Making our way through another week!  A short work week for me.   We made it to Door County on Saturday.  The trip went fine,  the people on our site stayed to the very last minute!  But that is their right.   So after 3pm we made it on our site and set up.  The same for Enders.   And it was good to be there, it has been so many years it feels like home.  We enjoy the park,  the restaurants, the stores, and being with good friends.  And this year a whole group of us are next to each other.  From us Enders and Sporer across the way, Pindel and Miller on either side.

I came back to work Tuesday morning.  Drove direct to work from Door County.   I am saving some vacation days for later in the year.  So work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,  and leave from work Thursday to head to Door County.   Then I will have a long weekend and do it again next week.   Work has been very busy, which is good overall.   It makes for a lot to try to get done, especially since I have other things I want to get done!  I had a call from our concrete contractor that he had an opening and wanted to do our work on Wednesday.  So got home from work Tuesday and back to my ‘excavation’.   I wanted to dig out a lot of the decorative stone we had in so it could be used again.   That is the top layer, and we had screenings below that then dirt.  The contractors machinery tend to mix it all up.  So Tuesday night I got my work out in finishing the work.   Wednesday morning they showed up on time and went right to work.   We are doing a new entrance walkway coming into the breezeway, then by the grill a long patio area and walkway back to the woodpile.   It will be much easier to shovel in the winter!   And cut down on the gravel we track in.   They worked hard all day and were finishing up around 4:30, and came back later and put a sealer coat on.   It looks great.   I took lot’s of pictures I was going to put up,  but my camera must have defaulted back to a high pixel count and the site won’t let me upload them.  Craig I never wrote down the software you recommended for downsizing the pictures! (check that looks like it is now letting me one at a time, check some pictures in albums!)  Next week I will start working on putting ground and stone to edge it.

Good News on Mary Jane.  She is with us in Door.  She wanted to make her 25 year reunion at her grade school on Saturday (yes 25) and made the drive.  She is very tired of the sore throat but otherwise seems to be much better.  Unfortunately John could not make the trip.  He was released from the hospital last Friday night.   Still has some morphine and anti biotics in his system,  sounds like his elbow is much better and every day better.  Hopefully that is continuing.

So I was lucky enough to be able to work from home yesterday, it was a very busy day and I worked late after the contractors left.  So need to get going to work (It is 5:30 am) so I can leave as early as possible today (good luck).   All last night our cable was down and could not get to this, or a few other things.  Unfortunately is sounds like another rainy day is back.  It looks like the storms are already moving out of Minneapolis into Wisconsin and could get more storms this afternoon.   Sorry Sue, that sounds terrible,  I hope my ‘waves’ did not wash into the house last week.   And hope the road does not flood again.   I am hoping for our campers that this wave of storms stays south and leaves Door County alone.  Although the next couple of days  the chance of rain continues.  I have a golf game around noon tomorrow I hope to get in!

So everyone try to stay dry and enjoy!

I did look out at the sunrise and ran out.  Red sky at night sailors delight,  red sky in the morning sailor take warning.

Hey,  it is almost the end of the week!  And that means we are almost to Door County.  We have not got to this point smoothly but we have got there.   Chris is finally home!  Of course she was supposed to get home last night.   What did we have more of last night,  rain or lightning?   Well is was rain but gave it a good run for it’s money.   I got home for one storm, and tried to get some things done while I waited for Chris.  We did get a break in the storm, and I managed to get the cat in the house.   But then another storm came, this one with more wind and lightning with heavy rain.  When Chris texted me that she was on the plane and the doors were closed I headed for the airport.   The flight should only be about an hour and in good weather the ride is a half hour.   By that time our road was flooded over, pretty deep.  Of course I forgot to mention that early in the first storm we lost power.  So our large sump pump on the road may have helped some,  but it had no chance to try.  So I had been sitting in the breeze way with a flashlight trying to keep the cat calm.   But anyway, I creeped down the road with Chris’s Trailblazer, I knew better than to try the Focus.   And could feel the water on the undercarriage.  Made it through there and when I got to 21 into Oshkosh hwy 21 was flooded.   I wondered why the Sheriff was sitting there with his lights on.   So creep again.  And made it up the on ramp on onto hwy 41.  Well before I got to Neenah I got a text from Chris that they were opening up the plane.   The pilot was looking at radar and reports and was not willing to try and get into Appleton.  The weatherman,  the old weatherman in Green Bay had said he had never seen as many lightning strikes.  So even though I was watching an eerie sunset, a hole shining through the storms.

