Takin' the Blog for a Walk

rolling thunder

Brien Lee — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:00:44 GMT

There's a Harley front heading toward us at 65 miles an hour. It's nothing to fear. They will storm our streets and, if we're lucky, will flood our shops and restaurants. Riders from around the world converge to celebrate 105 years of an American institution. (For once we won't have leave town to enjoy their company.) Make them feel welcome and they may return again some day.

Tom's helping hands

Brien Lee — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:52:03 GMT

I've known Tom for 20+ years. He was in our wedding party 18 years ago and hosted a bachelor party at his house. He's one of the few mechanics who didn't loose their job during last year's restructuring. Because so few mechanics are left, he's been busier than ever, but never too busy for me. He offered to come to Waukesha in April to help me pry my canoe off the bridge support in the Fox River. Recently, he saved me a couple hundred dollars replacing a bearing assembly on our Lumina. He's always been quick with free advice for my many needs. We get along and I consider him a good friend.

I envy Tom. He can build a trailer from the ground up. He has a couple horses and cars that run. He recently purchased a Harley Fatboy Softail motorcycle and took classes for a week to get his license before the 105th.

Tom took vacation days the rest of this week to really experience the thrill of Harley. I gave him a copy of the Weekend in Waukesha schedule and we talked about the things he was looking forward to this week. He told me he has a digital picture frame that holds 250 pictures and he was going to fill it up this week using his camera.

And then Tom hurt his hand today. Bad. His right hand. On a table saw. It's bad enough that Tom makes his living with his hands and will probably miss many weeks of work. But his throttle hand? He's going to miss most of what he's been looking forward to this week. Maybe if he's lucky, people will feel sorry for him and buy him a drink. I know I would.

running low on gas

Brien Lee — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 05:25:54 GMT

The 2008 Olympic flame has run out of gas. The games have been like a broken record ... world and olympic records broken over and over. There was much to see and enjoy these last 16 days, but I could fill this spot with all I would've liked to see but didn't. Didn't because of my own schedule, but also because coverage of the less popular sports was, again, often hard to find. Five channels with at least some Olympic coverage and often there was either nothing or some lengthy event like a two hour marathon or nine inning baseball game. My attention span isn't that long.

Even so, I enjoyed these games more than others. I enjoyed the selection NBC chose for me to watch and the Chinese did a fantastic job in hosting the Olympics. It's been said that possibly close to a million volunteers helped with the games and I believe it. Everywhere I looked I saw volunteers doing something or guarding something.

The air pollution didn't seem to be as big a factor in the outdoor events. Maybe some of the Beijing factories were closed for two weeks? Maybe everyone with cars were told to park them? I've heard stories about trouble makers being kept out of Beijing during the games, but what about the others? Over a billion people in China and you'd think there would have been more spectators lining the streets and canals for the races. I couldn't help but feel we were presented with a certain image, and after learning some of the fireworks from the opening ceremony were digitally inserted I couldn't watch the closing ceremony the same way.

Of the many controversies with these games, one of the biggest has to be the supposed ages of the Chinese girl's gymnastics team members. Basically, they were supposed to be 16 by this year and several looked a couple years shy of that. A bigger controversy should have been the Chinese gymnastic training itself, where, often, three year old girls are removed from their families to begin training and, we are told, aren't allowed to quit and go back home if they don't like it.

Ran low on gas this morning. Was up to hot air balloon crew at 4:45 and met the others by 5:45. Two balloons launched from Monches, on the northern border of Waukesha County, and floated south at a rather swift 20 or so mph. Even though we had four crew members, the breeze dictated a large landing spot next to a road - not that easy between TT and DT south of Hwy. 18. Finally had to bring it down south of Sunset on Wren Way, in chest high soaking wet grass, before the propane totally ran out - approximately 25 miles from where we began.

Driving all the way back to Monches for a champaign toast - the woman had given this balloon ride to her husband for a first wedding anniversary gift. Didn't get back home until about 9:45, five hours after I woke up.

After a parish picnic at Minooka Park at noon I was the one running out of gas. I did finally get my first glimpse of the dog area in the park though and I was very impressed. I saw very many happy people on benches in the shade, throwing things for their pets and generally having a good time. I also saw very many happy dogs. I left with a very positive feeling of the place.

old and new

Brien Lee — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:09:00 GMT

Quite the local news day. Happy Days cast was in Milwaukee for an unveiling, parade and ball game. Governor Doyle in Milwaukee for a ribbon cutting for the opening of the Marquette interchange. Hours of Common Council discussion on the Northwoods League plans. It's after midnight now with no end to the discussion in sight. The public comment before the council meeting alone went to 9:45.

