It feels like fall anyway!    Strong north winds and temperatures in the 50’s.   It still feels good to get to the weekend.   We had our neighborhood picnic today, well we ended up inside.  But it was still nice to get a chance to sit down with friends and catch up,  and eat too much!

It was a good week otherwise,  busy at work.  We had the nights free.   Monday night was a nice night and we took a long boat ride into Winneconne and had supper.   And I accomplished some work on the homebrew club newsletter and have that almost set to send out.   Next week we head to Albuquerque for Labor Day weekend, so when we get home it will be time to get it sent out.    We are looking forward to the trip to see John and Marie, Tom and Barb, and friends.   And back to warm weather!

I do have a project,  we had our winter wood delivered, so now it needs to be moved and stacked.   I had a good start today,  the cool weather is good for that.  But I have quite a ways to go, but 9 face cords gets us about through the winter.   I sometimes wonder why I built the lean to’s to store the wood near the lake rather than near the driveway!  But I guess I wanted to keep bugs and ants away from the house.  Tomorrow the sun is supposed to come out, so it might be a good day to clean the chimney.   That is always a fun project to kill a few hours.

So enjoy everyday, life is short!

A good weekend coming to an end.   Last week Wednesday we had the homebrew club picnic here.  Had a little rain but just light,  still got some boat rides in courtesy of Noel, and everyone seemed to have a good time.    Thursday Night Noel and I attended a TimberRattler baseball game in Appleton and had a nice night, and got to see a win!

Last night had a great meal with Father Bob at St Pius in Wauwatosa.  It is always a nice night with friends and Father Bob does an awsome job on the Bar B Q, and this year was no exception.   He may have over served me with his wine tasting,  but that was great also. Luckily Chris stands in as my designated driver!

Today a nice brunch with Mom, and headed home late afternoon.  Just a gorgeous day,   not too hot or too cool.  Very little wind so had a chance to burn up a lot of brush I had cut.  And Chris and I had a nice sunset cruise on the pontoon boat.     Now to get ready for the work week again.   The good news is we have been busy at work again.  July was the best month of the year and August is doing well.  Unfortunately there were some more job cuts, due to the weak first 6 months of the year.  And we don’t have any solid booking to say it will finish the year better, but there is always hope.

So we should get a couple of warm days this week  and then cool down again later in the week.  I am hoping for more summer yet!  It is August!  The tomato’s are just starting to ripen, so will make some more salsa this week.  Nothing better than fresh vegies!   And we need to eat light after gorging all weekend!    But football season soon,  I have not seen a Packer preseason game yet but it sounds like their new defense is coming together.   Kind of like spring training,  hope springs eternal.
So here is hoping you have a great week!

Almost through the week.   Weather staying nice, maybe it is summer.  But with that I have been seeing the geese flocking up a lot the last week or so.  There were a couple of hundred out front this morning.  And the Sand Hill Cranes are always just 2 or 3 together, and saw about 15 together this morning.  The mums are blooming and the sun is setting earlier.  What does all that mean?

Had some freinds from the homebrew club over this week and we had a nice pontoon ride and a few good beers.  OK,  maybe more than a few.  Next week we have the club picnic here, so have been cleaning up the boat house and preparing.  The food line gets set up in the boat house, and weather is looking like it may hold for next week, slightly cooler but good.

MJ traveled to Florida with her time off.   In time to find out our air conditioner was out,  so that has been taken care of.  Tme for Chris and I to start thinking ahead to when we get to go down!   But for the next 2 months we have our weekends pretty well booked.  Irish Fest this weekend,  Father Bob’s bar b que in Wauwatosa next week, neighborhood picnic the following week, then off to New Mexico for a long Labor Day.   Then Enders October fest time, and then some camping at High Cliff State Park.  Just not enough time to have fun!

So we will be listening to a lot of music this weekend, love those fiddles and pipes.  We hope you have some fun this weekend!

little river band

Friday,  actually made it through a full week of work.    Door County was better!   It was a busy week, but we are home this weekend and can caught up on a few things yet to do.  But that always seems to be true.   We did get a number of things done.   On Wednesday I was down to Milwaukee after work (actually made a work stop on the way in West Bend).  Did some shopping for Mom and made my stock club meeting.  A smaller group is continuing our stock club.  We lost a couple of members who passed and had a few who dropped out.  And a smaller group of us will keep going, although without monthly meetings and a little more social activity.

And Thursday night Chris and I made it down to Waterfest in Oshkosh,  our weekly music festival.   A friend plays in a great local band, called Tin Sandwich, and they were on first. They play some blues and rock.  Do some great Santana cuts which I love.  Then another local band Copper Box who plays what they call swamp rock.  Some Cajun, some polka some cover.  Then Little River Band,  which plays a bunch of their hits from the 70’s and 80’s.  See if the link works, although they look a little different now!  It was a beautiful night for a concert.

Coming up next weekend is our annual trek to Irish Fest in Milwaukee, the largest Irish festival outside of Ireland (maybe including).   And we always find lot’s of music there we enjoy!     Rain and cool today, but warm weather coming in over night.   Chance of rain all weekend but sounds like there will be chances to do plenty outside in between chances of storms.   I hope you get out and enjoy it!

August has arrived,  which means our Door County vacation is over.   It was a wonderful time as usual, and way too short.   There were a number of friends I did not get to sit down and talk with, or golf with.   Of course I worked part of each week which did not help!  But I did get some golf in and golfed with Mj and John more than once.     The time went by quickly,  I wanted to golf more, get to some of favorite restaurants that we did not.   But it must be because it is so enjoyable just being there.

There was spaghetti night on the 25th with our usual large crowd.   And fish fry on the 29th thanks to Eric’s fishing.  And time just sitting in a lawn chair!     So we hope you all are getting to enjoy some of the summer.   It was Green Bay’s coldest July on record,  but looks like August may start warming up.  The last month of summer.    We have Irish Fest this month, and Father Bob’s Bar B Q another weekend in Wauwatosa.   And a homebrew club meeting here at our house.  So the month will pass quickly also.   We will try to get enough ‘boat time’ worked in also.

In the mean time there is yard work to do and still clean up around the boat house.  And some more gravel to landscape, and weeding the garden!  Tomato’s, beans and peas are just starting to come.   And peppers!   It doesn’t look like there will be many carrots this year,  I may have to change garden plans next year.  But Chris’s raspberries were a bumper crop, and the second set of stalks seem to be filling in well, so I expect a good second harvest also.

Enjoy!