I hope everyone had a great 4th of July,  and are still enjoying the holiday weekend.  We had great fireworks courtesy of our neighbors the Thoma’s.  I was lucky enough to have Noel and Andy  and Sandy join me for the festivities.  We had some beer, some food and watch the fireworks from the pontoon.    And Sunday Noel and got 9 holes of golf in (I probably got 18 holes worth in the 9) and another boat ride.   Then Noel headed home and I headed to Milwaukee.   Spent some time with Mom, and Skip and Claire.  We watched fireworks from Mom’s place and went through the wedding pictures with her.  She enjoyed the evening.

Today I came home, have not accomplished anything special  just a few loose ends here and there.  Start to prepare for back to work tomorrow.  Good news, only a 4 day work week!.   And at the end of the week my wife comes home.  MJ is doing OK,  but when they said she would have a miserable 10 days,   they have so far been correct.  Going on 7 days.  But some signs of getting better, even though the increments are small.  So we will hope the next few days show larger improvements.

Someone coming out tomorrow night to see the pontoon boat for sale.  And Wednesday plans are for a stock club meeting in Milwaukee.  And they are calling for rain most of the week which will make it hard to get the grass cutting in! Hopefully a dry few hours while I am home.  So enjoy the week,  maybe I can get a start now on my homebrew club newsletter!

Home from Minneapolis.  We had a good weekend.  We had a better trip than John and MJ.  They had a 13 hour ride up on Thursday.  And Friday morning John got a call that his sister was being taken to the hospital.  With his Dad out of the country John then headed back to Detroit, another day of driving.  The good news is his sister was OK enough to be released by the end of the day and sounds like she is fine.

So by the time we got to Minneapolis John was long gone.  We had the afternoon with MJ.  We were in the same hotel with Skip and Claire, and we were all ready to leave for Craig and Andria’s cook out Friday night when Skip heard the news that a storm was in downtown Minneapolis,  a few miles west of where we were.  So we delayed at the hotel, watched the heavy rain, wind and hail blow through!  We thought it was over and headed to Craig’s house,  but we were wrong.  The worst of the storm was over but heavy rain then continued all evening.  So Craig and his best man grilled in the front of the garage as the rest of us partied in the house!   But it worked out well and a good time was had by all.

Saturday we had the day to spend, as the wedding was at 7pm.   We took a boat ride on the Mississippi with Skip, Claire, Denise and Claire’s sister Carol and husband.  It was a relaxing ride and a good time.  MJ took the chance to see the Mall of America.  I had the chance to visit a Brew Pub with Chris and MJ for a late lunch, Great Beers and food in downtown St Paul!

We made it back to the hotel to clean up and then off to the wedding.  It was held on an island in the Mississippi in downtown St Paul.  A neat building called the boathouse.  The ceremony was outside, and although the weather was threatening after a very warm day,  the rain held off until after all were inside the building for dinner and reception.  It rained hard all night but another good time was had by all.  Craig and Andria are happy and make a great couple.  We were happy to be there.  Pictures on the album page.

So I had the short drive home today, only about 4.5 hours.   Chris and MJ had the long one to Detroit.  But I just talked to Chris and they did well sharing the driving.  MJ’s tonsil surgery is Tuesday, she is on antibiotics to fight the infection she has, and everything still looks like a go!   Have a fun week!

Made it through hump day. Actually not a bad week at work, or maybe it is because I am off Friday and it is really Friday tomorrow.   A better outlook.

Last weekend went quickly as usual.  We had a great meal at Eddie Martini’s with Skip and Claire Saturday night.  The meal was excellent as was the company.  We stayed at the table until they invited to get us a table in the bar so they could seat someone at the table!  Then we stayed in the bar until we noticed the staff was leaving and we were the last customers in the place.  It was a good night.

And Mom was doing pretty well.  We had a nice time in the morning and lunch with her.   And home in time to do some more work in the garden.   She has opted to not go through the procedure to check for blockage, and we are all good with that.

Now getting ready to head to Minneapolis for Craig and Andria’s wedding.  We will head up Friday morning.  They have a bar B que at their house Friday night, and Saturday night the wedding.  I changed oil and checked Chris’s car out last night.  Tomorrow night pack the car.

Chris got the grass cut.  We had a little rain tonight, and a fair amount last night.  But we have been lucky enough to be missing the bad storms.  Southern Wisconsin early this week and tonight north of us possible tornado’s.  Now hopefully a break.

We plan to see Mary Jane and John at the wedding, although they are both sick!  MJ on anti biotics again, as the plan is for her to have tonsil surgery next Tuesday.  Chris will be driving back with them to take care of her baby after surgery.   I will have to fend for myself for awhile.   We pray all goes off as planned  and the doctor thinks MJ will feel much better after the tonsils are out.

