Takin' the Blog for a Walk

Today was the Fourth Annual Worldwide Day of Play, as if I needed a legitimate excuse to go hot air ballooning. Really, any excuse will do when it comes to crewing.

Crewing was a bit different this morning. The dark sky was calm and clear at six this morning so I knew the flight would be good. Two balloons launched with passengers at sunrise in the northwest corner of Waukesha County and headed northwest through Washington County. The balloon we were chasing had pretty good speed, (we clocked it at 40 mph when it was overhead,) and it wasn't long before it entered Dodge County.

Without a Dodge County map, we relied on the pilot for directions over the two-way. The terrain is hilly, wooded or planted with few roads criss-crossing so, over an hour into the flight, we were all looking for a place to land. The later it got the windier it became, and they're almost to Horicon! Geese are surrounding the balloon! I'm starting to imagine what it would be like to take it down in the marsh when, luckily, the pilot found an accessible cut field by the road to land in.

Worldwide Day of Play is designed to get kids motivated. I had all the motivation I could stand when that basket came down about 10 mph, bouncing along the field with three people inside, me chasing behind trying to slow it down. Pretty exciting for me and everyone else.

We had plenty of time to get to know the passengers on the long trip home in the van, made even longer by a trailer tire blowout. Very nice, friendly couple were celebrating his 60th birthday. He just arrived home from a 22 hour car trip from NC the night before and must have been exhausted at 5:00 a.m. when the phone rang to go ballooning. I'm sure he'll remember this birthday for years to come. 

An hour long laser light show set to clasic rock music for $4.00? At Retzer Nature Center? In the Planetarium? I couldn't believe it either. I heard about it after I picked up the Horwitz Planetarium event schedule while at Apple Harvest Fest. They made it sound good. "The Legends of Rock and Roll" Special Event. "Join us for a sound and laser light show experience featuring Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Van Halen, ZZ Top, Pink Floyd & more."

I didn't know what to expect because it was so unlike a planetarium. I've never known the facility to be used for anything other than stargazing. My feeling was they were going to sneak some stars in there somewhere and there probably wasn't a real laser. Wrong! This was the most exciting laser light show since Blue Oyster Cult. Only there wasn't one laser - there were two.

We must have listened to and watched 20 songs, almost every one by a different band. The digital sound was great and the colors and choreography wonderful. The comfortable chairs relaxing.

The planetarium doesn't own the laser, it was renting it for shows during Apple Fest this last weekend. The laser rock show tonight was the last time it will be used before going back, but may be rented in the future.

The next real planetarium show is Thurs. Oct. 4th at 7:00 p.m. The program marks the 50th anniversary of Sputnik and, like the excellent movie I saw Sunday "In the Shadow of the Moon," reviews the history of the space program and the space race with the Russians to the moon. The program will be followed by an outdoor public skywatch. There's about 11 different programs and 6 public skywatches listed in the latest planetarium brochure, all of them interesting, but none as unique as tonight's laser show.

I couldn't imagine better weather than we had here for the last day of summer Saturday. Golden delicious! The delicious weather brought out thousands of people to Retzer Nature Center's 21st Annual Apple Harvest Festival. I was real glad to see the people too, even though it made for more work for me in the food tent, because some things are just too good to not share.

I must've poured a hundred cups of cider, constantly moving to restock all beverages, and never got stung by a yellow jacket, (wish some of the young kids in attendance could say the same.) Besides a game of tag with the yellow jackets, the children's craft area, scarecrow display and musicians were very popular. The wagon ride had a long line as did the apple pie area.

I guess one could judge the success of the fest by how much was left at the end. I really don't know what all was left at the end because I wasn't there and didn't ask, but in my brief survey of the situation I noticed the apple pie slices were gone, the cider sold out and the 62 varieties of apples down to about 12. And I was thinking about purchasing 4 gallons of cider!

I would've loved to help clean up after the festival ended at 5:00, but I put in my three hours and hot air balloons were calling. Since this is my first year regularly hot air crewing, I'm not sure how long the season lasts, or if there even is a season. I was just happy to have the opportunity to help on the last day of summer.

Crewing went just as great as Apple Fest. A total of four balloons launched together in Monches and floated an hour toward north east to touch down in Hubertus. An ultralight fly-in was going on in the area and they seemed to have the time of their lives flitting around the four huge colorful balloons. The hilly wooded area around Holy Hill, where we were chasing, is starting to get really pretty with the new color in the trees. It was a joy to be there and it was nice to be needed. It was nice to be needed there. My family understands.

