Help 400 animals find homes!
Join the Wisconsin and Ozaukee Humane Societies in celebrating summer by saving a life. Our goal is to find homes for four hundred cats during the month of July, in addition to loving families for lots of dogs and small animals, too. As part of the celebration inspired by Independence Day, every adopter has the opportunity to receive terrific prizes and free stuff!
· Adopt any cat whose coloring is red, white or blue and receive a free gift and a certificate to attend a free Cat Behavior Seminar! Even if your new cat is wearing an item in one of those three colors, you will receive a gift. Be on the lookout! · Adopt any of our mice, named after some of our nation's heroes and receive a complete cage and setup for only $10, while supplies last! · Adopt a rabbit and you will receive a discount on our popular Wabbitat! · Adopt any one of our Petite Pals including rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, rats, birds, gerbils, hamsters or mice during the month of July and the fee is waived on a small animal friend! · Anyone who adopts a dog during the month of July will be given the opportunity to draw for a prize ranging from dog treats to a complete dog kit with everything you need to bring home your new friend!Area Day Care Providers and their Compliance Ratings
Here's a new web site that provides the public with the compliance histories of the child care providers in this area - Wisconsin's Licensed Child Care Search.
For simplicity, I've included direct links to some of the local day
cares and their history. You just need to click the compliance history
date to view details. Keep in mind that this web site is new and lacks
specific details about listed violations. Additional information is
necessary to make the right choice with a child care provider; however,
this web site is a great start and a great tool. It's about time this type of information was made public.
Papa Luigi's / Salvatore's Pizza
The Papa Luigi's/Salvatore's Pizza place in South Milwaukee is more than just a place to go get a fish fry or pizza. It's a full service party place! If you've been around the area for awhile, you'll remember that it was the old Bucyrus Erie Club - the cafeteria/bar/recreational place for the employees of BE. In fact, the BE Club was my first employer back in high school!
The general layout of the place is the same, with the endearing old bowling lanes, banquet hall, upstairs gym, and bar/dining area. It's a perfect place for a kids birthday party - there's bowling and video games with a large area set with long tables for the kiddies to sit at. The pizza is good (had it several times) and the bar area has a nice big screen TV for watching the ball games. Their banquet hall can accomodate 200. I'm not sure if you have to reserve time to use the gym upstairs.
Election 2008 is fast approaching
Here’s The Deal Cudahy
(I apologize in advance for the formatting of some of my paragraphs and any additional spaces and/or lines that are appearing here. it's my first post here, and the copy/paste is acting a little wacky... stick with me, I'll work it out)
November 4th is fast approaching, and I find myself in an unfamiliar situation. Since I first turned 18, I have always looked forward to voting. I have always been very proud that I have a right and a privilege to vote Making my voice heard, standing up for what I believe in and backing that belief at the polls.Festa Italiana Run to Fund Spinal Cord Injury Research
What a busy summer it has been so far! In June I attended the excellent Civil War Reenactment in Warnimont Park. I always attend this event and enjoy it. I had my palm read by a trained fortune teller and she was surprisingly accurate. She predicted that I had a head or brain injury. Amazingly, I injured my head in a bicycle accident many years ago, and even more amazing, I had cut the top of my head while working in my wood shop a few days earlier. I am completely puzzled as to how she was able to make this discovery simply by reading the lines in my palm. I was wearing a hat at the time which would have prevented her from seeing the top of my head. Maybe it was just a lucky guess.
In other news, I did the "Ride with Pat" ride in Sheridan and Grant Parks. This ride was organized by our County Supervisor Pat Jursik. About 30 people participated in this ride. It was perfect weather (we were able to sneak the ride in between thunderstorms).
So Many Local Festivals, So Little Time!
We have 4 local city festivals coming up quickly! There's a couple of local bands that are playing at them that I like to listen to, so I would have been disappointed if I had missed any of them. I kept seeing information, but until I actually wrote them on the calendar, I was in danger of missing out, so I listed them here in order:
South Milwaukee Heritage Days - July 24th Evening on the Avenue, July 25th Spectacle of Music, July 25 - 27 Lionsfest. http://www.wilions.org/southmilwaukee/lionsfes.htm
Enter a Photo in our Calendar Contest!
Does your dog strike a pose when you bring out the camera? Does your cat smile when you say "cheese"? The Wisconsin & Ozaukee Humane Societies’ calendar contest is back and entries are now being accepted!
Book Publisher for Kids - Tikatok
What happens if I do nothing but let the kids play and dream their summer away -
- They sit in the house, stare at the TV, and become good, personal friends with Ben 10.
- Monkey bars become permanently attached to their feet.
- My worst enemy becomes the distant sound of an ice cream truck.
- Guitar Hero fills my days ... and enters my dreams ... and, in the end, makes me hum the words to Barracuda while I work.
Of course, I'm all for relaxing summers. And I'm all for vacations and fun and teaching my son how to download Kiss songs from iTunes or hiding under blankets "camping" with my four year old. However, I still want to encourage my kids to read and write and use their imagination, even during these warm, relaxing months. I heard that children lose about 2 months of knowledge over the summer. This is very believable, considering that, through association, I'm starting to laugh like Spongebob.
This site looks like fun and encourages kids to really use their imagination. Tikatok
I Am Not Racist!
I have been accused by two local bloggers that have taken interest with me because I am a Conservative Republican and support Wal-Mart. Now one of them does state that I am not a racist, but he is implying it with saying in his blog title “racism is alive in Cudahy”.