So have a great rest of the week.  We hope your weather is good, where ever you are.    Chris thought she saw turkeys in the driveway this morning,  but those are Sand hill Cranes,  She figured that out quickly!  Taller and much louder than turkeys!

Enjoy

Coming up on another weekend.  This week went by pretty quickly.  And the next couple of days of course go the quickest.

Lot’s of problems at work this week,  I guess that helps make the days go by quickly.  Because I never get to what I plan to do.    Last weekend we were home and got a lot done.   Saturday we bought Chris a Nook,  the Barnes and Noble version of an electronic reader.  It is pretty cool, she can easily download a book when she wants a new one.    She will be spending some time with Mary Jane after she has her tonsil surgery in just over a week.  So while she is baby sitting she will probably be doing a lot of reading.

And I finally got around to ordering some new glasses.  The last pair we had a teflon coating on,  which they said made it easier to clean, which it did.  But I also swear it made it get dirtier that much faster.  They seemed to attract dust, dirt , when they got near skin they smeared.  So I was happy to get a new pair.  I was at the eye doctor a few weeks back.  I had to wait a month to get in, that was probably a mistake to wait rather than go anywhere else.  The time before, a few years back, I had gone to one of the optical place and the doctor there did a good job of my prescription.  Here the eye ‘technicians’ did all of the work and the doctor waltzed in at the end.   And I took vision insurance this year which was supposed to cover most of the eyewear cost also.  So I looked at glasses at the doctors office and they had to call me back with the cost a couple of days later.  They needed $300 for the glasses.  That just did not seem like a good deal.  So we stopped at eye mart express Saturday which was also in the vision plan.   They treated us well, I picked out similar glasses and no line bifocals that I had looked at, and a pair of sunglasses with a straight distance lens, and got both those for $125.  What a racket.

Last weekend was Oshkosh Irish fest.  Chris and I went to Sunday Mass and then I was serving beer for 4 hours.  Chris hung around and listened to music, and we both spent more time there when I was done working.   They did a nice job, but had rain and cloudy weather.  Still a decent crowd, and I guess did OK Saturday.

Wednesday night was my homebrew club meeting.  We have a pretty large group and some good brewers.  The problem is trying to taste too much!  And last night was Oshkosh Waterfest, 2 local band that I like a lot were there, and then Little River Band was the headliner.   Chris was in Appleton, her group was serving supper to a Women’s group that is building a Habitat for Humanity home.   So she was doing good and I was listening to good music.  I met lot’s of friends and the weather was great.  Tonight we are missing the storms that are hitting Milwaukee.  I planted some of the flower seeds my sister in law gave me and pulled some weeds.   Now we are heading out to listen to a friend who plays in a blues band.  Tomorrow night to Milwaukee to have dinner with Skip and Claire, and spend some time with Mom!

Everyone else have a great weekend also!  Sounds like good weather in Wisconsin.

I guess I am over due for an update!  Last weekend we were home part of the weekend and accomplished a lot.  We did buy flowers and vegies for the garden and I got them planted.  And they have received plenty of rain since!  I think they are due for more sun and warmth before they drown!  It sounds like the warmth will come this weekend, but probably more rain also.  Hopefully they are wrong on the rain.

Oshkosh Irish fest will have it’s second year of existance.  Last year they had great weather and great crowds,  this could be more difficult.  Lot’s of music and food planned, and things for the kids.  They have tried to model after the Milwaukee Irish Fest on their small scale.  And trying to make it affordable and family friendly.  Hopefully they don’t take a hit this year.  My homebrew club is helping out in several areas.   And they give us a pretty nice amount of money for helping out,  and in turn we plan to donate some of that to charity.  I serve Guiness on Sunday.

And we made it to Milwaukee last weekend.  Had a wonderful chance to go out to eat with John, Mary,Noel,Jo Ann.  A very nice meal at the Bluemound Inn.  And good company.   And spent a little time with Mom and filled her up on groceries.    Then made it home and that’s when I finished planting, and transplanted a few things that were ready to move.   And finally cleaned up my work shop and the boathouse a bit.  I was a bit tired by the end of the day.

Then Monday night I had my homebrew executive meeting here.   That always involves too many great beers.   and I need to finish up the homebrew club newsletter yet and get that out yet this week.  Full meeting next week.  Tuesday night we were supposed to go to the Timberrattler game,  the Brewers A ball affilitate.  Always fun,  but Tuesday was cold and rainy.  So we skipped it.  And I got some much needed rest.  Well some rest.