It turns out the couple who went up in our balloon were celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary that very day. A huge surprise. Scheduling around the weather and availability usually means flights don't necessarily go up when you'd like. Sometimes a year or two can go by if there's many weather cancellations. So we see a lot of first-time fliers but not a lot of birthdays or anniversaries unless by chance. This one was their anniversary. I don't know how they planned it that way.

I gave away a ring; a finger rosary actually. I was given the ring 21 years ago by my sponsor on the occasion of my adult confirmation. A few years ago, when I sponsored a teen in his confirmation, I gave the ring to him. I asked if he could keep it going by giving it to someone if he's a sponsor. So there's no telling where the ring, given to me by Pat and Maria, will end up.

Besides doing whatever we think we should to keep a candidate on the right path, there is usually not a lot for a sponsor to do after confirmation. This could explain why I've only seen my candidate once since confirmation, at the funeral of his mom. If I felt he was the kind of kid that needed more than just my prayers, I would've done a better job of keeping in touch.

I chose to ask Pat and Maria to sponsor my confirmation even though I didn't know them. I saw their dedication to God and took that as enough of a sign. Getting their baby, Angela, ready and making it to 7:00 mass every day told me they knew something more about worship than I did.

As busy as I was working two jobs, it should be no surprise that I lost touch with my sponsors. I got married and had kids. Pat and Maria had another child. Then another. Another and another. Eight more children after Angela. I talked to them once by phone after reading Laurel Walker's 2002 column on the family but haven't seen them in 21 years. Until today.

Add reunions to the many benefits of quarterly St. Vincent De Paul breakfast meetings. I always enjoy seeing new prayer spaces and meeting new priests among the 26 parishes in Waukesha County the meetings rotate among. I knew Pat and Maria used to attend St. Luke's, today's destination, and found they still do. I was thrilled to see them and their beautiful children - of the eight girls and one boy they have, all but three girls were with them at the mass.

I was so thrilled to see them and meet the kids after all the years that I invited myself to their home, using the gift of an accordian as an excuse. I remembered Laurel mentioning their musical giftedness. I knew I had this instrument I'll never play taking up space in the basement, so I offered it to them.

I really wanted to take my whole family but only my oldest child complied. Their home, hidden in the woods, is beautiful. It's large and tidy and the girls were doing their homework on the kitchen table. The large accordian, almost as big as the youngest child, was passed around and Pat played a recognizable tune. We had a good visit.

Even though we haven't seen one another, Pat and Maria taught me a lot about family, faith and perseverance in the face of adversity. As if holding together a family of 11 wasn't enough, Maria suffered brain damage following the birth of her last child. She had gone into cardiac arrest after doctors couldn't locate the source of internal bleeding. When I last saw her she was a new mom breast-feeding a dependent baby Angela. Today she is a still a wonderful mom, but now is more dependent on her children. All nine of them.

I learned valuable lessons about family and faith from Pat and Maria which I hope to pass along to the next generation. This year I was asked to be a catechist for teens preparing for confirmation, and I gladly accepted. I'll be there to ask and answer questions, and I know they'll have lots of questions. There's 150 of them the kids have to answer before confirmation next spring! I might be able to help.

If you attempted to donate blood last week after I mentioned the extremely low supply, I thank you. A lot more blood is needed for leukemia patients than you'd think. I'm so thankful no one in my family suffers from leukemia.

I suppose Tim, the 18 year old leukemia patient I've mentioned several times, is fortunate he is still alive. Lance Armstrong survived cancer and went on to win 7 Tour de Frances in a row so there is hope for a strong athlete like Tim. Tim recently was offered a Make-a-Wish grant and could have chosen many fun things that would've made for great memories. Instead he chose to attend UWM for two years on Make-a-Wish. He started just a few weeks ago and things were progressing nicely.

As seems to be the case with leukemia, if it's not one thing it's another. The drug that was helping him survive chemo, steroids, were slowly deteriorating his bones. I'm printing another exerpt from his mom which appeared on the cancer patient support website Caringbridge.org. It just helps to know of the need for blood products.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 01:05 PM, CDT
This is a very hard entry for me to write. Tim has been given the biggest blow since being diagnosed with leukemia. He was told yesterday that he will never be able to run again. The Avascular Necrosis has done so much damage to his hips that he needs to have surgery. The doctor is going to drill a hole in the neck of his femur to try to get blood supply to his right hip. He is also going to smooth out the ball and add some cadaver bone to the head of the femur. It is a three hour operation. He will be on crutches, no weight bearing on that leg for at least three months. If this procedure works, then he will do the left hip sometime in January or February.

