October 27, 2009

I biked to work today for what has seemed to be the longest span of time in not doing so since spring; it was actually just two weeks. For the past two weeks, there has been quite a bit of sporadic showers, and with the cooler temps, biking in the rain for 30 minutes doesn't sound so enjoyable.

It was dark when I left and not many cars on the road. There were spots of low hanging fog in the park greens that I bike by. I encountered ice this morning for my first time; I knew it was cold but was surprised to see fresh thin ice/frost in with the fallen leaves on the road. I guess it was 33 degrees at the time I rode; still not bad for biking.

I will probably bike tomorrow again and possibly Thursday, but then rain is supposed to return Friday and Saturday, just in time for the Purdue game that Karen and I are attending. Some of bike buddies at work have encouraged me to bike all winter, but I am not sure about that as the roads I take are hilly terrain, especially one such hill that biking down at any speed with ice might not be a good idea; maybe I'll give it a try, though. I will need to get snow bike tires, though.

I finished reading an acquaintance's book today, Henry Watterson and the New South by Daniel Margolies. I think he still has his weblog - Unsullied and Undismayed. I should check it out again sometime; he usually has good posts.

October 25, 2009

I made a big batch of chicken soup today with two carcasses. Karen had engineered strategic places for the bird feeders outside, only to have the squirrels attack all of them; at one point there were nine squirrels in our yard, and we witnessed a gopher chase a cardinal from the feeder, but couldn't scare the blue jay - and we want to save the environment for these things, these animals? God, how revolting. I almost wanted to napalm the entire backyard.

Elliott drank some of my beer today while I was cutting up veggies for the soup. He was chewing on a stalk of celery, then I turn away to add the cut veggies to the pan, and he immediately goes for my pint glass and drinks from it; Imperial IPA, 9.5%ABV. He seemed OK; not a good idea, especially with his infirmity, but he weathered it well.

These animals are just getting out of hand; could be end times, surely.

October 24, 2009

It was nice not having a Badger football game today. Regardless of whether it is in-town or out-of-town, the games create quite a bit of bustle. So, it was nice to see things a bit more slower and quiet for the day.

I went to the Farmer's market near our house at the Hilldale market today. I amazed at how some of the veggies continue with the cold weather we have had lately. I purchased onions, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, carrots, garlic, cabbage, a red pepper (for Elliott), and eggs ($17.)

The trees are peaking in their colors around here. Our street is gilded gold by the sugar maples. Our hickory tree is now starting to turn its pale yellow.

Karen has set the bird and animal feeders out for the winter. It was approved by our usual crowd of squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and my fave - the female cardinals, no males out today for some reason.

October 9, 2009

Karen and I went to see an offering of abstract films/animation at the UW Cinematheque tonight. Marco Pogo was there, but he has been to every Cinematheque showing since the Com Arts kids started this program, except for maybe that one time when he to my friend's art installation. I think he wears the same shirt each time; it is a cardinal red sweatshirt that says Cincinnati, I think, I am not sure, though, I really don't give it a good look as he might think I am staring at him or something.

The films were introduced by their creator, Joost Rekvold. He is a very nice man, very thin and pale and wore an interesting array of threadbare clothes. Mr. Rekvold teaches at Leiden University, which I thought was ironic for the day in that the London Times had released its top 200 universities, and Leiden was right next to the UW at 61.

The films were interesting, but I thought that maybe he should have showed them separately, as even this avid fan of abstract film (i.e., geek) found watching the pieces a bit challenging all in a row. Still, it was nice to see these on a big screen. It reminded me of the time when there was a showing of German abstract animation from the 1920's at the Elvehjem back in 1992, and I saw it after I gave my graduate seminar class a presentation on the very same subject, talk about coincidences; everyone from my seminar went to the showing that night, except I think for Donald Crafton, our professor, but he told me he went to an earlier showing the next time I saw him at the Crystal Corner bar. Not that I really cared, but from the guy who wrote his dissertation called Before Mickey, you would think he might be remotely interested, and he even had the pleasure of interviewing Boris Kaufmann, whose brother was the famed Dziga Vertov, before Boris passed on. We parked in the Lake Street parking lot ($3.45).

There weren't many college kids out that night, maybe it was the H1N1.

October 4, 2009

We attended the final outdoor performance for the American Players Theater: Comedy of Errors. It was chilly out, about 45 degrees F, but no wind, so not so bad to be sitting for 2 hours with half-hour intermission. I have never seen Comedy of Errors performed before, only have read it a few times. But, the play surprised me how well it flows as my impression from reading it made me think the play a bit contrived; especially, it being one of Shakespeare's earlier efforts (or collaboration depending upon your theory of authorship).

I was surprised also by the number of bats still out. That is one of the fun aspects of seeing a play outdoors; nature as a character usually intrudes. So by the time the sun is setting, there are bats flying all around the stage and seating, and this time I heard a Whip-poor-whill calling.

October 2, 2009

After work and dinner, I attended one of the several art events that the city holds semiannually - GalleryNight. The event I attended was in the Mound St Yoga Center. It lasted about 30 minutes and consisted of several dance/installation pieces, one of which my friend participated. Their piece was about 7 minutes long and had to do with apples. The apples were brought out onto the stage area in red wagon and then strewn about the floor, after the dancers performed their installation in full, they ended by slicing up the apples and serving them to the audience; sort of Brechtian. The piece was charming and quaint, and I thought the best of the offerings. The Yoga center is celebrating its 25th year, so there was lots of vegan cake around with Prosecco. I had some water as I was parched from walking 3 miles to the event (I wanted to see how long it took to walk from my house to that area, about 35 minutes.) So, I got in a good hour of exercise in the deal.

