Wednesday, July 29, 2015

EAA Photos

Nice little rain storm this morning - 0.37 inches.  Peak rate was 1.75 inches per hour.

Brady Brady Brady - the cover up is always so much worse then the crime.  

And about that lion killing.  If killing a beloved lion was bad enough for a person that has already been convicted of killing other animals illegally.  NOW - the next lion to head the pack, Jericho, will probably kill Cecil's six cubs so he can insert his bloodline into the pack. It's how they roll. 

Isn't killing for fun, even if it's big game sort of like being a serial killer? 

Sickening. 

OH - the next time you sing Happy Birthday . . . . you better pay up.  It cost's $1,500 to pay for those copyright's.  The owners of that 1935 copyright have been making $2 million a year.  

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EAA

This is America's new F35B fighter that is suppose to replace the Harrier and my 2nd favorite fighter the F18 Hornet (my favorite is the A10 Worthog) .  This was the first time it was publicly shown.  It can hover!!  It only costs 150 million, less then the Bradly Center! 
 
F-35B Joint Strike Fighter
This got a good chuckle out of the crowd. I was REALLY hoping the pilot was not going to demonstrate the afterburners as he was maneuvering around. 


When we arrived there was an accident that closed down the runways for a few hours.  On average there is one take off every 5 minutes (busiest airport in the world for one week) so you can expect a pretty large backlog of planes wanting to take off.  

When the runways opened all three runways were being used for take offs, sometimes 2 planes at a time on each runway.  There were about 50 planes in line on each until they cleared the center runway for this. 
Yea - I bet the FedEx pilot had just a tiny bit more stress landing. 

Don't EVER take this airline - no matter how cheap the seats are.  What a mistake. 

OH - this is the new Ford.  It costs $250,000 but I would not pay over $200,000 for it because I could not find where the bumper hitch was. 


Note to self - don't point nothin' at this dude!  He and some well armed buddies were guarding the the F35 . . . . in case someone wanted to steal it I guess.  I decided NOT to start a conversation with him about gun control. 


That's all for today - I have to go to Waunakee and pick up a bunch of art that was in a Parade of homes house.  They sold it and my art is no longer needed! 

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I sent in my DNA sample to Ancestry.com to see who I really am.  There seems to be some inconsistencies in my family that we are investigating.   

Cheers!  

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Many pent up words about the last week.

Well - back to work.   Of course all my photo files are not HERE but I can make due. I have most of my images still in my camera.

Last Wednesday I went to EAA with a new friend I met in Spring Green.  EAA is the Grand Canyon of Aeronautics. No matter how big someone tells you it is and how many planes you THINK are there, when you get there and drive mile after mile past parked aircraft that literally go over the horizon you will be, as my now English brother says  . . godsmacked (more on my now English brother later).

When you walk into a field with 3000 privately owned war birds, OMG!!  It's Woodstock with wings and as you take a tram and see 40,000 aircraft with tents below the wings and hundreds of presentations about oil viscosity and diabetes for a pilot you are awestruck.

The interesting thing was that everyone attending was very very friendly and most are not from Wisconsin. One person from Manhattan said coming to EAA was a lifelong dream.  Another commented that there was not one speck of paper on the ground anywhere.  Amazingly clean airport and surrounding 20 square miles.  In a line we were talking about safety and one person said she had left her camera on a bench and came back a half hour later and it was still there (I would not try that to test it).

NOT being an aircraft fanatic there was only so much I could take in.

The below image is from an Airbus A350 which dwarfed the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress that was next to it.     


Barely seen under the S in Airbus is a plane that will reach 96,000 feet. You can see the amazingly long wings under the engine.  They will use the polar vortex over Argentina to push it to that height next year for some scientific  . . stuff.

I'll have more photos as they come out of my camera.

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Then a few hours after getting home from EAA we drove to Indianapolis.  If I had to pick a large town to move to it would be Indy.  I love that town. They have so many bike paths (unlike Columbus (people keep telling me Columbus needs more (if any) bike paths) and art and beauty.

