I’ve figured out where all of the sandbags go after the flood waters have left. They go to the Sandbag grave yard. How obvious, I know!
I went fishing at Sugema Lake with Bryan. The fishing was good, finding underwater trees was not. And yes, that’s a fish grabber I’m using. I’m not sure why actually. It was among the random things that Bryan had acquired and apparently it needed to be used at least once.
This is what I kept from fishing. But after cleaning and frying up so many fish this gave me incentive to keep more of my catch, clean em, and freeze em. I’m planning on having a fish fry with friends later this year. You’re invited!
I had a birthday earlier this week and this is a self portrait I took of myself before I went out with friends. I’ve since shaved the beard, but I got a bigger hat.
It’s not much of an equation i know, but it holds true, as the pictures below (and in the gallery) will prove
So… I have a lot of clean up to do. The worst part of the whole thing isn’t cutting up the fallen tree, it’s carrying it up the hill in the back of my yard and putting it the bed of my truck. If I could get my truck into my back yard it would be so much simpler and quicker. Well being the resourceful little gnome that I am I rigged up what I like to call the poor mans brush cart. It consists of 10 feet of plastic green snow fence, about 30 feet of rope, a wooden stick, and the pole from a broken push broom (fyi, push brooms aren’t meant to replace snow shovels)
Brush goes on the specially designed mesh leave/branch holding surface (snow fence) I fold the back side over top once I have a full load, bungie it to the pole in front and attach the ropes to the mad max tractor. It may look ghetto, but it beats the hell out of making 50+ trips through the back of my yard carrying pokey wet branches to my truck.
So, as we’ve all seen, the sparrows felt the need to turn my truck into a bird mansion of sorts. I quickly thwarted their plans, and removed them from my truck just as gently as possible and released them into their natural habitat. Since then I’ve made sure to keep my windows up when I park in my driveway.
Well, apparently the sparrows weren’t all to happy with me. Keep in mind that I’ve been living at my house for almost 2 years now. There are no tree’s that overhang my driveway, and no nests around (except for that robbin’s nest that i tore down in my garage early this spring) I have never noticed an abnormal amount of bird doody (keeping it PG for the younger readers) on my truck. Until a couple of days ago that is…..
You may not be able to tell from the smaller pictures (click to see larger versions) but apparently the sparrows were not happy, and now neither am I. Perhaps it’s time I invest in a Red Ryder.
In the previous post I showed pictures of Cedar Falls being sand bagged and under water. As the water starts to recess where do the sand bags go? Do we need to assemble another team of super workers and haul em back to the dump?
I have added boat pictures (mostly so Brian will stop complaining about only seeing my console, or a 4 foot section of my boat at a time) I’m almost content, however I went to wire my fish finder only to discover that it no longer turns on. Guess I should have put the cover on the boat before the last rain
Another boat note, I have successfully launched and trailered my boat by myself. Not to say it went smoothly, but there has got to be a way to do it with out getting so damn wet.
Took this pictures in the checkout lane at Hy-Vee. Apparently someone had a change of heart and decided having soft stools is less important than being embarrassed.
I made an attempt to mow the back 40 the other day only to realize that the Mad Max Tractor wouldn’t start. Apparently it doesn’t like sitting out in the rain either. (Needed a new Starter Solenoid $9.99 at your local farm and fleet)
No good information or breaking news for you. Just thought I’d let you know I posted a few pictures I took while sandbagging downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa yesterday.
If you’ve watched TV in the past 3 months I’m sure you’ve seen the little one minute long visa check card commercials where everyone zips through the food service lines like it’s some Broadway musical. Pick your food, spin, get your pudding cup, pirouette, proceed to the check out and waive your magical visa check card. The dance continues until some dolt decide, “oh I’m going to pay with cash…”
OH NOES!!!
The person working the register has to make change! Thus halting the beautiful escapde that the visa check card has allowed us all to be a part of. Damn you 46 year old man in your brown v-neck sweater for using your actual currency!
