Two Rivers and Fond du Lac

Travalon reminded me in the comments that yesterday I forgot to blog about our trip to Seymour on Saturday. Seymour is the Hamburger Capital of the World because a man named Charles Nagreen, or “Hamburger Charlie,” invented the term “hamburger” for his ground beef patties. We saw a commemorative statue of Hamburger Charlie and the grill where they made the world’s largest hamburger in 2001, then we went to a place called Frank’s for delicious cheeseburgers. Hamburger Charlie sold his burgers at county fairs, so it’s not like there’s a historic restaurant still serving them.

Sunday Travalon and I went to Mass at a modern church called St. John the Baptist in Howard, just outside of Green Bay, then we drove to a tavern from the book called the Iron Buffalo, kind of in the middle of nowhere. It had really cool décor like a hunting lodge, with lots of animal heads on the walls, and the clientele was heavily slanted towards bikers. Then we drove to Two Rivers to go to another tavern in the book, where we had some lunch. We started to hike to a dog beach at a state park just outside Two Rivers, but the mosquitoes were really bad, so we gave up and walked the paved trail between Two Rivers and Manitowoc instead. Then we headed to Fond du Lac and planned to go to the lakeside park, but dogs are not allowed there and we had Rodney with us. We ended up taking a walk near the park and watching a small train for kids go by. Travalon used to ride this train when he was a kid, and he said the really fun part was when they went through a tunnel and everyone screamed, but when we watched the train go into the tunnel, nobody screamed. We stopped in Columbus for key lime shakes and then headed to Richard Bonomo’s house for dinner. Kathbert, Luxuli, and Prairie Man were there too, and Luxuli was as quotable as ever. My favorite: “If you are a man and/or a woman…"

Tomorrow: my Labor Day adventures with Rodney!

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Brass for Your... Donkey

My blogging may be sporadic for the next week, while I am down in New Orleans with Travalon. As my longtime readers may remember, the entire reason I started a blog was because Banjo Player said I should when I was telling her all about my previous trip to the Big Easy, so that was the topic of my very second post. Now, 1031 posts and tens of dollars later, I am going back, so watch this space for possible updates during my sojourn and a complete recounting when I return.

For some reason Toque McToque and I got on the topic of smoking. I said I had never liked it much but found menthol cigarettes more pleasant; however, the other kids back in the day considered them wussy for some reason. She said, “They are more popular with the poor and minorities, maybe that’s why people poop-pooped them?” I said that typo fit too well with yesterday’s blog post subject, so I was going to have to blog about it.

Today Light Bright said, “I didn’t think I could control myself, but I can!” She was talking about getting stressed out and taking control of her emotions, but I said I was going to quote her out of context.  Then, on second thought, I decided to reveal the context after the quote so you could enjoy it more fully. We are listening to the New Orleans station, and I said, “A little brass for your-“ “Ass?” she filled in. I said, “I was going to say ‘For your listening pleasure,’ but yours is catchier.”

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More Quotable Quotes

I remember reading a story recently (which I cannot now find) about an online dating site someone started for people who are looking to have a no-strings-attached affair with computer geeks. Apparently – and I’m sure this will come as a huge surprise – it had plenty of male members but was having trouble finding female members. Really? They can’t find women who want to have a quick fling with men who are not exactly known for their hotness? I said to Toque McToque that those women are like unicorns, only skanky and pathetic, and she said that sentence had to appear on my blog, so here it is.

Here is another quote I said needed to go on my blog: as my regular readers know, I am an early music fan, while Travalon prefers classic rock. I said to him early music is probably the Beatles before Sgt. Pepper, and he said, “To me, early music is Buddy Holly.”  I asked if I could quote him on my blog, and he said sure. Not that I don’t like some classic rock, but my car’s radio is on the hip hop station most of the time, and sometimes on the two stations that play early music.

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The Quotable McToque

It was another crazy day, and I had no time to even think of the clever thing I am planning to write about someday, so I will just share some of Toque McToque's quotes with you (plus how often do I get to put so many Q's in one sentence?):

On children: Kids these days. Don’t know how to turn on a typewriter, but can program the space shuttle.

On hUBIE: Soon he will not stand in the way of getting actual work done.

On Light Bright: Even a ten-watt bulb gives off some light.

On a coworker we both like: He is exceptionally smart for a doctor.

There are others but for those you will have to read our book, which we will someday publish. (Meaning when I no longer work here.)

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The Quotable Rockstar Tailor

Rockstar Tailor is so quotable that I have to quote her here yet again. Today she had two particularly good ones:

1. In response to someone who wrote an instant message that ended with an ellipsis (...), she wrote, "What does dot dot and dot mean in this case?"

2. In a story about a doll she wrote: "Then my brain sent me an email that said DUH!"

And here is yet another movie of Tiffy and me having smackdowns using various toys and kitchen gadgets: a snowman candle, an elf, a My Little Pony, a martian, a corkscrew, and a can opener. Once again I was having some fun with Garage Band for the background music.

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