HURRICANE

OVER 12" OF RAIN IN HAMPTON, VA. FROM HURRICANE IRENE.
Texas doesn't need the wind and the other bad stuff that goes with a hurricane but they sure could use that foot of rain!

PARTY

DIGGITY DOG DIP A WEEK FROM TODAY!
Saturday September 3, 2011
It will be held at the Onalaska Aquatic Center from 10:00 AM until 2 PM.

It's $10.00 for one dog and $5.00 for each additional dog and the money goes to the Humane Society.

I haven't heard if Rita and Roger plan on taking their three darlings.  I know the darlings would love it.  I'm not so sure about Rita and Roger.

PHOTO

I like this photo.  Donnie said, "That's Rita and Linda on a swinging bridge at a thermal spa in Chile (c. 1988)

FOOD

HEY!  All you grilling experts!

IS THIS HOW YOU GRILL YOUR STEAKS???





DONNIE

HE LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY WHO'S IMPORTANT

MEMORIES

I WONDER IF RITA STILL HAS THAT DRESS?

Rita set the record straight:

"That's not a dress.  It's a coverup for my swimsuit which is underneath it."

HURRICANE

WOW! TALK ABOUT A BIG ONE!
IRENE IS 1,000 MILES WIDE!

HURRICANE

At 4:oo A.M. Irene was 91 miles from Wilmington, North Carolina with 90 MPH winds.

I see New York has closed down their subway system and airports.

This will be a miserable weekend to be on the East Coast but, Oh! What a beautiful day in La Crosse!  Wish you were here.

FEST

It's too bad Donnie won't be here next weekend for our first LABOR DAY WEEKEND BIKE FESTIVAL.  CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

There will be bike rides for new and experienced riders for 5 days. The bike rides are all free and the tours will cover 28 to 85 miles. There will also be a 56 mile race. There are a lot of other activities planned including live music on Pearl street.

The event is being sponsored by the State Department of Tourism and Mayo Health Care system.

It all starts Thursday and I hope it's a big success. This would make a great annual event.

HISTORY

AUGUST 27, 1908: Lyndon Baines Johnson was born near Stonewall, Texas.

WARNING

The FBI is warning against email, and other internet scams, you might come in contact with.  To avoid charitable contribution scams, take these precautions.


Do not respond to unsolicited (SPAM) e-mail.

• Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as officials soliciting via e-mail for donations.
• Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.
• Be cautious of e-mail claiming to contain pictures in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
• To ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes, make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf.
• Validate the legitimacy of the organization by directly accessing the recognized charity or aid organization's website rather than following an alleged link to the site.
• Attempt to verify the legitimacy of the non-profit status of the organization by using various Internet-based resources, which also may assist in confirming the actual existence of the organization.
• Do not provide personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions: providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.

To obtain more information on charitable contribution schemes and other types of online schemes, visit www.LooksTooGoodToBeTrue.com.
If you believe you have been a victim of a charity related scheme, contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud by telephone at (866) 720-5721, or by fax at (225) 334-4707, or by e-mail at disaster@leo.gov. You can also report suspicious e-mail solicitations or fraudulent websites to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov.

The National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) was originally established by the Department of Justice to investigate, prosecute, and deter fraud in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Its mission has expanded to include suspected fraud from any natural or man-made disaster.

RIVER

OLD MAN RIVER IS FALLING
The Mississippi river at La Crosse has been slowly falling for the last month and is approaching the 6 foot mark. The last time the Mississippi river at La Crosse has fallen below 6 feet was briefly in the month of March 2011 (March 14th - 17th). For comparision, the average river stage in La Crosse during the summer months is 4 1/2 to 5 feet.

WEATHER

After today, I see high temperatures in the 70's for the next several days! I have a feeling that fall is right around the corner.

IRENE

Get the latest on IRENE from StormPlus

GAS

DONNIE'S THOUGHTS ON GAS
"I just heard that the "average American" passes gas 20 times each day.  Twenty times per day over a 75-year life would total 547,500 farts!  But if one produces only a few or even none each day for the first 50 years, the lifetime average requires tooting 40 or 50 times a day in our 60s and 70s.  I have evidence that this is a pretty accurate scientific finding."

