job stuff.

I'm telling you...

The roads are crowded with kayaks.

Spud Gun

Fun with tubers.

PVC plumbing (tastefully painted in woodland camouflage pattern), red potatoes, Aqua Net hairspray and a Coleman camp stove ignition.

Observations From the Road

I spend a portion of my week driving up and down the highway. Mostly for a couple of hours - but sometimes for many more. It depends on the demands of the day job.

Anyway, when I drive back and forth from the Door Peninsula to Milwaukee I cannot help but notice the number of vehicles and campers sporting kayaks on the roof rack.

I've been thinking - When the heck did kayaking become so popular? And why did this fad pass me by? I might just like to try kayaking sometime.

The Peninsula is becoming quite a destination spot for kayaking enthusiasts.

Surveys indicate kayaking has tripled in popularity nationally since 1998. The Outdoor Industry Association, which encourages outdoor activities and tracks their popularity, estimates 7.8 million people got into a kayak in 2008.

Seems like a young man's sport to me. But I'd sure like to try it.

Read more about paddle sports here.

Lycopersicon esculentum

Latin for the common tomato.

I am beginning to find myself in Tomato Nirvana.

Just like early spring brings the spargle harvest with the tender shoots of asparagus every couple of days - I am now harvesting the bounty of upwards of twenty tomato plants.

The thing about vegetables is that they begin with fits and starts and then gather their forces for an insurmountable surge.

Roma, beefsteak, Early Girl, grape, tiny plum, yellow - you name it.

I went to Marchant's grocery last weekend to pick-up supplies for Schuetzenfest and Jose walked from the cooler to the meat counter with a couple of big slabs of fresh-smoked bacon balanced on each of his shoulders.

Pointing to a cross section of one of the slabs highlighting the rich meat lightly marbled in fat he says - What do you think of this?

I'll take two pounds. Cut thick.

He knew that he had caught me at a weak moment. I was vulnerable. I had BLTs on the brain.

But it goes beyond that.

Tomatoes and cottage cheese for breakfast.

Keeping a bowl of those tasty cherry tomatoes handy on your desk at the day job for snacking.

Or tugging a ripe one from the vine and eating it à la carte on the way to the shed.

Come February this will be a fond memory - only to be resurrected the following growing season.

Of course, there is always Uncle Dick's Tomato Juice to be had in February.

Ask the boys who attended Schuetzenfest where you can find almost the world's best Bloody Mary garnished with pickled garden beans and cukes.

Schützenfest

This year's Schuetzenfest was a resounding success. It included an extra helping of shooting, BBQ and yucks.

There was the pistol competition, the sighting-in of deer rifles and the introduction of exploding targets.

Exploding targets? What's that all about?

The technical name is - binary reactive targets.

They are manufactured by Star Targets.

The only bad news about the fest is that all of the digital photos mysteriously disappeared from the camera. This is the second time this has happened so the camera needs to be returned for a replacement.

There is video however. Courtesy of Lawyer's iPhone.

Smile For theTrail Camera

The trail camera I purchased this past spring had its brain scrambled.

The display became pixilated and unreadable.

I sent it back to Moultrie and they sent me a brand-new model - smaller, higher digital resolution and easier-to-use features.

I just fetched the first collection of pictures yesterday morning

The Convenient Carbon Footprint

I have blogged from time-to-time about Al Gore's humongous carbon footprint.

I have a negative carbon footprint.

Not even neutral - but negative.

According to Carbon Offsets Daily if you plant 7 trees a year you’re carbon neutral.

Insofar as I have planted more than 50,000 trees that means I am carbon neutral for 7143 years. However, since I am married I include my Frau which means we're both neutral for 3571 years.

Truthfully, we won't live that long so our footprint is negative.

I don't think The Inconvenient Mr. Gore can match that. I've only seen him plant one tree in a photo-op, once, more than a decade ago. I know he is not a tree farmer.

With all of my vast surplus of carbon sequestration I could sell carbon credits to Mr. Gore and very conveniently assuage his conscience.

