INTERNET SECURITY

Given the current climate re: concerns for computer and data security, I suggest you take this message seriously. This is for your own safety and security! If your workplace has been assessed and determined to be at a low level of risk, the following method is recommended to ensure no one can see your passwords or what you're typing:

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For a moderate level of risk, this method ensures no one can see your passwords, what you're typing, or which website you're visiting.....


For a high level of risk, this method ensures ultimate security:


Be safe out there people!





PS Anyone who can knit, here is new business opportunity!

NEW THEATER

Our new theater is quickly taking shape.  When finished, it will be home to the La Crosse Community Theater and Viterbo University theater productions.

Donnie Comments: "I wonder why they didn't just invest all that money in the grand old Hollywood and give the community theater some real class.  As it is, they will have just another modern box."

FROM WILLARD

"I restarted the bird bath fountain yesterday.  Now, the birds have a place for drinking and bath water.  My resident squirrel will also drop by for a drink.

Speaking of your cricket, I had one in the house some years ago.  It drove me up the wall.  I can't remember whether I found it or it just went away.

Tell Thunder to start hunting.  It will be a real treat for him.  Buddy chased frogs on the patio this morning."

TODAY'S QUOTE

"Facts do not ceace to exist because they are ignored."
Aldous Huxley

CINCO de MAYO

From the HISTORY CHANNEL here's everything you want to know about  CINCO de MAYO.
CLICK HERE

DONNIE AND LINDA'S YARD

A view from Donnie and Linda's yard.  A colorful photo for Cinco de Mayo.

MARGARITA RECIPE

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a FRESH CHERRY MARGARITA.  I found the recipe on the CREATE TV website and it's looks good enough to drink....and drink.....and drink.....and drink.
CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE

CINCO de MAYO

Why do Mexicans celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

For the same reason the Irish celebrate St. Patrick's day.  It's a great excuse to get borracho!  For those of you who are Tex-Mex deficient, borracho=drunk.

Most folks think May 5 is Mexican Independence Day but that's, actually, in September.

May 5, 1862 was the day that 4,000 Mexican troops wiped out 8,000 French troops at the battle of Puebla.  And, when it was over, those who were left went out and got borracho.

WHY ME, LORD?

I'M SLOWLY GOING INSANE!

A Cricket has found its way into the apartment and I can't find him.  He spent the night chirping away and I laid, in bed, unable to sleep as I listened to his every chirp.

I think he's behind the refrigerator so I'll pull that out, at first light, and see if I can locate the noisy little bastard and silence his songs forever.

DONNIE COMMENTS:

"We are having a real plague of crickets this year.  Nature is mysterious.  Each year and each season brings some slight variation in animal and plant behavior."



The forecast calls for a cloudy day but no rain so the bikers should have a good race day in La Crosse.  I think I'll take a walk down there, this morning, to see what's going on.

The RAIN RETURNS TONIGHT and continues into tomorrow with NEW RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES POSSIBLE.  The chance of rain is 90% for tomorrow so it looks like a wash-out for any outdoor activities on Sunday.

Yes!  The opening of the Farmers Market  at Cameron Park  means the outdoor season has begun.  The market opened this afternoon and will be open every Friday from 4 to 8 through October.

A DOGGIE WITH CLASS

I love the regal look this guy has.  He's one of Donnie and Linda's neighbors.

DONNIE SAYS:

"He may look classy, but his behavior is dumb and cowardly.  On the other hand, there are those of us who may look dumb and cowardly but, in fact, are very classy."



Don't forget!

Tonight's the night of the SUPER MOON.  Tonight the full moon will be closer to the earth and appear bigger than it has in 18 years.

They've paved the street but the rest looks much the same.

This is Main Street in La Crosse in 1895.

WE HAD A HIGH OF 82 YESTERDAY and it sure felt good to me!  It's so nice to be able to walk outside, again, without first getting the coat on gloves on.

There was one cold weather article I didn't have much use for this past winter, however.  I only had to get the overshoes out one time.  A good indication of the, relative, mild winter we had.

We'll be about 10 degrees cooler today and even cooler this weekend with a high of 69 tomorrow and 64 on Saturday.  A bit too cool for me but that should be welcome weather for all the bike racers in town tomorrow.

