Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go

This is a call out to anyone that I have ever helped with a home improvement project, or helped move, or any other favor I have done to help you out.  Saturday, May 12th I will be reroofing my house.  If you are available to led a hand for a couple of hours, it would be appreciated.  The more people, the quicker it will go.  I will supply food and plenty to drink.  Let me know if you can help out.  Thanks.

Need A Little Help Here

So I come back to my house after a lovely evening out with Rebecca, Ness and Al, and I see this on the bathroom floor.

Really, Justus?  You can't even pick up the towel off the floor after taking a shower.  So I have come down to three possible reasons as to why Justus could not pick up the towel off the floor.....he obviously is one of the following but I have yet to determine which.  Help me decide.

Which is it?
	Lazy
	Ignorant
	Inconsiderate
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Volleyball Playing Looper

Last night I went to my nephew, Zach's, volleyball game.  Here are some of photos of Zach in action.

 And here are Sarah and Joey at the game.  Sarah is a big fan of the camera.

 Here is the 40 year old and Joey.

And later last night, Zach learned that he was hired to be a Looper.  "A looper?" "A looper..a caddy....a jock."  Yes Zach's first job will be at a golf course serving as a caddy.  The next Danny Noonan.

40 Years Old

Sunday was Chucker's 40th Birthday.  Here is the birthday boy.  

And what is a family gathering without a little kickball.  Here is Joey pitching to Trevor.

 Trevor is the son of Jacob, a friend of the family.  We let Trevor kick a Home Run every time he was up to bat.  You would be hard pressed to find a happier kid Sunday afternoon.

So this birthday party was bitter sweet for me.  It was the last one where I could laugh at the guest of honor because next year it will be me.  It seems only like yesterday when my sister, Deb, turned 40.  I remember walking in the door and laughing.  Her response was, "Just wait Mr. your time is going to come."  And it will be too soon.

Living with Justus

Here are a couple things I have noticed since Justus has moved in. I learned that he believes in ferries. Apparently there is a garbage ferry who takes out the trash and a dishwasher ferry who unloads the dishwasher.

Last weekend Justus invited some friends over for a cook out. Justus was manning the grill.
One of his friends asked me, "Do you guys take care of the yard? It looks really nice." I laughed and answered, "No, we don't take care of the yard. I do."

Justus put on a pretty good spread that day. However he has this thing with dish towels. This is a picture of the sink after he cleaned up. Count them, he had to use 6 dish towels to make the meal. I don't get it.
Here this isn't surprising. You probably can't read the expiration date on his gallon of milk. It is 3-13-12.

He also has a full unopened gallon in the basement fridge with an expiration date of 4-17-12. Today is the 18th. Then again, maybe Nate is coming over. And I know Nate can put down a gallon of milk in 20 minutes.

Freeman Party Update

Here is a quick update on the Freeman Party. I posted an announcement last month, and I have sent out invites via Facebook. I get out the Evite today and I think there are a couple snail mails that I have to send out as well. But it is official, the date will be June 2nd starting at 2:00 p.m.
And here is some great news, I just ordered the pig for the party. That gets me really excited. My family had a pig roast for each of our high school graduations. Which means my family is way over due for a pig. I was hoping to get a picture with the pig while it was alive but I was told that that would not be possible.

Easter

It was a good easter weekend for me. Friday I had a half day of work and then I went to Brewers Opening Day with my college roommate, Mark. I took my camera to the game but didn't take any pictures. Saturday was rather low key. But Saturday night I did head over to Nate's for some quality ping pong. Easter Sunday I was at my brother's for bunch and then dinner at my sister's house. Most of the kids were there and we were outside most of the day playing 500, kickball, football and bongo ball. Here are some pictures.

I added a little twist to 500, 2 balls.
Princess.Crusher and E.Hollywood playing kickball.Crusher.BonesawHere is the shot that Fuss kicked and took me right out. As I told the doctor in the emergency room,"The last thing I saw was this yellow orb coming right at me." Just kidding. It takes way more than a kickball to take me out. Although it did hit me right in the chest before I could react.E.And I added a little twist. The losers lined up against the shed and the winners got to take shots at them.And then there was some football.

Is It, Or Isn't It?

Here is the newest from Justus. He keeps calling his Honda CRV, a truck. This is what a CRV looks like.

What do you think?

Is this a truck?
	Of course, don't you see the bed?
	Not even close.
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NCAA Pool

I wanted to give a quick run down of the final standings of my NCAA pool. First congratulations to my brother, Chucker, for winning. For those that lost, don't feel to bad. I paid Chucker Tuesday night at a local watering hole and we blew half of his winnings on beer and wings.

Here are the standings:

1. Chucker - 114 points

2. Dan - 102

3. Bubs - 100

3. Heather - 100

5. Kelly - 95

6. Justus - 94

7. Rickie - 89 (Not bad for picking Missouri to win it all)

8. Tim - 84

8. Doug - 84

10. Glenn - 83

10. Tom Brady - 83

10. Lid - 83

13. Stacy - 82

14. Roman - 78

15. Boomer - 74

16. TJ - 73

17. Tree - 72

18. Borky - 65

19. Deb - 56

20. Mrs. Bortke - 44

As Requested

A loyal blog reader requested that I divulge the best way to get down to Miller Park, especially with the construction. This advice would be for those that would be coming to the ball park from the west. As you may know there is construction from 70th street down to I believe 25th street. Your best option would be to take US 45 north at the zoo interchange. Then take the first exit and head east on Bluemound. Obviously you will not be the only person with this game plan. That is why I would head north to Wisconsin Ave at the earliest opportunity. Then take Wisconsin east until it merges with Bluemound just before the Valley Bridge. Take Bluemound east for a couple blocks until you get to Story Parkway and then on to Yount Drive. From there you can decide if you want to park in the Molitor lot (or the Bluemound lot as I call it) or you can continue down and under I - 94 and park in one of the preferred parking lots. If you like to tailgate even after the game starts, the Bluemound lot is the place to be, it takes security longer to get over there to kick everyone out of the parking lot and into the game.