Anyway we were there for the USS Indianapolis reunion and while there we met a family from Fall River.   Carrol Gove's widow(??) lives in Fall River.  Carrol is the guy in the center of the image (above Survivors (he didn't).



  There are 33 survivors left (one died at home while we were there).

Last night Jenny was on the National Geographic Site and found this - a good read!! 

Warship's Last Survivors Recall Sinking in Shark-Infested Waters

The photo of Mel on that site was taken just after I took this photo.  Mel was a Marine guarding the components of the A-Bomb on the USS Indy on their secret mission.  The USS Indy was the flagship of the Pacific Fleet and after it was torpedoed and sunk 12 minutes later the 880 that made it off the ship were ignored for 5 days in the water and 500 were eaten by sharks.  BUT - the Navy covered their many many "mistake".    


In fact even though it was sunk a month before the war ended no one in the States knew about it UNTIL they released the story on VJ day.  Family's were told of their loss the same day the war ended.

There are two movies coming out - USS Indianapolis Men Of Courage, filming now which uses Hunter Scott as the catalyst.

Hunter was in middle school when he was watching JAWS and the part about the USS Indy was mentioned. He asked his dad if that was true and his dad said he was not sure.
Hunter and me

He started to look into it and made a history project out of it but the more he investigated the more weirdness he found.  Why was the Captain court-martial, why did no one look for them.

As he got older he started interviewing the 317 survivors and things were not adding up. He started to feel there was a massive cover up and tried to go in front of congress.

Because of him the Captain (who committed suicide a few years after his court-martial because of all the hatred towards him) was exonerated 50 years later.  Hunter is now a submarine hunter for the Navy.

If you wrote a script it would be unbelievable but being a true story . . . . . .The Captain who all the sailors loved was a scape goat.

Another movie being produced by Robert Downy Jr is about Captain McVay's ordeal and court-martial.  

Next year HBO wants to show a series called Indianapolis: The Legacy but HBO only shows series based on books.

SO - since there is a screen play there is a NYTimes best selling author writing a book so HBO can show the series.  We watched 1.5 hours of the show and it was GREAT!! all told from survivors (like Band of Brothers style) and it was riveting. 

DJ and Sara Vladic
We have had many conversations with the producer (seen with DJ) trying to get Mel to talk about his experience.

Getting stories out of these guys was like pulling teeth. Many would not speak of the ordeal for 30 years.  DJ is still finding out details (rescuing survivors was hard because their skin would pull off their bodies when grabbed).

In attendance were members of the Basset a rescue ship and the PBY that by a freak at of God noticed them 5000 feet below (no one knew the Indy was sunken yet EVEN THOUGH they got off an SOS which was ignored by the Navy).

I also got to talk to Doug Statton who wrote the best book out there In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors   

That book was in the process of being made into a movie but 911 happened and it was shelved!  Excellent book that tells the events like an adventure story. Highly recommended.


Hey - that's me on a website I just found
There is a huge undertaking by National Geographic and the Woods Hole Group (found Titanic and the Bismark) to find the Indy and that will be a big deal late next year.  That part of the ocean has never been mapped.

Anyway - you are probably getting bored.  So much to talk about.   I'll stop.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Decompressing

Got home from Indianapolis late last night and noticed a LOT of mosquitoes!  How unfortunate. 

No real blog as I'm decompressing from a whirlwind of 5 days of activity from EAA to the USS Indianapolis Reunion. 

One thing - the world will hear a LOT about the USS Indianapolis next year from two major motion pictures to an HBO series and a huge National Geographic TV special/magazine combination that will combine Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Navy and two other International groups setting out to find the Indy which lays in one of the deepest part of the ocean.

I also met a group from Fall River that was attending the USS Indianapolis Reunion.  

B-25

 
Mel and a small banner at the Hyatt

Mel being photographed for National Geographic.

We saw the first curt of the HBO series and it was incredible. The story told by the survivors themselves. 

Nuff said!  

Have a great day. 

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Brewers - not as bad as we thought!

Brewers - best team in baseball in July!  Why are we thinking of trading everybody?  It's like last year in reverse!

