Blog Archives

Hi,

Tomorrow is the anniversary of V-J Day (the surrender of Japan in 1945), Social Security was enacted (1935), the longest softball game between the Cager’s Diner and Bend’n Elbow lasted 365 innings in 1976 (by the way, the Cager’s won 491-467), it was finally called on day two because of fog.

It looks like Southside getting a new institution.  Tom Tripoli of Pius Street Associates (the developer of Angel Arms Condominiums over there) is joining forces with Anne Marie Toccket the director of the Pittsburgh Hostel Project to open a hostel on the Southside.  The building is on the corner of 14th and Carson Streets has retail/restaurants on the first floor and they are planning on opening the second and third floor as a hostel.  The location is much better than the last hostel attempt up in Allentown.  They are planning a 60 to 70 bed accommodation made of dormitory type bunking set up in 10 bunk rooms mixed with private rooms some with private baths.  Rates are expected to be in the $25 to $50 rates.  I wonder what kind of uproar that this is going to bring by Southside’s locals.  🙂  I don’t see where they are going to be offering breakfast, so I guest I’m safe.  🙂  More info on Pittsburgh hostels at www.notanotherhostel.org.

Speaking of Southside, did you see where they’re considering extending the residential parking from 7 pm until midnight.  Wow, that’s going to cause riots.

I want to weigh in on the bicycle lane issues in the city.  If you’ve read any of my past blogs or spoken with me more than a minute, you know how green focused I am.  I am all for alternative means of transportation other than cars.  But shoving bicycle lanes down our throats just to have as many as possible is insane.  The streets were built for vehicles.  Instead of just putting stickers on busy city streets and Share the Road signs on telephone poles, why don’t we plan this thing out.  I’m in favor of doing a master plan, figuring out bicycle highways closed to vehicles (even if this means closing some city streets) allowing bicyclists safe routes.  Or eliminate parking on one side of the street and making real bicycle lanes.  Then we share the side streets and everyone should get along together.  Also, this new ordinance/law that vehicles have to give bicycles four feet of clearance puts you in the path of opposing traffic.  My final thoughts on this issue is bicycle activists that insist on pedaling in the middle of the lane making it impossible for a vehicle to pass should be ticketed.

There’s an exhibit at the Fe Arts Gallery in Lawrenceville titled The Art of War that runs through September 1.  It is a show of a dozen area vets from Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq in mixed medias of pencil, photography and ceramics.  It’s free and runs from 4 until 8 pm Thursdays and Fridays, noon until 6 pm Saturdays and noon until 4 pm Sundays.  More info at their web site or by calling 412.860.6028.

There’s two exhibits at two of the Cultural Trusts galleries at SPACE 812 Liberty Avenue and 709 Gallery at 709 Penn Avenue.  Photographer Jerry Irwin from south of Philly has been taking pictures since before 1974.  His most known were taken while skydiving (he was on the cover of Life magazine) or motorcycles, his other passion.  There’s a picture he took of Billy Gibbons on a custom bike built by Mad Dog Custom Chopper in Louisville.  Also in at SPACE is retro paintings by Jonathan Chamberlain and Brian Brown from Bloomfield.  Chamberlain took a brochure from the 1950’s of a lady astride a horse, scanned it into his computer, worked it and then the final image became the source for How I Imagine Your Mother.  Brown is famous for his huge canvases (one is 14 feet tall.)  Daisy Lane is a compilation of various mid 20th century imagery including a butler serving two men, a tiny Jackie Onassis type character standing in a little car, King Kong and even a little space ship.  This picture is so large, that he has to bring a canvas stretcher when it goes on display because it doesn’t fit through doorways.  There are additional paintings by Brown at 709 Gallery.  Free admission, and is open until this coming Sunday (August 19) from 11 am until 6 pm Wednesday and Thursday, 11 am until 8 pm Friday and Saturday and 11 am until 5 pm Sunday.

I have issues with 60 minutes since they trashed Greg Mortenson and the CAI a year ago.  It was very one sided and biased.  Greg is far from a saint and has his flaws, but he does incredible work.  60 Minutes did a great job on the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste, the poorest nation on earth’s symphony.  Armand Diagienda was a pilot for a Congolese airline that went out of business.  So in 1992, he decided to pursue his other passion, music.  He started recruiting musicians and just regular people that wanted to learn music.  This low budget, actually no budget started with locally donated instruments and using local volunteers, they reconditioned them into playable instruments using things like wire from bicycles to restring violins, no kidding.  Two brothers walk ten miles five days a week to practice.  They teach each other how to play music.  For 17 years, in obscurity in the impoverished nation, he has grown his symphony from a hand full of musician to a full orchestra.  Finally in 2009, some Germans made a short film on them and they’ve started getting some recognition.  Armand started getting donated used musical equipment from the Germans who saw this film and several Germans traveled to his conservancy.  Can you image German speaking musicians “talking” to French speaking Congolese how to sing an Italian aria?  Oh, to be a fly on the wall.  The link from the Orchestre Symphonique will take you to part of the 60 Minute special, well worth the four minutes it takes to view.

It’s a beautiful day out there today, enjoy it,

ed

Hi,

Tomorrow is David Atchison birth anniversary (1807-he was President of the US for one day waiting on President Taylor to be sworn in on Monday, March 4, 1849), it is Chad’s Independence Day (1960), Mike Douglas’ birth anniversary (1925-a pioneer in talk radio), the Aberdeen Asset Mgmt Cowes Week is tomorrow (since 1826, it is the largest, longest and most prestigious international sailing regatta in the world), Alex Haley’s birth anniversary (1921) and it is the Anniversary of the Watt’s Riots (1965).

There’s a great group over here on the Northside doing great things.  I’ve seen the “Off The Floor” truck scooting around.  They are associated with the Pittsburgh Presbytery and don’t even have an office.  This low key group of just two persons and several volunteers has assisted 112 in need families this past year.  People donate used furniture in good condition and Off The Floor stores it in a warehouse next to the Presbytery.  They are so small, they don’t have the ability to screen potential recipients, so they farm this function out to other churches that identify the needs and relay this info on to Off the Floor.  They try hard to not just “drop of a coffee table”, instead they try and pair things together or match current furnishings so the recipient has pride in their home.  They are always looking for bed frames, mattresses, box springs, cribs, high chairs, small end tables, night stands, box fans, kitchen and dining room tables and chairs.  They also accept lightly used bedding and bath linen.  They do not accept TV stands, large desks, book cases, outdoor furniture, any electronics, exercise equipment, clothing, small wares, dishes or utensils.  More info for donations at their web site or by calling 412.926.5053.