Camp Randall is surreal when it is all dark and no on around. In walking through Kendall Street where many of the leisure liberal class resides, the street and houses are set up nice, but with my experience, theses little liberal bastions, like other across cities in the USA, are profusely congested by cars. I find it funny that most of these people would consider themselves environmentally conservative, but are truly liberal when it comes to using and owning automobiles; I think there was one for almost every tree on the blocks I walked.

September 27, 2009

Summer's reign pretty much ended today. At noon, I was outside mowing the lawn and its was bit humid and maybe 80 degrees F. In the afternoon, clouds moved in and there was heavy rain from time to time. After dinner, we reclined to watch some programs on TV, and about 8PM, we saw a bunch of flickering occurring outside. And then rain poured down massively, turning into the droning pelt of hail. It was unbelievable to hear such a deafening sound all throughout the house; winds also picked up tremendously. Karen checked the Weather Underground website and noticed that our region of the city was under a pink section of precipitation; this is beyond the red level. The hail intensified and then subsided after about 15 minutes; but what an unnerving 15 minutes to hear that sound non-stop; kind of scary, definitely unsettling.

Looking out our windows after the hail passed, we could see about 3 or 4 inches of standing hail. It was hard to see though as most of it was translucent and not opaque; so in the street lights, it glistened like broken glass. The temps fell to 50 that night, and the forecast did not have anything higher than 60 in it for the next week.

September 15, 2009

Our parrot Elliott vomited today. He does this periodically as it is a symptom of his chronic illness. It is an arresting sight, to say the least. I am not revolted by the function, but feel empathetic when someone is experiencing this act; it is humiliating to say the least, and my compassion swells when I see it occurring. Well, apart from one time when I was on the Portland transit system, Tri-Met. The bus line that went by my former household on Division Street was the Number 4. For some reason in their compromised opiated minds, the heroin addicts would get on the bus, thinking for some reason it went to the Belmont Street methadone clinic. How they ever thought this is beyond my comprehension, as the numbers or streets are not similar. But, there they would be, slumped over in their bus seats, all strung out and pasty, like little E.T.s from that lovely movie by Stevie Spielberg.

On one ride from the downtown area to my home, there were a couple on board the Number 4 that exhibited such a physiognomy, and were muttering gibberish most of the ride. When they finally figured out by 39th Ave that they were on the wrong bus, they began to agitate, albeit at strung out speed, which is surreally slow. Then one of them vomited, but the vomitus came out equally slow; I suspect that peristalsis is also compromised by opiate abuse, which is quite phenomenal as the function is involuntary. And the vomitus; it looked just as white and pasty as them - how does that work?

September 6, 2009

Paul and I finished all but one window and fitted our new faucet. I assembled a new waterhose spindle and began washing the house's exteriors. In the evening, we drank much beer, and some of Paul's friends came over who were visiting their families in Stoughton. The end result was that 4 men, in ages from late 30's to early 40's and one of their wives, managed to drink about 27 beers in about 3 hours; not bad for a 'Pabsting.'

Before we retired for the evening, we caught some of Jerry Lewis. It is sad to see such an old man attempt to sing, walk, and look cogent.

September 5, 2009

Paul and I purchased materials to replace our basement windows. I helped in painting the wood 2X4's, and chiseling some of the wall borders to help size the window casements better. In the evening, we drank plenty of cheap beer, which is a great help when doing projects; it doesn't alter you that fast, and you can drink plenty of them during the day and evening, and still be OK in the morning to proceed with work. We also watched the Badger game and during halftime, the squirrels outside my house on Regent Street that have been eating and gathering all the hickory nuts from the lone shagbark hickory tree on that part of the street. The squirrels are at such a rate that every second pieces of the nut would fall onto the street, and every once in awhile a few nuts themselves. The street in that section is littered with nut pieces and resin from the nuts.

September 4, 2009

Paul came into town from Milwaukee, and we began sizing up projects for the house. For the evening, we drank lots of beer and caught parts of Natural Born Killers, which was the first movie date Karen and I had.

September 3, 2009

In going to our closest grocery store, Whole Foods, to pick up some fruits for Elliott and a few other items, I had another brush with academic royalty. I was walking into the store and practically bumped into Chancellor Biddy Martin. She is pretty small, like Donna Shalala was, but more plump and red in the face as contrast to Donna's visage resembling that one witch in Wizard of Oz. Biddy was pretty pleasant but a little removed in that she knew that I figured out who she was when I apologized for bumping into her.

August 14, 2009

Quite a day. Most of it was the Bike Pub Crawl. It started at 10 AM at my friend's house. We began with an homebrew apple drink that was made with lagering yeast, pretty good stuff. Biked first to Hoyt Park; stopped to have a complimentary can of Special Export, and then it was on to the Blue Moon pub on Old University Ave, and had a few glasses of beer there. There are a lot of people big into Bell's brewery, located in Kalamazoo, MI, and it is good stuff. We then rode onto the bike trail that parallels University and toured through the lakeshore path of Lake Mendota. I saluted my old dorm room from my freshman year as I went by it - 204 Botkin; the buildings at Tripp and Adams Hall look as beautiful as ever for their 80+ years. Went up State Street, which is still car-free, and ended up having lunch at the Argus. Some of the party went to a newer bar, The Bayou. We parked our bikes by the GEF-3 building, the building my wife used to work in during her fiscal bureau years, and a lot of those bureacrats drive bikes to work as it was little bit hard finding a bike space; many of us had to secure our bikes to other bikes.

