The Toll of the Bell

The old farm bell is back and looking better than ever. Photo and bell restoration courtesy of Brendan.

In The Black

Now that expenses for the 2009 tour have been finalizied, we can provide an update on the financial picture.

$892.4 Beginning balance

$700 Expenses incurred on 2009 tour including: Water bottles provided by Danette and appetizers and drinks at the auction happy hour.

$192.42 Adjusted balance

$1102 Proceeds from this year's auction.

$1294.42 Adjusted balance

$163 Further expenses incurred for web sites including upgrading MyHertitage site to have more space for pictures and video.

$1131.42 Ending Balance

If you have suggestions how we can best make use of this money for next year's tour please leave a comment.

Survey Says

So far I have received only a dozen completed family survey/information forms. If you filled one out at the Five-Hundred but didn't have a chance to press it into my clammy paws, you could mail it to my attention at:

7200 Glenwood Ave
Golden Valley, MN 55427

Or if you didn't have a chance to complete the survey yet, you can get a copy of it here. Fill it out and mail it to me or send it via e-mail to:

rightwinger23@hotmail.com

Don't be left out in the cold. Let your voice be heard.

Going For A Steam

We all have heard the old saying that oil and water don't mix. On this year's Five Hundred we also learned--courtesy of Tom--that oil is not a good substitute for water either (or anti-freeze for that matter).




I predict that Tom will hear the end of this one by 2032, 2033 at the latest. The 2009 tour has only just ended. The mockery has only just begun.

Auction Action

The numbers from last night's auction have been tabulated and audited by the firm of Doughty and Doughty. The official total take as is follows:

Cash receipts $741
Checks received $361

TOTAL $1102

Thanks to everyone who participated.

After Mike submits his expenses for this year's tour (personal bar tab excluded), we'll have an update on where we sit from an overall financial perspective. We're also looking for suggestions on how we might best spend this filthy lucre on next year's tour.

Tom's suggestion for blaze orange oil containers is under consideration.

Sounds Like A Plan

Less than a week away from the 2009 Doughty 500 kickoff and things are starting to come together nicely. We still need a host for Thursday's happy hour, but other than that the details have been flushed out. Here's an itinerary update straight from the horse's Mike's mouth:

Mon
Hayward via Weyerhaeuser and Ladysmith Depart 0830
Lunch: Burdie's Bar & Grill in Weyerhaeuser
Arrive: 1530
Happy Hour Hosted by: Paul & Bernie
Dinner: Angry Minnow

Tues
St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Spooner Depart 0830
Lunch: 1130 in Spooner @ Tony's Riverside
Arrive: 1600
Happy Hour Hosted by: Dave
Dinner: Family choice

Wed
Mx Group:
0830 - 1100 - Mx Training
1100 - 1300 – Lunch – Family choice
1300 - 1530 - Mx Training

Drive Group
Free play day: Self guided tour of Hayward or points beyond.
Happy Hour: Pay bar in auction room partially funded by Doughty Auction proceeds (A very worthy cause!)
Auction 1645-1745 Hosted by: Jay and Chad
Dinner: Flat Creek Eatery and Saloon

Thur
Cable and Namekagon Lake
Depart 0830
Lunch: 1130 outside Cable @ The Rookery Pub
Arrive: 1530
Happy Hour - Hosted by: ??????
Dinner: Family choice

Fri
Home to Eau Claire via Rice Lake, Chetek
Depart 0900
Lunch: 1130 in Rice Lake @ Family Choice
Arrive: 1600

Two Drink Minimum

The 2009 Doughty 500 planning sub-committee unanimously approved a plan to release funds from the rainy day account to jump start activity at Wednesday evening's auction. The plan calls for each person in attendance at said event to be provided with two vouchers that may redeemed at the bar in exchange for various and sundry beverages. The impact of this stimulus plan is expected to be felt immediately, especially given the historical record of the multiplier effect on the drinking activities of Doughty family members.

2009 Logistics Review

Attention, attention please. We've just received the official orders for Operation Doughty 500 2009 from the joint chiefs of staff. Please review and pass down the chain the command as appropriate. This is not a drill.