So back to Omro I headed, back through the floods.   I got home and got out the generater, ran extension cords into the house and down to the sump pump.  And ran that for awhile to give it a chance to keep up.  Of course it could not keep it from flowing back in,  but at least emptied out a lot.    And Chris received the news her flight was canceled and had to go get a rebook for the morning.  And we discussed what to do next.  It was already late in Detroit and Mary Jane has a good hour ride to get to the airport.  Then an hour home,  then do it again in a few hours.  So we decided Chris should get a hotel room and everyone try to get some sleep.

Oh, except John.  Wednesday John mentioned his elbow had been bothering him the last couple of weeks,  and I hear it was swollen.   So he went to urgent care, and when they looked at him they said he should go to the hospital.   When the hospital looked at him they said it could be an infection, and they kept him there.   Not sure what they all did besides pumping some anti biotics and pain killers into him.  This morning he was doing better, so the antibiotics were helping.  The doctor ordered some more rounds of IV and he gets to stay another night.

Oh and when Chris got to the airport this morning she had a call from MJ that her throat started bleeding again.  Chris told her to drink cold water and call the doctor, and the doctor said to get to his office right away.  And of course Chris’s plane was over booked and they needed some people off.  She was considering it at that point.   But MJ was far away and already on her way to the doctor.   So she kept her seat.  Of course they pulled away from the gate almost on time,  but then had to sit on the runway and burn fuel because they were overweight.   But she did finally make it home this morning!  And the doctor did a chemical cauterization in MJ’s throat.  And it sounds like the hospital did not do that on the first round of bleeding, which the doctor was not happy about.  He also does not sound thrilled that she will be 45 minutes from a hospital when she comes camping.  She and John are supposed to stop in Milwaukee on the way to Door county for a class reunion for St Sebastians.   But that is not the most important thing right now.   We will have to see how things play out.

So just an uneventful week.  There are people in Oshkosh whose homes are flooded, and we don’t have that.  Much of the camper is packed and we get some days to vacation with friends.  So life is not so bad.

If I could just find a way to not have to do Mondays.   As usual today sucked.   Just issues that pop up and everyone wants immediate answers to!  That won’t happen.   But the day did end with good news.  Mary Jane saw the doctor late in the afternoon and he says she is doing just fine.  She did feel better today, and the doctor says she can start to eat whatever she wants.  So that was very good news.  She is tentative on trying anything yet,  but that will come in the next week.  So hopefully she is past the worst of it.

It was an interesting weekend.   Since Chris was not home I had plans for yard work all day Saturday.   I started a batch of chili in the morning and then worked outside.  There were no predictions of rain until possibly late Sunday.  But in the afternoon the sky turned gray and I felt the breeze coming up.  We received heavy rain and then a pretty good hail storm.  And after that ended, another storm blew in.   An impressive cloud line preceded the next storm.    I have some pictures on the album page.     For no rain predicted we had a lot of rain Saturday night,  and another storm blow in late Sunday afternoon.   And tonight more storm warnings just came up on the TV.   I guess it is summer!

So preparing for Door County.   Packed up some things in the truck today and working on a list.  So a little each night and we should be set.    Have a good Tuesday!