I ate at the Argus, having a peanut-tahini salad ($6.75). I thought to keep it on the light side with all the beer being drunk during the ride. Had a Rolling Rock, club size at the Bayou ($1.35).

We then stopped at one of the bikers' houses on the north side of Lake Monona. Drank 4 Jello shots, pretty potent, and had some fun with squirt guns. Then onto the next house where we had mini-kegs of DAB and Bell's Oberon with some salty snacks (much needed). The temperature was climbing and it was getting a bit muggy, but we managed to weather it and made it to the Malt House on Milwaukee and Washington where I had an Apple Cider and then some absinthe. Milwaukee Road is named such as it was the road that Union Soldiers walked from Camp Randall to the port of Milwaukee at the onset of the Civil War. The Malt House has the same bar fixture that was used at the site when it was the Union tavern back in the 1860's. Last stop for me was at Dexter's on North and Milwaukee. Had more beers and a Blue Gill fish fry - the damn things are so small, it is like eating crab pincers or halibut cheeks, and just as sweet.

I rode home entirely using the bike lanes, which are separate from the roads and still had quite a bit of traffic, but perhaps it is a safe way to ride home when having a few barley pops. It was nice riding at night, seeing the Capitol all lit up and driving 'through' the Wright Convention Center (the bike lane curves into it at its base.) Arrived home at 9:30PM - no more drinks for the evening.

August 8, 2009

The heavy morning rains and severe storm kept me away from going to the Farmer's market, but I had enough materials at my disposal to prepare my meal for the cook group's outing to the American Player's Theater in Spring Green. I made a Samarkind Mung Bean Salad, and Karen made a batch of Kheer.

The theater has expanded since Karen and I were last there in 1995 to see Twelfth Night. The play was good, Shaw's The Philanderer, but it made me want to see a live production of Major Barbara, or my favorite, Man and Superman, which has that delightfully sardonic interplay known as "Don Juan in Hell." There is now an indoor theater, too, currently showing O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night; I don't know if I can take that any longer; such a grueling ordeal to see for 3 hours; it evens challenges my inherent sensibility of masochism. (Although, I could go for another dose of The Iceman Cometh.)

On the way back to Madison, I discussed with the members of the cook group about the ideas of opening a brewpub out by a vacant building by my place of work. I seemed to have piqued some interest. I also discussed further ideas of wild turkey and deer hunting. If I really do get the chance, I should plan on getting a large freezer for the basement to freeze all that good venison.

August 7, 2009

Karen and I attended a fundraiser for the Just Coffee Cooperative in the evening. Of the many activities and free food, they had a raffle in which Karen won a bike light and I won a gift certificate to a local restaurant/pub, The Weary Traveler. We did their coffee taste testing and beside the Nicaraguan collective's FEM offering, which was excellent, Bike Fuel blend still reigns supreme over the Runner's Blend (light), Breakfast blend (earthy), and Arriba blend (just as good as Bike Fuel). The presentation was excellent on the Women's coffee cooperative in Las Diosas. The fundraiser was to have one of the members of the collective travel to Madison to visit the coffee shop.

August 3, 2009

Made our favorite dal for dinner tonight. Then we went with a friend to Michael's Frozen Custard store. I had a peanut butter/fudge sundae ($4.89), and Karen had a mint chocolate chip shake ($5.99). As we ate our purchases, we walked in back of the store through a park that borders Lake Wingra. Saw some fireflies, and have a few more bumps from mosquitoes. There are some nice examples of massive old-growth oaks in the park, as well as some tall ash trees. We saw an ash tree with its emerald-ash borer "collection station" placed up by the DNR to detect if these pests have made their presence here in the vicinity. We also saw one of the firsts of rental changes with the big one coming up around the 15th. This time is like a citywide bargain bin as students and other tenants switch/leave leases and just dump stuff to get rid of it. The happening isn't as massive as it once was, however, due to the change of student housing from actual houses to high-rise apartments.

August 2, 2009

I biked about 20 miles today; the bike trails are a lot of fun. It was nice to ride around parts of Lake Monona; the trail I was riding goes right along the convention center. The public garden plots along Atwood Ave are lush and full of different flowers and plants; the corn is about 5 feet tall in some plots, the tomatoes are starting to ripen.

I came home to clean up the garage with Karen, and then we went to Penzey's to pick up some rubs for grilling and curry powder ($15). We also stopped at Vom Fass to pick up some grappa ($25), Spanish olive oil and sherry vinegar ($10).

I picked up a 6-pack of Yokel ($8) from New Glarus Brewing; an unfiltered Lager; good stuff. Karen cooked up some shrimp and corn. We used a Flamedisk, a disc of jellied corn ethanol that burns almost invisible with no smoke. It worked out well, but it was strange not seeing any smoke come from your grill, apart from when drippings would smoke. The disc lasts about an hour and then can be recycled.

August 1, 2009

I worked some more on the basement in the morning/afternoon, and then rode over to a friend's house on my bike. I brought a Gordon as a gift. My friend had just tapped his 5 litre flask of homemade mead. He used honey and cranberries with a lager and then a champagne yeast. The stuff was great; not sweet, crisp and dry. Had a few other beers in the course of visiting, and I think that Ale Asylum brewery can do no wrong.

I came home and accompanied my wife to Pasqual's for dinner. Had their taco meal with red chile pork ($6.95); my new standard.

After dinner, we returned home and watched Eraserhead.

July 31, 2009

I trimmed most of the hedges after work today, and did a little more fine tuning of the bushes around the house. As our backyard has become the defacto lounge for the neighborhood's rabbit population for we are the only house in the neighborhood sans dogs, it was cute to see them sitting in the lawn across from the house while I was trimming the one border hedge where they feed and frolic in our backyard; they showed up later once I was done.

