It's Been A GREAT Five Years

Seems just like yesterday. Somehow 5 years ago today I came across Blogger and decided to try my hand at a blog. As I said in the past, I was tired of people telling me the lefts point of view and my voice meant nothing. So why not start a blog.


Yes, it's Berry Laker blog's 5th anniversary. There are times when it's hard to even post something that makes sense but some day I at least can let my family know the thinking and beliefs of their father. 


To my few followers. To the few that comment. To those who took a look and didn't like what they seen, I say a sincere thank you.


To the Berry Laker clan, remember,


If you want to be a winner, hang around winners. 


If you tell your mind  you want something, your mind will get it for. Never forget to be careful what you want, your mind will also give the negative side of life if that's what you ask for.


You can always choose your friends but you can never choose your family. 


The five most important things in life are and they only come in this order. God, your spouse, your family, your work or job and anything else that is important to you.  


Let's go for six. 

Never Forget

To my daughter, my son in law, my two boys and to my grandson. Never forget.

Finally, Froedtert Update, He's Coming Home

Just to let my few readers who are following Son # 1.


Tomorrow will be day 15 and he is finally coming home. Well, it's not home but it is his home on the fashionably upper east side apartment in Milwaukee. Can you get Tom Barrett to clean up all the furniture on the curbs along Maryland and Farwell? 


There were a lot of people saying Prayers for you and obviously the good Lord heard all of our prayers. 


Seven days in ICU, eight days on the third floor and you can finally go home. Don't be stupid and push your recoup. As I told you, Obamacare would probably of passed on you so you need to thank Froedert, their staff,  your doctor, the insurance company and God himself for your recovery. I will start buying Martini and Rossi for what doc did for you. Thank you sir. 


You need to personally thank your sister, brother in law, nephew, brother, Penelope, DR, Dad 29, Maddona , Grandma, Diane and Ralph and for God's sake Marie for their prayers, comments and concern for you. Marie was with you for two weeks and there was no way you could take away a mother from her son. Dad 29, he doesn't like Jack for a pain killer so he would rather have Miller Lite. Personally if I had to fight the pain, I would take Jack.


Not sure what more I can say to you but am proud of you and am glad you are out of the woods but still need to recover further. After I pick you up, what do you want to eat after 15 days of hospital food? McDonalds, Burger King or Chinese delivery, on me!


Dad.


PS : you bet, we need to see a Brewer game on me. I can swing the tickets but we will have to drink in the parking lot and take peanuts into the game. Let me know what game in September.   

Froedtert Update

Had some GREAT friends and readers wonder about son # 1 who is still at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. Thank you for your concerns. I need to thank the everyone helping Son # 1. The main doctor is doing everything he can for our boy. 


Well, it's day 8 and today he is getting an ulta sound done on some of his incisions. They think he might have some infection. If it shows positive on infection he goes back into surgery for the fourth time.  


Hang in there son, you'll get through this and be better for it. Your dads very proud of you. 


I'm waiting this fall to take you to a top level golf course with your brother for 18, a cart, on me. How about we see some playoff games this fall with the Brewers and watch them win the World Series. You need to see your hero Ryan Braun, maybe get you a Zack Greinke shirt.


Thoughts and prayers would be appreciated.    


Lord, please help him.

It's Milwaukee Wednesday

 It's Wednesday around 10:30. 


Son # 1 got some rest after last nights 2nd surgery to clean out some internal bleeding and to take pressure off a swollen leg muscle. Marie is still worried about her son.That's what moms are for. Sorry son, you have to go back to surgery on Thursday to check again on all your incisions. 


What happen to the Brewers last night? Both teams threw intentional pitches.


Driving in on  Wisconsin Ave. from Hwy 41 to 76th St. I seen a ton of recall Walker signs. the teachers and professors have some nice houses along with their good union pay to put up anti Walker signs.


On the debt ceiling vote. What's the only difference between Gwen Moore and Paul Ryan? Botta bing, botta boom, a letter after their name!


What's the only difference between Ron Kind and Reed Ribble? They live on the opposite sides of the state.


What's the diffrence between Tammy Baldwin and Jim Sensenbrenner? Only one is running for Herb Kohls seat!


