As I believe I mentioned earlier, my absence the past day is the result of my fulfillment of a promise to Kate earlier in the year: Yes, I would take her and three of her friends to Cedar Point, and we would do it this week, aka Michigan Week, the week before Labor Day, when Ohio and Indiana schools are back in session but the Mitten, which starts after Labor Day by law, dammit, is not. Lines are miraculously short, the weather still irritatingly hot, and while it doesn’t feel like we have the park to ourselves, all the other people here seem to be wearing Tigers-branded sportswear.
Yesterday I struck up a conversation with two women wrangling seven-count-’em-seven little boys outside the changing rooms at the water park. “Where are you from?” the oldest boy asked, polite and sweet right down to his side-parted hair. “Detroit,” I said. “So are we!” he replied. “What part?” I asked. “Grosse Pointe!” they all said. Small world.
And so here we are. Drinking coffee on the balcony of our suite while the teenagers sleep. Soon they’ll be up and I’ll be pouring calories down their throats, and we’ll be off to ride the coasters we didn’t ride yesterday, plus extra rides on the ones they did ride yesterday, which was most of them.
I shouldn’t like this place, but I do. The prices are still on the reasonable side of steep, the service on the pleasant side of surly-seasonal, the views lovely, the grounds clean, the maintenance evident, the wifi free. I may even ride a coaster today, maybe, in keeping with my geezer status, the Blue Streak. Less terrifying than the big guns — the Millennium Force and, of course, the Dragster:
For now, I hear a rumbling from the bedroom; time to break out the granola bars and yogurt and get set for another day of high-speed and high-pitched yakking. It’s a wonderful life, and I’m grateful for it. Have a great weekend, all, and I’ll see you back here after Labor Day.
P.S. Yes, I know I should have been at the Eminem/Jay-Z concert last night. I wasn’t. See above.
brian stouder said on September 3, 2010 at 9:24 am
And here’s wishing a great Labor Day weekend back at you and yours!
Years ago – before they built Demon Drop, I resolved to ride every coaster at Cedar Point, and – I got it done! Gemini, Blue Streak, and Corkscrew all remain in my memory; there were a couple more, plus a log-ride, but this had to be 25 or 30 years ago.
The way I rode coasters – back when I rode coasters! – was to hang on as tightly as possible, and yell every cuss word I could think of, all the way down the first hill and into all the curves.
I was stoved-up for a week after that trip. I do recall that the terror shifted to thrill very quickly on the Blue Streak, as I recall; it’s first hill was scarey enough, but the ride has a good fun (non-terrifying) character.
In later years, I was coerced into getting in line for Demon Drop, and when we were about a dozen people from our turn to go, a girl got on, screamed and shrieked all the way up, and all the way down again, and had to be helped off the thing. At that sight, I bailed on the ride, and now proudly hold all the purses and so on, as the others go on the rides!
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Dorothy said on September 3, 2010 at 9:29 am
I’m going to my 35 year high school reunion tomorrow in Pittsburgh so that’s our big getaway weekend. Having Mineo’s pizza with my mom for lunch tomorrow so there’s that, too.
The coasters are about the only thing I ride anymore at amusement parks. I can’t stand the round-and-round aspect of many rides. Coasters are a quick thrill. Brian we did the Demon Drop at Kennywood once and I still am shaking my head and wondering why the hell I decided to do that. I about pissed myself on the way down. NEVER again!
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nancy said on September 3, 2010 at 9:35 am
The last time I blogged from Cedar Point, one of our regulars reported a similar horrible experience on the Demon Drop. Like you, I don’t do falling or spinning, but the girls say the Maverick might be more my speed. Certainly the Millennium Force isn’t — that first hill is pants-wetting material. We shall see.
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Julie Robinson said on September 3, 2010 at 9:52 am
When the kids were little we made a yearly pilgrimage to Cedar Point, having rejected Kings Island and the Six Flags near Chicago as not as nice. My first coaster ride was the Gemini; my last coaster ride was the Gemini. Cookies came very close to being tossed, and I will fully admit to complete coaster wimp-hood.
Cedar Point was always clean and safe without feeling sanitized, and it has a good mix of little kid/teenager/geezer attractions. We also appreciated the family picnic area, where you could haul in food and leave the cooler to reduce your food expenses.
Our big activity for the weekend is building a new shed and I am praying that our brother-in-law will be assisting. Because otherwise: ugliness.
