TODAY'S YOUNGER GENERATION HAVING FUN

GOING OUT FOR A BITE TO EAT

SPENDING TIME AT THE BEACH

VISITING A MUSEUM

GOING OUT ON A DATE

Donnie said, "Love this one".

DONNIE IS ON THE ROAD AGAIN

"Today I travel 2+ hours east to a tiny farming community called Round Top, unlikely location for a summer classical music festival. There, amidst cattle and rolling hills, I will hear a huge symphony (Bruckner #5). Fortunately, it is an afternoon performance, and I'll be home before dark."

WHEN YOU'RE A CAT, EVRYTHINGS A TOY

A piece of plastic on a string is enough to keep Thunder occupied for hours.  An old pair of jeans is his "security blanket".  At the first sign of trouble he heads for those jeans.

PAUL AND DOROTHY KNOW HOW TO PLAN A PARTY

We're going to Paul and Dorothy's tomorrow and that's perfect timing.  There's a GOOD CHANCE FOR SHOWERS moving into the area this afternoon and hanging around through tomorrow morning.  Then, as party time nears, the clouds will break up and the sun will come out just in time for another wild and crazy gathering of Norwegians.

BLUE STARS ON THE ROAD

The La Crosse Blue Stars Drum & Bugle Corps won a silver medal at a competition in Battle Creek, Michigan this week.  I sure hope they do a show at Riverside Park like they did last year.  I really enjoyed that.

WILLARD IN THE KITCHEN (NOT READY FOR FOOD TV)

Willard decided to make some cole slaw.  He reported, "I thought I had the bowl secured on the food processor.  I dropped some carrots into the feeding tube.  CARROTS FLEW EVERYWHERE!!  I guess I didn't get the bowl back on tightly....Grrrr.  There were carrots all over the kitchen.  Baby carrots simply cannot be chopped in a food processor."

DELAYED SPRING CLEANING

I decided, since it's now summer, I really should get started on my spring cleaning.  I stripped the bed, took the mattress and box spring off, cleaned and scrubbed under the bed, turned the mattress over re-made the bed.  And, I had it all done by 8:00 A.M.  I'm alread exhausted for the day.

Believe me, removing a box spring and turning a mattress over is NOT a one man job.  It can be done but I don't recommend it.

WHAT YOU SEE IS, NOT EXACTLY, WHAT YOU GET

Why does the McDonalds hamburger you see in the TV ads look a lot better than the actual McDonalds hamburger looks when you order it?  READ THE TRUTH BEHIND THE "PICTURE PERFECT" HAMBURGER HERE.

PERFECT WEATHER

TODAY

SUNNY

79

WHY DOES THE ZEBRA HAVE THOSE STRIPES?

Read the story, here, from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP (with one cat break)

I'll be ready to rumble today.  I slept a full 8 hours!  There was just one inturuption in my dreams.  About 2:00 A.M., Thunder woke me, not with a meow but,with a HOWL like he was in extreme agony.

I jumped out of bed and followed him into the living room.  He has a "birdie on a string" that he loves to play with, as long as I swing it around in the air for him to chase.  That's what he ran to and then looked up at me, "Lets play"!

I gave him five minutes of my sleep time and , then, went back to bed and right to sleep again.

He's 14 yeas old.  You'd think he'd be old enough to know that cats sleep most of the day and humans would like to sleep most of the night.  I think he knows that but cat's don't much care about your wants and needs.  As long as they're happy, that's all that counts.

MISSISSIPPI WATER LEVELS ON THE RISE AGAIN

BEAUTIFUL SKY OVER LA CROSSE TODAY

LOOKS LIKE A GREAT AIRSHOW IN RAPID CITY THIS WEEKEND

Sorry I can't be there to see this:  CHECK OUT BLACK HILLS HUCKFEST

GOTTA LOVE JESSE

Good old Jesse Ventura got it right this time.  He says the two political parties, we have in this country, are like rival street gangs.  Forever engaged in violence with no end or positive outcome in sight.

