Deer Camp
Braumeister, Smokey Joe and I spent a quality weekend bow hunting - last weekend. We saw a pile of deer but nothing close enough to kill with a well-placed arrow.
I take that back. Smokey had some deer at 15 yards but he discovered he's too big of frame to draw a bow in a small ground blind. Apparently we need a Sasquatch-sized blind for the big fella.
Recipe of the Day - Bucky Balls
Looking for a tasty game day or cocktail hour treat?
Make yourself some Bucky Balls.
Saving forgotten Wauwatosa -- and the rest
For those with short attention spans, I'll put the conclusion first.
Let's not be so fast to sacrifice what makes this community the place of trees and homes in favor of gray infrastructure--boxes and lines and towers--to meet future energy needs. Instead, let's find solutions that don't degrade the human and real estate values of our homes here.
I'm referring to the plans by American Transmission Company (ATC) to run new overhead high power electric transmission lines through two of several areas in our community. One is the Underwood Parkway between Bluemound and some point on the County Grounds. I'll concentrate on this area because it's my backyard.
But the larger argument for sustaining the beauty and walkability of our neighborhoods applies as well to our friends on Walnut Street and at St. Therese's, who don't want the lines there either.
Before I get too far, please remember that Wauwatosa has a south side, a west side, and a north side as well as the village and the North Avenue east side. There are formal plans and investment in those two more central areas. But when it comes to my side of town, residential community is largely forgotten. The talk is all about Mayfair Road or the County Grounds. One is a roadway. The other is an important piece of land over which the city has only zoning clout that it is reluctant to use.
And yet ours is a key gateway area. Developers and planners usually pay attention to city gateways because people's first impressions about a place are formed there.
Between important commercial areas and main transportation lines, there are some 900 homes in the Underwood Parkway area. Some have big yards, some have smaller ones. Most have wonderful big trees.
Beauty doesn't count, except. . .
When it comes to making decisions about where to put soaring powerlines and other “gray infrastructure” in our community, aesthetics don’t really count for much. Ease, space, and cost – and convenience to the power company – do. So said the representatives of American Transmission Company (ATC) to the crowd packing Underwood School’s gym last night.
Apparently the Public Service Commission, the decider in these matters, has decreed that preservation of beauty can’t be the deciding factor where our private property, our houses and neighborhoods, and our parklands are concerned. Can't bury lines, which is much more expensive, just because they are wicked ugly.
Spink County Pheasants
It was early Monday morning when Braumeister and I rolled-up to The Refuge to fetch our pheasants from the freezer. This was the close to a singularly memorable pheasant hunt for the usual gang.
As we were rummaging-around in the dark Randi Dix materialized - padding about in flannel pants, flip-flops and smoking a cigarette.
Counterfeit U.S. Currency Reported in Wauwatosa
The passing of counterfeit U.S. Currency has been reported in Wauwatosa. Business owners and employees alike should be on the lookout for counterfeit paper bills that are being passed as genuine.
The passed counterfeit bills have been bleached genuine $5.00 bills which have been reprinted with a larger denomination (i.e. $20.00, $50.00, $100.00). Because these bills are printed on legitimate currency paper, counterfeit detection pens are ineffective. Businesses should not rely on the counterfeit pens alone. The current counterfeit bills use poor quality printing and lack several security features inherent to genuine paper currency:
Is flipping the bird really illegal?
With the Wisconsin State Legislature busily creating more laws about things like school curricula and preventing the use of tech school IDs for voting, I worry about my ability to keep up with all the things that are forbidden to me.
Not that I spend a lot of time breaking laws, short of the occasional illegal U-turn. On the whole, I like to be a law abiding citizen.
A Tosa Veteran
March 18, 1943
I am very sorry that I haven't written you before this but you know that my letters come to the whole family family as well as to whom they are sent. Thanks though for writing me even though I am a jerk and don't write back.
Pizza with a Purpose
For the past few years I have gone on a service trip down to the Appalachian area for a week each summer. I’ve written about it before, but in case you haven’t read my previous blogs here’s a little recap.
On doing the right thing
A few people are blessed with instantly knowing the right thing to do – and with having the courage to do it. I’m not one of them. Oh, I usually figure things out. But it can take time to sort and ponder.
A Deer On Every Meatpole?
I'm going to take the politics out of the forest and put the deer back in. Campaign promise - Governor Scott Walker.
Funny thing happened on the way to deer camp - the legislature is now in charge of Wisconsin's deer season framework and management.
Why I didn't march at Scott Walker's house
Last night, coming home from work at about quarter to nine, curiosity got the best of me. I headed down 68th Street to see what was going on with the Recall Scott Walker event scheduled to be held in front of the governor’s family home. I had no intention of participating, but I wanted to see for myself what was going on.
Besides, it was on the way to Gillies, and a fish sandwich on rye was calling my name.
Special Blessings
Twenty-five years ago, on November 18, 1986, I became a mom. I’m no different than anyone else in that this was a pivotal day in my life. The only thing that makes my first day as a mom different than another mom’s first day is that my son, Andrew, was born severely developmentally disabled. Andrew passed away in 2007 and every year I write about him on or near his birthday. I guess I feel compelled to remember him and to share my story to old and new friends alike. (To read the full story, click here or here.)
Deer Camp 2011 - The Compilation
11/18/11
A couple of days before deer camp a hunter's wife puts her foot down and tells him he has to stay home and whittle down his honey-do list of chores.
Go forth and set the world on fire
This is a week of cleaning, cooking, eating; hunting, football watching, and family-and-friend gathering. It’s also time to feel gratitude, joy, and contentment. For some, it's a time of feeling sad or lonely for what is gone or has never been. For most of us, it's a time of busy-ness and happier contemplation.
Holiday Shopping Safety Tips
The busiest retail day of the year, the Friday after Thanksgiving is just a few short days away; and as such its time for the annual shopping safety tips to be posted. Please take the time to review the tips listed below and should you think of some additional tips, add them in the comments section or give me an email.
