Post by: Gewehr98 on July 28, 2006, 09:03:34 AM
We've settled into our new digs near a little town called Token Creek. Token Creek's main claim to fame is the hot air balloon company, otherwise it's a sleepy little burgh. Our commute to work in Madison is maybe 30 minutes on a bad traffic day. Madison itself is rather amusing, a liberal hotbed that gives me the giggles, I really need that bumper sticker that states, "Madison - 70 square miles surrounded by reality". Monkeyleg, I'll be ready to assist you in the WGO efforts once the movers get my professional color laser printer delivered.
Speaking of traffic, I've been filling my dual-fuel S-10 with E-85 ethanol at $2.09 a gallon. I just wish my stepson's 5.7L 4x4 Suburban would run on the stuff. $120+ fillups on the ass-wagon U-boat make me wish he didn't owe the bank for the car loan.
I just flew back to Florida last Monday to meet the movers and clean out our old military housing unit (now privately leased, in a definitely failed experiment). The air conditioner runs constantly just to keep 78 degrees on the thermometer, and cutting the lawn, edging, and trimming brings on a running sweat within minutes. The gnats form a visible cloud, and I spend a lot of time cleaning the dogs of ticks.
Things here in Satellite Beach have really degraded in the last three months. My former military housing neighborhood just south of Patrick has the streets barricaded off on one end, no working streetlights, dead cars on the yards, and police cars answering complaints all night long. The neighbors across the street were asked to leave, the 13 year old girl and her mom were just a bit too promiscuous for the property managers, so their lease was broken just to get them out of here. Several of the male tenants (including a few GI's with high security clearances) on the street are genuinely sad to see them leave, and I watched with amusement as they helped her pack the moving van. When I told the leasing office I would be moving out on the 3rd of August, the manager wanted the full month of August's rent. Since my unit is scheduled to be demolished later in the month, I told him "No" in no uncertain terms, I'm on a month-to-month lease, and referred to his domain as "The Projects". He will try to bill me in Wisconsin. I'll consider it junk mail destined for the shredder.
But I've made some dear friends in Florida, and will maintain contact with them, by hook or by crook. I might come back to visit, but I wouldn't live in this neck of the woods again. The country life in Token Creek is just fine by me.
Post by: cosine on July 28, 2006, 09:04:21 AM
Post by: 280plus on July 28, 2006, 09:08:45 AM
Post by: charby on July 28, 2006, 09:41:36 AM
Post by: Gewehr98 on July 28, 2006, 10:21:00 AM
Post by: Gewehr98 on July 28, 2006, 10:23:12 AM
Post by: 280plus on July 28, 2006, 10:26:52 AM
Post by: 280plus on July 28, 2006, 10:29:02 AM
Hah, that reminds me, Hyde Park NY there is a discount liquor store that boasts "1800" different beers. I aked the guy for Yuengling, He never heard of it.
They DID have San Miguel though.
Post by: Stand_watie on July 28, 2006, 12:09:29 PM
Post by: Preacherman on July 28, 2006, 12:20:12 PM
Post by: 280plus on July 28, 2006, 12:43:17 PM
Post by: Gewehr98 on July 28, 2006, 12:44:20 PM
Looks very much like this one:
Post by: 280plus on July 28, 2006, 12:50:56 PM
Post by: cosine on July 28, 2006, 12:50:57 PM
Quote from: Stand_watie
I'm going to be reminding you of this thread along about the end of next January.
Hey, you know, the last several winters here in Wisconsin seem to me to have been pretty mild.
Post by: brimic on July 28, 2006, 01:42:52 PM
Post by: Monkeyleg on July 28, 2006, 02:09:12 PM
Or, as Governor Doyle likes to put it, the best state that money can buy.Not sure if I understood you correctly about the WGO comment. If you meant going after Executive Director, he seems to provide his own "friendly fire" ammo all by himself.
If, on the other hand, you mean helping with the CCW effort, you'll be welcomed by everyone with open arms.
It's a good thing you don't live in Madison itself. I think that ultra-liberal mindset is some kind of communicable disease.
The only good thing about Madison is looking at the college co-eds. But when they start talking, I lose interest.
Please tell me the photo of the snowmobiles is a dealership, and not your own garage. Please. No garage can be that clean.
Post by: MillCreek on July 28, 2006, 03:25:40 PM
Post by: brimic on July 28, 2006, 03:45:01 PM
Quote
Wisconsin has mountains that allow snowboarding?
Several, some within 1/2 hour of Milwaukee, one of them 5 minutes from my house, though those are more like very large hills and deep valleys (kettle moraines is the technical term) than mountains that run up the east central part of the state. The north 1/2 of the state and parts of Upper Michigan are dominated by geologically very old mountains. The the only really flat land in Wisconsin is is bordering Iowa and Illinois or some of the vast swamplands and cranberry bogs in the north.