I hope everyone has a great time with their weekend plans, and I know that those of us in the Fort will be rejoicing at the temperature break.
Happy Birthday to Connie! And to our firstborn, Sarah, celebrating her 30th in fine style in Denmark.
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Connie said on September 3, 2010 at 9:52 am
I swore off roller coasters etc after cracking my tailbone on the log ride at the Mall of America.
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Jen said on September 3, 2010 at 9:58 am
Aww, man, now I want to go to Cedar Point. I haven’t been there in ages! I thought about trying to get my husband to go this summer, but he is a bit of a weenie when it comes to roller coasters and other wild rides. I was afraid that the entire trip would be me trying to convince him to ride the rides.
I used to be a total weenie when it came to rides when I was a kid. I would stand in line for the roller coasters and get myself more and more nervous. But I always went, because if I tried to wuss out, my family would make fun of me. Apparently, my fear of my parents and little sister teasing me was more than my fear of dying on a roller coaster. Eventually, I realized there is nothing to be afraid of and now I really enjoy coasters. The one who in our family who really loves them, though, is my mom. She has no fear.
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brian stouder said on September 3, 2010 at 10:03 am
I think Connie has the laugh-out-loud honors for this thread sewn up*, but we shall see!
*cracking one’s tailbone on the log ride is just so…poetic
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Snarkworth said on September 3, 2010 at 10:11 am
Would you find me on one of these gravity-powered bladder-challenging rides?
Depends.
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Julie Robinson said on September 3, 2010 at 10:14 am
Ha! Snarkworth steps up to the plate, swings, and hits a homer.
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Dorothy said on September 3, 2010 at 10:14 am
Happy birthday Connie! And my tailbone cracking incident was in the driveway of our house in Eighty Four PA during an ice storm about 15 years ago. No wonder I get more and more afraid of falling as I age – it takes longer and longer to heal!
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Snarkworth said on September 3, 2010 at 10:23 am
‘enkew, Julie.
Let us not forget Knoebel’s Grove, in central PA, which still had wooden roller coasters. So fun to hear them creak as you ascend.
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deb said on September 3, 2010 at 10:49 am
i remember watching a “today” show years ago that followed people getting “counseling” to help them overcome irrational fears. one of those fears was riding a roller coaster. never understood that one; i think a fear of roller coasters is utterly rational, and one i feel no need whatsoever to conquer.
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Colleen said on September 3, 2010 at 10:52 am
We went to CP a few weeks ago and had a great day. Rode a few coasters, but not the dragster. On the one hand,it’s 15 seconds long…one can do anything for fifteen seconds, right? On the other hand….yikes. I liked the Iron Dragon, myself. Corkscrew was too head-snappy.
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LAMary said on September 3, 2010 at 10:52 am
I used to go to Elitch Gardens in Denver with my college friends. Great wooden coaster and everything was affordable. Here in LA the closest thing we have to an actual amusement park, to my way of thinking, is the Santa Monica Pier. I am not interested in Disneyland, Magic Mountain or any of the other ridiculously expensive theme parks around here. I don’t know exactly what it would cost for a family of four to get into Disneyland these days but I bet it’s not much under 300 dollars.
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brian stouder said on September 3, 2010 at 11:02 am
deb – agreed!
Although I have always said – If (for example) NASA told me
“we’ll send you to the Space Station for a month, but first you have to prepare by riding this demonically masochistic high-g-force thing 50 times” – I’d do it; it would not, in that case, be pointless.
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moe99 said on September 3, 2010 at 11:10 am
Actually, I had a friend who took her family to Disneyland this summer and she said the tickets were $100 a person.
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Sue said on September 3, 2010 at 11:14 am
I remember the days of hotel trips with kids-and-friends. It makes me tired just thinking about it.
Once, at Chula Vista in the Dells, I had to phone the desk and politely explain that the girls had accidentally ordered a porn video, we promise not to watch it and could she make sure we weren’t charged for it?
And the normally picky eaters could demolish whole platters of food, above and beyond what we had brought. We were constantly on the prowl for sustenance. Why I didn’t just feed them stacks of 20 dollar bills I don’t know.
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Joe Kobiela said on September 3, 2010 at 11:21 am
Jen,
You still scream like a 12yrold girl on peter pan and Tigger at Disney, but you still go so I am proud of you. I hate round de round rides, I can do coasters just fine but get sick when I spin. Flying Iam fine going upside down looping and spins but I have to be the one flying, riding along and I would be all Chuck and no Yeager.
