At 4:00 P.M. Willard wrote:

"Heat Index...112....This is REALLY GETTING OLD!"

In Austin the real temperature was 102.  No word from Donnie and Linda.  I hope they're not cooked.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that, at the same time, it was a lovely 78 here in La Crosse.

I was reading another article about kidney disease, this afternoon, and I'm sure glad I did.

It mentioned two things that can be very stressful on failing kidneys.  One is having a cold.  I'll do my best not to catch one this winter.  The other thing to avoid is overdoing and getting stressed out.  Now, that's one I know I can avoid.  I stopped overdoing when I retired and I've not had a single moment of desire to take it up again.

Now I know we're seeing the end of summer!!

OKTOBERFEST BUTTONS ARE NOW ON SALE! 

I'll bet I know where Paul and Dorothy are this weekend.

The Houston County Fair runs through tomorrow and, I think, they usually work at a booth or some dumb thing like that.

Willard sent an interesting news story.

Normally, Houston has about 200 breaks, a day, in the water pipes around the city.  This year, with the drought, they're experiencing around 700 breaks a day.

Now, you're going to say that can't be right.  They couldn't possibly have that many breaks a day.  Houston is a huge city, covering more than 800 square miles.  No.  that's not a mistake either.  That means Houston has a total of 7000 miles of water pipes.

Anyway, we know that freezing causes pipes to break up here but, SURPRISE!  Hot weather causes pipes to break too.  The extreme heat causes increased water usage which builds extra pressure inside the pipes.  The dry soil shrinks away from the pipes allowing them to break.

You learn something new every day!

The rain stayed away.

By the time I got to the park the sun was out and the sand sculptures were looking great.  I don't know where they find the people to do these works of art.  I wouldn't know where to begin.

I was really impressed with this one for the size.  It was more than twice as tall as I am.  There were tons of people in the park so, it was another success.  Thanks to Mother Nature for keeping the rain south of us.



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Here's another GREAT doormat.

I love the new Reuters/IPSOS poll that shows Betty White is the most trusted celebrity in the USA.

I also like the celebrities that more than 2,000 participants in the poll said were NOT SO HOT.   They included Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen.

We had a high of 89 yesterday.

Today's high will be around 76.  Won't need any A/C and that's fine with me.  We've got a few showers around this morning, however so we might need the umbrella.

The city of La Crosse is selling some surplus items at auction.

Click here to view the items and place your bid.

Willard has a Social Security story too.

"When I went to apply for my Social Security I had to get my birth certificate from Baltimore.  When I got it, I was surprised to see there was nothing but a blank space where my name was supposed to be.  Apparently, Mommie and Daddy hadn't even given me a name, yet, when the birth certificate was filled out."

It's all in how you look at it.

Rita paid a visit to the Social Security Office this morning.

She got her name back from the government.  She's Rita Jane again.  They told her they thought it was a typo.  Can you  believe it?  Someone working for the government made a mistake!

Todays Graffiti

WOMEN WILL NEVER BE EQUAL TO MEN UNTIL THEY CAN WALK DOWN THE STREET WITH A BALD HEAD AND A BEER GUT AND STILL THINK THEY ARE SEXY. 

I love this doormat!

Doesn't a slice of DARK RUM PECAN PIE sound good?

Of course, I couldn't eat it if I had it.  My doctor would have a fit.  But it this recipe sure made my mouth water for a taste.  When I think of pecan pie I think of Marge Terpstra.  She made the best pecan pie that was ever made.

Marge didn't use rum in her recipe but this recipe in RECIPE FINDER sure sounds good.  Click Here to check it out.

A federal health official says health care in La Crosse is about as good as it gets.

Click here to read the story in the La Crosse Tribune

My favorite quote of the day.

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."

Henry Ford

Just read an interesting article in USA Today.

It's about a new list of restaurants, around the country, that Bon Appetit says you gotta try.  What caught my eye was that a couple of them were "in our neck of the woods".

If you're going to Minneapolis, there's a new place in Robbinsdale called  Travail Kitchen and Amusements.  It's supposed to be very good food with reasonable prices.

In Chicago there's Ruxbin with great Korean food.

There's even a new one in Austin (Texas) for Donnie and Linda to try.  Congress is a complex of restaurants featuring "American comfort food".

At one point, this morning, the Dow was down 500 points.

If I had any money that would really worry me.

Retired people do strange things. Willard spent the morning watching squirrels.

