Wisconsin...Tornados...and other "fun" stuff! (Pt. 1)

A good friend of mine (who i'll call BoB, cause thats his name) lived in that good ol' cheese state where the cows ain't as smart as ours or give better cheese, but go moo just the same.

I was invited to go and visit Bob, his brother and Philis the girlfriend of said brother. So i packed up, threw my mountain Bike in a box and flew on over.
Now Bob worked the late shift and so did his bro.
One night around 8 or so as we were just relaxing and talking(Philis and i), and her daughter watching tv in the next room when over it came a tornado alert that one was in the neighboring area and possibly gonna touch down so to be prepared etc.
Of course everyone has a basement for such times but this whole tornado thing was new to this SoCal Homeboy! It was new and exciting to me, but scary as heck! What happened next was just plum loco!
Another alert came over the newsflash and our area was now being threatened. We were ready to head on down when i heard this distant roar...or like a train sound. It was more like a wailing sound as the winds blew harder and harder. By now, this wailing was getting louder and louder and i thought that it now in our back yard!! It was!
But as it turns out, the siren was by the back area just outside the yard and when it started up it must have been facing in the opposite direction cause lil by lil it became louder and ME, not knowing that, thought it was the tornado coming through the back door!!

So anyway, we all went down and just waited til it passed....and it did.
Everything went as quickly as it came. That was the norm at times there. wow!

When Bob(which really is his name) got home, he said there was alot of flashing emergency lights etc. over about 2 blocks from the house. So him and i jump into his car to go have a look. We could have just walked but he had to go to the store ok.
Well what i saw was just too strange!
The whole block was gathered at this one empty lot that i quickly found out was once a home and all that was left standing was the fireplace, which i heard saved some family member's life. It really was the strangest thing though, To see the houses on either side and across the street totally untouched! Amazing! But the next day would be even more mind blowing!

I wanted to see what it looked like the next day , so i jumped on my bike and rode on over, and there was the same ol' crowd again gathered there along with now stacks of new lumber. These people (neighbors) were rebuilding it all over again!!! This was routine!
I was so amazed by this! Now thats what i call some real people and good neighbors!!!

Wish i could see that here...but then it would have to start with me now wouldn't it? I'll be a good L.A. kinda freak and let someone else bother...i mean ...uh...help out.
ME?
What can i do anyway?? naw...i'll pass!
Man.. What a fricken cop-out huh? (gee..how 60's)

Well........now do whatever i can in my lil neighborhood, from buying a few bags of aspalt and filling in some street "dents/holes" by my house , to jumping on any fresh grafitti before it even has time to dry {at times}. Or just leaving bag of lemons on some neighbors gate. It ain't no big thang and i dig it!
SEE.....i say to myself... Fool!...you CAN do something besides Ignore or just bitch, bla...bla...bla...

Yeah...what i experienced first hand over in Milwauki gave me a good kick in the butt for sure. I think its great too! Heres yours! (j/k) Don't get me wrong...I'm still Ignorant (hey, I heard that! who said arogant?) as far as i'm concerned! Just a tiny bit more better for it. I'm not really interested in who benifits from it either, I just know....I do ,(and some others) and thats just cool with me too!

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
So Boys and Girls, what did we just learn from Mr. Rudedogs excellent adventure in cheeseland?
Thats right!....absolutly positively without
a single doubt.......(please fill in da blank)
*or if you see a neighbors house hit by a tornado (in L.A.?)Pleazeee don't go loot it ! But go see if anyones left alive and help them out first.......then rush it!! Dibbs on the toaster!

(bad-bad rudedog!)

Our Boat ing Trip, Adventureous lil Nightmare Pt.2

You just gotta read this one! Its sure to raise the short fine hair on the back of your neck!

OK, so i'm exagerating a little! (but not by much)
Read on...

It was a beautiful sunny day and my friends brother who had just bought a brand new ,off the showroom floor 7 passenger cruisin boat for a great price cause it was a demo.
You know the risks when you buy a demo? Your soon to find out!
We hitched up the boat for its maiden voyage and headed out for an hours drive to a lake called Ocatchi...or something like that. The drive was pretty much non-eventful and soon we arrived, unloaded the boat and fired it up! Man did it sound good and strong, ready for anything!
Well...you already know me and my stories and how they tend to twist and turn......
As we headed for the middle of the this hugh lake, there the sun was hot and the day just as nice as can be, the engine started to act up....but only for a few minutes, then it flat out died!
That was it, For some reason it seemed to have over-heated from what the gauge said. We had no idea what was going on and so there we sat drifting out in the middle of a deserted lake on a nice sunny day!
Sun oh sun...Where are you going?
come back...come back!!
But it was overtaken by dark dark heavy clouds that the strong winds brought into our direction.

