Who is Joe Klein?

And why is he such so clueless?

Media Matters knows.

Scenes from a Glassy Summer Evening

After a great dinner at Fresco

Dinner Menu (my choices in bold)

Appetizer

SEARED SASHIMI-GRADE TUNA
Seared rare ahi tuna, niçoise-style potato salad and tarragon-caper aioli

or

GRILLED CAESAR SALAD
Romaine heart, crisp parmigiano reggiano and creamy garlic dressing

or

FARMERS' MARKET SALAD
Mixed greens, seasonal market vegetables, chèvre and balsamic vinaigrette



Entrée

SPICE-RUBBED PORK TENDERLOIN
Marinated and grilled new potato and red curry baby carrot

or

CHICKEN FRESCO
Asparagus, spring pea, butter lettuce, white bean, red onion, campanelle pasta, prosciutto and summer vegetable butter sauce

or

RICOTTA CHEESE GNOCCHI
Housemade ricotta gnocchi, seasonal vegetables and brown butter herb crème



Dessert

GAIL AMBROSIUS DARK CHOCOLATES
Assorted flavors, handmade in Madison

or

SEASONAL FRUIT CRISP
Served with vanilla bean ice cream

or

MINT JULEP CRÈME BRÛLÉE
With caramelized sugar crust

Survey Says

34% of adults in the U.S. take a nap on a typical day.

Find out more here.

Architecture: Two Rivers' Hidden Gem

You'll probably miss this building driving through Two Rivers on Wisconsin state highway 42 -- or Washington Avenue as you cruise through the downtown business district. The headquarters of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, now a part of Thermo Scientific, is located just one block east of Washington Avenue, but Schroder's Department Store blocks the view.

This art-deco classic was built in 1930, just months after the start of the Great Depression. The company was founded in 1880 and was Two Rivers' major employer for many years.

The church where JoAnna and I were married in 1986 is located just one block from headquarters building. The picture below was taken from the south end of the sprawling manufacturing plant.
Among the products manufactured here: dental furniture (1900s), radio cabinets (1920s), "Child Craft" juvenile furniture (1930s), medical examining furniture (1930s), laboratory furniture (1930s), automatic clothes dryers (1930s), automatic washing machines (1950s), mobile tables for school lunchrooms (1950s).

Seagull deposits are threatening the integrity of the roof.

The smokestack and water tower can be seen for miles around.

One more look at what should be an iconic image of Two Rivers.

They Sure Do Grow 'Em Big in Michigan

What can you do with a 10-pound blueberry?

Juice it for a month of breakfasts.

Go into the pie business.

Use it to play volleyball while wearing white clothes just to see how good one of those Tide To Go pens really is.

Story Idea

The Mystery of the Blue-Handled Ax

Sorry, Chiquita, You're on the Menu

This banana is not happy with her fate.

Bike Ride for Dane County Boys and Girls Club

JoAnna, Eddie, and I opted for the 30-mile route. We started and returned at Madison's Edgewood College.




JoAnna and Eddie pose after the three of us successfully attached the bicycle rack to the car and then secured the bikes.



JoAnna and Paul are ready to roll.



Eddie and Dad are ready to roll.


And so are the more than 200 riders who chose the 30-mile route.



Rest break at Square Park in the historic mill town of Paoli, the halfway point on the 30-mile route.

Paoli's beautiful St. William Catholic Church. The architectural design is somewhat incongruous, not the architectural style you expect to see on an old-fashioned town square in Wisconsin.


Square Park's little gazebo.


JoAnna reaches the finish line.

Bike Ride: West Side Madison Meander

Temperature: 75
Humidity: 71% (and it felt like it)
Wind: 9 mph from SW, though it started to intensify on the home stretch.

A View from a Bike Seat

OK. True confessions. I did stop and dismount (twice) to take this series of pictures of the green Wisconsin landscape north of Middleton.

One view shows approximately two-thirds sky; the other two-thirds land. The one above shows three bands of interest, if you will. I have many similar photos (slides, actually) taken during the early 1980s along the country roads north, west, and south of Oshkosh. (Retirement project I've yet to tackle: digitize my slide collection.)

One of the pleasures of biking is having an unimpeded view of your surroundings. No looking through a windshield.

The thing is, I probably wouldn't have taken these pictures if my lazy bum of a son -- which one? does it matter? -- had accompanied me on yesterday's bike ride. I even extended him an invitation.

What Do We Make of This?

Sign in the window of one of the Frosty Pine apartments, Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Close-Up: Where Am I?

The Daniel O. Trainer Natural Resources Building, UW-Stevens Point

A Perfect Day for a Party

Just waiting for some people to appear in the picture .


The canopy is from Costco. No more renting from A-to-Z RentAlls. Let's just hope it lasts long enough for us to get money's worth. Set-up was a little problematic at first. Our inaugural effort, too many chiefs and not enough Indians, as they used to say. An 8-page booklet provided surprisingly clear and straightforward instruction. Some text even accompanied the pictures.

Fox News

The black hole of TV. Idiot viewers can't escape its pull.

P. A. U.

Politics as usual.

From today's New York Times, "Adding Something for Everyone, House Leaders Won Climate Bill".

As the most ambitious energy and climate-change legislation ever introduced in Congress made its way to a floor vote last Friday, it grew fat with compromises, carve-outs, concessions and out-and-out gifts intended to win the votes of wavering lawmakers and the support of powerful industries.