Post by: Gewehr98 on July 28, 2006, 03:54:48 PM
Yeah, I even worked a winter at Devil's Head resort renting out skis. While not Squaw Valley or Big Bear, Wisconsin actually has a few ski resorts in the Baraboo Bluffs region that do a good job satiating one's need for snowboarding, etc. I loved working at Devil's Head, because after the paying public was kicked off the slopes for the night, the employees could ski until 1 or 2 AM depending on how well one treated the lift operators. Management thought it was a nice employee benefit, plus we could often find the skis and poles lost by renters during the day.
No, not my garage, that's somebody's snowmobile museum, a good place to find 1970's vintage equipment like mine. I now have a 2 car garage in our new place, but it'll probably be a one-car garage once I get all the reloading equipment, snowmobile, Shovelhead, lawn tractor and workshop located therein. The wife doesn't want me to have the reloading bench in the den, I had it in the family room back in Florida.
Post by: Strings on July 28, 2006, 06:06:48 PM
Dick... they're not ALL bad. You should have met the young lady we were sitting with the day Sherman stabbed us in the back: cute as a button, and VERY pro-CCW...
G-98: didn't realize you rode! If you think you'll have the shovel up by late September, we'll be doing a charity run: your enterance (and crash space, if needed) is taken care of!
Post by: Otherguy Overby on July 28, 2006, 06:35:23 PM
Quote from: Gewehr98
No, not my garage, that's somebody's snowmobile museum, a good place to find 1970's vintage equipment like mine. I now have a 2 car garage in our new place, but it'll probably be a one-car garage once I get all the reloading equipment, snowmobile, Shovelhead, lawn tractor and workshop located therein. The wife doesn't want me to have the reloading bench in the den, I had it in the family room back in Florida.
Since you are a motorcycle guy, there used to be an annual ride starting in Boscobel, a bit west of you. I think it was a spin off from the DoD stuff from rec.motorcycles.You might try asking here: http://wisconsinmotorcycling.com/
Anyway there are great roads around there for riding, way better than Florida for riding. You'll need a sport bike.
Added: You are really close to this place: http://www.thehouseontherock.com/
It's worth a visit.
There is also the EAA Fly-In at Oshkosh, which finishes this weekend, but do plan on it for next year.
http://www.airventure.org/
Post by: charby on July 28, 2006, 09:44:32 PM
Fat Squirrel? good stuff? WI beer?
-C
Post by: Strings on July 28, 2006, 10:13:55 PM
Post by: 280plus on July 29, 2006, 01:43:54 AM
BTW, speaking of places to go, but in Florida, Did Gewehr ever make it to Trapper Nelson's compound at Jonathan Dickenson State Park in Jupiter? It takes a canoe to get there but well worth the trip.
Post by: Strings on July 29, 2006, 10:23:33 AM
Post by: 280plus on July 29, 2006, 11:19:26 AM
From what I've heard, underneath all the bling, the Rolls is a POS.
No, from what I've seen, even though they are doing it in MASS quantities, Anheiser Busch actually takes a lot of care in making their beers. I was a bit surprised myself.
IIRC the one in NH has 49 tanks that hold 33,000 gallons of beer each.
Post by: Gewehr98 on July 29, 2006, 04:11:01 PM
One thing for sure, they make a metric assload of beer there, each and every day.
But I'll go quality over quantity, on that given day.
Three cases of Yuengling were procured from the Patrick AFB Class 6 store today, and cargo tied into the box of my pickup for the ride north next Wednesday. I'll have to make it last, I understand it's hard to order stuff via mail or Internet when it comes to alcohol and state lines. Kinda like when we snuck caseloads of Coors from Colorado to Wisconsin in our Winnebago during the late 70's.
Post by: Monkeyleg on July 29, 2006, 06:51:11 PM
You should have tried to buy margarine in WI in the 1960's. The only stuff you could buy was an uncolored, pastey-looking goo that came with a packet of yellow food coloring that you would knead into the mix.
A lot of people went to Illinois to buy real brand-name margarine.
What a weird state.
Post by: gunsmith on July 29, 2006, 11:53:53 PM
it's over 3 bucks here in Reno NV!....
I like to visit liberal college towns ythough...they often have good bookstores and cheap good food.
When I am in really lib areas I love to go into bookstore and ask for books on shooting and hunting and guns....
