Keeping it real since 2007

giving the cat a bath

2012-02-15T22:25:00.001-06:00

Click on the thumbnails below to see full-size version - make sure you watch the video!

At the feis

2012-02-09T22:09:00.001-06:00

Some great pics from last weekend's feis - Izzy looked great in Meema's Fauna Gille Designs dress (which was first Sese's)

Interesting article on SE Minnesota geology by Sharen Storhoff - my wonderful Mother in law

2012-02-09T19:28:00.000-06:00

Here is a nice newspaper article published recently by Sharen:

'Cabbage Rocks' are best kept secret of Fillmore County

Check it out!

2/2/2012 8:20:00 AM
'Cabbage Rocks' are best kept secret of Fillmore County

Wally Storhoff and his dog stand next to one of the amazing �Cabbage Rocks� found in a remote area north of Mabel. (Photos for the News-Record by Sharen Storhoff)

The trail leading to Cabbage Rocks is obscure and a local guide is a must when trying to find these geological treasures.

By Sharen Storhoff
For the Bluff Country Newspaper Group

The best-kept secret in Fillmore County is just off "the road less traveled by." Located north of Mabel, in Preble Township, the Cabbage Rocks are a geologic treasure, but are located in such a remote, secluded place, one surely needs a local guide to find them.

It's 42 degrees in the middle of January and we are finishing our morning coffee. Record high temperatures of all times are being set. What are we doing in the house? Shouldn't we be outside enjoying this gift?

I turn to my hiking partner and cheerfully say, "Let's hike to Cabbage Rocks today."

Sometimes I get a look back that says, "Are you sure you want to do that?" This time, however, I do not hear any protest.

We pack a little lunch, call the dog, grab a walking stick, put on our hiking boots and find the binoculars.

Now, most importantly, I need to decide which camera I should take. It's either the big boy Nikon SLR with the 18 to 200 mm lens or the new pocket 12-mega pixel Nikon. I favor the big guy, but its total weight with lens is 4 pounds, 3 ounces, so today I decide to take the Nikon Cool Pix and just slip him in my pocket. We will be crossing the creek about three times so care must be taken. I'll take the SLR this spring when the wild flowers are blooming, especially the purple shooting stars.

The Cabbage Rocks are almost in our backyard, so to speak. So why are they so hard to find? Who was the first to see them? How were they formed? How long have they been there? These are all questions I can't answer but am trying to solve the mystery by research. So far when I Google "cabbage rocks," I just get recipes. And my emails are being rejected by the University of Minnesota Geology Department.

Our first trip to the Cabbage Rocks, 20 years ago, was guided by Walt and Phyllis Norby. There was no one better to beguile us along the way with tales that only Walt could tell. And if you think you can't get lost in the Big Woods, think again.

After finding our way to the top, Walt said he would take us on a circle tour, short cut back down. This was almost mid-summer and the foliage was getting high and thick on the forest floor and we were struggling.

Walt was carrying a big stick and when a fallen tree would block our path, he would rap it soundly. Being curious, I asked him why.

"Well, I don't know if there are any rattle snakes, but if so... I just want to let them know we're coming," he said with a grin.

Weather it was luck or providence we'll never know, but we didn't see or hear any that day. That was the first of many trips, never to be forgotten.

From the northern starting point, we proceed down a rather steep, rocky old logging trail. The hiking stick comes in handy in this rugged terrain, my aluminum ski pole is a perfect choice.

When you reach the bottom you will be confronted with three options. Trails lead right, left or straight ahead, take your pick. This is where it is essential to know where you are going. We will hike another 30 minutes and cross the creek three times before turning up the bluff.

It's been a couple years since we last visited the rocks and I am looking for a familiar landmark. Not seeing one, I begin to question my memory on the proper route.

You can't point your finger and say, "Oh, there they are!"

How can something so large be so well hidden? The terrain is starting to look familiar now and I put my mind at ease. Crossing the creek one last time we start the up hill trek.

On the way, we pass a large moss-covered boulder surrounded by a low growing evergreen shrub, a Canada Yew. This native is an uncommon shrub found on cool, moist, north-facing forested slopes, especially in limestone karst areas. It thrives in deep shade and without benefit of sunshine.

Getting steeper, the trail is beginning to fall off sharply on our right as we continue up. Rounding a bend, suddenly, there it is, the first huge cabbage, the first of five. You do not see them as a group but pass by and underneath one at a time.

There is no wind today, no bird sounds, just complete silence. While sitting under the fifth cabbage rock, enjoying our lunch, we hear in the far distance the noon whistle in Mabel, bringing us back to reality.

Our Harmony Garden Club has made two trips here on our annual wildflower hikes in May and I guided a gentleman from Mayo Clinic one spring day. Other then those occasions we have never met anyone else on the trail in the 20 years we have hiked it.

On the way down I am looking for color among the lusterless brown leaves. I find, bright green moss covered logs, dappled burgundy and green, liver-shaped leaves of hepaticas, fern fronds, anemone leaves, a scarlet cup mushroom, cherry red bunches of berries dangling from old stems, all commanding attention.

Like all things, changes are happening. We have encountered erosion, fallen trees blocking the path, creek banks collapsing and deeps ruts being cut into the land by four-wheelers. Like most areas, this has been cut over several times so there aren't many large trees to be found. You can see old 30-inch stumps on their return to the soil here and there.

I have been coming here for many years in all weather and all seasons, even on snowshoes. To sum it up I will paraphrase John Muir, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

Recent reads: Redwall and Arctic Rovings

2012-02-09T06:12:00.003-06:00

Isabel has been encouraging me to read the first of the Redwall books - a popular series she's been reading - all of the kids have been enjoying this series for the past few years - they remind me of a combination of Tolkien (forces of good vs. forces of bad in a medieval setting), Wind in the Willows (funny talking animals), Watership Down (serious, philosophic talking animals) and Cadfael (it's set in a medieval abbey).

Well written, good character development - somewhat predictable, borrowed liberally from the above authors/stories -

Surprisingly violent - lots of characters meet quite violent ends, graphically described - Narnia has no direct descriptions of death and killing like this first Redwall book has.

Addictive page turner - I can see how if you get sucked into the series you want to read all 20 or so of them...

Ultimately, however, just pulpy fantasy - nothing really solid or worthwhile there. Would be a good read if you were laid up sick for a week -

Favorite characters: Mattheas, the predestined successor to Martin, Redwall abbey's mouse warrior. Constance, a wonderful badger who is a one woman wrecking crew. Basil Stag Hare, very funny Bertie Wooster-like gallant.

Funny aspect: the union of shrews -a humorous poke at Americans and representative democracy? The shrews who are Mattheas' allies, have a hard time figuring out that they need to get on board against the barbarian foes because their form of government requires long debate and endless votes.

Book two: Arctic Rovings or, The Adventures of a New Bedford Boy on Sea and Land by Daniel Hall

This is an interesting little book published in 1861 by a young man who survived a harrowing experience at sea in whaler and in the wilds of Siberia after escaping from a cruel whaling captain.

Several years ago I found an interesting historical childrens book based on this true story, From New Bedford To Siberia - A Yankee Whaleman in the Frozen North by Jerome Beatty, Jr. - the book was a rollicking good read - essentially a retelling and modernizing of the original Actic Rovings autobiographical account by Danial Hall.

Arctic Rovings combines the social conscientiousness raising aspects of Richard Dana's Two Years Before the Mast and the historical details of Melville's Moby Dick. As with other first person accounts of remarkable true stories, the author, Daniel Hall hoped to cash in on a best selling book based on his experience.

Hall's account is possibly one sided - but from his account he suffered under a tyrannical captain, despite performing his duty faithfully. Hall's account of escaping from the ship and living among the Yakut natives of Siberia are remarkable. The highlight of the book is Hall's father's quest to find his son.

Nice description of sailing and whaling life - a very nice companion work for anyone interested in sailing in that period or Moby Dick. A fun quick read - it can be downloaded from Google books at:

Google free ebook Artic Roving By Daniel Weston Hall

There are a lot of public domain books on Google books as well as Project Guttenberg - a reason to consider buying a Kindle or Nook

3 jigs

2012-02-06T19:28:00.000-06:00

I am not ashamed to admit that one of my favorite Irish music groups when I was developing an interest in Irish traditional music was the Irish Rovers!

This set of 3 jigs is from one of the few instrumental tracks they have recorded -

Lilting Fisherman
Cliffs of Moher
Knights of St. Patrick's

Someday, if the popcorn ball doesn't roll off the table and bump the kittie's nose I will tell you about how I became an Irish Rovers fan.

another blogger!

2012-01-25T06:13:00.000-06:00

You will notice over on my blog roll Miranda has started her own blog!
Poetically named, Your's Truly, Miranda, it looks like this will be another insightful peek into the life and times of a young girl.

Miranda is battling a hurt foot this week - the doctor believes it might be related to her growth plates - we're hoping her foot will be better by next week so she can dance at the Mall of America feis...

Stay tuned for candid insights from both Izzy and Meem on their blogs - they have been maintaining a lively correspondence with one another through a ever growing Word document on the computer for a couple years now. Hopefully some of the hilarity will escape out into their blogs.

Check back!

Recent read: Tony Horwitz - Blue Latitudes

2012-01-24T17:26:00.001-06:00

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before

Just finished reading a second Horwitz book, an interesting overview of the life and voyages of Captain James Cook. Cook was a navigator and explorer around the time of the Revolutionary war. He was killed in 1779 on a beach in Hawaii by natives during his third pacific voyage.

Horwitz's book emphasizes Cook's first contact or very early contact with native people in areas in the pacific.

Horwitz was interested in interviewing people who live in the areas that Cook contacted through his voyages and asking those people what they think of Cook and how they view Cook's role in changing native culture through the introduction of western culture. In most areas in the Pacific he is viewed unfavorably.

I can't say that I ever learned anything about Cook in my education. Probably a paragraph in a grade school history book. I really enjoyed the book and found Cook's story fascinating. It ties in perfectly with my interest in nautical exploration and history. For example, William Bligh was an officer on Cook's third voyage. Mutiny on the Bounty was one of the first books that piqued my interest in nautical history.

If you liked Moby Dick or Philbrick's Sea of Glory this book has similarities and connections to those stories.

This is an interesting non fiction genre - I'm not sure what it's called exactly, perhaps historical travel adventure?

Humorous, foul language, some interesting details about historical sea faring, enjoyable description of geographies exotic destinations ect ect -

I have no interest in going on a cruise

2012-01-20T18:48:00.000-06:00

Lakeville woman recounts confusion on night Italian cruise ship ran aground
By Richard Chin
rchin@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 01/20/2012 12:26:14 PM CST

A Lakeville woman and her sister who survived the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship said this morning that they endured a night of confusion, crowded lifeboats and incompetent crewmembers.