Cheers from lovely Huningburg In.
Pilot Joe
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Dorothy said on September 3, 2010 at 11:23 am
The Thunderbolt at Kennywood Park is a wooden coaster, and frequently voted among the top coasters in the country. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_%28Kennywood%29
(and just realized that the name of the Demon Drop-like ride at Kennywood is actually called The Pitt Fall)
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LAMary said on September 3, 2010 at 11:23 am
I’m not surprised Moe. I think in the off season they have deals and that’s what I was thinking of. Gimme the pier with ball toss games and funnel cakes any day. I’ve won three Scooby Doo stuffed animals there over the years. They look like my dog Max.
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Rana said on September 3, 2010 at 11:31 am
Disneyland’s cheaper if you’re a California resident, at least. This weekend a group of us is heading off to King’s Island; as I am not a thrill-ride person, I plan to eat greasy food and enjoy myself watching other people screaming on the rides.
The most entertaining ride I ever watched was this thing where the two riders were strapped into a little cage suspended between two tall poles with giant bungie cords. They winched the cage down to the ground, secured the passengers, closed the cage, then released the catch. BWANG! and off they went. What made it even more amusing was that there was a video camera set up in the cage, so you could watch the screaming close up. I still remember standing next to this older man in his 60s or 70s, who cheerfully expressed his pleasure at being too old for the thing.
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alex said on September 3, 2010 at 11:46 am
Julie @ #4:
Building a shed is our weekend project as well. We’re doing a custom-fabricated steel structure attached directly to the house and designed to look like it belongs there. So far so good in that respect. We bought some incredibly cool windows for it at an architectural salvage place and they look simply fab over the garage door transom. This weekend we’re making and installing the roll-up garage door. This will be the new house for the new Cub Cadet riding mower and a lot of other stuff hogging up too much room elsewhere.
As for Cedar Point, I love that park more than any other because of its old-time charm, but the days of wild head-snapping rides are over for me, having recently been diagnosed with bulging cervical discs that are causing me to have a gimpy arm. For now doing injection therapy and hope I won’t have to go under the knife anytime soon.
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JayZ(the original) said on September 3, 2010 at 11:54 am
Joe
I, too, can still do the coasters but not the rides that spin. I moved from the Midwest many years ago so I have never been to Cedar Point. Consequently when I read Blue Streak, I think of the one at old Riverview in Chicago that also had a Silver Streak, as well as the classic Bobs.
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basset said on September 3, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Huntingburg? Must be going to Kimball, or Jasper Engine. Joe, that’s close to my native lands up in Martin County… find a ride into Jasper and eat at the Schnitzelbank.
Weekend project for me… wire up some wall speakers, mow the yard, buy a tv stand and some faucets. appliances come tomorrow, we move back in next Saturday.
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Sue said on September 3, 2010 at 12:48 pm
basset, that is great news. Pictures, maybe?
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Julie Robinson said on September 3, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Oh dear, Alex, you put us to shame. Our shed came in a box from Menard’s. And since we have just learned that big brother is not available this weekend, I’ll be lobbying for a postponement.
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Connie said on September 3, 2010 at 1:43 pm
My weekend plan: enjoy my daughter’s visit, hear about her first week of grad school, make something from those peaches, con someone else into cleaning the kitchen floor.
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LAMary said on September 3, 2010 at 1:52 pm
For some reason every time I read Demon Drop in my head it rhymed with Lemon Drop. It sounds nicer but less exciting.
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brian stouder said on September 3, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I believe I’d ride the Lemon Drop ride (as opposed to all those lemming drop rides!); probably with Chloe (our 6 year old).
She very much enjoyed a bouncy-bounce ride on a thing called Frogger at Indiana Beach; I imagine a ride called Lemon Drop would be a lot like that
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Dexter said on September 3, 2010 at 4:40 pm
I always tried my damndest to have a good time at Cedar Point, but I always was mumbling to myself that if I was going to drive this far and spend this much dough, I should be sitting in a baseball stadium watching a game.
The last time I went my daughter was 16 and I dropped her and her friends off and went away and came back at closing time to get them…that was bad parenting, what if one of them twisted an ankle or worse? Oh well. By that time I was disenchanted with the place, after a 1979 episode on The Corkscrew fucked my back up somehow that I was in agony for the drive home and suffered with back pain for a couple months before it straightened itself out somehow.