I did ask the doctor if it could wait until after the semester was done but he said he didn't want Tim doing more damage to his hips by walking on them for that length of time. Tim decided to have the surgery as soon as possible. He has decided to take a year off of school and start again in September 2008. Surgery is scheduled for September 24th. He will be in the hospital for three days. I plan to take the week off and possibly two weeks from work.

I'll write more when I can think straight and not cry.

Duane Dudek, film critic for the Journal Sentinel, wrote a great article yesterday on one of the Milw. Int'l Film Fest's films, "The Pool," a movie by a Milw. director set in India. He made it sound so appealing. Unfortunately I can't go, I'm going to a different film this Sunday night.

I scored a nice gold-colored ticket to Sunday's Times Cinema showing of "In the Shadow of the Moon." It's a UK film on the American Space Race featuring "fascinating interviews and astonishing space shots." "Watch for the shot in which the capsule soars away into a vast darkness, the Earth looming into view." The director calls it "the greatest space sequence I have ever seen." I'm looking forward to it.

In the great scheme of things, a piercing is way down on the list of things to worry about. So why am I so concerned? My son wants to get a pierced ear, and if I don't get my way he will. I don't know what's worse; my son getting his ear pierced or doing it even after I said no. So what's my problem? A lot of high school guys have piercings. Well, for one, my son already is good looking (takes after me) and doesn't wear other jewelry. Secondly, a lot of high school guys have piercings - if he wants to be different, as he says, then he needs to do something else. I feel he just doesn't have the right reason.

I've been talking to other people on this topic and am interested in your opinion. Do we allow it because he could be doing a lot worse? Or do we make him wait another year until he's 18? Do you have personal experience, an opinion or a story? EMail me at howlinblog@yahoo.com

The Fifth Annual Milwaukee International Film Festival begins this week on the 20th. The ten day festival is loaded with interesting foreign and American shorts and feature length films. Among the theaters showing films are; UWM Union, Times Cinema, Oriental, Downer, Discovery World and Milw. Art Museum. The Art Museum is showing at least 20 shorts and three documentaries, plus it will be hosting the opening night gala on Thurs. the 20th from 8:30 to 11:30.

Several of the films sound interesting, "Cashback", "Kurt Cobain About a Son", and "In the Shadow of the Moon" to name a few. While there are a couple I wouldn't waste my time on; "Super Kitten and the Great Cheese Robbery" and "I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With," both from Illinois.

I've thought about doing the film fest other years but never have. Maybe this will be the year. General admission tickets are $9.00.

There will be over 60 varieties of apples, not counting the music group Apple Jam, at the 21st Annual Apple Harvest Festival this Saturday the 22nd at Retzer Nature Center. In my last blog I mentioned that I'd happily grill for a big crowd again. I may get another chance as I'll be volunteering in the food tent from 11:30 to 2:30.

Apple Fest is the one time of the year that admission is charged at Retzer, and the $5.00 per car is well worth the money. There are crafts for kids going on all day. Horsedrawn hayrides from 11:00 to 3:00. Plenty of other entertainment plus vendors selling natural and handmade crafts and food. My favorite is the apple cider which is sold at a decent price, and the very large apples which I purchase individually to get the most variety.

If the weather is poor Saturday, come right out to Retzer. If the weather is nice Saturday, finish mowing the lawn, then come out to Retzer. Apple Fest is running 9:00 till 5:00. Retzer is at S14-W28167 Madison St. (Take Madison St. straight west from Waukesha until it ends at Retzer.)

Stop in for a piece of pie and say hi.

Went to two North football home games against Mukwonago this week. Thursday was my child's first home game of the year in freshman football, and he played most of the game; offense and defense.

I went to Friday's varsity game at North to work concessions. Temperatures were close to fifty with lots of wind but I had the ideal job. Even though I dressed very warm, I didn't have to worry because I helped work the grilles. It was the first time the three grillers had worked concessions and we did well thanks to good instruction and preparation. We never made people wait for food and we didn't have too much left over.

I saw football from a different perspective Friday than from the stands Thursday. The end result was the same - North fell to Mukwonago - but at least North Football Boosters won with $1500.00 cleared from concessions. Grilling for the large crowd was a challenge I would be happy to repeat. It was fun.