THE ONLY THING I CAN ADD TO THIS IS:
I never thought, much, about gas until I had my stomach surgery.  It's an awful revelation to learn that you can't leave the hospital until you start passing gas again.  They say there's a time for everything and, believe me, after stomach surgery, that's the time to pray for gas!

HEALTH

I just looked at the calendar and noticed that I start my six month round of doctor visits next week with my yearly check-up.  Then the cancer doctor, then the kidney doctor, then more tests.  I'll be glad when that's over!

DOGS

WHAT A GREAT DAY TO CELEBRATE!
Click here to read more about NATIONAL DOG DAY

HEAT

HOT AND GETTING HOTTER
Then cooler??
Donnie says:
"The worst is yet to come--forecast highs for Sat & Sun 107.  But the first week of September the highs may drop into 80s, first time below 90 in more than three months.

HURRICANE

NASA has a new hurricane webpage with some great photos and storm information.  Click here NASA to check it out.

IRENE

This time-lapse of Hurricane Irene is awesome.

STARS?

HATS OFF TO THE FOLKS WHO MAKE THE RULES FOR THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME.
They have banned so-called "reality stars" from getting a star on the sidewalk.  Anyone who would even entertain the idea that these pathetic creatures are "stars" has been spending too much time in La-La Land.

HURRICANE

Thousands evacuating their homes ahead of Hurricane Irene.
Donnie and Linda have several friends living in North Carolina.  We wish them well.

FROM NOW ON....JUST CALL ME PEANUT BUTTER DOUG

WEATHER

PARTS OF HOUSTON GOT RAIN!!
Willard reports: "Big time storms, last night, everywhere but here.  At least, some people got rain.  For a time there were 80,000 homes without power."

AGE

A couple of old-timers just got older today.
Monty Hall is celebrating 90 years and Regis Philbin turns 80.

CONFUSED

Are you sure this is Thursday?
I can't blame my poor memory on age because it was just as bad when I was 30.  Perhaps, however, the old age is making me a bit more confused.  No.  That's not it.  Those that know me best will tell you I was just just as confused at 30 too.

Whatever it was that made me so sure it was Thursday yesterday lasted all day.  I got up, this morning, all set to get ready for the weekend tomorrow only to, finally, realize I have to live through Thursday AGAIN today.

It's not easy being me.

PARKING

Image by FlamingText.com535 MOREDOWNTOWN PARKING SPACESThe new downtown parking ramp opens today.  It's next to Riverside Center III, The Pump House and Piggy's.

QUAKE

A member of Duane's family was at an airport in Virginia when the earthquake struck yesterday.  He said, "The crews were in a panic.  They thought it was a terrorist attack."

CORN PALACE

AFTER 90 YEARS
TIME FOR A FACE LIFT
I'm happy to see that Mitchell has hired a consulting firm to look into renovating and expanding the Corn Palace.  That place holds a lot of memories for me.  Dad took a lot of great teams to the state tournaments there and I'd hate to see them tear it down.  I'm really thrilled to see that the chairman that's heading the committee for this project doesn't want it torn down either.

And, there were the great stage shows we went to see.  Harry James and Betty Grable, Judy Canova, Horace Height and his Musical Knights.  I remember them all.

The first big act ever to play the Corn Palace was John Phillip Souza.  I'm old but not that old.  I missed that one!

PENGUINS

Ron sent this and I know Donnie and Linda will love it if no one else does.

HEAT

RECORD UPDATE FROM DONNIE
"I thought we had passed the triple-digit record some time ago but we only set it today.  This is our 70th day in the 100's.  There are still many more in the long-range forecast."

PHOTO

You can't get a view of the sky like this except on the prairie.
This was taken by Donnie in Colorado.

AGE

ROGER TALKED TO UNCLE BOB
Uncle Bob says aside from his aches and pains, stiff joints and being old, he's doing just fine.

ELEPHANTS

After cats, dogs and horses, elephants are my favorite animal.  This is a beautiful video from National Geographic.

A THOUGHT

I just noticed I have 1,090 old emails stored on my computer.  I could probably delete 1,089 of those and never really miss them.