Weblinks

I published a piece on Wednesday over at the other blog about John Browning. Within a short time I noticed that my hit count has gone through the roof.

This happens from time to time - but usually when I say something provocative about the Mayor.

Gun News Daily (San Diego Rifle and Revolver Association) has picked it up and published it as a link over here.

I wonder if someone like the NRA will see it and link to it?

Maybe I should write more about guns.

Seems to be a popular topic.

Friggatriskaidekaphobia

That kind of rolls off the tongue doesn't it?

Today is Friday, the 13th.

August is the month in 2010 in which the 13th falls on a Friday. If you woke up today with the jitters, you may suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia, terms for those who fear Friday the 13th.

No one knows for sure how or when this superstition began, but one theory suggests that it began as a combination of two older superstitions.

The first was that the number 13 is unlucky as it follows 12, a number considered complete as it equals, among other things, months in a year and hours on a clock.

The second is that Friday is an unlucky day due to the many disasters that have occurred on Friday, including some stock market crashes such as Black Friday.

Read about Friday the 13th history and fun facts.

Friday Morning Schützenfest

Do you smell what I smell?

Yes. It's the smell of testosterone and spent ball powder in the air. Smoked meats too.

Break out your firearms and dancing shoes as it is the start of the weekend people.

It is Schuetzenfest 2010!

Double Bubble

Today is Friday the 13th.

I cedlebrate the passing of Phil the goundhog today.

Good riddance.

Ouch

Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)

It grows around here and it seems that about every other year I have a run-in with it.

I've been out brushing trails and got some of the plant juice on my skin. The Furocoumarins in the sap cause the skin to become hypersensitized to sunlight - leading to this sun-induced burn-like reaction called phytophoto-dermatitis.

Learn more about it here.

Bulls Are Cheap

I shot arrows last night with my buddy Braumeister.

Man, it has been awhile. Probably a couple of months

It was with great trepidation that we brought-forth the hunting bows from their cases, strapped-on the releases and nocked the first arrow. We shot an all-deer Dart Video for a half hour. Forty arrows apiece.

Surprisingly we both shot pretty well with Brau besting me by nine points.

Bullseyes were cheap last night.

We finished-up with pizza afterwards and talked about deer hunting. Bow season is only about a month away.

I'm getting all tingly just thinking about it.

Alien

I picked a mutant cuke from the garden the other day.

Does anybody else notice the resemblance – or do I just have a vivid imagination?

Meet Fred

Fred A. Busse was the Mayor of Chicago from 1907 to 1911. He died at the age of 48 in 1914 and is buried in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago.

Built in 1936 by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company of Bay City, Michigan, she is 92 feet in length with a beam width of 23 feet and depth of 8 feet. This boat served in the Chicago Fire Department for a good long time. (click on image to enlarge)

This boat is similar to two other fire fighting vessels - the Joseph Medill and the Victor Schlaeger – which were both constructed in Sturgeon Bay immediately following World War II.

Learn more about the history of this boat here.

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

I don't do this very often but I indulged in a fine cigar the other night.

A Dominican produced from Cuban seed.

It was good.

While it lasted.

Wedding Bells

On July 31, 2010 Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, married Marc Mezvinksy.

Costs of the wedding have been estimated at $2 to $5 million with extravagant prices for everything from flowers, cakes, tents and even high end portable toilets.

Did you know, though, across the country wedding expenditures have decreased significantly. According to theweddingreport.com, over the last five years, wedding costs peaked in 2007 with the total market value of all wedding items estimated at nearly 63 billion. It was lowest in 2009 at just over 42 billion, a decrease in overall spending of one third. This dropped the average spent per wedding in 2009 to $19,581 from $28,732 in 2007.

The recession has hardly slowed down the amount of weddings, though, as estimated weddings decreased only 1.5% to 2,152,000 in 2009 from 2,186,000 in 2007.

View more information on Chelsea's wedding or statistics from theweddingreport.com.

Wilfred Sykes

The Wilifred Sykes was launched in June, 1949, the flagship of the Inland Steel Co., fleet. The ship was named in honor of the man who was President of the Inland Steel from 1941 to 1949.

