Wow, am I behind schedule!    This retirement is just too busy.    Life has been great for us.   We are surrounded by great friends that we share time with.   I have been getting some golf in, not enough to improve my game, most weeks is just one time out; and 2x a week helps my swing more!   But there are always other things going on.  We have had group breakfasts and happy hours.   We have been doing a little work on Marie’s condo.  MJ has been here multiple times.  Old friends John and Debbie spent some time with us and John and I took in a couple of Spring training games.   Chris and I had our main electrical panel upgraded so that is out of the way. 

We were looking forward to seeing Chris’s cousin from Switzerland but his flight has been canceled, so we will have to wait to see him again.  Lot’s of things canceled here in south Florida, I think some of the worry has gone overboard (too much news 24/7?) but I guess better than not doing anything.   I believe March Madness should have gone on without fans in the seats, and given us all something to watch while at home!   We will keep our hands washed and keep living our lives.   The drop in the stock market will keep us from going out as much and change our spending habits!  But everything is temporary, things always return to normal, just have to wait and see how long the bear market lasts. 

So keep eating your veggies and keep your immune system strong.   But enjoy this great life we are blessed with.

girls out painting

MJ on beach

John at Washington Nationals game

don’t look for golf balls

Breakfast anyone?

We want to wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.    A new decade is beginning, for many of us we grew up thinking of 2020 as something in the far off future, so far off as to be some space futuristic movie.   But we have made it this far, and we may not be in hover cars, but could not have foreseen being linked to our smart phones and depending on our on-line connection.  Most of us are living a good life that we could not have imagined.   Chris and I feel blessed and thankful.   We look forward to the next decade and wish you all a healthy and happy year ahead!

Another month has gone by quickly!  Chris and I were busy settling back into Florida.   With our drivers licenses and voters registration settled in we worked on unpacking and reorganizing.  I had decided last year that after 15 years it was time to get a new refrigerator.   Our neighbor last year had to wait a month for her new refrigerator so we decided to be proactive.   Since our kitchens are small we are limited in size; and most retailers show lots of large size specialty refrigerators, but that would not work for us.   So we did our research and made a decision and ordered.  Ours came in quickly and we are very happy with our choice.  I have done some research and settled on an electrician to change out our breaker panel, but otherwise spent a lot of time on smaller things.  Amazing how time goes by.  I have been waiting to sign up for Medicare since the best plan for me is not available to me in 2020 and the new plan was only approved for Florida this week.   Politicians getting in the way again.   But hopefully we take care of that this week. 

Weather has been beautiful, we have recently hit what the local weatherman call a cold front.   Which meant overnight temperatures getting around 50 and daytime in the lower 70’s.    MJ was here for Thanksgiving  and we had some grill outs and pool time.  This weekend the city Christmas parade formed in front of our condo and this coming Friday is the local Christmas boat parade that we had come down to see for a number of years.  So we look forward to that. 

We have been working through an unpleasant issue.  We found a collection agency had put an issue on our credit report.   A cable company in Milwaukee WI had issued an account under my name to someone in the central city, which defaulted.   I am sure the cable company representatives are anxious to quickly sign someone up to an account, and that goes through much more quickly than it takes to prove to them you were not the one that opened the account.  So we are in the midst of that.   The collection agency and cable company want you to enter a police report, but the police do not want to open a report for something they cannot investigate.  More to come on this.  Letters and notarized letters on the way. 

So we are looking forward to the rest of the month going by as quickly as the last.  Marie arrives this week,  MJ will be back for Christmas, and our neighbors start arriving back after Christmas.  Shortly after New Years all of the condos around us should be full again.    So we hope you also are getting ready for Christmas and will have a wonderful time with family and friends!

Love the ocean

Christmas lights are up!