I picked up some Gordon from Oskar Blues Brewery. Funny thought occurred to me as I was drinking these tasty little, but potent beers housed in their aluminum alloy cans; one Gordon is 8.7% ABV. I drank two, and they are just as rich as potent. Now, I think the average session beer, say Pabst or Hamm's, is probably about 4% ABV at most. So by having these two Gordon's, I had drank an equivalent of 4 PBRs - well, the idea struck me as interesting as I built my beer buzz.

With my chores all done for the night and Gordon's in my bloodstream, I found myself listening to Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights, and it dawned upon me that nearly 20 years ago, I bought the CD. I recall coming to Madison from Port Washington just before the move date of August 15, 1989, to move my stuff from 410 S Mills to 1029 Emerald St in preparation for my 'senior' year at the UW. After this was done, I purchased the CD at B-Side records. My friend who helped me move my stuff purchased a CD that would also have a serious impact on me, although at a later time, and that was the Big Star #1 Record/Radio City double album CD.

I then thought of how much fun it was to live at 1029 for the Fall of 1989 through August 1990, and the good times with such good housemates. I thought of my room in the attic that I loved, and how I slept on a simple futon I bought at Shakti and had the futon on the bare floor; for a moment I could almost detect the scent of the room - that wooden smell with a hint of patchouli from the incense I burned in it. I thought of 'Henry' the house's resident Cicada I brought in from a bad rainstorm. And then I thought of someone whom I was badly smitten with, how we watched a movie at the house for one of our dates, and of her house at St. James Court, but such thoughts really don't amount to anything, but dead-end dreams.

June 8, 2009

I almost feel like the highly esteemed James Anchower, Esq., famed op-ed writer for The Onion, in that I haven't 'rapped at ya' lately, Dear Mr. Diary; but you should know that the reason for being remiss in entries has been the busy schedule I have had with visiting relatives in town and friends. 

I am considering of obtaining hunting permits to begin  a new chapter in the list of hobbies that I have entertained in my humble life: hunting.  I was with Karen's old U of Michigan friend having lunch with him and Karen, to learn that not only does he have a cabin in Wisconsin Rapids, but also hunts deer, wild turkey, and pheasant; all three animals that I love for themselves and for their awesome-tasting flesh.  Karen's mom brought some Garlic Venison Bologna from our deer friends in Pennsylvania who died for our dinner plates - it is no surprise the ring has almost been finished.

We purchased a bunch of items at Trader Joe's today ($120.49).  They always have such impeccable music playing in their stores.

Who  knows, perhaps, I might even join the heralded ranks of the NRA . . .

May 24, 2009

I was perusing on-line letters at the Wisconsin Historical Society website, as they have placed a whole bunch of imaged material on the internet. I was reading a letter from Caroline Quiner Ingalls, the Caroline of Little House fame. She was writing to her sister, both sisters living in Wisconsin at the time, 1861. There was a passage in the letter where she mentions one of her relatives had come down with a scarlet-type fever where their entire body became red and inflamed then resulting in the necrosis of much of their skin. Caroline noted that the skin peeled off in great quantities and that fingernails fell off. I cannot get this image out of my head. I think I would have saved the 'castings'. They could have been donated to some historical society for all to view. Perhaps someone still possesses these items and maybe they could show up on something like Antiques Roadshow; I wonder if they would allow human effects such as that on the show; I would definitely be watching. Or, perhaps the skin/fingernails could be used as an episode on History Detectives. Alas, I am sure the effects are long gone.

May 22, 2009

Today we had bratwurst for breakfast at work (bring your brat to work day); tasty little treat that is part of this weekend's  bratfest.  The person who bought them was served by local weatherman Charlie Shortino, who used to work at Gordon's Commons here at the university back in my school days.  I wonder if he would remember me; we had a class together, and a woman that I was enraptured with was enraptured with him at that time; she could be still, though, as she is an accountant, and you know how those types with figures are.

I saw my first Monarch butterfly and my first mosquito; consequently, my first mosquito bite.

I planted the butterfly bush today, as I finally figured out where would be the best place for it.  

The iPod played quite a bit of Bruce Springsteen today, which made me listen to We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions when I arrived home.  I bought this a few years back and didn't think much of it, but it has grown on me, even considering the use of horns for the songs.  At first, I didn't think folk sings should have such accompaniment; I am not as bad as some purists, but it seemed too much.  Now it sounds almost natural to those songs.  I also listened to The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, which might be my favorite Bruce album. Something about listening to Bruce east of the Mississippi River seems more natural than listening to him when I lived west of the river. 

May 20, 2009

I took the day off from work today, and ran some errands/mowed the lawn.  I went to the smaller farmer's market that is near our house, held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I purchased some radishes and assorted scallions ($3) to make a batch of a spring kimchee.  While doing so, I stopped into the Sentry by the market to purchase some red chili peppers ($2.23).  While selecting the little peppers I noticed next to me none other than the esteemed professor emeritus Tino Balio.   Professor Balio has been inducted into the Motion Picture Academy as a film historian for them, as he is considered the expert on the history of United Artists. So, what a thrill watching a man select a head of lettuce next to me that was one of the last people to interview Charles Chaplin and Mary Pickford.  I am sure he wouldn't remember me from the time I took his class and he doubled as my teaching assistant. He is about 70, but still looks the same; different eyeglasses, though.

