Archive for October, 2010

Oct 31

Sunday in Florida

third installment.  Well I made it!    No problems.  Let Georgia a little after 7 am this morning.    Made it hear about 12:37 pm.   1493 miles according to my trip odometer.  I forget where it turned over 1000 and started over.  So a great day today.

I have the car unpacked,  not decided where to situate everything in the condo yet.  I brought tools along,  will find a place in the closet for them.  Some glassware and kitchen dishes,  we can rotate out some of the old bowls out of the cabinet.

So I made it to 2 Georges for some lunch and a little relaxing.  but the Jets/Packers are on the local channel,  so back to the condo to finish up the game.  Not looking great right now, even though the Pack is up 3-0.   Too close for a game at home for the Jets.  I will do some clean up and wash off the porch.  Lot’s of black sand or whatever that is on the porch from the summer.  So will pull up  a hose and do some clean up.    And then maybe a chance for a walk.

In the morning to the DMV to try and register the car and then to see the insurance agent.   And I leave around 3 pm tomorrow afternoon.

Have a great Sunday.  Go Pack

Oct 30

Saturday Valdosta GA

Long day traveling today, I must be getting older.   But not as old as most people traveling!  I swear half the people on the road are retiree’s on their way to Florida.  Michigan, Wis, Minn, Canada and lot’s of Florida plates.  Cars and trucks full of boxes,  5th wheels, class A’s.   All moving south.   From the cold states anyway!

Over 1100 miles in from home now.  Left Indiana hotel before 7 am.  Saw dawn coming up in Indianapolis.  A nice sunrise,  just enough clouds to get the reds and gold at sunrise.   A smooth trip.  Through Louisville, Nashville and Atlanta.   Lots of pretty country.  Of course I could have stopped a the Jim Beam, Dickel, or Jack Daniels distilleries with more time!   Some day we will stop in Kentucky and Tennessee and spend more time.

So Valdosta is getting close to the Florida State line.  Up early in the morning and should pull into Boynton Beach mid afternoon.

I pulled off I-75 not sure where I would stay.  But a Clarion at the bottom of the off ramp, with a steak house connected.  And the desk clerk says I can go into the full service lounge, see some of the college games playing, and order my food there if I want.  Great choice!  And just over $50 a night.

So I am tired and need to stretch,  and eat.   So a walk to the lounge is in order.   Weather was warm all day and won’t need a jacket to walk over to the lounge, a nice night and sun just set.

Hope all had a great Saturday, and a great Sunday!

Oct 29

On the road

On my way to Florida.   Taking my Ford Focus down to Boynton Beach to live out its last days on the beach.   And taking tools and misc  that don’t fly well with us!

So I wanted to get a good start on Friday night,  everything says 24 hours from home.   So things have gone well.  I am in West Lafayette Indiana.   Home of Purdue University.   Farther than I thought I would get tonight.  And not totally smooth at that.  The Edens going into downtown Chicago is under construction,  but that still went pretty well.  It was on the way downtown that my GPS said there would be a major traffic problem.  I ingnored it until it was stop and go.  Got off on Toughy, did Cicero to E-something  a long way south to Western, and then back on I-90.  Worked very well and probably saved me a half hour of traffic.   The Skyway in Indianna is under construction also but that went well.   And once on Hwy 65 in Indiana it is just straight and clean.

So now at a Super 8,  cheap room that will do for 6 or 7 hours.  I want to get an early start and catch all the daylight I can tomorrow.   I am guessing a good 12 hours will get me to Valdosta GA.  Not far from the Florida State line.   Then a good meal and nights sleep and then Sunday should be an easy ride home.  That’s the plan!

Monday morning will try to get the car registered and licensed in Florida, and Monday afternoon fly home.   So when we go back down in December a car will be waiting.

And if things go smoothly I will have time Monday to stop at my favorite cigar shop, but will see.  Time to pour a short drink and get some shut eye.

take care,

Oct 24

How ’bout them Badgers?

What a great comeback for the Wisconsin Badgers.  A loss to Michigan State but then last week to knock off #1 Ohio State on National TV,   then to have to go into Iowa and play again on National TV.   And they played a great game and came out with a win.  I had no real  hopes  that they could win in Iowa, at least none I would admit to.    That is so great for those kids.

And how about Missouri.  That a way Mizzuo!  Wally must be happy, and Travis and Clint!  The rankings were upset this weekend.

Wednesday night I wanted to try a Scotch tasting at a local brewpub,  I have always been interested in learning more about scotch.  It was put on by a Glenlivit distributor, and a chance to try 5 scotches.  I thought it would come with some appetizers, and instead it was a 5 course meal.  A good night!

Then Friday was a church fund raiser for St Gabes in Neenah,  my homebrew club has helped them at their beer tasting fund raiser for a number of years.  and they did a better job than ever this year.   Good food, live music, good beers in a small venue.  Noel joined me and we had plenty of time for our own tasting.

And Saturday up to Door County to see Judy.    Jim and Nancy were also up there, and brother Bill.  Unfortunately after no rain all month we have had a rainy weekend.  But we still had a great time.  Sat and talked, went out for a nice meal and breakfast this morning at Judy’s.  Thanks Judy!