Saturday we also bought a new wireless keyboard and mouse, the old keyboard was having trouble.   And it has some nice features to it.  but I could not get the software to install properly.  So I spent a couple of hours playing with that, install, uninstall, install.  Try the trouble shooting tips.  Finally given up on and an e-mail sent to Logitech support.  Well I got a response and more things to try.   But one of the first things the rep said was Logitech products don’t work well with switches.  I had told them we have 2 computers sharing keyboard and monitor.  Well it turns out that is it.  The tabs in the control panel for setting the keyboard and mouse functions don’t show up,  but if I disconnect the switch and plug the wireless receiver directly into a computer.  The tabs appear and I can set up all sorts of defaults.    That sucks.   Chris says she likes the keyboard, and all of the normal functions are fine.  Just not the shortcuts and ability to set up special functions.  So I guess we will do without that and keep the keyboard.  And my hours are attributed to my learning curve.

And I still have a hard drive to hook up.  Staples had a Iomega on sale and I have been thinking it is time.  We have an external hard drive now, that we archive both computers to.  But we have had that a number of years now, so rather than chance it the cost of another external is cheap compared to the frustration of  losing data.  So my plan is to move everything to the new hard drive, and use the old as redundant.   The new should be faster access for the computers.  But tonight won’t be the night to work on that.  I need to be refreshed!

Last night was a Milwaukee trip.  We had a stock club gathering.  The gathering is pretty small these days.  We met at Meiers Restaurant which was nice.  We have a smaller group after losing a number of members these last couple of years.   And age is taking it’s toll on others.  One member I have known all these years announced his ‘retirement’ last night.  Back problems and the onset of dementia are slowing him down.

And  being in Milwaukee gave me a chance to spend a little time with Mom.  She has not been back to normal since she was in the hospital and they diagnosed a problem with a heart valve.  She had a stress test a couple of weeks back, which my poor brother had to suffer through (not a good day).   They have diagnosed some blockage, and want to go in to check it out.   That is a big question for her, and she does not completely understand.   So we will see where that goes.

So tonight is almost over.  I think a little walk on the treadmill should prepare me for bed.  And then hey,  it is Friday and the weekend is here!

We had just a great weekend.   The weather was great,  the fishing was fun, and the company was outstanding.   We spent the weekend with Dick and Carol in Hayward the area.  Our chance to take the trailer for a ride and spend the weekend in the small park where they keep their trailer.   I think there are only 7 trailers there, all full time parked.   All close to the water with plenty of space.   And Ann, the 91 year old owner lets us pull into an open spot only otherwise used by her daughter’s RV.

Dick had the boat out and had done some ‘scouting’ fishing.   The first couple of days we fished on another nearby lake where he had found some crappies.   We used to do very well on Crappies on Sand Lake where they are, but not the last couple of years.  Dick’s thought is they have been over fished through the ice.  So we had lot’s of fun on the other lake, brought home some crappies and caught lots of rock bass and small mouth bass.  And Monday we did fish Sand Lake and caught some perch and walleye.  The size limit on the walleye is 18″ though and we had no keepers.   Although we had a bunch that would have been perfect eaters!

And we cooked out, and we went out.   Lot’s of great establishments to visit up there.   So we had some cocktails and good meals out, and even managed to fit in a brewpub.    A little rain Sunday night was late enough to not bother us, and they needed some rain.  So life was good, and the 5 hour drive went well, truck and trailer performing well.    We came home late Tuesday afternoon,  and Enders joined us here on their way back from their Door County volunteer month.   So we fit in a pontoon ride and some cocktails before I had to head back to work this morning.  That was not much fun,   but we have to pay for this somehow!  And the rain held off until today, and we needed it.  So that will help what is in the garden.  The problem is that it will still be too wet to plant tomato’s and seeds.   So we will see when I get around to that!  I paiinted the other side of the downstairs bedroom doors.   So one more coat and that project will be finished.  The walls and molding in the hallway are done.

So we hope all had as good a weekend as we did!

Almost to the big weekend to kick off summer.  We wanted to wish everyone a great weekend.   We are heading to Hayward to visit with Dick and Carol.   And I will get my fishing in for the summer, and we usually catch fish!  And it does not sound like we will have to fish in a cold rain this year!  It sounds like it will be great.  So the truck is up to the trailer,  I think everything is packed.

So off to work in the morning and then try to position myself to quietly walk out the door.  The goal is noon.  I tell my boss I have plenty of hours in already.  So as long as there are no large issues off I will go.  Home, change, drop the trailer on the hitch and hopefully by 1 pm on the road.  5-5 1/2 hours later we will be there, and ready for a beer!

I don’t have the garden planted yet, still too wet. A project for when we get back next week.  But everything that is growing is doing great.  Our clematis has more blooms than ever!

So have some fun, relax, remember old friends and family.