Ronda Rosenthal and her sister, Vivian Shafer, said they boarded the ship at a port in Italy for a weeklong cruise on what would turn out to be its last day afloat. They spoke about their ordeal from Lakeville.

"It was Friday the 13th," Rosenthal said. "Our room was 1302."

Rosenthal and Shafer, a colonel in the U.S. Army on leave from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, said they had eaten dinner and were watching a magic show on board that night when they heard a grinding noise and felt a shudder at about 9:45 p.m. Then the ship started to tilt.

"It kind of surprised me because I thought, 'How could a ship this big make this big of a bank,'" Rosenthal said. "I thought this was a good illusion. I thought that it was part of the magic show."

She said it was unthinkable that such a large vessel, carrying more than 4,000 passengers, could come to serious grief.

"I never imagined that it would tip over. It was a huge boat. How do you sink a city?" she said.

But when other people in the magic show audience got up and left, so did the sisters. They went back to their cabin to see people in the hallways standing in their pajamas and their underwear.

"We were thinking these people are really upset," Rosenthal said.

But a steward kept saying "no problem" and "small

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technical difficulty," and urged them to go into their cabin.
They went in and found objects they had left on the table swept to the floor by the heeling of the ship. Then the lights went off. They used a cell phone as a flashlight and got ready for bed. An announcement on a loudspeaker said there was a generator problem that would be fixed soon.

Then they heard another announcement that sounded more serious: "Man lifeboat three."

"One of us said, 'That doesn't sound good,'" Rosenthal said.

Then came another announcement: "Muster station four." Shafer said in the military, "muster" means to report to a location to receive instructions. The two decided to get dressed and get some information.

"If we hadn't heard that last announcement, we probably would still be in our room," Rosenthal said.

Although they had received no instructions, the sisters decided to take the life jackets they spotted in their closet. But they left behind wallets and money in their room safe assuming they would be back soon.

Eventually, they got out on deck where they spotted a lifeboat full of passengers.

"I felt a moment of fear," Shafer said. "I said, 'Ron, this is serious.'"

They struggled to walk on the tilting decks to find a space on a lifeboat. They were turned down at three boats before they were able to squeeze onto a lifeboat where they had to sit in the bottom of the boat.

"I was the last one on that boat and the people were pretty agitated about letting people on there," Rosenthal said.

"These people did not want us on those lifeboats," Shafer said.

They were lowered into the water and after about 15 minutes, the boat landed at the island of Giglio in the middle of the night. The wandered around the island and took pictures of their ship which had run aground.

"I thought it was exactly like the Titanic. The people. The boat tilting. Looking at the lights flickering. Just being in the lifeboat," Rosenthal said.

A toy shop on the island opened up and gave barefoot stranded passengers plastic bags to cover their feet. Residents started passing out blankets and curtains for passengers to wrap themselves against the cold.

Crew members made Rosenthal and Shafer return their life vests because there apparently weren't enough on the ship.

The sisters spent the night huddled in a crowded church until they were put on a ferry back to the mainland. They had to sit on the deck, happy to find a scrap of cardboard to shelter them from the wind.

The sisters praised the help they received from rescue workers and the people on Giglio.

"The volunteers, they were the heroes," Shafer said.

But they said crew members from the cruise line seemed confused and disorganized after the disaster.

"They did everything they could do wrong," Shafer said.

"It's just disbelief, just disgust," she said of reports that the ship's captain left the vessel before the evacuation was completed. "How could you leave all these people?"

A White Bear Lake couple, Barbara and Gerald Heil, are among those passengers from the ship who are still missing.

A chip off the old block

2012-01-13T21:26:00.000-06:00

Please visit Isabel's new blog!
http://izzyscorneroftheworld.blogspot.com/
and follow this new blog - we'll see if she can keep up with her old man!

Merry New Year!

2012-01-11T18:31:00.000-06:00

Here we are in January 2012 - today's date, 1/11/12 is an especially well balanced date!

I received the next Tony Horowitz book from the UMD library yesterday - Blue Latitudes - starting off like a riveting read -

Also reading RC Sproul's Chosen by God and a collection of essays on church leadership that looks at the role of church officers.

At work we are evaluating talent - we are bringing on 5 new student techs this coming semester - we will have 12 total which is a lot for an organization of our size -

I have some nice sound recordings out on soundcloud if you're interested:
http://soundcloud.com/reedmunson

Latest tracks by Reed Munson

Tony Horowitz's "A Voyage Long and Strange"

2012-01-06T07:09:00.000-06:00

Just finished this book last night - enjoyed it a lot - I think I'll read his Blue Latitudes next as I enjoy the history of polar exploration.

Horowitz finishes A Voyage Long and Strange asking the question why history is often more influenced by myth and legend than facts. One of his concluding statements summed it up nicely:

The past was a consumable, subject to the national preference for familiar products. And history, in America, is a dish best served plain. The first course could include a dollop of Italian in 1492, but not Spanish spice of French sauce or too much Indian corn. Nothing too filling of fancy ahead of the turkey and pumpkin pie, just the way Grandma used to cook it.

Horowitz's point was, we like to choose the history that we like best - a history that emphasizes our own particular interests and bents. We tend to look at history through a 10 degree wide telescope seeing our little section but ignoring the full 360 degrees of what surrounded our particular interest.

As a Christian I have an interest in God's actions and appreciate that all of History is providentially arranged. Individual events in history all fit together in one complex puzzle of the history of civilization.

The dominate worldview today suggests that history is the slow accumulation of accidents and errors that eventually build a rickety platform to shakily stand on and look down from where we came. Without awareness of a creator what is history?

marking the passing of time

2012-01-02T12:34:00.000-06:00

New Years Eve and birthdays tend to kind of get me down. Big days on the calendar that mark the passing of time just cause me to remember how quickly time is passing - this Psalm caught my eye last night:

Psalm 39 - in the ESV is has the heading: What is the measure of my days?

This is one of those ultimate questions we tend to choose not to think about - our eventual decline.

Psalm 39 provides a frank look into the span of our lives but reminds us of what is ultimately important: atonement - Alistair Begg uses a simple illustration of the concept of atonement: Christ providing the only way to be "at one" with God - only Christ's atonement can provide reconciliation - which calls to mind my favorite Christmas carol:

Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Glory to the New Born King
Peace on Earth and Mercy Mild
God and sinner reconciled -

Only through Christ can we be reconciled -

Happy New Years! May 2012 be a fruitful year of growing in the knowledge and love of Christ.

recent reads: before I forget

2011-12-28T11:32:00.001-06:00

I was talking with a friend about recent books I've enjoyed in the past year and found that I failed to blog on either of these:

I believe I read this a few years back:

Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius

interesting read on a fascinating American - early 1900s - friend of Mark Twain - understood how to promote himself - many of Tesla's concepts are still being studied today - recognized by many as the most important pioneer in electricity

I read this book last winter sometime:

The truth about Columbus and the discovery of America,
Duff, Charles, 1894-1966.
New York, Random house [c1936]

interesting insight into the history of Columbus' 4 voyages to the New World - his first was a resounding successes but the following three trips were disappointments - note he never landed on the continental US - but touched on Cuba, several Caribbean islands and parts of South America near Venezuela

The book I'm reading right now is by an author named Tony Horwitz titled A Voyage Long and Strange - it looks into the gap in our historical knowledge before and between Columbus and the Pilgrims - I heard Horwitz on the radio being interviewed for his recent book on John Brown,

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War

- we were on the way to the library so I looked it up but it was checked out - so I checked out the other Tony Horwitz they had on the shelf - it is an enjoyable read - contemporary/fun -

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T19:35:00.002-06:00

Here's a nice little reel I worked up today in honor of Christmas Eve

The girls had fun creating gingerbread houses today!

All the pictures from today's project:

a proof in concept - new grille

2011-12-22T14:34:00.002-06:00

a vector drawing I created in Illustrator - oak and acorn motif - M is for maraca

prototype looks like a bad pumpkin...

So I was thinking about trying to use a lasercutter at work to create a custom grille for my Cairdin - my thought is a wood grille would give the box a bit more round/warm tone - I make a rough prototype using cardboard...
can you hear a difference?

what are we going to do today!

2011-12-10T09:46:00.000-06:00

1.) lubricate squeaky doors knobs
2.) clean bugs out from light fixtures
3.) dust ceiling fans
4.) vacuum
5.) put ironing board away
6.) try to get scanner working
7.) shovel deck
8.) move furniture from living room downstairs to make room for Christmas tree
9.) post cat tower on craigslist to get rid of it
10.) get rid of old end tables (M&D gave us nicer ones)

12x20 dance floor

2011-11-29T16:48:00.001-06:00

Now that we're past Oireachtas I get my side of the garage back!

YEAH!

Pics from Oireachtas 2011

2011-11-29T14:04:00.000-06:00

Pictures from our exciting weekend in Chicago - Thanksgiving weekend - Oireachtas 2011 - Chicago

Back from Oireachtas!

2011-11-29T14:00:00.002-06:00

Drove back from Chicago yesterday - our 2011 Oireachtas marathon complete!

We had a nice time down in Chicago - we were super happy because both Sonja and Selena danced very well and both recalled - meaning they each made the finals and got to dance the final 3rd round -

For those of you who are not familiar with Oireachtas competition I will describe the competition day for you - it is a series of increasingly intense climaxes as your dancer passes each point.

The day starts early - 5:30 AM, Andrea and Sonja or Selena are up and getting ready - putting on the wig - they are out the door by 6:30 to go to warm ups - our hotel was connected to the competition site by skyway.

Competition starts at 8 AM first round this year was hard shoe - both Son and Sese danced hornpipe this year. As a parent you are nervous and excited and just want to get this first event out of the way -

The girls have been training for this event for so long that they are ready to go - they might have some butterflies or might be nervous, but they don't show it - I think they feel the same way, though - they like to get this first event over with.

Oireachtas competition is made up of 3 rounds of competition a hard shoe round, a soft shoe round and then recalls - if your dancer is recalled they dance the 3rd and final round the set dance - a hard shoe solo round.

Sonja and Selena both had very good hard shoe rounds - they danced with 2 other dancers - so the stage is somewhat crowded - the round is somewhat like a horse race where the dancers strategically execute their steps taking into account the other dancer and trying to position themselves in a favorable stage position so the judge notices their steps - there is a panel of 3 judges watching each round -

The step takes about 2 minutes - the dancer is dancing full out and trying to display equal strength through out the step - the girls train for stamina so they can execute their step with full energy from start to finish - you don't want to see your dancer fade the last part of their step - that's why the months of training and conditioning are so important.