I doubt this will surprise you, but I hate telemarketers.  #1 they make use of the phone I pay for to #2 disrupt some portion of my day by #3 talking out their butts about how wonderful their product is and how much it’s going to save me.  They don’t know what I am paying or using, they frequently don’t even know whom to talk to.  This annoyance is incessant, as many at ten or more calls a day, frequently from the same people.  The most annoying are the robo calls that want to lend me money, please press 2.  I have repeatedly asked them to take me off their solicitation lists, I have filed FCC complaints and I still get the calls from some of the same people.  Most calls are for credit card processing (they’re going to save me 30%), low interest loans I qualify for and Verizon trying to get me to bundle (Verizon even sends people door to door wanting to see my current phone bill so they can show me how much they can save me.  I treat them like Jehovah’s Witnesses and chase them with a broom).  🙂  Well, it should come as no surprise that I took great pleasure in getting three of their goats in the past week.  The other day a telemarketer called and when I called her a telemarketer, she go all huffy and explained that she wasn’t “a telemarketer, she is a account executive” and then this morning I got one and explained “I don’t pay for a phone for you to sit on your a** and annoy me”.  Well, she really took offense at my “unprofessional” use of the word a**.  I said it three more times and hung up.  🙂  And finally I had one that asked me why “I wasn’t interested”.  I told him I don’t deal with telemarketers, if I want to buy ad time in the Penguins Yearbook, I’d conact them.  And he said that he had such a great offer.  When I asked him what part of “I don’t deal with telemarketers” he didn’t understand, he hung up.  🙂

When I bought The Parador Inn, I bought sleep sofas for in the living rooms of the suites.  Even though they had Sealy mattresses, they were still thin and fairly uncomfortable mattresses.  I hate those metal day beds and found a wooden day bed at Macy’s that has a nice appearance and changed two rooms to day beds last year (Bougainvillea and Ruellia) and just changed Lady Palm.

And, if you go to my web site, you’ll see the new image I just inserted, now that I have total access to edit it.  🙂  There’s also a new picture of Bird of Paradise showing the lace I draped over the pecky cypress door I use as a focal point over the bed.

Back in June, I bought a printer with WiFi capabilities.  I couldn’t get it to work, called a Techie I know and he even had problems getting it to work.  It’s a Samsung and I don’t know if he did something wrong installing it, but it takes forever to print.  I can’t just go in and print Welcome Letter after Welcome Letter.  There’s a delay and there’s kind of a grinding when it prints.  New printers come with a “starter” cartridge and in just over a month, it was warning me that the ink was low.  I initially went back to HHGreg to get a refill, the sales clerk looked and said they didn’t have any, so I went to Stables and they didn’t have a matching cartridge.  I went to Office Max and they didn’t either.  The sales clerk at Office Max called another store and was told we could substitute another cartridge, so I bought it.  When I went to install it, it was the wrong cartridge.  I have a couple of reservations I need to process and Welcome Letters for today’s check-ins and I’m up a creek without a paddle.  I did get two Welcome Letters printed, but the third room, Lady Palm, I had to put a letter from the other day with someone else’s name, the wrong date and room.  At least they have the WiFi passwords and other info I pass on in my Welcome Letters.  This afternoon, I went back to Office Max and returned the cartridge.  I then went to HHGreg to complain about all this with the manager.  He said they had cartridges and they’ve had them for a week.  So he sold me one, because of my tirade about the poor product, etc, he discounted the cartridge $20.  I brought it home and it doesn’t fit.  I could shoot someone.  It turns out I’m going to have to shoot me.  🙂  I took the cartridge out of the packing slip and tried to fit it in.  The lid wouldn’t close.  So I took it back to HHGreg and it slipped right in the floor model.  There was a piece of plastic and felt packaging on the cartridge that I hadn’t taken off.  I’m my own worst enemy some times.  ):

Speaking of banking (don’t be confused, we weren’t).  I’m a very happy customer of Slovak Savings Bank here on the Northside.  They are currently a one branch bank that has expanded to include checking accounts and business accounts.  I get such great service, I couldn’t be happier.  I’m a big proponent of small banking and found some links you might be interested in following if you are considering dropping the mega banks.  To look into credit unions, try www.asmarterchoice.org, www.creditunion.coop or www.culookup.com.  If you are looking for a non credit union smaller bank you may try www.bankrate.com, www.moneyrates.com, www.findabetterbank.com, www.bankfox.com or www.mybanktracker.com.  If enough of us pull our funds from the banks of those theives, maybe they will start providing service with reasonable rates, service, fees and less forclosures.

I talked about mobile food vendors a few blogs back.  They are going to have to make room for a new wave coming that’s already making in-roads in New York, Boston, LA, Portland and other towns.  Retail.  Such things as shoe stores, clothing, accessories, massage, even a mobile hair cuts, neck messages and shoe shines in The Man Cave in Phoenix.

The Pennsylvania Master Gardener’s annual Garden in the Parks Field Day will be held next Saturday (August 18) in both North and South Parks.  This runs from 9 am until 1 pm at North Park Demonstration Garden at Wildwood Road and Babcock Blvd and South Park Demonstration garden at Corrigan Drive and McConkey Road.  There will be beekeepers, the Pittsburgh Mushroom Club will be in attendance as will the Pittsburgh Botanic Club.  Master Gardeners will be there to answer questions and give advice.  If you have garden questions, here’s where you need to be.  More info at 412.473.2540.

Speaking of the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, they added rain gardens this year to their Great Garden Contest.  One of the entrants was a 7 acre rain garden in the 87 acre Wingfield Pines Reserve that was build in an abandoned coal mine that had been spilling 43 tons of iron oxides into Chartiers Creek.    This passive system, designed by Bob Hedin, does that job, as well as giving a great place to get ideas by walking along all the boardwalks constructed for visitors to view this natural way to help clean up past mistakes.

Rain Barrels are all over the place this fall.  StormWorks that sponsored the artist painted rain barrels will be auctioning them off in September on-line.  They can be seen at The Children’s Museum, Coffee Tree Roasters (where I get my coffee) at their East Liberty store, US Steel Plaza, PPG Zoo, Aquarium, Schenley Plaza, Construction Junction and the Biddle Building in Wilkinsburg.  StormWorks has been working with Nine Mile Run Watershed Association in clean up Nine Mile Run.  StormWorks is selling 133 and 65 gallon rain barrels for $295 and $199, they send a consultant out for $75 (deductible from the price) to advice you on installation, etc.  You can find rain barrels on-the-cheap at places like ACE Hardware for around $99.  In September and October the Pennsylvania Resouces Council will present rain barrel workshops starting at 10 am and go for $50. More info at their web site.  On September 15 at Cooper-Siegel Community Library at 403 Fox Chapel Road, Fox Chapel, PA 15238 will have a workshop on rain barrels and will receive a $10 coupon that can be used at Penn Barrel Company.  There’s no info at either web site, but there’s contact info and directions to get you started, if you are interested.  On October 6, the Mattress Factory can receive a hardware and a 55 gallon drum coutesy of Coca Cola.  This will be in conjunction with the exhibit Feminist and …….. .  Which includes works by artist Betsy Damon who founded Keepers of the Water, an organization that strives to restore, preserve and remediate water resources.

