A good weekend coming to an end.   Last week Wednesday we had the homebrew club picnic here.  Had a little rain but just light,  still got some boat rides in courtesy of Noel, and everyone seemed to have a good time.    Thursday Night Noel and I attended a TimberRattler baseball game in Appleton and had a nice night, and got to see a win!

Last night had a great meal with Father Bob at St Pius in Wauwatosa.  It is always a nice night with friends and Father Bob does an awsome job on the Bar B Q, and this year was no exception.   He may have over served me with his wine tasting,  but that was great also. Luckily Chris stands in as my designated driver!

Today a nice brunch with Mom, and headed home late afternoon.  Just a gorgeous day,   not too hot or too cool.  Very little wind so had a chance to burn up a lot of brush I had cut.  And Chris and I had a nice sunset cruise on the pontoon boat.     Now to get ready for the work week again.   The good news is we have been busy at work again.  July was the best month of the year and August is doing well.  Unfortunately there were some more job cuts, due to the weak first 6 months of the year.  And we don’t have any solid booking to say it will finish the year better, but there is always hope.

So we should get a couple of warm days this week  and then cool down again later in the week.  I am hoping for more summer yet!  It is August!  The tomato’s are just starting to ripen, so will make some more salsa this week.  Nothing better than fresh vegies!   And we need to eat light after gorging all weekend!    But football season soon,  I have not seen a Packer preseason game yet but it sounds like their new defense is coming together.   Kind of like spring training,  hope springs eternal.
So here is hoping you have a great week!

Almost through the week.   Weather staying nice, maybe it is summer.  But with that I have been seeing the geese flocking up a lot the last week or so.  There were a couple of hundred out front this morning.  And the Sand Hill Cranes are always just 2 or 3 together, and saw about 15 together this morning.  The mums are blooming and the sun is setting earlier.  What does all that mean?

Had some freinds from the homebrew club over this week and we had a nice pontoon ride and a few good beers.  OK,  maybe more than a few.  Next week we have the club picnic here, so have been cleaning up the boat house and preparing.  The food line gets set up in the boat house, and weather is looking like it may hold for next week, slightly cooler but good.

MJ traveled to Florida with her time off.   In time to find out our air conditioner was out,  so that has been taken care of.  Tme for Chris and I to start thinking ahead to when we get to go down!   But for the next 2 months we have our weekends pretty well booked.  Irish Fest this weekend,  Father Bob’s bar b que in Wauwatosa next week, neighborhood picnic the following week, then off to New Mexico for a long Labor Day.   Then Enders October fest time, and then some camping at High Cliff State Park.  Just not enough time to have fun!

So we will be listening to a lot of music this weekend, love those fiddles and pipes.  We hope you have some fun this weekend!

little river band

Friday,  actually made it through a full week of work.    Door County was better!   It was a busy week, but we are home this weekend and can caught up on a few things yet to do.  But that always seems to be true.   We did get a number of things done.   On Wednesday I was down to Milwaukee after work (actually made a work stop on the way in West Bend).  Did some shopping for Mom and made my stock club meeting.  A smaller group is continuing our stock club.  We lost a couple of members who passed and had a few who dropped out.  And a smaller group of us will keep going, although without monthly meetings and a little more social activity.

And Thursday night Chris and I made it down to Waterfest in Oshkosh,  our weekly music festival.   A friend plays in a great local band, called Tin Sandwich, and they were on first. They play some blues and rock.  Do some great Santana cuts which I love.  Then another local band Copper Box who plays what they call swamp rock.  Some Cajun, some polka some cover.  Then Little River Band,  which plays a bunch of their hits from the 70’s and 80’s.  See if the link works, although they look a little different now!  It was a beautiful night for a concert.

Coming up next weekend is our annual trek to Irish Fest in Milwaukee, the largest Irish festival outside of Ireland (maybe including).   And we always find lot’s of music there we enjoy!     Rain and cool today, but warm weather coming in over night.   Chance of rain all weekend but sounds like there will be chances to do plenty outside in between chances of storms.   I hope you get out and enjoy it!

August has arrived,  which means our Door County vacation is over.   It was a wonderful time as usual, and way too short.   There were a number of friends I did not get to sit down and talk with, or golf with.   Of course I worked part of each week which did not help!  But I did get some golf in and golfed with Mj and John more than once.     The time went by quickly,  I wanted to golf more, get to some of favorite restaurants that we did not.   But it must be because it is so enjoyable just being there.

There was spaghetti night on the 25th with our usual large crowd.   And fish fry on the 29th thanks to Eric’s fishing.  And time just sitting in a lawn chair!     So we hope you all are getting to enjoy some of the summer.   It was Green Bay’s coldest July on record,  but looks like August may start warming up.  The last month of summer.    We have Irish Fest this month, and Father Bob’s Bar B Q another weekend in Wauwatosa.   And a homebrew club meeting here at our house.  So the month will pass quickly also.   We will try to get enough ‘boat time’ worked in also.