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Fort Atkinson



And Trek


Off to EAA at this ungodly hour.

OH - Davis Clark took this photo- I hope he does not mind me putting it up.  I'm doing some framing and so forth.



Gotta run!

Have a great day



Tuesday, July 21, 2015

muradosmann

Is Donald Trump the worlds biggest troll?   A troll is “ a person who sows discord … by starting arguments or upsetting people … with the deliberate intent of provoking people into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”

The guy is just begging for attention.  But what is interesting is how people are reacting. I heard one guy say he WAS going to vote for Trump because he is a businessman and America needs to be run like a business.

WHAT?  America needs to be run like a business?

I have an idea. How about a government, act, LIKE A GOVERNMENT.  The two things are totally different.

I don't know where I'm going with this and I have already bored myself.  I just loath the idea that a government should be run like a business.

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The Packers received $224 million in revenue sharing from the NFL last year.  I heard there are about 125,000 people on the waiting list to buy Packer shares which would net them another $24 million . . . if they needed it.

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The craft beer market made $19.6 BILLION last year but there is one brewery making big waves. Small Town Brewery that makes "Not Your Fathers Root Beer".  If you have not tried it it is a 6% ABV root beer and it tastes so good you want to chug it down like a root beer . . . . . as I did.  I suggest you don't. You have 6% ABV all hitting your system in 3 gulps! It's really good!!

The funny thing is Small Town Brewery is actually owned by not so small Smirnoff.

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I don't know how many people follow Murad Osmann and his girlfriend Natalia Zakharova on Instagram.  They became "famous" when they took a trip around the world photographing themselves.




Pretty amazing images.

Well they just went on their honeymoon.

Look for muradosmann if you have an instagram account.


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My work with Findorff was a bust. They got cold feet at the last second with a "what if something goes wrong" mind set and decided not to have any photos.

Nothing went wrong, would have been pretty sweet.

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OH - from the City Admin's office.

Many of you should have heard about the shooting incident at the Beaver Dam Fleet Farm on Wednesday afternoon. A store manager confronted a suspected shoplifter who in turn shot the manager twice and fled. The suspect was apprehended after being stopped by Columbus Police Chief Dan Meister, who heard the dispatch while driving home after work. He noticed the description of the car and license plate that matched the report and went out to try and locate the vehicle. He did spot the vehicle on 151 that had come up on the on ramp at exit 115 and then tried to use the off ramp. Two other Columbus Police Officers came to assist (at this time I do not know which officers they were), and the suspect was arrested. Great job Chief.


Monday, July 20, 2015

Discover Columbus's new water tower

I'm getting some of this blog done early as I'm sort of waiting for a phone call which will have me scrambling to a road trip.  Sometime soon Epic Systems (more Findorff actually) is going to use two huge cranes to lift a railroad car to on top of a building . . . or something, not exactly sure but the crane operators are pretty pumped about this. I guess for crane operators this is a big deal which seems like it would be.

ANYWAY they want me to come and document this. Not a CLUE what they want or what I'll take photos of but I'll do it. 

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Rain 

Monday 3.85 inches
Tuesday 0.30
Wednesday 0.00
Thursday 0.86
Friday 0.97
Saturday 0.98

Total  6.96 inches 

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In other news I went to Heavy Bomber Weekend in Madison Friday and Wednesday about 4:00AM I'm heading up to EAA for some before opening photos and spend the day there doing whatever people do there. Any suggestions on photo op's would be appreciated. I have not been there for 40 years.

I took this shot Friday.    

B-17G Flying Fortress Aluminum Overcast

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The other thing that happened this weekend was the water tower paint job. 



hmmmmmm  can't really see the tower with this lens!  Better in person. 

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A shot this a few weeks ago that looks cool if you click on it as it gets bigger (not sure how bigger but . . . ). 


And I have a road trip next weekend to Indianapolis for the last(?) USS Indy reunion


Speaking of politics (I LOVE The Donald, so entertaining) there is a thing called The Invisible Primary which is very good at predicting who will win a party's nomination.  It takes endorsements from Representatives, Senators and Governors giving 1,5 and 10 points for each endorsement.