Botta bing, botta boom.


Who will be more surprised next November when they both get rolled out of office? Obama or the republican party? Who cares, they both will be  gone! 


Time to go.

Par for The Course In Milwaukee

Day two. Long Day in ICU and now. 


Well, son # 1, you are going through the same problem you had in one of your previous surgeries.


The doctor had blood work done and it came back where your blood seems to be clotting and giving you pain in your foot and groin area. You know, along the incision up your whole leg. This is another first for the doctor. Your a test case for him. We thank God you have such a good doctor. He mentioned that is why he makes late visits in the afternoon to make sure his patients are doing well. he knows what he's doing. We need to celebrate with a Martini & r o s s i  for the work and care he is giving you. Thank you 


Back into surgery and we are waiting for you to come out. 


Called the other children to fill them in. No problems staying here till we get you back to full strength.  


Right now the Brewers are ahead 3 - 2.


Hang in there buddy.

Milwaukee Update

Tuesday August 2nd, 9:30 am sitting in Hospitals Dining room, level 1.


Since I told Berry Laker Son # 1 I was blogging about him, ( he didn't seemed as thrilled as I was when I told him) I guess I should say some impressive things since someday he may read this. I won't hold my breath on when he will ever read this.


Son, very proud of you. The doc came in and asked if you felt like a truck hit you. You said yes. The doc said that was a good sign. Foot was swollen, another good sign. Blood is flowing to foot. Doc said he will move you out of ICU later today. Another good sign, he didn't feel your pulse with his hand but did hear it with ultra sound equipment. Hope it keeps working once swelling goes down.


Doc said today would be the worse day for pain and will get better as days go on. Only one vein he could work on, main vein was 6 cm, other one was 1 cm. Not sure if he said cm, mm or what exact size they were but you didn't have a lot of blood flowing to your leg. your mom and I are glad your in good hands. 


Your mother loves you very much but we might begin calling her "Marie", you know Raymonds mother on Everyone Loves Raymond. Today you need your rest so you can deal with the pain. I will try to drag her out from your room for a while. We need to change oil in you and your brothers car and I'm interested in seeing the new Woodmans in Menominee Falls. Hopefully it worked and you were able to rest on your own today.


Dam proud of you.


You made the right choice coming to Froedtert.

Day 2 in Milwaukee

Just some random thoughts about the last 24 hours.


The family Center (place to stay during surgery and wait) at Froedtert is super. Great people, wifi and free coffee and cookies. Do not, I repeat, do not try to move all your belongings into one of the private booths or rooms unless you ask first. They are reserved.


Never take driving directions from Mrs Berry Laker. Ask Father John. 


Father John came to see Son # 1 because he said he owned him a visit. Many years ago the boys served mass for father john. they served the Midnight mass one Christmas night. Son # 1 knew Father had no servers for Christmas day mass. We were at a very small church. Son # 1 came in  to serve that morning and as he was getting ready, Father asked him why he was there. Son # 1 said he knew Father was alone that morning and said that was his Christmas present to the Good Father. Father John never forgot that morning with son # 1.


It's great Froedtert will stamp your parking ticket to get free parking for all family members and guests but $2 a day for parking is cheep and for all the things the hospital does, they could charge everybody the $2 and help defray costs.


The doctor spoke to us around 5:00 pm last night. Didn't sugar coat anything. it was worse then he thought. They had to get another surgeon in to remove another bone growth on the back of his leg. They could only connect one new vein to his lower leg. Time will tell and we hope it will take and give our boy circulation to his lower leg and foot. 


When Father John was giving our son a prayer up in ICU around 7:00 and making the sign of the Cross on his forehead, the nurse asked our son if he wanted to see a priest. Father John said he was a priest and was on retainer with the family. It was one of the funny moments. Thank you Father John.


I am staying at Mrs B's apartment on the upper east side. Nice little place. To sit on the thrown or take a shower you have to sit or stand sideways. Yes, it's a small studio apartment but am glad Mrs B has her own place. 


Off to see my boy and see what progress he's made.


it's always good to visit Milwaukee. It makes me appreciate living in the Nicolet Forest.