Well, have a great weekend,

ed

Hi,

Tomorrow’s birth days include actress Lucille Ball (1911), poet Lord Tennyson (1809) and artist Andy Warhol (1927), it is the anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima (1945), the disappearance of NY Supreme Justice Joseph Crater (1930), Colordado’s admittance to the Union (1876), the emancipation of both the Bahamas (1834) and Grenada (1834) and Jamaica’s Independence (1962).

Somerset’s 42nd Annual Antique Show will be held this coming August 11 from 8 am until 4 pm.  This is a clean antique show, no flea market or crafters are let in (nothing against them, it’s just not their thing).  Sponsored by the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, this well organized affair has memorabilia, furniture, glassware, jewelry, quilts, etc.  More details at the web site or by calling 814.445.6431

Paint Monkey is a welcome addition to the growing artist community centering in Lawrenceville.  Owners Joe Groom and Mary Lou Bradley have lived in Florida and New York (Mary Lou’s originally from da burg), they rented space in the Ice House on 43rd Street and opened a BYOB painting studio.  The sessions run for two or three hours for $35 and $45 respectively.  They supply stretched canvas with the image sketched on for you to get started.  They supply the image you select from their web site ahead of time, paints and other materials as well as glassware and ice.  You supply the BYOB.  🙂  I couldn’t find an actual web site, they seem to be promoting their business through social media like Facebook, Yelp, etc.  So the link is to their Yelp page.  Pretty cool alternative to going to bar, sitting at home watching TV or going to a movie for entertainment.

ALCOSAN has been placed under court order to clean up the storm water runoff that is flowing into the rivers carrying pollutants.  Typically, they are planning on using old school grey water treatment plans at a cost of up to $3.6B instead of a green project.  I have talked about putting a rain garden in my Courtyard to handle my roof runoff.  When it is time to replace my parking lot surface, I intend to use a non-permeable asphalt.  Why can’t ALCOSAN take a comprehensive look at this problem and figure out a way to make a green solution that treats the problem at it’s source?  ALCOSAN’s excuse is they can’t force the many municipalities in their jurisdiction to comply with a master plan like this.  Have they tried?  Look at what Lancaster is doing in conjunction with Live Green.  Philadelphia is even using a green solution to their EPA mandated storm water runoff problem.  Back in the 80’s when I worked in Atlantic City, people couldn’t tear down the old buildings fast enough to make parking lots for the casinos and attractions.  After awhile, the city mandated that these barren pieces of asphalt be at least edged with green space.  This was for aesthetic reasons.  But I had always been impressed with how much nicer these looked.  Why don’t we (ALCOSAN in conjunction with the county and local municipalities) come up with a minimum master plan.  The the city and municipalities can take greening one step further if they want.  There’s a ton of expertise out there that would be glad to offer incites into getting this up and running for free (all these environmental organizations have a wealth of knowledge they would be more than willing to share.)  For example, the experts could tell us how many trees and planting swells would be needed to cover a Sears parking lot.  That would be one easy solution to much of our problems.  Something I hate about all of our parking lots is the trees that are placed there, they are ornamental.  Every time I leave my truck or Prius in a lot, they are steaming when I come back.  I leave da boiz at home many times because I don’t want them to bake in a parking lot.  If they planted full sized trees, not only would my vehicles stay cooler, the overall temperature in the surrounding lot would be lower, lowering the cost of air conditioning the businesses, absorbing more CO2 and creating more oxygen.  Parking lots could be sloped to rain gardens/swells to capture extra runoff.  This could be huge.  We should have mandatory building requirements for these large lots.  ALCOSAN does not “charge” us on what we put into the sewer system, they can’t track it.  They do track our water consumption and our sewer bill is based on that.  But, factored into the sewer bill is a percentage over what water we take out of the system.  Why not offer incentives to take our roof runoff out of the equation?  $3.6B would buy a lot of rain barrels.  🙂  There’s a lot of vacant lots and abandoned lots and buildings in the city.  Why not approach neighborhood associations and see about turning these over to the neighborhood for community rain gardens where multiple houses divert their roof runoff to a central locations?  We’ve gotten rid of an eyesore, we’ve taken rainwater out of the equation and we’ve created little neighborhood parklets that the residents could enjoy and take pride in. When they rebuilt Western Avenue several years ago, I thought they had come up with a great idea.  They tore out the old storm water catch basins and filled stone in the whole.  I thought what a great idea, put a storm water catch basin without a bottom, that would safely eliminate a sizable amount of storm water going into the system.  Let some of it leach into the soil below the street.  Wrong, the put catch basins that were completely contained.  I sent ALCOSAN an e-mail with my suggestion and never heard from them.  I know I’m a dreamer.  I’m looking for some sense to come out of a city hall that doesn’t have a noise ordinance in place and  a city counsel woman that hasn’t responded to my complaint about noise for three weeks and counting.  This could be wonderful.  Think what our city would look like if we spent $3.6B on greening the problem!

I spoke of this up coming weekend’s Bantam Jeep Festival in Butler (the home of the iconic jeep) in a past blog.  It runs from this coming Friday through Sunday and drew 35,000 people last year (their first Fest).  They are planning a Street Festival Friday from 6 – 10 pm with vendors, demonstrations and shows at the Big Butler Fairgrounds Saturday from 9 am until 9 pm and Sunday from 9 am till 3 pm Sunday.  More info at their web site.

Mt Lebanon is celebrating it’s 100 year centennial this year.  On September 8 they plan on having a parade on Washington Road with a Street Party afterward starting at 3 pm.  On September 15 they will be giving period dressed guided tours of the St Clair Cemetery where many 18th century soldiers are buried.  And on October 1 – 5 about two dozen “plein air” artists will be working on new works, the finished products will be on display at the municipal building starting at 7 pm on October 5.  More info at the Historical Society of Mt Lebanon  web site and the Mt Lebanon Municipality web site.

