Currently chillin'

I just received a nice update on my JAB travel bug.

And here is a map of the recorded travels of JAB:

Saturday, immediate past

Dave, Doug and I found some geocaches Saturday morning. Then we went to Jamie's Pop Warner football game. He won the kicking position in practice last week. His first kick was alright, but his second drew wows from the crowd.
After the game, D,D, & I went to Burkes to pick up some firewood that Rick had cut for us. We also stopped at the new Cross Country bar after we worked up a thirst. We happened upon Dickson, his brother Rudy, and Jon & his neighbor Joe.

Previous Friday

Doug's birthday was this past weekend, so he came Up North. Dave & Nicky and their kids and Mary came up, Phil & Kelly and their kids came over, and DJ & Eric were here too. And Al stopped by for a beer after work on his way home. (He also, has perfected the usage of "one more, then I gotta go.")

I finished work a bit early, got meat and beer from Trig's, and did it up. Eric and DJ helped me in the kitchen. The one novel thing we tried was cheese curds in the hamburger meat, not bad.

Had a few beers, burgers, brats, s'mores. Some of the ladies and kids went to the second half of the Hodag football game in the back 40.

Last Thursday

Loki: god of mischief

Shelly & I decided to get the kids a puppy.

One of Shelly's boy's roommate's girlfriend's family had a puppy that was going to a home, and then wasn't.

Now he has a home.

When we received word that we could pick him up, I asked Shelly to wait until I got home to present him to the kids (a surprise.) That was right brfore the season's last waterski show.




With Shelly's work, we travel less, and have more volunteer dog-sitters. So in a sense, our lives are settling down a bit (from whence we last tried to be dog owners.) But just like in physics, when you take a measurement of something, you slightly change the reading, now our lives are a puppy more complicated.

He's redbone coonhound, bulldog, and boxer.

Power to the people!

Rebecca D. Stanfield
Environment Illinois State Director:

Citing "ongoing regional opposition," BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone announced this morning that the company will avoid any increased pollution into Lake Michigan from its oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana.

BP has heard the voices of hundreds of thousands of Great Lakes region residents saying that Lake Michigan is a natural treasure and source of drinking water, not our dumping ground. In response, BP has issued a non-binding statement indicating it will avoid increased dumping of ammonia and toxics-containing solids, which are allowed by its new discharge permit issued in June by Indiana's Department of Environmental Management.

I'd like to thank the hundreds of thousands of Great Lakes region residents like you who have spoken out to protect Lake Michigan from BP's expanded dumping. Together we made BP's announcement today happen. We now need to urge BP to immediately call for an amended discharge permit that sets in stone its promise to avoid any increase in pollution.

As long as BP's current discharge permit remains on the books in Indiana, it sets a disastrous precedent. The permit is the first in years to allow a company to increase its pollution into Lake Michigan. To ensure Lake Michigan's protection, the permit must be amended -- both to hold BP to its pledge and to avoid setting a dangerous standard for future permits.

Send the message to BP today that it needs to get an amended permit that doesn't allow for any increase in pollution:




Sincerely,

Rebecca D. Stanfield
Environment Illinois State Director

Remix

I saw a phtotbucket slideshow on a geocacher's blog, so I thought I'd try it. This one has sound.

Waterskiers

Raindrops on roses

Beer

Baseball

Wisconsin minds continued

Physicist Leonard Parker

related media

Use your intelligence

Don't buy your gas from BP.

Somehow they convinced the EPA to allow them to substantially increase emission of toxic effluents into Lake Michigan.

Instead of paying lobbyists, they should have paid for new remediation facilities.

If the enlightened public keeps the pressure on them, they will pay.

SW WI news

After finishing blogging, I went to read the Brewer's story in the MJSentinel, when I saw the news ticker saying the Nat'l Guard may be called in to help with flooding,... near Platteville. So I surfed the news outlets in the area and found the 12+ inches of rain was a bit north of PV. But I also learned of the imminent demise of a PV landmark.

NY Times

This article about John Heisman is a better story. I think you should be able to click and read it. Otherwise, it's free to sign up and read.

Football America

Starting my story at the end, I happened to see the asterisk on yesterday's high temperature last night.
Shelly and I drove down the street to have a drink and visit with some friends at the bowling alley. They had an end of volleyball season party, and we went down after a movie (Superbad: funny, rude) and dinner (fettucine alfredo, with chicken, garden-fresh broccoli and bok choy (thanks Mom & Dad.))
The Packers game was on the TV's (they won 48-13(a lot of parenthesis today(?))) and then the local news. Yesterday's high temperature, 60, was a record low maximum.

Excellent football weather.

(click me)(then minimize sound player software)

Jamie had his first Pop Warner scrimmage today. He was "in a zone." Here's a nice play he wrapped up, coming in on a cornerback blitz:

Our day of football proceeded...

(click me)(then minimize sound player software)

As Jamie's scrimmage was winding down, Michaela and I went to find the grave of John Heisman. I knew he was buried in Rhinelander, and I knew which cemetery. But those are all the clues I could dig up.

We didn't find him.

I remembered seeing a map to his grave years ago, so we went looking for that. Historical Museum closed, Chamber of Commerce: nope, Logging Museum: uh-uh.

While eating leftovers at home, I tried different variations on my earlier google searches: BINGO!

I found this website. It has a couple of pictures of the grave, which include surrounding details. With this information, we were able to locate the grave.

We incorporated the dates from Mr. Heisman's grave into a geocache puzzle. The final container is located in the woods on the edge of the cemetery (near another unique feature: an approximately 20 foot obelisk, in the Brown family (Rhinelander founders) plot.) Geocachers know to respect cemeteries and their visitors. But we also like to find the buried history of an area.
I was content as I lied down in bed.

Sunday reflection

I did not edit the colors of the sunset. That was all God.




I did build the geocaching truck box.

The center portion holds a cooler. The right is for geocaching supplies. The left also holds supplies, and the upper left holds maps.
I designed for access to the cooler and maps on the roll, and supplies (trading items, containers, pencils, logbooks,...) from the sides.
Michaela and Jamie were both in the waterski show tonight. Jamie's first time getting up in the show.
Also, Michaela's first time being on top of the pyramid.





(It was pretty dark when the pyramid came by, this picture shows the shape of the pyramids.)

More mentos fun

I happened to find this video on the Wisconsin Geocachers forums. Diet Coke and Mentos candy combine to form an extreme reaction.

Polaroids

Dave sent a neat video link.

More company!

Mom emailed the other night to ask if I would help her start a blog.
You betcha!
There's plenty of room in the blogosphere.

Meanderings of a Northwoods Elder

Brothers

Long day at work,
Shelly & the kids are at ski practice.
I had a couple of Crown & Cokes and read the geocaching forums.
They'll be home soon, so I put a few brats on the grill. And JCM on the stereo.
I sat at the isosceles point of the backyard speakers. Listening to the Dance Naked album. No skeeters, probably the drought.
The song "Brothers" came on as I stared at the twilit sky. It's not too deep. But my head tipped back to look up at the outstretched arm of the jack pine above me.
Is that what its like to have an older brother? Sometimes protecting, sometimes getting in the way.
Anyway, climb up anytime you need. I can take it.

Apple Canyon Lake

Shelly and Shayne and I drove down to Grant County Friday night. We got to Scott & Angie's at about 1. The Gibson's, Mary, & our kids were there already. We popped up the camper, had a few beers and slept for a few hours.

Saturday we drove into Illinois for a day of fun. We golfed with the Malone's and then had a party at Jean & Pat's. Steve played bass in a band, "Just 1 More." They played a couple of sets for us on the porch, then brought out Jean's karaoke machine. Somewhere in there, Dave and I got a chance to find a few geocaches. One was near a questionable bridge.

Kayla stayed the night with Steve and Patti and their daughters, and Jamie stayed at Danny's. Michaela came back from Benton, and we retrieved Jamie from Dan & Charity's, along with a nice lunch.