respublica

About the Rams

The Post Dispatch has a Sunday story laying out what the writer believes is the value of the Rams to St. Louis, economically in relation to Jones Dome improvements/renovations. The conclusion is what the Rams bring to St. Louis is hard to balance with the cost of the stadium work.

Well, it might just be that it won't matter. Friday the Los Angeles city council voted 12-0 to approve plans for a downtown football stadium. It doesn't take much thinking to read the tea leaves there.

Now it's the Eads Bridge

Bwahahahahahahaha. Work is set to begin tomorrow (Monday) on the underside of the Eads Bridge which connects Illinois to St. Louis and one lane in each direction will be closed. The lane closures will last until the work is completed in 2015.

Bwahahahahaha.  What year is this? Oh? It's 2012? Here is some advice for drivers given by those in charge of this construction work:

"St. Louis officials suggest drivers give themselves extra time to cross the Eads or consider using one of the other bridges over the Mississippi in downtown St. Louis – namely the Poplar Street or Martin Luther King bridges."  Hahahahaha, I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. Or am I just crying?

Can they make it any more difficult to get from A to B, Illinois to and from downtown?

The Scottish Games went to the dogs

The Scots love their dogs, let me tell you. No other festival in the St. Louis area is not only welcoming to dogs but encourages them to be there. At least dogs of Scottish heritage. There were piles of dogs today so let's take a look at them.

First there was Ferdie, a Scottish invented Golden Retriever who was there to participate in the dog parade. 

Ferdie was doing what he does best, let little kids pet him.

Kirt, one of the Games committee people and who also works at the seminary made sure we were coming. He has a Scottie and a Cairn Terrier. 

They met Ferdie first thing.

Body language people, body language.

There were 3 Bearded Collies which are rare. The committee is always trying to get more Beardies into the Games.

Turns out the owner of these dogs is the breeder who bred Ferdie's friend Lola. 

There were also real sheep.

Whoa

We ran into another neighbor and friend of Ferdie, Uma a Cairn Terrier.

They are good buds, sorry I cut off Dave's head.

A Sky Terrier came, Skys are a breed seldome seen outside the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

When the word came over the loud speaker to get the dogs out onto the field we ran into Kirt and his grandson with their two dogs. Notice how Goldens are always observing.

Lots of Scottie dogs mixed in with Kirt and his grandson.

The Goldens went to meet an English Sheepdog who was not in the dog parade because she's English not Scottish. 

They commiserated with her, told her she was pretty cool even if she wasn't Scottish. 

Gordon Setters pretty much stayed to themselves

The Scottish Wolfhounds weren't overly social either.

And the Scottish Deerhound

Ok everyone, that means you getting your costume on.

A mess of Westies

One Border Terrier, very rare dog.

The Goldens take the field laughing

And the Bearded Collies

Scotties and Cairns and Westies oh my.

And they're off.

The Cairns with Dave and Uma

And Kirt's grandson

The issue with the Cairns was that the dogs wanted to go and visit the fans on the chairs.

And the Goldens enter the ring

Happy happy

And that's about it for one day. Ferdie was so tired by the time we got home all he wanted to do was gulp two pans of water and then take a nap.

Thanks for the fun day, Kirt. And thank you to Kirt's wife Doreen who announced all the dogs by breed and described their history and personality traits.

 

The Scottish Games 2012

What a gorgeous day for kilts, bagpipes, drums, dogs, strong man games, dogs, sheep, beer, scotch and haggis (maybe). All this was available in Forest Park at the annual Scottish Games. Ferdie and I attended so that he could be part of the Scottish dog parade and while we waited for that event, we had a chance to see what was going on. 

Click to see better

There's Kirt! He works at the seminary and is also on the Scottish Games committee. We found him right away as he zipped around in his golf cart. We'll leave Kirt for the time being and see what else there is to see.

Most obvious to everyone who did not grow up Scottish is the food offered in the tents.

Bangers, Haggis, Pasties, Bridie and chips, Celtic Spring Rolls (!) and Deep Fried Mars bars (not Scottish)

There were bagpipers all over the place, the sound of individual pipes carried all over the park.

Bagpipers compete in front of a judge.

Medieval Knights fought every hour.

While behind them kids could toss modified logs or telephone poles or whatever they're called.

I'm no kid or I'd have tried this.

The big burly men heaved heavier things.

This guy was tossing a large heavy stone. A forerunner to our shot put.

Another man was flinging a weighted iron ball.

And then a really different thing. Instead of pole vaulting or high jumping or kicking a field goal, these guys had to take a pitchfork and heave a straw covered heavy block over the goal posts.

Look at the guy in the middle, he's holding the straw thing with the pitchfork

There it goes up in the air

Did he get it over the bar? I don't think so. It was high enough, but not far enough.

Dancing, there was dancing.

