We hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend, even those out of country!  A big deal here in the states to celebrate the country’s independence, although too often we may forget how good we have it.   We are living a good life here.   Work sucks some days,  but it is a means to an end!   We have been enjoying the summer.   We have made it to a number of farmer’s markets and there are more vegetables all the time.   Walking the morning market with some fresh sugar snap peas and a cup of coffee works well.  No boats this year, so no rides but no maintenance!  Our wonderful neighbors held their Independence day pig roast and fireworks before the 4th this year.  And somehow they managed to have more food and better fireworks than ever.     And being out for a walk or bike ride is very enjoyable, our summers are short but good!

For the long weekend we made a Michigan trip.  We spent a few days with Mary Jane and John in the Grand Rapids / Holland Michigan area.   We like Western Michigan a lot, and we are usually there on the ‘edge’ of the seasons and not summer time.   So we walked to lot’s of shops and of course a few breweries.   We took the car ferry across Lake Michigan.   I was again happy NOT to drive through Chicago.  2.5 hour relaxing ride is much better.   And we had very nice rides.    Next up will be getting ready for the Door County camping trip in a couple of weeks.  So we hope all is well with you, find something to enjoy in life!

Lake Butte des Morts

New Holland

Big Lake Brewery 2nd anniversary party

Founders Brewery

a great tap line up at Hop Cat

Grand Haven

Heading out on to the lake

the channel from Muskegon

Unloading the cars

Here comes the boat

Hello All.

Just a quick update from the Bauer household.  Nothing new and earth shattering!  We have made it into June,  1/2 way through the year already.     And the Wisconsin weather is starting to make us think summer.   I finally put more of my winter clothes away and brought out some of the summer gear.   A week ago I still started a fire in the fireplace, as night time temperatures made it down into the 30’s and threatened frost warnings for the plants.    But I think we have that beat now, think optimistic.   I have some plants in the garden and everything is growing well.   We had some rain last night and through tomorrow,  the temperatures are forecast to be in the 70’s and near 80 this week.  So I am much happier!

Marie is with us, she arrived in Wisconsin the week before US Memorial day.   Memorial Day weekend I took a couple of days vacation and we headed up to Hayward Wisconsin, the far northwest part of the state.   For a number of years now it has been our routine to visit with Dick and Carol who keep a very nice trailer on Sand Lake.   We no longer have our camping trailer, last year we rented one and drove it up there.  This year we went an easier route and rented a cottage!   It was nicer being next to Dick and Carol, but this was an easy drive up to northern Wisconsin.   The cottage was older but well kept and clean, and only 5 minutes to Dick and Carol.   We had another wonderful weekend.  The weather was better than we expected.  Dick and I spent a lot of hours on the water fishing, and did very well with our catches of Crappie.  Large sized pan fish that taste wonderful.   And we made time for some shopping and some favorite restaurants.   Thanks Dick and Carol, we had a blast.

So now it is settling into a summer routine.   I had to put a new battery in the lawn mower, and the grass is looking well.  It needs some fertilizer and weed killer but overall green and full.   The spring flowers have bloomed and the apples have formed on the trees.   We are forming our plans for our late July trip to Door County.   Last year we went to Europe and for the first time in 35 years we missed our time with friends camping.  So it will be special to be back this year.     And we are planning a Michigan trip for 4th of July weekend.   We have some things to get to Mary Jane and John so will meet half way and spend a few days enjoying southwest Michigan.  So the summer weekends are already getting booked up!

No progress on our house sale.   We are tiring of the process, obviously the value we and the realtors believe we have is not being seen by the potential buyers!  We have lowered the price to our bottom line and have had a lot of activity with people wanting to see the house.  But no offers.  Our realtor assures us the market is better than it has been for 8 years, so we agreed to keep it for sale another few months.   If nothing happens by then I think we will take it off the market for awhile.   But hope springs eternal we will find that right person yet.

We hope all of our family and friends are doing well.  We worried about family and friends in Texas during the recent weather problems, but it sounds like all is well.   Everyone deserves a break now for nice weather,   Enjoy!

I have been remiss in doing updates, not that you ‘all miss hearing from me!   Life has seemed as busy, or busier the last couple of months.   Wisconsin weather was good, then lousy, and now hopefully getting better.  It is time to get the yard cleaned up and have not done much yet.  The weather held us back, and then Chris was sick and had bronchitis,  then I had the flu and had pneumonia.   It seems we are still recovering!