May 19, 2009

On my way home from work today, I witnessed some more public displays of animosity.  There was a high school boy being loudly berated by his mother as they were walking at a rather fast pace; very cute, as the guy was clearly bigger than his mom, but she was in control.

Some guy who killed his wife decided to hide out in the park near my house and take his life.  I don't think there are any turkey vultures around here as there are around the Mississippi River, but I wonder with his corpse lying there in the park, how long it would be before one of them would take a tear from the body.

Karen has supplied a little trough for the bunnies in our neighborhood for feeding.  They now come in the morning and evening, sometimes staying to lay on our grass in the evening.  I noticed today that a few mourning doves are starting to hang out by the trough to eat some seed.  The squirrels do not seem to be very interested in the place; perhaps because it is too easy to eat from; they seem to like a challenge by eating out of our bird feeders. 

iPod shuffle selections of note today: Effervescing Elephant by Syd Barrett, Hey Nineteen by Steely Dan, Handbags and Gladrags by Rod Stewart, All the People that Died by Jim Carroll Band.

May 17, 2009

I rode my bike to work to try and see what might be the best route.  It took about 30 minutes one way.  After riding, I came back home and decided to eat some bad food for dinner.  I went to get some fried chicken at the Sentry food store near me, and on my way came upon a fashion plate couple having an argument outside the chic sushi restaurant in the mall area.  It was cute seeing these folks dressed in the height of fashion with all their makeup and hair preparations actually having to descend to the act of bickering.  I think they were uncomfortable doing so, as their animation was probably unsettling their hair or creasing their apparel. 

May 16, 2009

I started reading sections of Wild Fermentation, a book on making fermented foods.  I think I will start to make my own sauerkraut. I went to a Korean grocery store to get some Korean pepper flakes ($2.99) and rice flour ($2.99) for my future kimchee making efforts. I stocked up on some new spices from Penzey's ($32.75). Karen and I have been making/eating a lot of dals lately. I quipped to her the other day that we eat like those terrorist kids in Waziristan. I visited this store called vom Fass. It is a German store, with this store being only the current store in the USA.  They have all sorts of oils and vinegars, and liqueurs that you can by any amount/volume. Nothing struck my fancy, so I signed up for their Scotch section when it is finished; I like the idea of not having to buy a whole bottle just to sample.

May 10, 2009

I planted the mayapples and transplanted some ferns that had managed to start spreading out to the lawn, then mowed the lawn.  For reward, I had a few Capital Brewery wheat beer ale; I am not a big fan of wheat beer in America; I don't think it works out nice as we don't have those sweet little yeast strains like those German breweries do (same goes for pilsner), but this wasn't too bad.

May 9, 2009

We went to the native plant sale today, held at the UW Arboretum.  It was to see the large expanse of prairie within the woods, still charred from its annual burn.  We saw 3 wild turkeys roaming around the grounds.  

I purchased 4 mayapples and 1 butterfly weed ($16); all the trout lilies were gone by the time we were there; so I will just wait until next year to place them in my shady bit of land.  I might get some bloodroot, too, sweet little flowers they have.

In the afternoon, my cousin and her boyfriend visited, and we had lunch at the Great Dane Pub. They both look swell and make a nice couple.  The boyfriend works in Virginia, though, and she lives in Bloomington, MN, so they do fly quite a bit to see each other, and noticed that fares are starting to go up again overall.  

May 8, 2009

After work, I went to get my haircut ($18); it had been quite some time since it was last cut (mid-February) and I thought I could handle the longer hair, but it does get to be a bit much; hanging on your skull and overheating your head; I wish I was bald; it would be much cheaper I tell you, but then I wouldn't look good bald; I probably wouldn't look good with long hair, either.

On my way home from the haircut, I purchased a liter of Bombay Sapphire ($28.99) and a liter of Cruzan Rum from the USVI ($15.99).

I came across three very large morels, just lying on a side of lawn. I picked the trio and brought them home. They proved to be quite tasty.

May 2, 2009

We visited my parents today in Port Washington.  There is a lot of road/highway construction going on, so it took much longer, and the roads around here definitely need it.  I can't believe that people drive their cars daily on these roads; their axles/wheel alignments must be greatly affected by the bumps and disintegration of the concrete and asphalt.

There are quite a few flocks of Canadian Geese around Lake Michigan; I guess most of the birds now will winter here.  The smelt run has now pretty much disappeared; gone are the days and nights of seining with ample beer and whiskey to warm your innards while weathering the brisk Lake Michigan weather.  And those little guys were very tasty.

My parents live in a senior center that was once the city's hospital.  Their floor was where the maternity area was situated.  Ironic that I visit my parents where they might possibly end their lives, and down the hall near Apt M, I began my life.

I attended a rock concert in the city of West Bend during the evening.  My friend's band played some of their own original material, and a few song covers from the New York Dolls and The Cramps.  I need to remember to bring earpieces, as my ears really were affected by it, but it was a great time.  I had 3 PBRs ($2.50 each) as I thought it would be nice to have light beers for the evening thereby reducing the possibility of the all-consuming headache one feels after having so many heavy beers the next morning.

Before the concert, I visited one of my friends who collects and is a fan of conspiracy stuff, and we watched some of the Obama Conspiracy; not even a 100 days in, and there exists already massive, grand conspiracy theories, mostly adjunct to the Federal Reserve and Wall Street - Obama is an agent for these ominous entities. I wonder how long it will take before they talk about this on Coast-to-Coast.  Maybe I should call George or Ian and see what they think.

