Breaking news out of Mukwonago is a rash of thefts that have a similar theme.  The thieves are targeting, of all things, Shrubbery.  A number of newly planted shrubs and trees have disappeared from a condo complex and from several homes in the area.  Thieves have also gone after other landscape items such as statues, landscaping lights, and other lawn ornaments.

My first thought on this was this sounds like some news that would come from Mayberry.  Makes sense since much of the other small town big news in the area is about one landowner wanting to rent out her property for large events, due to the beautiful gardens and landscaping that she has put into her land.  Problem is that her property is not zoned for that type of business and the Town Board has not accepted proposals to rezone or allow this business. 

 Wow, small town problems right?  Maybe they are related.  I mean, how did her land get to be so well landscaped?  Just a thought.

A better explanation for the shrubbery thefts is that the Knights Who Say Ni have been busy in our rural area looking for the sacrifice of a Shrubbery.  After all the legend from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, like all great legends is based on some truth.

This blogging thing has been interesting and some cool things have  happened as a result.

One of my posts, Membership Drive For The Rules Don't Apply To Me Club!, caught the attention of reporter Amy Parkhurst.  She used it as the basis of an article she wrote for The Mukwonago Chief.

Now, if we could only convince the masses that the rules are meant to keep their kids safe.

To read the article click on the following: 

I am a card carrying member of The Rules Don't Apply To Me Club.  I've removed the tags on my mattresses under penalty of law.  Yes, I have done other things that go against the rules, but since my kids may read this we won't get into details. 

During this current school year, the number of members in the club has been expanding and I'm afraid the results from the current membership drive are getting dangerous.  The group I'm concerned with for this article are those people that drop their children off for school in the morning in the parking lot at Park View Middle School in Mukwonago, so that they can avoid the line of cars waiting to drop students off at the school entrance.  They do this by exiting the parking lot onto Highway 83 and breaking the rules.

Now, I'm sure that these people have rationalized to themselves about how busy they are, or how late for work they will be or some other reason that allows them the right to do this.  They are surely much more important people than the rest of us.  Strangely, this isn't the reason that has me riled up against these VIPs.  The problem is that they are dropping their children off out in the parking lot and relying on their kids sense of survival and the alertness of both under and over caffeinated drivers to be on the lookout for them.  This is the tricky part, because there are already two lanes of cars dropping students off.  Once these two lanes drop off their children, the lanes merge and cross as cars jockey for position to get into the left turn or right turn lanes for exiting onto Hwy NN.  This is the same area where the kids are darting out between parked cars to cross to the school.  Damn lucky no one has been picked off yet, but recently there have been several close calls.

The school district could also do something to prevent this.  When the new flow pattern was developed, they put marks on the parking lot for the placement of cones or barriers that would prevent drivers from being able to get to that exit from the main lot.  Maybe they will have to resort to using those, hopefully before someone gets hurt.

Mukwonago High School has it's own set of members joining the club.  There are two lanes that run in front of the high school.  The right lane, which is next to the sidewalk is for drop offs.  The left lane is for cars that are going past the cars and buses dropping off.  The first set of anxious club members are the ones that stop all traffic and drop off from the left lane.  It helps to speed them on their way, because after all they are too important to be bothered with good sense.  The second group at the high school are the drivers that need to turn right onto Hwy NN, but don't want to wait in line with all the other cars that want to do the same thing, so they use the left lane, that has few if any cars, and cut in as both lanes make a left turn to head toward the intersection. 

Some of these actions by the members of The Rules Don't Apply To Me Club are putting lives in danger and some are just plain rude.  As the year has gone on, more and more idiots are following this disturbing trend, because they have seen enough people doing it that it must be OK.  Since their children are seeing all of this, we can probably expect that the next generation will fill the club. 

Hi, my name is Ed Furey, resident of the Town of Eagle and the Mukwonago Area School District.  I will be using this space to comment on whatever I find of most interest at the time.  Sometimes it will be something that irritates me and other times it will just be something that intrigues me or that I support.  Enough about me for now, I’m sure that you’ll pick up more on me in future rants.

There is so much going on nationally right now with the presidential primaries underway, which is what I originally planned to discuss, but with the conclusion of the annual Super Bowl Advertising show, I thought that I would start with the best and worst of the ads. 

It’s amazing that over the years that this is what the Super Bowl has become, as many or more people interested in the ads as the game.  What a game it was too, the Giants winning in one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history.  For all those people claiming that this Patriots team is one of the greatest of all time, SHUT UP!  They can’t even be considered for that praise, unless they win the one that counts, the Super Bowl.  Eli Manning, the MVP of the game, sure came of age last night with his composure and ability to come through when he needed to.  The MVP probably should have gone to David Tyree or the Giants defense for their dominating performance throughout the game.  The only negative fallout of the Giants victory is that we will have to keep seeing Don Shula and his old, broken down 1972 Dolphins team keep popping their champagne bottles every year when the last team to lose their first game happens.  Although, being the only undefeated Super Bowl champions is special, I’m sick of seeing and hearing them.  Please, just go away.

Enjoyed the halftime show with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  I’ve always been a fan of their music.  It was hard to watch because Tom, who was never a handsome man to begin with, looks so old.  If they’re that old, what does that make me?

Overall the ads were mostly disappointing this year.  This has always been the time when some of the best and most creative ads of the year get aired.  Biggest disappointments were the Bud Light ads.  Bud has traditionally had some of the most memorable ads during the Super Bowl.  The only one of their ads that performed well was the one with the Jackie Moon character played by Will Farrell from a new movie coming out this year.

The best overall ads were the E*Trade talking baby ads.  I particularly enjoyed the one with the creepy clown comment.  Coke also had a couple of good ads, especially the cartoon balloons chasing the coke and Charlie Brown winning.  Finally, for shock value I enjoyed the Planters Ad featuring the woman with a unibrow using cashews like perfume to make her attractive.

Several movie trailers were shown during the game and “Iron Man” and “Jumpers” both look good, but the trailer that most makes me want to see the movie was for the new Adam Sandler comedy, “Don’t Mess With The Zohan”, it was pretty funny.  Hopefully it’s not like most movies where the only good parts are in the trailer.

If you wish to see any of these ads again or missed one that people are talking about, you can view them at http://www.myspace.com/superbowlads. 

Here’s hoping that next years game is as good and the ads are better.