At the moment Hillary has 264 points and no one else has any for the Democrats.   For the Republicans the leader is Chris Christie with 24 points and Jeb Bush is second with 18.  Our Governor has 2 points, both from Wisconsin representatives Reid Ribble and Sean Duffy.  Walker is in next to last place of all the Republicans.

Everything I read, Walker is not that liked around the Country. We only believe he is because of all the news coverage in Wisconsin. Only Rick Perry and Rick Santorum have less endorsements.  Well, The Donald does not have any but he is only there to make everyone else look sane.

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OH OH - and just food for thought.

Ancestry.com has a DNA check which I have ordered to see WHO I AM.  Basically you send some DNA in and they tell you your heritage (along with collecting data so Obama can take my guns away).

WELL - someone I know had his DNA checked and everything he thought of where he came from . . . . . . WAS WRONG!!!   

If you go your entire life thinking are one thing AND NO!! - you are actually 85% BRITISH!! Oh ON!!    That brings up all sorts of questions (why he calls everyone a chap and is always so knackered).  

More on this as it comes in.

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I could not resist!



  

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Raising Super Readers.

Going to be a rather cool day as thickening clouds and the coming rain will keep heating to a minimum.  Can't rule out a flash flood warning as heavy rains could develop this evening as super moist air will rapidly enter Wisconsin.  Not saying there WILL be but all the factors are in place.   I expect at least 1 inch to 1.5 inches of rain today if all goes as planned.

Once this passes we heat up Friday and Saturday into the upper 80s and low 90s with very high humidity and heat index Saturday near 100.  Did I mention I have an art fair Saturday in Lake Mills?

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I took this from my deck Monday night.  This storm was west of Chicago - tells you how big it was.

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This comes from Dr.Electron/The Water Czar/Mr. Coffee who has had about 1 hour of sleep since Monday.

"At this point, I am estimating that there is less than 50 residential homes in Columbus without electricity. These remaining customers need to have an electrician repair their meter sockets prior to CWL Staff energizing their electrical services.

Today, we had 15 crews from various electric utilities assisted us to restore the west Columbus area.

By about 1:30 pm today we started to send some of the crews that were the farthest from their Utility home as the area of storm damage got considerably smaller. Without the MEUW/WPPI Members the restoration efforts in Columbus would have taken our crew months.

Also, CWL’s Staff both the field and office, worked in unison to make the restoration efforts run smoothly. DPW and WWTP also worked together with CWL to help each other out."

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This was a true emergency and I believe all of the city government work in unison and I applaud their efforts.

With all this going on has anybody looked at our water tower? It's almost completed and The Water Czar and I will go out today to position the new logo.  WE Energy & Avis Rent a Car Discover Columbus with a lightning bolt and a car with Christopher Columbus waving from the drivers seat.

We actually are positioning the logo - one side will face the highway between the two interchanges with the other side facing Fireman's Park.  It would be nice to have the logo facing both entrances but logistically that is not possible as the logo needs to be on opposite sides.   We looked at 5 different designs and BIGGER is always better I say.

The tower is all white with a blue underbelly where the dirt accumulates so the blue will hide the dirt in the coming years.

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Jade Helm 15 starts today - you know that military "exercise" where Obama and those liberals are going to take over Christoval, Texas and are closing Walmarts to be used as detention centers?

“Just in case,”Dr. Campbell, an emergency physician in San Angelo, Tex said “People are just vigilant. Not vigilantes, but vigilant. They don’t want to be caught off guard.” Another resident said a friend of his, a Vietnam veteran, started burying some of his firearms to hide them.

Yea - because we all know Obama will knock on your door and ask for your guns any day and that in the 5 years of his reign firearm sales have been breaking records.  Well done gun industry - superb marketing plan.  Fear ALWAYS wins!

I heard they might put a dome over that city!!

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The running of the bulls is over.  I REALLY detest that "sport" for it's cruelty and I cheer every time I hear someone is gored.  They actually keep records of injuries and there have only been 15 deaths but a LOT of major goring's!

