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Garry,

When we lived out there a couple of years ago, before moving to wetter and no traffic South Carolina, we had the drought and the reseviors were less than half full. They said it would take at least 5 plus years of rain and snow to refill the reseviors and aquifers. That winter had rain and snow and everything was refilled over just one winter. That was the last time things were full. Maybe you'll get lucky again this winter, with La Nina doing its thing.

And, is your wine rack equiped with shock absorbers, just in case of "the big one?"

10/22/21 03:31 PM

#3151

I haven't been on here for awhile; so, a medical report first. I have COPD stage 1. My goal is to keep it there as long as possible. Copd is usually listed as emphyema or cronic bronchitis. My pulmonollogist says to ignore that. COPD is always both. 2 years ago my mytrol valve had a slight leak. A year ago, I was told that all 4 heart valves have a slight leak; but, nothing is bad enough to do anything about. I had an EKG this morning, my heart checks out. I'm waiting for an insurance OK for a MRI. I might have had a mild stroke this last Sunday night. I see my eye Doctor nexr week. I hope that my catracts are ready for surgery. I'm tired of using a flashlight to read anything. I was told that the delay in catract surgery, is waiting for insurance coverage. I think that that is all medically. The Vietnam Travling Wall is in town this weekend. It will be my 7th time going to see it.. I will see it every time that it is in the area. There are way too many names on the Wall of guys that I served with, even if only for a few months, that I don't remember. To everyone, if the Wall is ever in your area, Go see it. It's an expierence that you will never forget. I always go after dark. It's easier to be with your thoughts. Also, the Wall is the only place that I've ever been where you don't see kids running around like idiots. If you want dry, stay here for a year. We're across the river from where Nevada comes to a point. We've had a little less than a 1 1/2 " of rain to date. Normal is about 4 1/3", which is very dry. Lake Mead is at about a third of capacity. This has been our 5th summer, here. Summers mean 30 to 40 days above a 110 degrees. Up to this summer, we could handle it. This summer was different. Maybe, it's my medical condition; but, it was very hard to take. We are thinking about moving to more moderate summers. Snowbirding is out. We did that for 6 years, never again. Wisconsin, Michigan winters are out, too. I can't shovel any amount of snow, no matter how light and below freezing/zero temperatures are out, too. I'm thinking of my land in Deming, NM or Sierra Vista, AZ. Both have moderate summers and winters have a few below freezings days and snow usuall melts within a few hours. A lot depends upon Judi. I know that this is a little long: but, I haven't posted on the site in a long time. But, I always read every post.

10/23/21 11:31 AM

#3152

Man, the Christmas made-for-tv-movie deluge has begun. OK, We can use a period of guaranteed feel-goodies (Packer games aren’t guaranteed.) The problem is, for the casual viewer (meaning my wife has control of the remote), keeping the people in them straight. So many have been in this summer’s feel-goodies and series, that they’re all familiar. So, when you look up, is that person now the librarian, or the baker, or the professor you saw a week or two ago who is now the cop, military person, country singer, ranch owner who was the high school sweetheart, teacher, travel writer before? Of course, they’re all single and have the mandatory off-the-wall (in)significant others, bosses, mentors. Grandparents and kids are also cute and interchangeable, Is grandpa Santa or just look like him, magic powers?

Oh well, maybe that’s part of the intended attraction, they’re all comfortable, familiar faces, easier on the eyes (if not the brain), and it’s Christmas. . . .

10/24/21 08:45 PM

#3153

Hey Garry,

Watching the Sunday night footbal game. Looks like you're getting some rain.

10/24/21 09:05 PM

#3154

Yeah ... rain. Sideways. First time in October in 8023 years or some ridiculous period. Headed straight for the 330 sq miles Caldor fire area near Tahoe (in comparison Milwaukee is less than 100 sq miles). Guess what that much rain will do. We'll have the Sierras down here with us flatlanders by tomorrow!

10/25/21 10:30 AM

#3155

What's rain? Here in Bullhead City,AZ, our last measrurable rain ( .02 inches, I don't even kow how you can measure .02 inches of rain )was 3 months ago. Our total amount of rain, year to date, is 1.82 inches, normal is 4.71 inches. Thats drought level. Anyone who has any extra moisture, please send it our way. We'll even take a heavy fog.