Mt Lebanon started in 1912 as a “Trolley Suburb”, obvious why that title.  When they completed the Liberty Tunnels (or tubes if your native) in 1924, Mt Lebanon pretty much exploded and luckily they had great city planners and developers that incorporated some great ideas.  Commercial areas mixed in with residential areas, a commitment to schools within walking distance for the kids, developments that were designed with the hills instead of against them.  In the 1930’s, Mt Lebanon had more cars registered than residents, the dawn of the two car family.  🙂  One of the first projects of Lawrence Stevenson, one of the premier develops at the time who saw himself as a community developer was Mission Hills.  Being from the south hills, one of my first jobs after high school was painting houses and we did a lot of work in Mission Hills, Virginia Manor and many of the other 1920’s developments.  All of these homes were so well constructed with quality building materials and craftsmanship that they don’t look like they’re ninety years old.

Well, have a great week and we’ll chat again soon,

ed

Hi,

Tomorrow’s birth anniversary include Louis Armstrong (1900), American composer William Schuman (1910), poet Percy Shelly (1792), hockey great Rocket Richard of Canada (1921) and Barack Obama (1961).  It is the anniversary of Lizzie Borden’s ax murders (1892), the 50th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s arrest and the finding of the slain bodies of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

There’s a group here in Pittsburgh that’s part of a loosely aligned group called Awesome.  Awesome Pittsburgh is a group of I believe ten sponsors that kick in $100 for a $1,000 grant they award to people/groups that wouldn’t normally qualify for grants.  You go to their site and fill out a very simple form explaining why your idea is Awesome and if you impress them with your idea for something that’s unique and creative, bang, you get $1,000.  One was recently awarded to a dental clinic on the Hilltop (Beltzoover, Mt Oliver, Allentown, etc) that provide dental services for the poor.  One of the things the dentists wanted to do, but couldn’t get funding fo,r was fluoride treatments for kids to stop or slow cavities.  At around $2 a treatment, that’s a lot of little kids that will be able to have some decent preventative treatments.  Another award was for a puppet photo booth (more than just getting your pictures taken with puppets, but I don’t want to blow there shtick.)  🙂

Bike-Pittsburgh is kicking off two weeks of events this Sunday with Pedal Pittsburgh starting and ending at SouthSide works.  Start times are 6, 7 and 9 and the courses go from just two miles for the timid to 63 miles for nut cases like my brother Tom.  (I say that in the kindest of means).  🙂  After the event, they are having and expo featuring food and equipment vendors, a beer garden (put those pounds you just worked off back on) 🙂 , BMX riding demonstrations and music.  Admission varies from $30 up to $100 for the VIP pass.  More info on their web site or by calling 412.325.4334.

Murrysville own Kathy Campisano won PFAFF’s World’s Most Creative Sewer Contest in June.  She’s sewn since she was a girl, this project was her first quilt after attending a baby shower.  On the gift registry cars was one of the things listed.  So Kathy incorporated cars and used primary colors for Nathan.  Each patch on the 45″ by 60″ quilt has two, so as Nathan grows, he can learn from his “baby blanket”.  Kathy ended up submitting it to PFAFF’s web site and won the June award which includes a framed certificate and fame.  At the end of the year, the twelve winners will go before an expert jury to pick the year’s Most Creative.  This contest is being run to celebrate PFAFF’s 150 year anniversary.

Ohio River Trail will be having a Fall Fest October 14 at the Lodge in Brady’s Run Park in Beaver County and runs from 9 am until 5 pm.  Events will include a mountain bike ride, 35 or 50 mile run and walk, kayaking, canoeing and other activities like trail tours, music and beer tasting.  Admission is free for kids under 12 and $20 for the rest of us.  More info at their web site.

From 8 pm until midnight Mean Streets Racing race will be situated Downtown and racers will encounter obstacles like Dumpster Diving, Wall Street, Traffic Jam and Cat Burglar.  Admission is $60 per individual, $50 for members of teams.  More info for this less than traditional race is on their web site.

I don’t understand the hoopla about installing parking meters that are missing in the area.  #1, they are city streets.  If you want free parking on your street, move to the suburbs, or West Virginia.  I have meters in front of my business.  Guilty as charged, when I lived on the Southside Slopes, I went in to work at the William Penn early and would come down Arlington and make the hard right onto Carson and park for free along that wall that the city’s now going to turn into a bike lane.  I think they should meter any legal spot on Penn and Smallman Streets.  I know if I lived east of the city and came in to work, I would know where the “free” spots are and park there and then walk or bike to work.  That’s what people are doing now in that area.  The residents are upset about loosing their free and convenient parking.  Yo, you live in a city.  Some in the business community are complaining people won’t plunk quarters to shop there, get better merchandise or lower your prices.  If you have a product someone wants, a meter isn’t going to slow them down.  And you will get rid of all those All Day Parkers, freeing up space for lots more temporary shopping kind of parking.

Highland Park’s Lake Carnegie, built in the 1870’s as a pumping station from the Allegheny River to the Highland Park Reservoir.  It is a lake that has these cement walkways over it and it is the set for Quantum Theatre’s latest play Golden Dragon.  It is set in a Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese restaurant in Germany where 17 unrelated travelers meet and how their lives interconnect.  This is the second play by Ronald Schimmelpfennig’s they performed.  Quantum does nice productions and this would be a great setting for this play.  It runs through August 26 at 8 pm Wednesdays through Sundays.  More info on their web site.

Well, enjoy your weekend and keep hydrated,

ed

Tomorrow is birth anniversaries of Emily Bronte (1818), Henry Ford (1863) and Casey Stengel (1890), it is the anniversaries of Elvis Presley’s first concert (1954), Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance (1975) and Father Hidalgo’s execution (the fiery leader of Mexico’s fight with Spain for independence (1811) and Vanuatu’s independence from France (1980-in case you are as bad as me-I had to look it up-it’s in the South Pacific).  🙂