Bronze Fonz. New statue for a 70's show set in the 1950s.

A restored steam train has been hanging around the Intermodal Station for several days. The backdrop of the blue beams from the new Marquette Interchange make an interesting juxtaposition with the old black steam engine.

lost in the "woods"

Brien Lee — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:13:00 GMT

The first time I took my youngest to his friend's in the City of Pewaukee, we had to call for directions. My son's written directions omitted a crucial turn and we ended up in Brookfield. She talked us through each of 8 or so turns and we finally found her house, though it did make me a little late for my next ballooning adventure.

Because the route I was given to find my way out of the maze was so much simpler, we've been using it ever since. It will take a few more trips before we leave the cell home, but at least we don't have to pack a light snack and top off the tank before visiting any more.

As everyone is aware, some developers use themes in their street names. Trees, presidents, cities, flowers, states... you name it. And the always popular Third St., Fourth, etc. It obviously helps with directions when north-south streets are one related theme and east-west another.

There's an interesting neighborhood in Pewaukee I first encountered years ago. There's a Camelot Dr., King Arthur's Court, Merlin Way and Valiant Dr. Also Galahad Lane and Lancelot Drive. My son's friend's subdivision is across Springdale Road from that one; Sprindale Estates.

Every road name in Springdale Estates ends in wood. There's Aspenwood, Alderwood, Briarwood, Beechwood, Burnwood, Burningwood, Birchwood, Cherrywood, Cedarwood, Emberwood, Elmwood, Fernwood, Foxwood, Graywood, Glenwood, Hickorywood, Indianwood, Lindenwood, Maplewood, Meadowood, Oakwood, Pinewood, Peachwood, Redwood, Ridgewood, Rosewood, Shadywood, Stonewood, Springwood, Timberwood and, finally, Willowood.

After multiple times getting lost in the "woods," I recently learned Springdale Estates is the largest subdivision in Wisconsin. At one mile by 3/4 mile, it didn't surprise me at all and made me feel less bothered by all the times we had to call for directions.

One one-hundredth of a second!

Brien Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:09:00 GMT

It's the Olympics of TV watching and I've seen so much I'm starting to cramp up. After sprinting up the dial from 4 to 27 to 34 and 46, I do a triple-back salto to 27 then nearly dislocate my thumb trying to avoid a commercial. When the final results are in, I learn I could've placed if only I'd vaulted over to channel 73.

I'm watching the best Olympics ever. I have four or five channels to choose from - but only on weekends. Primetime coverage during the week is limited to Channel 4 so we have to watch commercials and all the events NBC thinks we want to see. Fortunately, some of the commercials aren't half bad (though repetition doesn't do anything for them,) and the events shown have been exciting and probably what I'd be watching if given the choice.

It's Michael Phelps' Olympics this year. He's now tied with Mark Spitz for the most gold in a single Olympics and has already won more total gold than anyone else. He's broken 6 world records with his first 6 gold medals and only the Olympic record with the last win. Each time he swims there's excitement in the air and I've been fortunate to see many of his races live in primetime. He's so amazing he's broken two world records within an hour or two on more than one occasion, and never seems out of breath.

Phelps usually surprises by coming from behind to win it in the last few meters. The four-man freestyle relay was a nail-biter because Phelps wasn't in the anchor position and France led most of the way. Fortunately Americans were in the lead where it mattered - in the end - and they succeeded in helping Phelps in his ultimate goal of 8 gold in one Olympics.

They said last night's 100-meter butterfly would be close. It wasn't Phelps' best event and he was swimming next to the record holder in the event, Serbian Milorad Cavic, but the way Michael's been swimming there should be no worry, right? If Michael were to have a chance at 8 gold he'd have to win all eight of his events, including this one. Cavic lead the entire race and, as you've probably heard, was edged out at the end by a fingernail's distance, 1/100th of a second. Phelps took a risky half stoke while Cavic glided in on a too-long full stroke. Unbelievable.

I've never seen so many world records fall. (The green world record graphic line is so cool.) And I'm sure I've never seen a closer race than yesterday's 100m butterfly. Even though the results were contested, high speed video was slowed to a ten-thousandth of a second to confirm the win.