I saw a group of Buddhist monks enter Peking House Restaurant on Grandview Wednesday night. I knew they were in town from William Meyer's photo in the Journal Sentinel a day earlier. Tibetan Buddhist monks were creating a mandala sand painting at WCTC and the public was invited to see the painting or take part in the closing ceremony.

Loaded with blessings and prayer for personal health and healing, the mandala was auspiciously created on 9/11 by ten monks over a total of about 24 hours. WCTC was the right place for this event because it was educational and entertaining. Plus there's a pond on campus. Water is necessary for the last ritual, the dispersal of the sand.

There were many open minds in the Student Lounge during the final blessings and prayers and, though there were periods of singing, drumming and blowing of loud, ten foot horns, there were also solemn moments of chanting. I prayed my cell didn't ring. Actually, I didn't hear any cell ring, which was very good because the chanting obviously requires concentration.

About an hour after the closing ceremony began, one of the monks slowly began taking down the three foot wide round mandala sand painting. After all the colored sand was swept into the middle of the table the monks distributed half to the audience in plastic bags, a prayerful reminder of healing made more meaningful by this week's 9/11 anniversary. The rest of the sand was placed in a container to be poured into the pond.

Several of us processed behind the monks and the ten foot horns, past students eating lunch in the cafeteria, to outside. We stood across the pond from them while they concluded their prayers and watched while they dropped flowers in the water. The sand from the mandala is cast into flowing water to spread healing energy throughout the world, but it was so windy Thursday that I didn't see any of it hit the water. The sand was dispersed to the wind. So I ask; did you feel any different Thursday afternoon?

We're getting a new high efficiency furnace and air conditioner and Tom's Heating Service is here now to install it. We're fortunate that we didn't have to make a quick decision in the middle of winter, but with last week's heat we wanted something soon. (Today started out 50 degrees so we may need the heat before the A/C.) The price is more than we cared to spend but when both our estimates came in the same we felt a bit better about the money. We would have been comfortable with either Tom's Dependable, the Rheem dealer, or Tom's Heating, the Carrier dealer. Both are members of the BBB with spotless records.

We signed a contract with Tom's Dependable then changed our mind to stick with someone local like Tom's Heating from Waukesha. Tom's Dependable in Greenfield was highly recommended, but we were really impressed when Tom's Heating sent a technician out on short notice on a Sunday to get the A/C running. The tech lives just a few blocks away and was here in less than half an hour.

The outfits and costumes were large and colorful Sunday at Indian Summer. We sat in the sun watching the Grand Entry then joined in the circle dance with Native Americans and others. The food was very good. I had an Indian taco made with fry bread and a cup of wild rice soup. We enjoyed listening to Brule' perform. There was a very good turnout and the many shops selling wooden flutes, art, clothing, music and jewelery were crowded.

The dancers are wonderful! I enjoyed them last year and will see them again next. But the one new thing I enjoyed the most was trying to start a fire. Without matches or lighter. Notice I said trying. I really wanted to light that fire by spinning a basswood dowel against a second piece of basswood. I tried over and over but finally gave up in a pool of sweat. It was going to be a big ego boost - something I could brag about on my blog. The Native American instructor gave us a little folklore behind the first people to tame the flame and said it's the one thing that set us apart from other animals. Several people did start fire and were allowed to place their names on a big board. Because I didn't get a flame going, I limped away to join my animal friends in darkness and cold.

It's 3:00 a.m. and I'm too anxious to sleep. Too many things going on. Maybe if I blogged about it...

In two hours my phone will probably ring to go hot air balloon crewing. The grass is really wet in the morning and the mosquitos swarm around us when we're readying for a flight, but the days are getting shorter and I welcome any opportunity to go. Regularly crewing is one of the best things I've done with my swiftly-coming-to-a-close summer.

Yesterday morning we took an excited retired teacher up. She was simply following her dream, had already rode a motorcycle. Another thing to check off on her list of things she must do before she dies. Many of her fellow teachers, including the principal, chipped in for the flight and were there to see her go up. By the time they calmly landed on a residential street there were about seven cars following. One of them opened a tailgate and had a little breakfast party ready for everyone.

