The Good Land

 

I went to Milwaukee.

It was a short trip

Momster and I had tickets for the Steve Martin and

Martin Short show, but it was postponed.

Still wanted to get out of town though, so we made the road trip

into Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Three Squatch Moon t-shirt.

We found them in a truck stop at the Illinois-Wisconsin border

and had to have them.

So, Momster and I have matching bigfoot t-shirts.

We can wear them to the show on the new date in November. LOL

Anyway, our first stop after driving into Milwaukee was a visit to the

National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museuam

It's located on the second floor, above a coffee shop.

When you arrive, you will pay a nominal entrance fee, then

will be sat down to watch a three-minute explanatory/background

video about the museum, which also treats you to the most

wonderful theme song.

🎝Bobbleheads, bobbleheads,

bob, bob, bobbleheads!🎶

Bobbleheads of everything you can think of.

Sports people, musicians and pop stars, historical figures,

cartoon characters and puppets and landmarks.

Here is a giant Jimi bobblehead.

The Bobbling Stones!

And that's Bon Jovi next to them.

There is a timeline on the wall outlining the history of 

bobbling head dolls.

A tempting museum.

You are not allowed to touch the bobbleheads.

No bobbling the bobbleheads!

If you find Waldo you get a prize.

I'm pretty sure they move Waldo to a different spot everyday.

On this day, he was hiding behind Elmo and Kermit.

After checking into the hotel, we took a walk to the Pabst Brewery site.

Got some history.

Not only did we get to sample some beer (included with the tour)

we learned all about the brewery industry and its impact on the region.

And beer wins medals, not blue ribbons.

The blue ribbon comes from a later campaign highlighting the

win, but using blue ribbons on the bottles.

Because using medals on beer bottles would just be too much.

Eventually the ribbons were ended too, and the logo shifted to the blue ribbon.

Pabst was originally called Best beer, by its immigrant creator.

America is immigrants.

Our history is built on the backs of immigrants.

And slaves, but that's a rant for another history lesson.

The building has had some renovation, with many items carried through the years,

but mostly from the 40s.

There is a small room off the big hall with murals.

Found this charming horse

And these fellas having a night at the bar.

Huzzah!

I enjoyed a Schlitz while walking around the beer hall.

It was modeled off of traditional German beer halls, with

murals at the ceiling showing the beer making process.

Had to check out the loft.

Watched vintage beer ads while waiting for our tour to start.

The Pabst name comes from Best's son in law, who had married one of

his daughters. Pabst was a riverboat captain.

This is his desk from his boat.

From the top to the bottom.

Down we went to see the basement.

This is a blocked off tunnel.

This place is now mostly used as a party or celebration space.

Can't take her anywhere.

Oh der hey

is it haunted? have you seen any ghosts?

walking back along the riverfront, we looked at the sculptures.

This one was neat.

The more you looked at it, you notice more details.

The good luck charms, tiny turtles and trilobites.

Heeeyyy!

Found the smaller Heeeyyy at the Bobblehead museum.

Hanging out with the Dude.

Cold. The river was still mostly frozen.

But the air temperature was warming up.

I was warm enough in a fleecy sweater and fuzzy warm vest.

Kinda weird.

Richard Kiel!

Found this in the SafeHouse spy restaurant.

Most people know him from the James Bond movies,

but I know him from movies featured on MST3K.

He'll always be Eegah! to me.

If you're looking for a fun place to grab a decent meal in Milwaukee,

check out the SafeHouse. Use the red door entrance in the alley.

Follow the clues to get in, or you'll need to know the password.

Speaking of MST3K, this came through my social media feed.

It's a segment from the Overdrawn at the Memory Bank episode,

where Pearl has a sham quasi-PBS fundraiser/pledge drive.

Complete with a snazzy musical number.

What made me laugh at this post is the AI questions at the bottom.

AI is gonna destroy us all.

But it's going to be really confused about it.

