Almost to the big weekend to kick off summer.  We wanted to wish everyone a great weekend.   We are heading to Hayward to visit with Dick and Carol.   And I will get my fishing in for the summer, and we usually catch fish!  And it does not sound like we will have to fish in a cold rain this year!  It sounds like it will be great.  So the truck is up to the trailer,  I think everything is packed.

So off to work in the morning and then try to position myself to quietly walk out the door.  The goal is noon.  I tell my boss I have plenty of hours in already.  So as long as there are no large issues off I will go.  Home, change, drop the trailer on the hitch and hopefully by 1 pm on the road.  5-5 1/2 hours later we will be there, and ready for a beer!

I don’t have the garden planted yet, still too wet. A project for when we get back next week.  But everything that is growing is doing great.  Our clematis has more blooms than ever!

So have some fun, relax, remember old friends and family.

Well nothing is for sure in Wisconsin.   But records are about to fall.  This is great!  It looks like it will at least carry into Memorial day weekend.  Let’s hope it carries Through the weekend.  We were home this weekend.  A chance to continue catching up on things around the house and start to prepare for the upcoming trip to Hayward.

We had some rain on Friday,  a lot of rain actually.   But when it stopped on Friday afternoon that gave me a chance to get some weed and feed down on the wet grass.   Of course as I was running out of  fertilizer it looked like it was going to rain.  But I lucked out and that did not happen.  And Sunday morning I picked up some more weed and feed and was able to finish all of the lawn.  The dandelions and creeping charlie had a big start this spring so I needed to do something to the lawn.

And I have been working on a wall in the hallway downstairs that I had put some paneling up years ago.   I drywalled that and was able to finish off  a few corners that I had never done.  Saturday I also picked up the wood I needed for the finishing work.  And Chris had picked up paint on Friday.  So most of the wall is painted and I have worked on painting the moulding and doors out in the garage this weekend.   I had to do that this morning before it warmed up.  Not sure when this week I will be able to paint if it is hot all week,  but a lot of the molding looks to be done and I should be able to start putting that up.

Today we had a visit from my Brother and his Wife, Skip and Claire.   So we had some relaxing time this afternoon.  A nice long boat ride,  there was a nice breeze on the lake.  It was great.   It was good to have them here.  We had fun and they did us a favor by transporting a few things up for us.  Thanks!  And now I have a rim to put the spare on the camper (there is a story there).

So I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the weekend.  Take a deep breath, enjoy life.

We are in Florida, life is good.  We are relaxed!   Had the usual airport problems.  A sunny nice day and our plane in Milwaukee arrived an hour late from Atlanta.  But we managed to still make our connection.   And we arrived in warm Florida on time.

We went out with neighbors last night,  I had oysters and soft shell crab,  needless to see Chris did not.  It was wonderful, and came back to our condo for a beer and a cigar (Chris skipped both of these also).  It was a beautiful night with a breeze coming in off the ocean.  At midnight it was probably 70 degrees.

This morning I took a nice walk along the ocean.  Then when I got back and showered we walked to our favorite diner for breakfast.   They have great food and large portions, so we brought home enough for tomorrow’s breakfast!

And I took a ride to my friend the cigar maker and spent some time talking with the locals.  And then Chris and I took a ride to the city park on the beach.  They are doing some remodeling so the upper walk and sitting areas were closed.  But we had a nice walk on the beach.  It was very busy,  with the ocean breeze coming in it was very comfortable there.   The humidity is starting in Florida, although it is not terrible.  And with the party cloudy skies I find it comfortable.  Chris was even surprised at the ocean that there was a difference from at the condo.

So we have not decided what is in the plans for tonight.  Either walk to a local restaurant our take something down to the pool and grill out by the intercoastal.    It all works.   I am on the porch,  just finished a German beer and am listening to a French band from Montreal.   Life is good.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.   I am going to go down and pour myself a glass of tequila to celebrate the victory over the French.

We had a chance to spend a little time with Enders, which was nice.  They are now on duty in Door County.  And it sounds like they brought the bad weather with them!  Watch out for those snow flakes Saturday morning!  We were on the edge of the worst of the storms last night.  The tornado’s were 10 or 15 miles north.  The lake sure got rough!  And lot’s of rain all night but that will be good for the ground.  Hopefully we did not lose the blossoms on our apple trees.

So I have a small project downstairs I was back to tonight.   Trying to finish a wall  that I didn’t do 15 years ago.  So the drywall is up and am doing my subsequent coats of drywall compound most nights.  It is getting close to the end.   I will have to decide on the type of finish coat I put on soon.

I bought some plants for the garden yesterday,  but did not get them in last night,  now too wet, and will be too cold the next days.  So will need a good day next week to put them in the ground.   Oh yesterday I did not get to the plants because we were busy shuffling cars.   On my way to work I lost power going over the Butte des Morts bridge.   I was able to get off the bridge on the north side of the water and pull it over.  So Chris came to get my,  I dropped the keys off at the garage and they towed it in later.   The way it lost power and ran I was thinking cam shaft.  But it was better news later.  The thermastat stuck closed, and when the engine started to overheat the sensors shut down the engine to protect it.  So it did not end up cheap,   but lot’s less than I was imagining.    The mechanic is not very positive on the future of my engine at 166,000 miles,  but we will keep running it for awhile.  The oil and compression may be going where it doesn’t belong,  but still not too bad.

So we manage to find things to keep busy with.

Another week and we will be getting ready to head to Florida for a long weekend.  That is always relaxing.  Speaking of which, time for my tequila.