In the mean time there is yard work to do and still clean up around the boat house.  And some more gravel to landscape, and weeding the garden!  Tomato’s, beans and peas are just starting to come.   And peppers!   It doesn’t look like there will be many carrots this year,  I may have to change garden plans next year.  But Chris’s raspberries were a bumper crop, and the second set of stalks seem to be filling in well, so I expect a good second harvest also.

Enjoy!

Well almost to Door,  one more day of work and Saturday we head our on our annual adventure.    It is always something to look forward to each year for all of us – about 100 people who show up for spaghetti night.    And I think some of those young families have grown this year.

Chris and I look forward to relaxation, a little golf, and time with old friends.   And maybe visiting some favorite restaurants and bars.   And there will be time on the golf course.  There are a number to choose from, and a good year is when I am on them all.   I will be coming back  Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year.   Check the house, the cat, and save some vacation days for December.    It sounds like this will be a below normal temperature year.   But don’t worry, Chris always has her winter jacket and gloves along.  She remembers the early years when we had cold nights.

We arrive Saturday and Saturday night a group of us are going to Stone’s Throw Winery for music, food, and probably a little wine.  We have made one of their music nights for several years now and always enjoy.    And MJ and John will arrive sometime on Saturday.  They are starting off Friday night from Detroit,  so it should not be too late this year.

So trying to finish the last minute packing.  And getting the garden  and yard as prepared as possible for a couple of weeks!  With the dry weather I probably won’t have to worry about cutting grass in between!   But the weeds will keep growing in the garden.

And the boathouse is almost complete.  Finally got around to siding it.  We found a good guy to work with us.   He needs to come back for a little caulking and some blocks for electrical, but everything else is done and looking good.   I had removed the 16 foot garage door in front because the front of the building was getting week and bowed in about 3 inches.  So now it is firm and have some more storage space on the inside.   It is good to have another project almost done.

So everyone enjoy the summer,  it is going by quickly.

By the way, did you know if you click on any pictures they will expand on your desktop?

Project this week  was 8 more yards of screenings delivered.   The picture does not do it justice.  the area along the driveway is always used by trucks and people turning around at our dead end.  And Chris was tired of bouncing over the ruts with the lawnmower.   So gravel will be easier to take care of.    So a little more work for the ATV and plow.  Much better than snow.

Otherwise still cool for July, but not bad.  I took the pontoon out last night with a couple of friends.  We went out with the lake like glass and 15 minutes later had a strong northeast wind!   It turned into a cool evening.

We are hoping to go to Waterfest tomorrow night, of course they are predicting rain to come in tomorrow night.  It is dry and we need it,  but it could wait until after midnight.   It would be fun to see some bands and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Brews and Blues beer festival this Saturday in Oshkosh.  Always good music and choice of good beers.  My club will be serving for our booth and others.

And of course it is time to be preparing for Door County for us.  A week from Saturday we will be on our way.

Time to think about bed for me.  It was a long day today and have some more things to clean up at work in the morning.  But it’s good I am busy, RRD announced another plant closing in our division this week.

So everyone get out and enjoy some sunshine!

Happy July 4th to all.  It was wonderful to kick off the weekend by having Friday off!   A lot was accomplished around the yard and we managed some fun also.

We kicked off the weekend Thursday night by celebrating Steve and Nancee  being in town from Denver.  Steve is a great homebrewer friend, and his coming home is always associated with getting together with a few friends.  We all save up our best beers to share, which makes for a great evening and unsteady morning.

Some more flowers are planted, and some weeds have been treated.  And the boathouse being cleaned up of old house and boathouse windows (which involved a lot of breaking glass).   And Chris and I had a long boatride in the Bayliner.  There was a northwest wind, but very light.  It felt good to get on the water.  And we ended the day with our neighbor’s Thomas’ annual party.  Somehow they out do the year before.  This year included not just a pig roast, but a bear roast as well!  I loved it.   And a chance to be together with neighbors.   And it ended with Darrell’s fireworks show, which surpasses most towns.   And he again out did the year before.  This year he bypassed the row boat with the 4×8 plywood sheets bolted on, and bought a pontoon boat to use for the occasion.  He stripped it down and set up his show on the deck.  Judy said he spent 4 hours mounting fireworks and tying fuses.  It was great. Chris and I took it in from the pontoon boat.