After the first hard shoe round the girls moved to a second stage - another ballroom in the convention center - and a new panel of judges - the soft shoe round had 2 dancers so there was a bit more room - Sonja and Selena danced the reel this year - as a parent there is nothing you can do other than smile and encourage them - Andrea and I will often be in different parts of the ball room - I generally don't like to watch a lot of other dancers, just show up and watch Son and Sees and then leave - I don't like the nerve wracking comparisons - is that girl better than my girl? is that kid going to beat my kid? So I usually just go wait somewhere else - listening to the feis musicians or just watching another competition group my dancer is not in -- the twins tend to tag along with me - they don't find watching the other dancers very interesting either - it will be interesting to see how they enjoy dancing at Oireachtas now that they've been spectators for so many years -

Because of my nervousness, Andrea doesn't think I can handle going to Nationals, where the excitement is even higher.

You can't take anything for granted in Irish dance competition - so a recall is always a primary goal - recalls are announced the afternoon following the two morning competition rounds - it is always an intense, suspense-filled experience -

I chickened out and stayed back in the hotel room with the twins for Sonja's recall - but I felt I should be there for Selena's recalls - we were very thankful that both Sonja and Selena recalled - they both danced very well in their first 2 rounds - but you can never take anything for granted -

The way the recall works is the top half of the group is recalled after the first 2 rounds for the final round - so if you are in a group of 120 dancers, 60 will recall.

The recall usually is in a large ballroom or conference room - all of the dancers and friends and families sit anxiously waiting - often a group of 150 to 200 people. The emotions are very tense at recalls - after a long delay an official will step up to the podium with the fate of everyone's Oireachtas competition in an envelope. Each dancer has a number and the official reads off the list of numbers that have recalled - some groups of girls choose to sit together in clusters of nervous energy - excited squeals erupt when some girls hear their number - you just want to hear your dancer's number - you are relieved and thankful when you hear it and crestfallen if your dancer's number is skipped over -

After recalls it is sad to see the girls who worked so hard come to terms with not getting recalled - Selena didn't get a recall last year, so we know how it feels - Sonja fell in her soft shoe round at Nationals 2 years ago and didn't recall, so we know the bitter pain of disappointment -

After the excitement of getting the recall the dancers scatter and prepare for the final round: the set dance.

to be continued...

Videos from today's performance!

2011-11-19T19:13:00.001-06:00

Just for those Grandparents out there who might need to pop some of their buttons:

St. Gertrude's November 19, 2011

Seamus' snow fort

2011-11-19T18:34:00.000-06:00

very gratifying to see that Seamus has the sense to use his new cozy cottage - complete with warming light -

these definietly go to 11

2011-11-19T09:14:00.001-06:00

Munson Family Irish Dance and Music performs at St. Gertrude's Health Center!

this one... goes to 11

Dad didn't get my spinal tap reference - so I'm here's a brief excerpt from the scene for Dad - who will recognize Rob Reiner - Meathead -

I fixed it!

2011-11-08T20:50:00.001-06:00

I was able to replace the passenger side mirror -Andrea accidentally
nipped the side of the garage backing out last week -- it was a bit
daunting at first - but I just kept at it until I figured out how to
pop that panel off -

take a look at the web forum I used for help:

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/24-1999-2004-odyssey/31484-how-remove-inside-door-panel.html

I wonder if we made an insurance claim on it I could get paid the $500
it would have cost to have a shop do the work?

one man's trash is another man's treasure

2011-11-04T12:48:00.000-05:00

from this...

to this...

heh heh.... don't you just love capitalism?

fall clean up

2011-10-29T21:03:00.000-05:00

had a busy day getting things around the house ready for the snow fly -

finding space for everything in the garage and shed is a challenge - as half the garage is occupied with a dance floor -

It's been good though - as it has forced me to get rid of stuff I don't use/need and get more organized.

The end of all things...

2011-10-25T18:21:00.003-05:00

It is not difficult to wax philosophic when dealing with cherished items or prized possessions - how much they meant to the owner when they originally purchased it - how hard they worked for it - ultimately they all fall under the category of THINGS

Sweet and Neat! Magnavox 9304 tube amp ~ 6bq5/el84 two channel stereo

Ted Lewis - Heading For Better Times

2011-10-21T18:39:00.000-05:00

MOM and DAD: do you remember this song:

Heading For Better Times 1-12-1931 Peaked At #6 On US Music Charts In 1932.
Theodore Leopold Friedman, better known as Ted Lewis (June 6, 1892 -- August 25, 1971), was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician. He led a band presenting a combination of jazz, hokey comedy, and schmaltzy sentimentality that was a hit with the American public. He was known by the moniker "Mr. Entertainment" or Ted "Is Everybody Happy?" Lewis.
Born in Circleville, Ohio, Lewis was one of the first Northern musicians to start imitating the New Orleans jazz musicians who came up to New York in the teens. He first recorded in 1917 with Earl Fuller's Jass Band, who were making an energetic if somewhat clumsy attempt to copy the sound of the city's newest sensation, the Original Dixieland Jass Band. At the time, Lewis didn't seem to be able to do much on the clarinet other than trill. (Promoting one recording the Victor catalog stated:"The sounds as of a dog in his dying anguish are from Ted Lewis' clarinet"). He improved a bit later, forming his style from the influences of the first New Orleans clarinetists to reside in New York, Larry Shields, Alcide Nunez, and Achille Baquet.
By 1919, Lewis was leading his own band, and had a recording contract with Columbia Records, which marketed him as their answer to the Original Dixieland Jass Band who recorded for Victor records. For a time (as they did with Paul Whiteman) Columbia gave him a special record label featuring his picture. At the start of the 1920s, he was considered by many people without previous knowledge of jazz (that is to say, most of America) to be one of the leading lights of hot jazz. Lewis's clarinet playing barely evolved beyond his style of 1919 which in later years would sound increasingly corny, but Lewis certainly knew what good clarinet playing sounded like, for he hired musicians like Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, and Don Murray to play clarinet in his band. Lewis actually could play normally well (listen to his earliest records for an idea; no missed notes, for one). For years, his band also included jazz greats Muggsy Spanier on trumpet and George Brunis on trombone. Ted Lewis's band was second only to the Paul Whiteman in popularity during the 1920s, and arguably played more real jazz with less pretension than Whiteman, especially in his recordings of the late 1920s.
Lewis recorded for Columbia from 1919-1933. He was on Decca 1934 into the 1940s. In 1932, Lewis recorded "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town", which he had performed in the film "The Crooner" with his orchestra. It was released on a 78 and reached number one on the charts where it stayed for 10 weeks.
Lewis's band got cornier and schmaltzier as the Great Depression wore on, but this seemed to match the general public's taste, as he kept commercially successful during an era when many bands broke up. Through it all he retained his famous catchphrase "Is everybody happy?". Lewis adopted a battered top hat for sentimental, hard-luck tunes (he called himself "the high-hatted tragedian of song"). Frequently he would stray from song lyrics, improvising chatter around them. This gave the effect of Lewis "speaking" the song spontaneously: "When ma' baby... when ma' baby smiles at me... gee, what a wonderful, wonderful light that comes to her eyes... look at that light, folks..."
Lewis and his band appeared in a few early-talkie movie musicals in 1929, notably the Warner Brothers revue The Show of Shows. The first of several films titled with Lewis' catchphrase, Is Everybody Happy? also premiered in 1929, while 1935 saw Lewis and his band performing several numbers in the film Here Comes the Band.
n 1941 the band was recruited at the last minute, along with the Andrews Sisters, to furnish musical numbers for the Abbott and Costello comedy Hold That Ghost (1941), released by Universal Studios on August 6, 1941. Musical numbers cut from the feature were released by Universal separately on September 3, 1941, in a short subject entitled Is Everybody Happy?
Lewis kept his band together through the 1950s, and continued to make appearances on television and in Las Vegas into the 1960s. True to his vaudeville beginnings, he created a visual as well as a musical act. His physical presence with props like his top hat combined with bits of visual humor and dancing were as important to him as his music.
One of his most memorable songs was "Me and My Shadow" with which he frequently closed his act. During the song he danced on stage with his own, spotlight-generated, shadow.
He died in New York City in 1971. In June 1977, Lewis's widow and friends dedicated the Ted Lewis Museum and park in his honor in his home town of Circleville, Ohio.

I've been listening to a lot of old time music on youtube - it's great what is out there! Check it out!

Another good one:

Twins Game - back in September -

2011-10-19T17:20:00.001-05:00

Got caught up with the Boundary Waters trip and failed to get these pics up from a great Twins vs. Royals game Sonja and Selena and I caught on Tuesday night September 27th -

Game recap: Twins 7 Royals 4

pics from the game:

twins9_27

Pine Tree Orchard!

2011-10-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

We had great time out at Pine Tree orchard near Uncle Reed and Auntie Barbara's today -

It was one of Isabel's hopes to get to have a pony ride this summer - so we were happy Uncle Reed took us over today! The Shetland ponies were just the right animal for a first time horseback ride -
Pictures: Pine Tree orchard - Dellwood MN

According to wikipedia, Shetland ponies originated in the Shetland islands northwest of Scotland - they were bred with the small fjord horses imported by Norse settlers - these hardy animals were first used for pulling carts, carrying peat, coal and other items, and plowing farm land. Then, as the Industrial Revolution increased the need for coal in the mid-19th century, thousands of Shetland ponies traveled to mainland Britain to be pit ponies, working underground hauling coal, often for their entire (often short) lives. Coal mines in the eastern United States also imported some of these animals. The last pony mine in the United States closed in 1971.

new reels -

2011-10-15T18:12:00.002-05:00

Hi Mom and Dad -
Got together with Uncle Reed today - he says I remind him of our distant cousin Hakim Ubdallah Mohammed Edstrom -

Thoreau's Maine Woods

2011-10-14T18:14:00.000-05:00

I love trip accounts - Thoreau's Maine Woods is a great book of three camping trip accounts that Henry David Thoreau (known by his friends as Hank) took in the 1840s and 50s. I read this book quickly in August and then again more carefully a second time in September. The book was better the second reading as I picked up more details and was more familiar with where Hank was going on his trip.This is a book you could enjoy reading every few years and revisiting the beauty of what Hank is describing - you should be inspired to get out and see and experience nature in person.

The accounts are mainly just a straight-forward retelling of where he went, what he did and what he saw - Thoreau does make the occasional observation - but by no means is pedantic or preachy - the comments he does make are generally humorous, though some are more heart-felt - they do not detract from the description of his trips and his experiences camping in what was then a remote wilderness.

Thoreau followed the loggers into the Maine woods and gives descriptions of how logging affected the area - he acknowledges that removing the white pines changes the forests but does not cry out that the woods have been desecrated by lumbering - he still finds tremendous beauty in the Maine woods - despite the impact of the introduction of settlers and the work of the loggers.

The three trips Thoreau took would all be considered major camping trips by any account - a group of friends and guides, paddling, portaging and hiking through pathless wilderness, carrying hundreds of pounds of gear and food, sleeping in blankets on beds of fresh-cut balsam boughs in tents with no floors or zippered doors - just a simple cotton tarp fit over poles cut at each campsite. This is no Walden Pond - this is a stark wild.