INTERNATIONAL

FIREFIGHTERS DAY

Today we celebrate and recognize the hard work and sacrifice our firefighters do to keep us safe from the ravages of fire.  This special day is celebrated on the 4th of May because this is, also, St. Florian Day.

Legend says St. Florian Lived in Noricum, Rome in 300 A.D. and he was one of the first, in history, to lead a battalion of firefighters. 

The story goes that he saved an entire village from being engulfed in flames with just a single bucket of water.  I'm guessing it was a very LARGE bucket.


DONNIE COMMENTS:  "My favorite musician, Anton Bruckner is buried at St. Florian monastery in Austria."

I got the instructions for the surgery to remove the cancer cells from my ear which is scheduled the end of June.  I have to be there at 8 and, they say, I'll be there four or five hours so that shoots the morning.  I'll be glad when that's done!

They've released 6,000 declassified Osama bin Laden documents for your reading pleasure.  I wonder if they'll declassify my documents after I die?

Here you go.....

Travel-Ticker.com lists the best vacation destinations for this summer.  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/travel-tickercom-unveils-summer-2012-where-to-go-now-how-guide-top-five-sizzling-summer-locales-2012-05-03

One of the destinations they mention is San Francisco.  They say late summer/early fall is the time to go for the best weather.

I'll agree 100% with that but GET OUT OF THERE BEFORE WINTER ARRIVES!  Wisconsin winters are miserable but NOTHING is worse than the months of clouds, fog and bone chilling drizzle and rain that is winter in the city by the Bay.  One of those winters was more than enough for me.

Just talked to Rita and Roger.  Rita will be working on the computer today.  She'll contact Microsoft to walk her through whatever has to be done to fix it.  It's their E-Mail that's giving them problems.  They can't send anything out.  They can, however, use the Internet so they are reading my web page!  That's really all they need...isn't it??

DONNIE'S COMMENT:  "You all need to move to Apple."

Guess what????

You've probably noticed the small map, on the right sidebar, that shows where our viewers are coming from.  Did you know that if you double click on the map you'll get a larger map to get a better view?

HE'S 78 TODAY

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COME TO WISCONSIN

TO SEE ALL THE GARDENS

We've got some beautiful gardens in the state, including the new gardens at Riverside Park here in La Crosse.  Click here to see the list of other beautiful gardens to visit this summer.

Gotta give credit where credit is due.

There's one good thing about getting the computer bug I got (which still hasn't been fixed which is why you're not seeing any videos).  I was forced to start using YAHOO! mail which doesn't require flash or adobe.  I'll never go back to anything else. I love Yahoo! mail and the "My Yahoo!" feature which lets me put my mail, news, calendar, etc., etc., all on one page.

FLIGHT TIP

$320, round trip, Minneapolis/Houston on United.

If your looking for a good fare, to wherever you're going, check with AIR FARE WATCH DOG

Been there. Done that.

If you've lived more than 70 years, and you're a bit odd to begin with, there isn't much that you haven't done before.  I fit, very snugly, into that category.  Today's holiday is a good example.

I went to a funeral, years ago, when I lived in Rapid City, wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe.  It wasn't a fashion statement and I had no idea they would make a holiday out of it but I must have started a trend.

Unfortunately, I didn't notice the error of my ways until someone pointed it out as they were lowering the body into the grave.  Once it was pointed out, the people around me began to giggle.  As giggles go, that was the worst possible moment.

It was a long time before I was invited to another funeral.

Too bad Donnie won't be here this weekend.  He'd get a kick out of the bicycle races that will bring 300 bikers from three states together here in La Crosse (Read the story in the La Crosse Tribune).  I'll try to get down to the race around the Radisson Hotel Saturday morning with racers competing at speeds up to 28 MPH.

I watched a movie, last weekend, about the life of EDVARD MUNCH.  He's one of the most famous Norwegians..ever...(after me, of course) for his famous painting of THE SCREAM.

I see, in the papers this morning, that his most famous painting has just sold for $119.9 MILLION at Sotheby's.  That makes it the MOST EXPENSIVE PIECE OF ART EVER SOLD AT AUCTION.

Leave it to the NORWEGIANS.  Fine art, Sturdy Vikings and lutefisk.  We've got it all.