My first roller coaster was the Santa Cruz Boardwalk’s. I was mesmerized for ten years with roller coasters after that, then after that goddam Corkscrew ride I quit them altogether. But God, how I loved The Gemini in my glory days.
I spent two hours playing Eminem videos last night, so glad to see that he’s back on top now after his saga moved back into the spotlight and away from divorce courtrooms and rehab centers. Some people transcend their niches; I am not the biggest pro football fan by I love Ochocinco, and I am not really much of a hip-hop fan but I love Eminem.
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LAMary said on September 3, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Disneyland alone is 76. bucks a day. If you get the Disneyland/California Adventure ticket it’s 101. per day.
The California resident ticket is an annual pass and it’s not good for Saturdays or peak periods like summer or spring break. It costs 215.
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Julie Robinson said on September 3, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Seems like you spend as much on food as to get in, too. My life would be quite complete without any more Disney visits.
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Dexter said on September 3, 2010 at 5:09 pm
any daddies out there? watch this video by eminem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wYNFfgrXTI&NR=1
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Little Bird said on September 3, 2010 at 5:10 pm
There’s not enough money in the world to convince me to ride a roller coaster. I will gladly, gleefully ride the spinny rides though. I don’t do heights. So, I love carnivals, but not so much the amusement parks.
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A. Riley said on September 3, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Rana, I read your description of the giant bungee cord ride at work and nearly choked. That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard of.
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MichaelG said on September 3, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Yeah, Mary. As Julie says, don’t forget food. And parking. And the goddamn tchotchkes or as my wife would call them “merdinhas”.
And Joe, you’re right about loops and rolls and spins. When we had the Citabria it was fun when I was driving. Not so much when my partner was. Although I never did number three I felt a tad green on occasion. One time a young woman got sick in the back of the Citabria. I didn’t have any barf bags and had horrible visions of cleaning up a foul mess but she came up with an inspired solution. She used a sock. Then she wanted to know what to do with it. I told her to toss it out the window. We were over the bay at the time. I flew very carefully back to Oakland.
I remember the Bobs and the Shoot the Chute (is that right?) at Riverview from when I was a kid in Chi. Much later we were with friends and the kids at a little amusement park near San Jose called Frontier Village. I learned not to go on rides after drinking a few beers. It was a near thing. Oh, and I wasn’t driving.
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moe99 said on September 3, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Alex, I do necks and backs as part of my current legal practice of workers’ comp and let me tell you, you do not want to go under the knife. Surgery is forever. There’s no going back. I’ve seen some studies that show that you get as much relief from good massage as you do from surgery. And if the surgery fails you are screwed big time. Just my 2 cents.
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Joe Kobiela said on September 3, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Michael G,
My trick for up chuckers is when they start to look bad, I tell them to breath down the front of their shirt and they’l feel better, when they do #3 it stays in the shirt.
Pilot Joe
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beb said on September 3, 2010 at 9:33 pm
The bungee cord jumps are a staple on America’s Funniest Videos.
I get nauseous on ferris wheels. I wouldn’t make one circuit on the smallest of kiddie roller coasters. As for taking a ride on the bungee jump, thankfully I’m too large and too old to be allowed on one.
It was funny watching NBC News with Brian Williams on Friday. NBC was all geared up to report on the horrible wreckage caused by Hurricane Earl. Only Earl was a bit of a wash-out in terms of natural disasters. Undetered, they went five minutes of reporting this non-news.
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Rana said on September 3, 2010 at 9:34 pm
A. Riley, it was pretty darn amusing in life, too. The things some people will do for fun! (Or money.)
Michael G., Joe, I’ve never heard of “number 3” being used to describe vomit. I assume it follows on the number 1 (pee) number 2 (shit) theme? Is it a regional thing?
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basset said on September 3, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Sue, thanks for asking… I have been meaning to take some pics for awhile, will do another video walk-through tomorrow when the kitchen appliances are in. from there it’s just counter tops, bedroom carpet, a bunch of minor stuff and we’re in.
have fixed it up nicer than it was hoping to improve the resale value, so instead of all cheap carpet, vinyl, formica, and fiberglass shower stalls we now have hardwood, granite, and lots of tile. hope it works, the couple on one side of us hasn’t started rebuilding yet and there’s a walkaway next to them.
nice to have the dumpster out of the yard, too.
