Today’s post comes from Ben

Once upon a time there was a butterfly.

He was the most splendiferous colors of glass stained blue and red with silver framing holding him all together. And with his two curly antennae he would listen to the sounds of the world. And he spent his days gazing at the wonders of the world as they sped past his view from the sliding glass doors.

And it was good.

He lived on the deck of a wonderful Lady who would talk to him and tell him news and they would grumble about how the Twins were playing and she would get the giggles over things. And one day she told the butterfly she was taking a little trip but she would be back.

And after that, a man with a Big Brown Seed Corn Hat came into his view. And the man in the Big Brown Seed Corn Hat moved about taking care of plants and flowers and other things but he didn’t much notice the butterfly.

And then, the man in the Big Brown Seed Corn Hat smushed the butterfly between the sliding glass doors.

And the butterfly lost one of his antenna and his bright blue belly fell out of its silver frame and his head was sort of crunched down into his wings. And it hurt. MAN, did it hurt!

Plus, he fell off his suction cup and got wedged between the sliding doors.

And, of course, the man in the Big Brown Seed Corn Hat didn’t know it at first and wondered why the doors wouldn’t close right. And he tried to close them again. And again. And AGAIN! Crunch! Crunch!

CRUNCH! Went the doors on the poor butterfly’s head.

Then the man in the Big Brown Seed Corn Hat figured out what was going on and spent 10 minutes with a stick and a spoon and a piece of paper trying to fish the poor, broken butterfly out from between the sliding glass doors.

And the man felt Sad. And the Butterfly said ‘…Ow…’

And the man in the Big Brown Seed Corn Hat told his wife and his sister, ‘I broke the Butterfly! Don’t tell Mom!’ and he hid it away and hoped the Wonderful Lady wouldn’t notice the Splendiferously colored Blue and Red and Silver Butterfly with the two curly antennae was missing.

“If I wait long enough, she’ll forget”, he said to them.

Finally, the Man in the Big Brown Seed Corn Hat got out his soldiering Iron and tried to fix the poor broken Butterfly. And it was difficult. And not as easy as he thought it might be. And he burnt his fingers.

And he got a different soldiering iron and some alligator clips. And that didn’t work and he went back to the first soldering iron. Finally, the Man in the Big Brown Seed Corn Hat said, ‘Well, I guess that will have to do.’

And the Butterfly looked forward to being back with the wonderful lady and listening to the sounds of the  world (although some of them are a little bit muffled in that one antennae).

And they all lived happily ever after.

Have you hid something you broke?;

All eyes are on our neighbor to the east on this political primary day. In honor of all the stubborn, sensible and surprisingly progressive Wisconsinites going to the polls, I bring back part of a post written by gentle baboon Steve Grooms several years ago.

US Highway 2 cuts across northern Wisconsin, running east and west. It’s a famous road. Not famous is the tiny town of Oulu, which lies just north of US 2. If you want to go to Oulu, you drive a bit east of Brule to Oulu Rock and follow the big blue arrow on it to Oulu.
Oulu was created and is mostly inhabited by folks of Finnish ancestry. They have names like Aho, Lampinen, Kohlemeinen, Reinikainen and so forth. The town doesn’t have much going for it. Its one unusual feature is a glass-blowing gallery. Other than that, Oulu is another tiny unincorporated Wisconsin town just like a thousand other such tiny towns.

And yet there is one other distinctive thing, something in which Oulu’s residents take great pride: the Oulu Rock.

A very long time ago, people needed a way to spot that little road that runs north from Highway 2 to Oulu. Citizens of Oulu placed a large rock at the intersection and painted the rock white and blue, the colors of the Finnish flag. And they painted “Oulu” in large letters, with an arrow to point the way.

Not long ago, the Wisconsin Highway Department informed the folks of Oulu that their rock had to go. Highway design specifications require the erection of a standard highway sign to point the way to Oulu.

The highway bureaucrats were unprepared for the ferocity of Oulu’s response. They didn’t want no frickin’ highway sign and they didn’t need one because they already had a frickin’ rock. Almost nobody ever wants to go to Oulu, to tell the truth, and if they do want to go they probably know the way already! The Finns of Oulu told the highway department folks just where they could stick their standard highway sign.

The highway department countered with all the predictable arguments. They argued for the virtues of standardization. They said a reflective sign would be easier to read than a rock. They said they operated under mandates from the legislature and didn’t have the power to make an exception like this. They said The Law demanded that Oulu accept a highway sign. End of argument.

Cynics say you can’t beat city hall, but Oulu beat the Wisconsin Highway Department. Civic pride and Finnish obstinacy crushed the bureaucrats and their boring laws. When Highway 2 was widened recently, the Wisconsin Highway Department even helped move the rock a few feet north. And it is there today, proudly pointing the way to Oulu.

No other town in Wisconsin has what Oulu has. There are a thousand unincorporated villages in the state, but only Oulu has a highway rock. It is one of a kind.

What is YOUR “Oulu Rock”?