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This message forum is an ongoing discussion about anything and just about everything ... within reason.  One thing our class was good at was having opinions.  Almost 70 years of life experience certainly qualifies us as experts on most everything!   Ask a question ... give an opinion ... share some insights ... it's our web site, it's our forum.  That said, it's probably not a good idea to get into arguments about politics, religion, and the like.  While we're experts on everything, we also have a wide range of values and beliefs. This site belongs to all of us ... the whole range ... and we are not here to isolate, alienate, or subjugate anybody.  Of course insults, humiliation, sophomoric barraggadocio, and demented humor is expected behavior among some of us less mature people.
 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

I'm sure JP is covering the Dodgers-Brewers game, but I checked and he hasn't filed the story yet. Here's a story he wrote that was published yesterday and made the front page! (very exciting for proud mom) about the history of the Dodgers and Angels in Los Angeles: (sorry, I can't make the URLs live from my iPad. If anyone knows the secret, let me know!)

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_22755296/angels-dodgers-state-baseball-los-angeles?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com

SO glad we don't have scorpions in the Bay Area (at least I think we don't) - but black widows are everywhere. I've actually gotten used to seeing the one on the web next to the garage steps. But I NEVER put shoes right on that have been in the garage without thoroughly checking them!

Marian Schopp (Bringe)

Phoenix and all it’s suburbs are filled with spring training lovers wearing tank tops and shorts while we are still in our jeans and light sweaters.  It’s good to see all the shopping centers and restaurants full from early morning 'till late at night !!  

Jim Cejka

So, feel like hitting McD's or some other fast food place? Find a dark one. On an average, people consume 175 fewer calories in a dimly lit place than a bright one.

(Of course, if you find a dark one, make sure it's open first.)

Garry Sellers

You have to be very careful of those winters in Wisconsin.  We sent a robin from California to visit Marilyn and now both the robin and Marilyn have disappeared?  We never could figure out what Marilyn was up to but she's a big girl now.  We just want our robin back!

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

On one of our trips back to Wisconsin in the past few years, we passed by what used to be the "Gobbler" - the round, rotating restaurant on I94 surrounded by white turkeys prancing all around. Does anyone know its recent history, and what happened to it?

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

Terri: This site should give you the answers you're looking for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gobbler

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Thanks, Jeanne. Never occurred to me it would have been covered on Wicki! I should remember the uniform controversy - was living in Madison at the time - but alas, the memories fade. No robins here in Cupertino either, Garry - but there was a flock of cedar waxwings yesterday! Being a "birder" that was really exciting for me. I love the way their tails look like they've been dipped in a bucket of yellow paint. 

Garry Sellers

Terri!  You're two miles away from me!  A robin followed my granddaughter and me all the way up to our local park last week!  He's been around for months.  Maybe it has to do with the rattle snakes and wild turkeys in Rancho San Antonio that makes them feel unwelcome in your neighborhood!

I'll bet that it's Spring in Wisconsin today, huh?  Marilyn is probably out jogging in her running shorts as we speak, counting robins and planning her bike intervals!   Ah, those lucky people with their change of seasons ... even when it doesn't.

Marian Schopp (Bringe)

Ahhh – the Gobbler.  In 1972 we decided to move back to Wisconsin, from Arizona, because our small children, primarily, missed all the family.  We moved to Watertown so they could have the farming experience.  That lasted for about two months when we decided to build the Organ Piper Pizza restaurant in Greenfield.  Because we were getting strapped for cash I took my first waitress job – at the Gobbler.  They were nice enough to train me and I found the tips brought home more money than I could make working in any office as a secretary.  The Hartwig’s lived in Florida and their kids ran the restaurant.  When the Hartwign’s came to town once a year or so, we were all a nervous wreck.  They had observation windows on the second floor so none of the chefs could slip any extra food to the waitresses.  We had to get permission to go into the cooler that had those little birthday cakes because help was snatching the decorative roses off the top until the cakes were bare.  They had really cute guys playing live music in the loft.  I think I heard Proud Mary about 20 times every night but we were too busy to really focus on the music.  Years later, back in Phoenix, and owning my own secretarial service, in walks though the front door but Tom Fogerty.  We got to be really good friends and double dated with Tom and his wife Trish.  I was one of the few priviledged to be invited to Tom’s funeral.  He died of TB.  John Fogerty spoke at his funeral and talked about how CCR had been estranged for so many years.  Wow – a lot of buried memories popped into my mind.  The Gobbler 

Jim Cejka

Garry,

Seems like you have fond memories of thinking it's springtime in WI, when the temp is all the way up in the 20's and the snow gets to be less than a foot deep.

Sally in MinneSNOWta would probably and optimistically agree.

Jim Cejka

I just saw an article in something out here that said that one of the "nations most popular nude beaches" is going to be closed during weekdays this summer. Shock and surprise - one of the "nations most popular nude beaches" is in Mazomanie, WI ! 

Whaaaat? My CA brain, and even my WI brain just ain't seeing how one of the "nations most popular nude beaches" and WI mosquitos mix.

Marilyn Griffith (Bauer)

Good mix on the Mazo banks of the Wisconsin River. Happy mosquitoes and brave nudists!