Since 1980 there has been an increase of injuries of 5.1% yearly while attendance has been dwindling.  Last year 17,000 people ran with the bulls down from 2011 where there were 20,000.

BUT - it seems the British are the worst runners as they have the highest per person chance of getting injured. 8% of all goring's go to the British.  Americans are the 6th easiest to gore (we are much better at running while totally drunk).

In 35 years there have only been 3 days where someone has not suffered a major goring!  GO BULLS!!

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The average American consumes 126 grams of sugar every day!

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I'll be at Heavey Bomber Weekend tomorrow morning - no blog!

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Cardinal Comics opens back up next week - Very good store if you are into graphic novels (which I am).  The "comic book" industry is in it's golden age with sales mirroring the early 90s.  I'm surprised at some of the people I have heard that have gone there purchasing novels!  I know who you are you guys  :-)  High Five!  Our secret!  Just kidding. Is reading ever a bad thing?

Domestic sales of graphic novels is at $870 million compared to $265 million in 2000.   The top 300 comic books sold 85 million copies and this does not count the number of graphic novels.

But here is the weird thing.  There is no Fantastic Four comic book.  Marvel lost the license to Universal. Also no "mutants"! Again - the movie industry obtained those rights. Can't use them in a comic book now.

Want to see what it's all about?

Here are some of the best. Ask Cardinal Comics to get this for you

The Watchman

The Dark Night Returns (this is the one that turned me on - I STILL have goose bumps and remember the first time I read and adult comic  WOW!

Sin City

300

Daredevil: Born Again

The Walking Dead

Cardinal Comics (located 111 S Ludington, across from The Capri) Grand Opening will be September 18th, 2015 when they are fully stocked but is opening again next week (vacation in Florida)

Raising Super Readers: The Benefits of Comic Books and Graphic Novels - link to a great article


While comic books and graphic novels have increased in popularity among children of all ages in the last few years, there are still some parents and educators that dismiss the medium as trivial or "not a real book" or "junk." We live in a visual society. It only makes sense that children are drawn to visual media.


Gotta go work out! see ya! BTW - down 9 pounds since Anytime Fitness opened working out 3 times a week. 1/2 hour on the elliptical and a few weights after (but not crazy lifting).

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Derecho update

UPDATE from Dr. Electron/Mr Coffee -  there were 15 crews out yesterday restoring power, River Road, Waterloo, Hamilton, Birdsey, Fuller, N. Lewis, parts of Charles and S.Lewis were restored, work was also started in Little Mexico. Today we are concentrating on the areas of Selden Street to the east towards Mill St. We will also will have a couple or possibly more crews concentrating on addressing service reattachment. At this point I am estimating that 200+ customers still remain without power. Our crews will continue to work as hard as we can until all customers have electricity restored.

A HUGE thank you to Pick n' Save, as they donated all the food to feed all the workers, volunteers, and people that have been affected by the storm.  Bravo large Roundy's corporation.

As of last night at 8:00 it's still not a straight line getting from one side of town to the other with many streets still blocked.  In fact the REAL clean up has yet to begin as the focus is getting streets cleared.  There are many many huge trees on houses and horizontal on lawns.   Fire wood will not be a problem this winter.

WKOW has had some nice pieces about Columbus lately.

Speaking of sirens - NOAA does not have the technology for warning communities of straight line winds as they are too close to the ground. Tornado's are much easier as they go higher and anyone with a cell phone and an expansive app can see a tornado forming.

Notice Columbus is not in the Tornado warning area. This shows wind velocity and direction.  All the red is wind flowing one direction. The green shows wind flowing the opposite direction.  This is what set off the tornado warnings for Dodge County.


A whole lotta lightning.

I was amazed at how many sounds my weather station produces in a storm like this.

Oddly as I was introducing myself and talking to people after the storm last night there was some anger at the newspaper for their article about Hydro street.  Some are wondering if the city government is anti-business AGAIN as the article made it sound!