Pool Time

Happy Halloween

Almost another month has gone by and we have stayed active!  We were on our way home from New Mexico on my last update, and then we soon headed up to Washington Island Wisconsin.  We had another great time with Steve Janet and friends.  Like last year the weather was great the first day and we took in lots of spectacular color in the trees.  Then the rest of the weekend became cool and rainy.  Somehow that did not stop us from having lots of fun, food, and drinks.   Having the resort almost to ourselves lets us have some great meals in with everyone contributing.  The wind also added to some fun for some on the car ferry ride back though! 

Once we got back to Oshkosh we were busy packing and preparing the apartment for us to leave.   After a leisurely start on Monday October 21 we headed out on our fall trip.  We packed up the car, disconnected the battery on the car that was staying, and finished up the last of our preparations to leave before traveling 2.5 hours to New Glarus!  We love New Glarus, for Chris it started when she was a child and her Grandmother took her to this Swiss town.  For me it was when New Glarus Brewery started brewing their great beers.  We did make it to the brewery and spent some hours visiting local establishments in town.  And we did have a great Swiss meal.

The next morning was on the road to St Louis.  We had not visited old friends Bev and Wally for awhile and we spent a couple of nights with them catching up and revisiting old times.  We did have some more great beer and food, including Pappy’s in St Louis which the Food Network rated as the best BBQ in the country.  Of course we had the ribs, which they say they go through 6000 lbs per day!  They were awesome.

After a couple of nights and sad good byes we were back on the road, this time heading to Little Rock Arkansas.  We have had this destination on the list, Chris’s Dad was born there and we wanted to see what it was like and try to fill in some questions.  The family story was that Chris’s Grandparents and Father left Little Rock when a cross was burned on the neighbors lawn because they were Catholic.  We were not sure when.  I had not heard about the KKK targeting Catholics but when reading historical documents from the U of Arkansas I learned it was quite prevelant and in the 1920’s the State legislature passed a law allowing law enforcement to enter Catholic churches and rectories because they were sure the priests were holding nuns and lay women as sexual hostages.  The KKK was at a peak in the 1920’s against Catholic, Jews and immigrants: and today the KKK is on the rise in Arkansas against immigrants and people of color: go figure.  But we had a good trip to Little Rock.  We had a picture from Chris’s Grandmother of a church and procession that we had tried to find a location for years.  We thought it was Milwaukee.  But it was actually Little Rock, the church still looks the same and a genealogist at the library there placed the picture as probably in the 1920’s.   With some further help from the library we traced the grandparents addresses in city directories as still in Little Rock in 1923 and in Milwaukee in 1926.  And we now have a couple of new questions to follow up on.   Unfortunately we had some cool rainy weather and did not get around town as much as we had hoped.  But it was still a very interesting and fun time, and of course we found some great places to eat and drink!

After a couple of nights in Little Rock it was back to the road, this time to Tupelo Mississippi; which by the way is where Elvis was born.  Of course they have a tourist attraction at his birth home.   We visited and found it interesting.  We traveled in mostly rain again that day, and Tupelo had been hit by a bad storm before we arrived.  But the town was busy cleaning up branches and trees and of course by evening we were ready for some good food.  Lucky for us just down from our hotel was one of the top 10 steakhouses in Mississippi and we stopped in.  I may not go back to Tupelo to see Elvis’s birth home again but I would go back to Woody’s!

Just one night in Tupelo and then on for our longest leg of our trip, to Tallahasse Florida.  We had first thought we would spend 2 nights in the capitol city, but since rain was predicted we decided to make that one night.  After a long day of driving we were very happy with the hotel and were again ready for a cocktail and meal!   Again there was a great place a couple of blocks away.  Ted’s Montana Grill is a franchise started by Ted Turner, specializing in local source and great meats.  They did not disappoint.  They were very busy Sunday night but Chris and I found a place at the bar and started with cocktails.  Since I tell everyone the best steak I have ever had was a Bison ribeye at Eddie Martini in Milwaukee, I could not pass up the Bison filet, and it met my expectations.  Chris also had a great meal so this was certainly a food trip for us. 