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

I wish the posts on the Message Forum had a "like" button - I would have posted one on the nude beach at Mazomanie.  On what body of water, may I ask? The river? And are they like those "Polar Bear Club" members who swim in freezing weather? Garry, I do think the wild turkeys are scaring away the robins. I saw EIGHTEEN of them and 5 deer yesterday on my walk in Rancho. The male turkey was fanning his tail in a way that would be most intimidating to a robin! Thanks for  your Gobbler story, Marian. 

Jim Cejka

You're right Terri. Mazomanie is in western Dane County and Mazo Beach is on the WI river.

Of course, I only know this from what I've read about it.

Barbara Blair (Brenzel)

I thought maybe Marilyn & her robin were swept away by the monsoon winds we were having!  I've been hearing robins for several weeks now but haven't seen any yet - they might be buried under the snow we've had.  Winter started really late this year & I'm keeping my fingers crossed for spring!

Loved the O'Malley twins "story".  Reminded me of my twin uncles who always introduce themselves as "womb mates".

Sure could use some of that California weather!

Marilyn Griffith (Bauer)

For a good summer day, rent canoes in Sauk City (WI) and paddle down the Wisconsin River stopping at sand bars to picnic or wade in the shallows. Continue on to the big sand bar in Mazomanie and beach the canoes again. Rest awhile while watching other canoers pass while catching glances at the various states of undressed folks behind you. Get back into canoes and continue to the Mazo landing. 

P.S. My group is COMPLETELY clothed!!!

Warren De Smidt

Marilyn, Thanks for the river trip tip! Unfortunately, at this stage of my life, I SHOULD remain completely clothed. NOBODY wants to see an albino bloodhound ;-)

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Another river trip tip: visit us in Presque Isle (Michigan), then drive south on US27 to Oscoda, then west at the main street. You’ll reach the Au Sable river. Rent a canoe or kayak and head downstream. (Reality alert: having kayaked only on our lake, I didn’t realize that going down a river was not just a lazy afternoon. Keep paddling! Kayaks will head into the current; thus, if you veg out, you will be going down the Au Sable ass-backwards!) Plenty of spots to stop for lunch and a short nap. The beauty of this river is the variety of terrain on each side – woods, fields, wetlands, rocky outcrops – which means lots of different birds. The water is shallow, and sparkling clear. All add up to a spectacular afternoon.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Sal – I remember a bakery a block away from our house on 9^th and Ring street (we were across the street from Robert M. LaFollette school; bakery was on Burleigh). When I was about eight years old, I would walk to the bakery, pay 21 cents, and come home with a loaf of warm, white bread – whose crust piece I was allowed to eat on the way home. How times change. Where do you get freshly baked bread for 21 cents a loaf? Can you let kids walk alone in the city? Who eats white bread anymore, anyway?

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

All those river trip descriptions make me want to visit Wis. for the 4th year in a row! But probably won't make it with a wedding this summer :-(

Nancy, I do remember that bakery! The eclairs were my favorite - I remember "begging" for them. Cream puffs came in second.  Another block away on the other side of Borchard Field was my great aunt's bakery, Glasenapp's. I loved the wedding cake displays with the little bride & groom on the top tier, and lacy edged paper under all the treats.

You definitely could not let a little kid walk on that section of Burleigh anymore - or practically anywhere! So sad.

Jim Cejka

All this kayak this river, kayak that river or lake, Terri goes to WI, can't wait for summer - 

Rent a kayak and do San Diego harbor any day, any time of the year, just don't bump into the occasional whale, or aircraft carrier.

And Sally,

As for the picnic stand-by. if I'm not there (and I probably won't be), the EMTs or paramedics that do show up will most likely be students of students of mine.

Jim Cejka

OK, so I'm sitting watching a movie the other night on TMC (Turner Classic Movies) and I recognized that I had gone and seen that movie at the Ritz theater on Villard at some Saturday matinee. I'm now paying $$$ for cable so I can watch a movie I once paid 10 cents to see.

So we think things got better?

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Never mind, Jim. If it’s a good movie, then – just as with a good book – you should see it every 20 or 30 years. I watch my absolute favorite movie about every five years. It’s “On Golden Pond”, one of the best. The setting looks just like our lake, and Karsten and I are beginning to look more and more like Norman and Ethyl Thayer. When the days start to get shorter and the leaves fall, Karsten begins to grumble about it, and I call him Norman. He says, “Everything is dying”; I correct him….”Everything is resting”. It’s all a matter of perspective.

Garry Sellers

Good choice Nancy but just how did it happen that we all started looking and sounding more like Norman and Ethyl?

(Isn't it interesting that Fonda and Hepburn had not only never worked together before Golden Pond, but had never even met?  Hepburn gave Fonda a hat she had from Spencer Tracy and he wore it throughout the film. Hepburn did her own stunts at 74!  She was quite a woman!)

Marilyn Griffith (Bauer)

Dusty memories of going to the Ritz Theater. Tootsie (Marian Brigham) worked in the ticket booth. Don't think she ever gave a "friend" discount; it was so ridiculously cheap anyway. Could go in at any time and see cartoons and a double feature. Remember seeing "The Blob" - it was and still is the scariest movie ever for me!

I didn't know this trivia!

The film was Steve McQueen's debut leading role, and also starred Aneta Corsaut. The film's tongue-in-cheek theme song, "Beware of the Blob", was written by Burt Bacharach and Mack David and became a nationwide hit in the U.S. It was recorded by studio group the Five Blobs – actually singer Bernie Knee overdubbing himself