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.

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

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!

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,

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.

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.

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……

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.