Hank's first trip was in 1846 with a group of friends. They originally intended to arrange to have an Indian guide but convinced a couple old timer loggers to guide them paddling in a French-Canadian batteau -the wall craft commonly used by the Maine loggers.

Thoreau's next trip was in 1853 with just one other friend - this trip Hank arranged to be guided by an Indian guide. This was a hunting trip and Hank describes the hunt in detail.

His final and most ambitious trip was in 1857. All of the trips were circular routes around the Moosehead lake region of central Maine starting and ending in Bangor following the Penobscot river to the north and the Kennebec river to the south.

In Hank's third trip he was an experienced wilderness camper and was interested in learning as much woodcraft from his Indian guide. Thoreau details this third trip and his interactions with his sometimes taciturn guide.

Is this a trip I would like to try even today? Definitely - the high amount of whitewater paddling required would make the trip very dangerous however - the trips also included long paddling across large bodies of water where wind and waves can make paddling very difficult and dangerous.

I would be most interested in seeing the tall hills and pines of the Maine woods - perhaps a car camping trip through the area could be a possibility someday.

There are some great resources out on the web - I will add an excellent pdf of a detailed map I found - you might also enjoy this site:

Richard Lenat's The MaineWoods

Trip report: Sawbill 2011

2011-10-03T18:36:00.005-05:00

Dusty and his bride Stephanie, Miranda and I and our friends JC and Susie Kiester had a nice time up at Sawbill last week - Wednesday - Saturday Sept 28 - Oct 1.

A nice drive up north - Susie and JC had never been up to Duluth before - they've been living in MN for over 20 years! We left Dustin's around 10 AM and were up to Sawbill campground by 4:00. After setting up camp we had a great supper! Beef stew with potatoes and turnips - Susie was in charge of suppers and we have never eaten so well on a Boundary Waters trip!

We enjoyed a beautiful evening around the campfire.

Thursday morning dawned grey and cold - wind and rain! A good day for testing our rain gear. We managed to stay warm and dry as we cooked breakfast in the breezeway pavilion - we rigged up our fishing gear but it was too windy to go out in the canoes, so we just fished from shore. Dustin and I gathered wood with Miranda and back at camp we were busy cutting wood and putting up a fly over the fire.

The rain and wind died down by evening and we had a nice supper of beans and hot dogs around the fire.

Friday morning dawned nicer - still a bit windy, but we were able to get out on the lake. Paddling up Sawbill, the wind and waves were tough at the points where the lake narrowed - JC and I were paddling for all our worth and were very happy to make it to the portage to Smoke lake -

After the 100 rod portage Miranda, Susie and I bushwacked around a bit while the other canoe fished - fishing conditions were not ideal - but we had fun - Smoke lake is a pretty lake - just big enough - only one portage in - this would be a good lake for a short trip into the BWCA.

Miranda and I took a turn in the big canoe and had a troll down the bay we were in - the wind was brisk enough that we didn't want to try paddling around much more than just near the portage.

We portaged back across to Sawbill and paddled quickly back to camp with the wind at our backs!

We had a great meal Friday night - our back up plan in case we didn't catch fish was Taco-chip-O'lay! We enjoyed it even more than we would have enjoyed fish!

Saturday morning we had a quick breakfast and struck camp - after packing up we headed back for home - we left Sawbill probably around 11 - stopped for coffee in Beaver Bay at 1 - Two Harbors about an hour later - and were home in the Cities by 5:30

As normal, fishing wasn't that great - but we made sure to prepare JC and Susie for that predictable outcome - the wind in the trees was beautiful - the tall pines and gold aspens and birch were especially stunning -

Miranda is a great tent mate - she never needs to get up in the night and she doesn't take up much space in the tent! It got cold at night but we had plenty of warm clothes so we were comfortable - I'll see if I can't tempt some of the other girls to join us next time!

Click album to see all the pictures from the trip!

bwca2011

Minnesota Feis 2011

2011-09-25T17:50:00.009-05:00

We had a great time at the Minnesota Feis yesterday! I volunteered this year and got to see the behind the scenes of what it takes to run a feis!

I had a great time Friday evening picking up Tony Nother and two judges. It's always fun to talk about the Irish dance activity and get their thoughts from their perspective.

Saturday morning I was at the feis bright and early and had fun visiting with Frank and Maria and the girls as well as Auntie Barb - Carmen competed in U7 reel, as well as the tin whistle. It's wonderful to see that distinctive Pasquerella name up on the results boards!

Sonja and Selena were on the champs stage and Izzy and Meema were on a more busy stage - to explain: at the preliminary and open championship competition level the dancers have 3 events - hard shoe, soft shoe and set dance - groups tend to be from 4 or 5 up to 14 or 15 - each age group dances their 3 events and they are finished - this process tends to move the groups along faster.

Isabel and Miranda are dancing in the novice/prizewinner level where each dancer competes in up to 5 events- soft shoe: jig, slip jig, reel and hard shoe: hornpipe and treble jig. These groups tend to be large - sometimes up to 20 dancers in a group. These competitions can take a long time - and the time to complete all of the dances can take all day because they have to run each competition for each age group - age 7 up through 11.

Selena was up first - for her PC competitions she danced her hard shoe round followed by her soft shoe round. She placed first out of 5 dancers! To move up from PC to OC a dancer needs to place first twice - so it looks like Sese is OC bound! Selena qualified for PC in July of 2009 - so it is exciting for her to move up to the top competitive level after two and a half seasons in PC

Sonja danced next in the largest competition of the day - U14 Open Champions with 9 competitors - She danced her soft shoe followed by her hard shoe and set dance - the way the combined and averaged scores worked out, Sonja finished 2nd over all! Very exciting to see her on the box!

The Twins stage moved more slowly - neither Izzy or Meema placed in their soft shoe dances - Miranda competed in the treble reel special with a step she created a few days earlier! She placed 4th out of 7 dancers - after a special pep talk both Izzy and Miranda placed in their final event the hornpipe - Isabel placed 1st and Miranda placed 3rd in a group of 12 dancers!

It was a fun day - I was on a security detail - mainly just making sure things were running smoothly and doing gopher work - it is always fun to visit with parents from other dance schools that your kids dance with - after attending so many feises with them you start to get to know people and it's fun to spend the day with other parents who share the activity.

all pics at:
Minnesota Feis 2011

Addendum -
rereading the post I am reminded of the first couple years we attended the Minnesota Feis as spectators - it's pretty neat to think back on those Saturday mornings leading Sonja and Selena the first year, 2005 and then 2006 all four girls (Andrea wouldn't go because she knew she wouldn't like the crowds) through the cacaphony of music and sound of 6 stages running simultaneously - we were confused but intrieged and awed by the level of dancing - it's pretty neat that a few years later we are immersed into this exciting activity and all of the girls are dancing and achieving at a high level.

Two people I've especially enjoyed becoming friends with are two musicians, Tony Nother and Michael Fitzpatrick they have been great encouragements to me -

set dance: Planxty Drury

2011-09-15T21:32:00.000-05:00

This is the set dance Selena is doing for Oireachtas -

From A History of Set Dances at Diochra.com

Planxty Drury (1724)
Sir William Drury, Lord Deputy of Ireland

"Sir William Drury, Lord Deputy of Ireland" (detail) by unknown artist (16th Century), now in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Composed by blind Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) to celebrate the marriage of John Drury of Kingsland, Co. Roscommon, to Elizabeth Goldsmith in 1724, according to Donal O’Sullivan (1958). The last verse of O’Carolan’s song praises those who marry for love, and not money (Seán Drúirí—John Drury, 1st Air). The first verse is in Irish Gaelic, as follows:

Fáilte romhad go Kingsland,
A bhinn-bhean na méar lag,
A phlannda an chúil chraobhaigh,
Le a mbéidh an tir sásta.

And translated to English by myself, rather poorly and with admitted great poetic license (proper translations very welcome):

Welcome to Kingsland,
With a promise to the sweet wife,
That their family tree will branch and grow,
And she will be pleased with the land.

John was the elder son of Lieutenant Edward Drury of Kingsland, at Lough Gara, near Boyle, County Rosommon, and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis Gore. His bride was the daughter of John Goldsmith, Ballyoughter, County Rosommon, and was the first cousin of renowned author Oliver Goldsmith. They were descendents of English folk from Surrey, including Sir William Drury, Lord Deputy of Ireland in Queen Elizabeth’s reign (seen above in the only Drury family portrait I could find), and were large landholders in the counties of Roscommon and Carlow. John’s wife, Elizabeth, on the other hand, was from a family of rather modest means.

Unfortunately, the union was cut short by John’s death the next year, in May, 1725, at age 20. He managed to father a daughter with Elizabeth, however, and it was she who inherited all the lands of her father, which thus left the Drury family. The fortunes of the Drurys eclipsed due to mismanagement and litigation, and the next generation was poor. (Source)

Also known as: Pleraca Druri, John Drury, Oh! Will You Sit in the Bower?, Jubilee at Eindhoven (the title of a dance by Philippe Callens set to the tune)

Cold Burial: A True Story of Endurance and Disaster in the Barren Grounds

2011-09-02T06:16:00.002-05:00

Some of you know that I have an obsession with stories of expeditions that end up going wrong. It sounds ghoulish and morbid - I know - but ever since I read the story of Ernest Shackleton in Endurance I have been fascinated with stories of camping trips gone wrong. Stories of starvation and disaster interest me because they show the capacity the human body has for privation and how suffering often brings out the best in human character. I also appreciate learning from the mistakes which lead to disasters in remote places

My latest read I happened across while browsing the shelves looking for book I'd read by Elliott Merrick - who wrote a lot on Newfoundland and New Brunswick and the lives of people up there. I found the Merrick book, but nearby, a title "Cold Burial" jumped out at me and I knew I had to read this book.

I read the book almost with out putting it down it was so captivating. The author, Clive Powell-Williams does a very nice job of the modern historical/research method: scouring original documents - journals, the accounts written at the time and biographies ect to put together and flesh out the entire story of the tragic event.

This historical account, which took place in 1925, Jack Hornby, a well-known trapper and adventurer plans his final fur trapping expedition to the far northern wastes of Canada - a wilderness known as The Barrens. In classic disaster fashion, he ignores the warnings of everyone else and fails to outfit himself and two young friends with the necessary provisions. Results are predictable but the story is interesting nevertheless!

Having had a small taste of wilderness camping, stories such as this transport me alongside the characters in the book. Toiling with them on the portage trail, sitting with them around the campfire - appreciating the beauty of God's creation - but thankfully taking a pass on the moccasin and bone broth.

The courage to go into the unknown and attempt to cross uncharted areas of the earth is inspiring - stories of failure help me appreciate the danger and cost of exploration.

