Saturday, July 30, 2005

Live interview coverage.... re: Pool Week

this is an audio post - click to play

My first day at Pool Week!

Wow, these people really have it together!! Tomorrow I will try to get some interviews with some of the personel here and will do an audio post, so look for that. It should be quite interesting......

I spent about 5 hours in the pool today, water volleyball, diving for treasure, etc,

Poolside recharging of beverages was handled by PoolBoy. Dinner was a lucious beef roast with it's friends, the potatoes, carrots, onions etc. All were in a big cooker near poolside, so the aroma lingered on the air, tantalizing us all. Indoor sports were in abundance after dinner with vigorous games of dominos, smear, and more dominos. It's after midnight thirty now and I need to get some sleep. Breakfast comes out at 10:00 A.M., with Dinah doing the honors with her now famous bisquits and gravy. Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, someone's in the ........

Onlyhow, that's it for today from Pool Week, an event second in popularity only to Bike Week at Daytona Beach.

I gotta go, Carlo

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Back from Canada

Ok, I'm here. I'm also lazy so I'm going to be brief and then throw in a few pix the old way and call it good.
Hope to get to bed fairly early tonight. 5 nights on a flimsy matress with 4 loud snorers (I'm sure I didn't) makes for non-restful nights. Not to mention refreshments and late to bed, early to rise......so I need one good night until the trip to Poolweek!! As I have mentioned before, this annual event is second in popularity only to Bikeweek at Daytona Beach. I've already talked to the spa manager this evening and reserved space for a day or two...... I can always rest when I get back to work next week.

Oh, yeah, Tim. I gave Swede a link to the Ottertail Lodge and he looked at it some and he said "Tell Tim he has a fat face." Oh well, that's Swede for you!!

I gotta go, Carlo


Nearly there!


Heading into Canadian customs. No line, it took about 1 minute. About a mile long line of people trying to get out. On the way back, no line, it took about 5 minutes. That was nice....


How the lodge looks from the water.


Another view of the main lodge.


The boat house, room for 12 upstairs, resort uses bottom for guide equipment and fish freezers, etc.


One of the cabins overlooking the marina.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

this is an audio post - click to play

Monday, July 25, 2005

this is an audio post - click to play

Sunday, July 24, 2005

this is an audio post - click to play

Friday, July 22, 2005

Friday before fishing.....

Well, earthlings, here it is, 10:05 on Friday night. I'm supposed to be in Prentice tomorrow morning at 4:45. Yes, that's right, in the A.M.!!! I thought that time only happened in the afternoon....... So I'm behind schedule, we went for a bicycle ride this evening, saw an ultralight (the kind with a parafoil sail for a wing), stopped at the airport to see it land. Turns out to be a local flyer that I had talked to last year. I've been thinking about ultralights since about 1985 after reading about them in Mother Earth News. Maybe I'll look into costs????? I doubt it'll ever happen.
Anyway, I'm late, and now Mona just stolled in for a visit! I guess I'll just have to say goodnight and sneak off to bed.

Pool Week people!!! I'll definitely be down there on Friday sometime. Linda or Debbie please send me an email with the driving directions to the spa...... Liz, when are you heading up?

Well, I have to sign off here and get some sleep......

I gotta go, Carlo

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

This just in.......

Greetings, earthlings. We just got back from a bicycle ride and decided to check and see how Lance is doing:

Armstrong called it a ``no chain'' day -- meaning he felt so strong that it seemed as if his bicycle had no chain. Not bad for a 33-year-old who has ridden 1,746 miles through the north, east and south of France, over the Alps and Pyrenees, in the past two weeks.

That's almost as far as we went on our "big" motorcycle trip, and he don't got no moder on that bike!!!! Hmmm........


Overall Standings
Through Stage 16 - Tuesday, Jul 19
1.
Lance ARMSTRONG 66:52:03

2.
Ivan BASSO 2:46 behind

3.
Mickael RASMUSSEN 3:09

4.
Jan ULLRICH 5:58

This dude is cookin' and about to win his 7th straight Tour.

Here is the place that we will be staying while in Canada. It looks pretty official!! Should be a hoot, hope the fish are biting, and I'll do a couple of audio blogs while there so look out for that!! Perhaps I can get the boxboy to let me do an interview of him????

I believe this is one of the cabins we will be using, it sits above the boathouse. It sleeps 12 and all cabins have bathrooms/showers, kitchens/stove, refridgerator, pots, pans, etc. The other cabin sleeps six.



