A little snow cloud passed over Waukesha around 2:30 this afternoon. I couldn't believe it. More peletized than flaky because it was well above freezing, but definitely snow and not hail or sleet. It was white but not solid. It didn't stick or last long and was soon replaced by light rain, but it made me wonder. Are we in for a long winter?

How was your week? Mine seemed generous. People were unusually generous toward me. A coworker friend gave us Halloween candy after I took a desk to his house after work. Another coworker gave me a denim patch to repair the new pair of jeans I ripped on a sharp corner while moving the desk. A different coworker gave me a jar of peanut butter he got from one of his customers -- a five pound jar of peanut butter!

I received my free copy of The Great Gatsby, this year's Waukesha Big Read selection, Friday after "Lunch with Gatsby," a book discussion moderated by former mayor Carol Lombardi. I was the last to arrive, which I'd like to blame on the conflicting start times I read about in the papers. I learned a lot about the novel and it's hidden messages and meanings and can't wait to read it. The book turned out to be quite an appropriate selection for this year; many similar market conditions from the novel's 1920's setting are mirrored in today's economy. 

Also picked up a nice large pumpkin at the St. Vincent De Paul Store on East Main St. -- free. There is usually bakery there free for the taking, and occasionally produce. It's available to anyone, no questions asked. I saw the lone pumpkin there on the floor and had to ask about it because I knew we weren't buying one this year. Someone had brought in several extras they had and mine was the last of that load. The price was right. Thanks mystery donor.

Candy, peanut butter, a patch, book, pumpkin, it's been one of those weeks. 

Also picked up a rental car for the week while ours is being repaired. Though the beautiful, dark red Chevy HHR wasn't exactly free, we're paying only $5.00 more per day versus what insurance will cover. It's a pleasure to drive, is almost new with just 5000 miles on it, roomy inside, comfortable and great on gas. I'd love to own it or at least take it on a trip. Premier can take their time fixing the Toyota.

**************** 10/27 addendum ******************

Thanks to Vince on Ch. 6, am informed the snow we saw yesterday was graupel. It's formed when rime, frozen moisture droplets, sticks to snow. Sometimes it's a light coating and sometimes, like Sunday, it's so covering the flake you can't even tell the original shape. Because the shape is most often pelletized it becomes an avalanche hazard, acting as billions of tiny ball bearings.

Tonight I missed my first bus heading back to Waukesha by just a minute. I spent a few minutes in the Grand Ave. Mall waiting for the next one to arrive. It was raining and I haven't been there in a while. I missed the next one by a minute or two because I stayed in the mall too long. There is a third choice for me, the last one of the night going to my stop, but not arriving for another hour. I waited.

I arrived home two and a half hours after I left work 20 miles away. I was gone from home 13 hours today for an 8-1/2 hour workday.

Riding the bus has good and bad points. I can sleep, read, visit or listen to a personal sterio. It's inexpensive and good for the environment. I sometimes have to fight the weather while waiting for it, but don't have to put up with stress of the daily traffic jam or multiple trips to the gas station.

Point is I'll miss my bus ride to Milwaukee and all the friends I've made when my commute switches to Racine in January. My company is closing it's Walker's Point location after 90 years in the area. Another victim of the economy. I'll be driving every day and twice as far - not something I'm looking forward to. I guess it beats trying to find alternate work in this economy, but just barely. 

And just when I was really appreciating working and exploring Downtown.

This weekend could be an instant replay of the same weekend a year ago: Balloon rally in Hartford, Arab World Fest in Milwaukee, last weekend for State Fair in West Allis, car show in Waukesha, Bluesfest in Delafield. Heck, it even rained on Saturday afternoon, same as last year! Guess you have to stick with what works.

A little nervous when I heard that the only change to Bluesfest, beside performers, would be the ticket prices. Not enough people showed for the first one and, though we enjoyed it, thought it would take something major to bring it back again this year. It was $37.00 for a one day ticket last year compared to $15.00 each for advance tickets this time.

The restaurants were the same as last year, vendors same, artists same. Same park, Naga-Waukee. OK, even the same person accompanied me, Mom-in-law. But are fourteen artists in a tent gallery enough of a distraction for a 9-1/2 hour fest? Is there anything for kids to do?

Yesterday I'd heard that Friday's crowd was pretty light. I was afraid of that. I wanted to see this work for people like myself who enjoy this type of music, and for Waukesha Rotary Club's Charitable Fund, recipient of the proceeds.

