Ace Wisdom

There have been several requests to blog about our family in relation to World War II. I can only give my perspective from my years growing up. With the help of some old scrap books, verbal conversations with people over the years and some personal observations I will make a feeble attempt to capture the time.
I was born in 1940. Germany was raping and pillaging everything in Europe and North Africa. Hitler was on the prowl. I don’t know if any single country declared war on Germany but France had become occupied and the English pushed “backward” across the channel to it’s homeland. The United States was gearing up to help our European Allies fight the Germans. I don’t think we officially ever declared war on Germany.
So as I grew up there were clues to how serious things were. Military personnel on leave from the service would frequent the City Club (with it’s pool hall and younger crowd). Cars were no longer being produced as production plants were converted over to military vehicles and aircraft. I don’t think there are any models of U.S. cars from 1940-1945. For example, you can not buy a 1942 Chevrolet because it doesn’t exist. Gasoline was on ration. Every family got a limited number of gallons of gas per week (for some reason 6 gal./week sticks in my mind). My Grandpa Chalk knew a few farmers (farmers were not on gas ration because they were producing needed food supplies). Chalk had an open invitation to get gas from some of the loyal farmer patrons of the City Club. Sugar was in short supply as it was diverted for needed military supplies. My Grandpa Jiggs was limited to how much sugar his “soda pop” business could get and he had trouble making a profit. I think the sugar ordeal influenced Jiggs to move to the north woods to a simpler life. There were many practice sessions for air raid sirens in case we would be attacked. During an a practice air raid, all window shades were supposed to be closed so that aircraft would not see light eminating from the ground. There were no TV’s so everything came from radio. My Grandpa Chalk was addicted to an announcer called Gabriel Heater that came on the radio every night at 6:00 PM with news from the “front”. You didn’t talk during the broadcast because everyone listened intently. So you see, you didn’t have to be a “rocket scientist” to figure out something pretty serious was taking place. It is interesting because most of my memories start early like 4-7 years of age.
Patriotism was high. Young men were being drafted. There was no such thing as a voluntary army. Many young men enlisted to control some of the roles they might have in the military. My Uncle Bob enlisted with the intent of becoming a pilot. He did! The draft started with young men that were single and eventually included married men. My dad got drafted with 3 children, I think at the end of 1944.
You notice that I have not mentioned the Japanese yet. I will later. None of my immediate family (namely my Dad and his brother Bob) served in Europe or fought against the Germans. They ended up in the Pacific Theater.
My brother Jack was born in 1943 and sister Addie in 1944. They were war babies. I guess my 1940 birth might mark me also as a war baby.
Tune in next time!
Love,
Dad

I just heard a news flash that beer prices were going up significantly because of the cost of hops. In some cases hops have increased five fold. Tell me it isn’t true! We are probably burning the barley (of which hops are derivatives) in our cars as an alternate fuel. So I guess the question is “do we smash our cars or get smashed drinking beer”. We’ve decided. Cars win. Isn’t it interesting that prices of beer are being raised just before the Super Bowl. I’m devestated.
The value of things depends on market conditions (as with my beer senerio). I bought a DVD player (not including recording capabilities) about 1 year ago. I think I paid $79 for a Best Buy recommended brand (called Insignia). It is a piece of sh–. Last night it wouldn’t load our DVD disc content again and I actually got a shock as I checked the hook-up. No I didn’t have the expensive warranty service contract. The DVD unit is history. Because I’m short on patience, I decided to get a better unit (again just player) but this time I was going to take Grasshopper No.3’s recommendation. I bought a Sony for $59. Imagine that. It was $20 less than one year ago and I had a higher quality unit. It turns out that sales of old DVD technology are falling and most attention is being paid to the “sizzling” new High Definition products. If I wait another year, I might get the Sony for nothing. As I’m checking out of Best Buy, they asked it I wanted to buy the service contract. Come on. I paid just over the price of a nice dinner for two (maybe three) for my Sony. When it craps out, I’ll throw it away.
Now comes the interesting comparison. Mom was using our hp printer to print out picture quality photos. She had taken several color cartridges for “refill” and apparently the colors do not reproduce well in our hp. So at Best Buy I bought the hp recommended cartridge and paid $26. Now you have to think about this! If I’d bought two hp color cartridges, I’d have paid $53 which is almost equivalent to the cost of my new Sony DVD player. It doesn’t seem right. $59 for a high tech Sony DVD player or $53 for 2 color cartridges for our printer. Clearly the Sony is the better value. Come to think of it, hp is screwing us with their “captive” cartridge usage.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that the marketplace is a “minefield”. Careful purchase habits can yield big rewards. eBay looks better all the time.
Love,
Dad

