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.

Open Blog - Monday

Me, too!

The Bee Gees - "Words"

"Robin Gibb, Bee Gees star and co-founder, dies at 62 after losing battle with cancer"

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/bee-gees-star-co-founder-robin-gibb-loses-battle-cancer-62-article-1.1081615?localLinksEnabled=false

I never was a fan of the Bee Gees, and from what I've read, Robin didn't even sing in this song, but it's one of the few Bee Gees songs that I like.

RIP Robin Gibb.  

Upcoming Partial Eclipse

Just bumping this to the top as a reminder! Clear skies all!

I figured I should write a Racine specific blog for the upcoming partial solar eclipse. On May 20th, there will be an annular solar eclipse. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun but doesn't quite cover the Sun. The Moon has an elliptical orbit...remember "Super Moon" a couple of weeks ago? The Moon was larger because it was near perigee, or the closest it gets to Earth. Well, two weeks later, the Moon is near apogee, the farthest it gets from Earth. Therefore, the Moon appears smaller, too small to entirely cover the Sun. If you are near the center line of an annular eclipse, you see a "Ring of Fire" around the Moon.

The center line of this annular eclipse passes over Japan, the Pacific Ocean, northern California, Nevada, northern Arizona (guess where I will be?), New Mexico and the eclipse ends in west Texas. However many people north and south of the center will see a partial eclipse, including Racine.

In Racine, the Moon touches the face of the Sun at about 7:20pm CDT on May 20th (sunset is at 8:12pm). The Moon will slowly cover the Sun until sunset. At that time, over 60% of the Sun will be covered by the Moon. I used Steallarium to create an image of what you would see at sunset if you had a clear western horizon.

Now to observe the eclipse, you don't want to just look at it with your eyes. Even partially covered near sunset, the Sun is still bright enough to cause eye damage. Fortunately, eclipse shades are cheap (a buck or two). You can get them from various places. American Science and Surplus (6901 W Oklahoma in Milwaukee) carries them and I bet the Milwuakee Public Museum might as well. You can also make a pinhole viewer to observe the eclipse. Whichever you choose, you can also use it to watch the upcoming transit of Venus on June 5th (future blog).

Unfortunately, I don't see anything on the Racine Astronomical Society website indicating they will be having an event. The telscopes in the domes may have limits as to how low in the sky they can observe and, since this is sunset when the Sun is very low, they may choose not to open for it.

If you don't live in Racine and want to know what is visible from your location, check out NASA's interactive eclipse map. Just click on your location and you will get the details.

Oh, and I will be in the Grand Canyon, in the path of annularity, for this eclipse and yes, there will be pictures!

Our Tax Dollars at Work

This stuff kills me; spend tax dollars to arrest more people....Seems like a dictatorship!

Seat belt enforcement in Racine, Caledonia.

Journal Times staff JournalTimes.com

Posted: Saturday, May 19, 2012 5:48 am.

RACINE — The City of Racine and Village of Caledonia police departments will mobilize for Click It or Ticket safety belt enforcement from Monday to June 3.

The City of Racine and the Village of Caledonia police departments will intensify enforcement of Wisconsin’s mandatory safety belt law during the annual Click It or Ticket mobilization. Officers will stop a vehicle and issue citations for an unbuckled driver or passenger. The goal of this effort is not to issue more citations, but to have everyone buckle up voluntarily and reduce the number of traffic deaths in Wisconsin to zero.

Read more: http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/seat-belt-enforcement-in-racine-caledonia/article_1a8533a0-a144-11e1-aa9f-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz1vLrz1HLY

Open Blog - Weekend

Happy weekend.

"You're vs. Your"

Adult Language Advisory 



What about it's and its?

Every Airplane That Was Ever Built

For all of you who enjoy airplanes, this is a neat site to view them from all over the world.

Click here for Every Airplane That Was Ever Built

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Four for Fridays after a short and pleasant week after my vacation. Thank you for your patience while I was on vacation. Here are some questions...

1) Did you climb trees when you were a kid?

2) Did you read comic books when you were a kid? If so, which ones?

3) Where did you often play at?

4) Where did you go swimming as a kid?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday

Yahoo, too!

Open Blog - Thursday

Pansies for Thursday.

Spring In Wisconsin Wildflowers!

This part is pictures I have taken from up north over the weekend. It is pictures of wildflowers and the names of them. I was able to get these pictures in between getting wildlife pictures, visiting Drew's family, cookout by my son on Saturday for Mother's Day and my older daughters graduation.

Yes while driving around looking for wildlife I was looking for the wildflowers so I could get pictures of them. Drew's mom showed some of them to me by their house that she has coming up too. I was having fun walking around the yard and taking pictures of the flowers with his mom. Then she showed me a wildflower book she has so we could look up the names of the flowers. I could not believe how many different wildflowers that are out there.

This is a Bird-Foot Violet. This was found up north by Drew's mom and dad's house. This has the larger blossom of the wild violets. They are a very pretty violet flower too.

This a Broom Snakeweed flower. This is really different and hard to find the name but a very pretty flower. This was also found by Drew's parents house. I found out on the computer that this can come in a bush of flowers or in singles.