We arrived around 1:00 for it's start and found everything as we left it from last year. All eyes were on the people, ears on the music. Would more people show than last year, and did the lineup suffer from the ticket price cut? The same tent with the same amount of chairs were filled with a similar number of blues fans. But then something started happening. A couple decent local acts played and people started arriving. Portable chairs were set up, picnic tables filling, artists seeing customers. It was a relaxed atmosphere where us mainly middle-aged folk could go barefoot, smoke, drink or get the blues without much restriction. I didn't see anyone get out of hand, mom-in-law excepted.

By the time the first of the three head-liners played, the tent seemed to be 3/4 full. We were really getting into the artist born in Two Rivers who later moved to New Orleans. His nieces took the stage to toss Mardi Gras beads to us and I caught one for Ma. People started cheering for me and I didn't know why. Correction, people were cheering for Bryan Lee not Brien Lee and it was because his group was really great. He signed my t-shirt the same way I often sign my name, B Lee, a neat trick considering he's blind.

As the evening wore on the tent filled almost completely and I was satisfied the one change made to the ticket price was enough. Younger fans appeared as day turned to night. Many dancers were enjoying themselves, especially to the tunes of The Bel Airs. We had an enjoyable night and will go again next year.

Now that the County Fair is here I'm looking forward to some hot air balloon competition at the annual Skyfest rally. Maybe crew with someone new. Maybe run into friends from out of town. Or so I thought.

Pay no attention to the cover page of today's edition of WaukeshaNOW paper. It was wrong. "THURSDAY  The sky will be adorned with color during the SKY FEST HOT AIR BALLOON COMPETITION at the Waukesha County Expo Center." I wish! Fourteen years of ballooning at the fair was put on hold this year as no corporate sponsors were located.

Before learning of it's fate, I wondered how the weather would affect Skyfest this year. The weather's been pretty poor for ballooning lately, and this week's forecast looked like it had a lot of possible thunderstorms. Indeed, the first day of the fair saw a severe storm. Might not have had a lot of flight time anyway.

So we made the best of opening day at the fair by watching the tractor pulls - the lawn tractor pulls - for a few hours. The rain cooled things off but it also made a mess of the track. The competition got a late start because the mud had to be scraped off and the track smoothed out. I've never seen the competition before and was pretty amazed at some of the machines. Was surprised to see 8 year olds steer modified 10 hp, 900 lb machines 130 or more feet while dragging a weighted sled.

Stayed long enough, and when the expensive-looking dragster style tractors still hadn't run by 10:30 we knew it was time to leave. We got our dollar's worth.

Inspector FEMA stopped by early Saturday morning to stumble through our cluttered basement. I debated asking for the visit because there was very little damage from the Flood of 2008. Even though sewer backups are covered under our homeowner's, we didn't even apply. But it's extremely rare (thankfully) that FEMA is in town, we have a $500.00 deductible, and the sewer backed up not once, not twice, but five times within one week last month.

Didn't really want to ask for help because there were far more families and businesses worse off than us. But this flooding shouldn't have happened and I wanted someone other than the city to know. We've had sewer backups in our neighborhood for years, for whatever reasons, and was told by the director of public works two years ago that the replacement of pipe in our street would solve the problem. They did smoke testing to find illegal hookups and added more storm drains. The city seemed to do everything it could, short of increasing capacity or redesigning our connection to the main line, and for a while it worked. June's rain was the first big test since the new pipe was laid. 

I wish it wouldn't have happened, because now it means we still have to worry about basement flooding every time it rains hard. What if we're away when it rains? We have a new, very expensive furnace / a/c down there among many other things. The only storm water allowed in the sanitary sewer should be through the floor drains of flooded basements. I have a feeling more basements were flooded through floor drains than were saved by them. I have a feeling leaking pipe, manhole openings and illegal hookups are allowing too much stormwater in. 

By getting FEMA involved there will be a clearer picture of what happened and what needs to be done. When all monetary damages from the storm are added up the state will be given a percentage of that in a federal grant for infrastructure improvements to be distributed to counties according to need. I can see a need in our area for larger capacity pumps.

FEMA for Waukesha is currently set up at the County Highway Department off Grandview Blvd. between Northview and Silvernail from 10:00 to 7:00 every day except Sunday. Representatives from local, state and federal agencies are there to offer any assistance they can. Of the three times I visited there was never a crowd. Besides the free clean up kits offered, there is plenty of useful literature. One of the more interesting things offered is a U.S. Small Business Admin. Disaster Home Loan. If we apply and qualify we could get a loan at less than 3%, which would make it our lowest rate. (I can think of a few needed car repairs with that money.)

