Back up and running it looks like!   The Blog was down a few days,  as Craig’s server got hacked.   But he must be pretty good at this as he has things back up and running.     Too bad there are people out there with nothing better to do!  Thanks Craig.

So a good day when the Packers win, and even better when they beat Farve and the Vikings!   And beat them convincingly.  I will admit to being worried about going into Minnesota,  and the first quarter did not make me feel better.   But like a good team they took control and rolled    And congrats to UW for their win over Michigan.  Another tough place to go in and play.   But a dominating win, when you tell the other team you are going to run the ball, and just keep running it down their throats.  I guess we root for Penn State and Joe Pa next week to beat Michigan State and Wisconsin should go to the Rose Bowl.  Friday night we headed down to Milwaukee and went out to eat in Wind Lake with Dick and Carol.  Good Mexican food and good music with strolling musicians.  An enjoyable evening.  And spent some time with Mom.  She is doing well.

Got home mid afternoon and have spent time yesterday and today trying to fix some leaks downstairs leading into the shower.   I found the leak, and was able to get at it from underneath the stairs, barely.   I may be getting to old to contort under the stairs and reach up in between the studs to work on pipes.  But I did not want to cut open a wall, which a plumber would have done right away.     The first fitting blew open when I turned the pressure on.   I don’t think I put damaged  it when installing,  so it may have been defective.   Then I went to plastic pipe for part of it, which worked but part of the iron pipe was dripping after instalation.   So the third time should be a charm, except I still have a drip.   Where it was dripping from is fixed,  but where I thought it was dripping down the pipe,  well that fitting was leaking slightly also.   So that is it for today, it can drip  into a bucket for now.   Will need to crawl back in another night.   We are cleaning up under the stairs though!

And Chris has been busy, the tree is up and decorated.   The house is looking festive.

Good news last week from sister in law Marie.  They found some polyps and a growth.  But the biopsy came back negative.    Still a surgery to find out about but the news is getting better.  God Bless, Marie.

I still have my local guy looking for my deal on a car.   We have some pretty tight options and pricing we are looking for,  so will give it more time.

Work was pretty hectic last week.  But a short week to look forward to this week!  We will be heading to Michigan again for Thanksgiving.  We have a house rented in Saugatuck.  MJ and John will drive over from Detroit,  and Skip Claire and Denise will join us.   We are looking forward to a few relaxing days.   It is always fun to walk through the tourist towns and just spend time together.  The last time we did a house it worked out really well,  so are looking forward to doing it again.  The house we did in Holland last time was already booked so we are doing a different one.  This has a fireplace, which may be needed.   We had a couple of warm days,  but that is supposed to be changing on Tuesday.   Getting much colder, and of course good chance for snow on Thanksgiving.   So as long as travel is good on Thanksgiving, and coming home Sunday,  we can take some snow while we are there!   Southwest Michigan is known for lots of snow blowing off Lake Michigan.   So we will see!  Planning our Thanksgiving meal, and snacks and beverages.  And of course lot’s of clothes for whatever weather!

So if I don’t post again before Thursday,  we hope everyone has an enjoyable, and safe Thanksgiving.  Go ahead eat and drink too much, and enjoy the people you are with!

Another weekend is quickly going by.   Even though it is not the best of weather.  We stayed home this weekend,  our first full weekend at home in quite awhile.  So we are getting a few things done around the house that needed to get done, or we just wanted to get done!    The tree even went up yesterday!

And today I did some cleaning in the garage, while I brought the snow blower out.   Then the snow blower tires needed some air.  Then I may as well put some air in Chris’s Trailblazer tires.  Then I thought I should check the spare, which hangs on the back of the truck.  And of course it did not come down as it was supposed to.   So a couple of hours later,  or maybe 3,   I finally had enough pieces cut, trimmed, and the cable cut to get the tire off.    So now it is in the back of the truck and usable in case we need it.   And I will have to find out where we can get a replacement mechanism.

