Pictures of the Bradley Center!

I don't want anyone to get mad at me about this. I just want you to see how the Bradley Center really looks on the inside and the outside. These pictures I took about two years ago when my daughter auditioned for American Idol. This is what it looks like and I don't see anything wrong with it.

"Cat and owl playing - Fum & Gebra - Perfect friendship!"

https://www.facebook.com/fumandgebra

What a cute and curious couple. 

I Got My Positively Racine Bracelet

This is such a good idea.  Instead of dealing with Racine's problems, just don't talk about them.  Sheer genius.

I made a crack in another blog that we should have Positively Police to enforce the pledge to ignore reality.  That's silly, but it wouldn't hurt to have a couple of people canvassing the city to report those who talk trash about our town.  We should also encourage people to turn in their neighbors and friends if they say anything bad about Racine.

That's the way to deal with Racine's issues positively.

Old Time Roller Skates

Open Blog - Weekend

Yay!

Herb Kohl wants a new arena for HIS Milwaukee Bucks.

We are already paying for a stadium in Milwaukee I personally don’t want to pay for and we’ll be paying forever on that one

Miller Park does nothing for me. Politicians said it will bring money into our community; ya right, as of today none of them can show or prove how much money has been spent in Racine because of it. It’s impossible to track; it just sounded good when they wanted the money.

Granted it’s not a huge amount, 0.1% but it will never go away, and I believe if we have to chip in for an arena that increase will never go away.

Let the players pay for it, they make millions of dollars!

LET THEM MOVE TO ANOTHER CITY! Somewhere way out of Wisconsin.

Click here for JSOnline Article

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting episode of Four for Fridays. It's been an interesting week so far with some overtime thrown in. Anyways, here are some questions...

1) What states have you been too?

2) What airports have you been to?

3) Do you know of anyone that is a picky eater?

4) What was the most dangerous stunt you have ever done?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday

Dance, my darlings, dance.

3:30 A.M.

The sleep was still in my eyes... 3 A.M., the streets were dark, barren and void of life, at least so I thought. I made my way through the darkness, rolling along the desolate side street, headlights leading the way. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the yellowish gleam of eyes piercing the darkness. A cat I thought. As I was rolling along, almost beside her, I noticed the big ears and a bushy tail-the unmistakable characteristics of a fox! Amazed and gawking at this elusive creature, I couldn't hardly believe my eyes. I had only seen a few of them in wild.

I had just turned my attention to road before me when another critter suddenly appeared directly in front of my car. "Whoa!" I screamed, jerking the wheel violently to the left. Tires screeched and squealed. My heart was pounding as I rolled my Chevy to a stop. It was a baby fox! It was just a little smaller than a Chihuahua and twice as cute. I had never seen a baby fox before. I looked into my rear view mirror to see if I killed him. All I could see was darkness. Not wanting to let it rest, I turned the car around to survey the area.

There they were! Alive! Both the mama and her cub were standing on the sidewalk staring back at me. My camera! I remembered that I had my small camera in my dashboard compartment, just for situations like these. This could be a photo opportunity of a lifetime for me. As I was fumbling around for my camera in darkness, the sly pair started to trot off in the opposite direction. Damn! I slammed the car into reverse with wild abandon, the game was on! The hunter and the hunted. I had to get a photo. Foxes move fast, therefore I had split seconds to stop the car, roll down the window, focus the camera and snap a shot. By the time I stuck my camera out the window into the darkness, the foxes had slipped underneath a wooden fence and into the night.....

Wildlife photography is not as easy as it seems..

"Greatest Card Trick Ever"

How is that even possible?

Open Blog - Thursday

Happy Thursday, you little devils.

A Wednesday Evening

My windows are open because it is over 80 degrees out there.  I am folding laundry.  The choir at the church next door is practicing.  They have their windows open, too.  A joyful sound.  Then a siren, then a lot of sirens pierce and twist the music.  I turn on the police scanner. A shooting on the south side.  The choir stops singing,  almost as if they know.  There is a lot of activity and confusion on the scanner.  I turn it off.  It's not even summer yet.  It's not even dark.

"Prairie student a state-level winner in Google logo design contest"

From The Journal Times.com:

"WIND POINT — Prairie School second-grader Dylan Hoffman combined his love of pirates and drawing to create an award-winning Google logo.

"Dylan, 7, of Caledonia, is one of 50 state winners in Google’s fifth annual 'Doodle 4 Google' contest, which had kindergarteners through 12th-graders design a Google homepage logo. Votes cast online until May 10 will determine if Dylan becomes a national finalist."

Read more: http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/prairie-student-a-state-level-winner-in-google-logo-design/article_c3dd3640-9466-11e1-8a1b-0019bb2963f4.html

Read the story and check out Dylan's artwork. You can vote for Dylan's drawing here: http://www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my blooming buds and buddies!  How are you?  The extravaganza known as spring keeps putting on a show.  I had occasion to be west of the interstate a couple of times in the past week, and everything is blooming a month ahead of schedule there.  Lilacs were my dear mother’s favorite flowers.  They always bloom around the time of her birthday in late May.  A little west of here, the lilac flowers are already out in full regalia.  Oh my, indeed.  I’d ask Mother Nature what’s going on, but our feud is still in force, and she never gives me a straight answer, anyway. 