We didn't really need help but since FEMA is there... I picked up some ideas and made others aware of the problem in our area. If you don't need help but know of someone who might, be sure to suggest they stop in. FEMA won't be there forever.

I usually get the blame for things that go wrong around here. If something should leak or break ten years after I repair it, it's got to be my fault. Car not running right? Yep, it's me. Not enough snacks / bread / milk / money... you guessed it.

I don't always agree that I'm responsible indefinitely for something I may have fixed years ago, but with the sewer flooding our basement this morning for the fifth time in a week, I will accept most of the blame... this time.

I'm upset that tens if not hundreds of thousands of tax dollars were spent a year and a half ago replacing sewer pipe on my street. (We were informed it would fix the flooding problem)  And I'm upset that I didn't just plug up the floor drain before last night's rain. Last week plugging it worked OK, though water poured in through a different orifice anyway. I thought checking the basement throughout the night would be enough. I finally got some rest after the heavy rain let up. Unfortunately for us, the backup didn't happen until after the rain stopped. This morning I found the largest puddle yet; about a quarter of the basement, but still not as bad as many others in the area.

I'm mad at myself for not remembering other times when the backup started after the rain stopped. We could've prevented so much just by plugging the drain once we heard how bad the weather was going to be.

The entire city of Waukesha is under water! The normally high and dry bronze map of the city on the walk near the State Office Building is under about 6" of floodwater.

I had a wild ride yesterday as I tested the Schwinn for sea-worthiness. Many downtown streets were, and still are, closed and the bike was the best way for me to get around. Was able to keep it upright through a foot of water on Corrina, (what an experience!). Certainly great to see all the people downtown. Large crowds were seen along the river as well as at Allo! Chocolat and Divino Gelato. The flooding was something most of us have not seen before and it brought people together with a common curiosity. Waukesha seems rather pedestrian-friendly right now. There's a Norman Rockwell feeling of what it must have been like before autos took control of the city.

One can often see great sunsets after storms have passed through. The lingering clouds are a great palette for the setting sun's reflection of violets, purples and reds. It hasn't been easy to find a decent sunset lately because one rainy day has followed another. Finally saw a good one yesterday though!  

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Even though the weekend started happy it ended rather crappy. After pedalling over to WCTC to see Lance Armstrong and the start of the Trek 100 on Saturday morning, I drove to Eagle for a 5 mile hike on the Ice Age Trail. The hike was through the Scuppernong Prairie and we encountered dozens of runners taking part in the 13th Annual Kettle Moraine 100 endurance run. Some runners were doing either 100k or 100 miles. They started at 6:00 in the morning and would finish the next day.

The hike was nice for me because I did see and learn a lot about glaciers and such but the weather was a little warm and humid for the runners. Since I was so close to one of my favorite places, I stopped by Paradise Springs just outside Eagle after the hike for a cool refreshing sip.

Then the weather started. It rained. The sirens went off. Relatives living in a mobile home took shelter in our basement. And it happened... the basement flooded. Four times between Saturday night and Sunday night sewage came up. We were fortunate in that we caught it in time and fortunate it happened on a weekend. Because it's happened to us before, we were  more prepared. We were more fortunate than some of our neighbors whose whole basement's were under water. And much more fortunate than the poor souls who ran right through the the night in storms and mud during the Kettle 100.

Hours were spent either cleaning up or controlling the backup. Last weekend was Wisconsin free fishing weekend. I wonder if we can get a rain check on that?

Many outdoor activities were planned even though the weather didn't cooperate. It was cold and wet Saturday for the many benefit walks scheduled; the HAWS Pet Walk-a-Thon, RiverWalk for Breast Cancer and the one I was on, Parkwalk for Cancer in Mukwonago. It was also opening day of fishing, Art Crawl...

Yeah it was cold and wet yesterday, but probably not as cold and wet as it was for the two young women caught skinny-dipping in Pewaukee Lake Thursday morning after bars closed. And I'm presuming no one in Waukesha took part in World Naked Gardening Day Saturday? At least I didn't see any freezing gardeners in my neighborhood. 

I joined Tim's team, Walking With Tim, for a little fund-raising walk in the rain:

 It was my first time at Mukwonago Park and I enjoyed what I saw from under an umbrella. It was also the first time seeing Tim and his family since his dad left my workplace. It was good to meet his extended family and friends. He seems to have a good support group and was in a good mood despite the weather.

