Why... Do We Live So Long?

On the first day, God created the dog and said:

'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or
walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.'

The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten
years and I'll give you back the other ten?'

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give
you a twenty-year life span.'

The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long
time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?'

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:

'You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under
the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.'

The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?'

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said:

'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years.'

But man said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'

'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service.

Date for 2009 Paul and Nora Durben Family Reunion Set...

We have the date and place for the reunion. It is August 1st. at Neshotah Park in Two Rivers. We picked that date because the last time I spoke with Adam and Donna they were planning their anniversary party the weekend of August 8th. I wanted to work around that date. I am not sure if they stuck with that weekend or not. The Valders park was booked for August already so we went with Two Rivers. It is a very nice park with plenty for the kids to do. Also there are trails through the woods and the beach is very close.

Thanks Joy

Mark your calendars now!

Get Directions

More Ice Racing on Shawano Lake - 2009

We stopped over by the races again today. I wanted to try to experiment more with video clips and my little pocket camera with the video option on it. I am more than satisfied with the results of the video as it was zoomed in more than I wanted to.

The race presented here was won by car number 43 who had the lead from the beginning. Temp's were around 40 degrees and this was probably the largest crowd I've seen at one of these races. You can see the results of the fine winter day with plenty of sunshine that brought about a lot of water on top of the ice. I'll bet those cars were pretty clean by the end of the race.

Ice Racing on Shawano Lake 2009

On Sunday, January 18, Mona and I stopped in at the Fire On Ice races on Shawano Lake on our way to drop of the computer at the computer place in Green Bay. (Our computer is sick again.)

The easiest access to the races is by the public boat launch in Cecil. The landing appeared to be in better shape this week than last week. There were all kinds of cars, trucks, ATV's and snowmobiles out there. Although I don't know much about them, the races have been held on Sunday afternoons again this year. This race was later in the afternoon and appears to only have four cars in it however, earlier races had more participants.

It's a good place to join the crowd and spend a Sunday afternoon. You can even get yourself a brat or hot dog as well as something to drink on the ice. You could even tune in on your car FM radio and keep up with what was going on as well as lap by lap information.

Toward the end of the video you can hear a lot of extra noise. There was a kid on a four wheeler next to me. Another lesson learned for in the future.

John Clearing Snow with the 4-Wheeler

Although Mona had a quick trigger finger on the camera, this is John in the process of doing some of the finishing touches with the snow removal in the driveway with the 4-wheeler yesterday. (If we don't get a chance to try doing it again this year, neither one of us are going to complain about it.)

For the first couple of snow storms this year we couldn't get the 4-wheeler started until John charged the battery and changed the plugs. About three snowfalls later we broke the cable on the winch that raises and lowers the blade on the front. Naturally when you finally get time on the weekend to fix it, that's when the temperatures decide to plunge.

Footnote: The videos on this site so far have been taken with a fairly inexpensive Pentax digital camera that also has movie taking capabilities. The camera fits in my shirt pocket and is easy to operate. Hopefully the quality will improve with a little practice.

Mona clears a path to the Bird Feeder

Here is Mona clearing a path to the bird feeder in the front yard so she can get the little guys something to eat. We've already surpassed our normal annual snowfall for the season and we've only past the half-way point in January. This is the most we've used the snowblower in several years.

Start off the New Year Right!

There is a place we know that runs a sign-in and every week you go to physically sign in you have a chance to win half of the pot collected since the last winner. In the last 4 1/2 years or so we probably didn't miss more than what you can count on both hands. The day of the drawing, Mona asked if I wanted to go sign in and I said something like: "It doesn't really pay does it?" The Packers last game of the season was about to begin and I didn't feel like taking a ride and missing some of this important game. We went in to the place on the following Saturday for lunch and saw this sign. This was half of the kitty. Happy New Year!