Back In Milwaukee

Sitting here at Froedtert Hospital waiting for Berry Laker son # 1 to get done with his Peripheral artery bypass -leg surgery. He's been in for seven hours and still no word yet.


The poor boy is getting surgery that only old farts over 60 get done. He's hoping no GB Packer, M Brewer or M Buck's player doesn't come to visit him unless he knows who it is. When he and his brother were small, they had surgery at Children's next door and a Milwaukee Buck player came in and they were too small to know who he was? We still joke about that with him.


Pretty proud of him for how tough he is about getting this kind of surgery done. He's looking forward to graduating from UWM and working in the aerospace industry in engineering.


He even might get a visit from Father John.


We just hope and pray everything will go good for my boy. He's in Gods and his doctors and nurses hands right now. 


Hang in there son # 1, we're all pulling for you. 


The old mans proud of you.

NASCAR, We Went To Talladega Alabama

The wonderful and beautiful Mrs Berry Laker and I were married twenty three years ago this past Saturday. Let me back up two weeks. As we were watching the NASCAR race at Martinsville Mrs B asked if I wanted to go to Talladega? She was off from work and we have never been to the dega track. I said Honey, what ever you want we can do. 


So she ordered tickets, $49 a day for tickets and free camping next to the track.So Friday we started our trek to Talladega Alabama. Left at 5:00 m, hit Nashville around 6:00 that night and drove as far as Decatur Al. and stayed at the Comfort Suites.


Got up early on Saturday, at at the I Hop and headed for Birmingham. Headed east on HWY 20 and pulled into the dega track by 10:30. We pretty much threaded the needle on all the tornado's that went through the south. Our prayers are for those who lost life and damage to their belongings. Watched a GREAT Nationwide race but was not happy with the 18 wining.


Our camp site was 10 minutes from the track so all was good on not having a long walk.Meet our camping neighbours from Atlanta and Dayton Ohio. What GREAT people.


Woke up to 45 degree sleeping in the tent, had breakfast and packed for the track. What a race. My 2011 driver Jimmy Johnson wins by  2 , 1000th of a second. WOW!!!!!!!


Packed up and left at 6:00, drove to Cullman Al. and stayed the night. Got up at 6:00, ate and drove strait through Nashville, Louisville, Indy, Chicago into Wisconsin and back home around 9:00 pm.  What a GREAT weekend and what a special angel I have in Mrs B. Love you dear.


Well I talked enough, here's some picks from the weekend.

.................What kind of camp site is this? 

Now this is how to keep beer and food cold. Bring your own frig.and freezer.

..........................................Talladega. 

Walking into to Dega. That's our seats below the FOX cameras.

.....................................Turn three. 

Looking at the Tri Oval and our seats on row 67.

Alabama mountains to the east of the track.

Hey, two guys from Pulaski Wisconsin. What great guys.

................................cars lined up before the race.

.......................................Aarons 499


What a great time celebrating a marriage made in heaven  

Another Reason Why I Don't Eat Beets

From the Manitowoc Herald Times

MANITOWOC — Lakeside Foods is voluntarily recalling 3,000 cases of 105-ounce canned pickled sliced beets because some cans may have been under processed.

Guess Who's Birthday Is Today

This Day in History: March 6 — FactMonster.com: 

"March 6
1836 The Alamo fell to Mexican forces.
1857 The Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that slaves were not citizens.
1930 Clarence Birdseye started to sell prepackaged frozen food for the first time, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1957 The former British colonies of Togoland and the Gold Coast united to form independent Ghana.
1981 Walter Cronkite, 'the most trusted man in America,' retired from the CBS Evening News and was replaced by Dan Rather.
1997 Queen Elizabeth II launched the first royal website."

Famous people. Yes there are a lot more but these are some great folks.

John Stossel Journalist 6-Mar-1947 Libertarian reporter

Annette Kingsland Ziegler Judge 6-Mar-1964 Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court

Michelangelo March 6 1475

Thirty years ago daddy's little girl was born at the hospital in Elkhorn Wisconsin. Her mom had problems and the doc had to use the salad spoons ( I don't know what they're called) to get her out..They laid her under the lamp all blue and lifeless. Within seconds she let out a yell and went from blue to red to the way she is today. Wow, have to tell you watching your child's birth is one of the most precious greatest miracles God gives us.


