Happy Tax day to all you procrastinators.     Hopefully everyone has something filed by now.    April 15 already, and still hoping for spring.  But finally we are seeing a few signs of better weather.   Saturday morning and Sunday morning Oshkosh woke up to more snow on the ground.  We have had lots of rain, sleet and snow lately.   And most of this week more rain is forecasted.  But luckily we had a little break yesterday.  Last night some thunderstorms blew through, but today got warmer and some peaks of the sun.  And amazingly a lot of ice has melted or floated away.   And that is a good sign.  I did some ice chopping around the boat lift on Sunday so the lift was free of the main ice.  So I was walking on it and it was solid and thick.  But when I got home tonight a lot of bay was water.   Ducks seagulls and pelicans were everywhere.    So I am hoping for a nice day tomorrow and more melting, without any wind.  I would hate to see ice floes blowing around in the bay.  But we will see what happens.  The rain later this week will melt the rest of the ice.   The lake is at a higher level than it has been in years, and the ground is saturated already.  So I don’t know where the rain will go!  But it will be messy.

Chris is enjoying warmer weather in Albuquerque with Marie.  They DO have spring!  I wish I was there, but timing did not work out for me.  I will hope Chris brings back the warmer weather!  I hope you all get to see Spring soon!   And we say a prayer for those in Boston and hope that we get answers and justice quickly.

Saturday Snow

sunset

birds enjoying the new water

ice is still here

We hope you all had a good Easter, end of the lenten season and celebration of the risen Lord.  Time has continued to fly by for us and we hope it starts to slow a little.  Time to enjoy the time as it flies by!  We have been back to Florida, and thoroughly enjoyed it.   It has been so good to enjoy the wonderful warm Florida weather, helps my outlook on life!   We had a chance to see our snow bird neighbors before they left Florida.  We had a wonderful week.  And we finished up our kitchen remodeling, that was this winters project.  And we are very happy with how it turned out.   Chris says she can reach all parts of the kitchen from one spot, but new cabinets and counter tops have given us much more storage space and useful area.  So I think next winter we try to relax and enjoy (and save some money).

I just heard that our Wisconsin March weather was the coldest in 53 years, and average temperature was 20 degrees last March.  So we are not in Spring here yet.  Although the warmer weather of last week did melt a fair amount of snow, and surprisingly daffodils are starting to pop up where we had ice a few days ago.  It was 21 degrees this morning, but is supposed to warm up a little later in the week.    So we still hope Spring will come, but Enders and Jeske’s stay in Florida and enjoy it!   They are still driving on the lake but probably the shoelines will start to break down, but plenty of ice out there yet.

We have spent a number of months cleaning house, trying to down size and decide why we have all this ‘stuff’.  We have done a lot, and finally got the house looking ‘a little’ empty.   The For Sale sign is up, so we will see what happens next.  Time to move to the next phase of life, which includes less maintenance and upkeep.   Who knows how long it will take but we have made it to this step.  And we look forward to whatever comes next.   Most of my friends have been afraid to stop over, worrying that I would make them take something home!   But we are done downsizing, for the moment!

Chris will get to Albuquerque for a week soon.  A chance to spend a little time with Marie.  I had hoped to get there this spring but the timing is not working out.  And Marie will be here mid-May, so I will see her soon.     So take care, enjoy life!

New kitchen