Takin' the Blog for a Walk

Happy Thanksgiving. I had intended to do today's blog on things my readers are thankful for but I've had computer problems. I'm at a relative's right now and can't access my email to see what you've written.

Besides the obvious: family, home, church, clean air and water, job, there are two things I most thankful for this year; an old friend and an old wood.

Like the woods I gravitated to in my youth when I had too much time on my hands, my friend of 30 years has changed. Still recognizable but, in some ways, more fragile.

My son visited a friend this week in a neighborhood so new it's not even on the map yet. His house, just east of Meadowbrook Road, is so new it still lacks any grass in the yard. It took a while to find him because we've never been in that area before, at least not in any car.

His new neighborhood is going up in an area I used to roam as a young lad so I stopped to take a quiet walk in the woods by myself after dropping him off. It used to be risky going there and it's still risky, if for different reasons.

The land used to be owned by farmers that didn't seem to mind, or didn't know of, our presence - we didn't get yelled at until we destroyed corn for a mini bike path. There was so much exploring to do, an old dump and limestone outcroppings. After crawling through rusty barbed wire my brothers and I would watch out for cows and their pies as we made our way toward the crick and pond - what I now know as Pebble Creek. We sometimes risked swimming in the pond and had to check out the tadpoles as long as the cows were away.

Today the cows are gone, the pond too shallow to swim in and the houses are closing in. Without any animals to keep the growth down it's a lot harder to get around and you're taking a risk because there's a lot of "private property" signs (don't tell anyone I was there). There's a small amount of trash in the creek but for the most part the place looks relatively unchanged. The moss-covered limestone is still there and the rare cold water creek will always be there. There is a lot of development pressure in that area but it seems great pains will be taken. Millions of dollars will be spent by the developer to cool rainwater run-off from the neighborhood before it reaches the creek so it doesn't change and harm it.

I regret not having the opportunity to travel more in life but enjoy one of the benefits of living in one place for so long; the woods of my youth are still around for me to show my kids, and will be around for them to show their kids. The Pebble Creek area is an area worth preserving and the developers know that. There are or will be paths constructed for the use of the residents in the area. For once, street names reflect the land not as it was before development but as it will always be - Coldwater Creek Drive and Rockridge Way. For once those expensive new houses that always seem too expensive will actually be worth it because of the area and the pains the developer is taking to preserve it.

As I picked my son up hours later he told me he had the best time. They climbed on the rocks and walked in the woods. I smiled.

I imagine most people would expect to get a little messy when they dine out at a barbecue restaurant. My family joined other relatives Tuesday for our first visit to Famous Dave's on Moreland Blvd. and we were prepared for the mess, or so we thought.

If you've never been to Famous Dave's you have to realize that everything is large. My sister shared her beer with me because the glass it comes in was way too tall for her alone. I didn't have much chance to touch my large soda when dinner arrived. My huge plate of ribs and catfish fingers arrived before I took a single sip of soda and, as I took the platter to set it down on the crowded table, it tipped the glass of Pepsi spilling the entire contents into my lap.

In retrospect it was probably the perfect spill. What could have gone all over the table, my uncle and my mom ended up just on me. Yeah, I was uncomfortable but you have to look on the bright side, right?

The meal was excellent even if they gave me two potatoes instead of an order of Wilbur beans, whatever those are. I was so full, and wet, after dinner that I didn't even want to think about dessert - until we were told about it. Since everyone was getting something, I made sure to talk enough people into ordering different so that our table had at least one of each of the six or so offerings. It all sounded so good to me that I had to try everything, and since the portions were huge they never missed it anyway. The best? Kahlua brownie and Key lime pie.

Please e-mail me one or more things you're most thankful for and I'll add it to a Thanksgiving blog. Let me know if I can use first and last name. Thanks
Brien

It was the opening of the gun deer season yesterday and my mom got her first deer. This one dented up the fender pretty good. The car survived. The deer didn't.

I think it's pretty good that with all the deer around someone can drive regularly for 50+ years before hitting one. I know that most of the time it's not a preventable accident - my dad had hit deer on two occasions while traveling freeway speeds. Take a drive up north at night if you want to see a lot of deer close to the road. It is a dangerous situation.

My oldest son received his driver's license Friday with only one deduction on the test. He probably thinks it's a big moment in his life, and it is, but it's also a major milestone for me. My son, behind the wheel of a machine capable of taking him places he never dreamed possible, or using it for destructive purposes, he is now old enough to choose. I have every confidence in him to choose the right path. I am proud to call him my son. He is a good reflection on his teachers, his friends and his parents, as is his brother.

Watch out for the deer!

We tried to find the closest urgent care facility. My son was minding his own business earlier this week while playing basketball in the school gym when a cement pillar suddenly ran out and smacked him hard in the shoulder. We'd never been to an urgent care facility, Waukesha Memorial Hospital has always been our first choice, but because the injury was already a day old by the time we decided to get it looked at, I thought he could wait a while longer while we drove all the way to Ruby Isle Shopping Center in Brookfield for a quick X-ray.

Seeing my fourteen year old wince for every bump in the road made me regret the decision to try urgent care, and not finding it at Ruby Isle sealed the deal. I thought I knew the area very well, I attended six years of school just a short walk away, but almost didn't recognize it now and didn't realize the urgent care facility was not attached to the rest of the mall. So we did what we should've done in the first place and went to Waukesha Memorial where we experienced once again their high level of care and efficiency.

Fortunately there were no broken or cracked bones. My son's back to playing basketball and has his first tournament on Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving. I just wish he would have got a good look at the pillar license or at least got a better description of it. But it all happened so fast.

