Ace Wisdom

Over the last 10 years, I have tried to pry family history information out of my Uncle Bob (my Dad’s brother). For a few years, Bob was reading my blogs and if I picked topics that he knew, he would send me an e-mail. Subjects like his Grandparents farm in Waukesha, Wis., portrayal of my Dad, and the City Club would tweak his interest. I did obtain a little bit of information about our family Medical history. As I read some of the old e-mails, there is a pattern of “sensitive stomach” issues.
My Great Grandpa Elmer had a nervous stomach. His daughter-in-law, Myrna would describe Elmer as being very “loose”. Her description was that after eating, he “sh– like a goose”. I always thought that Myrna’s description of Elmer was just a funny story.
Elmer’s son (my Grandpa Chalk) was hospitalized several times for bleeding ulcers. My Uncle Bob attributed the ulcers to stress. Hmmmm?
My Dad must have inherited the sensitive stomach from his Dad (Chalk). My Dad was hospitalized for bleeding ulcers during the 1950’s.
My uncle Bob acknowledged stomach issues of his own over the years but kept problems under control with “Tums and antacid medication”.
I have been know to have a “sensitive stomach”. I have found that what I eat plays a big role in my stomach issues. Greasy foods including gravy bother me. Spicy food additives including salad dressings (such as olive oil) are a “no-no”. I try to avoid milk products. Cheese needs to be eaten in moderation. Like my Uncle Bob, “Tums” seem to work. The truth is I can eat almost anything as along as I do it in moderation. Daaaa!
I know that Grasshopper No.3 doesn’t handle some foods very well. The cooking oils at Hu-Hot cause havoc. I’m not sure stress is involved (he always looks in control). No.3 would have to share his eating sensitivities. Maybe he carries the stress inside?
And then there is Grasshopper No.5. She seems to have “drawn the short straw” when it comes to stomach sensitivity. I think she is finding that food plays a major role in managing the stomach and system. Maybe she’ll solve the family stomach sensitivity issues and write a book.
My reason for chronicling generational stomach issues is so that maybe you can use the information. If you seem to be sensitive to digestive problems, maybe it is something you inherited.
It has dawned on me that maybe we just eat too much food? Too much wrong food? No!
Love,
Dad

My “sources” tell me that Grasshopper No.1 lost her little kitten. The little darling somehow slipped out a door and disappeared. The story has a good ending. 24 hours later, our son-in-law used his super hearing ability and heard a feeble “meow” from under the bushes in front of the house. The kitty is okay. Aawwwww. So all is well that ends well. Tigger is safe (or maybe it’s name is Tufu or Tiger or something like that)! Fortunate!
Today is 11/11/11. The only thing significant about the date is that the same number array will not appear for 100 years. Maybe it will create lucky circumstances for someone.
Yesterday was 11/10/11. My Dad died on that date 54 years ago.
Today is Veterans Day. My personal thanks go out to all that have served and to those that have lost loved ones in all the Wars. My Dad’s brother, Robert Jack (my Uncle Bob, 87) served in World War II as I have chronicled in the past. Today Uncle Bob is in a nursing home in Sarasota, Florida with dimentia. It is hard for me to believe that this fun-loving, vibrant war hero, commercial airline pilot and all-around good guy is in need of constant care. My thoughts go out to Bob on this day. He is indeed a member of the “greatest generation”.
Everybody can rest easy. No more snow for awhile. I put my snow tires on Thursday and it never snows when I am ready. I also changed the oil in my snowblower along with a new spark plug. Now if I can just get your Mom to run the machine. Yeah, right.
Next week the Packers start selling stocking stuffers. For about $250, you can buy one share of stock in the Green and Gold. It has no resale value and the most you can say is that you are a booster and stockholder. Otherwise, the stock certificate might look good in your trophy case. of course I can think of a lot better uses of $250. Inflation has set in. In the mid-1990’s I paid $200 for one share. I’m going to leave it to my 5 kids. Lets see you divide that sucker up 5 ways.
Packers play Monday night. Lambeau. Minnesota Vikings. MNF on ESPN. Does it get any better?
Love
Dad