So one night in Tallahasse and back to the road, this time to Sanford Florida.  Most important was visiting friends Darren and Sheryl, but we also had in mind some more food.  We had been to a great German restaurant with Darren and Sheryl before and I checked to make sure they were open on Monday nights.  Of course after we arrived in Sanford Darren informed us they were closed that night for a private party!  No problem, we spent a wonderful evening with friends, had good drinks and food, and thoroughly relaxed. 

That made the next day on the road short and sweet.  We took our time in the morning and had an easy ride to Boynton Beach, and then unpacking.  We have been taking some things to Florida that we would want if we someday give up our Oshkosh apartment.  So we had a fair amount to unpack.  The last month we were busy putting things in place to make Florida officially our residence.  We had that idea from the start of the idea but there are a number of things that happen when you change your address to another state.  Chris has spent a lot of time with her favorite subject, insurance.   We have accomplished a lot and today we both got Florida drivers licenses and registered our car.  And we have our health insurance figured out for next year.  So now to start to settle in for winter.  I was lucky enough to get my first round of golf in today and looking forward to the days ahead!

Washington Island

sunset at Sunset Resort

New Glarus bottling line

Urban Chesnut Brewery

Wally and Bev

Little Rock

Tupelo

Sunday October 6, 2019              

Already into October and fall!  September went by quickly.  We started the month in Sterling Heights MI with MJ and John and ended it in New Mexico.  When we left Michigan after Labor Day we headed home to a number of yearly appointments.  We did have an appointment for Chris with an orthopedic doctor.  We felt we dodged a bullet as she had been having knee discomfort for a while and our family doctor prepared her for the thought of knee replacement.  But the Orthopedic felt that is not anywhere on the horizon and Chris was trying some medication that helped fully.   But there was some discomfort when she stayed off the medication so the doc thought a cortisone shot was next.  And so far it is providing full relief.  Next we had blood drawn for our lab work as the next week we had our yearly physicals.  And our physicals and lab work came in with great result overall, a couple skewed numbers for Chris most likely the result of the cortisone just before the lab work.  So she has a follow up blood test just to be sure.  And visits to our dentist’s office for cleanings for both of us and an impression for Chris to finally get her implant.   The summer has done well for her with the implant post inserted and the bone growing around it as planned.  And next week a new, permanent tooth after a year of wait.  Throw in some days spent in safety deposit boxes cataloging coins and visits to a coin dealer, and some time for fun!  Old friend Jeff Pindel came up to Oshkosh for some golf, biking, food and drink.   We traveled out to Hartman Creek State Park to visit with Janet and Steve who were doing a month of camp hosting and ventured into nearby Waupaca for some micro brews and good food.   We also fit in a meal with John and Debbie to catch up, my golf with John has been interrupted by travel and appointments.

Then after a couple of weeks home we took to the skies and headed to New Mexico.  With a quick stop in Milwaukee for boneless duck with Noel and JoAnn (Kegels German restaurant is still awesome) we flew out of Milwaukee to see Marie for a couple of weeks.  It was an exciting couple of weeks; I am not sure how Marie would describe it.  She had decided with the condo in Florida it was time to get ready to sell her house and take a next step.  We all decided it would be best to keep a presence in New Mexico since she has been there for 35 years, so we started to look at some possible apartments.  We did find a 55+ community that we were all impressed with, and although it was not in Marie’s plans she decided making a move decision was easier while we were there.  So she signed a lease!  She had already been cleaning for a move and in the first week we were there we made a lot of progress on downsizing! Many trips to donations stops included me renting a pick up, her Corolla doesn’t carry enough!  And the landfill played a role also!   We were able to fit in a grill out with her friends to grill out Usinger brats and say good by to the house.   Then we were able to find a mover to fit us in October 1 and we signed up.  So in she moved.  Going from a 3 bedroom house to a 1 bedroom apartment required far less furniture and it was an easy move (the movers were on track to make record time other than the elevators at the apartment and 3 other  people moving in that day).  Things went well, within a day all boxes were unpacked and Marie was feeling fairly comfortable.  She did well.   As of now the house is cleaned and mostly empty.   We met with a realtor and Marie also has a possible private offer that would work wonderfully.  The 2 weeks went by quickly, not much downtime!  Next time will be a little more relaxing and involve more sightseeing.  But Marie now has a lot behind her and once the home is sold there will not be much to worry about when she is out of New Mexico.  As I am typing we are on a plane back to Milwaukee, then the drive to Oshkosh.   And next weekend 4 nights on Washington Island to celebrate Steve and Janet’s anniversary, always a fun time.  Once we get back from the Island we will then finalize some plans to head to Florida.  My hope is to be there around November 1.  We consider ourselves Florida residents and need to get new driver licenses, registrations and such.  So more travel on the way!  Enjoy life.