Rode my bike downtown to the beautiful Milwaukee Center Building from my job in Walker's Point Friday for my first listener session with WHAD radio. The weather was still nice around noon for the 10 minute ride and I was able to park just a couple steps from the front entrance. The view from the 23rd floor was spectacular and I had plenty of time to enjoy it while several of us waited for the rest to find parking for their autos. Once the hour long feedback session got under way the twelve of us discussed the usual; likes, dislikes and program changes. We also had time to talk about the future, especially digital radio. An hour passes too quickly though and my hope is Gene Purcell, Ben Merens and crew got as much out of it as I did.

My next listening session was on Saturday for the Veterans' Day ceremony at Veterans Park in Waukesha. The brief ceremony was nice, I'm sure, with representatives from the different branches of service in attendance, but no one could hear it. The sound system they were using was so inadequate it wouldn't have been loud enough even without the constant vehicle traffic in the background.

The 3rd listening session was at the Milwaukee County Zoo for a Family Free Day. It was fairly quiet at the zoo Saturday afternoon. The trains weren't running, most of the animals were indoors and the normally vocal peacocks were silent. We saw many of the animals being fed and we saw a small primate called a goeldi living in a Journal Sentinel newspaper tube. We saw amazing fish and tigers and watched as a huge mass of long dirty hair crawled across the ceiling - an orangutan. Because the crowd wasn't bad at all and because we had a great time too, I'm highly recommending the next Family Free Day, December 2nd.

And finally, the last listening session of the weekend was during a long hike at Retzer Nature Center Sunday where we heard what we came to hear - nothing. A perfect way to recharge after a hectic week and spend time with the kids where the loudest thing we heard was the crunching of snow underfoot.

Seems I voted the same as most around here, except for the questions. I seem to have got those wrong.

Appears Waukesha wasn't prepared for the large turnout at the polls even though the numbers fell within what I had heard predicted. The many absentee ballots took some of the blame.

My experience at the poll;
Three wards but just one with a line - mine. About 13 in front of me around 7:15 p.m. Six voting booths, all being used with a short line waiting. A moderate line of people registering. City Clerk Thomas Neil in attendance a short while checking on things.

Am almost at the front of the queue with just one voter in front of me and the line stops a good five minutes. The guy's voted there before but his name is not on the list. While someone calls City Hall on a borrowed cell phone the line doesn't move. It now reaches the back of the gym. The line doesn't move because apparently the gal on the phone was needed for her initials, her blessing, or her map reading skills - I don't know, but that line wasn't going anywhere without her. While all this is going on the two remaining poll workers in the ward continue logging in the absentee ballots. To their credit they did discuss resuming the line but they decided they couldn't without the missing one.

In the end it was discovered that the voter's name was on the list but misspelled. It seemed to me and the people around me in line that something like this could have been planned for a little better. Why hold up an entire line for at least five minutes over a misspelling? At least we didn't have to wait for a voting booth when the line resumed.

I asked the person sitting next to me on the way to work Wednesday why she didn't vote. Didn't know who was running. "But you didn't have to vote in every category. Didn't you feel strongly about the questions?" Didn't know what the questions were. Wow, I wonder when she's going to get her power turned back on!

St. William Parish, 440 N. Moreland Blvd., is holding a blood drive tomorrow, Nov. 6th, from 3:30 to 7:30. Walk-ins are more than welcome. Especially needed is type O blood as there is just a one day supply. Get your free bandages, juice and cookies!

Today at St. William is the last couple hours of their Annual Craft and Bake Sale. It is an incredibly popular event that attracts over 50 vendors and lots of shoppers. If you missed it there's plenty of other opportunities around town:

Saturday, November 11th, is Bells of St. Mary's, Waukesha, Holiday Craft Fair from 9:00 - 3:00.

Sunday, Nov. 12th, from 8:30 to 3:00 is the Magical Holiday Fair at St. Leonard in Muskego.

Also Sunday, Nov. 12th, is the Country Christmas Craft Fair at St. Gabriel Parish in Hubertus from 9:00 to 3:00.

In two weeks is the Whittier Elementary School Festive Fall Craft Fair on Sat., Nov. 18th, from 10:00 to 4:00. Whittier is the school on East Ave. in Waukesha not far from South High.

After five days of chasing the buck I finally have time to chase the blog. I love weekends.

We were some of the hoods in the hood wearing hoods (it was cold) on Halloween Tuesday. I went with my youngest son, 14, and hope this wasn't my last year. As he went to help satisfy his daily sucrose requirement, I went to spend quality time with him and to see what was going on. Trick-or-treating is one of the few remaining legitimate excuses to get out and meet your neighbors and, since I wasn't running for office, decided to rap on doors this way.

The scariest part of my son's costume was his size. He went as a football player and looked the part. Young kids answered the door at a lot of homes expecting to see someone at eye level and finding they had to look up, way up. My son is bigger than me and of most of the parents that came to the doors. Now that's scary.

But we had a wonderful time. We saw some great decorations, especially my neighbors' on Easy Street who erected a fog-filled spooky tent-like enclosure, and an overboard display on Cherrywood which attracted candy gatherers from many blocks around with a roof mounted twirling spotlight. It looked pretty surreal in the foggy trees of their front graveyard.

It's also nice to see the creativity people put into pumpkin carving. I hope the practice doesn't disappear with the popularity and convenience of plastic pumpkins, which we're seeing more of. We didn't carve our pumpkins until four days after Halloween. Better late...

The strangest thing I saw all night? Fred Flintstone buying wood at the gas station. Think about it. A caveman buying bagged wood by the bundle. I always thought grocery stores and gas stations selling wood a bundle at a time was strange but wait until we see them offering it kiln dried with each piece vacuum sealed. Don't forget the warning label!