God Bless Peter J McGuire! Happy Labour Day to all!

The reason we have a holiday. Half the founder of AFL- and the top guy who started the United Brotherhood & ( sisterhood) of Carpenters and Joiners of America. He was as big as S. Gompers and all the rest of them. A real life working class hero!

Also today I had the NYT opened and noticed Louis Rosen 91 who worked on the nuclear bomb had passed on. Well last summer I met Lloyd Liljequist in the UP of Michigan who had worked on the Manhattan Project. I guess my mom and her friends would go to dances with some of the Tech students back then. She brought us up to meet him last yr around the time of the strawberry fest. He was kind enough to stop by a service we held this yr just after the 4th of July for our mother. He brought some old pics of the gang and somehow these phots were misplaced. Anyway he is living proof that not all lose their mental abilities as he is quite the character. He lives in the hi-rise with a view of portage canal and every single nurse/nurses aids, patients and the entire staff seem to be on good joking terms with him. We were very pleased to meet him and listened to a few of his stories about WWII.

Well we decided to head out to Lk Erie Metropark to view the birds and whatnot. We counted 100 white swans and also spotted our 2nd ever osprey (both this year) aka sea eagle. Several species of ducks geese and shore birds were also seen. Several woodchucks and a few bunnies.
But once the sun started to set the invasion of the gnats started. I'm talking a white-out. We tried to film them and if you look closely around 17 seconds into the view on the far left (that is not fog) there were googol's X googol's of them. They did not bite but we were breathing them in and they got into our eyes, ears noses and what little hair I have left. We made a dash for the vehicle for protection.
We also louped Elizabeth Park and saw the Muscovy ducks, a strange looking white and black with red wattles that I can only assume the prior owners tried to domesticate them there before donating the land to the county.
As we headed into Riverview we saw a dozen deer headed to the Wyandotte golf course for a night of browsing. Two nice bucks and one 4 pointer and the rest were does and fawns. The herd grows larger every year as does the gnat infestation.

Fore

Well it looks as tho Matt & Alicia have to armour up their golf cart as they ventured out to the woman's tee so she could hit from there when the rest of the group decided to hit a 2nd shot from the mens tee when the whizzing of little white balls could be heard.
But not before one scored a direct hit to the ulna bone of Matt's left arm. He is scheduled to go have pins installed in the morn.
I'm sure the guy feels bad enough about the incident and lessons were learned by all.

Emerald Ash Borer

Well as we headed north to a memorial service for my mother the wife and I noticed these purple coloured what looked to be chime type thingies hanging about.
Also b4 we crossed the Big Mac there were several signs instructing others to drop off fire wood b4 crossing into the UP or Yooperland as some may call it.
Well they turned out to be traps for study. One site I visited has a biz for treating the trees and it looks like he is quite successful at it.
At any rate Wanda took the pic of the trap and the other one was taken by David Cappaert.

Heat Wave

Does this remind anyone that it's too hot for, er I mean this is the start of hot and humid weather here in the Great Lake State of Michigan. It's not all cold and snow. Is plenty warm here.

A good scrabble word "naiads"

Well here it is the end of June and the mayflies are invading the nabe. I was a bit curious if a mayfly and a fishfly were one and the same so I checked around a bit and it seems they have several other monikers. There are around 2500 species worldwide and 630 in North America. Other names like dayfly,shadfly,lake fly, midgee,green bay flies, canadian soldiers and canadian sailors. What no canuk airforce? They start out as nymphs or naiads and hatch out to live a few minutes to a few days in fresh water when adults. It is a good sign that they are on the comeback trail as it means the water is cleaning itself up after a century of pollution. There was a swarm a couple of years ago near W. lk Erie that actually showed up on doppler radar. The eggs are laid on the surface and sink to the bottom and over a 1 yr. period they moult 20-30 times before they get wings and the final moult where get this the male has 2 penises. This is the stage called the alate and fish love them as well as fisherman who call them dun. The male has extra long legs to clasp the females as get this the female has 2 gonopore. It's gotta be the Greek word for nympho is all I can figgure.

Taps

Well the family had a memorial service at Michigan Memorial for our sister Candis and our mother Mary yesterday. My youngest son played taps for all.
We then had a nice picnic at Willow Metro and the weather was gorgeous.

Marley grows too fast

Here is Mars and his mom. He is NOT picking his nose but merely pointing out to gramma and grandpa Nail where it is located.
When you water the little guy he grows like a weed.

Spanked!

Well the elusive trout evaded even uncle Nailbender this time round. Those rascals are a tough catch. Whilst shutout and spanked Nail used every trick in the rule book to no avail.
But not all were dissapointed as some were treated to sunny skies and abundant fish strikes took place up and down the stream.

Walking, soon to be running

Well our little grandbaby Marley James is still on the move and from the looks of it the mom and dad better lace up their running shoes.

Blah Ba Blah Blah blog

Well I no sooner mention Richie Valens and it's the 50th anny of the day the music died. Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and "the Big Bopper".
On the plus side we got to keep Waylon with us up until just recently. I also hope Merle is well.
nailb

bullfight vid 16

bullfight 16

Well the Dos Equis lager Espanol's were taking a toll on my bro in law and it was right when the fighters were about to enter the ring. He ended up having to go all the way around to the other side and get his hand stamped.
I saw them enter tho and the matadors all made the sign of the cross and it looked like the bull had been hit with a dart (i'm thinking drugged) to keep him from jumping into our seats.
The Hacienda Tequila or grill made the trip possible and started to show us about the agave tree which looks some what like a pineapple in their museum and distillery when more lager espanol kicked in again. And right when I was about to inquire how they got the worm into the bottle.
The world famous Charreria had the red cape and the others wore pink....
Back at the grill the food ruled as well and a good time was had by all.

The bullfight

No gracias, the 1st two words every tourist should know.
My bro in law and I decided to head out to the weekly bullfight held every wed. at 3:30 in the old part of town. We had just watched extreme farm animals or that true tv where the bull had jumped three or four rows back and had already made our decision to sit at least 6 or 7 rows up in the arena whilst still on board the bus.
They sold these funny looking brews with a double X on the side called do-se-keez...very cold and the vendors paraded by constantly. I thought for sure I could get a tamale there.
I missed the best footage because of no spare batteries (doh) but managed to capture some even if it looks like the camera may be running when it should have been in the off position.

Bus ride part 2

Well after they stopped playing the 1st song La Cucaracha it seems to me I remembered the song from when I was a kid and it was about a cockroach.......or so I thought, until none other then our own Carl Sandburg had compiled an american songbag back in 1927... They were called dichos and after reading the lyrics I was confused because the song was about a fair maiden http://www.pamrotella.com/polhist/lacucaracha.html and about some bald man finding a comb upon a highway and there was no more marihuanna for to smoke? Hmmm
And we all know about Richie Valens song La Bamba and the plane crash and Waylon Jennings near miss.
My little sister may have gotten a better angle on some portions of the songs and also some sights.

the bus ride part 1

Well we boarded the bus as my wife had her vid cam at the ready to record the wild bus drivers down here in Mexico.

We were rewarded with a sweet surprise.

lemme put a brick on this new pc

Well after 10 years and then some I have a new pc and should be able to keep up with the jonzes. The ups or (universal power source) went out on the old xp and I had to put a bullet in it to put the old girl outa her misery.
Now all I have to do is learn how to "do" vista and what not. I think I read some place where you can talk to it. I will try and post an updated phot of the new pole and the straightened out wires.