After ballooning this morning, my mom-in-law and I will drive east for the last ethnic festival of the year at the lakefront, Indian Summer. The non-denominational prayer ceremony will get us into the fest for free but the real incentive is to participate as a Native American. To learn more about Earth Mother, honoring ancestors, sacrifice and cleansing of the soul. There'll be much dancing, drumming, music, speeches and stories. Attending religious services at the many ethnic festivals is another of the best things I've done with my summer and I'm sad that the year is coming to a close.

I'm anxious to get going with this new blog tool we've heard about, and BrookfieldNOW's been using, for a month. It will allow readers' comments and dialog directly on my blog, and if it works right I should be able to add my own photos. It should have begun by now so I'm just waiting.

Still trying to get a new furnace and A/C. I signed a contract and scheduled the install with a highly recommended Rheem dealer then cancelled it after talking again with the Carrier dealer. Hopefully there will be resolution soon.

Looking forward to a tour tomorrow of the near half million sq. ft. Journal Sentinel printing plant in West Milwaukee. It'll be interesting to see how they produce 85,000 copies of the paper an hour, and it'll be nice to meet the publisher, editor and Journal Interactive V.P. Like the downtown facility, the new plant is something I've wanted to tour when I worked as a weekend Journal Sentinel distributor but never had the chance until I left that job and started doing this. Another blog-efit I enjoy.

Blood donations are currently at an extreme low half day supply because of summer vacations. Most people are eligible but only about 5% donate. There is a blood drive at Ascension Lutheran Church, 1415 Dopp St., from 2:30 to 7:30 Tuesday, 9/4. If you can't make it tomorrow then maybe consider a donation at Red Cross on Silvernail or The Blood Center on Springdale. You can make a big difference.

I learned a lot from a fish yesterday. Caught and released a nice northern yesterday afternoon. First cast.

I learned that there are some big ones in North Lake. That fish are not always that hard to catch, and that a spinner sometimes works. That you can get at least as excited in releasing a fish as in keeping it -- we now know for sure there is at least one keeper in the lake. That no matter how fishing goes the rest of the day, nothing will top, or destroy, the feeling from catching a big fish on the first cast.

Smart fish.

It's not a twitch glitch, but when Pepi my cat rests atop the warm computer monitor, like now, the image jerks when he doesn't sit still. I'll just have to deal with it but bl g ma y jmp a roud lttl if e do esn re ax.

A little bad news. Came home one night and my wife said she had bad news. Her somber tone made me not want to know. It could have been anything. Is everyone OK? The A/C wasn't working! Now that's serious. And a relief. Air conditioners can be repaired.

I did what I could then called Tom's Heating to check both furnace and A/C. Air conditioner is fine but Tom will be here in two hours to talk about a new furnace. The 35 year old beast was leaking so bad the technician shut it down.

I just now got my Freeman delivered and was told by them that my regular carrier was in a bad accident.

Three of us had a dental appointment this week -- a reschedule from an earlier one because he went on vacation. This one was cancelled also. He was in a bad accident and he and his wife both had broken ribs. So we reschedule again. "Can we come in at 5:45? The doctor doesn't usually stay after 6:00." I try to be a "patient" patient, but I'm sorry. I can't get off work at 5:00 in Milwaukee, fight traffic and grab the kids to make it to his office by 5:45. That's why the other two were made for 6:00. Our next "tentative" appt. is scheduled for late Sept. and I see that my son's away football game is the same day. : (

I was at work in Milw. when I heard about the World Trade Center. I was in the basement workshop at St. Joe's in Wauk. when I heard about Challenger. And ten years ago, at two on a Sunday morning, I was driving to the Journal Sentinel to do my route when I heard the BBC broadcast that Princess Diana had been in a bad accident.

One of the benefits of delivering the paper is knowing certain news before everyone else. Ten years ago, while waiting an extra long time for the "mains," I knew what was coming. I delivered a lot of bad news that day.

I, like many others, felt a closeness to the "People's Princess." She seemed warm and friendly and everything a princess was supposed to be. The divorce just reinforced how, in the end, she was still just a normal person with normal problems. Diana and I were both born the same year, though I was 3 months older.

I chose to quit smoking when Diana died and affirmed it a week later when Mother Teresa died. If two great and compassionate women known the world over, and who've met one another, could die a week apart without trying, then I could try to stay alive and quit cigarettes. (It also didn't hurt that my kids learned what cigarettes can do and were after me to quit.) Quitting at the time of a major historical event has been my record keeper. IT'S BEEN TEN YEARS SINCE I QUIT SMOKING! The media will always let me know how long it's been. It's nice to know I was able to stick with something this long. For my family. For me.