Want some good clean old fashioned fun?  Take a Blast from the Past and go to one of our local county fairs.  I remember as a child (yes, I remember that far back) 🙂 looking forward to the Allegheny County Fair, I think I still have a Heinz pickle somewhere.  I’m listing the seven by chronological order.  The Butler Farm Show runs from August 6 to 11, admission is $7.50 and it’s on Evans City Road.  It’s their 64th annual event and will feature tractor pulls, a demolition derby, square dancing and livestock judging as well as good old unhealthy food stands.  The Allegheny Drifters bluegrass band will perform two shows August 6 and the Wild World of Animals will perform three shows daily (that should be worth the price of admission 🙂 ).  The Washington County Agricultural Fair runs August 11 to 18.  They will have tractor pulls, and up graded demolition derby with school buses, harness racing and Zambelli fireworks on August 12.  American Idol finalist Adam Brock will perform August 11.  It’s at the Washington County Fairgrounds and admission is $6 to $9.  The Dayton Fair (Armstrong County) runs from August 13 to 18 and this is there 132 annual event at 464 Midway Road, New Castle.  Country singer Colt Ford will perform August 18.  The Great Lakes Timber Show and the Pork Chop Revue will also be highlights.  🙂  Besides the mandatory tractor pull, they also will have harness racing, rides and livestock auction (in case you want to bring a cow home).  Lawrence County Fair runs August 13 to 18 with admission of $8 (there’s an additional charge for grand stand events).  Josh Thompson will perform August 18 and that night they will have fireworks.  Livestock and agricultural goods judging will be the center of this event.  The Westmoreland County Fair runs August 17 to 25 at 123 Blue Ribbon Lane in Pleasant Unity.  Admission is $7 and a Farmer’s Olympics will kick of this fair on August 17.  They plan on having lawn mower races, a Lumberjack Jamboree, demolition derby and the mandatory tractor pull. NoMAD will perform August 25.  The Hookstown Fair in Beaver County runs August 21 to 25 with an admission of $7 to $10 at 1198 State Route 168, Hookstown, Beaver County.  Darryl Gatlin will perform August 22, Route 45 on August 24 and Zambelli fireworks on August 21.  Aussie Kingdom will have critters from the down under.  Lastly, the Indiana County Fair runs from August 26 to September 1.  This is their 150th annual fair!  Free admission on August 26, otherwise it’s $8.  They plan on having livestock judging, demolition derby, harness racing and a high school marching band night.

If you want some indoor, air conditioned entertainment, the new exhibit at The Warhol is Donald Moffett: The Extravagant Vein.  It runs through September 9 with the museums normal hours of 10 am until 5 pm Tuesdays through Sundays (they are open until 10 on Fridays).  General admission tickets include the exhibit and are $20 (remember, if you stay at The Parador Inn, I have tickets for $9).  🙂  Donald has been a controversial artist since the 1980’s and has taken on social issues in his artwork like AIDS, civil rights and many other topics.  His latest efforts include two dimensional art with video.

Keeping your summer busy with wholesome entertainment, why not try Geocaching.  It is a world wide game of hide and seek for treasure caches.  You use your smart phone GPS and traipse around looking for the goods.  On August 18, Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad is sponsoring a Geocache through Oil Creek State Park.  Venture Outdoors (the folks that rent kayaks and bikes under the 6th Street Bridge is sponsoring a Geocaching right down the street from me in The Commons on August 26. The Armstrong County Geo Trail has a permanent Geocache highlighting 25 historic spots in their county.

There’s an 18 hole disc golf course (Frisbees) in Schenley Park.  The Flying Disc Society set it up, basically you toss your Frisbee at a metal basket on a pole with dangling chains to catch the disc.  Or, you can sign up for Obscure Games.  Their next event is July, 29at 2 pm  and you can try your hand at Human Curling-a 1930’s period clothing form of stick ball, Monkeyball, Martian Attack Drill or many other games they are planning.  There is another event planned on August 1 and both are held at Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park.  The Steel City Games Fest is planned for August 27 and 28.  Something a little speedier is Ziplining.  You strap the harness on, click on to the very scary looking thin steel cable and can reach speeds of 60 mph.  1,060 food long Fatbird Flyer is at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington (they also have a tamer 250 Classic Zip for you feint of heart.  The Screaming Hawk is a 2,000 foot Zipline at Seven Springs.  Or, maybe if you have energy left after shooting the rapids at Ohiopyle, they have a 200 foot and a 90 food Ziplines at Ohiopyle Zipline Adventure Park.

I’m reading the most interesting book, Imagine by Jonah Lehrer.  I hear about it on NPR, it’s about creativity and the mind.  He talks about research on different sections of the brain and how it effects creativity.  Just as a section is designed for us to interpret sight and sound, there’s a section set up to inhibit us.  It is the last section to develop, that’s why children are known for being uninhibited as far as drawing, making up games, etc.  Around fourth grade, this section is completed and you ever notice the difference between kids in third grade and fifth?  I could talk about this for hours, but he talked about something I found really fascinating.  Alpheus Bingham, a vice president with Eli Lilly got concerned about their R & D department and the billions they were paying for research.  How do you determine which experiments were going to produce results and which were dead ends.  Pharmaceutical companies are famous for the secrecy of their research and he came up with an entirely off-the-books idea.  Concerned that scientists were all to close to the problems, he suggested they put stumbling blocks out on a web site and offer a reward.  So he launched the pilot version of InnoCentive in June, 2001.  At first, nothing happened.  Then after a month, answers started pouring in.  In less than a year, InnoCentive had become an integral part of Eli Lilly’s R & D department.  By 2003, it was spun off from Eli and began featuring challenges from other major companies.  Besides accessing scientist across the globe, he was tapping into cross disciplines.  He was getting engineers solving medical problems because they view chemistry differently than the traditional medical scientist.  How brilliant was InnoCentive?

In case any of you haven’t noticed, my web site has a new look.  It’s not huge, but it gives me the ability to change text and pictures is the big deal.  One of my new tools is for the blog.  I can now see how many times each blog has been read, some are over 150!  Damn, I thought I was just rattling to myself.  🙂

Have great week.  Dee’s back from vacation Tuesday, yea.  🙂

ed

Birth anniversaries include Stanley Kubrick (1928), George Bernard Shaw (1856), Aldous Huxley (1894) and painter George Catlin (1796); the armed forces were united under the newly created Department of Defense by President Truman (1947), New York ratified the constitution in 1788 making it the 11th state and independence was achieved by Liberia (1847) and Maldives (1965).

Paul and Shirley, from Jacksonville, checked in Monday with another couple.  As we were at the table filling out their registration, I mentioned that I used to own an Inn in South Florida.  Paul asked me where it was and I said West Palm, actually Lake Worth.  He brightened up and said “What was it called”  and I replied The Parador of the Palm Beaches.  Paul and Shirley looked at each other and then at me and said “We stayed there”.  🙂  Honestly, when I processed their reservation request, I remember thinking their name sounded familiar and before I created a new entry, I looked them up and come up with zippo.  My third year up here, when I sent my holiday cards out, in the greeting, I told all my Lake Worth guests if they wanted me to continue them in my data base to let me know.  Otherwise I would delete them.

Being a Penn State Alumni, I have a little more invested in the reputation at stake in this PSU controversy.  They still don’t get it!  Children were molested and the half a million dollar a year president and his top cronies covered it up for years “because it was the humane thing to do for sandusky”.  All this whining about the fine, the lost wins, lost scholarships, etc is missing the point.  I can’t believe people are so dense.  Let me make this clear and simple:  #1 Children were raped by an adult on school property and elsewhere.  #2  Criminal actions were taken by adults with power, influence and hefty paychecks for their own form of Watergate.  #3 The school still hasn’t come clean with the events.  I think what the NCAA levied on the school was fair and just.  I think the NCAA may be the only ones that have a clue (and Freeh of coursed) about the magnitude and seriousness of this.