I had predicted the Packers would lose their first NFL game in San Diego. The Pack eecked out a 45-38 victory sealed with a late game interception. I was wrong with my prediction. All the news channels are discussing how lousey the defense is. You’d think the Packers had lost. They are 8-0 people! They’ve yet to lose. Lighten up.
Today around 5:00 PM, an asteroid (the size of an aircraft carrier) passes closer to the earth than the moon. It is supposed to be a non-event. Supposedly if the asteroid had run into the earth and hit an island in the Pacific Ocean, it would have produced the equivalent of a 7.0 earthquake and generated a 70 foot high tsunami wave. Now I can sleep tonight and not have to worry about it.
I have mentioned that our motion sensing light over our back porch has been constantly lighting up our back yard. It is supposed to sense people and critters. I have seen one rabbit moving around. My conclusion was that the sensing light was faulty, but it was already replaced once. I am sometimes slow to get the message. Some animal or multiple animals are setting off our light. Little bastards. Now I’ve got to figure out a way to adjust the light or get rid of the critters. Maybe I should borrow Grasshopper No.3’s dog, Willow, and turn him loose. Could someone lend me a cat (do cats attack rabbits?)?
Grasshopper No.4 and family were at Camp Randall on Saturday to witness Badgers blow out Purdue. Badgers have won all home games. They only lose “on-the-road”. I’m thinking about buying tickets up in Minneapolis this weekend and attending the Badger/Gopher game. Maybe if I’m there to cheer them on, they will finally produce a road victory
Snow tires go on Thursday.
Love,
Dad.

This weekend everybody gains an extra hour of frivolity. Set your clocks back an hour on Sunday morning.
There are now 7 billion people on Planet Earth. The Earth resources do get distributed to more and more people everyday. Looking into my crystal ball, I predict that water quality (and availability) will eventually become more valuable than oil or gas.
Granddaughter Keely had a farewell party before leaving for Cleveland. Nobody moves to Cleveland! It is on the south shore of Lake Erie and it gets lots and lots of snow. She will be counseling needy people on financial matters. I had never heard of Americorp but apparently it is similar in nature to the Peace Corps except it is a “stateside venture”. It sounds like a “cool” endeavor. Maybe we will get a new TV sitcom “Keely in Cleveland”.
I handled the “trick or treat” effort Monday night. We had over 100 ghosts and goblins come to the door. It started with neighborhood kids. By night’s end, we saw many vans and SUV’s pull up at the end of the block and 6-7 kids poured out. They hit every home on the block and then jumped back into the vans and drove off to other neighborhoods. I needed to sample all the different types of candy. I think I experienced a “sugar hangover” the next morning.
When I marry again, I’m going to give the Kim Kardashian sytem a try. I kind of like the concept. Get married. Make it an extravaganza. Maximize TV and magazine coverage. Oh yeah, include your betrothed (new husband Kris). 72 days later, Kim gets to decide this marriage thing isn’t working. File for divorce. How can you make 72 days more exciting? I really think this is a blatant case of a self-serving bitch victimizing a poor unsuspecting bastard.
Then again, maybe it was a brilliant publicity stunt pulled off by two terrific actors?
This weekend, football again takes center stage. My predictions are that the Badgers (back home in Madison) will beat Purdue. The Packers journey to San Diego and will they will lose for the first time this year. Their defense will get picked apart by Phillip Rivers. You didn’t think the Packers would go undefeated did you?
Enjoy the weekend!
Love,
Dad

Years ago when I was growing up, the “mink business” around Plymouth was a big deal. Weasel looking little critters called mink were worth a fortune for their pelts. The mink craze lasted 10-15 years. Their were several families that made a fortune at the height of the fad. One of those families was headed by Orlando Thiel. My Dad, who had an independent accounting business, did the “books” for the Thiels. I remember one Christmas where my Mother got a mink neck wrap that came from the Thiel farms.
When I met your Mom in the mid 1950’s, they lived in this huge mansion with a terrific front porch that circled half the home. Grandpa George and Nana had bought the house from Orlando Thiel, the mink rancher. The Thiel children went to Plymouth high school.
Your Mom and I ended up in Sheboygan from 1967-85. In 1970, Diane, the daughter of Orlando Thiel (along with her husband Carl) purchased Nino’s Steak House on Memorial Drive. The restaurant was close to where I worked. I remember many, many noon business lunches at Nino’s. Diane and the Nino crew always took good care of my business buddies and me. In fact, we had one booth that they always held open in case we showed up late for lunch.
In 1982, your Mom and I bought our second cottage at Crystal Lake. Lo and behold, our neighbor was Floyd Thiel, a brother to Orlando Thiel. Floyd would actually go out to the Thiel farms to help bale hay. Floyd ended up being a neighbor from hell. He had an ornery streak that just made things miserable. Maybe Floyd was the blacksheep of the clan.
It is now 2011. Nino’s closed last week after 41 years. I think it was the last Nino’s in the State of Wisconsin to close. As far as I know, it was still owned by the Thiel family. I guess all good things end. For me, Nino’s will always be a special spot in Sheboygan.
I will cross paths with the Thiel extended family again. I’m sure of it.
Nov.1 today. The new “conceal and carry” gun law goes into effect. I’ve got run off and get my gun permit this morning. Now I’ll just wait for some assh— to “go ahead and make my day”!
Love,
Dad

