Burglar Bars

Back in August of 2011, I took these pictures when the city was complaining about bars on windows.  This first picture was taken on Washington Ave. in the Uptown area.

Today in the JT the owner of the property is facing numerous finds.  Looking at the picture and the one posted by the JT the only difference is the guy took down the brick wall.

What burns me, we as homeowners have a weeds in the alley and our ass is dragged through the coals; check what this guy has going for himself....why isn't he in jail?

RACINE — After protracted enforcement, an Uptown businessman awaits sentencing on 16 municipal violations and scores of state violations, on top of a recent criminal misdemeanor conviction.

Nevrus Aliu, owner-operator of Tony’s Auto Sales & Service, 1323 Washington Ave., faces up to $759,515 in fines for city ordinance violations and $10,647 in fines in a Wisconsin Department of Transportation action.


See the complete article at:

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/agencies-converge-to-clean-up-uptown-automotive-operation/article_50f787ca-ab7c-11e1-aa2c-001a4bcf887a.html

Have you seen the article in the JT where the Mayor is going to veto a small business, a candy shop, from having “Burglar Bars” on their windows?

Mayor to veto Burglar Bars on Candy Shop

Copied from the JT, - "We have had a standing belief on the city plan commission that bars are a horrible example of what the city should be," Dickert said.

Here we have a lady just trying to protect her new business.

Have you ever been to the gas station on Ohio & Washington Ave? They have a 2” thick cage the attendants are behind; you pass your money under the partition in a little chute. Go there at 2 in the morning and there are two uniformed police officers there. They are trying to protect their employees and customers, what’s wrong with the candy store trying to protect their business.

Dino’s Pizza on 16th street, in their carryout area they pass your pizza out to you in a metal tray. They have had this tray for 25 plus years!

Just for grins I took a ride around the downtown area, The Peach of Racine and took a few pictures to share with you.

I was amazed driving through Racine the amount of fencing in this city, it’s everywhere and I’m talking about fencing with barbed wire on top of it!






This picture is from the Uptown area right on Wachington Ave/Hwy 20.



Twin Disc in the uptown area.



The JT downtown. They are protecting their trash. BUT there are also power transformers inside the fence which is required by law to protect from idiots. Play with them and you'll go up in smoke...fast!



Here we are gaurding a dirt pile on the lake front...



Another business protecting their property.



A very nice frece around our Water Dept. Don't want people steeling water. but we do need to keep the wrong people away from it!



Ooops...wrong blog



Another business protecting boats...



This one is good, keeping people out of a yard of trash..


Twin Disc, Case Company, Modine, Insinkerator and the list goes on. All these businesses have barbed wire around their property.

So what is worse Mr. Mayor, barbed wire or burglar bars making the city look bad?

Open Blog - Thursday

Now there's something you don't see every day.

Dallas - are you a fan

You can select up to 2 answers.

Evening Grin

Spring In Wisconsin Wildflowers 2!

Yes I have found the names of some more wildflowers to share with all of you. The pictures of the wildflowers are all from Colonial Park in Racine Wisconsin. I could not believe how many wildflowers we found out in one park.

This is a Bulbous Buttercup. This is really pretty and if you look there is a bulb for one more to bloom.

This is a Jack-In-The-Pulp-It. The come in purple or white flowers. Since I have taken this picture I see them all over now.

This is a Lily of the Valley. I really like this flower because it is very different and very pretty.

This is a Little Sweet Betsy Toadshape Trillium. This is really different and very hard to find the name of this flower.

This is a Robin's Plantain. Yes is some ways it does look like a daisy and also pretty.

This is a Sharp Lobed Hepatica. This flower was really hiding and I almost missed it in between bushes.

This is a Small Red Morning Glory Redstar Starflower. Yes a long name for this one. It is also a vine that is growing on a bush. This was at the beginning of the park and I seen it as we came into to the park. I had to have this picture.

This is Wild Rhubarb. I could not believe I seen this in the park and so much of it. I do have a picture of just a leaf and I think some of the leaves are about two feet long.

I know there are a lot of pictures but I just wanted  to share them all with you. I hope you enjoy the pictures just as much as I am enjoying going and taking them. You are more than welcome to leave any comments!♥

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my beautiful begonias!  How are you?  We’ve had some high heat the past couple of days, but it was much drier than the humid blasts we usually get around here.  It’s true what they say: it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.  I had to water my garden a couple of times. 