Well things are not going as planned.  I thought I would be in Milwaukee picking up Chris, but plans have changed.   Thursday night about midnight Mary Jane started to bleed.  So they called the doctor and he said to go the hospital   So they spent the next 12 hours there, getting home after noon Friday.   Sounds like she was bleeding pretty well.  And then at the hospital when it was pretty well stopped they needed to get the clotted blood out of her throat so had her use ice chips to rinse her throat.  Which not only started the one wound bleeding again but broke open the one that was not bleeding.

But they got is stopped, had her on an IV for various reasons, including to stop the nausea from the blood she swallowed.  By 6 am they were all ready to leave, but ended up waiting for doctors and a release.      So Chris switched her flight to Wednesday.  And was able to get a flight into Appleton instead of Milwaukee.

So I am still left on my own.  A big batch of chili boiling right now,  some to pack up for Door County.  And out to do some yard work.  A nice sunny day,  getting warmer but was cool this morning.   A very light breeze, so possibly a boat ride later!

Take care,

Getting near the end of another week.   I always like the end of the week.  Even though this was a short work week it sure seemed long!  A couple of rough days mixed in.    Maybe it was a bad golf game to start the week that did it!  No even bad golf is better than working, and I had Noel’s company to make it worthwhile.

Wednesday was too many needy people at work.  Then I drove to Milwaukee for a stock club meeting, and traffic was horrendous.   But I did miss the down pours and floods in Milwaukee!   And got to see old friends.   A few of which, I am afraid,  I won’t be seeing much longer.  I have probably been in the club 30 years or more, and always been the youngster.   So the ones that are left have been retired many years and have lived a good life.  But age is taking it’s toll.  So I hope their last days are not drawn out and unhappy.  We have lot’s of good memories.  So the club will be left to just a few of us, youngsters like Al and Noel.

And after a rough day I stayed for a couple of drinks with friends.  Of course then when I got home to Mom she had stored up a lot to talk about.  So it was not an early evening last night, and up early to drive to work this morning.  So I skipped the Waterfest concert tonight, as fun as it would be I think bed will be soon.  Have some extra energy for the weekend.

Tonight some projects around the house.  Maybe tomorrow some relaxation after work.  Well,  try to cut the grass first, then relaxation.  Good friend Mike is playing with his band in Omro,  so will try to get there for awhile.  And on Saturday to Milwaukee to do a quick shopping trip for Mom and then pick up my wife at the airport.   She is coming home.  I am sure MJ will miss her.  But MJ is doing better.  They ventured out today and even met John for a dinner out.  MJ is limited in what she can eat but good she had the chance to get out and try a little pasta.  So hopefully in a week her strength is up for Door County.   I did a little packing tonight because next week will go quickly.

After a few things around the house I indulged myself in a quick boat ride and glass of wine.  the rain has stopped and the northwest wind is actually cool and refreshing.  And the sunset is beautiful.  Enjoy the weekend!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July,  and are still enjoying the holiday weekend.  We had great fireworks courtesy of our neighbors the Thoma’s.  I was lucky enough to have Noel and Andy  and Sandy join me for the festivities.  We had some beer, some food and watch the fireworks from the pontoon.    And Sunday Noel and got 9 holes of golf in (I probably got 18 holes worth in the 9) and another boat ride.   Then Noel headed home and I headed to Milwaukee.   Spent some time with Mom, and Skip and Claire.  We watched fireworks from Mom’s place and went through the wedding pictures with her.  She enjoyed the evening.

Today I came home, have not accomplished anything special  just a few loose ends here and there.  Start to prepare for back to work tomorrow.  Good news, only a 4 day work week!.   And at the end of the week my wife comes home.  MJ is doing OK,  but when they said she would have a miserable 10 days,   they have so far been correct.  Going on 7 days.  But some signs of getting better, even though the increments are small.  So we will hope the next few days show larger improvements.

Someone coming out tomorrow night to see the pontoon boat for sale.  And Wednesday plans are for a stock club meeting in Milwaukee.  And they are calling for rain most of the week which will make it hard to get the grass cutting in! Hopefully a dry few hours while I am home.  So enjoy the week,  maybe I can get a start now on my homebrew club newsletter!