Doughty 500 – 2009 (Mike, Sean, and Tom)
July 27 – 31
Hayward, WI

Latest News:

-Hotel: 21 rooms are booked! (1 more than the block). Some rooms are still available. The name has changed--Now the Flat Creek Inn & Suites.

-Wednesday: Will be a "Hands On" Maintenance Training Day. The "younger" generation will complete a procedure (such as changing a timer) while the experts watch and advise. Subject areas to follow.

-Help Wanted: Please volunteer for the happy hour of your choice (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday). Also and Auctioneer for Wednesday night.

-Spread the word! Make sure everyone you think might be interested / coming gets the latest news. A hard copy is going out also.

-Water Bottles: We will have D500 water bottles again this year thanks to Chad and Danette.

Hotel:

Flat Creek Inn & Suites (formerly Ramada Hayward)
10290 Hwy 27 South
HWY 27 S & CTY RD B
Hayward, WI 54843 US

Phone: 715-634-4100
Fax: 715-634-2403
E-Mail: ramada-hayward@cheqnet.net
Rate: $85
Block #730

Itinerary:

Mon
Hayward via Weyerhaeuser and Ladysmith Depart 0830
Lunch: Burdie's Bar & Grill in Weyerhaeuser
Arrive: 1530
Happy Hour - Hosted by: –––––––––––
Dinner: Angry Minnow

Tues
St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Spooner Depart 0830
Lunch: 1130 in Spooner @ Tony's Riverside
Arrive: 1600
Happy Hour - Hosted by: –––––––––––
Dinner: Family choice

Wed
Mx Group:
0830 - 1100 - Mx Training
1100 - 1300 – Lunch – Family choice
1300 - 1530 - Mx Training

Drive Group:
Free play day - Self guided tour of Hayward or points beyond.
Happy Hour – 1700 at Flat Creek Banquet Room (Pay Bar)
Auction: 1715 – 1800 Hosted by: ––––––––––––––
Dinner: Flat Creek Eatery and Saloon

Thur
Cable and Namekagon Lake
Depart 0830
Lunch: 1130 outside Cable @ The Rookery Pub
Arrive: 1530
Happy Hour - Hosted by: –––––––––––
Dinner: Family choice

Fri
Home to Eau Claire via Rice Lake, Chetek
Depart 0900
Lunch: 1130 in Rice Lake @ Family Choice
Arrive: 1600

That is all.

The Soul of the School

Bill Kauffman reviews the book "Small Wonders" which examines the rise and fall of the one-room schoolhouse:

Decades after consolidation had obliterated one-room schools, researchers discovered their advantages. The child in the small school is not just a statistic on a government chart. She receives "individual attention and recognition." She works at her own pace. She has, most important, a place. As Mr. Zimmerman remarks, recent alternatives to "the large, alienating modern school," from charter schools to homeschooling, have sought to foster "the snug, communal aspects of the one-room school." But the one-room-school model entails community control, which liberals and conservatives alike resist if the "community" sings from the wrong hymnal.

The idealization of the little red schoolhouse, Mr. Zimmerman concludes, reflects a rueful awareness that in modernity Americans "gained the whole world of technological conveniences and lost the soul of their communities."

Even after Mr. Zimmerman's unsentimental accounting of its defects, the one-room school shines in comparison with the over-large and remotely controlled warehouses in which too many children are educated today. Reading "Small Wonder," one wonders if Americans will ever tire of chasing after the gods of Progress and Bigness and rediscover the little things, red schoolhouses among them, that once gave us our soul.

Look For The Doughty Label

Danette is wondering if there is any demand for Doughty 500 water bottles again this year. If so, she needs to order the labels soon. Drop a note in the comments to share your thoughts or send her an e-mail at: dennissmithlan@centurytel.net

Fordlandia

Review in Friday's Wall Street Journal of the book Fordlandia by Greg Grandin (sub req):

Ford thought he could do better: He would create a vast rubber plantation in Brazil, thus ensuring a reliable supply of latex for his new Model A as well as for his Ford trucks and tractors. In the process, he intended to show the world that his system of production would also elevate the lives of his workers. Fordism, to him, meant rational organization, the regimentation of labor and the application of technology to produce more and more goods at an ever quickening pace.