USELESS FACT

WHAT'S THE #1 SELLING CANDY BAR IN RUSSIA?
Alpen Gold
WHO MAKES IT?
Kraft Foods

AGE

I'm pulling for 61 year old Roy Lester.  He was a life guard for 40 years at Long Beach New York until he was fired in 2007.  Roy wanted to wear biking shorts to take the annual swim test.  The state told him he had to wear the bikini swim suit.  Roy says no one, his age, should be forced to wear a bikini.  He's got that right.

Roy sued the parks and recreation department and the lawsuit was thrown out of court.  But, now, a court of appeals has reinstated the lawsuit and Roy will get his day in court.

He says making the bikini swim suit mandatory is a way of getting rid of the older life guards.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Roy is right.   I've seen a lot of 20 year olds that should not be allowed to wear a bikini.  There are a lot more bikini's out there than there are bikini bodies.

LIBRARY

HERE WE GO AGAIN

The library will be closed Sunday so they can install a new computer catalog and check-out system.  I give up.  I have never been able to figure out the old computer check out system yet.  I like the old fashioned way.  You stand in line and wait for a real human being to check the books out for you.

I used to think it was just me.  Then I noticed that most people stand in line and wait for the human while the computer checkouts stand idle.

And, while we're at it, what's this with the aisle where you can scan your own groceries at the grocery store?  And the aisles where you bag your own groceries?  Shouldn't I get a discount if I'm doing the work?  The store has, obviously, taken the job away from someone who needs it.  Now they want me to do the work and pay full price for the groceries.  The price, I might add, that keeps going up every week.

You know what?  I'm tired of getting screwed.  It seems like I'm doing "...a whole lot for not a lot of money".  That catchy little jingle makes me gag every time I hear it.

WAFFLES

I can't remember the last time I had a waffle.  Can you? Remember Howard Dean?  Whatever happened to him?  I think He said it best.  "I've waffled before.  I'll waffle again."  Ah, yes.  Leave it to a politician to say something stupid.

TRAVEL

HOW DID I MISS THAT?
Ron and Penny made a trip up to Mt. Roosevelt a couple of weeks ago and he sent this picture of the tower at the top.  He said they had never been there before and I said I don't think I ever saw it either.  The picture didn't ring a bell but I blew out my long term memory many decades ago so who knows?

In any event, there's an interesting website with more information about the tower.  Click here to check it out.

BOOKS

IN CASE YOU DON'T THINK ANYONE GOES TO THE LIBRARY ANYMORE, THINK AGAIN!
According to Wisconsin Heritage on line, 1.25 million items are checked out of Wisconsin libraries each week.

TWEETS

I got a kick out of one of the tweets I read after the quake.  Not knowing it was an earthquake, a lady in New York called the building super to complain about the shaking and the super apologized for the inconvenience.

That's what I call good customer service!

QUAKE

An earthquake and a hurricane all in the same week???  The folks on the East Coast will have plenty to talk about for the next few days!

FIRE

The La Crosse Tribune reports that lightening caused a garage fire early this morning as the storms rolled through.  Click here to read the story

ANOTHER DOORMAT

I know Roger will like this one!

THE OLD DAYS

DONNIE & LINDA ARE REMINISCING THIS MORNING
"We were recalling our 1960s high school days.  At our rural Wisconsin school, I don't remember any parents regularly driving kids to school--we all either walked or took the bus--the "town kids" were all within walking distance, even through most of winter, and the "farm kids" were relatively few.  Ah, small-town life."

WALKING

AND, I THOUGHT I WAS A GOOD WALKER!
I'm sorry I didn't get to meet these three guys while they were in town.  They left California on March 7 and are on their way to New York....WALKING ALL THE WAY!!  One of the guys is making a video of their adventure which he hopes to sell to the Travel Channel.  Click here and read the story in the La Crosse Tribune.

If I was just 30 years younger.......

STORMS

The storms that rolled through this morning produced a lot of tree damage in Wadena, Minnesota.  Spotters reported trees down and some uprooted from straight line winds.  We got about a half inch of rain around here.  On the other side of the river, Houston got .96".

EARTH

Some of the most amazing places on earth are disappearing at an alarming rate.  Click here to read the article from LONELY PLANET

HEAT

WILLARD COMMENTS ON THE HEAT
"The same heat advisory continues.  My electric bill, for the A/C, keeps going up, up, up...just like the temperature."

CONGRESS

FROM CARL (with the last paragraph added by me)

The English language has some wonderfully anthropomorphic collectives for the various groups of animals.