If I don't write more about the seeming obsession of cameras in the faces of American women gymnnasts while they're waiting to perform, instead of them focusing on something actually happening... If I don't write about volleyball so competitive that the ball hardly volleys at all... If I don't write about the winner of the men's 50 meter swim who didn't seem to take even one breath in the twenty-two seconds it took to finish the race... If I don't write about the athletes with local ties, like the Hamms and Chelsie Memmel, who I wanted to see more of but couldn't because of injury... If I don't mention 41 year old swimmer Dara Torres who wins races against those 25 years younger... It's because I'm watching the Olympics!

milk run

Brien Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:08:08 GMT

My favorite place to buy milk is Kwik Trip because it's close and on the way home, usually the least expensive, and they have punch cards for a dollar off when card is complete. Kwik Trip also has the least expensive bananas around so I often grab a bunch to go with the milk. It also helps that many of the employees know me and there's usually minimal waiting.

This week we wanted to pick up milk after a visit to Mom-in-law and stopped at Speedway on Summit for the convenience. Grabbed one gallon and wondered what the price would be. The shelf read "two gallons for $6.50" and in fine print "one gallon at regular price" with no indication what regular price was. After waiting in a five minute line I finally learned that "regular price" is $4.00 so I left. We didn't need milk that's as expensive as gas. Besides, there were other opportunities for milk before reaching home.

Without going out of our way, Mobil on Summit was our next stop. Not only was milk also $4.00 but they were out of 2%!

So we went a little out of our way anyway to Kwik Trip, letting the mini van idle the whole time because of charging problems (it wouldn't have started if we shut it off). Bought two gallons at $3.29 each and got the card punched.

Bottom line: Was burning mad when price wasn't posted at Speedway, didn't get burned by $4.00 milk and burned more gas than we saved on milk. At least the van made it home - barely!

Grande Mariner, Earth Voyager

Brien Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:28:15 GMT

Parking a bike in Downtown Milwaukee allows me to explore as the mood strikes. The mood struck this morning after I noticed an interesting sailboat on last night's news and then again in today's paper. Grabbed the camera and rode to Discovery World where something is always going on. I didn't see the boat I was looking for but a cruise ship was docking so I talked to the welcome crew from the Visitor's Bureau.

They told me that about six cruise ships a year dock there for the day. This ship, the Grande Mariner, was out for a six day, six stop tour around Lake Michigan. The boat holds 50 cabins and costs $2000.00 or so per person for the week.

Milwaukee certainly has enough going on right now to keep anyone busy for the day. Docking at Pier Wisconsin, the passengers are within a short walk of the Les Paul exhibit at Discovery World, the Milw. Art Museum, Irish Fest and a trolley stop. The free trolleys loop through downtown, nearing a hundred restaurants and shops and at least 20 points of interest.

As I turned to leave for work I saw the boat I was there for, Earth Voyager, a sleek white beast of a catamaran that's reported to be the fastest sailboat on the Great Lakes. It's greater purpose is to raise awareness for protecting the Great Lakes, but I just liked speculating how much it all cost.

I get the blues when it rains

Brien Lee — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:34:58 GMT

This weekend could be an instant replay of the same weekend a year ago: Balloon rally in Hartford, Arab World Fest in Milwaukee, last weekend for State Fair in West Allis, car show in Waukesha, Bluesfest in Delafield. Heck, it even rained on Saturday afternoon, same as last year! Guess you have to stick with what works.

A little nervous when I heard that the only change to Bluesfest, beside performers, would be the ticket prices. Not enough people showed for the first one and, though we enjoyed it, thought it would take something major to bring it back again this year. It was $37.00 for a one day ticket last year compared to $15.00 each for advance tickets this time.

The restaurants were the same as last year, vendors same, artists same. Same park, Naga-Waukee. OK, even the same person accompanied me, Mom-in-law. But are fourteen artists in a tent gallery enough of a distraction for a 9-1/2 hour fest? Is there anything for kids to do?

Yesterday I'd heard that Friday's crowd was pretty light. I was afraid of that. I wanted to see this work for people like myself who enjoy this type of music, and for Waukesha Rotary Club's Charitable Fund, recipient of the proceeds.