In return for such demanding drudgery, Fordism required that workers be paid much more than the going wage scale. This largess (if that’s what it was) in turn allowed them to become ­consumers in their own right, buying the products they made and creating even more wealth for their employers. Fordism worked at the gigantic River Rouge plant in Dearborn. In Fordlandia, it was hoped, the company would gather the seringueiros into one place, where they would grow and tap thousands of rubber trees, hundreds to the acre. Ford would provide them with relatively high wages (to keep them consuming), the best medical care (to keep them working) and even ­recreation facilities (to keep them happy).

Back in 1922, the Washington Post—commenting on what its editors saw as a petulant factory shutdown in the U.S.—had defined Fordism as “Ford efforts conceived in disregard or ignorance of Ford limitations.” There was something to these words. When it came to Fordlandia, what the Americans and their Brazilian collaborators couldn’t do was overcome South American Leaf Blight, which started attacking the trees as soon as they matured. An infestation of very hungry caterpillars only added to the challenge. During its best years, Fordlandia’s three million rubber trees produced 750 tons of latex; but every year the Ford Motor Co. consumed more than 50 ­million tons.

And Ford’s dictates to his employees in the Amazon came to be resented. The Brazilian workers didn’t like being made to eat in company mess halls, where they were fed a diet of oatmeal, canned Michigan peaches and whole wheat bread. They were humiliated to have their living quarters constantly inspected for cleanliness and their bodies inspected for venereal disease. They were angry that U.S. Prohibition was enforced in wet Brazil, where liquor was legal.

Ford clashed with the Roman Catholic Church, declining its offer to run Fordlandia’s schools. So when the American managers asked an itinerant Catholic priest to preach against alcohol he replied: “For heaven’s sake, I’m not a Baptist.” And forget the Lambada, or whatever its 1930s ­predecessors were: In Fordlandia entertainments featured American square dances.

Romantic Fools

PJ O'Rourke on The End of The American Love Affair with Cars:

The American automobile is—that is, was—never a product of Japanese-style industrialism. America's steel, coal, beer, beaver pelts and PCs may have come from our business plutocracy, but American cars have been manufactured mostly by romantic fools. David Buick, Ransom E. Olds, Louis Chevrolet, Robert and Louis Hupp of the Hupmobile, the Dodge brothers, the Studebaker brothers, the Packard brothers, the Duesenberg brothers, Charles W. Nash, E. L. Cord, John North Willys, Preston Tucker and William H. Murphy, whose Cadillac cars were designed by the young Henry Ford, all went broke making cars. The man who founded General Motors in 1908, William Crapo (really) Durant, went broke twice. Henry Ford, of course, did not go broke, nor was he a romantic, but judging by his opinions he certainly was a fool.

America's romantic foolishness with cars is finished, however, or nearly so. In the far boondocks a few good old boys haven't got the memo and still tear up the back roads. Doubtless the Obama administration's Department of Transportation is even now calculating a way to tap federal stimulus funds for mandatory OnStar installations to locate and subdue these reprobates.

100K For A Good Cause

DeeAnne is cycling 100 kilometers to raise money to fight diabetes. You can find out more about this event and donate here.

Aught-Nine Tour Information

(Courtesy of Mike)

The Doughty 500 2009 basics have been established. Below are the dates and hotel info.

Doughty 500 – 2009 (Mike, Sean, and Tom are the cruise directors)

Date: July 27 – 31

Location: Hayward, WI

Hotel:
Ramada Hayward
10290 Hwy 27 South
HWY 27 S & CTY RD B
Hayward, WI 54843 US

Phone: 715-634-4100
Fax: 715-634-2403
E-Mail: ramada-hayward@cheqnet.net

20 rooms
Rate: $85
Block #730