We are all familiar with a heard of cows, a flock of chickens, a school of fish and a gaggle geese.

Less widely known, there's the pride of lions, an exaltation of doves and a parliament of owls.

Now, consider a group of Baboons.  They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all the primates.  And, guess what the proper collective noun is for a group of baboons.  Believe it or not, it's a congress.

I suppose we could use that fact to compare them to that group of greedy, grasping, bigoted, mafia-like, obnoxious men and women in Washington D.C. but I won't do that.  It would be much too insulting to the baboons.

IRENE

It looks like the forecast track of Hurricane Irene will take it north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti this morning, near the southeastern Bahamas tonight and near the central Bahamas early tomorrow.  Then on to the east coast of the USA with landfall well to the north of Florida.

AGE

I love the poll Beloit College does, every year when they ask the incoming class of freshmen about their view of the world.  Nothing can make you feel more ancient than hearing that these kids were mostly born in 1993 so they were just a twinkle in their parents eye when River Phoenix and Frank Zappa died.  O. J. Simpson means nothing to them.  Few will know who he was.  Some might remember hearing he was accused of some crime.  And, the stars of "Cheers" would be to them as Rudolph Valentino is to me.  ANCIENT HISTORY.

WEATHER

STORMY MORNING
Lot's of thunder and lightening.  Haven't seen any rain totals yet.  South of us, Decorah reported wind gusts of 40 to 50 MPH as the storms moved through Iowa.

It's going to be a muggy day, I fear, with more storms building up later this afternoon.

TREES

The Emerald Ash Borer has been found in the town of Medary.  This can be a real tree killer.  With about 6200 ash trees on city property, in La Crosse, lets hope they can contain the pest.  La Crosse is filled with such beautiful trees.  I hate to see any of them come down.

SCIENCE: WHAT DOES HYDROGEN SOUND LIKE?

HEAT

Donnie says:
"I am surprised Houston is so much "cooler" than Austin.  A mere 32 days over 100?  We have passed 60 days at 100 or more and many more to come.  This is already a record year here too."

FOG

OH! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING!

Roger got this beautiful photo of the morning fog from their deck.

HURRICANE

AccuWeather is now saying IRENE could become a Major hurricane by the time it reaches Florida.

HURRICANE

800,000 homes without power in Puerto Rico this morning.  Hurricane Irene is on the move.  Current maps put it into Florida by Friday.

FASHION

This is Wisconsin.  Oktoberfest is right around the corner.  How have we lived this long without BREWSEES EYEWEAR SUNGLASSES?  It's the latest thing in "beer accessories".  Sunglasses with a beer opener built into the end of of the arm that fits over your ears to hold the glasses in place.  There's an opener on each side.  Is that a great CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA??  Too bad they didn't have those in MY drinking days.  Now, what I need is a pair of sunglasses with a built in pill bottle opener.

WORDS

Lots of new words in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.  Stuff I've never heard of.  Or is it stuff I've forgotten?  I can never keep those two straight.

Did you ever hear of WOOT!?  That's a new one on me.  Apparently, the kids are using it, on line, as an expression of enthusiasm.  That's probably why I've never heard of it.  At my age, how enthused can you get...or should I say, "how woot can you get"?

Retweet has also been added.  Being a Twitter fan, that one I know.  It's when you re-post someone Else's tweet.

There are about 400 new words in this edition, with a total of around 24,000 words in all.  I don't know them all but, at 71, I don't need that many any more.  I've probably used up more than my share already.

BIRTHDAY

Dorothy Parker, one of the wittiest writers who ever lived, was born on this date in 1893.
Some of her great lines include:

• "I don't care what's written about me as long as it isn't true."
• "If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised."
• "If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to."
• "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves."
• "The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant---and let the air out of the tires."
• "That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgement."

DEATH

A 32 year old woman, sitting on the railroad tracks, that run along Mormon Coulee Road, was struck and killed by a train early last evening.  What a tragic end.

Willard's rain dance helped a little bit.

This afternoon he reported, "We just had a little rain!!  Wish it was more.  Just a brief shower.  Enough to wet the patio."

FINALLY! A movie worth worth watching.

If she holds together, it looks like Florida could get a visit from Irene toward the end of the week.