Post by: 280plus on July 30, 2006, 02:11:51 AM
Quote
they make a metric assload of beer there,
LOL...I don't think I've ever used that particular unit of measurement before. My impression was that for as much beer as they make, they seem to take pretty good care with it. For as immense as it is the plant was spotless. I've cooked in a few restaurants, nothing impresses me more than a spotless kitchen. I'll have to give this Spotted Cow a try though, if I happen to come across it in my travels.
I come from the days when there was just Bud and Miller, nobody drank Miller.
Post by: Gewehr98 on July 30, 2006, 03:06:08 AM
Post by: Monkeyleg on July 30, 2006, 01:56:31 PM
I don't know why my folks got margarine instead of butter. But I remember having to mix that Playdough-looking goo with the yellow dye. Really spoiled my appetite.
Wisconsin is, to put it simply, weird. The margarine example is one of many.
We elected a moderately conservative governor four times in a row, but also elected an uber-liberal US senator named Russ Feingold, both during the same time period.
Folks will vote for incumbents who are on trial for felonies.
Everything here is "da Packers." I can't tell you how many of my neighbors paint their front doors green and gold during football season. Ask them who their congressman is, though, and they don't know.
I must contradict a previous poster by saying that we do not have mountains in Wisconsin. We have some large hills. And one of those particularly rocky, hilly areas--The Dells--has been bastardized into a traffic-clogged, junkshop-ridden amusement park. It's so built up that you can't even see the rocks. It's a pimple on Utah or Colorado's **s.
We're in the top five in terms of states with the highest combination of income/property/sales taxes. But people still vote for more spending through school budget referendums, or by just returning the same spenders to office.
Wisconsinites are notoriously cheap. At one of the gun shows I worked for the WCCA, a dealer was toying with folks. He put a 4' length of clothesline at his table, and pinned a row of crisp new $1 bills on it. He put a price tag of 90 cents on each. People said, "what's wrong with them?" He told them that there was nothing wrong, they were brand new $1 bills. People would then offer him 80 cents.
These same people will, when they get their first good job, go out and spend $20,000+ on a new motorcycle simply because it says "Harley Davidson" on the tank.
There are two seasons in Wisconsin: winter, and construction season. At one of his last appearances here, Red Skelton joked that Milwaukee will be a nice city when we're through building it.
The Park East leg of the interstate was built in the 1970's. It cost millions back then, and required the demolition of scores of homes in a prime real estate area on the lower east side.
A few years ago, the powers that be decided that it would be a good idea to spend millions of dollars to demolish the Park East leg of the freeway so that new construction could start there.
Thirty or so years ago, people began to flee the high property taxes in Milwaukee county by moving to other counties and buying homes for well under $100,000. Now they're moving back to the city of Milwaukee and buying $400,000+ condominiums downtown--and paying $$$$ in taxes.
A few weeks ago I was talking with a state senator, one who's been part of the Republican leadership in Madison for several years. I told him that my wife and I are trying to position ourselves to leave WI and move down south.
He expressed feint surprise, and then said that he and his wife were also looking at leaving the state. He said he was sick of the high taxes, the weather, and the politics.
When the people who run the state want to leave, what does that tell you?
Post by: Gewehr98 on July 30, 2006, 04:32:12 PM
I went back to the Dells a couple weeks ago, just to watch the crazy tourists. Well, that, and to have dinner at the Ho-Chunk casino buffet. I own a couple acres of land on County Trunk A between Baraboo and Wisconsin Dells, and it's always interesting to see how much expansion is happening from the Dells end. I'm waiting for that offer when they want to rezone from agricultural/residential to commercial.
I've just left a ridiculously high cost-of-living area in Florida. Floridatoday.com even headlined that 85% or more of the local population cannot afford housing there. Wisconsin, even with the property taxes and liberal pockets like Madison, is still considerably nicer than where I left, be it Spacecoast Florida or the Sacramento Valley in Kalifornia.
My two adult stepsons are from Orange County, PRK. The older is about as liberal-leaning as one could get and still be tolerated to live under my roof. He should have an absolute ball near Madison, I expect him to prey on that population like a vampire visiting a blood bank. He can do that while I'm over in Lodi playing with my long-range smokeless and blackpowder rifles.
Health-wise, I've already noticed a definite improvement since moving back up North. My sinuses have cleared up, my skin isn't constantly broken out in rashes, and I've dropped 15 pounds just from going to work at my temp job in a warehouse from 7:00 to 3:30 each day. (That, and my sister being a UW dietician w/the turkey bacon and brats, etc) The dogs should enjoy the change in climate, especially having a real winter.
Post by: Silver Bullet on July 30, 2006, 05:40:12 PM
Jeez, that's a beautiful state.
Post by: Guest on July 31, 2006, 11:33:27 AM
I spent part of last week in Wisconsin! New Holstein, to be precise.