Edvard had the last laugh.  Like Van Gough, when he was alive and trying to sell his paintings everybody thought they were "junk".  That's the sad thing about art.  You have to be dead before anybody likes it.

Everything is connected to everything else.  There's a woodpecker in the western states that has been been around for millions of years and they only eat one thing; beetle larvae from burned trees.  We've done such a good job of containing and controlling forest fires that the woodpecker now faces extinction.

I haven't heard a word from Rita or Roger so I'm guessing they're still without a computer.  Just heard from Willard and he was off line all day, yesterday, with computer problems too.  Seems to be an epidemic!

"Dear Lord, just give me one day with no computer fights!!

I thought the new modem would give me, at least, one day that I wouldn't have to fight with this damn computer...but it was not to be.

I was typing along, this morning, when a WARNING sign popped up telling me the battery was low and the computer was about to shut down.....which it did.  I was, suddenly, staring at a black screen.

I suppose there was a "cutsy" icon showing, someplace, that I was on battery power and not A/C but I don't know what any of those "cutsy" icons mean...no clue.  I've tried clicking on a few but it always ends in disaster.

I quickly realized that after I had hooked up the new modem, yesterday, I had forgotten to plug the computer back into the wall plug.

Of course, all of the thousands of cords attached to the TV, DVD player, computer, and all the other electrical devices, that make our lives so much more "care free" than the cave man had it, are hidden behind all the furniture and the only way to attack a problem with the wiring (that looks exactly like a plate full of spaghetti) is to move all the furniture to get to the one cord, that's tangled up with all the rest, that will put me back into cyberland.

So, while you were snoring away at 4 A.M., I was playing the part of the Bekins moving and storage guy and re-arrainging the living room AGAIN.

I'm sure you've already guessed that I have totally failed my participation in NATIONAL GRUMP OUT DAY because, if you think I'm going to run around all day with a smile on my face, you've got another think coming.

Not all neighborhoods are thrilled about having a new Wal-Mart nearby.

Wal-Mart wants to open a new store on the southeast side of Sioux Falls.  Folks in the neighborhood are fighting it tooth and nail.  They say a new store is fine....any store would be great.....AS LONG AS IT'S NOT A WAL-MART.

And Donnie said:
Had same fight in an Austin neighborhood--of course, Wal-Mart won. (And people complain about "the government" interfering with their lives. "Corporations are people," and apparently they are bigger people than ordinary citizens.)"

Rita and Roger remain off line.

Their computer died today and, at this point, they have to idea what the problem is.  I think the problem is that we're just too old to keep up.

I would seriously think about starting over with a pad of paper, some envelopes and stamps and try to revive the old method of communication but, who knows how long the post office will remain open.

They say history repeats itself.  We might end up with smoke signals again.  Throwing another log on the fire is easier than re-booting this damn computer.

I don't care what they say, THIS IS NOT PROGRESS.

I've been off line, most of the day, due to the sudden death of my modem.

After a trip to Charter's office (thanks to Carl) and then coming home, hooking up the new modem according to the full page of instructions I was given.  Discovering that it didn't work at all....calling another Charter number and talking to another very nice person who couldn't make it work either.  Sitting on hold for an eternity while she "thought".

Finally just unplugging the whole damn thing from the wall.  Plugging it back in and discovering it now worked, although, she had no idea why...finally ending the conversation by telling me that things "SHOULD" now work OK.  I am back on line for the moment.  Still....that word "should" is lurking in the back of my mind.  I "should" be worth millions but that ain't gonna happen either.

In the meantime, the clinic called to set up the appointment for them to start cutting up my ear in an attempt to get all the cancer out.  The lady said I'll be there for a good four or five hours.

They'll cut some and have the lab check it out.  Then, she said, if we don't get it all we'll go back in and "dig out some more" until we have it all.  An ear doesn't have a lot of working surface.  I'm thinking....too much digging and I'll look like Van Gogh.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

April showers, etc.

I thought it was a miserably cold April but the numbers don't lie.

According to the National Weather Service APRIL TEMPERATURES WERE 1 DEGREE ABOVE NORMAL THIS YEAR.  Precipitation was .22 inch above normal.  And, we set a record on april 19th with 1.60" of rain.