Did you know the paterno family is “negotiating” with the school about life long season tickets?  Did you know spanieer is now blaming the PSU’s top attorney for not giving him key details during the grand jury investigation?  What about the e-mails he sent ten years ago saying to sweep this under the carpet.  It’s bad enough that they hid this back then, but they let this monster continue to prey on children unabated.  The more I think about this and read the more incensed I get.  My lack of respect shows up in the lower case first letter of their names.

OK, I’m going to whine in a bit (not as intense as above), but first lets talk about the new food trucks debut in Lawrenceville this Saturday.  The first Food Truck Roundup will run from 6 pm until 10 pm in the lot at 188 43rd Street.  Parking will be there as well.  Franktuary has been around for awhile and is sponsoring it.  New comers will include Polish Pierogi Truck, Oh My Grill and of course Franktuary will be there.  This is the first of a series of Roundups they are planning, I think this could be pretty cool.

In March, I got the cement contractor to replace the composite decking with exposed agrigate cement on the Veranda.  My intention was to move the wheel chair ramp from inside the gate into the Ballroom outside in the parking lot.  Well, you can see the structure from the street and since I’m in a historic district, I had to go before the city historic review.  I got approved in May and have been waiting for the contractor DiBucci and Sons to be able to work me back into his schedule.  I got the phone call on Wednesday that he wanted to do it Thursday/Friday.  They were going to do all the excavating and forming Thursday and pour the concrete on Friday.  I said OK, but I was sold out Friday and needed access to Bromeliad for a guest (that was part of the plan, to give Bromeliad a decent entrance).  He said the cement would be cured by Friday afternoon that my guests could walk on planks they would put down.  My next door neighbor bought the old bank next door about the same time as I bought my place.  There used to be an old chain link fence between us.  He brought all this dirt in and made his back yard a garden.  The chain link fence pretty much held his dirt back, but when I removed it so we could do the ramp, it started moving down into my parking lot (it’s about three feet higher than my elevation).  Back when we bought our places and he was doing his landscaping, he build a block wall around the back of his building keeping that dirt away from his house making a patio right outside his door with steps up to the garden and his parking.  We talked about where the dirt was abutting my property and and back then his plan was to continue the block wall with a privacy fence on top.  The contractor asked me about all the dirt on my side, I told him it was OK to remove it.  He go a little aggressive with the dirt removal and actually got to close to one of my neighbor’s posts and his fence basically collapsed.  They put it back up and braced it, it looks like my neighbor is going to go ahead with the plan of a cement block wall to hold it back with his privacy fence on top.  🙂  Here’s the ramp:

I love it, again, it looks like it’s been around for fifty years.  I have to get John Groll out to do the railings and I have to wait until my neighbor’s wall’s up to finish off around the ramp.  But it is so much nicer than that pile of dirt my guests were having to climb over to get to Bromeliad (the door at the bottom of the ramp).  I’ve talked about the great work Rick DiBucci and crew have done here, I haven’t talked about John Groll.  Follow the link to his web site and see some of the cool works he’s done at Phipps, Duquesne U and other places (you’ll actually see my front fence with the Parador truck inside the fence).  🙂

I have whined about the Buncher plan for the vacant land behind the Terminal building in the Strip.  My main complaint has been Buncher’s plan to demolish 1/3 of the iconic Terminal building so his for profit venture has easier access.  (He wants to tear the Terminal building down from 17th Street down to 16th Street so he can put proper traffic signals in at 17th Street that would connect Liberty, Penn and his development.  My position is he should go down to 15th Street (where Lydia’s restaurant is) and upgrade that intersection leaving the Terminal building intact.  I don’t know why I didn’t think to make an issue about the $50M Buncher wants of public money to build this for profit endeavor.  ($50M is a large portion of the $400M this project is supposed to cost)!   On Sunday, John Conti came out against this project as well.  I hadn’t seen the details of the plan, I’m just against destroying a huge portion of an iconic Pittsburgh building and am against subsidising for profit endeavors with cash the city could use for other purposes (like lower our pension legacy costs).  I highly recommend you read Mr. Conti’s article.  He’s an architect with some very sound insights.

It’s cooled off enough, I have a couple of errands to do and it’s not too hot for da boiz.  They will be in heaven, with this heat, they haven’t traveled with me much lately.  Have a great rest of your week,

ed

Hi,

Tomorrow is Janet Reno’s birthday (1938-what ever happened to her?), it is Ernest Hemingway’s birth anniversary (1899), -128.3 was the coldest recorded temperature (1983 at the Russian’s Vostok station in Antarctica), it is the anniversary of the Battle of Bull Run (1861) and Belgium’s Independence Day (1831).

They are pushing for a greening of the Allegheny Riverfront from Morningside all the way down to Downtown.  They are looking to build offices, housing etc inland and along the riverfront, fishing piers, a children’s splash pool and a tree lined multi-use trail.  There is also talk of adding commuter lines to the existing Allegheny Valley rail road.  More info at the Green Boulevard web site.

The Death Cab for Cutie concert at Stage AE last Friday was pretty out of control.  They opened with Styx’s Renegade that actually shook my windows.  At one point, I went out and it was like I was right in the concert, I almost had to shout to be heard by some of my guests hanging out in the the Courtyard.  I called 911 and the dispatch said there was nothing he could do, they are a permitted concert site.  I was persistent (surprise surprise 🙂 ), and he referred me to his supervisor Tim.  Tim’s suggestion was since it would be referred to Zone One, I should call them directly.  The number he gave me bypassed the desk and took me directly to the Lt in charge.  All were very polite, professional and empathetic.  The Lt told me that “even if the city had a noise ordinance, they don’t have a sound meter to determine the volume coming from the concert.”  He recommended that I contact the mayor’s hot line, 311 on Monday.  Which I did.  The operator gave me the hot line’s e-mail so I could first hand document my concerns.  Within three hours of filing my complaint, Zone One Commander RaShell called me!  Talk about response!  She explained that city council has been considering a noise ordinance, but haven’t passed one yet.  How can a city have multiple concert venues and not have a noise ordinance for it’s citizens?  Cammandor RaShell offered to personally go down to Stage AE and express concerns about the volume of the music last Friday.   I’ve lived here for almost seven years and lived through Steeler home games, Kenny Chesney concerts and tons of concerts at Stage AE and never had a problem with them.  Frequently you can hear things from these venues, but not enough that you have to shout to you guests.  Maybe the reason the city doesn’t have a noise ordinance is the district one council woman hasn’t responded to me about the complaint I filed through her web site.