But good weather helps, and we left Wisconsin and came back to Florida.   While it has been more rain than usual,  the weather has also set some new temperature records for April.  So I finally got warm!  Chris and I have been working from here, so our days are filled.  But we have spent some quality time with our 90+ year old neighbors Al and Viv.  Cocktail hours and favorite restaurants.   Chris and I made it to a local brewery (guess who’s idea that was?).   And we have had continued construction on the condo building.  Wait until this bill comes in!    A couple of weeks have gone by quickly and now heading home.   But it looks like the weather in Wisconsin will be welcoming.

The house is still for sale, and that is getting old.  We have had a lot of activity this spring and had some nice comments but no offers.  Lots of good things but most think the house should have more ‘finish’ and probably more room.  So we are considering what we want to do with the price.   Obviously the realtors just guess on a custom home like ours,  how much money do we need for our retirement?  We will see what is next.

In the meantime we are hoping for some nice spring weeks to enjoy.  We hope you are all well and enjoying life!

construction

Intercoastal in front of our complex

a calm ocean

barrel aged beers

Enjoying a beer!

It has been  a long week!  Chris and I arrived back in Wisconsin last Saturday Feb 14.   It is a shock leaving that wonderful Florida weather and hitting the cold Wisconsin winter.   And the last few days have been below zero Fahrenheit.  But that has been the easy part of the week.

We lost my Mom this week.   Assisted Living found her unresponsive in the bathroom Monday morning.   She was taken to the hospital and they guessed she has some type of infection in her system.   They found a UTI infection but did not think that was bad enough to be causing the systems they saw, and thought the infection may have entered her blood stream.  Skip and Claire spent a lot of time with her, but she was not recognizing or responding to anyone, and was very agitated and her body was in constant motion.  The hospital needed to restrain her arms to keep the IV’s inserted as they gave her antibiotics and tried to sedate her.   24 hours later and there was no change in her.   The antibiotics did not seem to be working and she had not calmed down at all.  The doctor felt she was in discomfort and pain, and we made the decision to give her enough morphine to calm her.   Mom was always very happy that even with her knee degenerated she had no pain, and that was one thing she did not want to have- pain.   Chris and I went down to Milwaukee Tuesday and we were all with Mom when she passed away Tuesday evening.

She has no more pain.   Skip saw her last week and she was doing well, and I spent some time with her before I went down to Florida.   I thought she was doing well, and am glad that when her time came to leave us that it went quickly.   She was ready.   She would have been 94 this week, and thought that is too long to live.   Having to depend on others to help her was understandably tough on her.  She had some wonderful caregivers, and some that should do something else with their lives.  Her friends and family are gone and she had few of us to talk to.   This last year she grew more tired, but she enjoyed decorating her apartment and outside of her door.  She still had a good memory and was very ‘with it’.  We say that assisted living will struggle without her, as she often would help the other residents who would forget their way.

Now that lent is here the church’s are very busy and finding and open time for a funeral mass was not easy.   Mom and I had discussed mass so I wanted that.  We will have a mass at noon on Monday in Greenfield.   We encouraged Mary Jane and Craig not to spend the high cost and the difficulty of traveling to get here for the mass.  The time spent with her while she was with us and keeping those memories is most important .

She is peaceful now.  She is with Dad again, and can talk to Lottie every day.

Emily A. Bauer (Nee Sikora),

Emily was born To Eternal Life on Tuesday, February 17, 2015, at the age of 94 years. Preceded in death by her loving husband, Russell. Loving mother of Duane (Claire) and Randy (Chris) Bauer. Beloved grandma of Mary Jane (John) Espina, Denise Bauer and Craig (Andria) Bauer. Emily was born in Milwaukee to Joseph and Anna (Nee Dudon) Sikora on February 20, 1921.

Visitation will be held on Monday, February 23, at ST ALPHONSUS CATHOLIC CHURCH, 6060 W. Loomis Rd, Greendale, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 noon. Mass of Christian Burial Celebrated at 12:00 noon. Private burial at St. Adalbert Cemetery. – See more at: http://www.churchandchapel.com/obituary/Emily-Ann-Bauer/Greendale-WI/1482394#sthash.GgGPvWw6.dpuf