Yes, my vegetable garden is in, no thanks to Junior.  I have a few of everything.  I just don’t have the space that I’d like.  There must be some farmer blood in me because I enjoy digging in the soil and tending to plants.  Weeding isn’t really all that bad once you’ve worked the soil.  I keep an eye out every day.  I get the weeds when they’re small and pull easily.  And then there are less and less.  Turning, working, spading,  and/or tilling the soil exposes seeds that were buried.  Often that’s enough to sprout new weeds.  “Nip it in the bud!” as Barney Fife would exclaim.  Get them young, get them for good.  My veggies don’t need any competition for resources.  Life is tough enough. 

At this time of year, there is so much going on in Racine and the surrounding area that it is impossible to report it all.  We should regularly check The Journal Times.com Event Calendar: http://www.journaltimes.com/calendar/ That is very gracious of the Journal Times, but do not consider it the end all and be all of events in Racine.  There are a number of sites dedicated to Racine entertainment, and there are hosts of events that never make it to the paper, except maybe as paid ads.  Church festivals come to mind.  In any case, keep your eyes and ears open, take a look at local ads and advertisers, check out some of Racine’s websites, and you will not lack for things to do in the summer. 

I hope that you all had a wonderful Memorial Day.  Mr. Zanza and I took Junior out to a cemetery, where we said some prayers and paid our respects to the men and women who served our country.  We then returned home and grilled out in the yard, what’s left of it.  (Most of it has become vegetable garden.  Oh my.)  Junior very much wanted to picnic somewhere else, but there was no place that wasn’t already crowded.  The yard was just fine, and Junior could constantly run inside the house for the vast array of electronic devices which are indispensable to his life. I cannot imagine that young man “roughing it” in the woods.  Take away his electronic toys, and he melts into a puddle of tears.  I love him, so I spoil him, especially because he has no real father in his life.

Wisconsin’s world famous recall election will be held next Tuesday, June 5, 2012.  That is one day before my next blog.  Of course, I know who the winners are, but I cannot reveal them now for fear of being charged with tampering or otherwise trying to affect an election.  No matter who wins, we still have to live with each other afterwards.  Can we do it?  Will we?  I am much less certain about that than I am the election.  Some things are set in stone, others are more amenable.  What I can say for sure is that the assault of political mailings, and radio and TV ads and robocalls, will stop after next Tuesday.  Praise be!

Praise be, also, for my dear readers.  Thank you so much for reading my blog this week.  I look forward to spending this special time with each of you each week.  I’m so happy that you could make it.

Psst, hey, mister, wanna know the elections results early?  What’s it worth to you? madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

I’m still on a happy roll because of the weather.  I realize that everything is skewed in nature because of the temperate winter and spring.  I’m praying that we don’t get an intemperate summer because of it.  Look both ways before crossing life’s streets.  I love you all.  Gaberlunzie!         

Open Blog - Wednesday

Happy shortened work week.

60th High School Reunion

60th High

  School Reunion

He was a

  widower and she a widow.


  They had known each other for a number of years being high school classmates  and having attended class  reunions in the past without fail.


  This 60th anniversary of their class, the widower and the widow made a  foursome with two other singles.


  They had a wonderful evening, their spirits high.
  The widower throwing admiring glances across the table. The widow smiling  coyly back at him.


  Finally, he picked up courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?"

  After about six seconds of careful consideration, she answered,  "Yes,..... yes I will!"


  The evening ended on a happy note for the widower. But the next morning he  was troubled.


  Did she say “Yes” or did she say “No?”


  He couldn't remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. He went over  the conversation of the previous
  evening, but his mind was blank.


  He remembered asking the question but for the life of him he could not recall her  response. With fear and trepidation
  he picked up the phone and called her.


  First, he explained that he couldn't remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the past evening.


  As he gained a little more courage he then inquired of her. "When I asked  if you would marry me,  did you say “Yes” or did you say “No?”


  "Why you silly man, I said ‘Yes. Yes I will.’ And I meant it with all my heart."


  The widower was delighted. He felt his heart skip a beat.


  Then she continued. "And I am so glad you called because I couldn't  remember who asked me!”

Open Blog - Tuesday

Back to work, Boop-Oop-a-Doop.

Living With Timeline...

