Gas Pains

Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.

Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.

The Magic Curb - Fifth Senate District Version

Life In Tosa, Representative Vukmir, Senator Sullivan

It always strikes me as amusing at how purposefully Girlfriend leads the way when she is going on a 'city walk'.  

Initially anyhow.  

Because when we get within striking distance of the parkway she starts to leap and jump and make a grab for the tennis ball I have stuffed in my pocket.

In contrast when out on the trail with me bearing a shotgun and shell vest (no tennis ball involved) she's all business.

It is fascinating to me how working dogs discriminate between work and play.  Is this phenomenon true of all Labrador retrievers?

A few days ago the dog and I completed our routine ball-tossing and afterwards checked-out the missing 70th Street bridge.

I don't know about you but after a couple of years of endless construction detours and train and traffic delays I sometimes wonder when life between 68th and 70th and State Streets will return to normal. 

Don't you?

On the return trip we spied this absolutely spectacular offering made to the Magic Curb.

Not one commode.

But...

The Motherlode. 

Twin commodes. 

The dog and I checked them out.  I gave them a good arms-length examination and Girlfriend gave them both a thorough sniff.  They appeared to be intact and seemingly quite serviceable. 

The operative question was: how strong was the the Ju-Ju of this particular homeowner's curb?

On Sunday Jill took the dog down to the parkway for a run.  They checked-out the missing bridge and (while not part of the plan) Girlfriend jumped in the river to shag some ducks.

Like I said - she can be 'all business'.

Upon their return I asked if anyone had noticed if either of the great white porcelain thrones were still residing at the neighboring curb.

There was no recollection of seeing them.  Or not seeing them.

This was a decidedly inconclusive report.

If I had to guess - they weren't looking for them so they didn't see them.  Or maybe with the mid-term election right around the corner someone might have nabbed those fixtures to perpetrate an election prank.

This has been known to happen.

Inasmuch as I have been out of town on day job business for about a week I struggle mightily to refrain from commenting upon the juxtaposition of this ceramic sacrifice on the neighborhood curb and the abundance of negative campaign literature that the postman collected for me during my absence.

And what about all of that breathless advertising on the tube?

Trust me - it's much worse in the Fox Valley. 

Speaking of the mid-term elections I'm still trying to arrange a brief interview of the candidates for the 5th Senate seat.

I've sent emails to the legislative offices (including staffers) of Senator Sullivan and Representative Vukmir.  This was followed by email requests to their campaign offices.

So far - not a peep from the Vukmir campaign.  Last Wednesday I heard from the Sullivan campaign inquiring about possible scheduling and if it would be possible to have the questions in-advance.

To both campaigns I would say - 15 to 20 minutes. Tops.  Just like the candidates for Governor we can do it by phone too. 

Although I'd like to accommodate a face-to-face meeting.

Same questions for both.  None in-advance.

Have your people contact my people.

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