I wonder if the writers at the Journal Sentinel tried to make one of today's headlines sound funny: SHEEP SHEARERS IN SHORT SUPPLY. Strength-sapping, specialized, seasonal skill seeks students by the seashore. Well, OK, I did add "by the seashore" and changed one other word, but try swiftly saying it seven times.

I used to hear from people who saw my blog in Waukesha Marketplace. Many people from church would compliment me on my writing. But because Marketplace is no longer carrying the blogs all I hear now is they haven't seen anything from me lately. Hey, get a computer!

I was OK with giving away my quality writing for free, but what I didn't like was not getting the Marketplace just because I was a Journal Sentinel subscriber. That's why I was so looking forward to the introduction of the paper version of WaukeshaNOW just two Thursday's ago. WaukeshaNOW the publication, included inside the Thursday Journal Sentinel, promises to be more substantial and newsy than the Marketplace "shopper." I regularly see the WestAllisNOW paper so I knew what to expect.

I was looking forward to the WaukeshaNOW paper because I'd be hearing from different people and because it'd be available at newsstands which Marketplace wasn't.

If you live in the city and subscribe to the Journal Sentinel you should be looking for your WaukeshaNOW in Thursday's paper. If everything goes right that is. The first Thursday it came out I didn't get it and called to get it. Last Thursday I again didn't get it, called and received another complete paper -- without WaukeshaNOW inside. Finally got it the next day.

If you get the paper let me know how you like it. If you're a subscriber and don't get WaukeshaNOW on Thursdays call 414-224-2222.

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. 

Milwaukee's Holiday Parade had a lot more bands, TV and radio personalities, and "New York style" helium balloons but it didn't have the UW Marching Band.

Without knowing the details I assumed, correctly, that the entire UW band wouldn't be present. I also knew that they were talking about UW Madison's band and not somewhere like Whitewater. The contingent for the Waukesha parade yesterday consisted of about 25 trumpet players, one tuba player and two drummers. The active group of red-jacketed marchers were more Mardi Gras than precise in their steps. They shouted, danced, teased, high stepped and of course played loud and proud.

Each time UW played a snippet of "On Wisconsin" the applause was overwhelming, especially at the five points where a lot of people were concentrated. They brought a smile to everyone's face with their energy and antics. They were constantly moving so I didn't get any decent pictures. That, and it was so dark by the time they passed by.

It was 5:30 by the time the UW band passed by, too dark to see who sponsored their visit. Main Street isn't real well lit though it is better than some. It was dark but at least we didn't have to miss the Packer game!

So who did sponsor UW Marching Band's visit? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Curious what my neighbors were up to, I joined the large crowd at a barn on Northview last Saturday night to see if Laurel Walker was right; that there would be "power to the people."

Laurel wrote about these ambitious guys in the Nov. 1st Journal Sentinel. They were going to try something unusual and power a concert with riders on stationary bikes. A pedal jam. I don't know if I was more curious to hear what "a soulful mix of funk-a-fide rock with a spiritually positive message" sounded like or if I just needed to see the lights dim when the riders tired. Either way, I live just a mile away, so I went.

Impossible to read addresses at night, I drove until I found cars lining both sides of Northview, a little west of Meadowbrook Rd. Friendly neighbors let me park in their driveway and I approached the barn at the end of a tiki-lit, car-lined drive.

You'd think a large dairy barn could handle just about any crowd, especially one for a "funk-a-fide rock" concert, but the place was packed and I barely made it in the door. The music was decent and loud enough but the lighting was a little on the low side.

The former milking parlor under the concert's main floor was clean and uncrowded and set up with tables, food and a large video screen of the live concert upstairs. But my favorite part of the whole experience was watching the bikers. One gal was pedalling so vigorously I could swear she was dancing. Maybe she just started something -- the pedal dance.

Things I would've blogged about if I had the time:

I'd vote for him again. Even though I think we're overdue for a woman president, I'd vote for former V.P. and now Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Al Gore, again. I know I've voted strangely in the past, Ed Thompson for one, but Mr. Gore has shown the kind of leadership we need now. It's safe to say the war in Iraq wouldn't have happened had my vote counted instead of the Electoral College's. If Mr. Gore became president I don't think the auto makers and polluters would love him, but after reading his book Earth in the Balance, I think his term would be good one not only our country now, but for the future world also.