After about an hour as the engine had cooled i was asked to inspect it to see if i should notice anything wrong.

I only noticed that the "plastic" water pump smelled burnt and knew that had to be our problem. It looked just like a pump off a washing machine too! (since thats what i do)
The winds blew harder and harder and finally we were now able to start the cold engine and head on in towards shore. Finally! The story ends here.

And begins here .
The boat was doing good til we got as close to the shore as it let us, then once again....DIED!
We drifted back out and the wind did whatever it wanted with us.
This had to be some form of "boater abuse" but who do you report it to and who would believe it anyway!
What started out a sunny day and now it was shit! It was just a matter of time before the heavy torrents of rain fell on us and luckily we were able to put up the top. If you wondered why we never tried to call on the C.B. radio that we didn't have...well your guess is as good as mine! Duh!
Who in their right mind buys a boat without a Radio?
Oh....His name was Bill!

read on!

It just keeps getting... (Wisconson) Pt .3

Yes, you heard right, It does get better, but unfortunately... not for us!

The time was now around 7 or 8.
We started around 1 or 2...you do the math,
What seemed like forever....was!
It was soon to become night as the daylight was even abandoning us now and it wasn't about to let up anytime soon.

The winds slowly drew us to a marshy area where we became anchored. I guess that was the only good thing to happen to us! For the next 2 and a 1/2 hours we were at the mercy of the ever increasing storm, which by now was thundering off in the distance. As time passed it came our way until it was directly over us.

Now you know dam well that where ever theres thunder theres lightening, right? Right! and there was plenty of both and then some! It was to the point of striking on the lakes surface here and there and i we had front row seats! The price for them wasn't cheap! The "then some" came close by but not quite that close and touched down in the surrounding counties. You getting more of the picture now? I thought so...I only wished you were there! (hehe) Bob was seriously contemplating jumping into the lake (which wasn't that deep there) as soon as the lightening passed. There was a tiny light way off in the distance and could be a house or cabin so he decided to go get help.

It was time now and he jumped in and made his way towards shore (i guessed) cause he quickly disapeared into the darkness. We could only wait now and hope he made it safely to his destination. An hour had passed and nothing.....
Another hour was now coming up and it was much later now!

Off in the distance we could see a dim light coming across the lake, it was finally some one to rescue us from our nightmarish predictament!
It was the local Sheriff and he wasn't to happy to be there either! The lightening was continuing to hit the lake here and there and his boat was getting heavier by the minute with all the bricks he was laying. (hehe)
He happened to be in a Aluminum boat!!
The girls (Philis and daughter) jumped across and then there was Bill after me.
That fool sheriff tells me to jump in the water then to his boat! I said a..NOPE! So he came closer again and we both jumped on over.
He quckly crossed the lake towards our parked car and said we could come back for the boat tomorrow, if it was still stuck in the same place. WoW! WHAT A DAY THAT TURNED OUT TO BE!!!!! (an E-Ticket ride for sure!)
The next day we went back and retrieved the really stuck in the muck boat. Bill took it back and sure enough....someone ran it there without water and fried the pump! He was given a brand new boat!
I was given a brand new heart! (after all that!!)
I spent the rest of my days on land, riding my mountain bike deep into the thick green forest and other beautiful places
taking photos and enjoying the peace and quiet.
The next day Bob and i went to the Wisconsin Hot Air Balloon Festival and that was really cool!
Towards the end of my stay we went to the old Milwauki Miller Brewery for a tour. Tour? what Tour? I was there for the samples don't you know!

All these people being hearded around the place and not much of a friendly crowd either.......that is, til we arrived at the last section, where the tasting room was located. The introverts piled in one by one almost as if ordered to only look at the floor and make no eye contact!

They brought in the first batch of witches brew and everyone gulped it down (me too!) Then came the next flavor and we put that one away! By now people are getting their buzz on and i'm just waiting for the frolic to begin, who knows..orgy?

By the third one WE are all feeling pretty happy and just about slapping eachother on the backs! I kid you not!
That was just the funniest thing i ever seen from a bunch of strangers to best friends! (for the moment)

We also went to a place called "The Dells" and that was very interesting! I seemed to be a strange sight to alot of folks there by all the stares i couldn't help noticing. I was thinking maybe because i quite didn't look like Asian or Mexican, Indian or what? They couldn't figure me out! Then i was thinking maybe because my hair was a orangish/faded red color and thought that must of really added to their confusion! HA!

That was my "trip" on over and i haven't been back since!
Bob now lives in North Carolina, where i'll soon be heading on over to visit for a spell. Maybe do a little boating? Sure...Why not?
You think??