For a time it was the largest, fastest and most efficient ore carrier on the Great Lakes.

With an overall length of 678 ft., the boat can transport 20,000 tons of bulk cargo with twin steam turbines driving it at a speed of 16 miles per hour.

It’s a beautiful boat. I could’ve sworn I saw it in Duluth in early July. Anyway, it’s in Sturgeon Bay for now.

Learn more about it over at Boat Nerd.

The Return of the Aurora

Aurora Borealis – the Northern Lights - named for the Roman goddess of the dawn.

Early last Sunday a solar flare erupted from our closest star launching a flood of charged particles towards the earth.

About a decade ago I was entertained by a display of the northern lights when I ventured out before sun-up to bow hunt. Climbing into my stand in the pitch dark and settling-in I was stunned by what appeared to be a vast orange and blue (like the flame on a gas range) rippling across the morning sky.

As the sun rose it disappeared.

I just stepped-in having ventured-out and stood by the hot tub.

It is both clear and very dark. No light pollution.

Focusing on Polaris I then scanned the heavens to the west and to the east.

There was a ripple of green to the east. Not much - but the northern lights for sure.

I’m going to keep checking before I turn-in for the evening and perhaps set the alarm for an hour before 0-dark thirty.

It would be good to enjoy a steaming cup of joe and watch the light show and the sunrise.

Forecast is for clear skies.

A Trillion Here, A Trillion There

The Congressional Budget Office reports that during the first nine months of fiscal 2010, which ends September 30, the federal government spent $1 trillion more than it took in.

That's another $1 trillion added to a total national debt that stood at just over $13 trillion as of the Fourth of July.

But, seriously, how much is $1 trillion? To help you wrap your head around that mind-boggling number, and to try to put deficit spending into perspective, consider what $1 trillion will buy, expressed in terms we can all understand.

Learn just how far you can stretch $1,000,000,000,000.

Redneck Romance On The Rocks

Geez. My heart was all a-flutter after the news of the reconciliation.

This latest development is breaking my heart.

Between this and Bert Favre I'm not sure I can stand all the drama...

Coast Guard Station

Originally constructed in 1886 what is today the Sturgeon Bay Coast Guard Station is located on the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal.


Work began on the light in 1898 with the excavation and pouring of a huge twenty-nine foot square block of concrete with a depth of eight feet.
(click on image to enlarge)

At the center of this foundation, a seventy-eight foot tall double-walled steel cylinder, eight feet in diameter, was raised. Supported by buttresses, the structure was secured to the concrete pad using two-inch diameter bolts some ninety inches in length, which had been cast deep into the concrete.


At the top of the cylinder a twelve foot diameter watch room was installed. The watch room was in turn capped by a cast iron lantern room approximately eighteen feet tall and eight feet wide. While most lantern rooms were multi-sided, this lantern room was circular in design.


The light was officially placed into service on March 17, 1899, with a Third Order Fresnel lens.



Nowadays missions include search and rescue and law enforcement as well as ice rescue during the winter months.


The station operates a 41’ Utility Boat and a 25’ Response Boat for both SAR and LE and also uses a 20’ Airboat during the winter for Ice Rescue operations. The typical case load during the summer is between 150-200 cases with over 200 LE boarding’s and 10-20 SAR ice rescue cases during the winter.


Just last week four fisherman from Minnesota had to be rescued when their boat sank in heavy seas.


Learn more about problems with the light in the early years here.

Another Celebrity Adoption

Jennifer Aniston Adopts 33-Year-Old Boyfriend From Africa

Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal North Pierhead Light

Several lights have been established along the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, but the first of these was the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Pierhead Lighthouse. (click on image to enlarge)


Located on the end of a breakwater pier extending 1,100 feet into Lake Michigan the lighthouse was constructed in October and November of 1881, after Congress finally appropriated money for the project originally proposed by the Lighthouse Board in 1873.


The light serves as a beacon to guide ships into the entrance of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal.

Learn more about the history of this light here.

Bambi's Revenge

In keeping wih the critter theme - never underestimate the protective instinct of a mother...