"My resident squirrel came down for a drink.  It was interesting to see how he figured out how to get up to the bowl to get a sip of water.  There's some small Mayan statuary just below the fountain.  He jumped up on top of that and put his front legs on the edge of the bowl and drank his fill.  They ain't dumb."

Here's a funny one from my friend, Gary. Any well trained drunk will see the humor in this. I did!

DRINKING & DRIVING
I would just like to share an experience with you and it has to do with drinking and driving.

On Saturday night I was out for a few drinks with some friends and I downed way too many.

Knowing full well I was wasted, I did something I've never done before.  I took a bus home.

I arrived home safely and without incident, which was a real surprise when you consider the fact that that I had never driven a bus before.

THIS WORD FROM DONNIE:

"Maybe you spotted the piece, on the net, today about celebrity bad tippers.  The list includes Madonna, Streisand, Sean Penn and Bill Cosby.

Among the very worst, with his $500 million fortune, is Tiger Woods.

I never much cared for Woods when he was winning but his fall has been so sudden and humiliating that I, almost, feel sorry for him.  With $500 million, he doesn't need my sympathy and he should be able to deal with defeat."

As I told Donnie, any bartender can tell you that if they come in the bar with a blue collar work shirt and jeans you'll get a good tip.  If they come in wearing a $700.00 suit you'll be lucky to get anything at all.  Back in my airport days, with all of the celebrities I served, the only one that left me a good tip was Jerry Lewis.

It's no secret that I invented "early to bed".

It's also no secret that I'd rather fly than eat and can go for days without turning the TV on.  But, I will make an exception this fall and I will try REALLY HARD to stay up until 9 to watch the premier of the the new ABC show, Pan Am which will air on Sunday nights.

The show takes us back to the 60's (my favorite decade) when the epitome of flying was Pan American World Airways.  They were the first with the 747's and everything, even in coach, was far more elegant than you can get today paying more than $3,000 for a first class flight across the country

I have to say, I watched the promo below and get the feeling it's going to be dreadfully bad but, for the nostalgia alone, I'll do everything I can think of to stay awake long enough to give it a try.

My fondest memory of PAN AM was the flight, with Rita, on PAN AM from Miami to Panama.  What a day that was!!

I'm sorry to hear about Burt Reynolds latest troubles.

There's a good chance he could lose his waterfront estate in Florida unless he can come up with $1.2 million to make the mortgage payment.

Reynolds comment on this "little problem" has to be the understatement of the year.  He says, "There are a hell of a lot of people worse off than I am."

I'd have to agree with you on that one, Bert!

If you're looking for a new tux (and who isn't?), I've got one for you.

The new tuxedo by Ted Baker of London is just the thing for messy eaters and sloppy drunks.  For $650.00 you get a suit of clothes that can stand up to the food that falls out of your mouth or the drinks that dribble down you chin.  It's made of wool coated with teflon!

A couple of notes on this day in history.

Rosalynn Carter is celebrating her birthday with Jessica today.  Rosalynn has celebrated a lot more birthdays than Jessica, however.  She's 84 today.

On August 18, back in 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into Galveston and Houston.  Maximum winds of 125 MPH were reported along with 23 tornadoes with 14 of those reported from Galveston to Hobby Airport.

Rainfall amounts totalled more than 7 inches in Galveston and Houston got between 10 and 11 inches.  They need that rainfall NOW more than it was needed back in 1983.

The remnants of Alicia continued to move up north and even brought light rains to Minnesota and Wisconsin.

ANOTHER DROUGHT NOTE FROM TEXAS
The town of Llano, near Austin, has set up plans to truck bottled water into town.  If it doesn't rain soon the town will be bone dry.  Imagine trying to take a shower with bottled water.

They've finally started repairs on Bliss Road.

That's the road going up to Grandad Bluff.  It's been closed for a year due to washouts caused by heavy rains.  The work is supposed to be done by the end of October.

Busy time for Viroqua police this week.

Three burglaries in the downtown area early Tuesday morning.

This is just for you cruise lovers.

Carnival has a brand new cruise ship.  check it out!

How well do you know your geography?

Carl sent this and it made me laugh.

Not long after I moved here I addressed some lady as "Ma'am" and she took it as an insult.  I apologized and explained to her that I had moved here from Texas and we wouldn't know what to call a lady if we weren't allowed to call her ma'am.  I'm sorry I didn't have this line back then.

Here's the mystery of the day:

Rita is turning 65 next month so she called Social Security to make an appointment to sign up, or whatever it is you do.  It's been so long I can't remember anything I had to do when I was 65.  I don't even remember what I had to do yesterday.  Good thing she called.

