Ghosts and killers and Mick Jagger, oh my!

Man I'm beat. We didn't get a good rest at all overnight. It wasn't the darkness, but the lack of 'white noise'. Sleeping without power is not the same as turning everything off; a house with electricity feels different than one without. I was very happy that the smoke dissipated by daybreak, allowing me to flip the breakers to the upstairs bedrooms.

It didn't help that our resident ghost made him/herself known at around 3:30, waking me and Lisa with the sound of someone tripping over a box in our room. I was up and out of bed in a flash, thinking the worst, but as always the room was empty. As a cynic, I say the cat was to blame (but this time it sure was loud for a feline. Hell, it was loud for a T-Rex)

After dropping the kids off at school I drove my Dad down to UWM, where he's returned for a few classes. I had some business to attend to there as well, so it wasn't strictly altruistic. I forgot how chaotic the campus is on the first day of classes - and how many attractive women enroll there.

Much later I cut the lawn and played outside with the little ones while Lisa prepared a great dinner of stuffed peppers.

* * * *

I was right about the Obama speech. None of my kids saw the telecast, and in fact of the dozen school age kids that comprise our immediate circle, scattered throughout six schools (private and public), only three saw the speech.

Oh, and to those on the left pouncing on the criticism of the event: when GHW Bush gave his speech, Dems went much further, launching a money wasting congressional investigation.

* * * *

I talked to a guy the other day who atttended the November 11, 1964 Rolling Stones show here in Milwaukee. He was 15 at the time, it was not even close to a sellout, and he still counts it as one of his favorite memories.

* * *

Here's the face of Milwaukee's alleged North Side Strangler, Walter Ellis.



Neighbors say Ellis was an extremely violent young teen, and kids would literally run past his house rather than risk a confrontation. Still, all agree he mellowed into a 'nice' man as an adult.

In other words, around the time the killings began more than twenty years ago.

* * **

At work a man came in and bought a paper. He asked what the headline was about (it was obscured by an advertising supplement). I told him the serial killer had been caught.

"Really?", he said.

"Seems so," I said.

"Did they happen to mention his name?"

"Walter Ellis"

"Ahhh . . .I'm afraid I don't know the gentleman, thank heavens." he said, this tiny little grin forming in one corner of his mouth.

"You know," he said, "I've always wondered what it takes to do things like that. To repeat horrific acts year after year, just for the sake of satisfying your own inner demons."

"I guess we'll never know," I said.

"Yes. A good thing too, don't you think?" he said, a twinkle in his eye. He offered his goodbyes and left.

I turned to a co-worker that had overheard part of the conversation.

"Hey," I said. "If Ellis turns out to be innocent, that guy's the killer. Guaranteed."