Even though I don’t like the cold,  this may be the worst time of year.  The fall is nice,  September and October.   But now we are in the cold and grey days.  And wet!   The garden is brown except some parsley that is still there.  The flowers are brown, the grass getting brown, and we are having light rain showers.   Here is where the snow becomes more welcome.  I am glad we missed the 10 inches from St Paul,  but at least in light snow I can accomplish some things outside without getting soaked through.   So we will see what the next weeks bring.   I won’t hunt this year, I did not get a permit for Fort McCoy opening weekend.  If the rest of the group was there I may have gone up on Monday which I can,  but none of us received permits.  But the hunters could use a light snow next weekend to make it easier to see and track in the woods.    And it is easier to sit in the snow than in the rain.   So I hope they get some snow by the weekend.   Sounds like mostly rain during the week.

So I expect another tough work week.   but then a short week to look forward to and time with family in Michigan for Thanksgiving.   We have a house rented, so another new experience in Saugatuck Michigan.  Always fun,   So take care, have the best week you can!

Welcome to the new time zone!.   Tomorrow leaving work will suck.  We will be in the ‘go to the work in the dark leave work in the dark’ mode.   Luckily I finished moving my wood pile today,   so everything is stacked for the winter.  Friday night I had a nice fire and it felt good.  Chris and I are both fighting colds,  hopefully we are over the hump on those,  but I am not so sure.

We had a good week, somewhat quiet.  The colds kept our evenings quiet.   And I had a hard time trying to get caught up at work,  I think the cold made me feel like my thoughts were a step behind.   But on Friday I finally got close to being caught up.  Hopefully I can continue that in the week ahead.

Saturday I did some moving or firewood early, and in the afternoon we headed to Milwaukee.  Spent some time with Mom and did some shopping for her.  She is doing very well.    And then we headed for 5 o’clock mass at St Pius, to be followed by their annual auction.   It is always a fun evening with our friends, and we usually spend too much money.  We were disapointed to miss out a on a couple of usual buys.  but still had a great time.  And a good meal to boot!

And today went to brunch with Mom,  which was very good and an enjoyable start to the day.   Then the drive home and I finished the wood pile.  So now it is working on the homebrew club newsletter while I wait for the Packer Game to start.  Another night hoping the Pack can play up to their potential.   The offense has been struggling some,  but they have managed to find a way to win.   A shut out of the Jets,  in New York,  with so many injuries on the defense.  That was pretty impressive.

We have our plans set for Thanksgiving,  will try out renting another house this year in Southwest Michigan.  We will be looking forward to those few days with family.  So have a good week.  enjoy life

If you missed the trip you can check the last few posts!   Made it back home tonight.   Flights were good thanks to good weather.  A slight delay in Atlanta waiting for them to come up with a stewardess.  But they made up the time on flight.

The morning started off going to the West Palm Beach tax collectors branch office,  the tax collector does all the car registration and licensing also.   They open up at 8:15 and when I got there around 8 the line was around the building already.   I almost left at the point.   but stuck it out.  They actually have a pretty good system and they quickly started moving people in.  they bring people out to start sorting through the line and separating out the different needs and who had what was needed to even go in.

So I got in fairly quickly, got my number and took a seat.   We had printed out the list of everything we needed and thought we had it covered.  We did pretty well,  but they did not tell us that because we were licensing it in both names we needed both drivers licenses.   My attendent was helpful and patient as we worked through Chris trying to get a copy faxed in.  And we made it,  the title is processed and plate transferred.   And made it to the insurance agent for an inspection and insurance is in place.   Not much time after that to  do much.  Back to the condo, clean up a few things and finish packing, and get the condo shut down.  Friend Jose gave me a ride to the airport and a couple of cigars – I did not have time to get to the cigar store.  Adn off on flights.

Now back to work, at least it will be a short week.    Have to re cover the pontoon boat tomorrow (did I tell you the winds tore the tarps off?)   will cover before the rain comes.    And this weekend down to Milwaukee for the St Pius auction.

Get out and vote on Tuesday.