The book also allows you to appreciate that there are still wild and remote places untouched by human hands - places too difficult for man to exist.

infused or imputed?

2011-08-25T09:02:00.001-05:00

Listening to RC Sproul today and a discussion on justification by faith in Christ alone - a position both Protestants and Roman Catholics agree on - this difference is in how this faith is applied to sinners - is justification imputed or infused?

I googled "infused or imputed?"

and found these 2 articles from the Reformed position helpful -

So the good news of the Gospel is that we do not have to wait for a righteousness to be accomplished in us before God counts us as Righteous in his sight. He [God] declares us to be Just on the basis of Christ’s imputed righteousness. Without the imputation of righteousness the Gospel isn’t Good News because we could never know if we are standing before God in a Justified therefore a saved state

The Differences between Rome (infusion) and Geneva (imputation) in Justification
by Michael Horton

In our feel-good, dumbed-down, ecumenical age we find distinctions distasteful. In the faithful preaching of our Lord He demonstrates the difference they make. That said, may we Reformed protest against our own propensity to cry out, “I thank you Lord that I am not like other men, Arminians, semi-Pelagians, or even this charismatic. I score high on all theology exams and have a library that is the envy of my friends.” Instead let us, consistent with our theology, beat our breasts and cry out, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Imputation, Infusion and Eternal Consequence: A Parable
from R.C. Sproul Jr.

What is Reformed theology? As C.H. Spurgeon once said, Reformed theology is nothing other than biblical Christianity.

On the road again!

2011-08-19T17:08:00.000-05:00

The road to Oireachtas started today with a great show at the Summit Place in Eden Prairie!

We debuted a new song, "High Hopes" a Sinatra classic from 1959 -

Some pics and videos:

Eden Prairie Summit Place August 19th

We hope to do 6 more performances between now and November -

a new bike!

2011-08-15T19:06:00.000-05:00

Is there anything more fun than a new bike when you're a kid? I remember Emily had a cool yellow bike with a bannanna seat - Mom got a green John Deere 3 speed around the same time - and then the best bike we had - a 3 speed Raleigh youth size with a front break and a coaster break - wow!

I found this bike on CL - it's bike that was sold at Holiday gas stations - probably from the early 80s I would guess -

We could use one more kids size bike if anyone has a bike they would like to get rid of -

Just finished: Kenilworth

2011-08-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

Just finished this tragic story of court intrigue in the court of Elizabeth I - set in 1575 it outlines the wickedness of ambition among the Earl of Leicester and his satellites - Scott points out humorous aspects of the shift to Protestantism and the rise of the Puritan movement in England.

Secondary characters are not as strong in this book - Scott does not follow up on the consequences of their actions. The pivotal plot twists are caused by the secondary characters - who because of their actions affect the outcome of the protagonist.

Des Moines Feis

2011-08-08T19:04:00.000-05:00

We had a great time down at the Des Moines feis! All of the girls "placed out" meaning - they got a placement in every event they competed in! Wow! How about that!!!???

It was Miranda's first feis after being out for 2 months with her plantar faceiatas - (OW) - She had a great feis, winning her hornpipe!

Sorry I didn't get better pictures - all I had was an ipad like tablet - with a camera similar to a cell phone - not very good -

Des Moines feille august 2011

Friday night we had a great time with my cousin Karen's family - Brian and their kids Paige and Grant. My aunt Marilyn and uncle Bob live just a few minutes away, so we stayed at their place! We had a great time and look forward to getting down to Des Moines again soon!

straight from the horse's mouth

2011-08-05T09:14:00.000-05:00

If you have ever wondered what is the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism - I recently found a good article written by the leading proponent of Arminianism, Charles Wesley. Although Wesley lived in the 1700s and spent most of his life in his native England, he profoundly influenced American Evangelical Protestantism.

The majority of American Christians could trace their personal or local church congregation's beliefs and theology to Wesley's views of Jesus and the scriptures.

It would seem that Wesley agreed with Dutch theologian James Harmens, (in Latin, Jacobes Arminius) who proceeded Wesley by one century -

Differences in opinion on the theological debates between Arminians and Calvinists have raged ever since - a moderate view might look on the debate as a difference of opinion and view the opposing side as holding to a certain amount error - and still hold the other in esteem as a brother in Christ.

The more strict side of the debate unfortunately writes off the opposing view as proof that because of the seriousness of their error, the opposite side does not have a true understanding of the gospel and because of this can not be saved. (This is ironic given that one of the points of contention is God's sovereign role in saving sinners.)

Ultimately, as Christians just trying to walk in faith by the understanding and light provided by the Bible, we each must consider the question, "What does God say in His word?" No one in this life can have a perfect theology - but it is curious to wonder how much Biblical inaccuracy can one have and still be considered orthodox?

More importantly, what is the basis of our theology? Personal conviction, convenience or simple disinterest in knowing what God says in His word?

I enjoyed this overview of Arminianism:

The Question, "What Is an Arminian?" Answered by a Lover of Free Grace
by John Wesley

memorable quotes from The Jerk

2011-08-04T11:03:00.000-05:00

, and that's all I need... And these matches. - The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball... And this lamp. - The ashtray, this paddle game, and the remote control, and the lamp, and that's all *I* need. And that's *all* I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one... I need this.

For one dollar I'll guess your weight, your height, or your sex.

[singing] I'm picking out a Thermos for you. Not an ordinary Thermos for you. But the extra best Thermos that you can buy, with vinyl and stripes and a cup built right in.

At Howard's - July 19th 2011

2011-07-20T06:51:00.000-05:00

Had a nice time at Howards Saturday night and Sunday -
the heat wave was just hitting us as we left Sunday - uf da!

howards_July7_17

2011 Badger State Feis - Milwaukee

2011-07-18T22:12:00.000-05:00

A great time at the Milwaukee Badger State Feis!

We missed having Meema with us - but she had a nice time with Uncle Howard and Auntie Julie and the kids! pictures from the farm to follow -

Nice drive down to Milwaukee - 329 miles - 660 miles round trip!

Very nice hotel - Hampton Inn in Brookfield

Lots of fun at feis - girls did will - Isabel placed 2nd in 2 of her 4 events, Selena placed 3rd in U12 Preliminary Champion level (2nd from the top competition level) in a group of 24 dancers! Sonja placed 4th in U14 Open Champion level (top competition level) in a group of 12 dancers!

Stopped at our favorite custard drive in in Milwaukee - Gille's - for our post feis tradition!

July 2011 Milwaukee Badger State Feis

Next up Des Moines in early August -

not thinking about playing

2011-07-14T22:17:00.000-05:00

This video was on a first take!
If I think too much about what I'm playing I goof up -

Just finished: Heart of Midlothian -

2011-07-10T08:47:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Scott's Heart of Midlothian - a story about a Scots family in the early 1700s -
for a quick thumbnail summary that does not give any of the story away:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heart_of_Midlothian

Effie Deans by John Everett Millais

The book has some interesting parallels to the current news story today revolving around this Casey Anthony woman.

Despite Scott's frequent charaterizations of Scottish Presbyterians he never seems to understand or apply the gospel of grace in their lives - rather generally following a philosophy of moralism or self-effort as the final means of redemption - instead of a Biblical gospel-focused redemption - redemption found outside of ourselves and in Christ.

Heart of Midlothian gives an interesting insight into middle class life and piety. His portrayal and comparison of Highland vs. Lowland Scots is interesting as well - Highlanders being portrayed as savages -

This novel started slowly, but once it got rolling it was very enjoyable. The crime/justice/police aspects of this novel reminded me of Les Miserables which might be worth re-reading to see if the similarities are really there.

Fantastic Fourth!

2011-07-05T19:16:00.000-05:00

We had a great time out at Uncle Reed and Auntie Barbara's yesterday on beautiful Bald Eagle Lake near White Bear Lake -

Some pictures:

fourthJuly2011

Thank you Reed and Barbara for such a nice time! We had a great time swimming, paddling around in a nifty paddle boat, Uncle Reed took us on a nice tour of the lake - it was a perfect day for boating -

We enjoyed a great meal at Manitou Station and a very relaxing evening out on lake -

TC Feile 2011

2011-06-19T08:13:00.005-05:00

A good day at the Twin Cities Feile yesterday - first feis of the summer and our first since back in March -

Sonja and Selena got to compete against each other in a special prize dance at the end of the day for the winners of each age group - it was a hoot seeing them go toe to toe!

Sonnie won U14 OC and Seesee won U12 PC! WOW!!!

Izzy had a good day too with 3 placements in her 5 competitions -

Meema is on the DL with plantar fasciitis, so she enjoyed the day as a spectator, being with her friends and icing her foot!

I was in accordion heaven - getting to have tunes with two of my favorite feis musician - Nick Shizas (below) and Michael Fitzpatrick -

The feile was also Carmen's first feis! Carmen won her competition, the U7 reel - It was great to see her dance and spend time with Frank and Maria and Gabby!

more mirrors

2011-06-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

I have brought home these 3 big mirrors home free from craigslist in the past couple weeks - the largest is 36x80 the other two are about 40x60 - I have one more large mirror to pick up on Monday night - isn't it wonderful what you can get on craigslist?!

Reading right now

2011-06-15T10:29:00.001-05:00

Summer of Scott II
I am reading Heart of Mid-Lothian - it's a thrilling true crime/courtroom drama set in early 1700s - this is book 7 of Scott's 26 novels -

Wikipedia article for Si Walter Scott:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Novels

Also enjoying re reading PG Wodehouse -so far this summer I've read:
Stiff upper lip Jeeves
Thank you Jeeves
Right ho Jeeves (Brinkley Mannor)

See full list of Jeeves books: http://real2007.blogspot.com/2007/05/light-summer-time-reading.html

Any one reading anything good?

Commenting active again

2011-06-15T10:10:00.000-05:00

Dear friends and family -
I
Have reactivated easy comment again in an effort to encourage more interaction - if you comment please include your name -

pics from the weekend

2011-06-14T06:39:00.002-05:00

Hi Dad -
here are some recent pics of your beautiful grand daughters -

june11th weekend

https://picasaweb.google.com/reed.munson/June11thWeekend#

tête-à-tête

2011-06-11T18:23:00.002-05:00

What a difference 2 helpers makes! We were able to repaint our deck side by side chair in just one day!

all pictures at: https://picasaweb.google.com/reed.munson/TetATet

tomatoes are in

2011-06-08T06:33:00.002-05:00

A wonderful gardening friend from church had some beautiful tomato plants left over from her planting - she starts her plants from seeds - super healthy plants! Izzy, Meema and Sese helped me put them in where we took the perennials from in the back of the house -

craigslist score!

2011-06-07T21:32:00.001-05:00

I found this great 40"x72" mirror on craigslist this week! Score! Miranda asked, "Did they only have one?"

