First Day of School

My Grandniece had her first day of school EVER today!!

The End of an Era. I'm tearing up.

Clearing room for an exchange student. I'm looking for a Barbie FANATIC. Please bring laundry baskets or boxes to haul

Barbie collection has been super loved. It's not in boxes..it's been played with and loved. There's prosthetic leg barbie...Laurie Hernández..mermaid barbie..a dream house (broken door..i have)...2 carriages...bikes...horses...wheelchair..cars. clothes ...accessories. roller skates...pool..there's a lot...alot..  pic doesn't have dream house...

I'm not going to dress then and brush their hair...or wipe anything...they just need to go..closing the chapter of childhood toys for my youngest...

I'd like it to go to one person ASAP and you can distribute what you don't want.

- Lisa

End of an era - YaYa

I've teared up twice - Lisa

Crocus

The now defunct Crocus Restaurant, 3577 S 13th street, the site of our rehearsal dinner in October of 1996.

Quote

It's good to learn from your mistakes. It's better to learn from  other peoples' mistakes.

Warren Buffett

Stress

i keep having to consciously unclench my jaw I know I’m stressed but damn -YaYa

It's an Idea

birthdays should be every six months. i need the gifts😭 those gift cards come in handy

 -  Lulu

Doggo #1

Here are some pictures from March. IIRC, he had irritated his eye 'rassling with Sawyer, so excuse the bloodshot eye. 

True Crime Fans

I think some true crime fans are unable to identify the real devastation caused by some of these people that y’all fawn over. An interest in true crime shouldn’t overrule basic human decency.  

It makes me sick to see people comment “one of my favorite serial killers” under the new Dahmer movie posts like…. Y’all. Have some tact.

- YaYa

people simping over ted bundy and saying they wouldn’t mind being killed by him😬. like what. imagine having absolutely no self awareness to what your words mean - LuLu

Doggo #2

What Can I Say?

This is how LuLu's boyfriend was dressed when they picked me up from work yesterday  He's a good guy and good to Lu, and you do you boo, but . . . LOL. 

Ah, to be young. 

Jerry Allison

Jerry Allison, good friend of Buddy Holly and drummer of The Crickets, died today at the age of 82.

I saw The Crickets perform at the 1995 Wisconsin State Fair, although I don't remember the lineup of the band on that tour. I wish I'd thought to stick around for some autographs.

RIP Jerry, and say hello to Buddy for us all. 

The Adam Project

So late last month I  watched the latest Ryan Reynolds Netflix film, The Adam Project. It's about a time traveler who goes back in time and works with his 12 year old self to prevent the death of his wife in the far future. 

It sounds, from that write-up, pretty heavy. 

Please. 

It's a goofy movie that doesn't even attempt to keep to a consistent take on time travel or its consequences, despite all the many times the characters openly whine about not changing history. And Ryan Reynolds once again, plays himself. His acting range has all the breadth of a flea's waistline. 

That said, I liked it. 

Why? Because Ryan Reynolds playing himself is a pretty interesting character, the 12 year old version of himself was a laugh out loud hit, and I dig time travel. 

So, assuming you already pay for a Netflix subscription, watch it. :)

Virginia Patton

Virginia Patton, the niece of General George Patton, and the last surviving adult cast member from It's A Wonderful Life (she played Harry's new bride) has died at age 97.

RIP

Let's cuddle bruh - Lisa 

Usyk-Joshua 2

I sat down on my patio on this gorgeous August day, my two doggos underfoot, and watched the recent Uskyk-Joshua rematch for the heavyweight crown. 

Here's how I scored it. Honestly, I think I was a bit generous in giving Joshua anything but the 8th and 9th rounds. 

In real life, the official scorecards were 116-112  and 115-113 for the Ukrainian, and Glen Feldman, incredulously,  scored it 115-113 for Joshua. That man either needs glasses or some professional ethics. 

This fight will, however, be forever remembered not for the action in the ring, but for Anthony Joshua's childish reaction to losing. He tossed the belts out of the ring, told Usyk “You ain’t big, you ain’t skilled, you’re not strong, how did you beat me?”, then (apparently realizing how he much of a doofus he was being) he overcompensated with a long  complimentary speech. 

Cringe. 

Now, will we see Usyk-Fury? I don't know, but it would be a doozy. 

Lunch at Omnicron

Here's a few rather pointless shots from a lunch I had with LuLu yesterday.  Points for remaining in business even while named after a pandemic variant, and for the perfectly done eggs over medium. Yum.

Yes, it was lunch. Yes, we still each ordered breakfast.  Yes, after refusing to eat any egg not scrambled or hard boiled for some 46 or 47 years, I have in recent times widened my repertoire. Yes, it was too much food for a person to consume in one sitting.  And yes, I ate every bite.

Lu and I witness a crash on 94

As Lulu and i were driving west on 94, a pickup that was towing a boat abruptly changed lanes and caused two SUV's to crash.

I saw the accident unfold and reacted in plenty of time.  For a second so much debris flew up into the air that I wondered if the truck bed had lost cargo too.

I pulled up in the right shoulder alongside the Chevy.  With the airbags deployed you couldn't see the inside of the car. I opened the passenger door. The lone occupant was the driver, a woman in her late fifties named Lori who was unhurt but disorientated and could not reach the seat belt release. I climbed in - moving a stack of Lisa Gardner hardcover mysteries from the library out of the way - and undid the belt. She asked me to call for help and I said that was already taken care of.  