Here is a link to a map of what I am talking about.

Come See What's Brewing

I looked and I don't think I had this contest last year. Winner will receive one Oakland Gyro. And to be the winner you have to make your prediction for the Brewers' final regular season record. I am going with 86 - 76. Other predictions for the year. Ryan Braun has a 40 (home runs) - 40 (steals) season, only the third one ever. Greinke and Gallardo both win 20 games. And why not, the Brewers win the World Series.

And speaking of what is Brewing, I am headed back to opening day for the first time in close to 10 years. Should be interesting.

On TV

Last Friday, just after I had walked in the door, someone was ringing my doorbell. I really dislike answering my door, because 9 times out of 10 it is someone selling something or asking for a handout. But this was the 10th time and it was something else. This woman was at my door and was asking about the murder that happened at my house. She wanted to know which house was the house. I told her that it was my house. I asked why and her reply was that she was from an Austrialian TV show that would be comparable to our Discovering Channel. And they were doing a story of mothers who murdered their kids. I gave her as much history as I knew. I know that this all sounds made up. But just to prove that it happened, I took some pictures of the film crew.

Freeman Party

I was going to wait a bit on this announcement but people have been asking me about the date. So it is with great pleasure that I announce the date of this year's Freeman Party. It will be Saturday, June 2nd 2012. Any and all blog readers are encouraged to attend. This year I am looking to change things up a little bit. I am still coordinating it but I am planning on having a pig roast instead of the usual brats and burgers. If you would like to bring a dish, it would be appreciated. The party will start around 2:00 PM.

Games will be scheduled to begin around 3:00 - 3:30. As a new twist I am going to announce the games, or at least some of them. As always, there will be the kids and adult water balloon toss. (Adults must be partnered with their significant other, no exceptions) Back again will be the Rock Paper Scissors tournament and the always competitive musical chairs, kids, ladies and mens divisions. I will throw in one or two relays. But because I liked the game so much last year, I am bringing the 2 person 2x4 walk race. However, this year it will be one big open tournament and you can select your partner. I will work on the shoes to make them as comfortable as possible.

Dinner will be served shortly after the last round of musical chairs.

I also have some live entertainment lined up for all to enjoy as you finish your dinner. Yes, it is the same guy as last year, but he promised me that he would have a better performance. I know this, his performance can't get any worse than last year.

Please carefully select your dress attire, I would expect it to be cold with an excellent chance of rain. Bring your family and friends, but please get back to me with how many people will be joining you so that I can plan accordingly.

Who is Right?

Here is the latest Justus update. Tonight he made orange juice from concentrate. He opened the can, poured the contents into a pitcher, added water with the can, put the pitcher in the refrigerator left the empty can on the counter and walked away.

Me: "Hey man, throw your garbage away."

Justus: "You are kidding me, right?"

Me: "No, are you kidding me?"

Who is right?
	You are. Normal people throw garbage away.
	Justus is. Why wouldn't you leave it on the counter.
	You should have known what you were getting into by letting him move in.
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Work

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago on my project. We needed to close down the interstate for about 2 minutes to get the crane across the road into the median. We coordinated with the State Troopers for the closure. This is the only time I have had two police cars behind my truck when I wasn't nervous and hadn't done anything wrong.

Polar Plunge

A couple weeks ago, just as the weather was starting to warm up, Borky did the polar plunge. Here are some pictures.It's not so much cold as tingly.

New House

A couple of weeks ago, Nate, Michel and Elery moved into their new house. I was there to lend a hand on moving day. In fact I was there on moving day at their first house. Here they are.And 9 years later, here they are again.

Golf

Here is a plan that I came up with the other day. I am going to turn my yard into a 9 hole miniature golf course. It is an idea I got after seeing my brother's golfing green.

Charles Bradley

This is a couple weeks back. Borky and Schoen came down for the weekend. We went down to Turner Hall to see Charles Bradley. He reminds me of James Brown. Nate also met up with us Friday night. Here are some pictures and video.

I don't know why Nate had his shoe off. A team photo by the bar, Nate is doing the Captain Morgan.

500

This past Friday I stopped at my brother, Dan's, to grill out and move furniture. I was playing 500 with the kids in the yard. Here are some photos:

It was Hollywood, Princess and Hollywood's friend, Tyler.Look at how happy these kids are just playing 500.I told them that pushing was legal. Here is Hollywood with a real solid shove in the back.After warming up a bit, I really started booming my kicks. I would tell them that it was double points if they caught the high ones on a fly. This is the one that landed in Tyler's ear and ended the game. I have made all of my nieces and nephews cry, but this was the first time I made one of their friends cry. Oh to be as happy as these kids are.

Just a heads up to my nieces and nephews. I haven't decided the date of the sleep over, April or May. Start letting me know what weekend works. But I am planning a spirited game of 500 at the park just down the street. But I am adding a twist. I am going to kick 2 balls instead of just 1.