I'll mount it to the wall tomorrow -

garage irish dance floor

2011-06-04T22:09:00.001-05:00

Here's what I've been working on this past month:

garage dance floor

Perennial Favorites

2011-05-30T20:13:00.002-05:00

This year instead of dropping $50-$75 on annuals for the driveway boarder I decided to transplant various perennials from around the house and have a border I won't need to spend money on every year.

I used high and low sedums, low phlox, hostas, miniature day lillies, astors, black eyed susans, even some strawberries! --- should be quite the kaleidoscope of color! I'll move in some iris as well once they are done blooming -- I'm hoping the ground covers will crowd out the weeds!

Bases Loaded in Eleva! Memorial Day weekend 2011

2011-05-28T21:01:00.000-05:00

A fun time at Howard and Julie's for a Memorial Day gathering

HJsmemorialday2011

encouragement for learning the irish button box

2011-05-19T09:09:00.000-05:00

Hi Jill -
Thanks for your note - yes - the debate over b/c vs. c#/d is very interesting --
I have only ever known the b/c system and for me it is very fluid, flowing, smooth and easy -- I don't know much about the c#/d system but to me, I would think mainly living in one row in
tunes in the key of D for example - would start to get a bit overly much on the constant push/pull -- I'm not sure - a c#/d layout probably has advantages in certain keys - and the b/c layout has advantages in other keys - it all probably works out to be a wash in the end --

I started playing back in the spring of 2007 - I am self taught - the box is very easy to learn if you are patient with yourself - it's basically a matter of developing muscle memory for what notes are push and what notes are pull.

My method for learning tunes is to get the dots and then read the tune from the music, practice the tune a lot - you will memorize the tune fairly quickly - but I find it helps having that visual connection between the notes on the page and the process of developing the mental muscle memory of push/pull -- eventually you will develop an instinctual connection between your brain your ear and your hands and you will start to just feel where the note should be --

Physical aches and pains are normal - do not be alarmed - the more you play the more pain you have initially and the stronger you get -- the stronger you get the less you are effected by muscle aches and pains --

With that in mind however, I believe that a small light 2 voice is easier to play and you can make faster progress -- if you are tempted to get into a larger 3 or 4 voice box definitely give the box a good week long trial before you buy it so you can see how different it is...

If you see me this summer when you're up in the cities please say hi! I tend to go to the Friday night session more than the Sunday night session -

Take care,
Reed

Golden Living performance

2011-05-05T21:44:00.000-05:00

We had a nice performance at an assisted living home right near by today in Bloomington - Golden Living Center -

The even have a resident therapy dog!

a couple new vids - Irish Dancemaster

2011-04-30T21:24:00.000-05:00

Irish button accordion maker Michael Usui down at Irish Dancemaster will be taking my Cairdin mini in for tuning and he very generously is loaning me one of his 21 button Irish Dancemasters to use while he is working on my mini -

My first box was a similar 21 button Dancemaster - I really liked that box but decided to trade it after being bit by the Red Paolo bug -

It is a joy to be back on a Dancemaster - the keyboard action is lightened and the buttons are lower - I am very happy with the keyboard action - buttons depress just to flush with the keyboard surface - not below -

The sound on this box is very nice - Michael tuned the Binci's demi-swing - tuning is very consistent up and down -

If my mini can come back sounding as good as this Dancemaster I will be very happy.

Spring update - 4/18/11

2011-04-18T13:23:00.000-05:00

Hello All!
We just got back from MACHE - usually a harbinger of spring - unfortunately this year we had bitter cold and 4 inches of snow! Thankfully we were able to park in a garage and didn't have to deal with scraping.

Mache was good - there were the requisite number of speakers with southern accents to lend the air of credibility these types of conferences require. My favorite speaker was a woman who talked about Charlotte Mason philosophies. In her descriptions of what Charlotte Mason recommended I recognized a lot of what my mom instilled in us in our childhood - instilling good character habits and observing nature.

We are winning an ongoing rebellion in our household. The garage has been occupied territory for the past month or so and offensive rebel clutter has been dealt with. The girls are helping with mopping up exercises -- we bought a new mop - it works well. After completing mopping the floors I plan to move things into their correct places on the car side of the garage -- only the minivan will be allowed in the garage until next November.

The other side of the garage will be a 12'x20' dance floor. I'm hoping to start bringing home the needed 2x4s and 3/4" plywood this week...

It was a great feeling getting rid of a lot of clutter!

best song for spring

2011-03-19T17:39:00.000-05:00

This is a fine spring morning
It's everywhere for us to share
Just look what a fine spring morning can do
I've got a brand new feeling
When I think twice it's awful nice
I hope everybody is feeling it too
Bees are getting busier
Birds are getting dizzier
Little girls & boy are getting quizzier
Songs are getting singier
Butterflies are wingier
And sure as shootin' spring is getting springier
So on this fine spring morning
My hearts resigned
Made up my mind
To spend every fine spring morning with you
Say I've seen a lot of mornings
The sunshine glows
A rooster crows
But this is my first spring morning in love
So if this young girls fancy
Gets out of hand
Please understand
It's just that this young girls fancy is love
Kids are getting cozier
Neighbors getting nosier
Bulls are getting more & more bulldozier
Bums are getting bummier
Chums are getting chummier
And yummy looking girls are getting yummier
Some of these fine spring mornings
Were going to be a family
And spend every fine spring morning
In love

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-18T13:28:00.000-05:00

We had a busy day yesterday, Thursday March 17th - the girls performed at Auntie Wendi's school in St. Paul in the morning, then on to downtown Minneapolis for 2 shows over the lunch hour at the IDS building. Next, the dancers performed in the afternoon at the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul - the annual Irish music and dance showcase -

Tonight we have a family performance up at a retirement community here in Burnsville -

Tomorrow we are going to Riverdance! Auntie Barbara (Reed's Barbara) is taking the girls! We have never seen the show live - very exciting!

Next week we have family performances on Thursday and Friday -

triumph of evolution!

2011-03-15T16:57:00.000-05:00

Just finished a great book - The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard -

Tells the account of Teddy Roosevelt's adventure descending an unknown river in the interior of Brazil.

Roosevelt ran for a 3rd term as president in 1912 and after the election defeat he looked for a release from the disappointment of the campaign. In his usual fashion, he chose a strenuous expedition to redirect his focus from his disappointment and instead concentrate on accomplishing a new challenge.

Millard does a good job of retelling TR's account he published for Scribner's after the completion of the expedition - but in a scholarly manner, she uses the diaries and letters of those involved in the expedition to tell the inside story of the expedition.

I highly recommend this book for arm chair adventurers everywhere! It will encourage you to face the challenges of the great outdoors, learning from others' misfortunes to prevent your own.

Millard confidently asserts her beliefs of evolutionary science and its cruel oppression of any organism not suited to life in the cruel Amazon. In addition, Millard details the time lines necessary to provide adequate chance for the plants and insects of the Amazon to suitably evolve to the levels of diversity and complexity.

Some readers will skim over Millard's scientific assertions and stick to the relevant points she makes through her research into the lives of Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt and the members of the American Brazilian Amazon Expedition of 1913/14.

media coverage Wisconsin situation

2011-03-11T08:33:00.000-06:00

Hello friends and family -
I know a few people stop by and look at my blog - you might be amused by my ramblings but I want to make note of how the media is ignoring the hate from the Democrats and the unions and the union supporters -- were conservatives or Tea Party members responsible for such a death threat letter you can believe that the media would be covering this and looking into it and decrying the lack of civility in the tone of public discourse -- but because this is a death threat letter from one of their own, from a pro Democrat source - it is conveniently ignored or brushed under the rug.

Read and hear the voice of the Democrats and union supporters in Wisconsin:

from:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/you-will-die-read-the-shocking-e-mail-sent-to-wis-gop-senators/

‘YOU WILL DIE!!!!’: Shocking E-Mail Sent to Wis. GOP Senators

* Posted by Asst Natl Dir Mellie B on March 10, 2011 at 11:42am in Patriot Action Alerts
* View Discussions

* Posted on March 10, 2011 at 11:21am by Jonathon M. Seidl Jonathon M. Seidl

The following is a shocking, scary e-mail sent to Wisconsin GOP senators last night at around 9:30 pm, shortly after the Senate passed an anti-union bill. Not only does the e-mail threaten the senators with death, but it also vows “your familes [sic] will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks.”

Local station WTMJ in Milwaukee obtained the e-mail, and has redacted the sender’s name pending an investigation by the police (emphasis added):

From: XXXX
Sent: Wed 3/9/2011 9:18 PM
To: Sen.Kapanke; Sen.Darling; Sen.Cowles; Sen.Ellis; Sen.Fitzgerald; Sen.Galloway; Sen.Grothman; Sen.Harsdorf; Sen.Hopper; Sen.Kedzie; Sen.Lasee; Sen.Lazich; Sen.Leibham; Sen.Moulton; Sen.Olsen
Subject: Atten: Death threat!!!! Bomb!!!!

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in
the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me
have decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and the people that
support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing
with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand
for it any longer. So, this is how it’s going to happen: I as well as many
others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of public records.
We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a
nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn’t leave
it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the
message to you since you are so “high” on Koch and have decided that you are
now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a
demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed
in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent.
This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won’t
tell you all of them because that’s just no fun. Since we know that you are
not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided
to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it’s
necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making
them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families
and themselves then We Will “get rid of” (in which I mean kill) you. Please
understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked
everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel
that it’s worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives
of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and
say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!

WTMJ confirmed police are investigation several death threats, including the e-mail above.

Wisconsin GOP senators were told toe flee the Capitol almost immediately after their vote because police told them “it was not safe.”

back to business

2011-02-27T19:16:00.000-06:00

Now that my accordion is back from the tuner I can get back to more important things:

I'm sore from playing so much!
We have 4 family shows this month - the folks will be getting an good dose of box!

Follow the money - what do Union dues buy?

2011-02-25T06:30:00.000-06:00

How Public Unions Force Taxpayers To Fund Dems

By MICHAEL BARONE
Posted 02/23/2011 06:57 PM ET

Everyone has priorities. During the past week, Barack Obama has found no time to condemn the attacks that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has launched on the Libyan people.

But he did find time to be interviewed by a Wisconsin TV station and weigh in on the dispute between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the state's public employee unions. Walker was staging "an assault on unions," he said, and added that "public employee unions make enormous contributions to our states and our citizens."

Enormous contributions, yes — to the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign. Unions, most of whose members are public employees, gave Democrats some $400 million in the 2008 election cycle. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the biggest public employee union, gave Democrats $90 million in the 2010 cycle.

Follow the money, Washington reporters like to say. The money in this case comes from taxpayers, present and future, who are the source of every penny of dues paid to public employee unions, who in turn spend much of that money on politics, almost all of it for Democrats.