I don't know for sure, but I am going to guess that this is cabin 6, where I'll be staying, cause it's the coolest looking one........
I gotta go get a shower........ Carlo

Monday, July 18, 2005

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.......

Finally, the last leg of the bike trip! I bet you thought it would never end, hey? We only traveled about 325 miles this day, so we had time to look at a few things.


You know, like looking back at Peg. I can't resist those mirror shots!!!

We drove past some wonderfully scenic Lake Michigan shoreline. Never tire of seeing that! There's something very captivating about looking out over water and not being able to see the other side. What a landlubber statement that is.





We drove into Escanaba with the idea of visiting "The Swedish Restaurant" (don't know the acutual name) down on the main drag. It's got some really good food, pastries, etc, and is always interesting to visit. It was early afternoon on Saturday and the only cars in town were, you guessed it, by the restaurant!!

So we turned around and headed out of town and saw this place a few blocks away.....
On the outskirts of Escanaba we saw a great looking Honda Valkyrie for sale.


We had to go back
and look it over. The Valkyrie is one kicker of a bike and they are not made anymore. Peg is

captivated by them and I don't blame her. If I
had the coin, I'd have a Valk now...... Oh, well, I can always dream.






So we continued on and eventually came to a place with some choppers sitting outside so we had to stop and look at them.
Now these are some sweet looking bikes! Unfortunately, these are made for junior riders and the true size becomes apparent when an adult sits on one.......











O.K., folks, this style of post is taking WAY too long. The last few pix are going in the old fashioned way, so scroll down to see the last of the trip photos........

I gotta go, Carlo


Killer motors, hey? And check out the next photo and notice the 20" bicycle in the background.


Here's another cutie!!


Nice roads for the last day.


Hyway 70 in Eastern Wisconsin.


Nearly there! Only 15 miles to Phillips......

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Petra

This is something new to me. Kate mentioned it to me and said it was quite intereting. Give it a look. More can be found here. Apparently, this place has inspired a few other entities to name themselves......

So will modern culture disappear as well? Here is a disturbing situation not far from Petra.....

Like mountain climbing? Better do it soon. And I found this article quite interesting. Just kind of seemed like appropriate material for this string of uncommonly warm days....

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Saturday, the hot-th of July

Greetings, earthlings.
Out late last night practicing music for a couple of upcoming gigs. On the 20th of July I will play flute and pennywhistle with Paul and Suzanna Gilk for the wedding ceremony of Kyle Lord and Laura Larson. Kyle is the younger son of a good buddy, Ivan. This should be a good time, as Paul and Suzanna and I have played quite alot together over the years. We played a similar event a few years back when Angie Blennert got hitched to Dean. In fact, that's Angie playing the bass during one of our gigs at Mondeaux Flowage Lodge!!

As Paul and Suzanna will have to leave immediately after the wedding ceremony (playing on the cruise boat on the Willow Flowage), a different musical group will play later for the reception. That will consist of Angie and Dean, Russ and Laurie and me. Angie will play the bass for a few songs and her new Dobro for some others! Dean plays acoustic 6-string (self taught over the last few years) and sings. He knows a ton of the "classic country" stuff, honky tonk, etc. Russ has taught himself the bass, he got a nice Fender early model Precision bass (like Dusty Hill Plays :-) ). That's it in the pic of Angie. He also recently acquired a Fender acoustic bass with built in pickup. Sounds good. Laurie is a singer and mountain dulcimer player. Also doing quite well on pennywhistle. I think I heard mention of her taking some lessons on a fiddle.... me, I just haul along the Epiphone Sheraton electric thinline semi-accoustic and irritate everyone by goofing around with leads whether there is anyone singing or not. So we will play until everyone leaves or we have too many beers to continue. Should be good.
Of course, Dean made a deal to play for this wedding if I agree to play at his parents Labor day party. So we'll be in Burlington, Wi, over labor day. Liz?? Kate?? Anyone feel like a short trip to a 'fabulous musical event'? I told Dean I was going to invite some people.....


This morning I finally got around to installing an air conditioner in Lucy's bedroom. I needed to put in a suitable outlet in that room, run some wire from there back to the breaker panel and terminate the wire in there. Then went through the install procedure for the unit and got it going. It will make a big difference on these hot, muggy evenings.