Well nothing is for sure in Wisconsin.   But records are about to fall.  This is great!  It looks like it will at least carry into Memorial day weekend.  Let’s hope it carries Through the weekend.  We were home this weekend.  A chance to continue catching up on things around the house and start to prepare for the upcoming trip to Hayward.

We had some rain on Friday,  a lot of rain actually.   But when it stopped on Friday afternoon that gave me a chance to get some weed and feed down on the wet grass.   Of course as I was running out of  fertilizer it looked like it was going to rain.  But I lucked out and that did not happen.  And Sunday morning I picked up some more weed and feed and was able to finish all of the lawn.  The dandelions and creeping charlie had a big start this spring so I needed to do something to the lawn.

And I have been working on a wall in the hallway downstairs that I had put some paneling up years ago.   I drywalled that and was able to finish off  a few corners that I had never done.  Saturday I also picked up the wood I needed for the finishing work.  And Chris had picked up paint on Friday.  So most of the wall is painted and I have worked on painting the moulding and doors out in the garage this weekend.   I had to do that this morning before it warmed up.  Not sure when this week I will be able to paint if it is hot all week,  but a lot of the molding looks to be done and I should be able to start putting that up.

Today we had a visit from my Brother and his Wife, Skip and Claire.   So we had some relaxing time this afternoon.  A nice long boat ride,  there was a nice breeze on the lake.  It was great.   It was good to have them here.  We had fun and they did us a favor by transporting a few things up for us.  Thanks!  And now I have a rim to put the spare on the camper (there is a story there).

So I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the weekend.  Take a deep breath, enjoy life.

We are in Florida, life is good.  We are relaxed!   Had the usual airport problems.  A sunny nice day and our plane in Milwaukee arrived an hour late from Atlanta.  But we managed to still make our connection.   And we arrived in warm Florida on time.

We went out with neighbors last night,  I had oysters and soft shell crab,  needless to see Chris did not.  It was wonderful, and came back to our condo for a beer and a cigar (Chris skipped both of these also).  It was a beautiful night with a breeze coming in off the ocean.  At midnight it was probably 70 degrees.

This morning I took a nice walk along the ocean.  Then when I got back and showered we walked to our favorite diner for breakfast.   They have great food and large portions, so we brought home enough for tomorrow’s breakfast!

And I took a ride to my friend the cigar maker and spent some time talking with the locals.  And then Chris and I took a ride to the city park on the beach.  They are doing some remodeling so the upper walk and sitting areas were closed.  But we had a nice walk on the beach.  It was very busy,  with the ocean breeze coming in it was very comfortable there.   The humidity is starting in Florida, although it is not terrible.  And with the party cloudy skies I find it comfortable.  Chris was even surprised at the ocean that there was a difference from at the condo.

So we have not decided what is in the plans for tonight.  Either walk to a local restaurant our take something down to the pool and grill out by the intercoastal.    It all works.   I am on the porch,  just finished a German beer and am listening to a French band from Montreal.   Life is good.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.   I am going to go down and pour myself a glass of tequila to celebrate the victory over the French.

We had a chance to spend a little time with Enders, which was nice.  They are now on duty in Door County.  And it sounds like they brought the bad weather with them!  Watch out for those snow flakes Saturday morning!  We were on the edge of the worst of the storms last night.  The tornado’s were 10 or 15 miles north.  The lake sure got rough!  And lot’s of rain all night but that will be good for the ground.  Hopefully we did not lose the blossoms on our apple trees.

So I have a small project downstairs I was back to tonight.   Trying to finish a wall  that I didn’t do 15 years ago.  So the drywall is up and am doing my subsequent coats of drywall compound most nights.  It is getting close to the end.   I will have to decide on the type of finish coat I put on soon.

I bought some plants for the garden yesterday,  but did not get them in last night,  now too wet, and will be too cold the next days.  So will need a good day next week to put them in the ground.   Oh yesterday I did not get to the plants because we were busy shuffling cars.   On my way to work I lost power going over the Butte des Morts bridge.   I was able to get off the bridge on the north side of the water and pull it over.  So Chris came to get my,  I dropped the keys off at the garage and they towed it in later.   The way it lost power and ran I was thinking cam shaft.  But it was better news later.  The thermastat stuck closed, and when the engine started to overheat the sensors shut down the engine to protect it.  So it did not end up cheap,   but lot’s less than I was imagining.    The mechanic is not very positive on the future of my engine at 166,000 miles,  but we will keep running it for awhile.  The oil and compression may be going where it doesn’t belong,  but still not too bad.

So we manage to find things to keep busy with.

Another week and we will be getting ready to head to Florida for a long weekend.  That is always relaxing.  Speaking of which, time for my tequila.