The light rain didn't do too much to dampen spirits yesterday. Everyone still enjoyed the walk.

Use the comment feature below to let us know what you did on Saturday. Did you do a walk or catch any fish?

I have to compare yesterday's crane count to fishing. Sometimes you don't see any, but the day is never wasted. Plus, a bad day of crane counting is still better than a good day at work.

The weather wasn't too cold for the start of Earth Week and the 5:30 a.m. start of the Annual Midwest Crane Count, though a few raindrops fell. My son accompanied me and we saw lots of deer, some turkeys and even a bluebird. We hiked around in the woods and saw the sunrise together. Even though we didn't see any cranes, hanging out in nature is not something we do enough of and the day wasn't wasted. Today, the same son would have gone canoeing with me down the Fox if I hadn't totalled the canoe earlier and if the Wauk. Parks canoe trip hadn't been cancelled due to the danger of high water.

Because I used to work weekends, and because of the coordinator's ACT tests last year, yesterday was the first time we were able to get together with others for breakfast after the count at the Machine Shed. Sara and her family were there as were several other counters, including first time Waukesha counter Kathy, who used to count in Central Wisconsin. It was interesting to hear how long the others have been doing the count, where they count, how many they saw, and why they are doing it. Sara, our coordinator, has parlayed her experience and devotion into a $5000.00 scholarship to Northland College in Ashland and will continue to lead our count from there as she increases her knowledge of the natural world.

There's a nice front page article in today's Sunday Journal Sentinel on the quest to reintroduce a second migratory population of whooping cranes in North America. Whooping cranes are the rarest cranes in the world and what we're doing in our count somehow helps in their reintroduction. Wherever sandhill cranes live, so whooping cranes can. By noting shifts in sandhill populations due to food, development or whatever, we are also helping tell the International Crane Foundation how successful their efforts at reintroduction could be. We're not just counting sandhill cranes any more. Sure, we're watching for a rare whooper, but we're also watching for leg bands, radio collars, and certain behavior... Are cranes exhibiting mating behavior or are they all males?  Are they guarding their territory or are they passing through? It all means something to someone. Getting out in nature on an early morning means a lot to me. 

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When there's not a lot of difference between the water levels above and below the dam... When there's barely two feet of clearance under the bridges... When the dragonfly takes a drink from the Fox you know it's at flood stage. Amazing what one week and a couple inches of rain can do.

Our fateful canoe trip was just one week ago. Even though the Fox was wild, compared to what it is now, it was mild.

We took a look last night at where the canoe should have been, but the water level was probably twice what it was there last week. If a canoe was down under the bridge there somewhere it was in trouble.

I talked to the police and the DNR about the canoe last Monday. There didn't seem to be a big worry that it was there, but eventually we'd have to retrieve it. No problem, just wait for the level to go down, tie a rope around it and haul it out with pulleys. I'm in no hurry to get it back, I already cancelled our place with the Wauk. Cty. Parks outing on the 20th.

No matter when we fish it out it isn't going to be fun, and it's going to be awhile if the rain doesn't stop. 

Got a strange email from someone yesterday. I almost didn't click the link. For some reason I thought Sarah was providing a link to my own blog. "Is this yours" is all she asked. Yeah, of course. Why would I need a link to my own blog?

After spending too much time thinking about it, I clicked the link and found Darryl Enriquez' story about an unclaimed canoe at the police station. Is it mine? It had to be! Why is it unclaimed? Surely the police had a record of my phone call?

First thing this morning I stopped at the station and inquired. Even though it "was in pretty rough shape" and was going to be "thrown away," I wanted to see it and salvage what I could if it was mine.

It was mine.

Thank you to whoever reported the canoe in the river. Thanks very much to whoever saved me the trouble and risk of retrieving it myself. And thanks to Darryl for bringing it to our attention and Sarah for bringing it to my attention.

Now, anyone know where I can buy a few rolls of duct tape?

It's pouring rain out right now. Not good. Lots of ice and flooding. There is a salt shortage. Temperatures will drop making bad even worse.

The snowman I built January 5th has weathered a lot of temperature changes and appears much slimmer. He's probably solid ice under the surface. Mrs. Lee wanted me to remove the umbrella I gave him today because "we're not entertaining the neighbors" and I'm "not two." She had no idea how dangerous it was carrying a knife on the icy sidewalk to cut the umbrella off.

