BAT DISEASE COULD BE BAD NEWS FOR FARMERS

A bat disease is killing off the bats in northern Iowa, near the Wisconsin border.  Bats eat a lot of the insects that can devastate crops so it could become pretty bad news.  The story is here in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal this morning.

DONNIE ON TWEETS:

Got a vitamin pill stuck in my throat this morning.

That sounds like a tweet. 

I still don't understand tweeting. But Steve Martin does. At library yesterday I picked up his new, short book of his own tweets, and some replies. He, of course, tweets as an act, as a professional performance, as material for this book...as income! But it is a short and funny book, and I read it all in little more than an hour, as I toured four of Austin's "independent coffee shops" yesterday. These are locally-owned (that is, non-Starbucks) hangouts, and homes to the collections of weird characters that are a large part of Austin's fame. (Of course every city and even small town is full of odd characters, but Austin makes "weird" into a city slogan.)

WAY WAY WAY UP NORTH!

Ron and Penny got home recently from their trip to Alaska.



SOME NEAT PUNS FROM CARL

I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now. When chemists die, they barium. Jokes about German sausage are the wurst. A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran. I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. But he says he can stop any time. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it. I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Than it dawned on me. This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore. I'm reading a book about anti-gravity and I can't put it down. I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words. They told me I had type A blood, but it was a Type-O. A dyslexic man walks into a bra. A double A "Energizer" got arrested. was Charged with battery. I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me. How do you make holy water? Boil the hell out of it. Did you hear about the cross eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils? If you get a bladder infection, urine trouble. I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me. Broken pencils are pointless. I tried to catch some fog. I mist. What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus. England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool. I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest. I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx. All the toilets in New York's police stations have been stolen. It is a shame the Police have nothing to go on. I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough. Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes. Velcro - what a rip off. Cartoonist found dead in home. Details are sketchy. Venison for dinner ? Oh deer. Earthquake in Washington ... obviously government's fault. I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure. I do not enjoy computer jokes. Not one bit. Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.

WHAT SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

There's an article on Yahoo!, this morning, that says you can tell an awful lot about a person by the shoes they wear.

As I was reading it, it occured to me that I really don't pay any attention to what shoes people are wearing.  What does that say about me?  I suppose it means I'm not all that interested in learning a lot about another person.  Let's be honest.  It's really all about me.  Read the article here and see what you think.

WIND GUSTS

TO 30 MPH

TODAY

TODAY IS HEAT AWARENESS DAY

Here's all you need to know to protect yourself from the heat:  HEAT AWARENESS INFO FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

As far as I remember, I've never been overheated but I sure, as hell, have been overcolded.

WILLARD REPORTS

Blue Jay #1 swooped in and picked up a piece of bread.  Flew to the top of the patio fence to eat.  A few seconds later, blue jay #2 arrived and sat next to blue jay #1''

I assume Blue Jay #2 is a female as she frantically flapped her wings and opened her mouth for some bread.   Blue Jay #1  immediately gave her his helping.  The both flew off to form their nest.  Maybe some baby blue jays on the way?

BEEN THERE DONE THAT

STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

The latest forecast has chances of showers and thunderstorms in it, nearly every night and day, through early next week. Note that the entire period will not be wet, but trying to find times of dry weather is difficult to predict. What is certain is that over the next few days, moisture and warmth will be streaming north through the Plains and into the Upper Midwest, ahead of a low pressure system in the Dakotas.

More warmth and moisture makes it more favorable for showers and thunderstorms. Some of the difficulties in predicting rain this week include:
1.Dry air trying to stay in the area from high pressure shifting east into the Great Lakes 2.Development of showers and thunderstorms across the Plains, which depending on their placement can briefly impact the increase of moisture and warmth
3.The speed of the low pressure system moving east is uncertain. The closer the system is to the area, the better the chance for precipitation.
4.Tracking and timing of upper level troughs of low pressure coming off the Rockies. These troughs can trigger showers and thunderstorms Given the uncertainities for rain and thunderstorms, if you are planning activities, pay close attention to the latest radar and forecasts.

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE COMFORT

IT'S ABOUT THE WARMTH



SUCH A DEAL!

I was just thinking, the morning, that I have to buy some more socks.  I'm really running low.  When you walk as much as I do they don't last long.  I just made a pill run to WALGREEN'S and guess what I found.  The have men's and women's socks on sale at 5 pair for $5.00 and they're really nice socks.  I killed two birds with one stone!

OH! NO!

The water department is back on Cass this morning.  I hope we're not going to have another shut off!

WE GET AROUND

This morning we've had visits from the USA, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A SHOWER HEAD MAKES!