I felt sort of sorry for these folks who volunteered to learn and demonstrate Scottish folk dancing because the guy up front leading never let them quit. They danced around the entire field from one end to another for almost two hours. Everytime I looked over there he was still at it.

But young girls used a stage to demonstrate Scottish dances.

They were very good.

This little girl must have been the sister of one of the dancers because she stood there for the longest time studying the dance moves.

Then she came over and laid her head on Ferdie's shoulder.

He told her he knew just how she felt.

There was tartan everything for sale around the park.

And tartan worn by many, especially men.

And one very busy, noisy Westie.

He finally came over and checked out Ferdie.

Beautiful day for the Games.

So Sarah Palin was correct

It's sickening how fast things change in political thought. 4 years ago the national press and editorialists were outraged that Sarah Palin would have the nerve to say that Obama care would have death panels included. Oh no, they said, she is so blatantly wrong and just trying to scare people into opposing Obama's health care plan.

Well now the New York Times has MSNBC's Morning Joe frequent guest Steve Rattner writing this: "We need death panels..Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently — rationing, by its proper name — the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget."

"No one wants to lose an aging parent"....but....

Honestly it's like we're a society of death. From killing the unborn...just fine with many folks...to allowing our grandparents and parents die. So far puppies are safe from forceable death.

What to do this weekend

There are many events going on in St. Louis this weekend if you don't mind the MoDOT traffic jam in and through downtown.

1. Taste of St. Louis at Soldier's Memorial downtown will feature 210 different course served up by a long list of local restaurants. Cost will range from 3-7 dollars depending on the booth. From 4-11 Friday, 11-11 on Saturday and 11-9 on Sunday. That's a lot of hours for the food vendors, Folks.

2. Dancing in the Street with 3 stages at Grand Center from 1-8 on Saturday. There will be a free shuttle connecting the Taste and the Dancing.

3. Scottish Games in Forest Park features telephone pole tossing and other strong man events as well as booths, food and dogs. 5-10 Friday and 8:30-6 on Saturday. There is an admission cost to this event. Ferdie and I went last year as he was invited to be part of the Scottish Dog breeds demonstration. Here's a photo of the two of us in the ring, not exactly ready for Westminster.

4. The Cardinals are at home to finish out the regular season and the crowds at Busch should be massive since the Redbirds are in the fight for the Wild Card spot.

5. The Rams are also playing a home game on Sunday.

Lots ot do. And this list does not even touch on fests going on in various local communities.

Mizzou Crunch Bar

Now doesn't this sound good?  A chocolate bar containing sea salt, dark chocolate, milk chocolate and roasted peanuts.

Well, students in the University of Missouri department of Food Science have begun collaborating with Alan McClure of handcrafted Patric Chocolate LLC of Columbia to turn out the Mizzou Crunch Bar. Sales began this week and order forms are found at the link for any Tiger or chocolate fan.

They sell in boxes of 7 for 49.95 which sounds like a lot but it looks like the bars are bigger than the normal candy bar and are made with Patric's finest milk and dark chocolate.

More KC

Cutting edge, that's Kansas City. Kansas City police are set to begin using a new gunshot-detection system that pinpoints the location of gunfire. The sensors can pick up the sound of gunshots and pinpoint their location within a few feet of the actual shots.

I have to say, with the summer we've had St Louis could use something like this.

So IKEA, it's KC not St Louis

Earlier this summer St. Louis fans of IKEA were getting excited at the rumors that company would be putting in a store in the Maplewood/Richmond Heights area. But then that fell through if it was ever true. Now rumors are flying that IKEA will announce Kansas City as its newest location in the suburb of Merriam. 

So many St. Louisans love IKEA it's too bad they have to drive to Chicago and now maybe KC. Still a 4 hour plus drive. 

Farewell Andy Williams

Singer Andy Williams died during the night after a year long battle with bladder cancer. I'm old enough to remember Andy Williams as a fixture on television and radio. He had his own show from 1962-1971 which was watched by just about everyone. My mom and dad always, always settled in when he came on. He was the one who made the Osmond Brothers stars! And he introduced the Jackson 5! And many others. Look at all these rock stars who came on his program.

He was such a celebrity that movie/tv magazine carried endless stories about him and his first wife a French woman-Claudine Longet. Funny, my memory of them is so clear I could pull up her name effortlessly and even spell it correctly, so frequent was this couple in the news back then. 

But it was Andy's music which gave him a lifelong career which continued almost uninterrupted until just recently. Look over the list of his recorded songs and I'd bet everyone of you could sing along. Beautiful music, lovely songs, timeless. Every Christmas "It's That Most Wonderful Time of the Year" plays in every store. Moon River is his most famous, but looking at the list, almost every song was memorable. 

His Christmas album, his albums from movies, love songs, Kennedy tribute songs (Abraham Martin and John), oh my gosh. The memories.

Going to iTunes today and getting some Andy Williams music in his memory.