We arrived around 1:00 for it's start and found everything as we left it from last year. All eyes were on the people, ears on the music. Would more people show than last year, and did the lineup suffer from the ticket price cut? The same tent with the same amount of chairs were filled with a similar number of blues fans. But then something started happening. A couple decent local acts played and people started arriving. Portable chairs were set up, picnic tables filling, artists seeing customers. It was a relaxed atmosphere where us mainly middle-aged folk could go barefoot, smoke, drink or get the blues without much restriction. I didn't see anyone get out of hand, mom-in-law excepted.

By the time the first of the three head-liners played, the tent seemed to be 3/4 full. We were really getting into the artist born in Two Rivers who later moved to New Orleans. His nieces took the stage to toss Mardi Gras beads to us and I caught one for Ma. People started cheering for me and I didn't know why. Correction, people were cheering for Bryan Lee not Brien Lee and it was because his group was really great. He signed my t-shirt the same way I often sign my name, B Lee, a neat trick considering he's blind.

As the evening wore on the tent filled almost completely and I was satisfied the one change made to the ticket price was enough. Younger fans appeared as day turned to night. Many dancers were enjoying themselves, especially to the tunes of The Bel Airs. We had an enjoyable night and will go again next year.

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Brien Lee — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:36:27 GMT

. .

To all the people who've lended me a hand, been nice to me when I was crabby, made room, seemed interested, had patience... To friends I've known for years and those I've lost touch with. To friendly neighbors, store clerks, teachers, students, clergy... To fellow ballooning crew, Vincentians, my family here and at St. William... I'm thinking of you today.

Happy Friendship Day!

baseball and the city

Brien Lee — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:02:40 GMT

There's already at least one discussion on the topic of a stadium in Frame Park for a Northwoods League team, so I won't start one here. But because it's outcome could affect most everyone who goes Downtown, it's important that those who would have an opinion after it's built speak up now, before it's approved.

My opinion is it should be built in Frame Park as presented. I'm aware of much of the discussion and saw many valid questions raised during the Committee of the Whole. There are probably as many opinions as there are people opposed to it, and by my not living very close to it my opinion shouldn't really matter, but...

If we don't want to sit in traffic or continue to send entertainment dollars out of town to Miller Park...

If we want to see more out-of-towners in our downtown...

If we'd like to see quality affordable baseball...

I've thought about all the times I've headed east for entertainment. Variety, quality, opportunity. And I've thought about the reasons for not having a small baseball stadium at Frame Park. Litter, noise, lack of parking, traffic. We could pass every opportunity that came along and get all our entertainment from Milwaukee, or we could think of new ways to enliven our city.

Milwaukee has a shortage of street parking yet still looks to develop parking lots into more hotels. A stadium in Frame Park is within walking or biking distance of the highest concentration of people in Waukesha. Most of the attendees of the games would be families - not the worst litter offenders. It likely would be noisy, but almost all games would be over by 10:00 p.m.

The lighting will be improved to greatly reduce stray light and the footprint of the ball field would hardly encroach on the park. I'm not a huge user of Frame Park but I know it's already a mixed use park. There's already trails, natural areas, playground, recreation building, volleyball and baseball. If the park were a nature center or if any of the existing uses were removed to make room for the stadium I'd have reservations about it. The stadium would not substantially change Frame Park.

As this proposal moves through the various committees and the City Council I feel the right thing will be done in the end. If everyone opposes it we'll just continue spending too much money too far from home on baseball.

************************on another matter*********************

The city would like to see your ideas on it's Strategic Planning Survey. Time is short - they'd like you to take it by this Wednesday the 6th! It's a good way to tell the city where we'd like to see it in five years and what to do when money is in short supply. What service would you be willing to sacrifice and which ones can't you live without? If nothing else it gets you thinking.

fish are not to scale

Brien Lee — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:08:38 GMT

Spent several hours at Pewaukee Lake yesterday. With the no wake law still in force it's unusually quiet, and if my canoe didn't still have gaping holes in it... So we fish from shore. Very peaceful watching the regatta of around 50 sailboats. Later in the day was Taste of Lake Country and fireworks, but that's another story.

Making every cent of my weekend dollars count I went to Milwaukee today to do several things. I parked under the Hoan Bridge by the river, saving $10.00. I attended a very nice Lutheran service in the Marcus Amphitheater and was allowed into German Fest free, saving $13.00.

German Fest is one of the few festivals I missed last year, (Pride Fest will still have to wait) and I wanted to get there for the food and music. I haven't been to this one before. I wasn't into the music and dancing all that much, but the scents, tastes and sights were overwhelming. Got my first look at the new Harley Stage also. Very cool.

Wandered over to Discovery World next door to use the pass I obtained with the purchase of my Les Paul concert ticket, saving $17.00. I spent the next couple hours in my first tour of the Technology and Aquarium Buildings and the Les Paul House of Sound exhibit! The Les Paul exhibit, indeed all of Discovery World, was way more than I could've imagined. I enjoyed handling everything, trying it out, playing with things, discovering at my own pace.

Discovery World has to be seen to be believed. When I thought nothing could possibly top the Les Paul exhibit, I had doubts while touring the rest of the building. The bed of nails was one very interesting interactive feature of the Technology Building. Fun to try. The Great Lakes are to scale in the Aquarium complete with interactive locks, rain and storms, and bluegills (not to scale). Also had fun touching the rays and lake sturgeon.

The schooner in the Aquarium Building is a fun play thing. Lots of things to touch, turn and see with many things identified with labels. I played with as many things as I could today and the best thing is I only got yelled at once - at the German Fest Splash Pad for not taking my shoes off!

Chasing Gilbert

Brien Lee — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:53:01 GMT

Was glad to hear I might be crewing this weekend. Weather's been less than ideal lately. Summer's half over and I've only helped a few times. First possibility was Saturday morning, but was too windy. Saturday night was better, but still iffy.

While waiting for the breeze to calm, I asked the other crew members if they knew which balloon landed and stopped traffic on Hwy. 16 in Hartland Wednesday night. I read an In Brief article in the Freeman regarding it and had cut it out. Talking with someone who went out Wednesday, and talking with other crew on the field, came to find out it was one of the three balloons waiting, like me, for the wind to die down. They told of the police coming, a nurse offering help. While it's fairly common to take down the envelope on or near quiet residential streets it's an FAA violation to land on Hwy. 16. The pilot in question actually landed a distance from 16 on a frontage road... and no one was hurt.

All hot air balloons have names. It just makes it easier to communicate by radio. Names are usually descriptive of the color or shape, have something to do with freedom, floating... things like that. I have no idea where the name came from for the balloon I was crewing for, but I crewed for Gilbert... twice. Early this morning and last night.

We waited for the last possible minute to fly last night and still get a decent flight in. Flights last about an hour, and they have to be down by sunset. The wind just wouldn't die down. The three balloons finally took off and the passengers in Gilbert had a good flight. Father and daughter were both born on the same date and were given the flight for their birthday.

Gilbert landed at the driving range of a golf course northwest of here after 8:00 p.m. A nice slow decent after a rather fast-moving flight. A few people around thinking it was pretty cool we were there. The envelope was down and the air squeezed out when all Caddyshack broke loose. The sprinklers turned on! You've never seen us move so fast or get so wet. It's not nice to ride Gilbert hard and put him away wet.

So the passengers had a good flight, crew got a funny story to tell, and because Gilbert was taken out again this morning, he's all dry now.

pedalling to the beat of a different drummer

Brien Lee — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 04:21:51 GMT

I blogged about a similar topic in November, but this week's event promised to benefit the earth and fellow man. I was able to catch the last half hour of a pedal-powered concert in Wales on calm Tuesday night. Because the event was affiliated with the MS150 bike tour, it raised both awareness of wasteful energy practices and funds to help battle multiple sclerosis.

I was already in the Wales area for a dinner meeting in the beautiful Hills of Delafield, so Hazie and ScorpGirl can relax. I did not drive all the way out there wasting gas. I probably would have, though, had I known how cool the warm evening on Main Street in Wales would be.

About ten stationary bikes littered the lawn of an 1887 Queen Anne Victorian lovingly restored into the Pedal'rs Inn B & B. The Inn's claim to fame is that it was the location of George Webb's first restaurant. Because I arrived late, I found out about the house tours too late to see if there were two clocks side-by-side in the dining room.

The stage was lit by energy-conserving LED spotlights powered by bike riders, many of whom wore colorful riding jerseys. It was mostly dark where the riders were, but even though I could see at least one biker going wild to the music, I saw no helmets.

This night was quite different from November's barn dance. It was outdoors, a lot warmer and a lot less crowded. But still I wondered if I'd get my first chance at pedalling. Is it hard? If I did get on, would I tire before someone relieved me. I asked someone if it was difficult and she said since she does spinning it wasn't too bad. That was no help because I don't even knit.