My new shower head has made my day.  I could have stood under it all morning!  My skin never felt so fresh and clean (except when I was still in diapers).  Thank you KOHLER -- I'm clean all over!

Donnie's comment: "The older you get the less it takes to make you happy."

STORMY WEATHER IN HOUSTON

Willard says they had "big time storms" last night.  "Power outages and damage around town.  Over two hour delays at IAH with 3 inches of rain."

How well I remember those big storms at IAH.  All the main roads into and out of the airport get flooded and you're really stuck.  Can't fly anywhere and can't drive anywhere either.  I'll never forget spending most of the night trying to get home from work during one big storm.

FORGET HILTON. CALL FOUR SEASONS!

A FOLLOW-UP FROM DONNIE

"The poor customer service I told you about yesterday only got worse today.

Suspicious that yesterday's operator got my two room reservations all screwed up, I called the motel in Maryland, today, to check, and was immediately connected back to the same 800 number.  There, another woman operator, also with a difficult to understand accent, searched the confirmation number her colleague had given me yesterday and announced that she had no record of any reservation.  "We don't even use numbers like that", she said.

So I called the motel again and this time asked the actual desk clerk not to transfer me, but to check her terminal, at the hotel, to see if I had a reservation for two rooms.

"Not quite", she said.  "We have you down for one room."

So, I got one person telling me I have two rooms, another telling me I have one and a third telling me I have none.  So, I say to the hotel clerk, "Just cancel that one room."  "Can't do that," she says.  "You have to go back to the original agent."

So tonight I will be calling the original 800 number and trying to resolve this.  I will be canceling (I hope) and will never stay at any Hilton hotel or motel again.

In the meantime, I also looked at my credit card account, on line, to be sure that the data I foolishly surrendered to the first poor woman is not being misused.  So far it is not.

Now, as a hotel veteran yourself, you may tell me I went about it all wrong.  Or you may tell me just to stay home."

As a hotel veteran, here's my advice.  If you want no hassle service, as I alluded to yesterday, you will have to pay for it.  It's NOT free anymore.

I don't know where, in Maryland, you're going but it it's anywhere near Baltimore go to this website: http://www.fourseasons.com/baltimore/

If you call a hotel and the person at the front desk is trying to help you with your reservation hang up immediately.  Chances are someone who has already booked a room, at the hotel, and paid on their credit card, is standing in front of the clerk trying to check in or out.  They are in no mood to stand there and wait while the clerk is on the phone, talking to someone WHO MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT book a room in the future.  The clerk is having a melt down because she's trying to deal with you while she's staring at the glare on the guests face in front of her/him.

Any hotel/motel that has a front desk clerk answering the phones or trying to take reservations doesn't know or care about customer service.

Pay the extra bucks and call FOUR SEASONS.  No one at the desk will answer the phones.  There are no phones at the front desk.  The front desk is there for people already staying at the hotel or are just checking in or out.  They are an IN HOUSE service and if the hotel has 100 rooms or more the front desk has all they can do to take care of the guests already in the building.

If the hotel is not willing to pay people to handle phones and reservations...THE BACKBONE OF THEIR BUSINESS...you can rest assured they're cutting corners everywhere else too and your experience, when you get there, will not be any  better than the experience you've been having on the phone.

Check the rates on the website above.  If you see something that looks good, and are not comfortable booking on line, call FOUR SEASONS and talk to a reservations agent who will be in house (but not at the front desk) and know what he/she is talking about.

If you're not interested in paying a little more then my next suggestion would be the alternative you suggested.  Stay home.  You don't have to travel all over the country to pinch pennys and be frustrated.  You can do that right where you are.

People who travel are not always aware of how much tension can build up while they're "on the road".  You're in unfamiliar surroundings, the food is different, the bed is different, all the noises and smells, around you, are strange.  A good customer service person understands that and takes that into consideration when you're trying to get them to help you.  If they DON'T understand that, whatever you pay is far too much.

GREETINGS FROM STONE MOUNTAIN

Bob and Lynne are in Georgia visiting Dawn.  Lynne wrote, "Easy trip.  We drove through in 13 hours. 813.7 miles.  We love Dawn's apartment and surroundings.  We ate on the balcony at PARTY CHIC.  Delicious sandwiches and soup. Dawn has to work today so we'll go to STONE MOUNTAIN.  Will send more pictures when I get them on the computer."

A STITCH IN TIME

JUNE 13, 1790

THOMAS SAINT

PATENTED THE

FIRST SEWING MACHINE

SUNNY THE SUNFISH IS BACK WHERE HE BELONGS

The Onalaska icon has been absent for a couple of months for a facelift.  The story is in the LA CROSSE TRIBUNE-Read it here.

Here's Donnie hanging off Sunny before he got his new shine.