Years ago in my “working life”, I would drive to work along wooded and swampy areas. In late October and early November I was informed by my deer hunting friends that the male deer herd went into the “rut”. My dictionary defines rut as a periodic sexual excitement of certain male mammals. In other words they get stupid.
Recently there was one male deer in Ohio that apparently was in the rut. He went into a Walmart parking lot and randomly butted cars and trucks for no apparent reason. Then this same deer headed for a nearby motel. He crashed through a window of a ground level room and that is where authorities found him. The deer should have known there were no female deer in the motel. The story ends happily. The buck was captured and released back into the wild where he could head-butt more cars, trucks and motels. I wonder if deer get headaches.
It is hard to believe a male animal can get that stupid.
During my daily compute to work there was always the danger of encountering stupid deer. I would see herds of deer from time to time but they seemed to graze like cows and were quite docile. Docile until this time of the year.
Our company dealt with an insurance company that handed out high pitched whistles. The whistles were mounted on the front bumper of a car. The wind passing through the whistle produced a pitch was so high, human beings could not hear the noise but deer could. If a deer was near the road side, the theory was that the high pitch sound would “freeze” the deer in his tracks and drivers would be safer because they could avoid the deer. I drove with whistle for several years and was never sure whether it worked or not. I never encountered a dangerous deer situation so maybe it worked.
Nope. It was proven that the high pitch whistle did not reduce deer accidents. If a stationary truck, car and motel room can’t stop a deer, why would a whistle? You can’t fix stupid!
So as Halloween approaches, you need to deal with witches, goblings, zombies and all kinds of strange creatures. Add crazed male deer to your list.
Love,
Dad

I need to recognize Grasshopper No.5 in Minneapolis for a birthday that began with Oct. 21, 1977. It is a belated Happy Birthday. Her life is a mystery because she lives just far enough away that she can protect secrets. I hope there were clowns, balloons and candles.
The UW Badgers had their dream of a national football championship dashed Saturday night. A hail Mary pass and a bizarre series of events stopped the juggernaut. If the Badgers win all remaining games, they control their destiny to the Rose Bowl. It still has been a great season.
Grasshopper No.4 along with Dominic closed out the youth football season Saturday with a win. I don’t know if a championship was involved or not but it really doesn’t matter. It has been a great year.
The Packers are still rolling. A 7-0 record is spectacular but there are nine games to go. The last time they started with seven wins was 1962. They went on to win the NFL Championship and finished the regular season with a 13-1 record. The lone loss came on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit to a lousy Lion team. They entered the Thanksgiving game 10-0. If today’s team keeps winning, they will play on Thanksgiving Day’s game with, you guessed it, a 10-0 record. What are the odds?
A friend, Carl, that I exercise with is 86 years old and in failing health. He received an invitation to participate in a “honor flight” taking World War II veterans to Washington D.C. to visit the new memorial that is a tribute to their sacrifices. Carl didn’t want to go. Part of Carl’s reluctance was his failing health but he really didn’t feel worthy of the recognition. In the end, the friend who entered Carl’s name convinced him to go. He was ecstatic. It is a one day trip with visits to national monuments. The high-light for Carl was all the enthusiastic people greeting the flight in Washington. He said it was humbling.
I have talked to several people who have taken World War II honor flights. Everyone of the World War II vets feel they are undeserving of the personal recognition. They have respect for all the men and women who died and didn’t come back. They also feel they didn’t do anything special under the circumstances. If you were a young man (or woman) during World War II, you fought for the freedom that was so precious. Many veterans who take the honor flights, need to be convinced they are worthy or the special day. They were worthy. They are worthy. They will always be worthy.
Somebody flipped a switch this morning. It is cold and damp and destined to stay that way.
Love,
Dad