Saturday morning. The coffee tastes great. The rains have moved off (or so I think). I will be spending quality time with my four-legged buddy, Rugby-the-dog, while the rest of his pack is off roasting a pig in points north. So life is good.

Happy Memorial Day weekend. As the just-out-of-school kids say; “let the summer begin.”

Coffee Trivia:
Oxford is the place where England’s first coffeehouse was established in 1652. Within 25 years, England had 3,000 coffeehouses. It didn’t take long when, in 1675, King Charles II of England banned coffeehouses because he believed people gathered there to plot against him. The idea wasn’t so far-fetched: both the American and French revolutions were plotted in these places. So, exactly what does go on in Starbucks?

” I’m a morning bird. I love getting up before it’s light out if it’s possible. I wake up, I have a black coffee. I’m an 86-year-old man. I try to work out first thing to get it over with. When I do it, I feel good because I have the endorphins all day.” ~ Ellie Kemper

Quatman Café – was ‘revived’ again ~ it never really closed; it was ‘revived’ by Marcia and Dirk because we stopped by for dinner. Best in burgers, but since it was Friday I had their fish sandwich special – I’m a traditionalist.

Like any meal at Quatman, it would just not be done right were it not kick started with a cup of Mock Turtle Soup; there is none better.

Chaos & Mayhem – Quick question; does having four uniformed Police officers and two members of the MHRT Team on the condo building premises qualify as a ‘Corner of Chaos & Mayhem’ moment? If they stayed for over an hour would it?

The happenings; one of our neighbors returned from a very extended period away. Upon the return he busted in on the the individual who had stayed back. What he saw was a totally untenable lifestyle the other person had established (for those in the know — it was powered by Bagels). There, I believe that encapsulates the events that must have brought all this to a head.

Overheard from one of the Officers; “you’ll have to leave immediately.”

Can’t be too happy though, since I don’t have a clue as to what lies at the other end of that tunnel. But so far so good!

Sarasota bound – Last weekend I went to watch the Mid-West Regional rowing Regatta at close by East-Fork Lake. Over 500 rowers from as far away as Minneapolis, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis all convened. 9th (moving to 10th) grader, granddaughter Dinah is a rower. Dinah’s 8-man crew boat won their class (by a substantial margin). She and her boat were invited to the rowing Nationals in Sarasota, Florida (June 9-10-11-12). THIS IS A REALLY BIG DEAL!

Imagine rowing 2,000 meters sitting in a 60’ long boat (almost that of a city bus), in a ‘shell’ which weighs 200 pounds, is under 24” wide, on a seat that slides, and rowing with oars that are over 12’ long. Then go all out for around 7 minutes at about 14mph. Depleting all your aerobic capacity all while listening to a Coxswain urging you to do more and to do it better.

That’s the sport Dinah has sought to involve herself in – practicing 3-hours per day, 6 days a week, almost year round.

And she is good at it!

Bottom line; Marcia and I are heading for Sarasota, Florida to watch her compete. We both are beyond excited.

The following was an 8-person women’s boat using a camera on the Coxswain at a race held earlier this year. It shows the absolute physicality of the sport. I also think it was taken at the same Sarasota venue Dinah and her crew will race at.

Some family members have seen these pictures taken at last weekend’s Regatta, but here they are again for anyone else. Dinah is wearing the white baseball-cap.

Fini –
• The WEF in Davos Switzerland was a huge success. At least it was so based on the many participants concerned about the world’s climate. You can count just how many convened when you count one or two participants to each of the private planes parked on every available piece of tarmac at Davos.

• The ‘deep thinking’ bunch did it right. And the well-armed police presence made sure that none of the participants were cornered by independent journalists asking any ‘awkward’ questions.

• Our live Saturday morning radio host, Gary Jeff Walker of 700WLW, just interviewed a regular caller who lives 3-miles West of Indianapolis. The guy says that when the Indianapolis 500 race (tomorrow) is running that the windows in his house vibrate.

• This week we had another obscene and horrific mass murder event. What’s happened since the 1970s after which all this crap started? Prior to that we just didn’t have random mass murders. And, I remember as kids we were all over the neighborhood running around with cap pistols and BB guns. What changed? Other than the family unit being torn apart as part of the ‘War on Poverty’ and ‘the Great Society’ policies of the 60s, males being marginalized and the government acting like the financial father figure. Also add the complete 180° about face regarding the management of Mental Health issues; facilities closed and really never replaced. I could add more such as the overbearing presence of Social Media.

• There’s more. I was reading that the U.S. is 3rd in murders throughout the world.
If you remove
1) Chicago
2) Detroit
3) Washington D.C.
4) St. Louis
5) New Orleans
The U.S. is then 189th out of 193 countries in the world.
(as an aside, all 5 mentioned cities have strict gun laws and a similar political makeup)

• There is a storm raging on Saturn – it’s hexagonal in shape. Look closely at the picture where an outline of the USA was placed in the middle to give a size perspective.

• Mentioning perspective. SpaceX has launched a number of their rockets and brought back the first stage booster to be reused on a subsequent launches. Look closely at the photo below and the two people standing next to the landing legs for scale. Wow!

Best till next weekend, be healthy; and keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk