Thank You Mr. Patrick Thiele

I love living in my adopted "hometown" of Stillwater, Mn. This scenic, historic rivertown is a nice place to live filled with nice people.

Every state and local government has been making budget cuts in recent years. We must. Local government polled the residents of this area to determine which services to trim. They found the library ranked very high as a place citizens wanted to fund.

Our beautiful restored Carnegie Library has continued to serve the valley with only modest cutbacks, but yhey closed it on Sundays. This week I read in the newspaper that it will again reopen thanks to a generous gift from a new resident.

Patrick Thiele's donation will fund reopening the library on Sundays for the next year.

The article said the former CEO of St. Paul Companies ( now Traveler's Insurance) and another reinsurer in Bermuda, recently purchased the Stillwater home formerly owned by actress Jessica Lange & actor /writer Sam Shepherd. Mr. Thiele continues to live part of the year in Bermuda. I wonder which part.

Thank you very much Mr. Thiele. We appreciate your generosity.

No Need to Lick That Ice Cream Fast, It Won't Melt

Saturday, Jan. 23, Stillwater had an outdoor Ice Cream Social to celebrate mid-winter. The tradition has roots going back about a half-century. It was revived a few years back and visitors and locals gather in a downtown riverside park to laugh at winter.

I didn't go but my good friend Mary did and sent me the pictures. I love the child in the stroller who is bundled up like Ralphie in "The Christmas Story" with a snowsuit that looks like a form of restraint.

Minnesotans. Gotta love 'em. Who else stands around a bonfire eating ice cream in frigid conditions?

The Suspence is Over

The package arrived by USP yesterday. The suspense is over. Jon recently started wearing suspenders. He liked them except the center clip in the back was irritating against his spine when he sat. He has an old back surgery incision there. Jon is blessed to have a wife who Googles everything and found a source for side clip suspenders. They are designed to be more comfortable. He ordered a pair online.

This morning he is sporting his new suspenders. My first impression is that TV police detectives wear something similar to holster a gun. I wonder if he will be more closely scrutinized by TSA at the airport. Not to worry. Our former governor, Jesse Ventura, has just filed a lawsuit against Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security to stop that invasive airport frisk. He is claiming TSA sexually assaulted him. Who knows. He may become a hero and we will have to recycle him as governor like California did with Jerry Brown.

Wonder if Gov. Ventura was wearing the boa when they patted him down. I guess that isn't important. Go get 'em, Jesse.

Oprah's Longlost Sister

There was a recent story of a 23 yr. old woman finding out she was kidnapped as a baby. The "mother" who raised her could not produce a birth certificate. They were estranged. The woman was a drug addict. The 23 yr. old searched the internet for stories about abducted children and found an artists drawing of what one infant would look like as a young woman. It looked like her. She followed up and eventually was reuinited with her birth parents. DNA tests confirmed she was their kidnapped daughter.

Over the weekend the woman who raised her was apprehended. She surrendered on Facebook.
I'm scratching my head now. How does one surrender on Facebook? I searched for some names of "famous" cops like Joe Webb, (Dirty) Harry Callahan and even "America's Most Wanted", John Walsh. Each of those names brought dozens of pages of hits. Some don't have photos so you can ID them. I am baffled.

Someone may explain to mehow to surrender on Facebook. Much of the world is registered on this social network. This could be a cost cutting measure in an era of penny pinching.

Do you think with good facial recognition software Facebook could be used to identify suspects before they turn themselves in? Think of the possibilities. You don't even have to be "ON" Facebook. Friends post pictures of people in their lives and name them.
Watch out crooks. Facebook might be coming to get you.

If this stream of thinking isn't too far fetched, maybe combining artists renditions of missing infants and advanced facial recognition software could find missing people. People who were kidnapped at a young age or people with amnesia. Maybe I am one of them. Maybe when Oprah announces her "family secret" on her TV show today they will reveal I am her long lost sister. That would be a windfall, wouldn't it? Since I am pretty fair skinned, it is also unlikely.

Truth in Advertising

I just checked Facebook, blogs I watch and both email addresses for news from friends or family. Still had a few minutes to fill before we leave for a birthday party so I went on eBay.

I'm in the market for a new picture or wallhanging for the stairway. An original caught my eye. The vibrant colors and sweeping sky arrested my attention.

The bidding has started at $75 with a modest $9.95 shipping fee. I like it but it doesn't fit in my house. I was astonished that it was described as "A Truly Worthless Original Signed Painting western mesa."

I scanned down for the dimensions. It is 16 x 20 and done in acrylics. So far, so good. The artist? J.C. Worthless. True story. It is in the eBay auction under art. I suppose he is not only a starving artist but a worthless one too who lives in a worthless house and drives a worthless car. Funny name. Good artist.

Ice Road Commuters

We live in the smallish historic town of Stillwater, MN. The welcome signs proclaim it as the "Birthplace of Minnesota" because it was in this Minnesota / Wisconsin border town that early
pioneers met to plan for statehood. Our deed shows the land originally being in the Wisconsin territories. Abraham Lincoln signed off on the land.

The beautiful St. Croix river forms the border between states. Residents living on the opposite bank mostly work and shop on our side of the river. They cross the historic lift bridge, dealing with slow rush hour traffic that stops at a red light and when the bridge is lifted for boats. Plans to built a bigger bridge has been going on since the early 60's. I am not hopeful I will ever see it built in my lifetime. The river is designated as a national scenic river and anything constructed must comply with restrictions.

The fight goes on. The Sierra Club had held up construction with a lawsuit. Numerous other challenges were raised. It will now take an act of congress to build it. Literally and I mean LITERALLY, it will take an act of congress. Frankly I don't see them spending 2/3 of a billion on a new bridge anytime soon, do you? It doesn't personally affect me. Maybe we should just let everyone drive six miles downriver to cross.

For years some ingenious brave folks have found a way to cope with the congested bridge. In winter months there is an ice road that some employees of Andersen Windows in nearby Bayport, Mn use as a shortcut to work from Wisconsin. It's been cold enough to make thick ice this year. You don't see any "ice road truckers" on this road, only personal vehicles saving a few minutes on their commute. Another advantage of this road is that it is easier to fix potholes than on a blacktopped highway.

You haven't seen me doing this and you won't. I cringe just watching the TV show about the truckers.

Stirring Vivaldi

Just heard David Garrett perform on the Today Show. Wow. Rock and classic violin. Love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42k2kpvk5io&feature=related