For once I didn't mind donating $200.00 to Pick 'N Save. This was one shopping trip when I actually wanted to spend $200.00. Pick 'N Save is running a "Bonus Bucks" promo where you receive a coupon for savings on your next shopping trip by spending X amount of dollars. It's not a bad deal, 10% savings, if you pay attention. The promo is incremental. If I spend $80.00, I'll probably get a coupon for use with a $120.00 minimum shopping trip. The coupon I used yesterday was $18.00 off a $180.00 shopping trip, which means we probably spent $120.00 previously to get it. The coupon we received yesterday for spending $200.00? $40.00 off a $400.00 or more shopping trip. I don't think so!

A couple good columns I read last week. A Miami Herald writer, Leonard Pitts, turned 50 and had the humor and seriousness to write about it. It was reprinted in Thursday's Journal Sentinel. This makes two very good column's from him in two weeks. Also, I found it interesting, in last Sunday's Journal Sentinel, that Historian John Gurda had joined a Father Groppi open housing march 41 years ago when he was just 19. Being one of the few white faces in the crowd, taunted but undaunted, he helped carry the American Flag at the head of the procession. He said, "Never before had I felt so angry, so scared and so exhilarated, all at the same time."  I guess you could say it changed his life, because a couple years later he was determined to be part of the solution; he took a job at Journey House to work with the kids who were part of the brick-throwing mob who greeted Fr. Groppi.

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?

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.

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.

It's Takin the Blog for a Walk's first blogiversary and more than one hundred entries have been posted. I'd like to take this time to thank the Journal Sentinel, Community Newspapers and Mark Maley for giving me this opportunity and readers of WaukeshaNOW and Marketplace for your feedback.

This blog has allowed me to write about things I'm passionate about and has given me motivation to get out and do more. It's also been one year since I lost my weekend job and I've enjoyed all the new things I've been able to do since then and am happy to be able to write about them.

My fear in doing this was I'd run out of things to write about, maybe in winter nothing would be happening, but that hasn't been the case. Something is always going on in or around Waukesha. This weekend we're going camping so I hope to write about that. I'm really amazed by the varied offering of free or low cost things to do around here. Sometimes you have to volunteer to get into something but it's still fun and it's free.

My favorite blog is "The list of things to do before I die just got shorter" on 7/25/06. I went up in a hot air balloon for the first time (it cost me nothing because I was volunteering) and told about it as in a letter to my dad. I cried while writing it because of all the emotions I was experiencing. I called in to a radio show and talked about the flight and the letter, and later blogged about the radio show and added a link to the broadcast. Even though we only floated from one end of Waukesha to another, I got a lot of mileage out of my first balloon flight.

Thanks for reading!

I was curious enough yesterday to ride my bike to Retzer Nature Center for the last showing of "Hubble Vision II" at the Charles Z. Horwitz Planetarium, part of the Earth Day Extravaganza activities. The sky show was educational and the Hubble pictures superb, but even more curious was seeing Mrs. Horwitz there also. It kind of felt like buying a telescope and running into Mr. Hubble. I learned from her as much as I could about her husband and discovered we both had lived in the same neighborhood for over 20 years. What's more curious; learning they lived in the same neighborhood, or living there 20 years and not knowing?

Had an interesting conversation with a craft demonstrator when at Machine Shed for brunch today. I'd never seen a demonstrator there - and he said he's been there Sundays for six years in the off-winter. He asked if I'd seen the Waukesha section of the Sunday Journal Sentinel. Curiously, that happened to be the one section of the paper that I had right in my back pocket. Laurel Walker had done a column on the Intergenerational Folk Art Fair offered by Waukesha County's Retired Senior Volunteer Program today. The artist I met, Tom Hill, was mentioned in the column along with his wife Betty. Tom and Betty create beautiful baskets out of pine needles and sweetgrass in the Seminole Indian tradition. Tom taught himself the skill about 10 years ago and knew the answers to all the questions, as one would have to when teaching children as they do.