Joe, did you get to the Schnitzelbank today?
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Denice B. said on September 4, 2010 at 1:04 am
Growing up in Detroit, we had an Amusement Park close to our west side neighborhood. It was called EdgeWater Park. Seven Mile and Telegraph Rd. It was just a few rides, a couple of snack stands and a playground. It was open most of the year except for the coldest parts of winter. And we also had Boblo Island. An island Amusement mecca that required a boat ride on the Detroit river. Both are long gone. And Cedar Point is the go-to place for Detroit folk. Now I’m too old to enjoy Cedar Point anymore- speed bumps strain my stomach enough, thank you very much!
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Cathy D. said on September 4, 2010 at 9:44 am
Given the history of Cedar Point, if you’re going to enjoy an amusement park, it’s a good one. Be sure you read the plaque about Helen Keller near the back entrance of the park, near where you can walk to Hotel Breakers.
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prospero said on September 4, 2010 at 10:07 am
Denice B.: Edgewater was one step up from a carny. But it had a seriously decrepit roller coaster and it had the Wild Mouse, which is truly the most insane and scary ride anybody ever imagined: geometrical 90 degree turns 60 0r 70 feet off the ground, on a glorified jungle gym, at 50 or 60 mph. There was also the free swinging gondola Ferris wheel.
This was where Detroit, and even Bloomfield Hills, and I doubt the Grosses, kids went for fun in the 60s and 70s. The coaster was old, wooden and so uncared for you could see the bolts move around in the stanchions. Somebody tried to burn it down once. Overall, this was scarier than any of the CG rides at the high tech “parks” around now. Everybody believed the whole thing could crash down at any minute. Oh, and the last cars definitely bounced, i.e. left the tracks, at times.
The Wild Mouse is another story altogether. Nobody’s tried any sort of variation on it that I know of, because it’s insane. The cars swiveled on their bases to make jarring, concussion-inducing 90 degree turns at what seemed like ridiculous speeds. Riders were pretty sure on every turn they were over the edge and in the parking lot. Top of the bus that brought you here on the altarboys picnic, with Fr. Flanagan that liked squeezing into that Wild Mouse car with you.
Me, I love Space Mountain. Apparently it only goes 50-60 mph. Yeah, but you are in the dark with no idea which direction you’ll be flicked next. And the changes in direcction are so rapid and random it’s a sonafabitch. When you have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next, that trumps speed, heights, pretty much anything. No direction known. And you wait in those switchback lines and eventually realize those neon squiggles overhead are the little pockets you’re about to board.
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coozledad said on September 4, 2010 at 11:35 am
Nosferatu backs off claims that illegals sawed off her head and stitched it back on after letting it dry in the sun for a couple days.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/brewer-finally-backpedals-i-was-wrong-about-headless-bodies.php?ref=fpblg
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prospero said on September 4, 2010 at 12:15 pm
What does it say about America that it bought Madonna hook, lie, sinker instead of Cyndi Lauper, and now the nation is putting Lady Gaga on the cover of Rolling Stone, featuring Katy Perry. Madge ever write a song as gorgeous and true as Time After Time?Autotune and fake boobs. I prefer talent and A-cups.
Jay-Z and Eminem.? Slim Shady was mildly entertaining, but the entire idea of corporate rap and hip-hop is as depressing as Country masquerading when it’s really watered down rock ‘n’ roll (Mr. Kidman is one amazing guitar player.). This goes back to Pat Boone versions of Little Richard. Jay-Z ain’t Dre. There was rap and then there was corporate rap that ruined everything. There was NWA and Public Enemy, KRS-1. Then Puffwhatever homogenized the shit to buy more Christal
It’s a preference for the sanitized version instead of the original. This doesn’t happen so much with rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s a fact that being seriously better than everybody else doesn’t buy much. The Kinks are the greatest Brit Invasion band. Listen to Arthur or Village Green. I love Beatles and Stones, but, you know, Dave is a better guitar player than Keef. Actually the Kinks aren’t better, but they wrote more relevant songs without the need to posture or be cool. These days, Ray writes great songs and Mick is recycling phallic dreams.
The Clash produced spectacularly great songs, but they never came close to Anarchy or God Save the Queen. Marshall Mathers has heard the train pass him by, and as for selling hip-hop to white folks, Jay is a very rich guy with no discernable talent aside from getting rich.