WHAT'S THE BIGGEST MONEY MAKING SHOW FOR NBC?

I suppose most of you will say the TONIGHT show with what's-his-name.  Nope!  You're on the wrong end of the day.  The networks cash cow is the TODAY SHOW.  I haven't watched the Today show in years.  Haven't watched the Tonight show since Jack Paar left.  As far as entertainment goes, TV would be at the bottom of my list.  As far as TV "news" goes, it isn't even on my list.

I watched an interview with Dan Rather, the other day.  He said what I've been saying for years.  TV news is all about entertainment and making money.  There isn't a network in the USA that gives a damn about, actually, informing you about anything.  It's far cheaper and much more profitable to put two or three people in a room and have them scream and shout at each other about some of the stupidest "issues of the day" they can think up.

A BIT OF MOVIE HISTORY

June 21, 1949 was a big night in Janesville.  The first Drive-In movie theater in southern Wisconsin opened on Milton Avenue.  It was the Hi-Way 26 outdoor theater with a screen  that was 33 feet high by 46 feet long.

Did you know that there's still a drive in theater in Eau Claire.  The GEMINI DRIVE IN THEATER opens at 7.  Show starts at dusk.

WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE THE ROYALS ARE TALKING ABOUT AT BREAKFAST THIS MORNING

I'm betting they're talking about the upcoming "swan upping".  I'm also betting you have, absolutely, no idea what a swan upping is.  Well, let me tell you.

David Barber announced, this morning, that this years swan upping will be July 16 through July 20.  David Barber is the Queen's Swan Marker.

Here's another bet.  I'll bet you had no idea that the Queen even had a swan marker.  Well, she does and it's David's job to keep track of how many swans are swimming around on the River Thames.

How do you suppose you get a job as a swan marker?  I wonder what the qualifications are.  I doubt there are more than two.  You have to know what a swan looks like and you have to know how to count.  I wonder what kind of money a swan marker makes?

I could go on and on but, getting back to the original question.  What is a "swan upping"?  The answer: It's the annual census of the swan population on the river.  This is damned important stuff, if you're a Queen.

Why don't they just call it the swan count?  Counting is for commoners.  Upping is for royals so, "up yours".

The royal family is such fun!

THESE PHOTOS BRING BACK MEMORIES OF THE RAPID CITY FLOOD

There are some great photos of the Duluth flood in the Twin Cities STAR TRIBUNE (See them here)  It's going to take a long time before Duluth is "back to normal".

If you'd like to donate $10.00 to the flood relief, text REDCROSS to 90999

ATTENTION: PACKERS FANS

Tickets for the GREEN BAY PACKERS Family Night scrimmage on Friday evening, August 3, go on sale at 9 A.M. MONDAY.  Tickets are available on the internet or by phone at (800) 745-3000.  You can, also, buy them at Ticketmaster or the Lambeau Field ticket office.

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Prince William is 30 today.  I didn't get an invitation to the birthday party.

AAA says 1.5 million cars will be on the road over the 4th of July weekend.  Sounds like a good time to stay home.

WILLARD HAD SOME COMMENTS THIS MORNING.

"Toast of the Town", on Sunday evenings, was sponsored by LINCOLN AUTOMOBILES.  A "must watch" on our 16" Philco black and white TV.

Duluth is built on hills.  Can't imagine the destruction happening.  There could be some landslides.  The east side of town is more hilly and at risk."

THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING ARTICLE I'VE EVER READ ABOUT HOT SUN AND SKIN CARE.

I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know about the do's and do not's about protecting your skin from the sun.  Like, for instance, DON'T SPILL YOUR MARGARITA ON YOUR SKIN IF YOU'RE IN THE SUN!  Get the whole story right here.

OLD AGE OBSERVATION

I saw a picture of our mayor, in the paper, this morning, and couldn't help thinking that he looks like he should still be in high school.  Then I thought some more and realized that most people I see, nowadays, look like they should still be in high school.