In effect, public employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic Party. So, just as the president complained in his 2010 State of the Union address about a Supreme Court decision that he feared would increase the flow of money to Republicans, he also found time to complain about a proposed state law that could reduce the flow of money to Democrats.

And, according to the Washington Post, to get the Democratic National Committee to organize protests against the proposed Wisconsin law. Protests that showed contempt for the law, with teachers abandoning classrooms, doctors writing phony medical excuses, Democratic legislators fleeing the state and holing up in a motel. The lawmakers played hooky without losing any salary, which is protected by the state constitution.

It's true that Walker's proposals would strike hard at the power of the public employee unions. They would no longer have the right to bargain for fringe benefits, which are threatening to bankrupt the state government, and they would no longer be able to count on government withholding dues money and passing it along to them.

But what are the contributions that public employee unions make to our states and our citizens? Their incentives are to increase the cost of government and reduce down toward zero the accountability of public employees — both contrary to the interests of taxpaying citizens.

An argument can be made that higher pay, generous benefits and lavish pensions will attract better people to public employment. But where are the studies that show that citizens of states with strong public employee unions get better services than citizens in states without?

What citizens of states with strong public employee unions do get are higher taxes and enormous pension burdens that threaten to squeeze out funds for ongoing services, as even Democratic governors such as Andrew Cuomo of New York and Jerry Brown of California have figured out.

That's why one of the great 20th-century presidents was against unions for public employees who have civil service protections. No, not Ronald Reagan. It was Franklin Roosevelt who said, "Action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."

So while the Wisconsin unions are defying the law, Scott Walker is in effect following FDR's lead — and if he's successful, others may follow. That would be an enormous blow to the money power of the public employee union bosses.

Public opinion seems to be with the Republicans. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that 48% of voters support Walker, while only 38% support the unions.

This seems to be a sharp reversal of opinion over the last five years. Back in 2005, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sponsored a series of ballot propositions that would have reduced the power of the state's public employee unions. The unions spent something like $100 million — all of it derived from taxpayers — on TV ads, and all the propositions were defeated.

Now hard economic times have left voters wondering why public employees pay practically zero toward their health insurance and pensions when they have to pay plenty themselves. Wisconsin, which led the nation on civil service a century ago and on welfare reform in the 1990s, may be showing the nation the way ahead once again.

difference between public and private unions

2011-02-23T20:54:00.000-06:00

Op-Ed Columnist New York Times
Make Everybody Hurt
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: February 21, 2011

Over the past few weeks we’ve begun to see the new contours of American politics. The budget cutters have taken control of the agenda, while government’s defenders are waging tactical retreats. Given the scope of the fiscal problems, it could be like this for the next 10 or 20 years.

No place is hotter than Wisconsin. The leaders there have done everything possible to maximize conflict. Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, demanded cuts only from people in the other party. The public sector unions and their allies immediately flew into a rage, comparing Walker to Hitler, Mussolini and Mubarak.

Walker’s critics are amusingly Orwellian. They liken the crowd in Madison to the ones in Tunisia and claim to be fighting for democracy. Whatever you might say about Walker, he and the Republican majorities in Wisconsin were elected, and they are doing exactly what they told voters they would do. It’s the Democratic minority that is thwarting the majority will by fleeing to Illinois. It’s the left that has suddenly embraced extralegal obstructionism.

Still, let’s try to put aside the hyperventilation. Everybody now seems to agree that Governor Walker was right to ask state workers to pay more for their benefits. Even if he gets everything he asks for, Wisconsin state workers would still be contributing less to their benefits than the average state worker nationwide and would be contributing far, far less than private sector workers.

The more difficult question is whether Walker was right to try to water down Wisconsin’s collective bargaining agreements. Even if you acknowledge the importance of unions in representing middle-class interests, there are strong arguments on Walker’s side. In Wisconsin and elsewhere, state-union relations are structurally out of whack.

That’s because public sector unions and private sector unions are very different creatures. Private sector unions push against the interests of shareholders and management; public sector unions push against the interests of taxpayers. Private sector union members know that their employers could go out of business, so they have an incentive to mitigate their demands; public sector union members work for state monopolies and have no such interest.

Private sector unions confront managers who have an incentive to push back against their demands. Public sector unions face managers who have an incentive to give into them for the sake of their own survival. Most important, public sector unions help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.

As a result of these imbalanced incentive structures, states with public sector unions tend to run into fiscal crises. They tend to have workplaces where personnel decisions are made on the basis of seniority, not merit. There is little relationship between excellence and reward, which leads to resentment among taxpayers who don’t have that luxury.

Yet I think Governor Walker made a strategic error in setting up this confrontation as he did. The debt problems before us are huge. Even in Wisconsin they cannot be addressed simply by taking on the public sector unions. Studies done in North Carolina and elsewhere suggest that collective bargaining only increases state worker salaries by about 5 percent or 6 percent. That’s not nearly enough to explain current deficits. There are many states without collective bargaining that still face gigantic debt crises.

Getting state and federal budgets under control will take decades. It will require varied, multipronged approaches, supported by broad and shifting coalitions. It’s really important that we establish an unwritten austerity constitution: a set of practices that will help us cut effectively now and in the future.

The foundation of this unwritten constitution has to be this principle: make everybody hurt. The cuts have to be spread more or less equitably among as many groups as possible. There will never be public acceptance if large sectors of society are excluded. Governor Walker’s program fails that test. It spares traditional Republican groups (even cops and firefighters). It is thus as unsustainable as the current tide of red ink.

Moreover, the constitution must emphasize transparent evaluation. Over the past weeks, Governor Walker increased expenditures to pump up small business job creation and cut them on teacher benefits. That might be the right choice, but if voters are going to go along with choices such as these, there is going to have to be a credible evaluation process to explain why some things are cut and some things aren’t.

So I’d invite Governor Walker and the debt fighters everywhere to think of themselves as founding fathers of austerity. They are not only balancing budgets, they are setting precedent for a process that will last decades. By their example, they have to create habits that diverse majorities can respect and embrace. The process has to be balanced. It has to make everybody hurt.
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on February 22, 2011, on page A25 of the New York edition.

And I'd be ok with unicameral leg. too!

2011-02-23T20:52:00.000-06:00

How unions think they're in charge

Patrick McIlheran
From Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Feb. 23, 2011 6:27 p.m. |(6) Comments

It's not about the money, say government unions protesting Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill, and are they so very right.

If it were just about money, they say, Walker would have declared victory when unions finally said state workers would pay something toward their own retirements, as state law requires, and that they'd pay more than approximately $80 a month for top-notch health coverage. Walker's got all he needs now to balance the budget, Senate Democrats said from their hideout in Illinois, yet the governor insists that unions lose their ability to bargain over benefits.

So, ah-ha, it's about more than concessions!

Well, yes. Walker had already said as much.

If state workers pay 5.8% of their wages toward pensions and cover 12.6% of their health premiums, it saves the state about $300 million in the next budget. That budget is $3.6 billion in deficit. Obviously, Walker needs more. About 57% of the state's budget is aid to cities, counties and school districts, and Walker already has warned that he'll cut such aid significantly. He says he'll give local governments "the tools" to cope without having to slash services.

The tool is the ability to change benefits without having to bargain it, something he says could save local governments about $1.44 billion in the next budget. Yes, this is about more than money: It's about who is in charge of local budgets.

How did it unfold that private-sector workers, saving for their own retirements via 401(k)s, absolved the public sector of any such burden? It is because unions won that spiff in contract talks, even as 76% of Wisconsinites told pollsters last summer that such a deal is unacceptable.

It's not just pensions. It's that the financially failing Milwaukee Public Schools were sued by a teachers union demanding that benefits cover Viagra. It's that the educationally failing MPS for years has found reforms blocked by union intransigence. It's that union work rules allowed one Madison bus driver to pull in $159,000 a year and that the majority of Wisconsin school districts find themselves stuck with overpriced health insurance from an affiliate of the teachers union.

These things didn't happen because public servants are greedy or lazy. Most are honest and diligent. It happened because, to a surprising degree, councils and boards and the voters who elect them are not in charge. Unions are.

Collective bargaining, says labor analyst James Sherk of the conservative Heritage Foundation, means that the people's elected officials are no longer the final word. Unions' deals determine budgets, and unions have every incentive to tilt policy further, expanding the scope of government. This is far different than in the private sector.

"Instead of bargaining over profits, you're bargaining over how much money you're going to take from taxpayers and give to the unions," he said. "And their answer is always more."

Don't dream of less: Milwaukee County Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo says the strapped county made money-saving changes in its last budget with non-union employees, "but we have been stonewalled by the unions every step of the way."

Unions respond to every cost-cutting overture in two ways, says Sanfelippo. They contend budget problems are exaggerated. Confronted with numbers, they reply, "just raise taxes," says Sanfelippo. "That's their answer to everything." Voters are boxed into a choice of paying more or getting less. Spending more frugally is never an option.

Now, the state is broke and aid will diminish. Unless local governments can freely make changes, they're ruined. County Board members, says Sanfelippo, want to look at a high-deductible health plan. He has proposed switching retirements to a 401(k)-style plan, which could save county taxpayers $130 million over 10 years. If it takes all this Capitol tumult to get unions to bend a little on pensions, what hope does a county have of later exerting enough leverage to win such further reforms?

The power to collectively bargain, says Sherk, "is all about the money." Bargaining and the price of government are entwined, he says, and it's why non-unionized states get government that's about 20% cheaper overall.

If Walker takes the concessions and calls it quits, that's the last change we'll get. We'll save a little for now, but unions will be expensively still in charge.

Patrick McIlheran is a Journal Sentinel editorial columnist who blogs at jsonline.com/blogs/mcilheran. E-mail pmcilheran@journalsentinel.com

just listen.

2011-02-22T21:08:00.002-06:00

Sounds reasonable. Any questions?

Truth - stranger than fiction

2011-02-21T20:49:00.002-06:00

One of my first M-TV favorite videos:

Rock the Casbah

The Clash - Combat Rock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAkfHShATKY

This video reminds me of what is going on in Libya - how about you?

Surprising support for Walker from comrades of the Left

2011-02-21T08:39:00.001-06:00

From the Wisconsin State Journal: 2/20/2011

Hands on Wisconsin: Public employee haircut

quoted from Sunday 2/20 Newspaper - Opinion Cartoonist Phil Hands -
I know this cartoon won't make me very popular, but that's ok. I didn't become an editorial cartoonist to win a popularity contest. I became an editorial cartoonist so that I could use my modest drawing skills to express my political viewpoint.

This debate over Gov. Scott Walker's budget bill has been difficult for me. I have progressive values. I believe in gay marriage, I believe in mass transit, I believe in global climate change, I believe in abortion rights, I believe in urban planning and I believe in a single payer health care system. But on the issue of public employee compensation and the role that their unions play in our government, I find myself siding with conservatives.