Meanwhile Lu was on the phone with 911. I went to check on the second driver, who was a little banged up but predominantly just angry at the owner of the boat, who had not stopped and who kept driving away. The man tried to move his car out off to the side (the accident effectively blockaded three lanes) but I told him there was no chance; his tire was flat and the tie rod looked broken. 

911, btw,  was watching over the traffic cams and scolded me (via Lu) for walking in the traffic lanes but, whatever.  Lu waved to the cameras, as she stood with the first driver. 

Lori, the driver, was still visibly shaken.  

"This is my first accident," she said 

"Ever?," I said. She was near sixty, and had probably been driving 40 years. 

"Yes."

"Then you're very lucky.  And you still are -  you're able to walk away from this."

Anyway, with deputies pulling up on the scene we said goodbye and left - after I congratulated her on her taste in books. 

An hour later, by the way, we're driving in the Town of West Bend and a pickup truck with a bed full of lumber lost its load in the street in front of us. No harm done tho.

Not a great day for driving I guess. 

A Visitor

This gorgeous creature greeted me on my cars dashboard when I left work today. I worked late, a fact that must have upset it, for as you can see it defecated on my hat while it waited lol

I did capture it and put it in an empty soda cup to show the kids, but I felt sorry for it and let it go free. 

Mammoths and grasshoppers, man. They're my jam.

Din Din

Hey, I only ate one chip!

Ok, maybe two

*******

@ Cafe LuLu, splitting an entree and zucchini soup with my old lady

The 39th Grandpa's Day

Today is the 39th anniversary of Grandpa's Day, a day long road trip I took with my Grandpa shortly before he died. So after work I stopped at the cemetery to pay my respects. 

It's a shame I look so solemn in the picture.  It isn't a day of mourning, it's a celebration of my Grandpa and my time with him.  That said, you can't really take a jolly selfie while standing over your Grandparent's grave - what would people think? Lol

Afterwards I made a slightly bastardized version of the chili I grew up on, another homage to the day. 

I love you Grandpa. 

45 years. Wow.

Of Doggie Doo and Birdies Two

 Of note, today Huckleberry accompanied Lu and Lisa to work, as dogs are allowed in the office on Saturdays. 

The Goodest Boi promptly pooped on the office floor and wouldn't sit still, and I was called to come and bring my troublemaker home. LOL

But that was ok, because in the process I made a wrong turn and came upon these fine geese, which I added to my bird watching app's list!

Then, later in the evening this cooper hawk was just chilling on my back fence. By the time I got my phone, he'd moved over to a neighbor's garage. By the time I *focused* the camera, the was gone. But still. Wow!

The Grasshopper (free) (not so outdoorsy) Picnic

Should you search through this site, you'll find that many - not all, but many - State Fair weeks I would take some combination of the kids on a Grasshopper Picnic; so named because we would usually share a Little Caesar's pizza in Whitnall Park, and finish by catching a jar or two of grasshoppers that we released in our yard. 

Alas, this year, three considerations have affected this outing;

1. I maintain a glorious array of bird feeders, and bringing the grasshoppers home would be ensuring their quick demise at the hands, er, beaks, of my pretties. 

2. I'm planning on going to the Fair tomorrow, and the kids work. 

and 

3. When I drove by a field this week and suggested it as a location, LuLu called it "more like a tick picnic."

Hrmph. 

So, improvisation. Today all the kids who live at home were working, but Junie and Smiley had a few hours free around noon. Alas, Smiley made plans for coffee with a friend, so Junie and I went to a small, local Italian grocery store that has a hot food counter, and bought some vittles. 

A cup of chili and a dark rye roll for me, chicken tenders and potato wedges for her. Oh, and she bought me an oatmeal raisin cookie and apple juice. 

We ate in the car and talked about the Aubreys (band of the great Finn Wolfhard) and the upcoming school year, and the siblings. What I remember best is her shock when I told her I sometimes stopped at that store for lunch when I had a morning class at Marquette. The idea of me having a life independent of their memories remains largely theoretical for all of them, I think. 

Afterwards we bought some school supplies and visited YaYa for a bit. 

Anyway, *maybe* we'll pull off a catch-and-release genu-wine Grasshopper Picnic. But if not, this was mighty nice too.

Serena, just stop

So her argument is that she's been treated unfairly by her uterus and her conscious decision to use it.  

Damn that pesky mamallian evolution that resulted in live birth!!!!

Listen, if labor and delivery is the issue, and you still wish to expand your family, adopt. You'll make a difference to a child that could use a break in life.   Don't make this into some beef with biology. 

Let us also not pretend she doesn't have paid staff to attend to many of the chores that come with parenting.  So spare me the tale of your woes.

Be grateful for your millions. 

Two lost dogs visit Smiley

Smiley had the house to himself when Sawyer started barking at the front window. Two dogs had gotten away from their home and just randomly  . . . decided to visit our front porch. 

Smiley got the lost dogs in the backyard, where they enjoyed his hospitality by exploring, drinking the water he offered them, and just chilling on the stairs.  (All the while, mind you, with my doggo going nutty inside lol.

The number on one of the tags was no longer in service, and he got no response to a Facebook post on the neighborhood page.

 So after an hour Smiley was gearing up to take the dogs to MAADC.  Fortunately a check of a second tag revealed a different number, and the grateful owner soon came by to end the visit.

Bye doggos!