I had lunch in Lone Rock, at the airport cafe. We flew down the Wisconsin River, eyeballing the few nudies out on the sand bars. Note: It's hard to get a look at anyone at 90 miles per hour.
Wisconsin is, indeed, a purty place. I still don't want to live there; Minnesota's better. The Packers suck, too. ;-)
jb
Post by: cosine on July 31, 2006, 11:40:24 AM
Quote from: JonnyB
Hey:
The Packers suck, too. ;-)
jb
Them's fightin' words! Oh well, I guess you have to face the facts: the Packers really do suck. They really will suck this year I bet. The Packers suck, too. ;-)
jb
(Or maybe I'm just a pessimist. Somehow, I recall saying those words at the beginning of every football season. Then, I'm not to disappointed when the Packers do like they did last year.
)
Post by: Strings on July 31, 2006, 12:31:27 PM
<
Which puts you about 20 minutes from me, ya snot! I woulda been willing to treat to coffe, too...
Post by: grampster on July 31, 2006, 05:10:55 PM
We used to make it in Grand Rapids, Mi. many moons ago. Up till the 40's I think. Then they closed the brewery.
About 25 years ago I bought a case in Chicago and it seemed to me the brewery was somewhere in Wisconsin.
Post by: charby on August 01, 2006, 05:30:13 AM
Quote from: grampster
Hey 'Sconsin guys. Is there a brewery around there that is still brewing Fox Deluxe?
We used to make it in Grand Rapids, Mi. many moons ago. Up till the 40's I think. Then they closed the brewery.
About 25 years ago I bought a case in Chicago and it seemed to me the brewery was somewhere in Wisconsin.
http://www.mi-brew.com/history/seeger/braumeisters/index15.htmlWe used to make it in Grand Rapids, Mi. many moons ago. Up till the 40's I think. Then they closed the brewery.
About 25 years ago I bought a case in Chicago and it seemed to me the brewery was somewhere in Wisconsin.
-C
Post by: AJ Dual on August 01, 2006, 08:13:11 AM
In essence, because Wisconsin is such a "good state" in so many ways, the nominaly conservative people are lax, and buy the folksy line of BS the liberals like Finegold and Kohl spouted to get elected. Then once they're incumbents, they get institutionalized. Doyle only got elected because the serving Lt. Govenor McCallum comitted the mortal sin of not being Govenor Tommy Thompson, who had departed for Bush's cabinet.
This upcoming election is key. There are a number of issues people are irritated over, taxes, voter ID/fraud, CCW, Indian casino gambling, and corruption.
Doyle has been a roadblock on every one of these issues.
If we can get Green in, and maintain the Republican majority in both houses, we can reverse a lot of the damage here. We can pass true tax reform, and a balanced budget amendment, stringent voter ID to cut back on vote fraud (that goes 99% for the Democrats here, and if you discount fraud, we may well be a "red state".), and get CCW passed.
There have also been some other promising signs, a handful of powerful RINO's (Republicans In Name Only) in the legislature who run under the GOP because the district is so slanted, have been unseated by true conservatives, who bucked their own party to do it. This shows the peoples taste for true conservatisim, and hopefuly the state GOP took notice. If they run as true conservatives, they'll win. Milwaukee and Madison don't have enough liberals to stop them. And if we can get voter ID, God willing, they never will again&
And unlike Minnesota's DFL, a few of our "Farm Democrats" are actualy berable...
Fall '06 is the "perfect storm". It's the battle that will make or break conservatisim in most all fronts in Wisconsin.
If we win, I'll stay. If we lose, I might start thinking about moving before our girls all enter first grade and start putting down roots. However, it'll be a tough choice, as 90% of our extended family is in the state.
Post by: engineer151515 on August 01, 2006, 09:26:08 AM
Small town of ~60K people. GREAT food. Had all the amenities you could ask for - especially for a "small" town. Stores, car dealerships, hotels, etc.
Summer is great. I've heard winter can be a bear but last winter was a record warm one.
Global warming might turn WI into "the place to be".
Edit to add: Killed many a spotted cow while I was there.....
Post by: Guest on August 01, 2006, 09:47:23 AM
Quote from: Hunter Rose
>I spent part of last week in Wisconsin! New Holstein, to be precise.
<
Which puts you about 20 minutes from me, ya snot! I woulda been willing to treat to coffe, too...
Maybe even less, by air. The 90mph I mentioned is my "fast cruise" in the Champ. There's a group that holds a fly-in at New Holstein each year, at the same time as the *other* fly-in at OshKosh.<
Which puts you about 20 minutes from me, ya snot! I woulda been willing to treat to coffe, too...
I'll be back next year at about the same time.
JB
Post by: Strings on August 01, 2006, 10:41:07 AM