Berry Lakers daughter, daddy's little girl is 30 today. 


Love you dear.

The Boy Did Fine

9:45 a m


Just spoke to the doctor and everything went better then he thought.


Thank you Lord. Now I will try to have him see You a little more now. At least to thank You for Your help.

Medicine 2011

I must say Children's Hospital sure expanded. No traffic at 5:30 am.We're at Froedtert next door.


7:30 he got his happy juice, got his hug from mom and off he went. 


Sitting here at Froedtert in the waiting room , holy cow. things have changed.


Surgery for B L son # 1 has started. There's a board on the wall showing a number designated for each patient. They don't show any names, just numbers. It shows they're getting him ready in the surgery room. meet the doctor doing the surgery. Young looking but knows what he's doing. 


Our boy said med students will be watching the procedure. Incision, pull back muscle, nerves, cut off some bone growths and put him back together. He's scheduled for 3 1/2 hours. 


Passing time listening to beck, and Charlie at 8:30,


Mrs B must be worried about her boy. Getting a little, shall l we say, short on the fuse. 

No Mouse, No Mas

Sorry for the light blogging. I am in Milwaukee to see Berry Laker Son # 1 have surgery at Froedtert Hospital for a 7:00 am meeting with the great surgeons at that hospital. It serious but then not serious.on a bone growth on the back part of his right leg. Tough part on my boy is they have to move a lot of muscle and veins to get to the problem. He's tough, but will be on crutches for a while. 


My big loss of posts in blogging is , what is the #1 problem using a lap top away from home? 

Not having a mouse.

How can yo use your finger to work the lap top without a mouse? For crying out loud, an old geezzer like me cannot use my finger trying to search, changing pages, etc, etc With all the practice the union thugs had this weekend flipping off conservatives in Wisconsin working recall petitions, they must be experts at working a lap top without a mouse. Sorry can't do it, and had to go and get a mouse to make life easier and faster. This is GREAT!!!!!


No Mouse, No mas..


NASCAR at 2:30. Go Jimmy Johnson.

Mrs B, Just Like At Mole Lake

The good old days at mole lake when they had the blue grass concerts.Late 70's to mid 80's.

Hennie Pennie Fryers

"'Soft skills' add competitive advantage for job candidates
Many employers now looking for people with all-around talent
By Richard Ryman • rryman@greenbaypressgazette.com • January 23, 2011

Dan Kostrova has high math skills and knows how to run multiple machines at Lindquist Machine Corp. His technical skills are solid, but he wouldn't have his job if it ended there."
'Soft skills' add competitive advantage for job candidates | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press Gazette

Hey, my dad worked there in the 60's and 70's welding chicken fryers. Not sure if I had the correct spelling but I remember him saying Henne Penne chicken.

Global Warning To My .................

"Global Warming: Dire Prediction for the Year 3000"
Global Warming: Dire Prediction for the Year 3000 - Yahoo! News

I hope my great, great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,
great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,
great grand child won't have to worry about this.

I figured at 27 generations from today. I also wonder if one of my future grandchildren will keep up the Berry Laker Blog?

Happy Birthday, Another Berry Laker

I have to do a personnel post.

I have a good friend who has a birthday today.

Even we are miles apart, helped me build my house, gave me a job years ago, got me drunk many times in the past.

Just want to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE.

I owe you a DRINK!

Rubben Elbos with Flat Landers

It was Mrs Berry Lakers 50th birthday and she wanted to go to the Dells.

So I'm siten hear at Kalahari while the Berry Laker clan go to daH2O park. I have to give Kudos to the management. Holy wa!

Dis sur beets the compound. A room with a stove, where do we put da firewood? Deers no wood outside eider.Holy wa, dis iz somthen perty nete. Day even hav runnenwartr n da outhous and vittle hall.

Ani one wana giv a guy from da compoun some ad vise on wat 2 do wa down sout heaqr.

Mrs B eveendbrougt som whit lighten.

Hofulli I wil get baqck 2 da compond nex weak.

ani halp wood halp.

averyone hava grate weaken.