Seems as though, back in 1984, someone changed her middle name from Jane to Jean.  Now she'll have to show up with birth certificate, passport and anything else she has that might prove she is who she says she is.  That might not be all that easy.  I'm not even sure she is who she says she is.

Now, she's in a dither wondering who, on earth, would go to Social Security and change her name.  I'm convinced it's a typo.  A clerical error.  Of course,  you'll never get the government to admit they made a mistake.

By the way, I'm not so sure the government is who they say they are either.

This is from the GAG file:

WBBM is reporting, this morning, that the city closed a Burger King on the south side of Chicago because there were so many insects flying around, inside, the inspectors were afraid to open their mouths.  They found a nest of wasps living right over the back door.

I've heard the old line, "there's a fly in my soup" but this tops that!

Nothing like Texas but we DO have some dry areas around here this year.

This last time I talked to Aunt Wilda she mentioned they needed rain around Viroqua.  I was surprised to hear that because we've sure had plenty of rain around here.

Of course, Aunt Wilda is always right so I wasn't surprised when I looked at this map this morning.  Folks south of us COULD use some rain.

Another great star from the past is celebrating a birthday today.

Maureen O'Hara celebrates her 91st birthday today.

Earlier this year, she was inducted into the Irish American Hall of Fame.  This video of her receiving her award is just beautiful.  What a lovely lady and she looks just fabuluous for her age.

Click here to watch the video.  I know, if no one else does, Aunt Wilda will love it.  From one redhead to another!  Maureen looks, almost, as good as Aunt Wilda does!!

Congratulations Continental!

Frommers surveyed travelers across the country, asking them what their favorite airport lounge was and, they say, the overwhelming answer was the Continental Airlines Presidents Club in Terminal E at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

I didn't work at the club in Terminal E.  In fact, it didn't even exist when I was there.  We only had the one club, in those days, in Terminal C.  We thought it was nice back then but the new club puts it to shame.

That's OK.  Some of my fondest "working days" memories are from those Houston Airport days.  I really didn't work very many places  during my "productive years" but,  of the places I did work, there were two that I never thought of as work.  One was at the Continental Presidents Club and the other was KIMM IN RAPID CITY.  I probably worked the hardest at those two places and it was at those two places that I had the most fun!

They're estimating the crowd numbers 15,000 to 20,000 at Graceland.

34 years after his death, Elvis is still drawing the crowds.

The New York Times says the Texas drought is the worst since they started keeping records in 1895.

And, what's even worse is that it looks like La Nina is not going to move.  That means the clear skys over the Lone Star State could remain clear into next year.

I'm hoping for a dry weekend.

SAND ON THE RIVERFRONT is one of my favorite La Crosse events.  It starts Friday at 8:30 A.M., when the teams begin creating their sand sculptures, and runs through Sunday.  I'll get some pictures.

I know there are railroad fans who read this blog.

I'm one of them so I must pass this along from the Lonely Planet website.  Click here to read about the CLASSIC TRAIN TRIPS OF THE WORLD.  I'd like to take every one of them!

I'll just have a piece of toast, thank you.

There was a guy on Twitter, this morning, who was making bratwurst for breakfast.  That would make my kidneys sit up and take notice!

LUTEFISK BRATWURST, ANYONE?

Bratwurst Day reminded me of a website you might like.

Go to Wisconsin Made and click on "Grilling".  Check out the brats!  And, with Christmas "around the corner", You'll find this website is full of other great gift ideas that are all made in Wisconsin.  It's a good way to remind folks that we're more than just cheese and beer.....not a lot more, but a touch more!

Donnie wonders.......

"Whatever happened to envelopes?  The other day I was at Costco and considered buying a box of 500 envelopes.  Then I wondered, will I ever use that many envelopes?  Who uses envelopes anymore.  Are they becoming antiques, Collectibles?

This week's Time magazine features the Texas Drought, with a two-page photo of Lake Travis, Austin's reservoir.  The boat docks are high and dry.

"What we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history."
~George Bernard Shaw

I don't think it will affect Willard's birdbath but....

Water restrictions went into effect in Houston this afternoon.

Home owners have 72 hours to repair all leaks and outdoor watering will be limited to two days a week.

I'll be surprised if more cities don't follow suit.

Fans are lining up at Graceland.

Tonight is the candlelight vigil that will mark the 34th anniversary of the death of Elvis.  The anniversary date is tomorrow.  And, yes.  I know where I was when I heard he had died.  Having a cocktail at Minervas in Sioux Falls.