Only a week to go until the fishing trip to Lake of the Woods! I'm going with several of the Lords, relatives and friends.
Here's a cool, interactive
map of the general location. Check out the zoom feature..... Here's another that has a little
closer view. I think we are going to the area of the Souix Narrows. I assume we will be catching numerous finny creatures like the one in he photo. We will eat countless Walleye fillets and consume untold numbers of cold beverages..... This will be my first such trip in quest of the elusive Canadian Walleye, so I'm not sure what to expect other than bunking in a large cabin, traveling many miles via boat to fish, shore lunches, evening fish frys and someone mentioned that there may be a tavern somewhere near...... We will travel back on the following Thursday. The following morning I will travel to Slinger/Hartford area for the infamous Pool Week, second in popularity only to Bike Week at Daytona Beach. Should be a hoot!!!!!

Sigh an are ah, dudes.......

Just went back to the blog to see how this looks.
O.K., I guess, it's the first time I've had the patience to put the photos right in the text. I like the effect better but it takes quite a bit longer for some reason..... any input????

Heading back ta da UP, hey.......

We left Muncie in 90° temps, high humidity and it got hotter as we went north. It was still 95° 2/3 of the way up the lower part of Michigan. I didn't take any photos that day as I was sick of everything that was, or looked, hot!! We just drove all day til we got to Mackinac. Things looked better then..... well not the motel, but you can't have everything.


The lake looked a little diferent on the way back. Foggy and cool, about 70� that afternoon.


Peg is still back there. It's been a long day.


Here it is, the super exclusive White Tail Resort!!! Upon initial inspection, we decided that we would need some help to get through this evening. (Beer)


Our next destination........


We went to the gas/food/booze/etc. store to stock up on smoked fish, beer and pretzels. Here Peg is stocking the cooler with beer and ice (we also bought a cooler).


Heading back to the motel.


Looks kinda cute, but looks can be deceiving!! The room, I mean...... This is the place with 2 channels and no remote on the TV.


The last view that night was of the way cool neon tubes along the front of the other wing of the motel........

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Sign it!!!!!

Do you have any idea the trouble I went through to set up that stinkin' guest book???

Please take the time to look and sign........

I gotta go, Carlo

The Muncie caper........ (bike trip)

After leaving Continental, Oh, we traveled on county roads westward and southward. We traveled through miles and miles of farm country, but 99.9% were crop farms. I only remember seeing one animal place, it was just being built and no critters in sight.

We had a fantastic time at Diane's. We visited mucho, went to a cool Italian restaurant and ended the evening watching a movie in a nicely cooled, air conditioned family room. We'll definatly stop there again!!!

See you at Pool Week, Diane. I hope......


Ohio and surrounding areas have four things. Alfalfa.....


soybeans,


wheat,


and corn!!


This is where Diane and Chuck hang around when they're not working.


Greetings, Muncie......


We're here, but it's seriously hot!!! Where's Diane???


See, it's a blast!


Get on, sit down, hang on, and yell!!!


Long time, no see.......


Passing thoughts

I see some viewers have followed the link to the Flying Spaghetti Monster page. It's quite interesting if viewed objectively.
Some people at work found it offensive because they said I was making fun of God. It really is nothing of the sort. It's just an attempt by someone to show that maybe things are not as cut and dried as some think concerning teaching religion in public school.


On another front, do any of you know what exactly is going on here?
I think we (USA) should go into Northern Ireland, topple the nasty regime (U.K.) that is oppressing the native people, re-unite the two halves of Ireland and set up a democracy! We won't ask if this is what they want, but they'll like it or answer to us!!!

Read more.

Oh, well, just venting......

Sunday, July 10, 2005

the Ohio segment.

Second day of the return trip. We traveled through about half of Ohio on the expressway and then took some small roads the rest of the way. In a small town along there we saw the most unusual Harley shop, see pisc below. We also saw some great local fold art. I think they must have farmed out the design work.....

We arrived in Continental, Ohio, at the home of the Ford's. Peg's cousin Michelle is a gem and we had a good visit, some great pizza (and beer), and later we got a tour of Steve's work shop and some insight into what he goes through to produce one of the wood art pieces he makes.

Only three days of the trip to report, it's taking longer to do this blog than it did to do the miles........

I gotta go, Carlo


Leaving for Ohio from the beautiful Emlenton, Pa., truck stop motel. Not a bad place, really.


Say, what's that across the street........


The MOST downscale Harley shop I've ever seen!!!!