The Holmen Kornfest was once a big deal in our family.

I just saw, in the paper, it's going on today.  I didn't know it was this weekend.  I always saw posters up or heard about it in other ways but didn't have a clue this year.

I think it was about the first year I moved back that Rita, Roger and I went to the parade.  It was so cold we nearly froze to death.  Haven't been back since.  It may be a lot bigger, these days, but it sure isn't as much fun as the first Kornfest when we sat in Grandma and Grandpa's  yard and ate the corn.

Historic weather conditions abound!

NOAA: Heat wave leads to fourth warmest July on record for the U.S.

Persistent, scorching heat in the central and eastern regions of the United States shattered long-standing daily and monthly temperature records last month, making it the fourth warmest July on record nationally, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. The heat exacerbated drought conditions, resulting in the largest “exceptional” drought footprint in the 12-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor. “Exceptional” is the most severe category of drought on the drought monitor scale. Drought conditions at several locations in the South region are not as long lived, but are as dry, or drier, than the historic droughts of the 1930s and 1950s.
The average U.S. temperature in July was 77.0 degrees F, which is 2.7 degrees F above the long-term (1901-2000) average. Precipitation, averaged across the nation, was 2.46 inches. This was 0.32 inch below the long-term average, with large variability between regions. This monthly analysis, based on records dating back to 1895, is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides.

July 2011 temperature "divisional rank" maps.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

U.S. climate highlights – July

• Oklahoma and Texas had their warmest months ever on record, with average temperatures of 88.9 degrees F and 87.1 degrees F, respectively. Oklahoma's statewide average temperature was the warmest monthly statewide average temperature on record for any state during any month.
• 41 of the lower 48 states had above-normal, much-above-normal, or a record warmest July. Only seven of the lower 48 states – all west of the Rockies – experienced a July average temperature near or below the 20th century average.
• The South climate region -- Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas -- had its warmest single calendar month for any climate region on record.
• The average temperature of 86.1 degrees F, bested the previous all-time record of 85.9 set in July 1980 in the South climate region.
• Dallas exceeded 100 degrees F on 30 of the 31 days in July. In Oklahoma City, July was the warmest single calendar month, with an average temperature of 89.2, beating the previous record of 88.7 degrees F set in August 1936. Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport had its warmest single calendar month on record, with an average temperature of 84.5 degrees F, breaking the previous record of 83.1 degrees F set in July 2010 and July 1993.
• The July heat wave was characterized by unusually warm minimum temperatures, during nights and early mornings. This is typical of U.S. heat waves in the last decade, and consistent with increasing warm summer nighttime extremes observed across much of the country since the late 20th century.
• Wetter-than-normal conditions occurred along parts of the Gulf Coast, all of the Pacific Coast, and much of the upper Midwest. California tied for its fifth wettest July. Other states that were abnormally wet in July included: Utah (6th wettest), Wyoming (9th), and South Dakota (10th). At the same time, July offered no relief to the parched soils of Texas and Oklahoma where it was the second (tied) and ninth driest July on record, respectively.
• Exceptional drought, as defined by the U.S. Drought Monitor, covers more than 75 percent of Texas (201,436 sq mi). Drought conditions are so harsh in some locations that it would take as much as 20 inches of precipitation in one month to end the drought. In Oklahoma, 100 percent of the state is suffering from moderate-exceptional drought compared to the beginning of the water year (9/28/2010), when drought conditions covered only four percent of the state.

A couple of great singers celebrating a birthday today.

Kenny Rogers is 73 and Jackie DeShannon is 7o.

More bad news about Social Security today.

This comes from a government about as useless as yesterdays lunch and about to get worse if the current crop of candidates running for office have anything to say about it.  Click here to read the story

The temperature in Hayward at 4:00 A.M. was 46 degrees.

That was the coolest temperature reported in the state at 4, this morning.  I'm thinking it won't be long before we'll see some 30's pop up.

Meanwhile, the heat goes on in Texas.  At 4:00 A.M. in Austin it was still 80 degrees.

Got a note from Gladys.

"I'm having the gals from church for coffee between services and eating noon meal downtown today.

We didn't celebrate Jeff's birthday.  He and Trudi are in Germany.  He was asked to present a talk about electricity at a meeting there."