Grill out

the Group

2 weeks of work

view from home

New Home

We finished our fun vacation in Door County to get home to Oshkosh in time to see the last air shows of the Experimental Aircraft Association.  642,000 people from 90 countries came to town, along with over 10,000 airplanes.  We had a chance to see 2 airshows and a night show from the roof of our apartment which is a couple of miles from the show grounds.  It was a lot of fun and super interesting.  I don’t know how the pilots do what they do,  much less night aerobatics (you have to lose a sense of direction flying upside down, much less at night!).  

After the shows we took a couple of weeks to settle back into Oshkosh, do the wash, and think about what was next.   We then spent 4 days in Milwaukee for Irishfest weekend (The largest Irish festival outside of Ireland).  Old friends Jeff and Donna Pindel and Jeff Van Wie joined us and we had our usual wonderful time.  Beer, music, food, good weather!   Chris and I also spent some time touring downtown Milwaukee, we have always loved the downtown and it is fun to see what is changing.   We rode the new downtown street car and took a tour of the Buck’s new Fiserv Forum.  

After a lot of fun/beer/food we headed back to Oshkosh for a few days of eating light.   Then we took to the road to see Canada.  We drove north from Oshkosh and through the Michigan upper peninsula to cross into Canada at Sault Ste Marie and spend a night.   Then the next day to Sudbury Ontario to stop at Homer’s house.   Homer and Judy winter in a condo across from ours in Florida.   And great friends Ron and Verna also met us there.   We got back to eating more than we needed (and maybe more beer than I needed) and Homer took us on a tour of mining town Sudbury.  It was fun and interesting and we would love to go back.   We spent one night there and then followed Ron and Verna home to Temagami Ontario.   And of course Verna over fed us and we had more great times.   We took a boat ride, visited with more friends, had a fish fry.  Canadian hospitality is outstanding! 

After way too much fun (is that a thing) we headed south from Ron and Verna’s to Toronto. Chris and I had never been there so we added it to this itinerary.  We stayed downtown along the water and were very impressed with Toronto.   It is a bustling area with interesting architecture, lots of glass and unusual shapes to buildings.  A lot of people live in the area and so it is also full of restaurants and shops.   We had a nice stroll along the water, took a boat ride to get some views and history, and did some shopping.  The Marriot hotel club gave us a great room on the top hotel floor with a view of the water and nearby airport. So we had a fun couple of days before heading on.  We stopped to see more Florida neighbors, Wayne and Elaine at their farm in Ontario.   It was fun to catch up with them and Wayne gave us a tour of their equipment and vintage tractors.   Then on to Sterling Heights Michigan where we currently are with MJ and John.  Doing some lawnwork and grilling out.   This week back to home and plan for the next trip!

We are well into summer already, as usual time is going quickly.  Wisconsin like most of the country is getting into high temperatures and high humidity.  Presently we are in the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin and getting some Great Lakes breezes and certainly cooler than back in Oshkosh. We are in our second week and weather is a little cooler.  Wisconsin has had some terrible storms but we came through ok.  We have been doing this trip for most of our 41 years of marriage, and a chance to see a number of the friends we camped with during those vacations.  Of course now we camp in a motel, which is working wonderfully.  Actually part of a townhouse with a nice courtyard and pool behind us.  We are in town for easy evening walks!  But we are also just outside the park and a short ride in to see those that are camping.  Already have some golf in and visits to favorite restaurants and new bars!