Meanwhile, the Kinks were the Stooges with brains and way better riffs, and actully grew into a literary presence. Chuck Berry wrote stories. Iggy’s just about Jim and how he found his dad stifling. But what the hell, I find REM’s music exhilirating when I have no clue what Mike Stipe’s talking about. He’s not a bonafide egoist like Bono and he’s got a way better guitar player.
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MichaelG said on September 4, 2010 at 12:35 pm
I suspect, Rana, that “number three” is not so much regional (after all, Joe lives in the Midwest and I live in California) as simply relatively little used. None of the basic words used to denote or describe regurgitation are proscribed so other terms referring to that unpleasant activity tend to be just slang rather than euphemisms.
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prospero said on September 4, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Cooz: Those headless corpses actually walked into Arizona. At this point, how many Republicans have expressed inner thoughts that would lead any sane person to believe they aren’t sane? Mayybe, they’re just terminally stupid.
Why isn’t the MSM meme not that Dems are in trouble in House Races, but if people elect these loonies Obama’s in more trouble than the totally FUBAR mess W left him in? If Republicans win elections for Congress, it is full-goose loonies. The woman in Arizona is an out-and-out crook. Angle is easily the fruitcake Bachmann plays in real life. These are people that should be incarcerated or committed.
It’s really obnoxious that Republicans are talking about privatizing Social Security. Did they see what hedge fund managers did when they ran things. It is hard to believe that even the average American is stupid enough to hand her SS cash over to greedy crooks that wouldn’t think twice about crashing the American economy if it would enrich them. Oh, and are people too stupid to understand that privatizing means the government hands the cash over to private concerns to mismanage however they want?Worked well with all of those disappeared cash millions in Iraq that ended up making Dickless richer and electrocuting a few soldiers.
W and hi neocon buddies ran the invasions and occupations off the books. Nobody’s ever dealt with a more massive briar patch. Which side are you on? Trying to figure a way out of this jungle. or whining about “progressive” concerns? Deany-babies that can’t get over 2004 do a spectacular disservice to Kerry. Naderites and Deanie-babies are sinking everything for sake of idealogical purity. By backbiting. That is monumentally stupid.
There’s an intelligent President. In the face of lobbyists and the Party of No, he’s pushed through historic health care reform and curtailed Wall Street abuses. Blaming the President for GOP obstructionism is seriously counter=intuitive and counter=productive, If self-appointed “Progressives” have an argument, it’s with arcane Senate rules and the filibuster you don’t actually have to stand up for. Blaming this shit on Obama and Democratic members of Congress is more, not less, idiotic.
If you claim to be a disaffected “Progressive”, let’s look at this in the realm of reality. You simply won’t vote because yoour wish=list hasn’t been accomplished Good going. You will elect Sharron Angle and every nutcase running, instewd of tryung to make a positive difference.
My point is that the idea there’s no difference between the parties is asinine. Practically, do you want the well-known car thief and arsonist Issa running another Watergate investigation? There was no there there. Just a died=in=the=wool dedicated fat girl that went to Washington with her kneepads to give a blow-job.
Republicans wrote sundown into the Bush Tax Cuts. To avoid scrutiny by the CBO. The Bush Tax Cuts were undeniably and statutorily bigger for rich people, but Americans are notoriously stupid, and thought they were rich people. Look, if you are so patently idiotic you think White Shoe lawfirms and egg factories are small businesses, if you believe there is such a thing as a death tax that will wipe out “family farming”, you are to stupid to realize these are lies that have been told you.
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Joe Kobiela said on September 4, 2010 at 1:25 pm
We could use technicolered yawn, round trip meal ticket, stepping out back for a bit of a chunder, parking the tiger,but I like #3, and I didn’t get to go to the restraunt in Jasper dang it all.
Pilot Joe
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prospero said on September 4, 2010 at 1:38 pm
How is job-shedding the federal government’s respnosibility and not a profit-maximizing tool of Archer Daniel Midland? They do it the old fashioned way. Immense government subsidies. Why are there continuing government sufsidies for agriculture when there is no such thing as the vaunted Republican thing as the family farm?
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moe99 said on September 4, 2010 at 2:11 pm
basset, are you from Jasper? My sister’s former husband grew up there.