I know many of you are on facebook and that many people are not fans of timeline. However, the good news is that you can learn to live with timeline.

Useless Information

BUMP UP TO THE TOP

Did you know:

Sales of personal safes are up 40%.

It has been brought to my attention the sales are up 40% BUT it doesn't give a time frame.  It could be since 1910 they're up.  Actually sale are up over the past year 40%


This information was from the John Tesh Radio Show

Biggie "D" & Beejay take Grandma out for a ride

Open Blog - Memorial Day

 

Thank you.

Mock Mirage Sunset

Some unusually cool May weather has descended on Tucson. Highs didn't even hit 90 today. With that cool weather came some unusual atmospheric conditions leading to an interesting sunset.
Most of the action took place well before the Sun even hit the horizon. I could tell something unusual was happening from this pic.

Note the unusual activity at the bottom of the Sun. I have seen that before and that is usually what the Sun looks like when the lower limb encounters are inversion layer in our atmosphere. Usually, it gets cooler as you gain elevation. Sometimes, however, there is a cooler layer below warm air. This phenomena is called an inversion layer. I was able to watch the Sun descend through this inversion layer and when the top of the Sun got there, I was ready with my camera to hit the pics. In other words, what follows is no accident and strictly intentional.

Note the little piece of the Sun that broke off at the top. It has a greener color than the Sun. This a mock (or superior) mirage green flash caused by the Sun passing through the inversion layer. I got my first pictures of a mock mirage green flash on a cruise. It is unusual to get them in Tucson. When you get one mock mirage flash, you frequently get another.

In addition to the ones I posted here, I got at least two more mock mirage flashes but they were much weaker and you really had to blow up the pics to see them.

Finally, I will leave you with the traditional last pic of sunset with a mixture of yellow and green through the mountain peaks.

 

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

"Green Side of the Grass"

http://libbyallensongs.com/Libby_Allen_Songs/Home.html

As the joke goes, if I'd known that I was going to live this long, I would've taken better care of myself.

Happy Memorial Day!

I can't believe it is Memorial Day weekend already. I would like to thank all the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States. This is the U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Coast Guard. They have all put their own lives on the line to make sure we are all safe everyday. I would also like to thank the families of the people in the Armed Forces for believing in them to do what they are doing for our country.

I also want to thank the men and women that have lost their lives serving for our country. Here in Arlington National Cemetery there are 400,000 graves of men and women that have lost their lives protecting our country. There are some headstones with no names on them it is the unknown soldiers. Hundreds of soldiers walk through 70 sections of the cemetery to place an American flag by each headstone on Memorial Day weekend. To the families that have lost their loved ones I am deeply sorry for you loss.

Yesterday Drew and I took a drive down to Illinois to put flowers and the flag by my dad's grave. I have not been down there in a very long time. It was so nice to go and do this for my dad. My dad served in the Army during the Korean up rise. My dad is buried next to his mom, dad and sister. In September my dad will have passed away sixteen years ago. I still miss him to this day and I will always miss him.

Drew's dad was also in the Army he was in the Vietnam war. The first time I went to go and meet his mom and dad the first thing I noticed was the Army flag flying on the flag pole when I pulled in the driveway. I thought that was great. It is the American flag on top and then the Army flag below it.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone and please be safe this weekend and enjoy it with your families!♥

Open Blog - Weekend

Relax. 

Meet My New Attorney

Just a few seconds into the commercial and I knew that Adam Reposa is the man for me.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome to another amazing episode of Four for Fridays. It's been an interesting week so far. Here are some questions for you.

1) Have you ever been involved in scouting? If so, how far did you go?

2) What clubs were you invoked in high school?

3) How often do you exercise?

4) Did you have any Memorial Day weekend traditions?

Enjoy your weekend!

"Cassini, 8 Years Around Saturn"

"This video was created using the images taken by Cassini probe of the Saturnian system since 2004."

Read more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srLlka2C7FM

This is right up hale-bopp's alley.

Open Blog - Friday

Have a good day.

"Journaltimes.com gets fresh look"

http://www.journaltimes.com/journaltimes-com-gets-fresh-look/article_ee88339c-a5c1-11e1-91eb-0019bb2963f4.html

Whatever.

Open Blog - Thursday

That's one for froglover. 