May 1, 2009

We attended some of the Gallery Walk functions that were occurring throughout the city.  We spent a good amount of the time watching our friend's performance art installation at DNA Studios.  It was an installation that spanned 3 hours.  The set was minimal, the features of a bedroom with bedset, and a vanity table; it sort reminded me of the bedroom scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The music was a 30-minute repeating loop.  It appeared very improvisational and quiet, hypnotic at times, and a bit unsettling.  I took a few breaks from it by watching the neighbor studio blow glass.

It was refreshing to spend a Friday night with the artists' community; even the wobbly kids came out; they all looked so nice with their red globe shirts and sabocat icons.  I wore my IWW pin from ca. 1910 in honor of the day.  

April 28, 2009

After work, I surveyed our yard, noting what will need to be done, what plans are popping up; should they remain or be removed.  There is a whole stretch of wood violets in a section of my lawn; so, if I mow them will I be fined for deflowering the state flower?  Maybe I should give Russ Feingold a call, he's on the judiciary committee.

I scanned our trees for gypsy moth egg casings, didn't see any.  There are at least 5 rabbits that are hanging out in our yard and the neighbor's yard; I will have to keep a watch on them.

While outside I was reminded of the overbearing amounts of fornication going on around me (to paraphrase Werner Herzog); there were 2 cardinals mating in one of my bushes, basically just a few feet from me, couldn't they have waited?  Bird sex looks very uncomfortable, the male mounts the female, and then it looks like the male is surfing rather than depositing his seed; glad I don't have to do that.

iPod tracks played today: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River, while on shuffle there was quite a favoring of Neil Young: Lookout Joe, Down by the River, and Sedan Delivery all within close proximity of each other. It would be interesting to know how the contraption derives it shuffle 'feature'; if I recall, computers really cannot generate random numbers, rather it is layering of different algorithims; maybe I should give Bill Gates or Steve Jobs a call; after all they should know as they produce all those fabulous computing machines. 

Finished the Franklin's Tale, now starting the Physician's Tale in CT.

April 18, 2009

We attended the Spring Football game practice at Camp Randall, meeting up with an old high school buddy and his family.  We ate at New Orleans Take-out, as all the brat places were packed with people.  My catfish sandwich was still just as fine.  

Brett Bielema has lossed some incredible amounts of weight; I wonder if it could be from some type of eating disorder as much word around town is that he has been known to vomit in restrooms at public places.  While the common Wisconsinite would immediately conclude that such acts are due to too many shots of some type of alcohol, but to be fair, it could be bulimia, also. I mean one never really knows - but how consonant with his name - Brett Bulimia, that works out nice.

Barry Alvarez was there on the sideline with his belly still at Buddhic proportions; rub it for luck; word on the street is that some cheerleaders in the past have rubbed something else on him for luck, or a rhyming word to go with luck.

The football kids threw a lot of balls, I suspect they are getting it out of their system before the season begins and it will probably be all rushing. 

Camp Randall looks so strange when it is not full.  

April 15, 2009

So what's up with all this teabagging going on today? Shouldn't that be done in the privacy of one's bedroom with consenting partners? But, seriously, it was nice to see a change for once from the regular protest kids protesting the regular items to this new milieu of protesters. I heard related that one protester even had a sign stating that Obama is the anti-christ - could it be?

I received my registration license for my bike, and we have taken Karen's bike to have a tune-up. I will ride mine over to the shop tomorrow for its tune-up. Karen and I noticed that her bike still had its registration license on the frame from when it was last in Madison. She had her bike built in 1992 by some friends who worked at Trek at the time; it is very nice bike.

I purchased a liter of Jameson's Irish Whiskey (18.99) today, as it was on sale at the store near us. I also purchased a bottle of the Wollersheim's Winery Rose wine ($7.99) as it was a nice warm afternoon and such occasions call for a rose wine. We listened to Jimmie Dale Gilmore while sipping our wine and preparing dinner.

I am reading the Canterbury Tales - perfect for spring.

I am not sure what to think of my recent purchase of the Holy Modal Rounders' recording, Indian War Whoop. This was what I believe is their 3rd recording, circa 1967, and it appears to me even more crazier than their recording The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders. The title is a reference to the piece from the Anthology of American Folk Music, which is a fantastic verison of the song, but I am not sure how to describe the Rounders' treatment of the song. Sam Shepard is on the recording and would soon leave the band to polish up the screenplay for Zabriskie Point and then go on to writing those fantastic plays; wonder what he is doing now? I remember seeing him once at the St. Paul Public Library when I was on jury duty and was taking my lunch break.

April 14, 2009

It was much warmer and sunnier than I thought it was going to be today. I also was able to smell the faint odor of cow manure on my way to work this morning; makes sense, as spring becomes more pronounced, the fertilizing of farmland is under way. I think the cornfield by the building where I work has had some manure spread on it, as the Canadian geese were not around there today as they usually are. There are always a few that hang out to catch any stray kernels out there on the harvested field.

April 13, 2009

I watched the American Experience episode on the indigenous Americans and the first European settlements. I was amazed at undertaking such a journey; I mean 66 days overseas with those overwrought items of clothing to wear; could you imagine the stench? Enough to throw yourself overboard. Plus, when the settlers arrived, how sickly and pale they looked; I would have killed them just to help them out of their misery if I were the Wampanoeg.

I caught some of the college life show on MTV; this series is based upon college students here in Madison, so naturally, curiosity prevailed and I watched about 10 minutes of it. I must say I know I am old now; but I can't believe I was that immature at 18 or older. The dorms look the same and so do the antics; in my sophomore year, we had two separate parties, one with a 1/4 barrel, then one with a 1/2 barrel. We managed to not get caught and survive these events to live another day.