I assured them that "I" certainly was not anti-business (I can not speak for the rest of council as I would get in trouble).  I was talking to a person from Beaver Dam and they WISH they had the business Columbus had as our downtown is vibrant compared to their town.

I also want to thank Aaron Adams for his time on council. I feel he was the most honest (to a fault) and down to earth person I know and losing him on Council is a large loss to Columbus and it seems this is a common opinion from citizens I was talking too.  The Newspaper made it sound like Aaron was avoiding making a comment  when he could not be reached.  HE WAS OUT OF TOWN!!! I believe he was at a beer festival promoting Hydro and Columbus.

It's a shame Hydro Street has become some a lightning bolt recently and he felt his being on Council was becoming a problem.  I disagree.  It's outsiders spewing hate at the City Council with incomplete knowledge that is the problem.

In case you are wondering exactly what a Revolving Loan Fund is , , , The Economic Development Administration's Revolving Loan Fund Program supplies small businesses and entrepreneurs with the gap (meaning VERY risky) financing needed to start or expand their business. RLFs take on projects with above average risk

This is not money generated from taxes by the citizens of Columbus. It was given to us for stimulating and helping small business fill the cash gaps when they could not get REAL loans from banks.  

My personal opinion is that I do not believe most towns have the expertise to give out large sums of money by normal people.  Certainly Columbus does not but the Fed knew that.  It's a high risk loan. What a stupid plan. It is hard to say "no" and I wonder how many times a request has been turned down.  Ever?  Heck, in the past we have given out loans to companies that are not even IN Columbus!  But I digress.

Nuff said on that subject. Talking to people last night got me going.

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I for one applaud Obama for the Iran Nuke deal!  Iran must limit nuclear activities for 10 years - ANYTHING that could be used to make a nuclear weapon is forbidden and they can not trade or sell any weapons for years.  IN exchange sanctions will be lifted which could transform the Middle East making Iran a real player in the world economy and they will help in combating ISIS.

This is a big gold star in Obama's touch-and-go foreign policy record. Republicans who hate anything Obama (even if they thought of it first) can kick and scream but Obama has the veto card.

see ya!


Tuesday, July 14, 2015

WHERE WERE THE DERECHO SIRENS

Correction - according to Columbus Wastewater we had 3.85 inches of rain ending at 7:00AM yesterday.  I guess having back-up batteries for my station would have been nice but three "C" batteries?  FINE - I have them NOW!   I did not think that with two rain gauges, one automatic and one manual that BOTH would suffer catastrophic problems in the same storm.

We had 0.30 inch in last nights storm according to BOTH gauges.

As far as Columbus we are still in a state of emergency.

I believe we owe Columbus Connects a huge thank you and the city should take notice that that is how a city should handle social media.  If I can receive an award from the city for this blog (a number of years ago) Columbus Connects should, without a doubt, get an award for yesterdays coverage of events.  I'm not sure how many thousands of times people read coverage of the news in Columbus but I would guess in the 10,000 page views.  Bravo!

POWER - According to Dr. Electron "The main overhead circuit that feeds Park View and most of Park Avenue sustained significant damage. Approximately 8 Poles were broken off at ground level and several of the poles were 'raked' over where they had to be straightened in order to restring the circuit. Sun Prairie, Waunakee, Waterloo, Lake Mills, Oconomowoc, and Waupaun responded with crews to help."

"As of tonight at 10:15 Circuit 103 has been repaired and is operational as Park view and Park Avenue are back in power. There are several homes on Park without power due to services being ripped off of homes.

Tomorrow all the above mentioned crews are returning as there are still areas in town without power. Waterloo St will be a point of emphasis tomorrow (today). Along with areas west of James and north of Dickason."


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Many people have been asking "WHERE WERE THE DERECHO SIRENS".

Columbus does not have derecho* sirens and there were no tornadoes.  All of the alerts you heard were NOT for Columbus.

Speaking of derecho's. That was one hell of a derecho as NOAA says straight line winds between 90 and 110 mph hit Columbus square in the kisser making almost every city street impassable.  I felt like Pac Man trying to get to Jenny's house to deliver her phone. Then when I went around the city to get back to my place I was stopped by Troopers as only Columbus residents were being aloud into the city.  