I don't have a problem with unions in the private sector. Private sector workers should have a chance to collectively bargain for a greater share of the profits they generate. While public sector workers perform valuable services that make society livable, they don't generate profits for the state government. When public sector unions negotiate, the entity on the other side of the collective bargaining table isn't some greedy corporation, it's us, the taxpayers.

I believe that public employees should be well compensated for the valuable work they do. In fact, exceptional public employees should be exceptionally compensated (something that most unions have fought against in favor of pay based on seniority). But like the rest of us in this economy public employees need to make sacrifices.

That is why I hope they will support the compromise of Republican Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, that the Wisconsin State Journal endorsed in an editorial today. Schultz's plan is the same as Walker's except that it calls for a sunset clause that would reinstate collective bargaining rights for public workers in 2013, after this budget crisis is presumably over.

Gov. Walker would be wise to accept this concession. Not doing so would only prove that his goal was never to balance the budget but to bust the unions. And, for the good of Wisconsin, public sector employees need to swallow their pride and be appeased by the sunset clause concession.

sucinctly speaking

2011-02-20T17:41:00.000-06:00

"The bill would require government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs and limit collective bargaining to pay increases less than the Consumer Price Index unless approved in a local referendum. Workers could not negotiate their benefits and working conditions. Unions could not force their workers to pay dues, and would face a vote every year to remain certified."

From: Wisconsin Republicans up pressure on Dems who fled state to return and vote on anti-union bill

Sounds good to me - how about you?

REALLY MAD ABOUT MADISON

2011-02-19T10:01:00.001-06:00

As a Christian, I'm trying not to be upset about the coming financial crisis - I'd rather be a quietest and just ignore/deny live in isolation from the world, but I realize that is not possible.

What makes me so mad about the situation in Wisconsin is the injustice of it - the governor asks for a reasonable concession and the unions and their members and supporters throw a temper tantrum the most hysterical, spoiled selfish brat would be impressed by.

Dennis Prager is right when he says, Being a liberal means never having to say you're sorry.

The arrogance of the Democrats in Madison - are they incapable of considering the other side of this issue? Will this be how government will operate now? The side that is likely to not get what they want will just not show up?

In brief here is what is wrong with state workers and unions:

State worker union collects dues from members (many who are forced to be in the union)
Union then spends this money getting pro-union politicians elected (Democrats)
Union then sits across the negotiation table with the politician they elected
And the union gets what they want

(good article on difference between public and private sector unions)

I am not a member of a union, but I am a part of the state retirement plan - the state withholds 5% and my employer matches that amount - this is a modest retirement plan - for health care benefits, I pay 17% of the health care premium.

What were the people who negotiated the contracts thinking? Were they just hoping that the state would be able to meet the contract obligations for paying benefits and retirement? I support Wisconsin Governor Walker and the Republicans for facing the music and admitting that the conditions of the contracts negotiated with state workers needs to change.

Why would the Democrats and unions stay in denial and continue to expect benefits and retirement plans that the state can not pay for? The selfish union members and Democrats would rather pass the debt onto future taxpayers (many of them their current students) than contribute a higher percentage of their wages for their retirement and health benefits.

In Minnesota I realize that we will be faced with similar decisions in our legislature - I'm aware that my benefit contribution percentages will be looked at -- am I planning to walk of my job and spend days protesting?

just one year ago - Public salaries in the news:

2011-02-18T21:51:00.000-06:00

illustrative of state workers generous salary:

Madison Metro driver highest paid city employee

I would drive bus for $100K/year

Does the media always side with the protestor?

2011-02-18T17:00:00.000-06:00

Is this article objective or is there a bias in favor of one side or the other?

Is this straight down the middle or does it emphasize one side over the other?

Does this story present one side in a negative light and one side as a victim?

Read:

Wisconsin Democrats could stay away for weeks

For my Wisconsin friends

2011-02-17T17:41:00.003-06:00

ENJOLRAS
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

COMBEFERRE
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Courfeyrac:
Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!

ALL
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

FEUILLY
Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance
Some will fall and some will live
Will you stand up and take your chance?
The blood of the martyrs
Will water the meadows of France!

ALL
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

for the Wisconsin protestors

the winter of our discount tent

2011-02-10T08:22:00.002-06:00

This pretty much sums up our winter here in the Twin Cities.

a couple more...

2011-02-09T09:15:00.000-06:00

graphite/charcoal

or perhaps pretty in puce?

while waiting...

2011-02-08T19:22:00.000-06:00

some ideas for different grille cloth color...

what the Cairdin looks like in real life:

someone just like me...

2011-02-07T22:12:00.001-06:00

I heard about this guy on one of my favorite radio shows - The Story - this evening. He got obsessed with the Faroe Islands so he started a blog and eventually a podcast about the Faroe Islands.

The Faroes are an outpost of ancient Viking civilization - their language is based off old Norse - essentially the same language our Viking forefathers spoke -

The Faroe Islands are halfway between the Scottish Isles and Iceland

I read about the Faroes recently in a book titled Voyage of the Brendan - an interesting account of some fellows from Ireland who decided to recreated the famous voyage of Saint Brendon -

Sounds like a neat place! Reminds me of my fascination with the Pitcarin Islands after reading Mutiny on the Bounty. The Faroes would be easier to get to though -

latest tune

2011-02-05T16:21:00.002-06:00

update: 2-5-11

2011-02-05T09:51:00.000-06:00

Hello friends and readers -
I appologize for not being very posty lately - here's what I've been up to -

I have been following the Egypt situation - it is very interesting to watch this event in the historical light of what occurred in Iran in 1979 --

The media predictably takes the side of the demonstrators and portrays them as a huddled masses yearning to breathe free and a democracy movement --

I am of the opinion that representative democracy can not exist without a foundation of respect for private property which is the essence of personal freedom. In Egypt's case, here is a society that has always existed under a strong central authoritarian state. Only a strong central authoritarian state can govern this society. To imagine that suddenly overnight an understanding of the freedoms of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness should permeate the entire society of Egypt?

Yes, I agree that a repressive corrupt government is wrong - but it is fantasy to believe that it can be replaced overnight with representative democracy.

It's just a fantasy
It's not the real thing
Sometimes a fantasy is all you need
-Billy Joel

For too long we have believed the fantasy that freedom and democracy is ubiquitous and can exist anywhere and everywhere - like crabgrass or Coca-Cola or McDonalds -

In certain places, monarchy is the best fit, in others a centralized government, in others representative democracy.

The reality is that we do not live in a representative democracy here in the United States - we live in a centralized authoritarian state. Most of the globe is under the authority of benevolent centralized authoritarian governments. It appears that people prefer to be under a benevolent welfare state where the central government redistributes wealth and provides for all - rather than the cold hard social Darwinism of capitalism.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
How is a Christian to live in such a world?

Hear on NPR -

2011-01-28T06:03:00.000-06:00

Interesting article on proposed ending of Corporation for Public Broadcasting - Obama's deficit commissioners advise ending all CPB, PTFP support by 2015

http://currentpublicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/11/presidents-commission-advises-ending.html

I will admit, I enjoy the programming on NPR talk/news side despite it's blatant bias - the classical radio side I'm not so much of a fan of anymore - their hosts and the music they play don't do it for me as a music listener.

my favorite radio listening is on Jazz 88.5 fm on Saturdays - how would they survive if CPB were no longer around?

Well, they would have to go to the web or satellite radio - they might need to hustle some advertisements, but I believe there is enough of an audience that people would listen to a web stream version of the programming you hear on Saturdays on Jazz 88.5

I realize CPB is a drop in the bucket but it is a very conspicuous tax funded program - anyone have any other ideas where we could save money in our state and federal budgets?

getting up to speed with the mini

2011-01-22T21:54:00.000-06:00

a set of jigs I've recorded before just to give you a sense of comparison for how the new box sounds -

a couple reels -

2011-01-15T19:19:00.004-06:00

getting used to the new box -
two reels - Phylis' Birthday followed by Cape Breton Fiddler's welcome to Scotland

hoping to add the basses soon --

first vid on the Cairdin

2011-01-14T22:32:00.003-06:00

If my big red Paolo is like a Cadillac this little box is like a small sports car!

this box has a "dry" modern/jazzy sound as opposed to the more old-timey proper accordion sound of the big Paolo --

a new arrival!

2011-01-13T13:14:00.000-06:00

not a cat... not a dog...

but another accordion!

The Cairdin Mini Deluxe 21 button b/c tuned Irish button accordion - joins my Paolo Soprani and a piano accordion that is waiting for one of the girls to take up soon!

The girls are tickled with the new Cairdin because it's a lot smaller/lighter and will be something they can play when I'm not home --

National Public Radio (NPR) to be unfunded in 2011

2011-01-04T13:14:00.000-06:00

Please contact your legislator today and encourage them to eliminate funding for National Public Radio from the upcoming 2011 Federal Budget - replacing taxpayer funded broadcasting with commercial programming that the free market determines - instead of the 12 greatest classical hits played ad nauseam we could have exciting music like this!

some pics of Ginger Snap -

2011-01-03T20:12:00.000-06:00

Sledding at H&J's!

2010-12-31T15:20:00.004-06:00

December 29 - trans continental snow path completed!

2010-12-29T20:13:00.000-06:00

Yesterday and today we worked on a path from the front of the house by the driveway, around the side of the house, all the way back to the deck, up the stairs and across the deck.

Now Seamus will be able to patrol the yard much more effectively - having a proper path through the snow -

We will be able to go out the back of the house through the deck door now - as long as we keep the path shoveled -

Cutest dog ever

2010-12-26T21:16:00.000-06:00

This little guy stole our hearts at the Evenson's this weekend - meet General

Christmas in Mabel

2010-12-25T10:25:00.000-06:00

a couple clips from the weekend!

2010-12-21T06:50:00.000-06:00

Enjoy!

Things that make me happy: Blossom Dearie

2010-12-15T06:19:00.000-06:00

I first recognized Blossom Dearie as the voice from the School House Rock cartoons from my Saturday morning childhood - I quickly learned that she is one of the most talented jazz singers to perform the American Songbook -

Here's a funny tune we heard recently on Radio Deluxe (a great jazz radio program)

Read along with the lyrics - they're very funny -

Snownomi 2010 - remarkable story

2010-12-14T06:14:00.001-06:00

Car falls 50 feet off snow-filled bridge - driver survives:
Driver hurt in U.S. 52 bridge plunge - Pioneer Press 12/14/10

Like something I would have done --

2010-12-12T17:40:00.003-06:00

Have you ever done something where you thought to yourself, this might not work out so well...

Think how the people in charge of snow removal must have felt when this happened!

OOOOOPS-SI-DAISY!

yeah, we got a lot of snow...

2010-12-12T10:17:00.002-06:00

Before:

After:

Metrodome roof fails to survive the night; NFL, Vikings now trying to find place to play