Then home and managed to clean the gutters, do a little work on the car and in the garage, and just make some progress on little items.

So a great weekend, again coming to an end.  And how Monday starts will probably have a lot to do with how the Packers play the Vikings tonight!  Go Pack.

Oct 19

Tuesday October 19

Another week gone by! I think with that week has gone our warm weather and heading back to normal.    I hope they turn on the heat at work soon!   But it was a great ride while it lasted.   We finished up a few more things to get ready for winter.  And the highlight of the weekend was having good friend Steve come in from Denver, and he hosting our annual SOB Packer game on Sunday.  Steve’s family has had tickets for many years, and Steve sets aside one game for 6 of us to go to a game each year.   The game was a downer.   They just did not ever seem to get in a groove on Sunday.  Even though they came close by going into overtime, it was never comfortable.  Rogers did not seem to be himself, and I thought had a hard time picking up receivers.  Of course if the defense could have put some pressure on the Miami quarterback things could have been different.

Oh well, the high point of the game day was being with friends.   We were parked and officially tailgating when the first beer opened at 8:10 am.   When you take a bunch of homebrewers tailgating everyone has to try and bring beers to out do the others.  Lot’s of great stuff.  High alcohol prize to Steve for a 15%+ Avery beer.  Lot’s of great tastes.   I made the eggs, chorizo and hash browns for breakfast burrito’s.  and constant food all day.  Bryce made the sirloin tips after the game.  We had a TV and inverter to watch the Viking/Cowboys game. Damn Cowboys.  No need to rush out from Green Bay, the traffic is stop and go for hours after the game.

Now off to the start of the week.   Work is very busy, one of these days I will get caught up.    For now the days seem long, but I will get that back under control.  Have the anti freeze in our tailer,  they said it was in the 20’s in Wautoma this morning.   I guess it’s time to put the short sleeve work shirts away for 6 months.   I will take a good break tomorrow night.   The local brew pub is hosting a scotch tasting, and I have always been interested in understanding more about them!   And Friday night my home brew club has a booth and volunteers at a beer tasting that is a fund raiser for a catholic school in Neenah.  They always put on a nice night,  relaxing and good food to go with the tasting.   Noel and I volunteer together.  And then finish off the weekend by riding up to Door County and visit with Judy and her chickens!

So everyone have a good week.   I think I heard we only have a couple of more weeks of having more political commercials than any place else in the country.

Oct 11

10.10.10

Made it though another week and weekend!  The weather has been beautiful.  We have taken advantage and gotten a lot done over the last week.  The trailers are parked for the winter, the pontoon is out and both boats are cleaned and covered.   The docks are all out and the boat lift in winter place.   So probably the most I have ever had done without doing it in some snow or at least cold rain.

We made it to Milwaukee Friday night.  Met Al Miller, Noel and Jo Ann, Tiff and Steve for a couple of beers and pizza.  They got a head start on us as we stopped by Mom first, and they rubbed it in by going to one of my new favorites, the Sugar Maple.  They have a fantastic tap list of American Micro Brews.   After pizza at DeMarrini’s,  I had the chance to try the Palm Tavern,  owned by the same people as the Sugar Maple and another great tap list dominated by Belgians.  An old south side tavern on KK avenue near Oklahoma.   Not where you would expect to find great beer!

We spent some time with Mom,  who is doing great, and had a chance to stop and see Muriel.  Then home to get some of that work done.  The weather was enjoyable,  last night I was out late in short sleeves with a campfire, burning up some brush.

So now the start of another work week.  Made it through Monday, my worst day of the week!   We are looking for a newer car for me.  The Focus is getting tired, so time to find something else to put most of the miles on.  I really like the newer Malibu’s.   Will see what we can come up with in our price range.

Homebrew club exec board meeting this week,   and we are having the Taurus Investment Club annual meeting Wednesday night.  That is the night we take the significant others out for an open bar and good meal.  Years ago we had bar bills over $1000, now with higher prices we have the meal and bar less than that!  An older smaller club.  But it is still good to get together with them and relax.  The annual meeting used to be to start the year, but now we need to do it before some retired members leave town, and in good driving weather!

So have yourself a good week.  We must have less than a month we have to listen to political advertising……

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Oct 04

October is here!

I am behind on updates.  We were at High Cliff State Park until Saturday.  We had planned to stay until later Sunday,  but with rain Friday night and a high predicted of 52 Saturday,  we decided to head home a little early.   That gave us a chance to start to winterize the trailers, and to be home Saturday to see the Badger game.  Unfortunately the game did not turn out as well as we had hoped.   But we watched the game, worked on Noel’s beers to lighten the trailer.  And did accomplish a lot with the trailers this weekend.    Saturday night we were going to teach the girls how to play cribbage,  but that turned out a lot like the Badger game.

Sunday was church and then some more projects before the Packer game.  Noel got all his seals cleaned up and water lines winterized.  And helped me pull the Bayliner out of the water.  So that is in the boat house,  still needs to be cleaned up and life jackets taken out,  but a good first step.  It sounds like we will have a week of good weather so I hope to get the pontoon out of the water this week also.    Have to take advantage of the good weather while it is here.  It was pretty frosty this morning but that should be the end of that for at least a little longer.

Most of the garden is looking done,  but the mums are in full bloom.

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