Flying a Freak Flag
Here's a great video. You know - once or twice - we may have had Fruit Loops for dinner. Unfortunately, there were no freak flags!
Sweet Apple-Wood Festival on Aug. 1, 2, 3
July has been an exciting month and there is even more fun planned for August.
Don't forget to mark your calendar for the Cudahy Lions Sweet Apple-Wood Festival on Aug. 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This event is always fun and I enjoy it every year. There is great food and entertainment and a great way to get out and meet some of your neighbors. I will be attending this event in addition to working as a volunteer. This event is held in Patrick Cudahy Park. What a great use of one of our beautiful, priceless County Parks!
Dogs arriving from Puppy Haven need your help
The Wisconsin Humane Society reached an agreement to obtain and close the largest dog breeding facility in Wisconsin, ‘Puppy Haven.’ Nearly 1,200 dogs will be brought to WHS to start on the right path to a happy future. Although many of the dogs were healthy enough to go into adoption right after spay/neuter surgery, and more than 100 have been adopted in the past few days, others need extra help.
Recycling Old Computers
Years ago, on the news or in the paper or on the radio as I drove to work, I learned that computers and monitors have toxic metals and - if put in a land fill - the toxic metals can end up in our drinking water. This really spooked me and since then, I developed a collection of old dead computer equipment to either cram in my closet or donate to computer savvy relatives.
Currently my closet cannot hold any more dead electronics and my computer savvy relatives are ignoring me.
Fuels of tomorrow
So here's the deal,
I am always a little taken aback by the talk of the new fuels of tomorrow that are right around the corner.
Sales tax a Good Option for Parks
The
Milwaukee County Park Department was once regarded as the best urban park
system in America
and was the envy of other large metropolitan areas. It served as the national
model for public investment in open space, recreational facilities and
programs. This is no longer true. While the rest of the nation has discovered
the wisdom of upgrading park facilities and investing in new parks our park
system has experienced a significant decline in funding due its reliance on the
property tax as a means of support.
From 1983 to 2007, the county’s overall tax levy grew by 112%, out-pacing inflation, yet during that same time, the park system’s share of the levy shrunk by 18%. Factored for inflation over this twenty-four year period, the reduction in park funding is a sobering 65%. This reduction has led to an unconscionable build-up of deferred maintenance and a loss of nearly two-thirds of the full time workforce. As staff levels have dropped there has been a related increase in the perception that our parks are not as safe as they once were.
Inspired by Favre: Re-Joining the Rockets
I'm going to un-retire from football. This year I will return to camp for the South Milwaukee High School Rockets.
No doubt this announcement leaves you scratching your head-- how on earth can a 33-year-old guy play high school football again? But there's a precedent right here in front of us, and it's stealing broadcast time from the Brewers' pursuit of the NL pennant every night. Yes-- this whole Brett Favre un/retirement saga has really had me thinking lately. I understand exactly what Brett's going through, and let me tell you, it's inspiring. His latest bout of wrestling with himself in determining whether to play on or retire? It truly speaks to me as a former player and high-school coach.
Where's Bucyrus?
Once again South Milwaukee approximated a Norman Rockwell rendering in the form of the city’s annual Heritage Days parade last Saturday. As the parade kicked off, enthusiastic spectators lining the route rose for the color guard and applauded the service members who followed. Parade organizers outdid themselves this year. Downtown rang with the music of several school and community marching bands, as toddlers who haven’t discovered self consciousness danced on the sidelines. Shriners wowed the crowd with their motorcycle and mini motorcar demonstrations. Watchers waved at and cheered for friends and neighbors representing their community groups, service organizations and businesses as they paraded past in cars, on floats and afoot. Although some of the literature that was handed out gave the festivities a bit of a commercial air, the participation and support of these groups helped the parade reflect the fabric of the community. Not lost on the crowd, though was the entertainment value of Parkway Floral's rollerblading bee, Bryan Lorentzen, and chiropractor Dr. Potisk's giant vertebrae. Younger kids racing out to scoop up candy many of the participants threw to the spectators grabbed enough to keep them in sweets for weeks. But something was missing from the picture. Dominating the downtown landscape is the omni-present Bucyrus International Inc. and, thanks to a decision a couple of years ago to keep its headquarters in South Milwaukee, the company’s now expanding its physical plant. Interestingly, while Bucyrus had scheduled its big open house to coincide with Heritage Days and its canopied enclosure filled with white folding chairs awaiting its open house guests, just steps away from the passing parade, the company no visible presence in the parade. Perhaps they made contributions behind the scenes that weren’t readily evident. But aside from its plant and the resulting employment, ever since the very welcome news that the behemoth mining- and earth-moving equipment company announced its decision to remain in South Milwaukee, its corporate giving hasn’t made much of an appearances here yet. I understand that the Bucyrus-Erie Foundation is one of the most generous in Wisconsin, but the vast majority of the publicly known largesse of that foundation goes elsewhere. The company and/or its foundation might be more generous to South Milwaukee than I'm aware of and wants to keep it on the QT. If so, great. But taking a public part or visible role in the Heritage Days Parade would go a long way to spread good will among its South Milwaukee neighbors like some of their business brethren do.Although Bucyrus International appears to be in a position to expand and prosper, the empty store fronts along Milwaukee Avenue are a testament to the hard economic times plaguing our city and its business climate. It would be nice to see Bucyrus join with its neighbors and other businesses in doing its part to help make South Milwaukee an even more fantastic Norman Rockwell canvas for next year’s Heritage Days parade and to show more of a presence locally in other beneficial ways.