Actually, I dont mind the people that use cash. I mean it is “legal tender for all debts public or private” I’m pretty sure your check card doesn’t say that on it. But alas, that’s not what is bugging me. What gets me is the people (generally about two to three generations older than myself) that still rely on checks for every single transaction. Honestly checks were great 20 years ago when you’d buy a hundred and nine dollars in groceries or have to pay your utility bill, but not today when you bought a 9 pack of Charmin, some silk roses, a new pad stationary that says “From the mind of”, and a hot glue gun. And IF you’re going to use a check, the least you could do is fill out the date, store name, fill in the little memo line listing every little item you happened to buy at K-mart that day, and sign it while you’re being rung up. I mean I am going to have to wait two minutes for you to write out the amount and figure out if the word sixty has an E before the Y or not. Then I get to wait for the person running the register ID you because your phone number isn’t current, and then they have to force feed your check through the fax machine mechanism where it sucks it in then spits it back out.
My point is, please use your visa check card, or cash I really don’t care. Just don’t make me wait while you try and master writing in cursive.
2 Days of Work = 12 feet of progress…. (wheel barrows are a fantastic invention, i just wish mine wasn’t broken)
Is it ever going to stop raining? I need to seed my back yard, either that or plant some rice paddys, (I’m predicting a bumper crop this year!) Well that, and I want to take the boat out.
Ok, so I can’t take the boat out. I’ve been rewiring the trolling motor, speedometer, fish finders, and attempting to put in a stereo. (Pyle makes cheap non functional Chinese crap FYI)
There is a NEW extreme take on the old school ‘Bean Bags’ Game. Apparently I’m bad at this version, and admittedly, have paid the price.
Who thinks my Mad Max Yard Machine tractor is going to start this year? Not me…
Some time this past month I actually got out to go see a Concert in IA City w/ Kelly. Bon Iver, It’s good stuff
At what point in your life do people stop asking you what your hometown is, or where you’re from? Just today someone asked me and I said Waterloo. That’s where I live. Thats where I have mortgage payments for my house, but apparently that’s not quite what they meant. Sometimes people will ask me (generally around the holiday times) “Oh are you going home?” And I say, No, my home is 5 miles away, I’m driving to my parents house that’s 180+ miles away. How long do I have to live somewhere before I can call this my hometown, or even just my home? Is there a magic age that once you’re so old you can officially call the place you reside in your hometown? If you were to ask your parents, aunts, uncles, friends what their hometown is what would they say?
If you ever listen to Bob and Tom, or watch Comics Unleashed (I’m embarrassed to admit that one) then hopefully you’ve noticed how annoying it is to watch/listen to comics in a multi comic/interview atmosphere. It’s possibly the worst type of competition ever….
Here’s how it goes down. We have a couple of people interviewing (setting up) comics. What is it really? The worst show ever… the comics pretty much battle against themselves trying for the most airtime possible. The interviewer asks them a questions that they generically relate to some part of their bit. They take the slight transition and turn it into a 3 minute portion of their stand up act until one of the other comics jumps in and steals the limelight. This continues until one of them gets to risque’ or there is a commercial break.
I’m sure they are genuinely funny people, I mean they are stand up comics and all, but it seems so scripted. Maybe I’m the only one that is annoyed by this. Here, let me set you up. Do you drink? Or travel? or what do you think about women, or races other than your own?
I’ve figured out where all of the sandbags go after the flood waters have left. They go to the Sandbag grave yard. How obvious, I know!
I went fishing at Sugema Lake with Bryan. The fishing was good, finding underwater trees was not. And yes, that’s a fish grabber I’m using. I’m not sure why actually. It was among the random things that Bryan had acquired and apparently it needed to be used at least once.
This is what I kept from fishing. But after cleaning and frying up so many fish this gave me incentive to keep more of my catch, clean em, and freeze em. I’m planning on having a fish fry with friends later this year. You’re invited!
I had a birthday earlier this week and this is a self portrait I took of myself before I went out with friends. I’ve since shaved the beard, but I got a bigger hat.