*derecho - a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a land-based, fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms.


Garbage Collection - They will get to everyone this week . . sooner or later.

 The Columbus Disc Golf Course will be temporally closed.



Pro Tip - #3 Columbus Disc Golf - firm footing is a must on this tricky par three. Try to keep your disc above the water and don't go left as stream could sweep away for a longer 2nd shot.


Kris's beautiful willow tree.


This was the radar just before it all went dark.  Look at all that lightning.



I swear every street in Columbus look liked this (Except ours as our trees are MUCH smaller but we lost 4 smaller trees).


I took this last night on my deck of the storms west of Chicago. A long ways away. 


And taking a second fiddle I hope everyone is noticing the water tower paint job.

FROM COLUMBUS CONNECTS

*** Mullin’s Short Stop will be reopen today!
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*** The Columbus School District will NOT be holding Summer School Classes again today
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*** Julie’s Java House is looking for volunteers to make food and help pass it out to workers, please call 920-623-5540 and they will give you location and info.
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*** I have heard that Advanced Disposal did not come out yesterday due to all the storm damage, but they plan on coming out today to start on Monday's pick up but may not get to certain customers because of damage or utility work going on. They should get to everyone by the end of the week it just may not be on your designated day.
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*** Utility crews have started again this morning to get as many people as possible back on the power grid. Please be patient, they are doing their best!!!
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*** Columbus Middle School/Red Cross has continued to be a shelter for those in need (food and other assistance is available)
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*** Be careful with contractors looking to take advantage of our situation. Be sure to use reputable contractors!
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*** The Recycling Center on River Road will be open from 7:00Am to dusk every day this week. Please do not put brush/limbs in the street, but it is ok to put them on the tree border.
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*** The non-emergency line to call to report a tree down or street blocked by limbs is 920-623-5908.
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*** The Library is OPEN today! They offer free computer use during open hours (9 am - 8:30 pm) and free wi-fi access 24/7. Stop in for an air conditioned break from storm clean up. Also, bring the kids for storytime from 10-10:30 today. They'll keep craft supplies and stuff to do out all morning to give you and the kiddos a break from storm fatigue.

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And a great job and continuing great job to Columbus Dept of Public Works, Columbus Fire Department, Columbus Water & Light, Columbus Police Department, Life Star EMS, The American Red Cross, Columbus Emergency Management Team.  I have to assume Columbus Wastewater had their hands full also (yuck).

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Monday, July 13, 2015

THAT was a big one!

WELL - that was a fun night and most of the area is working on 3 hours sleep.

As I was watching my anemometer early this morning it hit 58mph just as the power went out the FIRST time!  At one point the rain rate was 4.3 inches per hour.  Total rain was about 2.2 inches.

Roads are closed and they are telling people to stay away from Columbus.  We have 4 trees down around us and across the street is an unknown trampoline.

We had so good size rotation right before the tornado alerts went off as Columbus was on the far west side of that excitement.    River Road is closed and our neighbor's dad can not enter Columbus to pick him up for a ride to the airport.








This is where the wind circulation was right after DJ and I hit the basement. Red is wind going one direction and green is the other direction.  It's a bad thing when you see this.  



This is the storm at it's peak showing rain and lightning hits and when all the trees came down.


SO - there are a lot of sleep walkers today.  There are three trees down on our fairway. A Neighbors tree is down and one is leaning and our other neighbor had a shrub shredded next to the house.   CRAZY!!

TODAY - more storms on the way as it's going to get HOT HOT when the sun comes out and all this water on the ground will go into the air.   Looking at 90 today with dew points in the low 70s making it feel like the upper 90s (seems really nice out right now LOL).  More BIG storms will develop but south of us this time

Many city streets are still blocked and residents are encouraged to stay off the streets, The non-emergency line to call to report a tree down or street blocked is 920-623-5908. Columbus City Hall and the Columbus Senior Center are closed today to address the storm response. 

They are not even letting traffic into Columbus.