"Bizarre Illusion Turns People Ugly"

It took me a couple of tries to 'get' it. De-focusing your eyes for Bedtime Games probably helps here. It's a strange illusion.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my cool, cool cucumbers! How are you?  The wonderful weather endures. If this keeps up, Racine should surpass all attendance records for the various summer events held in the city.  We have months of party time headed our way.  Let’s enjoy! 

I already have most of my vegetable garden planted.  The big thing now is keeping it weeded and watered.  That’s where Junior is supposed to come in, but he doesn’t.  I realize that he’s still in school, so I don’t lean on him too hard.  In the summer, though, he better be working a real job, or working in our garden.  He must have inherited his father’s work ethic, because he sure didn’t get it from me.  Look up ‘lazy’ in the dictionary and it just says, “See ‘Junior.’”

I read in the Journal Sentinel Online that the naming rights to the Bradley Center have been sold to BMO Harris Bank: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/naming-rights-for-bradley-center-sold-to-bmo-harris-ud5g5oi-152280455.html It is now known as the BMO Harris Bradley Center.  Of course, that is a travesty, but what are we going to do about it?  What’s even worse is that we are taxed especially for a stadium in Milwaukee County, but a brewery owns the naming rights.  It should be called Southeastern Wisconsin Taxpayers’ Stadium instead of Miller Park.  And to top it all off, Mr. Herb Kohl says we must build his basketball team a new arena.  My, oh my, the greed for public dollars never ends, never. 

Perhaps we should sell naming rights to places and things in Racine to raise money.  City Hall could be Ivanhoe’s City Hall,  Pershing Park might become Pershing Pabst Blue Ribbon Park, Monument Square could be Menard’s Monument Square (with “Save more money at Menard’s” blaring out of the monument’s top), or how about Monument Builders Square, and so on and so on.  The possibilities are almost endless.  All funds raised would be used to offset property taxes for Racine residents.  I offer this idea free of charge to Racine because I love my city.

Finally, my dears, please take a moment this weekend to reflect on what Memorial Day means.  So many freely forfeited all of their tomorrows so that we could have all of ours.  It’s an almost incomprehensible gift from one generation to the next.  Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for all that you did for us.

And thank you for reading my blog this week.  It’s wonderful when someone stops by to look things over.  My readers are my friends, irregular and otherwise.  Thank you, friend.

"Who Put the Bomp (In the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)?” Find out: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Have a wonderful week, each and every one of you.  Better get you air conditioner up and running.  Better get yourself outdoors (not you, Ms. Lizardmom) and have some fun.  Two more weeks and the electioneering ends.  I can’t wait.   Transcalent!

Open Blog - Wednesday

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Ineptocracy



Useless Information

Did you know:

There are more germs on a public bathroom floor then any other place in the room.

You have a greater chance of catching something if you put your purse on the floor then touch your purse.

I guess this one isn't really useless information.

Finally - introvert/extrovert finale

Ok, life has settled down enough for me to get back to a little fun. 
A while ago, I did a 'pre-blog', on how we thought our gang here fit in the extrovert/introvert scheme of things. 
The book is called "Quiet - the power of Introverts in a World that can't stop talking".
I thought it would help me with insight into my hubby who is an introvert, as well as a couple other people I know. I have never been, nor have I considered myself to be an introvert, but after getting 1/2 way thru the book so far, am realizing, that I AM an introvert! Hmm, interesting!

One section early on caught me - "introverts are more likely than extroverts to express intimate facts about themselves online that their family and friends would be surprised to read, to say that they can express the 'real me' online......   They welcome the chance to communicate digitally. The same person who would never raise his hand in a lecture hall of 200 people might blog to 2000, or 2 million, without thinking twice. "  Hmmm, interesting.

A bit later on they write of a study done on a group of 4 month old babies, with the theory that the study founder thought he could peg which ones would grow up to be which way. His study actually turned out pretty precise. The basis, in a nutshell is determining the degree of reactivity, which determines where we end up. The babies that reacted strongly were the ones that ended up more introverted, too much stimulation shuts them down. The babies that had little reaction ( like to a balloon popping, sudden noises, etc), could withstand more stimulation and weren't fazed by it, and ended up being the extroverted group. 

I have started to understand why I much prefer to do things in a quieter setting, my thought process definitely shuts down when too much external noise is going on, whereas extroverts thrive with commotion around. 

I never thought myself to be an 'inny' but, wow, it makes me make more sense! 