My final thought was that I'm not getting older.  It's the people, around me, who are getting younger.

I LOVE THE COLUMN BY JEROME CHRISTENSON IN THE LA CROSSE TRIBUNE THIS MORNING

Every guy who lives alone will be able to relate to this.  JEROME CHRISTENSON COLUMN

THANKS FOR VISITING

We've had a lot of readers, this morning, from places like St. Paul, Pierre South Dakota, Mound, Minnesota, Decatur, Illinois, Calumet, Michigan, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Thunder Bay, California, Rhinelander, etc.  Come back soon!

BEFORE IT WAS "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW"

You have to be really old to remember it but one of the best TV shows, ever, made its debut, on this date, in 1948. "Toast of the Town" hosted by Ed Sullivan was a "must watch" on Sunday night.

We didn't have a TV. It was pretty hard to scrape the money together to buy a TV, on a teachers salary, back in those days.   But, we were lucky. The Donlans, who lived across the street, had lots of money and they had a TV and they let us come over every Sunday night to watch the "really big show".

Myrtle Donlon was one of a kind. A great lady with a strong will who did it her way and she didn't much care if you liked it or not. Myrtle loved pink. They built a new house, on that vacant lot across the street, and Myrtle painted it pink. Do you have any idea how much talk a pink house in the early 1940's could cause? Folks came from miles around to see that pink house.  And, there we were, sitting in the living room watching "Toast of the Town", in living black and white, of course, with a bit a "snow" you had to put up with because the only TV station around was KVTV in Sioux City and you had to have a big old antenna, up on the roof, to pick up the distant signal.

Later on, Gladys and Lee got a TV set.  They must have had a lot of money too.  In any event, now we had two houses, across the street where we could go to watch TV.  Just about everybody, who was anybody, lived across the street.

Like they say, those were the days.

Ouch!

I just got a reminder that it's a week from today that they're going to cut into my ear to remove the cancer they discovered.  I just have a feeling this is gonna hurt and I hate hurt.

I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!

You know those irritating images of letters and numbers that pop up on some websites that you have to decypher before you can reach the site?  Half the time I can't figure them out no matter how many times I try to type it in correctly.  I'm probably the only one on the planet who never knew what they were for.

Turns out that certain websites use those to verify that it's a human trying to access the website rather than another computer trying to infiltrate the site with spam.

I try to learn something new every day.  Now that I've learned something new for today, I guess I can go back to bed.

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?

I love this quote from WALTER WINCHELL which I had never seen before.

"Noting recedes like success."

We had an old saying in radio along those same lines.

" You're only as good as your last show."

HEAT INDEX: 95 AT 2 PM

I was out this morning but I'm staying in and cool this afternoon.  Today is the end of the hot, hot stuff for a while.  A COLD FRONT will drop highs into the 80's tomorrow and 70's on Thursday.

LET'S HOPE FOR THE BEST FOR NICK STAHL

Sad to hear Nick Stahl has gone missing again.  The second time this month.  Nick is a good actor and has received so many good reviews.

By the way,  Nick was born in my old stomping grounds, the Rio Grande Valley.  Although he was born in Harlingen, he was raised in Dallas.

CHERRIES AND SYRUP WILL BE IN SHORT SUPPLY THIS YEAR

Those beautiful warm days in March sure felt good to me and it meant an extended season for golfers but it sure was bad news for cherry growers and maple syrup harvesters.  Both items will be in very short supply this year and they'll be pricey!

THIS IS INTERESTING

SEARS has gone into the TRAVEL business.  SEARS TRAVEL LINK

MORE HOT WEATHER

Yesterday's high, in La Crosse was 92 and we'll see temperatures in the low 90's, again, today.  That's well below the record, for this date, of 98 set in 1953.

I'M WALKIN', YES INDEED!

TODAY IS

WORLD SAUNTERING DAY

A NOTE AND PICTURE FROM PAUL

"Dorothy and I took Bob to Viroqua so we could all spend the afternoon with Aunt Wilda.  We had a wonderful time and stimulating conversation.  I particularly enjoyed hearing them talk about their grandparents.

