A River Runs Through My City

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A river flows through my city,


Dissecting it from north to south right down the middle. I live on "her" east side.


"She" is the mighty Wisconsin. Here you see only half her girth, for the left shore is actually an island splitting her right in half.


In our fair city her banks are lined with parks and walkways. In the warm summer months her waters are bedecked with boats, bathers, and fishermen.


But do not be fooled! She is not always a gentle peaceful giant.


This spring she is revealing her quiet nature - - -but last?


Ah, last spring when piles of snow up and down her river's edge melted,


she was a raging tyrant rising out of her banks - - -


And sweeping anything and everything in her path southward and westward to the Mississippi.


Nor does she ONLY play or rage.


She is a working river, lending her waters to the manufacture of paper in many of the communities up and down her banks - my city being one of those paper making towns.

(Please use notebooks, paper, and magazines - the folk of my village will thank you for you bring us prosperity.)


She is a presence and a force to be reckoned with in my city.

And I love her.

Joining Unknown Mami
For Sundays in my City.

My city today is Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

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SOME Pat Answers are Even RIGHT!!!

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Look who's trying to take over MY football cave!

And turn it into HIS music studio and - - -

Fishing show (BLECH!!) watching area.

I gotta tell ya, a man who in all reality cares NOTHING for college football has no business taking over MY FBC (football cave).

I mean THIS MAN doesn't know who plays for which college team nor even who the coaches are. I KNOW this to be fact, 'cause I QUIZ him.

No matter what I ask him like: "Who's the coach of the Northwestern Wildcats?" (Pat Fitzgerald) or "Who was the quarterback at Stanford last fall?" (Andrew Luck) he says: "Pete Carrol!" (former coach of the USC Trojans and current coach of the NFL Seattle Seahawks)

This has gone on for YEARS - - - me ever the teacher, quizzing him in the HOPES that he will learn a little football knowledge - - - he ever refusing to be the student and learn any football facts but "Pete Carrol".

Well - - - last night as I sat watching the NFL draft and saw "MY BOY" Russell get drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, I couldn't WAIT for Fisherhubby to come home from his 12 hour shift in the ER so I could ASK HIM: "Who do you think Russell Wilson's NEW COACH is???"

I was just so confident that he would give his pat answer and be RIGHT for once!

He walked in the door - - - fatigue written all over his body language.

"Guess who Russell Wilson's NEW COACH is!?!?" I pounced.

"I don't know, who? (long pause) Pete Carrol?" says he.

DING DING DING!!! You're RIGHT.

Whew - - - for a minute there I thought he was gonna BLOW IT and fail to give his pat answer.

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Just You WAIT All You Naysayers!

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"My Boy", Russell Wilson

Went 75th overall to the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the 1012 NFL Draft .

There are LOTS of pundit naysayers, especially one with TALL HAIR who thinks he's the NFL Draft guru extraordinaire, who say Russell is too short to be an NFL quarterback.

Watch out Naysayers - - - here he comes!

I stand by "my boy." And so does Jon Gruden.

The naysayer with the tall hair is just wrong.

Photos of Russell Wilson from AP
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Our Lives are But a Series of Fragments

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HA! How's that for "waxing philosophical" about Friday Fragments????

Good Friends and Good Food - What Could Be Better???

Sunday my bloggy friend Cindy, her hubby Dan, and their little granddaughter Addie came over from Black River Falls to meet us for lunch.


Cindy and I have been bloggy buddies since shortly after I started blogging - I'm guessing at least 5 years now.

Since I FORGOT to take any pictures on Sunday, I've scrounged these out of the old archives. Um, yah - - - you do know who you're dealing with over here, right???

After lunch Dan and Cindy came over to our little ole duplex home for a wee visit. Cindy looked around and said, "This is so cute! Why don't you show any of this on your blog?"

CUTE! She thought my nest was cute. I call that high praise.

Even though I think I HAVE shown most of my home on my blog already - - - Cindy said "sick 'em" to this bull dog, so WATCH OUT!

My Blogging Space

I have dubbed the second bedroom "My Computer Room."

So, when you look at my blog, should you ever decide to look at my blog, you can picture me sitting right at this desk blogging away.

Tonight the lovely late afternoon sun is coming in - - - and BLINDING me as I try to look at my computer screen, so I'm wearing a visor.

Yes, I most certainly am! A PINK visor that says Cedar Point on it!

China and Family Photos

I love this little washstand that was a hand-me-down from Sister Pam when she moved to Florida and decided it would NOT fit in her Florida decor.

It suits my eclecticity just fine!

I showed it to you at Christmas time all decked out in a pine garland and Moravian Star candle holders.

This is it's non-Christmas season look.

Which Came First?

You may recognize this little chicken and eggs combo from my header.


Recently I decided that since Easter was over it was time to put away the colorful eggs and - - -


Go with something more natural like these little bird eggs.

Now I must confess, I MISS the splash of color the Easter eggs provided. :-(

Tea Time

A few weeks ago I showed you some darlin' little Russian tea glasses that a missionary brought to our church.


It was "love at first sight" for me - - - and I determined I would get a set.


Last evening my friend, Connie, brought me a set of 6! Aren't they the cutest little things???

Thank you, Connie!!!

Iniquity or Antiquity?

A while back I saw this display in the South Wood County Historical Museum.


Clever boy that Phil to come up with this idea. Makes me chuckle every time.

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

While I was out and about snapping pictures of the Wisconsin River for a new blog header (did you notice???) and to use in an upcoming post I caught these fowl playing duck, duck, goose!

I'm SURE they were playing duck, duck, goose 'cause the geese were here and over to the right under another tree were the ducks - shiny green-headed mallards.

A Book is a Passport to Other Worlds

Here is our public library where I spend my days ironing DVDs, checking in materials, shelving, doing room set up, making pots of coffee, scrubbing dishes, finding materials put on hold (pick list), and serving customers in the coffee shop.

It's a wonderful library and a great place to spend my days.

Lawn Gnome

If it's time to start mowing and - - -


Trimming, can summer be far behind?

For the Lazy Weeder

This is for moi - - - so I can sit and wheel up and down the driveway when I pull weeds, which I desperately need to do!

Maybe this toy will make weeding more fun so I will do it more often?

One can HOPE, can't one?

Head on over to Mrs. 4444's place
And check out all the other Friday Fragments.

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I'm an Old Dog - - -

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So Bogger, WHY are you trying to teach me new tricks????


This pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole new Blogger interface thing.

I was doing OK with it because I found the button I could click to "return to old Blogger interface," but for the last couple of days there's been a message up there on my dashboard that says, "Old Blogger interface will be removed in the coming month."

I was ignoring that message - - - hoping they didn't really mean it.

But today, when I tried to sign into my google account it said my blog had been deleted.

THAT got my attention.

No blog where there's been a blog since 2006??

Nope - - - couldn't find it ANYWHERE.

Well, obviously since you are reading this you know I jumped through their "hoops" to get my blog back - - - it only involved cutting off one arm, breaking one leg, selling my firstborn child (sorry Keri - - - there is a price to EVERYTHING you know ;-), and giving them my cell phone number so they could phone me with a verification code.

But now I am so frustrated I could chew a chunk of iron the size of New York City and spit ten thousand billion nails.

I've LOOKED at the new blogger interface.

I HATE it. I can't find my follow list on there ANYWHERE. It's complicated. It's all new. Maybe even a little bit shiny.

I like OLD. I like RUSTY. I like to stay in my comfort zone.

Who in tarnation decided the new interface was better anyway???? And what were they thinkin????

If they want to offer that "rot" to the world - - - go ahead and offer it. But PLEASE, leave us old dogs alone with the old tricks we already learned. We don't WANT any new tricks.

If I get down on my bloggy knees and GROVEL, do you think it will cause them to leave the old interface alone so we old woof woofs can still use it??? I have THREE MORE children I could sell - - - just kidding kiddos, mumzy still luvs you.

I'm desperate over here - - -

photo credit: prudhvijoshi.blogspot.com

Addendum for all you who are gasping that I would cut off an arm, break a leg, AND sell my children all for a blog - - - I wouldn't and I didn't - - - I only gave out my cell phone number. There, feel better now??? ;-)

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Children's Festival in My City

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One day a year our high school gymnasium is converted into a Children's Festival site.

Today (Saturday) was that day.


Area businesses, schools, and churches set up booths all over the gym.

I took these photos just before the crowds descended.


This was the booth sponsored by our church - - - children could make egg crate caterpillars and sign up to win a handmade quilt.


Most booths offered a game or a craft for children. This green frog face is what kids could make at the library booth.


There was even a desert oasis - - - of sorts.


Once the festival was open for business, the crowds began to descend - - -


And the children got busy crafting their crafts and playing their games.


All kinds of interesting "folk" put in an appearance. Oscar the grouch in his shiny can,


A fairy, a princess, and some kind of imaginary insect creature to name just a few.


Don't forget your veggies and fruit!

I believe a fun day was had by all - - - I only saw a tear or two when crafts didn't "cooperate" with little hands.

Joining Unknown Mami
For Sundays in my City.

My city today is Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

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Up To My Old Late Tricks AGAIN

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Something must be wrong when I'm too fragmented to fragment. Goodness - - - it's nearly 9:30 on fragment day and I'm not fragmented YET.

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We woke up this morning with what appeared to be manna spread all over the ground. At least I imagine that is how manna would have looked.

In our case it was snow. Now, a bit of snow in April in Wisconsin isn't all that unusual EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT WE'VE ALREADY HAD TWO WEEKS OF 80+ DEGREE WEATHER IN MARCH.

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Some more "freebies" came home with me this week from the Shepherd's Loft. I guess I SHOULD say this one "walked" home with me.


I don't "use" these things for anything but my eclectic decor. See, being eclectic isn't just about this blog - - - it's what I "do" best.

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Last night our Library hosted a Peter Yarrow (The "Peter" of "Peter, Paul, and Mary") concert. We managed to pack more than 400 into the concert in spite of the fact that our little theater only seats 250.

Oh thanks to modern technology we had overflow seating out in the lobby and in the multi-purpose room where folks could see his face, way bigger than life, on a movie screen and hear him "live time."

I think it was all a great success.

But when I found out he wouldn't let me harmonize with him on all my old faves - - - - "500 Miles", "Leavin' on a Jet Plane", and "Ain't Gonna Study War No More" - - - I got mad and left.

OH DON'T BELIEVE ME - - - I KID about harmonizing and getting mad, though I didn't stay when my work was finished.

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This is what fell from the skies onto my friends' heads down in McAllen, Texas today.


They said the hail stones started out BASEBALL size, but by the time they "went out to collect some" they had "dwindled" down to golf ball size.

I don't think I'd have exposed my poor head to the fury of THAT size hail stones!

I don't have any extra brains to get pounded out!

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Yesterday I posted about a project I was working on.

Here's the finished product - - - using "Specimen A."

My friend Eloise, pronounced E-Lois, gave me the frame and I decided to spare NO EXPENSE, so I flew in the biggest Bucky Badger Fan I could find, had Fisherhubby snap her picture, and stuck her in the frame.


THIS is where she shall now reside!

Head on over to Mrs. 4444's place
And check out all the other Friday Fragments.

Photo Credit: Peter Yarrow photo from www.tatteredcover.com

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