Dogs Playing in Wisconsin Snow

Attached is a video of dogs playing in snow at Petrifying Springs County Park off-leash area, in Kenosha, county, Wisconsin.

We made this with our new Kodak Zi8 pocket sized HD video camera. It is our first attempt at video production. To make the video file small enough to include in this blog, we had to compress it to the point where the quality is considerably reduced.

Click here to view the YouTube copy of the video, which is of better quality than the attached video, but not nearly as good as the original:

Milwaukee's Spectacular Lakefront Fireworks

Beach Wedding in Destin, FL

John's New Website

Greetings from Cheezland:

John's new website, http://www.wiscountdown.com/, includes a really cool countdown clock to the smoking ban in Wisconsin, July 5, 2010. It also has a list of non-smoking restaurants, details about the new smoking ban law, an open thread blog (pro & con), plus info about stop smoking programs. John will also be adding more content later.

John & I are very allergic to smoke which makes our eyes & throats burn, noses run, etc. We are tired of having to change seats in bars when smokers start puffing away next to us. We enjoy visiting bars for drinks, food & entertainment. It is a pleasure for us to dine in bars & restaurants in states like Illinois, CA, AZ & FL.

Wisconsin is particularly bad with many smoking addicts & bar owners fighting the ban. We are pleasantly surprised that the smoking ban was finally approved by the Wisconsin state legislature, but we will have to wait until July of next year in order to get it passed. The Wisconsin Tavern League has been bitterly fighting the ban.

Until then, over 14 months, Wisconsin will continue to be the "Ash tray of the Midwest", but at least we can look forward to the ban.

We were invited to Governor Jim Doyle's bill signing event today, but the night owls were not able to make the early morning event. John did get to talk to Jim at a recent Milwaukee World Trade Association meeting where he presented a photo copy of the Wisconsin Smoking Ban Countdown clock's home page. The governor liked the idea, and thanked John for his efforts.

The Cheezheads, Robin & John

Wildlife Cruise in San Diego

Instead of going to SeaWorld in San Diego to see the sea life, we went out into the Pacific Ocean to see it in the wild. We observed whales breaching & waving their flukes (tails) along with cormorant, pelican, & seagull rookeries, plus numerous seal, sea lion & elephant seal colonies and numerous birds, ducks & dolphins along the beautiful coastline. We even observed a blue footed booby chick perched on a rock. Some photos of our cruise to the Los Coronado Islands, a few miles off the coast of Mexico, are attached. It cost only $45 per person (with our discount coupons) to take the 5 hour Nature Cruise from San Diego vs. $60 per person for admission to SeaWorld!!

Photos from Our 2008 Annual Newsletter

Red Rock Formations in Sedona, Arizona.

Verde Canyon Scenic Railroad in Arizona.

Lioness at "Out of Africa Wildlife Park" in Arizona

Dining with Steve & Nancy at Castle Casino in Arizona

Tour Boat in Wisconsin Dells

Hillary Clinton Campaigns at "Brat Stop" in Wisconsin

Amtrak Train to Chicago

Gaelic Storm Irish Band (from movie "Titanic") Performs with John's Hat

Strange Things Happen when You Drink Beer

Fish Dinner with Nancy along Milwaukee River

Fall Colors on Our Pond

Val as Canoe Voyageur at Halloween Party.

Thai Dancers at International Holiday Folk Festival.

Over 14 inches of Snow in Cheezland!!

Cheezland received over 14 inches of snow last night & this morning, yuck!

Despite the heavy snowfall, Cheezhead John decided that our SUV would be able to get us out of the house for breakfast/lunch at 3 pm. Our snow plow service had not yet arrived to plow the driveway.

Yes, we got stuck in several spots, so John had to keep shoveling around the tires to keep us going. Although John drives an SUV, the bottom of the vehicle is not 14 inches high! It took us about a half hour to get out of the driveway when our snow plow service finally arrived as we got to the end of the driveway. The dude said his truck got stuck elsewhere, so even he had to be rescued.

As we tried to get around the snow plow pick 'em up truck, our SUV got stuck on the road ---- but that was because John kept trying to drive with the parking brake on after we got out of the driveway & he picked up the mail, LOL!

Anyway, next time John says he will avoid trying to drive out of the driveway with snowfalls over 8 inches. But he enjoyed trying to be macho duck maneuvering his mighty SUV.

The Milwaukee airport was closed most of today while Chicago O'Hare's airport cancelled over 300 flights & had lots of delays. Chicago got less snow but lots of ice. Parking lots & roads have mountains of plowed snow, so they are like driving around in a maze.

More snow is forecasted for tomorrow night & Sunday morning, followed by high winds & low temperatures going down to 40 below windchill factors! Not a good time to visit chilly Cheezland this year, but a great time to visit somewhere warm. We have enjoyed very mild winters for several years prior to this bizarre weather.

It looks like we may have snow on Christmas Eve, too. I guess we will have to get some fresh emergency food, (like tuna, ham, canned soups, crackers & chips) to eat at home in case we get stuck again.

We'll be posting some photos soon to cover the storms. And, we will be e-mailing our annual Christmas Newsletter soon.