The fall of hometown video stores.

Our hometown video store, not connected to any video store chain, has closed. I feel like we had a hand in the store closing.

Brian and his family have entertained our area since I was young. First, they owned the small movie theatre. It was downtown and had all the things you remember from "the old days". You know the ones, broken seats, sticky floors, the wonderful balcony. It always smelled of stale popcorn. This theatre hung around for years. They even started renting out movies in the mid 80s. People were more mobile and were going to La Crosse to the multi-plexes. The ones that had 4 movies at once. Woohoo. They closed the theatre and opened a video rental store. This was in the late 80s I think.

They also owned the drive-in. I miss this the most. We could grab some food, take the kids and go see a double feature. When we were in high school, we stuck people in the trunk to get in. It was a great place. Just like the drive-ins you would see in the movies. Towards the end of the drive-in phase they stopped repairing the silver voiceboxes and you just tuned in on a radio station. They closed this in the mid 90s.

The family moved their video stores to various buildings around town. They also had a few stores in neighboring cities. We followed Brian and were faithful customers, that is until Netflix. We would spend around $30 every weekend on videos. You probably think how would losing you as a customer affect a business. Well, multiply that by many, many family over the years switching. If you could spend $18 a month, for unlimited, no late fees, no having to go to the store to get them, you would change too.

Brian couldn't compete with Netflix or the other online rentals. Convenience and saving money always win. Netflix is wonderful. We make our lists, they send them to us, we send them back. We average 15 movies a month. That makes it around $1.20 each. That is a huge savings. Plus, they have 100s of 1000s of movies. Many, many obscure movies.

We went to the sale that Brian was having before he closed. He is always very nice, happy to help. Always has a smile on his face. I think he truly loved dealing with people. I asked him what he would do now. He said he wasn't sure, he had never worked for anyone else before. Brian is around 40 and now starting his life over.

Good luck Brian, our family wishes you luck! You will be missed, even if we didn't see you often anymore.

In my head I am 18

Oh my, what was I thinking? I am almost 45 years old. Putting 4 slick wheels under each foot might not have been a wise thing.

Saturday night we attended my 10 yr old, great-niece's birthday part at a roller rink. I grabbed a pair of skates, laced them up. Which means I put them on and held them up for Michael to lace up. LOL I wear slipon shoes or clogs for pete's sake. What was I thinking??

After a few rolls up and down the carpet, Annie (niece, mother of b'day girl) and I decided to hit the skate floor. Dang that floor is slippery. Whew, made it one lap. I needed to rest. Okay, out for 2 laps. Then made it 3 laps. Need to rest. For some reason I couldn't pick up my left foot. I was just pushing with my right. What was I thinking???

In my head I was still that 18 yr old, skinny girl that could skate with passion and elegance, speed and fearlessness. I used to be able to move with the music that was playing. I wanted to be able to spin, skate backwards, dance like I did years and years ago. What was I thinking????

I have a few theories for my poor skating ability. Never wear rental skates. They really suck. The wheels are so worn out they are as slick as the floor. Since I now had to wear a size bigger, the front wheels were set back farther on my feet it seemed. Also, I swear my left leg is longer and that is the reason I couldn't pick it up. LOL Okay, maybe not. But, it sounded good.

How will I ever be roller derby queen I always dreamed of if I can't skate any more? I am looking at buying my own skates. I do want to go more. I will practice my butt off. I do love roller skating.

In my head I am that 18 year old, roller derby queen. My dreams will keep me young!!

birds, birds, birds, then a few more birds

So, I was able to get off work early today. Yeah me!! When I arrived home I looked in the backyard. I am not exaggerating, which I have known to do when it comes to birding, but there were over 100 finches in my yard. They were everywhere. It looked like the trees and ground were alive. It was very loud out there.

I bundled myself up and took a pillow to sit on and a blanket. Hey the bench was cold! I sat there for a good 10 mins before a few decided it was safe to come back. Then holy moley did they come. I sat and rythmically tapped the button on my camera. Took over 200 pics and drained the battery. Here are a few of the "action" shots.