My kids have been to these Intergenerational Folk Fairs at school in the past and have loved them. I can see their point. Tom is warm and knowledgeable and has an interesting skill with a pretty good story. He makes beautiful and inexpensive baskets that would make great Mother's Day gifts.

If you'd like to know more about Tom and Betty's baskets, send me an email and I'll put you in touch or stop by the Machine Shed any Sunday.

It's a great time of the year: more daylight and less cold, grass greening and spring flowers trying to bloom. Yesterday we saw or heard finches, robins, crows, sparrows, bluejays, cranes, ducks, geese, swallows, red-winged blackbirds, turkeys and, because Nick and I canoed North Lake, a loon, heron and gulls. And those are just the few that we can identify - there were many others.

When I'm freezing in winter I think about this time of year. Next Sunday is Earth Day or, to be politically correct, "Environmental Awareness Day," and we'll be joining many other canoeists and kayakers for a Waukesha County Park System-sponsored paddle down the Fox River if the weather cooperates. A week from next Saturday, the 28th, Earth Week is celebrated in an extravaganza at Retzer Nature Center. A major ingredient to the festivities at Retzer in the coming weeks is most everything is free. The hikes, concert, planetarium, smores around the campfire. All free.

Even more than Earth Day, I look forward to the weekend before or, more specifically, yesterday. For the last seven or so years I've taken part in the Annual Midwest Crane Count, which was yesterday, the 14th. Hundreds of counters in several midwest states are at specific sites from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. on the same day. There's seventeen sites in Waukesha County and I've had the same one every year, which is OK with me because I think mine is best. I also think everyone probably thinks their site is the best one too.

I first got involved with cranes in 1999. I spent a week trying to identify some unusual sounding birds I'd seen flying over the house. I called the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, stopped at the library and talked to several people. As soon as I determined the birds I'd witnessed were cranes there was a Sunday Journal article on hunting them. Now, I know there's a lot of meat on a crane, but I thought it ridiculous to hunt a bird so rare that I didn't even know what they were and many people I talked with didn't know for sure either. In the article, the justification for hunting these magnificent animals is that they eat seed corn. Of course the article was side-by-side with another article picturing a huge pile of corn on the ground because the farmers were producing more than they could store in grain silos or buildings.

We've been lucky with the weather for the count. It's always chilly but every time it's rained it's always stopped by sunrise. This was the first year snow was still on the ground.

One doesn't have to be good at math to be a crane counter. The most we ever counted at my site was three or four. Sometimes I'd only hear them and one year not even that. (This year we saw one and heard another.) Being out in nature is never a total loss, even if we don't see or hear cranes there are lots of other critters to entertain us. Yesterday we saw seven deer as we left our car and saw many additional. Turkeys are also fun to watch and listen to.

One memorable year? Up to last year I was getting up at 1:30 a.m. to deliver Saturday Journal Sentinels, head immediately to my site to count, then to deliver the Early Edition Sunday Journal Sentinels. (Getting up to count was always easy for me because I was already up. Staying up was harder.) Several years ago on the route I stopped to break up a fight between a man and woman at 3:00 a.m. in front of a huge apartment complex and ended up getting a chain to the head. I escaped before he could do more damage but returned when I heard sirens. I gave a statement, had my head photographed and learned what I should have done instead. All I could think about was "I hope I'm not late for the crane count". So it wasn't a good day. Get hit in the head, irritate guys with guns - I had scared away turkeys while walking my site which, unbeknownst to me at the time, open season was on - and deliver early Sunday papers with blood caked in my hair because there was no time to shower before.

Because of the route, this was the first year we could join the others for conversation and breakfast at the Machine Shed after the count. Of course, this was the first year they didn't get together because our coorditators were taking the ACT tests. We went anyway.