April 11, 2009

The day was sunny and warm, so I took a walk through the two parks near our neighborhood, Bluff and Hoyt Park. These parks basically touch each other. Bluff park is a much smaller park, but has an interesting feature; within the park there is about a 2 square acre area of prairie that is managed by the UW. It is managed in that the plants are native prairie plants, and there are periodic scheduled fires for the prairie. The charred grass still emitted the smell of being burnt, so there must have been a burn just recently.

I didn't see the hawks that live there and come down to our streets once in awhile for a quick sparrow snack.

After going through the parks, I arrived near the Forest Hill Cemetery; quite a big cemetery. I decided just to quickly walk through some of it, and was able to see the confederate graves of soldiers that were brought here to Camp Randall as prisoners of war and died here. I also came across a grave for a Harry Steenbock, a very straightforward rectangular stone that has inscribed on it his accomplishments - the isolation/discovery of Vitamins A and D. He died the year I was born, 1967.

April 10, 2009

I noticed to today on my way to the bus stop this morning that many of the little samaras (maple seed keys) that fell from the maple trees in the fall are now starting to sprout in lawns. So, as your eye glances at the smooth contours of lawngrass, there are these little elongated green leaves that interrupt it. Most of them will wither away/expire within the next weeks.

There have been a record number of loons that have decided to use the lakes and marshes around here as a waiting ground for the more northern bodies of water to thaw. This has caused quite a bit of excitement amongst the naturalists here, as loons usually do not congregrate in urban areas, as they tend to be private, and highly discriminating in the amount of noise and water pollution they will tolerate.

Karen and I went to view two documentary films at the UW Cinematheque. The first one was a bizarre film devoted to leaders and notation strips of film reels from a filmmaker's collection entitled 'Standard Gauge', made in 1984. It was singular to view a film that showed film itself, discussing indirectly the history of 3-print technicolor and the inside term for color rectification, which was termed the "China Girl." This is the woman one would see when a reel of film would begin. It was not always the most engaging film, but it does serve as a document what film actually looks like, something that most of us have less and less exposure to as digital methods of filming become more commonplace.

The second documentary was just as unique, but not as abstract. 'An Injury to One' is a film made by a CalArts MFA student in 2002 that centers on the history of the Butte, Montana Anaconda copper mine, with particular attention to the IWW member Frank Little who was lynched by company men in 1917; one of whom might have been the crime-novel writer Dashiell Hammett. The mine is now a lake that has a pH of 2.5, almost as acidic as battery acid due to copper, cadmium, arsenic, and the sulfate salts of these metal/metalloids. It is a very stark film, and it made me think of when I traveled there as documented in one of the films I posted on YouTube.

My friend and I tried to find Frank Little's grave in the graveyard at Butte with what little time there was before sundown, but we could not find it. We did see Evel Knievel's grave, though, as seen in the YouTube short. Butte's Mountain View Cemetery is just a short drive off I-90, and is quite a cemetery that documents quietly and solemnly the tragedies of mining. I remembered seeing at least two large obelisks commemorating different mining tragedies during the 1910's. It was interesting to see the various ethnicities, especially the preponderance of slavic folk as evident by their names in Cyrillic. Even though we didn't have enough time to check out the entire cemetery to find his grave, I felt at least satisfied in seeing some of the silent and poignant history contained in this place. Since I have been there, Mr. Little's grave has been renovated.

April 5, 2009

I woke up to a light dusting of snow today; a far cry from the 7 inches that was forecasted; what is it with weather forecasting lately? It is all done in the vein of alarmist sensationalism - 'major winter storm heading our way, what you and your children need to know . . .'

You always have to add the children line in there; that makes the market share agitate.

We have a rabbit that hangs out by our window. I think we have so many animals hanging out by our house because we don't have a dog or dogs, whereas I think the entire neighborhood has them.  There is this one guy that has 3 greyhounds; quite a sight to see him and the dogs stroll by. 

The male cardinals are starting to mark their territory/look for females.  The pair that live by us were visited by another male trying to announce himself as a new suitor; the paired male was not amused.

Buds are starting to appear on trees. I think the trees in my backyard are a silver maple and a shagbark hickory; I am not entirely certain of the shagbark, though, as the bark is not that detached as is customary for that type of tree.

I finally replaced a faulty interior door knob; even the most simple projects always have their pain points.

March 31, 2009

The snow has disappeared for the second time after we had a new coating on Saturday night. Karen is getting hyperactive about wanting to place up birdfeeders with poles; I told her to wait until sometime in April, which reminds me I should plant the New Jersey Tea plants whose seeds I have placed in the refrigerator in order to scarify them.

I completed Juvenal's 16 Satires this morning on the bus; I think I might take a stab at composing one; perhaps an addendum in the style of him. I discussed this once in a drunken revelry at one of the Oregon brewfests to one of my friends. It would be his 18th Satire (the 16th is not complete, but he could complain about that, implying that the Christians were responsible for its absence and a 17th one when they destroyed the Library of Alexandria in the 4th Century (?) AD.) The 18th would be situated from his grave with his dust complaining about his current state and death; even in death he could find complaint.

I saw a car today waiting at the bus stop that had a personal license plate that read "44EVER." Brett's acolytes still exist.

My listening selections from today on my iPod: T. Rex (Electric Warrior), The Clash (US version of 1st album).

March 27, 2009

After work, Karen and I went to visit some friends who I had met when working at Union South around 1989/1990. The two are married after having met at Union South.

Speaking of Union South, we drove by it. The entire area surrounding is blocked off, and many of the buildings around it are now fully razed. The north side of the building is serving as a dumping point for all the scrap being pulled out of the building; it looks very surreal, seeing this huge pile scaling the building to its third floor with the areas windows removed; soon the entire structure will be gone.