This morning a light northeast wind.  Northeast winds are not welcome but at least it is light!  And cloudy and hazy.  But it is a comfortable temperature.   A good chance to catch up on reading the papers this morning and starting off relaxing.  The flag is flying and life is good.  Through all of our problems, politics, economy we still are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world.  And our lives could be so much worse.  We are called on to remember those who have made our country and our lives so good, and are called on to not be complacent;  to continue to change and keep the country vibrant.

God Bless the United States of America and may God Bless you and yours.

Yes,  it is wonderful to be in the summer weather!

Lot’s of good things happening, chances for everyone to get outside and enjoy.    We had a good week.  We has some boat rides, even though it has been hot the lake is always enjoyable.  We went to Waterfest one night,   Oshkosh’s weekly outdoor music festival.  And we heard a couple of very good bands (I bought more CD’s)  but headed home before the headliner came on.  Friday mornings I need to be somewhat alert!

Yesterday my homebrew club pulled off their first beer festival.   After a severe setback with the Wisconsin department of Revenue stepping in and telling us we could not serve homebrewed beer or they would come in and confiscate everything, a couple of club members especially stepped up and bought beer from microbreweries across the state.  and the micro breweries stepped up and offered what they could at the discounts available.   It seems like home brew was included in a state law pushed through a couple of years ago by the liquor distributers that makes beer go through distributers and makes it illegal for breweries to donate beer to festivals.   Instead all festivals must buy the beer through distributors.  The bill was fought against by the state association of small breweries headed by Deb Carey from New Glarus,  but was still included in a midnight revision and then passed.   It is also interesting to note that the largest politcal money contributions come from what group? =distributors.

But anyway the festival went off well – I had my doubts.   But it was well organized and run well.   The crowd was smaller than we would have liked, but for a first year and ‘iffy’ weather first guess is we paid for the beer and still will have some money to go to the Kiwani’s charities that we partnered with.    And a good time was had by all.

Much cooler today from the past week.  But very nice.  A strong northwest wind that will probably keep us off the lake.   But it will be nice for doing some projects.   So get out and enjoy!

It is summer, and even the heat feels good.   Yesterday evening down to Milwaukee for a funeral.  Tonight an at home night.

Managed to trim up the grass and do some edging.  And watered everything down this evening.  Chris has been watering in the mornings, and everything looks like it is doing well, including the weeds of course!  But it is good to see things growing and green.

Oh and we picked up my car from the shop tonight.  Blew a radiator hose on Monday night coming home.  The way it popped I thought it might have been the radiator but we were lucky enough to only be a hose.   So I had it towed in,  I was not up to sticking my head under a hot hood full of antifreeze.  So I let the shop do it.  So now the hoses should be set for another 150,000 miles.

After the yard work tonight I thought I deserved a pontoon ride.  So a cigar and a beer and a light northwest breeze.   Even though it was hot today it was a nice evening.  It had clouded up and threatened to rain,  but the sun came out for a little bit of sunset.   Life it good!

Well it is officially summer and it sounds like it is really going to let us know about it this week!  That’s OK,   I have been complaining about cold weather so long that I will make it through the hot weather!  We have had a series of rainy days turning to warm sun,  so even though I planted the garden late it is off to a good start.   Peas and Beans are up,  and radishes and a few of the flower seeds.   Tomato’s and Peppers look good and raspberries look like it will be another good year.   And this week with the very hot weather will have a chance of rain each day,  so things should continue to do well.  Of course the weeds are growing even faster so I’ll need to try to keep up with those also!

Friday we were in Milwaukee for the evening.  We visited with Mom and went out to eat with good freinds Dick and Carol.  We went to Gus’s cantina near Hales Corners, and it was a winner.  That will be worth going back for.    Saturday morning we did some shopping for Mom, and had lunch with her, and then headed home.   Enders joined us here Saturday afternoon.  We visited, went to church Saturday evening, out to Winro for a great steak, and made it home in time for a cruise on the boat.  And we finished the evening with some rousing games of cribbage, and a few good beers.

Sunday we did some work on Enders trailer,  and Noel and I floated on the pontoon for awhile.   I caught a 4″ walleye for the catch of the day.  Pretty slow fishing, but it was an East wind which is never good for fishing.   It was kind of a hazy day, and a nice breeze,  so it was very nice on the lake.  Lot’s of boat traffic with everyone out enjoying the summer.    Enders headed out to meet friends for supper near Milwaukee,  and I managed to get a few more things done around the house.  Some trimming, getting weeds out of the gravel, repositioned a pole and the ropes for the pontoon to even them out.  Just the little things that need to get done.  And replace a valve on the washtub that was leaking,  I’ll wait until tomorrow to put water presure on it!  So now getting ready to relax and prepare for another work week.  I hate Mondays,  but so far am lucky enough to still have a job to go to.

I hope everyone misses the storms this week and has an enjoyable start to the summer!