So, with this new little tidbit of insight, how do you see yourself and did it change at all?

Spring In Wisconsin Part 2!

I was driving through town around three different detours of construction to go and pick up Drew from work and one day on the way I seen this. I just had to take a picture of it for a post. This was on Carlton Dr.. The first time when I past it I didn't have my camera with me and then I said to myself I have to keep the camera with me. I pointed this out to Drew when I was taking him to work one morning. He can't figure out what they are suppose to be. Both the top picture and the bottom are from the same house.

In the top picture I know there is a frog's head in the middle and I don't know what the other two are. The bottom picture the first one looks like a dinosaur and the middle looks like a bear or dog. I really like this it is really something different.

This is a lilac bush we seen this while driving around. This picture was taken on 16th st. last month. I have seen lilac bushes on 4 mile rd. too. Then when I went past them yesterday and all the flowers are off of the bush already. I just couldn't believe that with in a month the flowers came off the bush. I love the smell of the lilac flowers in the summer.

We went walking one day through Shoop Park. I came across this bush and I thought it was really pretty so I took a picture of it. Come to find out during my search on the computer this is a Climbing Prairie Rose. I thought this was a good picture with all the buds on the branches too. I am sorry that the picture is a little out of focus.

I am really having fun taking the pictures and sharing them with everyone. I do hope all of you are enjoying this right along with me. I do have a lot more to look up and post for you. The hard part is when I am out trying to remember all the pictures I have taken already. Feel free to leave any comments!♥

Open Blog - Tuesday

More pansies, and butterflies, too.

Annular Eclipse Report

Time for my eclipse tale. I took in the eclipse from the Grand Canyon. I stayed in Flagstaff (visited Meteor Crater and Sunset Crater...maybe another blog on that later) and drove up to the Canyon Sunday morning. I got there about 11:00am and went through the east entrance near Desert View/the Watchtower. The Watchtower is where the park service was going to set up telescopes. I decided to drive down and check out all the overlooks to see where I wanted to be. By the time I hit Grand Canyon Village, I knew Lipan Point was my choice so I turned around (ate lunch on the way) to go back there. Only problem was, Lipan Point had limited parking and not a lot of room for setup so I was worried I might have missed my window of opportunity.

I pulled into Lipan about 2pm and got lucky as a great parking spot opened up. Even luckier was finding a great spot to set up. I set up close to the edge of the Canyon (past the guard rail) so people wouldn't stand in front of me. Now just a long wait until the eclipse. I tweeted early in the day that today was like the Super Bowl for astronerds. Well, this was the tailgaiting part of the day. Lots of people were there, looking through scopes and swapping stories. The park service closed acces to Lipan later in the day because the was no more parking. As a result, it never got too crowded.

I set up my Canon Digital Rebel with a solar filter and a PST (Personal Solar Telescope) on a tracking mount. Finally, the Moon took a small bite out of the Sun.

The eclipse progressed nicely. Look closely for sunspots!

I attached a small, inexpensive point and shoot camera to my PST. The PST has a hydrogen alpha filter on it which lets you see prominences and filaments. I should have taken more pics with it, but they looked lousy on the small camera screen. They looked better when I downloaded them. Here is a shot from the PST. Note the little flame-like structures on the edge of the Sun (prominences) and the filaments (little dark lines on the Sun). You can only see these with a hydrogen alpha filter, not a white light filter.

Another PST shot closer to totality. You can see a nice active region in the lower right of the Sun.

Finally, we have the ring of fire!

That is a white light image of the ring of fire. I took a long video with my PST showing the progress through annularity. Here is the video for you.

And the Sun set with a small sliver still missing.

The Big Picture has a gallery of eclipse photos.  Look at #39 and #41 which were takend from the Grand Canyon. The background matches up with mine...they were taken from the same spot! He obviously used a very long zoom lens. I am pretty sure I know which one he was!

Interesting sidenote: This eclipse is part of Saros cycle 128. These eclipses repeat every 18 years, 10 days and six hours (approximately). I saw the previous annular eclipse from Michigan State in 1994 (we were just outside the path of annularity). The next one in this cycle is June 1st, 2030. If I see it, I will have completed an exeligmos (look it up, that's your vocab word of the day...I learned it from David Dickinson on twitter).

It was a great day with perfect weather and skies. I am already looking forward to 2017 when the continental U.S. will finally get a total solar eclipse!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.