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From the prayer card at visitation:          

In Loving Memory Of Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus

June 20, 1926 - January 2, 2008

"He has given us a 23rd Psalm place in which to live;

He has given us life and all the marvelous senses to savor it;

He has given us minds with unlimited capacity to imagine and create, and

He has given us a Saviour, His own beloved Son.

How he must love us."

-  Lee Sherman Dreyfus

..

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Joey was singing and playing guitar outside Steaming Cup yesterday during downtown Waukesha's Art Crawl 47. He wasn't the only one having to deal with the rain. There was also a drum circle outside Plowshares and a painter outside Almont Gallery trying to keep dry, not to mention the Wauk. Symphony Wind Ensemble, dancers, other artists and "crawlers," all trying to keep dry. Fortunately the rain was on the light side and not too cold.

I always enjoy "discovering what's new in Downtown Waukesha" and yesterday I visited several galleries, and a coffee shop, for the first time and revisited galleries I haven't been to in a while. I only rarely buy art but go to these crawls because, among other things, they're entertaining. Even in the rain.

Let me see if I have it straight; Jazz Wednesday, Civic Band performance Thursday, Friday Night Live on four stages Friday and lots of art and more music on Saturday? All free of charge? Can this be Waukesha?

I'm so glad Waukesha always stages their Fourth of July fireworks on the fourth of July. I noticed this year that Milwaukee and several other communities wasted the aesthetical opportunity by blowing their pricey and usually nice fireworks off in the rain on Tuesday the third. If only they'd have waited one more day . . .

The Expo Center is close enough to walk to and my son and I passed many fun looking backyard and street-side gatherings along the way. We found an excellent spot, which I won't divulge, that was mowed, practically bug-free, not too crowded and close to the action. There seemed to be people perched in every available vantage point -- even the Huber inmates once again had front row seats -- and thanks to the great weather, every spot was a winner.

I took my camera and tripod and got some decent photos of the explosions by leaving the shutter open a few seconds. I watch for specific things in fireworks and am always surprised by seeing something unexpected. This year my favorite shell consisted of a burst which darkened before multiple groups of sparklies lit up the entire area of the huge circle. The circumference of the explosion was so huge that I imagined I was looking at our earth from the darkness of space, and the multiple groups of sparklies were lit cities at night.

Obviously a lot of effort, and money thanks to Don Belman Homes, goes into creating, coreographing and launching a quality display. By not launching in Tuesday's wet weather everyone here enjoyed the best fireworks display I've personally ever seen. The calm winds were just enough to move the smoke but not too much to distort the "falling stars." Normally the smoke is an unpleasant byproduct of fireworks but Wednesday the smoke took on shapes of their own and was kept intact as it slowly drifted eastward. We saw so many huge rings and spidery trails of smoke that the smoke became part of the total experience -- something that would have been washed out on Tuesday.

If seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong were to visit what would you do? I rode my bike over yesterday morning to see him and many other participants in the TREK 100, the MACC Fund's Ride for Hope fundraising bike ride which began at WCTC. My black Schwinn rummage sale special was clearly in the minority as well more than 90% of the bikes appeared to be TREK bikes. It was a TREK Mecca with, it had to have been thousands, of pricey Trek bikes. The president of TREK Corp. was there and introduced Lance, who raced TREK bikes in seven straight Tour de France wins.

Armstrong said just a few short words to the crowd, once the mic problem was fixed, and joined others at the beginning to lead off the ride. I saw a lot of photographers crowding around him and I didn't want to be one of those, so I didn't get any decent pictures of him. Just as well, put everyone in a colorfull jersey, bike helmet and sunglasses and you'd be surprised how similar they look.

There was some variety though. I tried hard to spot non-TREK bikes and actually saw a few, even saw a couple tandem bikes. Not everyone wore Spandex either - I saw one guy with cotton shorts and a t-shirt!

I contemplated joining the TREK 100 this year, the first year I was able, but knew I wasn't ready. Not only was it $35.00 to enter plus $1.00 a mile in pledges, but I don't own a helmet, bike shorts or Spandex. While many distances were offered, my ego would only allow me to try the 100, for which I hadn't prepared. I know my bike would have made it but my body would have hated it. Maybe next year, with sponsors.

Because I wasn't in the ride this year I payed attention to the weather because, you know, it would probably be too windy or rainy anyway. Even though a short thunder storm passed through the area, it produced only a few drops, and for the most part it was a nice day Saturday.