Christmas Eve lunch

1979

Seems like I have been slacking in updates!   January has gone by and we are well into 2015.   January started off great, with Chris Mary Jane and I in Florida.   We brought the New Year in with Noel and Jo Ann in Estoro Florida.   They treated us wonderfully, and of course we left relaxed and our stomach’s full!   I stayed on in Florida until January 10th, and then headed back to real life!   December and January in south Florida were above average temperatures.  So even though Wisconsin temperatures were pretty comfortable compared to 2014, it still was a big let down to get back.   Marie came to Florida before I left, and has kept Chris company.   I returned January 31 and can stay until February 14.   This time Chris will come home with me.   We are lucky to be able to work as we travel, that is a big perk for us now in our last working years.  Being able to get away and enjoy some of life without having to burn our vacation time quickly.   No plans yet for what we do next in our travels.  Certainly we want to get back to Florida again, and we want to get to New Mexico this spring.   We will have to see how the cost of airfares rise around spring breaks and Easter and try to make some plans.

Since Christmas we have had  a lot of activity looking at our house.  We are told we have some very interested people, but no offers yet.  Oh well, it will happen when it happens.   We will just stay the course and continue to prepare for the next steps in our life.  Don’t stress the small stuff.  We are blessed to continue to enjoy life.   Being here in the warm weather is wonderful.   We spent part of the afternoon outside with our wonderful neighbors for cocktail hour.  At 90 and 93 years of age they are an inspiration!    We have met a lot of great friends, and certainly our Florida friends fit into that category.   Enjoyable to spend time with them and they are all very caring.

So we hope your winter is going well.  Stay safe.

cocktail hour

Ron and Verna, Marie and Chris

Those that know me also know how much I am enjoying life.   Warm weather, was in the low 80’s today.   Sunny, a light ocean breeze!  The intercoastal waterway was full of boats and the ocean beaches full!!   Just a perfect day.

And the Packers won a big game today, now NFC north champions and get an off week next week.  Very concerned when Aaron Rodgers went down, but now no doubt he should be league MVP.     A little nervous while we were watching the game at 2 Georges, tradition for us when we are in Florida.  But fun and turned out well.     I will miss the Monday morning at work, which is always positive when the Packers win.   But will work Monday with the wind blowing through the palm trees.

And now I will find a good beer in the fridge,   a good cigar from the humidor,  and go outside with my shorts on and relax a little.

Boynton Beach

better than ice shoves

A very  Merry Christmas to you and yours.   OK,   December  seemed to have gotten away from us this year.   We did not get Christmas cards sent out as the weeks flew by.  But I wanted to let you know we think of all of our family and friends and wish you the best for 2015.   Chris and I are blessed and 2014 was good to us and we pray for those continued blessings.   We had lot’s of fun in 2014 and had a chance to spend time with many of our friends.   We did not get to Door County for the first time in 30+ years, but for that we spent time in Germany and Switzerland which we will never forget.   Our thanks again to the cousins in Switzerland who treated us so well.  And special prayers for Annemarie recovering from surgery, that recovery comes quickly and 2015 is pain free.

We had some extra time with Mary Jane and John this year and they contributed to my beer tasting!  While we did not get to Albuquerque we did spend a lot of time with Marie!   Special prayers  for her good friend Betty which cancer took Christmas morning.   The pain is over for Betty but she will be greatly missed.   My Mom is doing well.   I have seen her age have more effect this year, but at 93 years that is not a surprise.   We had a nice Christmas Eve with her and she was in great spirits.   The wheel chair makes getting around difficult but she is thankful she is pain free and her days go quickly.

Chris, Mary Jane and I switched things up this year by taking advantage of air fares and flying Christmas Day.   Even though recent Wisconsin weather has been mild,  it is nicer to be at 77 degrees even though today is cloudy.  But sunshine ahead!   I am confident that when I do retire I will not see snow very often, South Florida is a great place to be in winter!   So we have a some days of relaxation ahead, and Chris and I will both be working some days- with the door open and breeze blowing through the condo.  New Years Eve we plan to see the Enders.

Chris’s eyes are doing well.  The second eye surgery took a little longer than the first, more to what they told us to expect.   And she is very happy.   Another couple of months the eyes should be to their new normal and she can decide on glasses, likely for computer work.   We are blessed, and the many blessings to you and yours for 2015.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hope you all are doing well, and that those that had a Thanksgiving weekend thoroughly enjoyed it!  Charles we wished we could have shared a Thanksgiving dinner with you!   We had a wonderful weekend.   The house we rented had a couple of issues but overall was a very nice house.   We had a relaxing time, lot’s of good food and some visits to Paw Paw and Kalamazoo Michigan.   The weather has been up and down.  We had some weather above freezing on the weekend and then dove down into the single digits.   And being home during the daylight at the end of the week I see it has taken a toll on the lake, and our lakefront.   These early freezing nights have formed good thick ice on the lake but still enough water to allow it to float and expand.   And for only the 2nd time I have seen in 40 years we have some pretty good ice shoves along our lake front.  The ice has buckled up along most of our shoreline, and where it has not buckled it has pushed the land inward.   We have areas that the land has pushed up and buckled the frontage up a foot.  There are a couple of mounds in the lawn that were not there a couple of weeks ago.   The force of nature is mighty powerful!  Amazing.