10/25/21 07:27 PM

#3156

Barbara Blair (Brenzel)

We had heavy duty rain all night. along with tremendous winds. We had been having really beautiful Fall weather - now I'm sure many trees have lost their leaves, I'll take the rain though - much better than snow! I love Wisconsin but Winter does just last a "tad" too long!

Barb

11/13/21 12:38 PM

#3157

Wait, wait, wait!!! I was in a mall yesterday and expected to see a few early Christmas decorations. What I didn't expect was a complete Christmas transformation of the mall to include a real live Santa ...IN A COVID FACE MASK! First of all, why do we have Thanksgiving Day parades? So Santa can come to the mall! So we can start listening to Billy the Brownie on the radio! So we can start thinking about getting out our own decorations. But, NO, there he was in all of his splendor and a horrifying Covid face mask (plus it was 75 degrees out). Now if kids are already naturally afraid of a big fat, loud mouth, bearded and often bad breath guy wearing weird clothes ... what do you think the kids feel being forced to sit on his lap and he's also wearing a mask? Hello Mr. Stanger Danger!!! But there they were, screaming, crying kids lining up to be manhandled by this bizarre looking man and being told to smile ... on November 12th! Come on people ... I'm not even adjusted to losing Day Light Savings time yet!!! At 3:30 I'm already thinking about dinner time!

11/18/21 03:27 PM

#3158

12/08/21 01:29 PM

#3159

On a really sad note, I am good friends with one of the Dancing Grannies who were decemated by the Waukesha Christmas parade s.o.b.! You know that our own Angie Camagana (Friday) was a member before she passed away. My friend has been spending days visiting grannies in hospitals and going to funeral services. The good news is that several of the ladies who were seriously hurt are making great recoveries although none of the group will ever be the same. The Grannies did appear in the Franklin Christmas parade last week and received heart-warming support although they didn't have enough members left to do any of their routines. A bunch of ladies have applied to join the group and people from all over the country have sent contributions. It's nice to see the positives in human nature in how some support others, even strangers, who have gone through adversity.

Sorry for the downer but I also wanted to pass along some important medical information. Did you know that dogs are encapable of reading MRI scanners ... but cats can?!!! (Groan)

12/11/21 06:45 PM

#3160

https://www.tmj4.com/news/my-block/my-block-meet-ms-mavis-the-queen-of-milwaukees-thurston-woods?fbclid=IwAR2kqN3eNY0VXtH4PCKKoepwaN1Ubhq4FhEAsRGNxwprcGtcM49d3JxfkFg

12/12/21 02:27 AM

#3161

William Nelson

The news from Waukesha for the past several weeks has been saddening, to say the least, Garry. That area is where most of our kids, grands, and great-grands live. They've been warning us to stay away from the family homes in Milwaukee, but we're now concerned about them, too. Our daughter-in law is a Waukesha cop; one of their three K-9 officers. Our son drives salting and plowing trucks for the county part time during the winter months.

I just ran across an article titled, "Thurston Woods". The only Thurston I've heard about was about a mile or so from our house. We had been looking for a house in that area for a while and found one on (I think) 31st & Thurston. I remember it had a green house on the south side; a feature my dad really liked. The home we wound up in was on 36th & Rohr. The owner was an artist and his sister and brother-in-law also lived in the house. He designed a larger home that would give them each better privacy and had it built on 34th and Thurston. We visited them there once and it was very large, but only had a few rooms. As I remember, the exterior was Lannon Stone. I remember Dad saying that one was definitely out of our price range.

This article is about that very area, now known as Thurston Woods. I know that some of the folks who visit this site regularly lived in that area and thought you'd like to read this article. At least, the tone is positive, unlike most of the articles I've read about the area recently. Here's the link:

Hope you enjoy the article.

12/12/21 06:29 PM

#3162

Bill, We lived 2 blocks apart. We orginially lived across the street from Smith Park, in the little house 2 doors South of Sheridan Av. I was 10 years old when we moved into the, what is now white, big house on the Northwest corner of 36th and Sheridan. At the same time, we switched from Holy Redeemer to St. Alberts on 35th and Florist. St. Alerts was considered to be a part of Thurson's Woods.