This is a Wood Violet it was also found in the yard of Drew's parents. This violet can be found all over the world. It is a very common flower. I have not seen this violet down here at all and we have been driving around all over down here.

This flower is a Trillium. Yes this is a very common flower are here but this was taken in the driveway of Drew's parents. Driving around up north you will see these flowers and it looks like a very light blanket of snow with these flowers on the side of the roads. They are a very pretty flower.

This flower is a Viola Sororia it is in the family of the Violets. This is also Wisconsin's State Flower. This flower comes in many different colors. They are also a family of the Pansy being tri-colors. This is another flower found by Drew's parents house. The flower below is another Viola Sororia that I had taken. I just wanted you to see the different colors of them.

Yes all the pictures here was up north when we visited Drew's parents. We had a really nice visit with them and I really enjoyed walking around the yard looking at the different wild flowers they have growing. I already miss being up that way with it being so quiet and just driving around on the country roads. Yes I also miss the families. I did get to see my granddaughter that is another post by itself of some pictures of her. I hope you all enjoy these pictures just as much as I enjoyed taking them!♥

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my beautiful butterflies!  How are you?  Our glorious spring continues unabated.  It’s been temperate for so long now that all thoughts of winter fade into two years ago.  I really don’t know what’s going on.  Mother Nature still is not speaking to me.  Perhaps she’s drunk or high on something.  It appears that everything is a month or more ahead of schedule.  I’m putting my tomatoes in this weekend.  I’ve heard of quite a few other people who have already started their vegetables.  My green thumbs are ready for action.

Belated Happy Mother’s Day.  I hope yours was wonderful.  Señor Zanza and Junior made and served me breakfast in bed.  Well, actually, Señor Zanza did it while Junior “supervised” (taste-tested).  It was delicious and so charming.  I am blessed to have these men in my life.  Later, the Señor and Junior fired up the gill and we had a cookout.  Again, the men did all the work.  Señor Zanza gave me a delightful, sheer nightie.  Junior gave me the latest video game for his gaming system, which I immediately “lent” to him.  All in all, it was a delightful day.

Warning!  Warning!  Danger, Will Robinson!  Warning!  Yes, I am talking about bicycles vs. motorists in Racine.  Motorcycles, too, are often “invisible” to drivers of other vehicles.  We have to be alert to see them and give them their right of way on the road.  Bicycles (and scooters and skateboards), however, are more likely to dart out unexpectedly into your path.  I bring this up because of story in The Journal Times.com a few days ago about a bicyclist who was traveling the wrong way on Wisconsin Ave. at night with dark clothes and no light.  He hit an SUV. http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/cyclist-was-conscious-after-hitting-suv/article_f0ecbc70-9be4-11e1-941e-0019bb2963f4.html

I have noticed an increase every year in the number of “two-wheelers” on the streets (and sidewalks) of Racine.  Many of these riders do not obey the rules of the road as it applies to bicyclists.  Many of them, I suspect, don’t even know the rules.  In any case, motorists must be especially wary of bicycles and other contraptions on the road.  This time of year we have to learn to share the roads all over again.  Be especially careful around bicyclists.  Never assume that they will follow the rules of the road.  Keep your eyes and ears open for riders coming from any direction.  Keep yourself and the two-wheelers safe.

I’m going to briefly weigh in on two local political issues.  First, I don’t believe that anyone in Racine County should have to pay a cent toward a new arena for Milwaukee.  Second, I don’t believe that anyone in Racine County should have to pay a cent toward Mr. Mayor Dickert’s legal bills, nor should our insurance be covering his losses.  This will just drive premiums up.

Third, thank you so much for reading my blog today.  Each and every one of you is a dear, dear friend of mine.  I love my Irregular family and my regular readers family. Love, love, love. 

Is it love or lust?  Find out: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Au revoir, my dears.  Continue to enjoy the marvelous weather. Continue to enjoy life.  Turn a frown upside down and all the blood will rush to your head.  Oh my.  Gelastic!

"Groucho kazoo band members hanging up their noses"

From JSOnline: 

"Jim Stingl | In My Opinion"

"Don McLean might call it the day the buzzing died.

"The One, the Only, the Original All Kazoo Band is breaking up after 34 years of organized chaos and many miles of marching in parades while disguised as Groucho Marx.

"'I think we've aged ourselves out of existence,' said Trish Andrae, 68, a member from the beginning with her husband, Dan.

"'We don't have enough people to keep going,' said Chuck Wilkie, 70, who led the ragtag bunch since 1995.

"The group's final parade was in Wauwatosa last year for the Fourth of July. For years, they made that trip down North Ave., sometimes rushing over to West Allis with a police escort to march in another parade there. They also appeared once or more in Cedarburg, Glendale, Greendale, Milwaukee's City of Festivals Parade, the Illinois State Fair, the Jerry Lewis telethon and on stage for the finale of 'The Nutcracker.'

"The kazoo band was created in 1978 by Tom Jakubowski at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in West Allis. He led it until he died in 1994 at age 53.

"No musical talent was required, of course, and the band swelled to more than 100 members at its peak."

Read more:  http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/groucho-kazoo-band-hanging-up-noses-775e66i-151637815.html

That is a great human interest story.  Had I known about the existence of the band, I would have sought out a performance.

Open Blog - Wednesday

Crazy, man.