May is OLDER AMERICANS MONTH

The STATE DEPARTMENT is celebrating OLDER AMERICANS MONTH with some travel tips for senior citizens and also tips on retiring in a foreign country....which more and more U.S. citizens are doing every year.  Check it all out right here.

By the way, the slogan at the top of the web page says "NEVER TOO OLD TO PLAY".  You just know it wasn't an old person who wrote that line.

MINNESOTA QUARTERS ALERT (IMPORTANT)

Hang on to any of the new Minnesota Quarters you may acquire. They may be worth MUCH MORE than 25 cents!

The US Mint announced today that it is recalling all of the Minnesota quarters that are part of its program featuring quarters from each state.

This action is being taken after numerous reports that the new quarters will not work in parking meters, toll booths, vending machines, pay phones or any other coin-operated devices.

The problem lies in the unique makeup of the Minnesota quarter, which was designed by a couple of Norwegian specialists, Sven and Ole.

Apparently the duct tape holding the two dimes and the nickel together keeps jamming up the machines.

YA SHURE - YOU BETCHA

WHAT??

NO MORE PARTY BALLOONS?

Actually, this isn't all that funny.  There's a shortage of helium!  Who knew?  First I've heard of it but the story was in the La Crosse Tribune this morning.  (Read it here.)

DAMN!  This would have to happn just before my birthday.  It's going to cost you a fortune to buy my party balloons.

Look at this strange plant that Donnie spotted.  He says it's, probably, an agave or "century plant" that blooms once in 100 years.  I told him I can't wait that long.

LYNNE WRITES:
"Foxy (which we named her) returned after a few days of not seeing her.  She is keeping our gardens and yard free of rabbits and chipmunks, which is good as they like to eat our plants and bird seed.  When she catches her prey, she leaps over the plants and doesn't run through them.

All the neighbors have seen her.  One said there is a male, too, with a darker color on the back and thighs and he's a little bigger too.  Wonder if there will be little ones??

The one piece of news we didn't like to hear was that there are two coyotes living in an old barn not far from here.  They have been seen in the neighbor's yard.  The lady looked out her window and the coyote was staring at her.  Bob heard that the carcass of a fawn was found about a quarter mile from here.  I hope the neighbors, with little dogs, will keep a close eye on them."

DONNIE WRITES:

"I haven't traveled much, lately, and even less to big cities, after living in them for 25 years.  My overnight trip to Dallas reminded me that city hotel patrons, nowadays, must buy "rooms" for the car as well as themselves.

I was charged $26.00 to park my car in Dallas.  Some years ago, a hotel in San Francisco charged $40.00 to park the car.

Both were historic hotels built in the early 1900's when there weren't many cars to be parked.  So now, they must store guests vehicles in commercial valet lots, often blocks away.  When I checked out of my Dallas hotel, I had to wait 15 minutes to get my car back."

All the really, really important birthdays are......


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DONNIE COMMENTS:

ON SCREEN FREE WEEK:

"I was net free for two days on my overnight to Dallas. When the hotel clerk asked if I'd be needing WiFi, I felt a real thrill saying "no."  I did, however, watch the hotel TV--or, rather, turn it on; there was nothing worth watching.

As Linda always says, how is it possible to have so many channels and not be able to find anything worth watching?

So I say, let's get rid of the TV. But no, we can't bring ourselves to that. But just consider the HUGE amount of money and time and "talent" spent on producing crap. We are a fatally wasteful society."

ON THE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

I like Oscar Wilde's version better:  "Nothing succeeds like excess."

ON BLOWING AND SNEEZING:

"Linda, too, had one of her worst allergy days Saturday. Things here have dried out too much. After wet Jan-Feb-Mar, we have had no rain in April."

You know what they say..if it ain't one thing.....

Like I told Rita and Donnie, there were three pieces of mail in my box this morning and all three were from Gunderson Clinic.  If it wasn't for the clinic, I wouldn't have any social life at all.  Every day I find this old age stuff less and less fun.

One of the letters was from my dermatologist.  They took a small growth off my right ear a week or so ago and the biopsy showed BASAL CELL SKIN CANCER.  Donnie said he's had something like that and Rita says that's what Uncle Bob had so it's nothing, at this point, to get too nervous about.