A bike did finally free up and I realized several things. People are more friendly to you on a bike. Either because bike riders are generally friendly toward one another, or because I was helping power a really good concert, either way people just seemed more open and friendly. The pedalling wasn't too difficult but was sweaty because there's no wind on these stationary bikes. I felt much more absorbed by music I helped power - felt connected to the musicians. The musicians felt connected to us - if they still had people willing to pedal, they'd be motivated to continue playing. The concert volume wasn't too loud, it was adequate. With each of the 9 amps I was putting out being put to use, low volume was just fine. And finally, outdoors on a summer night is the perfect venue for a concert like this.

feeling a little elated

Brien Lee — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:24:37 GMT

Even with a little rain and without Skyfest at the county fair it's still a good weekend. Anytime there's more fun things to do than time to do them it's a good thing.

Friday was a wonderful night to be out for Freeman Friday Night Live downtown. The foot traffic was as good as the music. It's always nice to see Downtown alive. Chad James was sounding especially fine outside Steaming Cup as was the 12 year old guitar player keeping artist Chuck Weber company outside Almont Gallery as he painted.

I popped into Plowshares' new Mainstreet location and was pleasantly surprised. Even though the space is smaller than the old Grand Ave. location, it's much brighter with a full wall of windows and higher ceilings. I saw many new items and the prices are still too low to believe.

I returned Downtown Saturday, by bike of course, to see racers from around the world compete in the Carl Zach Cycling Classic - the 15th time the Classic has come to Waukesha. The rain had stopped by the time the 100k men's professional race began and the temperature was quite nice. There could have been more people watching but it was nice to be so close to the action. The wind generated by a peloton of 40 or so riders pedalling at 30 mph felt more like a high-speed Acela Express than a freight train passing by. A three time Junior World Champion, past and present Olympians, Australians, Columbian riders... it was great to see them all. Thanks to Couri Insurance for their continued sponsorship, Alderman Randy Radish, Race Director, and all who make this possible.

Later Saturday I joined my ballooning friends for an Un-fair Skyfest get-together to break in a new grill. I've never had so much fun catching fireflies! We also roasted marshmallows, kicked the soccer ball, told stories, played games... Almost as much fun as ballooning.

We'll be leaving for the fair and it's tractor and truck pulls in a couple minutes. What didn't I have time for? Festa Italiana and the WEAL highway clean up in Eagle on rainy Saturday morning.

feeling a little deflated

Brien Lee — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:15:26 GMT

Now that the County Fair is here I'm looking forward to some hot air balloon competition at the annual Skyfest rally. Maybe crew with someone new. Maybe run into friends from out of town. Or so I thought.

Pay no attention to the cover page of today's edition of WaukeshaNOW paper. It was wrong. "THURSDAY The sky will be adorned with color during the SKY FEST HOT AIR BALLOON COMPETITION at the Waukesha County Expo Center." I wish! Fourteen years of ballooning at the fair was put on hold this year as no corporate sponsors were located.

Before learning of it's fate, I wondered how the weather would affect Skyfest this year. The weather's been pretty poor for ballooning lately, and this week's forecast looked like it had a lot of possible thunderstorms. Indeed, the first day of the fair saw a severe storm. Might not have had a lot of flight time anyway.

So we made the best of opening day at the fair by watching the tractor pulls - the lawn tractor pulls - for a few hours. The rain cooled things off but it also made a mess of the track. The competition got a late start because the mud had to be scraped off and the track smoothed out. I've never seen the competition before and was pretty amazed at some of the machines. Was surprised to see 8 year olds steer modified 10 hp, 900 lb machines 130 or more feet while dragging a weighted sled.

Stayed long enough, and when the expensive-looking dragster style tractors still hadn't run by 10:30 we knew it was time to leave. We got our dollar's worth.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Brien Lee — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:32:00 GMT

I hope there will always be somewhere to go where they know your name, and I'm not talking about an automated voice reading it off your frequent shopper card. There are few places left where you can pick up your cup where you left it the day before and share conversation and coffee with the butcher behind the meat counter every day at the small mom and pop grocery like my dad used to do in Mercer. Doesn't really matter how big the place is.

Even though Pick 'N Save takes way too much of our money we still like shopping there. Prices are comparatively low, people know us there and we run into people we know there. It's like the small town post office, where conversation is free-flowing and eventually, it seems, you'll bump into everyone.