At Christmas time, the Grasshopper No.1 family gave us AAA auto insurance for roadside protection. We haven’t needed towing or roadside assistance in 40 years except once last year when the Saab fuel pump failed near Sheboygan. It was a freak of nature.
Yesterday the special person in my life was “out and about” in the snowstorm. She checked to see if she had everything she needed in her wallet including her AAA card just before leaving. She jumped in the Saab because it has snow tires and away she went.
Late in the afternoon after about 3-4 inches of snow, I got a phone call. “Hello, it is me”. Yep, it was her. “I’m in the ditch”! She was just outside the Darboy subdivision of Appleton.
After we established that Mom was okay, we found out she was in the car sitting down in a pretty deep ditch. Snow was up to the running boards and there was wet mud under that.
Thank God she had the cell phone although she said later that people began to slow as they passed and it wasn’t much longer that a “first responder” walked down into the ditch by the car. Apparently there is an army of people that work with Fire Stations and EMT’s to get to an emergency site as fast as possible to assess the danger. Mom was okay but there was doubt about getting the door open enough to get her out. They did! She did! About that time a County Sheriff pulled up (great thing about phone networks). Soon she was being warmed up in the squad car. In the meantime, Grasshopper No.3 was on scene (and Jim Stiles who had been in the area stopped by). Grasshopper No.3 couldn’t do anything because the Sheriff had called Ricks Towing.
Soon Ricks Towing had the car on the road and a quick meeting at the nearby convenience store took place to make payment. Yep, Mom pulled out her AAA insurance card. All the information was taken and everyone was on their way.
So about 1 hour after the ditching took place, the Saab (full of snow and mud) pulled into our garage. I will admit I was never so happy to see your Mom in all my life.
Actually your mom had everything under control. With a cell phone and AAA insurance card, she managed the whole process.
A special thanks to Grasshopper No.3 for trying to help at the scene.
A special thanks to Grasshopper No.3 for the free car wash certificates given at Christmas. I will use one this morning for an under body flush.
A special thanks to Tom (I know he also gave AAA insurance gifts to his kids) and of course thanks to Grasshopper No.1.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that sometimes fate takes a strange turn. AAA was indeed a fortuitous gift.
Love,
Dad

First, I understand the Grasshopper No.1 family (led by CEO Tom) is making a “killing” on eBay. The business is so lucrative that talk of early retirement and big investments is taking place.
Grasshopper No.2 got to meet my cousin Rick this week (my Dad’s brother’s youngest son). He also lives in Madison. Rick has a little of the family “bullsh– banter” and is fun to be around. It only took 40 years to have them meet.
Grasshopper No.3 has been looking at new TV’s. He is not going to buy (yeah, right). My prediction is there will be a new set in his house by Super Bowl Sunday. Snowplowing must be pretty lucrative.
The Packers are the biggest show in town these days. Your Mom and I went to a “play” last night and sat next to a couple that had arrived earlier. I joked about all the snow outside and said “the only thing worse would be to go to Lambeau on Sunday and sit in the cold”. They looked at me and said “we are going to the game.” It turns out they have season tickets above the Packer tunnel. It is now a duty to carry on their family tradition. The Grandfather attended the “Ice Bowl” where Starr plunged to victory with less than a minute on the clock. The father attended many cold, cold games. Now it is up to the son and his wife to extend the insanity. By the way, the wife agreed with me that sitting in Lambeau on Sunday will be really stupid. They have to go! Only a sports fan would understand.
Now to “hands”. The victor of the game on Sunday will be decided with the hands of Favre. He has big hands and is able to grab the slick cold pigskin sack of air encapsulated better than the opposing quarterback. Manning, the opposing QB has smaller hands and you will see more bad passes and possibly fumbles.
I’ve got to mention the “stuff”. Favre has the advantage with his hands but he has to avoid brain farts. Most teams in the NFL depend on him making 2-3 bad passing decisions each game and that is the time interceptions and fumbles are possible. If Favre can resist trying to win the game all by himself, chalk up a Packer victory. I think he has mellowed enough that he can stick with the game plan. He did not experience any releases of brain gas last week and they creamed Seattle.
I don’t have any bets on this weekend’s game but I do have a bet with Mitchell that the New England Patriots will not go undefeated through the Super Bowl. He is making me sweat a little.
Stay warm!
Love,
Dad