The interesting part of the story is that I didn't go in to see the dermatologist about that and he didn't notice it.  You know how my memory is.  It was something I had noticed just a couple of days before my appointment but had forgotten it until I was just ready to leave and it popped into my head so I said, "...by the way, doctor"...

Aunt Wilda could never understand why Mother didn't write things down before she went to the doctor so she could ask all the questions.  Like Mother, like Son.  I never write that stuff down either but it's, probably, a good idea to do that!

Today's "GIVE ME A BREAK" item comes from Willard.

I often think about what fun the package designers must have, while they sit around, trying to come up with the most clever way to make it, downright, impossible to get the package open without destroying the product inside.

Willard had a "taste" of that this weekend.

"I couldn't get the Pepperidge Farm coconut cake box open.  I lost my cool and ripped it open, tearing the top half of the box off and making a mess all over the counter.  I took a taste of, what was left, of the cake and it tasted stale.  Threw the whole damn thing out.  Give me a break."

A couple of thoughts on truth for HONESTY DAY.

"Truth and roses have thorns about them"
Thoreau

"Remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won.  There have been tyrants and murderers and, for a time, they seem invincible but, in the end, they always fall....think of it....always."
Gandhi

There's some great history and a photo in the La Crosse Tribune this morning.

It's a 1911 photo of the Lyric Theater, which was located on Main Street in downtown La Crosse.  This is one I hadn't heard of before.

Loved the signs on the front of the theater.  $30,000 to make the movie!  That was a fortune in 1911.  Nowadays, that's, about, what it costs for a couple of tickets and a stop at the refreshment stand in todays theaters.

Read the story here.

I was reading TWITTER this morning.

One tweet said that if you're "sleep-deprived" you can become, more easily, "overwhelmed".  I sleep, pretty good, but I've still been overwhelmed since I was, about, six years old.

These photos of TOM CRUISE doing his own MISSION IMPOSSIBLE stunts are amazing.

If I had known they'd let me do my own stunts I wouldn't have turned down the part.  Click here to see the pictures.

I watched a bit of the coverage of the arrival of guests to the correspondents dinner in Washington this weekend.  Three words came to mind.  Cheap, sleezy and silly.

What are you doing? You're looking at your screen!

Screen Free Week starts today.  An annual event to see if you can make it through a week without TV or Internet.

Since you're reading this on your screen, it's pretty obvious that you've already blown it.

I see there's a new series, starting tomorrow, on the TRAVEL CHANNEL.  It's called, "HOTEL IMPOSSIBLE".  I could fill up several hours on that subject.

I'm blowing and sneezing.  My nose is clogged up and running at the same time.  I think I could get a headache if I really put my mind to it.  In other words, I'm miserable and a very unhappy camper.

Does that sound like an ALLERGY to you?

I hate to bug you...but........

Yahoo! news reports that the warmer winter is bringing the BUGS out earlier this season.  And, lots of homes have bugs.  84% of the homes in the USA have called the bug man in the past 12 months.  READ THE FULL STORY HERE

I just ran across an interesting fact.

We're only a week away from the KENTUCKY DERBY and, did you know, they've been running the race for 137 years and NEVER, not even once, has the Derby ever been cancelled.

Gary just sent me the latest photos from the land of

WAL-MART.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

WALTER WINCHELL SAID IT:  "Nothing recedes like success".

That kind of goes along with the old saying we had in radio, "You're only as good as your last broadcast."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

CELESTE HOLM

95 TODAY

She has battled skin cancer, memory loss, bleeding ulcers, hip replacements, collapsed lung and pacemakers plus a money hungry son who left her in shaky financial shape.  Yet, she battles on.

I'm not surprised.  Her father was Norwegian.  She has that "sturdy Viking" blood.

Ms. Holm won an Academy Award in 1947 for her performance in "Gentleman's Agreement".

AUNT EDNA

DIED

14 YEARS AGO TODAY

Are cats the only animal that can get HAIRBALLS?

Not on your life, hair breath!  Ferrets, rabbits, cattle and deer get hairballs and there's one more animal that get's them....YOU!

Yes!  Humans can get hairballs!!