Tomorrow, Thursday, is National Day of Prayer.  Racine will observe it with ceremonies at City Hall, starting at 11:45 AM.  Read more about it here:  http://www.journaltimes.com/calendar/community/national-day-of-prayer-events/event_b2e0e926-93bd-11e1-a932-0019bb2963f4.html

Friday, of course, is a Downtown Racine First Friday, with all sorts of merriment downtown.  You can read more here:  http://www.journaltimes.com/lifestyles/leisure/first-fridays-returns-may-with-expanded-hours/article_280dba52-9301-11e1-bd80-001a4bcf887a.html

Also, don’t forget that Friday is Positively Racine Day:  http://www.jtirregulars.com/2012/04/help-positively-racine-day-on-friday.html  You can get a wristband and/or sign a pledge to speak positively of Racine.

“RACINE — The newly revamped Dr. Laurel Salton Clark Memorial Fountain will open for the summer season on Friday:” I love the fountain.  Read more: http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/splash-fountain-back-in-operation-on-friday/article_bd58df04-937b-11e1-82c5-0019bb2963f4.html

If that isn’t enough: “RACINE — A Racine native who wrote the novel named Amazon’s best book of 2011 will read excerpts from it and talk about the writing process in a free event at the Golden Rondelle Theater on Friday.” Read more: http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/racine-native-at-golden-rondelle-friday-to-discuss-the-art/article_8eb43ebe-92f9-11e1-915a-001a4bcf887a.html

I’m sure there is much more going on this weekend in Racine and surrounding areas.  As the spring warms, more and more activities come to life.  There are more and more people out and about.  Motorists, beware the joggers and bicyclists out there.  Some of those on the bicycles follow no rules of the road.  Sometimes, I just stop and let them pass me by, especially if it is a horde of youngsters.  Be wary behind the wheel.

So many activities that I can’t keep up.  And this is just the beginning of the fun.  Soon we’ll have the professional bicyclists and triathletes in town.  If 2012 is the apocalypse (I know it isn’t), then let’s have a blowout season. 

Thank you so much for stopping by to read my blog.  I appreciate each and every pair of eyes that scan my words.  I can feel the love.  It almost tickles.  You make my day when you read my blog.  Thank you, again

Answers to questions you haven’t even thought of: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Have a beautiful week, my dears.  The long range weather forecast doesn’t look too good, with lots of rain and cloudy days.  Pshaw, as if they know what they are doing.  Enjoy life, avoid strife.  Diallelus!

Open Blog - Wednesday

That's much better than "Hump Day."

Spring In Wisconsin!

I was talking this over with Drew telling him I wanted to do something really different on my blog. I wanted to let everyone know what different kinds of trees, wildflowers and plants are around Wisconsin. I am not going to be posting all the pictures in one post, it will be in very many different posts as I go out and get the pictures.

Drew and I like to go out for drives around are area. We are also going to be going up north by our families to visit so I will be taking some more pictures from up there also. I am having fun getting this going and probably making Drew crazy with doing this also. When we are out driving I see something I would like to take a picture of and I tell him to stop.

Drew is also doing something different on his blog it is about wildlife around here. I can't wait to see how he gets his going. I know that is going to be really good. We are both taking pictures for each other. So some of the pictures are going to be by him or I. Believe me I will not remember what pictures are from him or I.

This is at Pricthard Park. With the fountain there are Crimson King Maple Purple Leaf Trees. I really like this picture with the fountain.

This was taken by Drew's work while I was waiting for him to come out. This is a Cherry Blossom Tree. When I am sitting in the car waiting for him to come out of work I always see the birds in the tree.

This picture is of a Sargent Crab Apple Tree. This was taken right outside our place. Yes I get to see this beautiful tree every day and the birds in it too.

This picture was taken on Four Mile Rd. on my way to pick Drew up from work. This is a Weeping Cherry Tree. I thought it was really pretty.

This is the start of my post and I really hope everyone enjoys this. I am having fun going around and getting the pictures to share with all of you. Feel free to leave your comments and I will read them.

Have a great day to all of you!♥

Open Blog - Tuesday

Twos-day for the second open blog of the week.

Franco Corelli sings "Core 'ngrato"

My dad loved tenors. He loved to listen to them. When he went out to the bars, if he got drunk enough, he would start singing himself. This often got him tossed out of the bars. 

I heard a lot of it at home from scratchy old LPs.  I developed a minor taste for it.  Above is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite tenors, "NHK Tokyo. November 21, 1973."

Nicholson Wildlife Refuge

In the past couple of months my girlfriend and I have been driving around the county taking pictures of wildlife and flowering plants. We've snapped some photos of some of the common backyard sights as well as some interesting surprises. We are hoping to educate as well as honing in on our photography skills. We are not exactly the Nation Geographic quality type of photographers, but we will sure try.

One of our stops was the little known Nicholson Wildlife Refuge here in Racine County. Located on 5 Mile Road between Nicholson Road and County Truck V, this 127 acre gem offers a paradise for shoreline birds like Great Blue Herons, Snow Geese, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mallards and Hooded Mergansers as well as Magnolia Warblers, Red Wing Blackbirds and Savanna Sparrows. Deer and Beaver also has been sighted there. Below is video I found on YouTube to give viewers a taste of what can be seen there. Just remember when visiting, it's the luck of the draw in finding anything. Sometimes you'll get very lucky...



This is just a prelude to what is to come...we are presently sorting through photos and taking more along way. So in the upcoming weeks, you'll see photos coming in...

Open Blog - Monday

Mondays do me.

Useless Information

Did you know:


Forrest Gump had sex once and ended up with a son?

Useless Information

Did you know:


Forrest Gump had sex once and ended up with a son?

Van Halen - "Runnin' With The Devil"

"I found the simple life ain't so simple." Diamond Dave and Van Halen at their best.