P & S does what it can to cut down on aisle clogging conversation. They make narrow aisles (the most popular ones of course) even narrower with free-standing displays. The end result is there isn't room anywhere to even park a cart out of the way. On busy Saturdays you have to wait for traffic to pass before reaching for some things (if they're going to make aisles that narrow they need to make them one-way or have narrower carts).

Even though P & S has installed some self-serve check outs for smaller orders, it's still nice to talk to live checkers who know you. We've know some of the checkers going back 15 years and more. They want to know how everyone is, where my wife is when she's not with me, and they comment on how big the kids are getting (I blame that on them). When we went shopping there yesterday we didn't go to the shortest line, we went to Linda's line. I love kidding with Linda. When she gave us our whopping total I told her to catch this one and I'll get the next. I love her laugh.

They tell Linda and Sally and others not to talk so much, that their lines are too long. But I say their lines are long because people want to wait for checkers that know their names. We did.

Pick 'N Save is running a promo of a $25.00 gift card if we transfer a prescription to their new pharmacy. Don't want it. Walgreens has usually treated us fairly. Went there Friday and the pharmacist called me by name as I approached. There was no waiting. The order was ready and he was efficient and friendly. He could have been extra nice for the survey I could take for a chance to win $3000.00, but maybe the new competition in town is forcing it. Either way, as long as Walgreens continues to take care of us and acts like they know us we'll continue to do business there.

this place is a disaster

Brien Lee — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:12:00 GMT

Inspector FEMA stopped by early Saturday morning to stumble through our cluttered basement. I debated asking for the visit because there was very little damage from the Flood of 2008. Even though sewer backups are covered under our homeowner's, we didn't even apply. But it's extremely rare (thankfully) that FEMA is in town, we have a $500.00 deductible, and the sewer backed up not once, not twice, but five times within one week last month.

Didn't really want to ask for help because there were far more families and businesses worse off than us. But this flooding shouldn't have happened and I wanted someone other than the city to know. We've had sewer backups in our neighborhood for years, for whatever reasons, and was told by the director of public works two years ago that the replacement of pipe in our street would solve the problem. They did smoke testing to find illegal hookups and added more storm drains. The city seemed to do everything it could, short of increasing capacity or redesigning our connection to the main line, and for a while it worked. June's rain was the first big test since the new pipe was laid.

I wish it wouldn't have happened, because now it means we still have to worry about basement flooding every time it rains hard. What if we're away when it rains? We have a new, very expensive furnace / a/c down there among many other things. The only storm water allowed in the sanitary sewer should be through the floor drains of flooded basements. I have a feeling more basements were flooded through floor drains than were saved by them. I have a feeling leaking pipe, manhole openings and illegal hookups are allowing too much stormwater in.

By getting FEMA involved there will be a clearer picture of what happened and what needs to be done. When all monetary damages from the storm are added up the state will be given a percentage of that in a federal grant for infrastructure improvements to be distributed to counties according to need. I can see a need in our area for larger capacity pumps.

FEMA for Waukesha is currently set up at the County Highway Department off Grandview Blvd. between Northview and Silvernail from 10:00 to 7:00 every day except Sunday. Representatives from local, state and federal agencies are there to offer any assistance they can. Of the three times I visited there was never a crowd. Besides the free clean up kits offered, there is plenty of useful literature. One of the more interesting things offered is a U.S. Small Business Admin. Disaster Home Loan. If we apply and qualify we could get a loan at less than 3%, which would make it our lowest rate. (I can think of a few needed car repairs with that money.)

We didn't really need help but since FEMA is there... I picked up some ideas and made others aware of the problem in our area. If you don't need help but know of someone who might, be sure to suggest they stop in. FEMA won't be there forever.

wealthy neighborhood

Brien Lee — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:03:17 GMT

Takin the blog for a walk in the neighborhood of Wealthy Street we often see sidewalk art. Last Sunday was a rather elaborate affair; A heart with angel wings, the word "Hope" written in the middle, and sunflower seeds set in a little pile in the middle of it. There was a little angel statue and a pinwheel next to it.

Was the artwork done by a child who lost a young brother or sister? Was it some kind of memorial to a soldier? I wondered if the angel had a connection to the bird seed. What was the thought? That the birds would be taking the blessings of the angel or the young artist up to heaven? We were curious, but not enough to knock at 5:30 a.m.