From WCTC I continued on my bike around Pewaukee Lake to Hwy. 83 and KE in time for the start of a seven mile Ice Age Trail hike to commemorate National Trails Day. I read about the hike on WaukeshaNOW and it interested me. Hiking the trail costs nothing and, even though there's close to 1000 miles of Wisconsin trails, I'd never hiked it before. Not really sure how long a seven mile hike takes, I brought nothing but a camera and water bottle. The smart ones brought walking sticks, food, bug spray . . .

A little over thirty of us began the hike. The steep terrain soon leveled off and eventually passed right through downtown Hartland and beyond. We crossed paths with TREK 100 riders outside Bark River Park, where the Kiwanis Club was sponsoring a fishing clinic for kids. Rain threatened but trees along the Bark River sheltered us.

Seven miles, 14000 steps, 3-1/2 hours, and several friendships later the hike sadly ended and I continued on my bike the rest of the way around Pewaukee Lake, returning home via the Lake Country Trail. I learned a lot yesterday and was impressed by everyone I met and everything I saw. After 20 years of working weekends I told myself I'd never waste a weekend when I lost the job last year. I met a woman who had retired just the day before and her husband, a former Earth Science teacher from Oconomowoc, still teaching me about the plants and land. A gal from Milwaukee was just returning to hiking after recent foot surgery. One nice couple knew a lot about the area because they used to farm the land we were hiking on and still lived nearby. . . This weekend wasn't wasted.

Last year's fishing license expired yesterday so it must be time to think about spring fishing.

It stormed pretty good last night. The rain brought out the nightcrawlers so when Sir Fido took me for a walk this morning we had to either smoosh them, walk around them or collect them. As it pains me to spend good money on crawlers at the bait shop, the last couple years I've gathered my own then tried to keep them alive long enough to drown them. Tried, because even though I had "official" worm bedding last year, I still managed to kill them. Worms are very picky. They have to have the right moisture, food and cool temperatures.

It may be April Fool's Day but I'm not kidding when I say we probably gathered one hundred worms. All the zig-zagging Sir Fido does anyway helped us cover a lot of territory. We started by just grabbing the big ones off the sidewalk or in the street but got greedy and headed over to the school where we found the mother lode.

Other years, when I've stumbled upon crawlers by chance away from home, I've had to improvise. It's hard to pass up a huge crawler that's going to save you money at the bait shop just for lack of a container. I don't normally keep worms in my camera bag, but they seem pretty well fed at Waukesha County's parks so... This year, even though we were close to home, we used the same container for gathering as we use to collect waste on our walks - the plastic sleeve from the morning newspaper.

Newspapers are more than just another place to show off a picture of your trophy fish. Worms collected in a plastic bag from the newspaper are kept in a container full of wet bedding made of shredded newspaper. Guts from fish caught by worms are wrapped in newspaper and burried in the garden which feed next year's crop, of worms.

I spent last night in Waukesha Memorial Hospital but thanks to HIPA can't tell you why. I can say that I'm fine and the person I was visiting is also fine. It was a busy night there Wednesday night. Heat related? The hospital had only 75 fans to hand out and ran out so I went home for one of mine at midnight. They're taking good care of us there and everything should be back to normal in a couple days.

I see that Gethsemane United Methodist Church of Pewaukee was holding an "Undee Sunday" clothing drive. Finally, someone willing to take your "holey" underwear!

Speaking of church, my church got pretty drenched in last Thursday's downpour. The basement had 18" of water, soaking the six boilers. The newly cleaned carpets in the hall and office also got wet. Of course the pastor was out of town when it happened and didn't hear about it right away. Instead of all hell breaking loose when the pastor's gone, "all heaven broke loose."

Saw the neighborhood on TV tonight. Fox 6 News was broadcasting from Pine and Sylvan, a few blocks from my house. Four feet of rain water had flooded cars on the street and sent them up on the curb. Sir Fido and I walked for the first time in days to look for damage but didn't see much besides the cars. I would have liked to have been home for the storm. It sounded like a good one.

If you'd like to meet Sir Fido here's the perfect opportunity; The Westowne Neighborhood Block Party is a little over a week off, Sat., Aug. fifth. Westowne is the area west of Grandview between Summit and Northview. If you'd like to partake in some good food and meet the blog, email me at howlinblog@yahoo.com and I'll let you know how. Last year was great. One neighbor roasted a pig, I did the corn. Many people brought cookies and salads. There were games and an inflatable jumpy thing. We had live music. And when I left to do the route at 2:30 am there were still two people there... having sex on the chairs. We're going to have the same again this year... except for the sex.

I've now seen three advertisements for WaukeshaNow in the paper. If you're a new reader, welcome!