Some pretty exciting news over here on the Northside.  1010 Cedar Avenue is being turned into The Allegheny Inn.  Justin and Kelli are transforming that gorgeous building right across the street from Allegheny General Hospital.  It is the one with all the decorative brick work, the slate roof with the patterns and the decorative iron railings along the top roof line.  They plan on turning it into a five room guest house serving a full hot American breakfast each day.  Two weeks ago, Justin and Kelli and about 20 good friends did a lot of the demo, they are working with architect Bob Baumback that did a lot of work with The Priory.  They hope to be open by early next year.  More to follow in future posts.

North America has 150 species of fireflies, which are actually winged beetles, where as all of Eastern Europe just has 3 species.  Two of these species, one in Tennessee and one in Allegheny National Forest do Photinus carolinus, blinking synchronously.  This occurs during the mating season with the females on or near the ground and the males flying above.  The males are all blinking variously and then suddenly they all go dark.  It must be pretty dramatic to see out in the forest.  Then they start the ritual all over again.  Since their discovery twenty years ago, the event draws a thousand people each year to witness this phenomenon in the Smoky Mountains.

VIA has sponsored music festivals around the city for the past couple of years.  They don’t promote any particular genre and are know for pairing music with cutting-edge visual/video artist, which sets them apart from most other music promoters.  They seem to have found a permanent home at called and at 6119 Penn Avenue (it’s called sixty-in nineteen).  They have a catering license which allows them to serve alcohol past 2 am fifty-two times a year.  When they don’t have a concert scheduled, the space is available for rental.  Nice addition to the booming East Liberty.

Coming up in Pittsburgh August 11 will be ReuseFest at the parking lost at 26th and Sidney Streets in Southside Works from 10 am until 2 pm.  This one stop collection of gently used goods will have the Animal Rescue League collecting caned fruit, vegetables and nuts (except peanuts) for their wildlife center.  They are also collecting clean blankets bedding, animal carriers, collars and leashes.  Construction Junction will be collecting building materials, Free Ride will be collecting bicycles, bike parts, and tools in working order (in particular they are looking for screw drivers, wrenches and allen keys).  Goodwill will be accepting gently used clothing, shoes, house ware, books and sporting goods.  Global Links with be looking for wheelchairs, hearing aids, crutches, canes, shower benches and other medical related items.  Off the Floor will be looking for kitchen tables and chairs, dressers, end tables, cribs and bed frames.  Pittsburgh Center for the Creative Reuse will be looking for artist supplies.  And finally the Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project will be seeking tote bags, back packs, messenger bags. soft side briefcases and gently used soft luggage.  When thinking about recycling, always keep in mind, recycling starts at the point of purchase.  What we choose to purchase and how it is packed tells you ahead of time how much is recycling and how much you are going to have to place in the garbage stream.

They poured the handicapped ramp today.  They will pressure wash it tomorrow and it will finally be done (after a five month wait from when they did the Veranda).  Yea!  I’ll take a picture and most it next post.

Have a great weekend,

ed

Tomorrow Phyllis Diller turns 95 (and she’s still working), it is the anniversary of the execution of Czar Nicholas and his family by the Soviets, it is Erle Stanley Gardner’s birth anniversary (1889), the opening of America’s first theme park, Disneyland opened in 1955, it is the anniversary of the collapse of Kansas City’s Hyatt aerial walkway (1981), it is the anniversary of the start of the Spanish Revolution (1936) and the debut of the Stealth Bomber (1989).

Hurricane Ivan’s legacy lives on.  Folks up in Beaver County are trying to organize a clean up of the Connoquenessing Creek on September 22.  There’s grills, appliances, a septic tank, even an outhouse that was deposited from the flooding (and of course there’s trash from irresponsible people since).  Spearheaded by Christina Handley, they are seeking 200 volunteers to clean up the creek and it’s shores.  If you have time, more info by calling Christina at 724.3710416 or sending her an e-mail at alleghenyaquaticalliance@hotmail.com.

A tropical greeting at the entrance to The Parador Inn:

Did you know Beechview boasts the steepest street in the world?  Canton Avenue, with a 37% grade is the steepest recorded street in the world (Guinness recognizes a street in New Zealand, that one has a 35% grade, but is significantly longer).  Beechview also has another notable steep street Boustead Avenue right of Broadway by that new Spanish restaurant I’m hearing such great things about but haven’t eaten at yet.

What’s up with Penn State?  At the turn of the century, they were aware of child sex abuse by a staff member of there’s on school property.  That seems to be pretty much accepted at this point.  The people in charge were criminally guilty, but I don’t want to talk about that at this point.  Fast forward ten years when indictments came out.  When the indictments came out, the president of the school, the vice president of the school, the chief of athletics and the head coach all denied previous knowledge of the abuse.  The board of trustees fired them all and kept mum.  The board of trustees promised full cooperation and an open investigation.  A year of silence from Penn State and then the e-mails came out.  I’m ashamed to say I am a Penn State Alumni.  The only thing Penn State can do at this point, in my opinion, is to discharge the entire board of trustees with NO compensation/benefits/anything.  They even bestowed a prestigious title on spanier when firing him.  Disgusting.

There’s a pretty cool exhibit at August Wilson Center through September 15 at 980 Liberty Avenue Downtown.  Richmond Barthe: His Life Iin Art will be available for viewing 11 am until 6 pm Tuesdays through Saturdays.  Admission is $8.  Richmond, 1901 – 1989, created classically influenced bronze sculptures featuring African and African-American themes.  This traveling exhibit of 30 of his works include portrait busts, free-standing figurative works and other forms.

Want to cool off?  Dress appropriately when traveling water themed “pub crawl” I just invented.  Start at the new park outside the Children’s Museum and walk into The Cloud to be missed off.  Then work your way down the the Allegheny River and wade in the Water Steps.  When you cross the river to Downtown, skip the fountain at the point for another year.  Instead, make your way to PPG Plaza for their 140 water columns that gush 15 feet in the air.  Next walk over to Bessemer Court at Station Square to the Waltzing Water Fountain and cool off as the water dances to guess what, yeps waltzes.  Finally hike down to South Side Works for your final dip in Town Square Fountain where water burbles and spikes amount 25 fountain heads.  You can always enjoy any of the city’s spray parks in Troy Hill at Cowley Playground on Goettman Street, Beechview at Vanucci Playground on Orangewood Avenue, Mellon Park in Point Breeze and Wilner Drive in the East Hills.  Allegheny County has spray parks at Round Hill Park in Elizabeth and Deer Lakes Park near the intersection of Creighton Russelton Road and Mehaffey Road.  Tarentum new river front park has a spray park.