12/12/21 06:49 PM

#3163

Before St Albert's was built, that whole plot along Florist from 35th to Teutonia was all that was left of Thurston Forest ... as far as I know. I remember it as being heavily wooded with critters like rabbits and field mice. It was one of our favorite areas to ride our bikes to and explore. 33rd & 32nd didn't go through, I think by Oriole, when we were kids. I think it went from "Thurston Forest" to "Thurston Woods" around the 1940's when the post-war baby boomers families moved north.

12/17/21 12:46 PM

#3164

Barbara Blair (Brenzel)

Thanks for the article on Thurston Woods - I lived on the corner of 36th & Thurston. We called it Thurston Forest and walking there was like going back in time.

Barb Brenzel (Blair)

12/17/21 12:55 PM

#3165

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

I see from the Weather Channel and some newsy things that California has been getting some rain and feet of snow in the mountains. The reserviors are starting to fill up again. Drought's not over, but there's going to be more water, at least for a while. Garry, maybe you'll be able to catch up on that shower.

12/18/21 10:24 AM

#3166

Yes, we've had some welcome rain, and snow in the mountains too, here in CA; but the officials will be laying a guilt trip on us about showers over 2 minutes, washing cars, flushing, etc until all the reservoirs are full and the drought can be officially declared "over". I always feel less guilty when I see our hillsides turn from their summer brown to bright shamrock green. AND more rain is coming this week!

12/18/21 01:51 PM

#3167

Barb, You lived exactly 2 blocks North of me. Jim, We had our first rain in 4 months, this past Wednesday. It was a hard rain, which did not do any good, as it all ran off. I'm guessing that we got between a quarter and a half inch. Officially, we got a tenth of an inch. The official rainfall, total to date, for the year, is just under 2 inches. The average is 4.25 inches. I've read that anything under 8 inches a year, is drought conditions. What we need is what I've heard called a farmer's rain, a slow steady rain that soaks in. Lake mead, behind the Davis Dam is at a third capacity. We would need about 3 months of daily farmer's rain to even come close to normal for Lake Mead. Of course, 2 1/2 months of a 110 degrees or better doesn't help. If I don't post, again: Merry Christmas, everyone.

12/18/21 10:20 PM

#3168

This is for Jim. I've seen the publicity Naval corpsmen get for the dangerous duty and came across one of the units I'm sure you had to support. It looks terribly dangerous! Thank you for keeping us safe.

12/19/21 11:19 AM

#3169

My oldest daughter is a Corpsman. She's been in the Navy for almost 20 years. She made Chief Petty Officer 2 years ago. She has 3 tours at Camp Pendleton, was Sailor of the year during one of them, 2 1/2 years at Guantanamo, a year in Afghanistan qualified for the Fleet Marine Force badge while there, and was an instructor at Great Lakes. She wants to retire from the Navy at Great Lakes. To do so she had to reenlist for 3 more years. That will total 22 years. She's a department head at one of the clinics near Great Lakes, doing a Senor Chiefs job.. I asked her if she was going to put in for Senior Chief. She said no, for as little time as she has left, it's not worth the extra beneifits.

12/19/21 06:06 PM

#3170

Garry, I sincerely thank you. I enlisted in the Navy specifically to be a corpsman - I wanted to do something medical. I really had no idea what that all entailed, in duties, and on going to the Marines (A little detail my recruiter didn't mention.) I was fortunate to get some really good medical experience before going to the Marines, and Vietnam, and it really helped me to be a good "Doc" with them. I'm honored to have had that privilage.

Lauren, congrats to your daughter!. She's had an accomplished career, although I could think of better places to go after retirement than Great Lakes. When I was in, there was no such thing as an FMF badge. You were transferred into the Marines, went to field med school in Camp LeJeune, went to your unit, and you were an FMF corpsman.

Thanks guys, for your thoughts.

12/25/21 08:54 AM

#3171

Ok, Californians, you guys think you got it all. Well, us here on this other coast do too. Had our own earthquake here this afternoon, so there.

12/31/21 05:15 PM

#3172

01/01/22 09:31 AM

#3173

Tom Burger

Happy New Year! This year will mark 60 years from our graduation! Jim's message about walking a little slower reminded me of morning "visitor" who causally but cautiously strollls across our patio. For those who have not seen this bird it is a road runner...not running but walking!

01/01/22 02:22 PM

#3174