😂

After dinner (I had the Smersh Berger, a plant-based burger

that was pleasantly delicious) Momster used the fitness center

treadmill and I took a swim in the hotel pool.

It was just me for most of the time I was there.

Got in some laps and water-jogging.

And after my swim I took a spin in the hot tub.

I'm not a huge hot tub fan, as I've probably mentioned somewhere else,

but sometimes it's a nice way to relax.

Then, after a sleep in a comfy hotel bed, we made our way back to Iowa.

A nice diversion before returning to the werkplace drudgery.

Back home for a busy two weeks.

Judging clarinet solos at a local junior high, rehearsals for a woodwind

quintet performance and a college production of Company.

And crammed in between was a gig at the Eagles Club in Iowa City.

My set up here, as one of a trio, as the only horn player.

The dance club was appreciative and seemed to have a great time.

The next day, after some sleep, it was off to the chamber recital.

Our Woodwind Quarter performed some challenging, but interesting pieces.

Keeping the clarinet warm and cozy while waiting for our turn on stage.

the crocuses are coming up.

daffodils are sprouting too.

A full week at the theater. Three days of rehearsals, then four shows.

Time to play out this reed.

Whale breaching over the aircraft carrier.

Look at the size of that squeezy saxophone?!

flute, alto sax, clarinet, and piccolo.

Transposed the alto flute parts for flute.

And the Eb clarinet parts transposed for clarinet.

Pushed the part higher for Bb but not in an unmanageable way.

This orchestration was wonderfully playable.

Nothing too gnarly.

Back to the book stack.

Extending from the Living Medievally class, I pulled this

 book off of my shelf. I enjoy this author and have read a few of

his "Hinges of History" books. This one outlines the move from 

Late (High) Medieval into the shift to the Renaissance and Modern era.

celebrating the end of my exhausting two weeks with some

Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, with Godzilla on the can. 
I don't know what that means.

Got some snow on Monday.

It was pretty much gone by Friday.

Found this frame in the clearance aisle of Michaels.

It's perfect for my completed cross-stitch.

The boss was away on spring break, so Tammi and I took a day

for a special lunch at Biaggis, the local Italian restaurant.

I had the pasta and salad meal, with the

most delicious beet & arugula salad and the shrimp & crab cannelloni.

A perfect tasty lunch.

Finally got my hands on a copy of The Saxophone.

A Yale series history book. 

I've had a copy of The Clarinet from the same series for years,

but had to wait for the saxophone text.

Have started looking through it, and am happy to see so much jazz

 music and jazz musicians being discussed

Impossible burger patties were on sale at Hy-Vee,

so I got a package to keep in the freezer.

Great timing because I had a craving for an Impossible burger with cheese

and sweet potato fries one night and this really hit the spot.

Both cooked up pretty well in the air fryer, incidentally.

Yes, I am one of those who use bread slices as buns,

because I don't often have hamburger buns in the house.

After a mini-purge of some stuff in the house I don't use anymore,

I sorted away the garlands and decorations and got out the springier stuff.

While I was at it, I packed away the little skelly to rest until fall.

Alejandro got some flowery garlands to get him in the mood.

My "live Spartan" mission has been mostly successful this year,

with a huge decrease in my debt load.

I had to take a box to CVS for a return, and while I was there

I took a look at the clearance aisle.

My dental technician was just giving me a lecture about

using an electric toothbrush instead of a manual,

but I am not interested in paying $100 for a toothbrush.

Found this one on clearance sale for $8, but replacement heads for $2.

Cheap enough to give it a try for a while.

Looking through the informational pamphlet, I found this.

What do I press?

Press what?!

I'm panicking! I don't know what to press!

Then, while researching oven temps and times to roast the veggies for lunch, 

this suggestion popped up.

I don't want to roast people, and I think it's weird this is a search option.

I did not investigate further.

But I did prep the veggies for roasting.

Nicely roasted and seasoned, added to some pasta,

with a can of black beans and garbanzo beans, and my lunches are prepped.

Tasty meals for days.

Ready to go into my lunch.