One or both boys started going with me three years ago and they seem to enjoy it at least as much as I do. They are proud to usually be the first ones to spot any birds and I'm proud that I can take them out in nature and not have them hate it. It's definitely one of the better things we do as father and sons.

for more information on Earthweek events visit www.waukeshac

Channel Four, WTMJ-TV, reported yesterday that Mayfair Mall will be using face recognition software to screen the mall for criminals. One problem, Channel Four broadcast the April 1st fabrication by WauwatosaNOW's Peter Hart without first checking with Mayfair. I wouldn't have known about it if the Journal Sentinel hadn't pointed it out today. His blog looked legitimate. I would've fallen for it too.

Another April Fools joke is Sunday's Journal Sentinel endorsement of Linda Clifford for Supreme Court. A day later the Journal Sentinel is issuing a cease and desist order to her for her automated phone calls. Turns out the calls sounded too much like they were being made by the Journal Sentinel. They endorsed her but probably didn't want to endorse her.

Hors d'oeuvres and Bacon. There was plenty to sink my teeth into at the Art Museum after work yesterday. I went to the member-only preview of the Francis Bacon exhibit to kill time before a 6:30 blogger meeting.

Bacon's paintings supposedly "expose the rawness of humanity." Maybe that's why I didn't care for them. Sometimes people who think they know art try to explain in big words what they think the artist was trying to convey. He "developed his evocative style" during an "intense period of eclectic experimentation, offering rare insight into his iconic imagery." I'm just glad I got out of there before the "eclectic jazzy sounds of Mrs. Fun" started.

By far, I enjoyed the display of award-winning student art more than the "haunting visions of a master painter."

I was very pleasantly surprised by the Bradley collection on the third floor. I'd seen it before but not since a massive remodelling completed last April. The space is much more open and airy even though they walled up windows to increase the useable space. The most amazing new thing is the living and dining rooms Peg Bradley used at the Museum are now open to the public. She wanted to share her art with us while she was still alive, so she spent a lot of time at the museum enjoying it herself. It is a very brightly colored, beautiful space.

There were a lot of nicely dressed people and I felt a little out of place in jeans and tennis shoes coming right from work, but art lovers come in all shapes and "eclectic" styles. I survived.

From the Art Museum to the Journal Sentinel Building to meet my fellow bloggers and have a tour. We talked about now having a little over 80 bloggers on 25 sites. About making it easier to post photos and spell check. There were a few awards handed out and I even won a door prize. I don't know what got into me, I turned down the door prize. Isn't turning down a gift kind of like... turning down a gift? I know people who would never turn down a gift but I just couldn't get up the courage to accept tickets to a golf show. Sorry Mark.

Meeting fellow bloggers and talking blog was great but I probably got more out of the tour. I left my employment of twenty years with the Journal less than a year ago and, I'd have to say, have wanted to tour the building for nineteen of those twenty. I wanted to see where the paper was produced; hear the roar of the press, smell the ink and paper, feel the grime. The presses are in West Allis now and I was Downtown but was still able to see where the paper's produced - we toured the newsrooms. I strained to find a recognizable columnist but instead found a great group of hard working individuals including the publisher and the editor. You want to see a messy desk overflowing with paper like the reporter in the comic strip"Shoe" or see a great collection of cubicle toys? Take a newsroom tour.

Walked a block north with several hardy bloggers after the tour for a visit to Buck Bradley's and the longest bar east of the Mississippi. Since all I had for dinner was a couple delicious cookies from the meeting, I limited my refreshment intake to two beers. One of the best conversations I had was with someone who shouldn't have even been there, BrookfieldNOW blogger Shawn Matson. Shawn is only 17 and wasn't there with a parent. Sorry I didn't offer you a soda, buddy. Forgot my manners.

Remember, toast with upper crust not my cup of tea, but beers with peers are better when they're free.

I delivered over a million papers in my 20 years with the Journal and Journal Sentinel. My favorite issue was always the one I was currently delivering because I liked my route. I liked the challenge, the fresh air and running into old friends and making new ones.

I met my future wife on the route and took our boys along since they were babies. My oldest was just starting to drive and I was contemplating a second generation on the route when I learned it was over for me in May of this year. So, I'm not celebrating Newspaper Carrier Day today, but instead, am celebrating the dedication of the Fox Riverwalk. I loved working for the Journal Sentinel, but I'm not sad, because today I experienced some of the best of what I was missing while working, though with bittersweetness.