Our friends have a beautiful town house on Franklin Street, which is not far from the Capitol. We stayed for a few drinks, caught up on some old business - to which I must relate that I thought one of the University Miscreants - Tunnel Bob - had recently passed away. He has not, as I saw him lurking around a bus stop near the University; he looks the same, sort of like a skinny version of James Taylor (now that's skinny). Same old clothes: plaid shirt, baggy cargo pants, scrofulous, pock-marked face. I am not sure if he can get through all the University tunnels anymore as there is so much construction going on at the University.

We finished our drinks at the townhouse and went to an Indonesian restaurant named Bandung, after a city in Indonesia. The food was excellent, and gave me a new appreciation for green papaya, which I have always relished in a salad. We then sallied forth to the Essenhaus to have a pint of beer, and reminisce on Union South and talk about their experiences when they lived in London and Singapore, but followed their hearts back to Madison. We each drank one Hofbrauhaus Maibock, 4 total ($20). I love German beer but even more so when it is out of a tap, and the Essenhaus has over 40 German beers on tap at any one time.

Our friends have joined another population of all our friends in allying themselves to iPhones as their primary phone. I have always tried to stay away from cell phones, as I do think they become intrusive, to paraphrase Thoreau 'we do not use cell phones, cell phones use us.' (His item was railroads.) But, they are very seductive in their design and overall functionality; I dunno . . . theses little devices could be the start of squelching my Luddite tendencies.

March 26, 2009

On my way home from work, I picked up some assorted items from the store, including a 6-pack of Old Chub from Oskar Blues Brewery, located in Lyons, CO. Canned beer can be good, and good for you.  It was nice, a bit sweet, though, but by the second can I don't know if I noticed much of anything, given the 8% ABV.

March 25, 2009

We have a 'squatter' on our land, a little bunny rabbit that has decided to hang out in our yard around 630PM for the past two nights.

Our other 'squatters' of Asian lady beetles living inside our house have seemed to dwindle down now; they must have left our house due to the warming temps outside. Robins are now everywhere rummaging around in the grass, plucking out worms.

I have begun to read one of my favorite books, Juvenal's 16 Satires. One of my favorite lines from Satire II:

- cum tot abortivis fecundam Iulia vulvam solveret et patruo similes effunderet offas -
"His niece (Domitian's), a fertile creature, had her row of abortions, and every embryo lump was the living spit of Uncle."

March 24, 2009

It rained pretty much all day.

After work I installed a new printer/fax/copier/scanner ($150), as our older one pretty much was affected by the move, and officially passed on to printer heaven on Sunday. So, now there are 2 things that were affected by the move, the other being Karen's print of New Milford, CT, which had a cracked glass frame now being replaced at the same frame place that is doing the Bridges of Portland framing. Only 2 things of note, though, damaged by the move. Chuck, Carl, and I did a great job packing; all those years of Tetris really did help in fitting rectangular boxes together and such.

Elliott is beginning to trend in mass to the area of 220-225 grams. That is about 90% of what his average mass should be for his species. He is doing so well, and is back to being challenging and assertive with both Karen and I; he is such a hit at the UW Vet Hospital; coinciding with our move here, the UW Vet School is conducting a study on his disorder, so he gets free healthcare, and mixes with the young lady Vets; the guy has only been here a handful of months and he is attracting the eyes of all the young ladies more than I ever did - it figures.

I watched some of the President's news conference tonight. I don't know if I would like being at such an event, what with all those bright lights and cramped spaces. It must get real hot in there, and probably very smelly when all those press people and their coiffed hairdos, special little facial hair patterns, and freshly dry-cleaned apparel become mixed with their sweat; maybe with the extinction of newsreporters there will be less of their bodies in that room, perhaps someday the President will attend a conference room with just iPhones in the seats.

March 23, 2009

It was absolutely brooding outside today; all dark and gloomy and rainy; at least Antiques Roadshow was a new episode from Wichita, KS.

I am not sure how I would do on that type of show; I mean look at some of those people who are handling the precious things (or not so) of your household or ancestry. I am sure some of those items and the appraisers begin to smell under heat of the bright lights, especially that one tubby guy who likes toys, not to mention some of the people there.

March 22, 2009

It was sunny and warm again, so I worked on cleaning the upper floor's windows today. I don't think they have been cleaned for at least a year, so it was a real chore getting the windows out and placing them back in.

I watched the WI/Xavier basketball game nearly to the end. I can't say I was too disappointed as the badgers put up a good fight, it's just those Catholic boys know how to expend the energy when needed with such amazing reserve. Could it be due to their God commanding them not to touch themselves? I wonder.

The chipmunk was back at our window feeder again; several times. They must gearing up for a family as each time the cheeks were full of food. We tried chasing them away, but you have to physically get at them in order for them to run off; I suppose if you have hungry little mouths to feed you will do anything to satisfy that need.

March 21, 2009

Today we went to have our Portland Bridges print framed. This print was given to me by my former co-workers at The Standard, all sweet people.

A chipmunk has taken all the seeds from our window birdfeeder, storing them in his mouth as he gathered them.

The victory last night of WI over FSU still looms in the mind; hopefully they can beat Xavier, but you never know as those Catholic teams have God on their side; at least most of the time.

It reached 67 degrees Fahrenheit today. Let's see 73 last week, and now this? I like it, but am worried this is some trend like all the climate-warming kids talk so seriously about.

For lunch, we ate our leftover Pizza ($15) from last night. For dinner, we had take-out Thai ($28).