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Linda said on September 4, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Cooz:
Now Brewer admits there aren’t any brainless people in AZ outside the governor’s office. A victory for reality: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/04/brewer-walks-back-beheadings-claim/
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 4, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Interesting Detroit area news – http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iDTg9GR3XHlmz60RrmPiGNNQym-QD9HS1K4O0?index=1
For the Nation of Islam, this is the equivalent of a Mormon turning up a hitherto unseen signature of Joseph Smith, Jr and his Nauvoo Academy files.
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prospero said on September 4, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Jan Brewer? You mean Warden Hazen’s BFF. Look, y’all. These people that think you can pay the internist with poultry, well, they are fucking looney. If the WaPo and NYT political appraisers think people that vote for insane people will be the wave in the off-year elections, only one thing can be said. Americans will get the moronic representation they deserve.
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alex said on September 4, 2010 at 5:08 pm
A watched pot never scorches.
Harvest weekend here at my house. Going out for surf & turf after I finally put all this shit away.
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basset said on September 5, 2010 at 9:54 am
Moe99, I’m not from Jasper but pretty close… I remember my parents getting a car loan at the German American Bank there when I was in high school, back then they would still speak German in the bank if you wanted.
Meanwhile, some house video from yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EWOiRLPAxo
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Deborah said on September 5, 2010 at 9:09 pm
We’re back from visiting friends in St. Louis where we lived for many years before moving to Chicago 7 years ago. I had not been back to St L for about 4 years and boy does it look better. Downtown has a great sculpture park and overall the central corridor has improved amazingly. Went to the Pulitzer Foundation, where an fantastic art installation by Ann Hamilton is being exhibited which includes thousands of Mexican jumping beans among other things. Highly recommended. Oh my god the Washington University campus has grown by leaps and bounds since I last saw it. Met with good friends, had some pleasant meals at one of my favorite places in the world which happens to be in the Central West End, Bar Italia. A good time was had by all. But I must say it’s great to be back in Chicago where I have another whole day off before the holiday is over.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 6, 2010 at 9:05 am
Basset, just heard yesterday from our last work team to NOLA that Oct. 5 Samaritan’s Purse is packing up its operation and relocating all their assets to Nashville. The word is that the level of construction work needed to repair (or fully demo) the remaining houses in NOLA is beyond their skill set, and they aren’t interested in upgrading to that kind of work (it would require a large amount of new gear and many dollar$ of permits thru city & state, or so they say), so they’re going to Nashville.
The deal with them is that they say “if you can get here, we can put you to work” with effectively no expenditure. We shifted from UMCOR to Samaritan’s Purse because of the upfront expenditure on top of transportation costs to stay with them and work on their projects — which, to be fair, is shifting to the heavier contractor kind of project. But you can inquire thru Samaritan’s Purse’s website, get your slot, and show up to get a church spot to sleep in (all actual beds in dorms, no floor pallets) and 3 meals. The big diff is that in NOLA we could always walk to the work sites, while they’re putting out the word that you need transportation from the dorm sites to the work sites in Nashville.
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basset said on September 6, 2010 at 11:15 am
Some of the work that’s going on around us looks like church volunteers – a busload of young people will show up and swarm one house for awhile.
The transportation issue is no surprise – this is a big county/city, over 500 square miles, and the damage was concentrated in several widely spread areas:
http://maps.nashville.gov/empublic_viewer/
we’re on the north side of the little appendix-shaped bend in the river in the far southwest part of the county.
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Deborah said on September 6, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I’m having that feeling of dread which I usually have on Sunday evening but because this is a Monday holiday I have it now. The only thing good upcoming is that it’s a four day work week instead of a five day work week. Isn’t that sad that I think that? I wish I cared more about my job. I bought the book “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen while I was in St. Louis, have been reading it and am very much enjoying it.
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Dexter said on September 6, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Deborah…turn on your PBS station and catch the Daniel Burnham special featuring the 1893 Columbian Exposition.
http://tinyurl.com/25gjde9
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 7, 2010 at 7:30 am
Curses – my PBS station didn’t run that (so I watched Bourdain instead).
On the subject of profanity, which I really shouldn’t promote, this is a very rude & vulgar video that will be appreciated by anyone who, um, watches too much cable news TV, especially in the am: if you’re really tired of the NYT ad for their weekender package —
Ladies & gentlemen, I give you The New York Post, the tabloid paper that has battled their Times competition for over a century in the tri-state area:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDYjWh_dh9E
(Seriously, headphones or super low volume. F*bombs galore.)
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