I meant to come back for a picture later on but forgot and rain washed it away. The artwork was just unusual enough that I felt a connection. Remember, I had just lost my uncle, an artist, two days earlier and was leaving later that day for the memorial service. Like life, the artwork was temporary.

A day or two after my return from Omaha I determined to find answers to the art even if it meant rapping on the door. Fortunately someone was outside when we passed by and was willing to talk. The person we saw was the artist and, without disclosing her age, lets just say she's no child.

Throughout the next couple hours she proceded to tell us about herself, ask about me, show us pictures and a painting. I told her about my trip to Omaha and what my uncle meant to me while she got me a chair and Sir Fido a bowl of water.

She was going to replace the washed out artwork while we were there but not until she was sure we were comfortable. She brought out bottled water, a couple beers and, when it started to get cold and dark, sweatshirts.

She's been doing sidewalk art for quite some time but doesn't consider herself an artist. The one piece I saw was the first time she added angel wings. So what did it all mean? Nothing really. She just likes to be creative and she likes feeding birds. I suppose it's like any other art and means different things to different people. (It could've been a trap for curious individuals. Anyone who bothers to ask will have to meet a most interesting individual.)

when a blogger dies

Brien Lee — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:53:00 GMT

A fellow blogger passed away a week ago today. He was born and died in June... with eighty years in between. He led a very interesting and full life, spoke many languages and had friends around the world.

He began blogging three years ago this month and, while I've read them in the past, the posts have new meaning for me now. He was a somewhat eccentric character, and his writing certainly helps to demystify his complexity.

I travelled 600 miles to Omaha by Greyhound Sunday night for the Monday memorial service. I had wanted to visit while he was still alive but something always came up. The last time I saw him was by way of a Skype video connection. He knew he was dying.

The memorial service was a fitting send off for an extraordinary man. It was the perfect mass with stories and testimony from many of his friends and colleagues. It celebrated his long, fruitful life and quirky nature. There was read a long poem about him, songs and readings he would've enjoyed, tears of joy and sadness... and plenty of humor. If I live to be a hundred, I will not again witness such a wondrous mass for as unique an individual.

I was to return to Waukesha the following day, so while there I had to explore the Iowa dish antenna farm known as SCOLA started by him. It's an imposing sight in the middle of an unimposing cornfield. Huge dishes sprout from the fertile soil like trees in Arthur C. Clarke's imagination. The bowls in the corn stand ready to accept flakes of information. The studio digests programming from around the world and spoon feeds it to subscribers via a regular schedule. (SCOLA used to be seen on cable in the Waukesha area several years ago. It was the channel with the foreign news broadcasts.)

Before I left Tuesday, I wanted to sign the guestbook for the room on the Creighton campus I was staying. It was started in the late 1980's, and as I paged through it I wondered if I'd see him mentioned -- he had taught at Creighton for many years. Right there on the second page, a note from a Frenchman visiting SCOLA, thanking Father Lubbers, SJ, my uncle, for the hospitality.

My Uncle Lee was uncommon and we had a lot in common. He loved to book shop, more than he'd ever have time to read, it seemed. He gave me a enormous "The Last Whole Earth Catalog" and "The Zen of Running" years ago. He left me his well-used "Roget's International Thesaurus" which I will use in blogging and used for this one.

He took the nieces and nephews skiing many times, and these are favorite memories. It took Lee's enthusiasm to get teenagers out of bed before dawn on a freezing winter vacation day, cook us a hot breakfast of grits, drive for miles to the ski hills on snow-covered roads, and ski all day even when it was coldest. Three times he took us skiing out West and you will see skiing and mountains prominent in his art from that period.

After Uncle Lee's brother died in the 1960s his sister, my mother, began an Easter egg hunt tradition. It was the first big holiday after the plane crash and she wanted to do something to help the five orphaned kids get through it. Again my uncle's enthusiasm took over and he really, really, enjoyed hunting for his own colored eggs well into his 60s.

It was always fun seeing my uncle for holidays. He'd share stories and ideas from his travels and get us to try foods and drink we were unfamiliar with. He liked strong, black coffee and liked sweets and French foods, especially cheeses.

I could go on and on about his art, his marrying us and baptizing our baby. About a trip to Missouri for an antenna. About sailing ... Maybe later.

My uncle began the art department at Creighton University and is still instructing even in death. His body was donated to science.