6-8 inches of ice

relaxing

Bells Brewing

Time continues to fly by.   We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.   A long weekend to enjoy here in the states, at least for those of us still working!   Some day I will get to retirement and it won’t matter as much for me!  For now I am looking forward to a short work week.  We will be traveling.  To Milwaukee Wednesday night, then to Kalamazoo on Thanksgiving.  We rented a house again, and will get together with John and MJ, Skip Claire and Denise.   Then some sightseeing for a couple of days!  We will relax and enjoy.   And the same to all of you!

Chris had her second eye surgery and all is well.   The first one was so perfect and this one has been as they tell you to expect.  A little more discomfort and taking a little longer to heal.  But still great.  She is seeing better than she ever has, but will have to wait for it to fully heal before determining the next step.  Since one eye is distance and one eye is reading (as her contacts were) and she will likely need glasses for computer work.  She had her week after surgery examination today and all signs positive.

Not so positive, winter has been here in full swing for Wisconsin.  We have had plenty of cold (which I hate) and last night had 6 inches of wet heavy snow.  We had a little warmup in between the cold and snow, with some rain.   I am not sure that was a positive change, but we deal with what we have!  Now some cold (well below average)  and I see the 10 day forecast shows another warm up.

Take some time to enjoy life, give thanks for our blessings, and tell someone you love them!

Lake frozen and yard covered

wet and heavy! deer tracks on left

We are into November, and it looks like from here on in the temperatures will be going down!   At least that is the 10 day forecast.   We have had some nice days and the yard is in pretty well prepared for winter.    Unfortunately my ATV/plow is not ready to go and it will need to go in for some service.   But I won’t need to plow anytime soon, will I?  We have had a bunch of fun!   This weekend my homebrew club, the Society of Oshkosh Brewers, SOB’s,  held their charity event serving all homebrewed beers, wines, and meads.   And it sounds like we exceeded previous years attendance.  Which is great, we were hoping we could give $10,000 to the food pantries this year.   It seemed like a good time was had by all, and we had a good crowed of happy people!

Chris had cataract surgery today,  and first results are excellent.   Trying to look out from the eye shield on the way home she said she was seeing better than she ever has in her life.   Went back for a check up this afternoon and the doctor said it could be 2-3 weeks before the eye is fully healed and all swelling gone, so things should only get better.   Chris did great.   We will see how she does the next couple of nights trying to sleep, she needs to protect the eye for a week.   And in two weeks she has the other eye done.    And Marie recently had cataract surgery and says she is doing great.   All good news.

I wanted to share some photo’s from Cousin Charles in Switzerland!  He has been doing some hiking and shared some photo’s of the areas we saw this summer.   The views in Switzerland are awesome!  Thanks Charles,  I will include a little of his e-mails that came with the photo’s. (If you click on the photo you should see and enlarged version, I need to use the back arrow to get back to the home page)  Wish I was hiking with you and Walter.

As promised in your blog 2 photos from the top of the Grosse Mythen which I climbed end of Sept. To the south you see lake Lucerne and 4300 ft below the towns Schwyz and Brunnen. We had actually planned to take the boat from Brunnen but as there was no parking space, we drove on the Flueelen and boarded the boat there and passed Brunnen again – this time on the water – on the way to Lucerne. In Flueelen we met Emil who astonished us again with his fabulous memory of the good old times in Milwaukee. To the north you see part of Einsiedeln at the far end.

from the Grosse Mythen

Grosse Mythen

Yesterday I was enjoying together with my brother Walter probably one of the last warm days before winter is coming on one of the surrounding hills. One of the photos you see part of Einsiedeln. On the left you see the inrun of the ski jumping hill and just behind even part of Lake Zurich. You also see part of the Sihlsee with the bridge. On the second photo you see some snow covered mountains. Glad to say that I have been on all of them.

Kleine Amsel 2

Kleine Amsel