Want a little more formal wet getting?  🙂  Kennywood Park has three water themed rides in the park.  Allegheny County Parks system features wave pools in Boyce Park in Monroeville, Settler’s Cabin in Robinson and South Park.  Soak Zone at Idlewild Park in Ligonier is geared towards families with small children.  Of course there’s the water park in Hays, Sandcastle Water Park with a whole plethora of water related rides and their famous Boardwalk on the Monongahela River you can boat up to.  If whitewater rafting is your speed, there’s always Ohiopyle in Fayette County and just a little farther south is New River and the Gauley in West Virginia (New River is one of the oldest rivers on our continent and totally changes from the regular run in later spring/ summer and the early spring when they release extra water from the dam before the rains.  Finally, Wisp Resort in Maryland has a man made whitewater facility that was built for competitive-training but can be used by rafting fans not affiliated with a team.

This reminds me of when I was working in Nashville at was then the Crowne Plaza across from the state capital.  A group of us from work when over to the Ocoee River for a white water rafting trip.  The Ocoee also is a man made course that was built for the 1996 Olympics.  It was fun, we all had a blast.  While there, I noticed Rodger’s Used Kayak Emporium.  It was one of the many times I quit smoking and was looking for a new physical activity and thought I’d take up kayaking.  I was off the next Monday and so I drove down to pick one out.  When I arrived, there was a big gate closing Rodger’s off.  So I went across the street to an open convenience store to ask if Rodgers would be opening later.  The clerk looked at me like I was from Mars and said “It’s Monday”.  I replied with a blank look and he said “It’s Monday, they close the river on Mondays, so most places are closed”.  So I drove down the river and sure enough, what the week before was this raging rapids was a little trickle of a creek.  TVA owns the dam and they need to build back up pressure on Mondays to run their hydro power plants.  So I went back to the convenience store, got Rodgers number, told him I was down from Nashville (three hour trip), didn’t know they closed the river on Mondays and would like to buy a kayak.  He came over in about a half and hour, I got my kayak and was a happy camper.

I’m not a big fan of Howard Schultz, not saying anything negative about him.  He has a lot of tremendous attributes that I admire, it’s just after reading his book Pour Your Heart Into It, he started getting on my nerves.  I now have to take my hat off to him and give him massive kudos.  He’s started a program that I’ve been whining about for years, supporting small businesses.  Howard started the Indivisible line, a line of specialty coffees, mugs and wrist bands whose proceeds go to support small businesses.  Starbucks partnered with Philadelphia based Opportunity Finance Network, a national network of community development financial institutions that provide loans and other financial assistance to benefit low-income communities.  Starbuck’s initial order for 20,000 of these specialty mugs went to American Mug and Stein Company located in East Liverpool Ohio.  East Liverpool once was the pottery capital of the US, but has fallen into such dire straights that only around one percent of the population can find jobs in the few pottery plants left (down from 90% of the residents worked pottery just back in the 1990’s).  American Mug is one of three pottery factories left (one of the others is Homer Laughlin’s Fiesta plant), to read the entire article click on the AM link.

Gonna be a hot one again tomorrow, keep hydrated,

ed

Hi,

Tomorrow is Turkey’s Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim where 750 athletes swim across the Bosphorus Strait spanning Europe and Asia, it is Rembrant’s birth anniversary (1606), it is the anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald (1410 Poland and Luthuania joined forces to defeat the Knights of Teutonic) and the Battle of the Marne (1918 where the American, French and Italian forces stopped the forward progress of the Germans).

Next Saturday and Sunday (July 21 & 22) will be Pittsburgh’s Vintage Grand Prix.  Outside of Monte Carlo,  we are the only city that can lay claim to true vintage street racing.  We have been doing this for over thirty years.  This is an extremely unique race, in that it is run on actual city streets, not on purpose-built tracks are in racing venues.  For instance there’s “road crowning”, normal roads are higher in the center than on the sides to promote drainage can causes a real challenge for racers.  Then there’s the 22 turns on the course (three are almost 180 degrees), there are old stone walls along the edge in places, telephone poles (telepoles) :), recessed storm drainage grates and numerous other hazards to racing makes this all the more challenging.  Admission is free for spectators to the race and various car shows.  Saturday it runs from 8:30 am until about 6 and Sunday from 7 am until around 5.  More info at their web site.

Many of you have used the intersection of I70 and I 79 down in Washington County.  I remember when they first opened it and how wrong it was designed.  I don’t remember when, but a good while ago they redesigned parts of it and it was better, but there was still one hair pin turn (at least it seemed hair pin if you were traveling 65 mph).  🙂  Well they started fixing that last part last fall and the $35M project is slated to be completed in 2014.  It will now be four lanes, two traveling straight and two using the exit.

Border collies were bred and designed to herd sheep, labs were bred and designed for water retrieval, German shepherds were bred and designed for protection.  These wonderful human companions were created by us.  The whole group referred to a Pitt Bulls were bred and designed for aggression.  Yes, humans that have murdered have been rehabilitated or “seen the light” and deserve a second chance.  Just as pitt bulls, I guess.  I’m sorry, I’ve known people that have had them for years as pets and never had a problem.  But I’ve also know of these dogs that went rouge for no known reason and mauled children.  There is a very well meaning and dedicated group dedicated to rehabilitating pit bulls out in Cranberry called Hello Bully.  Cute name.  Founded in 2005 with 125 volunteers they are selling personalized bricks to help defray the cost of the shelter.  The bricks will be used to create a patio area at the shelter and the bricks run from $50 to $500, depending on the size.

Time has done what CEO’s and other company bigwigs have tried for years to accomplish.  🙂  Evelyn Y Davis, the famous corporate heckler has retired at the age of 82.  After years of flirting and fighting with corporate VIP’s and other shareholders, she’s decided to call it quits.  Quite the colorful lady, I hope she finds her retirement as fulling as her life had been to this point.

I went to Kathleen (Flaherty) Hall’s Grand Opening of her Red Bandana Winery yesterday.  It was wonderful seeing a good friend again and quite the shindig.  She had her state senator, two state representative, two county commissioners, a professor from Clairion State University and many other dignitaries.  What a cute facility they’ve built and such a perfect setting to showcase her wonderful artwork.

Above she’s cutting the ribbon and below is a wonderful Veranda which will become legendary (if I know Kathleen) for hosting events, wine tastings and art shows.

And this was a family affair.  Her mother, Carole made the chandeliers and lamps (she’s quite the accomplished stained glass artist herself.  Unfortunately, the pictures I took of the lights didn’t turn out.  I sampled the Chambourcin red wine, I was afraid it was going to be too sweet, but it was just right for me.

Kathleen is quite the accomplished artist.  In case you don’t know, she’s the one that did all the watermark murals on the first floor of my Inn.  If you want to see more of her artwork, visit her web site Flaherty Art.

Well, the sun has come out and I’m going to go out as well  🙂  Have a great weekend,

ed