The corn folks say Wisconsin will harvest around 3.3 million acres of corn this year.

That would give our state the 8th biggest corn crop in the country.  If there are 7 cornier states than Wisconsin I'd like to know which ones they are.

I took a walk down to Riverside Park this morning.

It's been a while since I've been down there and LHI insurance has been busy.  They've added another four story office building and a new three story parking ramp.  In the middle of all of this will be the new Community Theater.

The park is looking just beautiful this summer and I've never seen the flowers looking so good.

Here's more from Ole and Sven.

Two Minnesota mechanical engineers were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking up. A woman walks by and asks what they were doing.

"Ve're supposed to find da height of da flagpole," said Sven, "but ve don't haffa ladder."

Thewoman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a few bolts, and laid the pole down. Then she took a tape measure from her pocketbook, took a measurement,announced, " Eighteen feet, six inches," and walked away.

Ole shook his head and laughed. "Ain't dat just like a voman! Ve ask for da height and she gives us da length!"

Svenand Ole are currently serving in the United States Senate and they're two of the smartest ones there.

Just how bad is the Texas drought?

Donnie said, "Story in the news today says that even cactus are suffering from the drought."

Donnie sent pictures on this historic day in Panama.

This is the old Officers Club in the Canal zone.  We enjoyed our cocktails on the lower porch.  A perfect place to watch the ships going through the canal.  And the other is of Rita, Donnie and me as we looked 39 years ago.  I haven't changed a bit.  The other two have really aged.

It's Monday. What do you think I'm doing?

I don't go anywhere.  I don't do anything.  How do I accumulate so many dirty clothes?

Stormpulse is one of the best weather sites on the internet.

Check it out: http://www.stormpulse.com/

FAMOUS WISCONSIN AUTHOR

I noticed, on the sidebar, under Wisconsin History that this is the birthday of Edna Ferber.  The author of "Giant" and other great novels grew up in Appleton.

WHAT HAVE YOU MISSED IN MINNEAPOLIS?

National Geographic has a great feature story on Minneapolis by Gary Arndt who is, orginially, from Minneapolis.  In 2007, however, he set off on a trip around the world.  He's visited 100 countries and he's still going.

He took some time off to tell readers what he likes to see in his home town and it's an interesting list.  Click here to read the article.

NATIONAL RELAXATION DAY

Nobody does that better than I do.

ONE OF THOSE BITS OF INFO THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO CRY

Justin Bieber made $53 MILLION last year.

FIRST SHIP THROUGH THE PANAMA CANAL

It was August 15, 1914, that the steamship Ancon made the historic first passage through the Panama Canal.  A few years after that Rita, Donnie and I made our historic first passage through the Officers Club, at the edge of the canal, to sip our rum and cokes while we watched a few more boats pass through the canal.

If I'm not mistaken, that old Officers Club is gone now.  Rita, Donnie and I are just barely hanging on and the canal has been, recently, "remodeled" and is newer and better than ever.

SHE'S A TOUGH LADY

Happy to see Zsa Zsa is back at home after a month long stay in the hospital with a broken hip.  She's 93 and has what it takes to keep on going!

BOOKS

I very rarely read fiction but I'm tempted to read a new mystery just because I love the name.  It's "A Sheetcake Named Desire" by Jacklyn Brady.  The title should be enough to give the location away.  The story takes place in New Orleans and the book is getting very good reviews.  Click here to read more.

WILLARD HAS A REAL HIGH JUMPER!

"I got up, last night, to see what Buddy was up to on the patio and there was a frog sitting IN the water in the fountain!  How he got up there is a mystery.  The bowl is over three feet off the ground."

LET THERE BE (LESS) LIGHT

 

Sunset is coming a lot sooner these days.  We'll have 14 hours and 2 minutes of sunshine today but we'll lose another 2 minutes and 38 seconds of light tomorrow.

HOW TO MAKE A CREAMSICLE

You can eat your creamsicle on a stick, if you want to, but I have a much better way.  I like to drink my creamsicles out of a glass.

And, instead of a creamsicle, I like the DREAMSICLE better.



I put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the blender.

I add:
1/2 ounce of vodka
1/2 ounce of triple sec
1 ounce of orange juice

Give it a whirl in the blender, throw away the stick and get your vitamin C the fun way!

NORTH AMERICAN DROUGHT MONITOR

If you're living in the drought area, which includes must of the central U.S. (including far south Wisconsin), you might be interested in this page from the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.  It features maps and other drought information.  CLICK HERE FOR NORTH AMERICAN DROUGHT MONITOR