Between Bob and Wilda are 185 years of earthly experience.  We could all learn some lessons from them."

TEA TIME

HARD TO BELIEVE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU READ

Did you read about the Texas teacher who imposed punishment on a 6 year old boy for bullying by having each of his 24 classmates slap him?  Sounds like the teacher is as childish as the kids.  There's something wrong, here, folks.

CAN'T GET A JOB OR DON'T WANT A JOB?

A ship building company in Marinette has 40 job openings for recent graduates with annual pay from $30,000 to $60,000.  So far, only 9 people have applied.  Where's the job shortage they're talking about?

HOW LONG DO BEATLES LIVE?

Would you believe 70 years??  Paul McCartney hit the 70 mark today.

WHAT'S THE DIRTIEST THING IN YOUR HOTEL ROOM??

You won't find it in the bathroom.  The most germ laden items may surprise you.  I'll bet it's a couple of things you never thought of.   Read the story here.

DONNE AND LINDA HAD BETTER FILL UP

I see the price of gas in Austin has dropped to $3.30 a gallon.

Donnie says it's even cheaper outside the city.

WILLARD HAD A BIT OF EXCITEMENT THIS MORNING

"Let Buddy out just as a possum was climbing the cedar tree.  Possum was true to his name.  He sat perfectly still.  I threw a glass of water on him and he didn't move.  I think he's hunting for frogs around the patio."

I WISH I WAS IN WEISER, IDAHO THIS WEEK

It's the NATIONAL FIDDLE FINALS old time fiddlers contest.  I think I'd fit right in with a town full of fiddlers.  CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

SURPRISE IN MOVIELAND

NEW TOM CRUISE MOVIE

IS A

FLOP!

A HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN TODAY

Better fire up the A/C early.  High today will be 91 with a heat index of 97.  There's also a chance for thunderstorms which could produce large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.

MY FIRST CRISIS OF THE DAY

My normal morning routine is get out of bed, pee, say "good morning" to Thunder, make the coffee, plug the phone in to charge.

All went well until I got to "plug in the phone to charge".  I plugged it in but, instead of getting the "battery is charging" sign I got a message that my "power supply was off".  Never saw that before.  Unplugged the phone, opened it up.  The battery was there and, apparently, "resting in peace".

Here I am.  Haven't been up 10 minutes and I'm already in PANIC MODE.

I decided it was time to read the instructions.  I never read instructions until things start going terribly wrong.  I knew exactly where the instructions were but when I went to get them they weren't there.  I went through every drawer in the apartment.

By now Thunder could sense there was a problem so every time I tried to open a drawer he tried to crawl in.  It's things like this that are enough to cause a grown man to cry.

To make a long story short.  It finally dawned on me that there were a couple of "secret drawers" that I hadn't checked.  Sure enough.  there were the instructions.

Of course, as usual, the instructions are written in such a small text it would take the Hubble Telescope for me to read it.  I don't have access to Hubble  so the next best thing would be my reading glasses.  Where, oh where, could those reading glasses be???  Off we go on another hunt with Thunder hot on my heels.  Same routine going through all the drawers.

Finally found the glasses, read the instructions and guess what?  Did you know there's a power button on the cell phone?  I didn't know that because I had never read the instructions.  I pushed that button and the whole phone came back to life.

Now, here's the thing about that.  I have no idea when I pushed that power button, by mistake, and turned the phone off.  So, if you tried to call me you probably left a message.

Now, here's the thing about that.  I have hundreds of messages on my phone and I have never figured out how to retrieve them.  I have read those instructions but that section is written in Greek, which I speak fluently but can't read.  So, I'll never know if you left a message and I'll never know what the message was so all of your efforts were in vain and it would be silly for you to ever leave me a message again.  I will never know what it was...unless I learn to read Greek.

YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY

I got a notice that the CONCRETE NETWORK is now following me on TWITTER.  Being "concrete illiterate" I decided to check them out and discovered those folks have an excellent website you can CHECK OUT HERE if you need any information about the subject and you know, as well as I do, there will come a time in your life when you want to know something about concrete.

FATHERS DAY AT RITA AND ROGERS

A MAN AND HIS DOG

FATHERS DAY AT RITA AND ROGERS

RICK AND ANGELA SHOWED US HOW WYOMING FOLKS WAVE TO EACH OTHER.

FATHERS DAY AT RITA AND ROGERS

Renee, Terrell and Tara were there

Unfortunately, Jacob was in Madison and Bruno had to work.



FATHERS DAY AT RITA AND ROGERS

We had a contest.

The father with the biggest belly got to make the dinner speech.



GOOD RAIN LAST NIGHT

I was just nodding off when the rains hit.  It came down in buckets for a short time.  I just checked and see we got 1.01".

Unfortunately, there's more nasty weather on the way.

This afternoon:

• Scattered showers and thunderstorms developing across southwest Minnesota will move across portions of southeast Minnesota into western Wisconsin.
• A few of these storms could produce small hail, gusty winds, and brief heavy rain.

Late tonight into Monday morning:

• What: A severe thunderstorm complex is expected to develop across western Minnesota late this evening, and then track east-southeast across the area.

• When: The highest confidence is for the storms to be centered on a Twin Cites to La Crosse to Milwaukee line.

• Hazards: The main threat is damaging winds, which could be widespread and long-lived given its size, with the combination of a warm and unstable air mass expected to persist across the area.
  

CONGRATULATIONS

KATE GORMAN OF ONALASKA

MISS WISCONSIN 2012

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THEIR FATHERS

Mark Twain said, "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.  But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."

Anne Sexton said, "It doesn't matter who my father was;  It matters who I remember he was."

A GROANER FROM CARL

Dead Penguins - I never knew this! Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica ? Where do they go? Wonder no more ! ! ! It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintain a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life. If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into, and buried. The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing: "Freeze a jolly good fellow." "Freeze a jolly good fellow." Then, they kick him in the ice hole. You really didn't believe that I knew anything about penguins, did you? It's so easy to fool OLD people. I am sorry, an urge came over me that made me do it!!! I fell for it, too

CATS CAN BE SO DRAMATIC

THE YESKE FAMILY TOGETHER AGAIN

COMING TO LA CROSSE?

GAS PRICE TODAY

$3.52

PERFECT FATHERS DAY WEATHER

You can't ask for more.  A sunny sky with a high near 81 today.  It's a day, made to order, for the big "doings" at Rita and Roger's.  From what I understand, it will be attended by "a cast of thousands".

By the way, here are some statistics from past Fathers Days.

The hottest Fathers Day was in 1995 when the temp rose to 96 degrees.  The coldest as 57 degrees in 1974 and the wettest was in 1996 when 2.01" of rain fell.  So, I'd say our Fathers Day weather, this year, will be "JUST RIGHT"!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"We are all proud that through God's powerful aid, we have become once more true Germans."

(From a speech given by Adolph Hitler in 1933".)

WHAT'S THE MOST DISTANT MAN-MADE OBJECT IN SPACE?

Voyager 1, which was launched in 1977, has finally made it to the edge of the solar system and is 15 billion kilometers from the sun.  At that distance, it takes 16 hours and 38 minutes for the data, it sends, to reach the earth.

Remember, in the old days, we used to say something was "far out"?  Well, this is the ultimate "far out"!

WE WON'T BE HAPPY UNTIL WE'VE TRASHED EVERYTHING ON THE PLANET

NOTE FROM DONNIE

CNN did a fluffy travel piece on Machu Picchu.  The one hotel on the mountaintop where we stayed for, probably, $50.00 30 years ago now rents rooms starting, that's starting, at $970.00/night.  The government has had to limit visitors to the site at 2,500 a day.