I rode down to the river, said "hi" to Mayor Nelson, then found a seat for the Waukesha Symphony concert. The front row of chairs were situated so close to the Orchestra that I had to turn my knees to avoid the bow of the principal cellist. Being so close to the symphony was to be a part of it and they could've charged anything they wanted. Instead, it was all free, thanks to the Bryant's.

Wandering around after the dedication was a joy because the weather was great, there was plenty of live music in the air and lots to see. The Fall Art Crawl soon started and, since I hadn't been to one in a while...

For me, the galleries and beautiful works of art are just one part of the crawl experience. Today I enjoyed meeting many people, several of which were the artists themselves. One artist at the Goff House Gallery I met, a cancer survivor named Yvone, told me the whole story behind her "God gifted" work and left me amazed. Another, a young man with his first showing at River's End Gallery, Peter Westermann, was showing the most creative and distinctive digital art. A student at Carroll College, he's got a bright future ahead of him.

While Peter is just starting out, one of the persons I ran into today, a favorite teacher from my Butler Middle School days, is getting ready to retire. It was a privilege to be among his students when he first began to teach in the mid 1970's. My old teacher told this old student that he's got leukemia. His old student prays for him and thanks him for all he's done for him and for the City of Waukesha.

Tim, the young athlete with leukemia I blogged about Aug. 13th, has been attending his high school classes, but it hasn't been easy. Preps Editor Art K. wrote a nice piece about him in Thursday's Sports section.

Looking inside my van Friday, I noticed it's just the way I left it when I stopped delivering the Journal Sentinels, including the "Bulldogs", 8 weeks ago. Paper delivery had been part of my life the past 20 years and the van's a reminder of the good and bad times. I remember my friends, quiet nights, deadlines, weightlifting hundreds of bundles of Sundays', and getting paid - something lacking the last two months.

I must admit to not putting up a very big fight when I was asked to sub the weekend New Berlin haul this last weekend, even though our Westowne block party was Saturday. I really needed the cash.

It was good to see familiar faces and places, but there's been major changes since I left too. Probably the biggest change is the New Berlin/Brookfield station is now crowded into the Waukesha Distribution Center on Dolphin Drive. Wooden nooks for each carrier's papers now fill most of the available warehouse space, making cart movement very challenging. Another major change is, in addition to the five publications carriers handle besides the Journal Sentinel, they now distribute the Chicago Tribune.

Don't think of the Journal Sentinel delivery of the Chicago Tribune as a conflict of interest or monopoly, think of it as a wise business decision. The Journal Sentinel now has an additional pool of quality workers to choose from since the Tribune haulers lost their jobs.

Today is the first day of my new regularly-scheduled vacation; two days off a week every week. Instead of 20 days off per year I'll now have 124, more than a third of a year. Instead of being envious of students for their summers off they can now envy me. You see, for the past 20 years of weekends, well over a thousand total, I worked in all kinds of weather to see that stores in Waukesha received their Saturday, Early Edition Sunday (the Bulldogs), and late Sunday Journals then Journal Sentinels.

I always knew I had a good weekend job: fresh air, friendly people, peacefullness of the night, adrenaline rush of delivery on a deadline, but the reason it lasted so long is also the reason it ended. I survived 20 years in the business because I only had to get up at 2:00 a.m. and deliver two days each week. Changes in distribution of the paper in Waukesha now require a 7 day commitment and with my other job I wasn't able to do that.

So, what would you do if you had your first Saturday off in many, many years? The first thing I did was sleep late, about 6:30. This morning, instead of delivering the Bulldogs, I Wauk'd the blog. Sir Fido isn't a bulldog but a poodle - terrier mix, a Perrier, and when he asks for fancy water he gets an icecube. While S.F. checked his pee mail on our walk up Oaklawn and down Norton (and left some spam of his own), I observed birdsong and quiet and yards planted and landscaped nicer than ours, most of them, so I'd better get busy, there's lots to do!