On Wednesday, June 11, Heide and I ran down to the Rock County Fair Grounds to get in on the annual "Pork Fest."  The event ran from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. but beware the "chops" go a bit before closing.  We both bought a two-chop dinner to eat on site about 6:00 p.m. which cost us eight Bucks each.  We got a beverage, apple sauce, some potato salad, and of course, two sautéed chops.  As we ate in the grandstands we were serenaded by a local band. 


    - Photo by Bob Keith, June, 2008 -

    We made our way to a take-home booth to pick up a couple four-chop uncooked packages to-go.  As our luck would have it they ran out of the to-go offering around 7:30 p.m.  But!  They had a drive-through that served the cooked and uncooked options.  When the drive-through closed they ran some chops over to the take-home booth as we were just arriving.  We got some packages of four seasoned chops for ourselves and a couple friends for eight Bucks a package. 


    - Photo by Bob Keith, June, 2008 - 

    Heide quizzed a couple of the guys at one of the booths and found out the event is nothing new.  Sounds like they have been doing it annually for a bunch of years.  The event is sponsored by the Rock County Pork Producers.  Other groups like the 4-H and the Future Farmers of America chip in.  It is easy for city slickers to forget we are surrounded by agriculture here in Wisconsin.  The "Rock County Pork Fest" is cool with Cool Dadio.  Look for it next year in early June.  You should not be disappointed.

                                  Wisconsin military service person of the week

    Army Specialist Eugene A. Uhl III, 21, of Amherst was killed when two 101st Airborne Division UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters collided over Mosul, Iraq, on Saturday, November 15, 2003. Uhl was with Battery C, the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Uhl was his family's only son, the youngest of four children, and the Journal Sentinel quoted his mother as saying he would have been the last male family member likely to pass on the Uhl name. He was scheduled to be married in June of 2004. Uhl had been stationed in Iraq region since February of 2003. He entered the regular Army in June 2002 after first joining the Army National Guard in 1999. This was the same crash that killed Army Sgt. Warren S. Hansen, 36 who was last week's Daily Dadio honored Wisconsin military service person. Specialist Eugine Uhl III was Wisconsin's seventh military service person to die in Iraq.

                                            As of this blog entry's posting date:

    84,099 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
    
    8,301 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    4,085 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    505 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    312 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    306 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    30,143 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    1,992 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    90 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    10 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    127 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    15 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.