The Packers are playing the Giants in Green Bay late on Sunday afternoon for the NFC Championship and the right to move on to the Super Bowl. Weather forecast is for temperatures to be near 0 degrees by game time and a 10 mile an hour wind. Whoaaa! I start to whimp out at 40 degrees for a Badger game.
I want to say as an stockholder of the Green Bay Packers, we are proud to do our part to keep the economy going. Motels, restaurants and beer distributorships should do well. The yellow and white cap that Favre has been wearing is the number one sports apparel in sports shops. Then when you throw in the salaries of up to $12 million a year for Favre, I think our sports franchise is doing its part. Is this a great country or what?
I learned that one of the favorite customs in Green Bay is to have a Booyah party prior to kickoff. As near as I can tell, Booyah is a German or Polish concoction of refrigerator left-overs. If you invite 6-7 couples to watch the game at your house, they all bring stuff from their refrigerator inventory. It can be ham, chicken, cabbage, soup, or whatever you want. Then you put it all together in one big pot and let it “cook” for most of the day. While waiting, you drink. You can drink for up to 8 hours and by that time it probably tastes pretty good. Hey, you could have your own personal booyah party at home.
This Green Bay phenomenon feels like a throw back in time to the early 1960’s. The Packers hosted a Championship game (I think it was the NFL Championship prior to Super Bowls). The New York Giants were the opponents and Green Bay smoked them 37-0. It was cold and snowy but not 0 degrees. So now, 45 years later, the Packers are hosting the NFC championship and the same NY Giants are coming to town. As Yogi Berra would say, “it is like dejavu all over again”.
So unless you are prepared to offer thousands of dollars for a single ticket, endure a Booyah party and drink all day prior to attending the game forecasted to be 0 degrees at kickoff, I’d recommend a pizza from Pizza Hut and watching HDTV in the warmth of your living room.
My prediction is Green Bay by 4 points. As a stockholder I’ve got to be loyal.
The lesson Grasshopper is you don’t have to look far for insanity. Just gaze northward to the Green Bay Packers and the frozen tundra. It is a little bit exciting.
Love,
Dad

First, Grasshopper No.5 has been invited by an Art Gallery in Minneapolis to display her photo “work”. This is the second time she has received an invitation and the exciting part is that the showing is in the Spring (April) when different events that get artists and “buyers” together. Exciting! Look out Rembrandt.
Now “reference points”. Our life is filled with things that affect us (reference points) that shape everything we do. If we touch a hot stove, we burn our fingers and that event becomes a reference point for not doing it again. If your significant other responds to “I love you”, this becomes a reference point for further action. You get the idea. Our whole life is “reference points” commited to memory conditioning how we are going to behave.
It has occured to me that we get old because our reference points tell us to. If you see someone with severe arthritis at age 65, maybe this is what happens when you are 65. You know it does not necessarily pertain to you but maybe something else is suppose to happen to you at 65. My great-grandparents lived to be over 90. Hey I’ve got some of the same genes and maybe 90 is my destiny (wishful thinking). I ignor the reference point that remembers my Grandmother Helen died of high blood pressure at 59 (I screen out bad points). So potentially being healthy and 90 represents one of my favorite reference points. You get the idea.
It occured to me that if you were placed on earth without any other people (to reference the aging process), maybe you wouldn’t know you should get old and you would live forever. You wouldn’t see other people crippled up or saddled with constant pain. You wouldn’t know what “old” looked like. You would be “hot” for as long as you like. My guess is that someone of the opposite sex would come along and entice you into eating the damn apples and mankind would endure the same fate.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that your family provides thousands of reference points. You behave the way you do because of those points. Give your kiddies all the positive “reference points” that you can. It will condition their behavior forever.
Love,
Dad

This day is starting out okay. I stopped at the local IRS office to get some forms and I got some tips on how to save $40 per year.
Then Grasshopper No.3 “pirated a metal plate” to fix an old bed upstairs and after about 10 minutes, that sucker isn’t going to break down again. I think I saved the cost of a new bed!
For Christmas I got a bucket of peanuts and some grooming supplies from the Sheboygan Manager of The Barbershop and I am thinking of telling my local “hair stylist” that he can keep his $13 bottle of shampoo. So I’m saving on grooming products and I ate the whole bucket of peanuts. I threw the shell scraps on the floor just like the Barbershop.
Now on to “eight loaves of bread”. Nana did not make it up to Appleton over Christmas so Mom and I took her present to her and we went out to lunch. She always has interesting stories. Nana talked about growing up on the farm.
Farm families in the 1920’s were isolated. They went to town occasionally but only when they really needed some supplies. Living on the farm with 6 brothers and sisters along with her Mom and Pop created a large food demand. One of the main staples was bread. There were five meals everyday starting with breakfast, a mid-morning snack, dinner (yes dinner at mid-day), a mid-afternoon snack and supper. Bread was the common denominator to all those meals. So Nana’s family would bake 8 loaves of bread every two days.
You have to think about the magnitude of 8 loaves of bread. Imagine going to your local grocer every two days and coming home with 8 loaves of “good” whole grain bread. Yes, it is an incredible amount of carbs but working on the farm, it was the fuel to keep people going. As Grasshopper No.3 put it “he couldn’t imagine having 8 loaves of bread rising before baking. Where do you put them all”? The baking would take place in a wood stove. Natural gas and electricity were not normally available.
Then after two days, you would bake another 8 loaves of bread. Unbelieveable!
I’m sure fresh bread was a constant pleasure but can you imagine coming into the house from the barn after shoveling cow sh– all morning and smelling fresh bread baking in the oven. Ah, the little joys of life.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that you do what you have to when raising a family. An isolated large farm family such as Nana’s found that bread was an affordable way to feed everyone with things that were grown on the farm. Today a professional dietitian would give you a lecture on eating a balanced diet and caution you on consuming too many carbs. Isn’t progress great?
Love,
Dad