why so many deer crossings?

You have all along wondered why the DOT has to create so many deer crossings, right?  I mean, couldn't those over sized chihuahuas just queue up in some remote place that would allow them to get to where they need to be while causing less trauma to humans?

You gotta ask, what did they do when we were growing up and didn't have Deer Crossing signs?  At least not at the same frequency of signage today. And they still were able to get to where they needed to be, without the bloody carnage . . .    Well, you get the point.  Which leads me to Donna from Fargo, who is on her own little campaign to make the world a better place, and spoke to a Fargo radio station that later shared it with the world on YouTube, to the tune of more than 4 million hits.

Here she is . .

the granddaddy of them all - Kennedy vs Nixon

Debates like the one you probably observed last night can often prompt thoughts of times long ago, including the 1960 debate between Nixon and Kennedy, wherein Nixon determined makeup was too girly-girl and below him.  To his dismay.

But you may enjoy watching this YouTube, at least briefly, and compare against more modern alpha-male peeing contests such as the second Obama-Romney elucidation of our national dilemmas.  Kidding, of course.

There have been some great moments in the past, to wit the Reagan-Mondale debate of '84 when Reagan threw out the great line about not making age an issue due to the youth and lack of experience of Mondale.  Even Mondale was laughing out loud.  Think Reagan had been planning that line?

Or the Bentsen-Quayle debate in '88 when you could almost hear Bentsen saying "Please proceed" to the self-congratulatory comparisons that Quayle tried to draw between himself and John Kennedy.  Then said: "I knew Kennedy - he wasn't no potato-head..."  Or words to that effect.

Think he had been planning it?  Or Obama leading Romney to the cliff by saying "Please proceed - 'to stick your foot in it by incorrectly describing my words in the Rose Garden...' "

Kind of makes you pine for the days when the parties met in the smoke-filled rooms to choose their candidates.  Recommended reading: Robert Caro's 4th in the Lyndon Johnson series, The Passage of Power.  Wilma will be proud of you for reading it, I suspect. 

The Stanley Cup!

There is a tradition in the NHL some of you may be aware of, that every player on the team that wins the Stanley Cup is allowed to have the Cup with him for a day, wherever he wants to take it.  In fact in some cases they've been known to carry it into a bar and kind of forget about it, but anybody who would attempt to steal it would likely get pulled across the ice a million times until their body is totally devoured by the cracks in the ice that are not smoothed out by the Zamboni.  Or would get thrown in front of the Zamboni, either way.

Anyhow, one of the LA Kings is David Drewiske, who is from Hudson, and a member of the '02 and '03 Wisconsin State High School Championship Hudson Hockey Team.  So he had the honor of hosting the Cup for a day and was in town this summer, where my hockey-loving 15-year-old granddaughter dragged her mom up so they could see him - and get this picture taken with the Stanley Cup.

That's Brett on the left, Dana on the right.  Think she was thrilled?

Probably reminds you of Marilyn running into Tommy Kramer in Vegas. . . .

But check the YouTube of his fight with Steve Ott, which is largely done by pulling on the other guy's jersey.

from the archives

Sometimes you don't know what you don't know.

The truth of that hit home this week when I read an article in our local paper about a fellow who has repaired for me a chainsaw, lawnmower, and ATV, and also sharpened chainsaw and lawnmower blades from time to time.  He seemed to be a sharp fellow and I heard tidbits about him from time to time but never the whole story . . .

That's the beginning of a story written a little over a year ago about Dr Robert Flute.  I thought about him the other day when the local paper wrote of the fellow who has recently purchased the business that his wife thought she could run, but apparently found it beyond her capacity.

Click this link to go to the story, and I encourage you to click the link to allow you to read the newspaper article by Steve Dzubay, editor of our paper, about midway through the story.  Dr. Flute was an amazing man, and I wish I could say I knew him better.  But I can't.

Controlling senile agitation

Let this be a warning to you - medication can help!

On a recent trip to Las Vegas with friend & classmate Marilyn Gentz Holland and friend Janet Eilertson Bergo (class of 1960) we met Tommy Kramer former Minnesota Vikings player at the Minneapolis airport. He was so kind to let us have our picture taken with him.

Remembering 1967

AMC's website has a new trivia game for you to figure out how much you recall about 1967.  The first question is "Jim Morrison and the Doors were banned from the Ed Sullivan Show for singing what lyrics?"

1. Girl we couldn't get much higher.
2. Let's spend the night together
3. Love child
4. Wanna take you higher

For the correct answer and more questions, go to the AMC 1967 Trivia website by clicking that link.  It may or may not be right up your alley.  Some of you might have been busy in other ways.  Sadly, I scored only 30 points on this quiz, and now you can show me up easily.

Here's another option, the 1962 Trivia Quiz.  I'm proud to say I scored 90 points on this one.  With a couple of guesses.

Good luck and let us know how you did!  By the way, you can build your own avatar on their website.  See mine above.