After arriving home to Oshkosh in May,  Marie came to visit in early June and we quickly headed to Hayward Wisconsin for our yearly trip to spend a week near Dick and Carol.  We now rent what was the owner’s house at Dick and Carol’s resort that they have their trailer parked at.  Fishing was slow for Dick and I but we still managed a fresh fish fry and lots of fun.  Getting back to Oshkosh we had a chance to catch up with old friends and more fun.  Always good to catch up with everyone, and even had a chance to have my homebrew friends over for some beer tasting.  Near the end of June we headed to the Detroit area to spend a week with MJ and John, and be there for MJ’s birthday.  John and I took down a small Oak tree, trimmed up a large Maple, and finished some landscaping.  We left Marie with MJ, and Marie flew home from Detroit.  Chris and I traveled through the UP of Michigan to come home for almost a week, and then we started this Door County trip.  So life continues to be good.

We left Asheville and had a pretty good ride through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky.  We hit some rain that day, but still we were able to take in most of the scenery.   A very pretty drive.  We went to Georgetown, which is outside of Lexington in north eastern Kentucky.  I wanted to take a tour at Buffalo Trace distillery near Lexington, and Chris agreed to get up a little earlier so we could make it there in time to take a tour.  It is one of the oldest continuingly operating distilleries in Kentucky and has several tours available.  We took the general tour and it was enjoyable.  They include a video about the distillery and took us in one of the barrel aging rickhouses.  We were able to see the line where less than a dozen people were finishing the bottles of Blanton’s bourbon.  Each bottle hand labeled, wax sealed and cap added.  Of course some bourbon tasting was included!  For Chris we went to supper at Local Feed in Georgetown where we ate last year, and Chris said had the best Mac N Cheese she had ever had.  Great food and drink again.

The next day was off to Indianapolis.  We had never stayed in the city and took this opportunity.  An easy ride from Georgetown, up to Cincinnati then west.  We were both impressed.  We stayed right downtown and were a block away from Monument Circle in the center of the city.  The Monument was put up in the late 1800’s to honor Indiana’s veterans from the Civil War and before and it is beautiful.  We walked the area and took a look into the State Capitol.  Plenty of bars and restaurants in the area and we took a taste.

The next morning off to Winfield Illinois to visit with Jeff and Donna.   Being in Indy made this an easy ride again that day(even though we forgot our I-Pass in Florida).   A little rain again but nothing terrible.  It was good to catch up with Jeff and Donna and share a couple of meals.  From there it was heading home the next day.  We made it back to Oshkosh to some beautiful Spring weather.  We had been able to see the difference in Spring blooms as we came north.  There are still trees we see outside our window that have not budded out.  But the first days of unpacking and getting situated were in that beautiful weather.  It is a chore to remember what is in which drawer when you get home after 6 months (or is that age?).    But we are figuring it out.  Still doing some cleaning and still have local favorites we have not made it to yet.   We did make it to Milwaukee for Judy’s birthday party.  Her family put on a super party, at an establishment some of us have a little history with.  Chris and I enjoyed ourselves.  Over the last 2 weeks we saw many of our oldest friends and life is good.  Thanks Noel and JoAnn for giving us a place to stay, and congrats on being honored for 50 years at St Pius.  So Chris and I are home, MJ comes in later this week for a few days, and Marie the following week.  Then we start our summer travels!

Historic Buffalo Trace

Bourbon barrels

labeling bottles

Monument Circle

Judy’s family

We are on the road!  It was a great winter in Florida (some of us forget what season it is) but it was time for us to head back.  We have some appointments that need to be taken care of in Wisconsin.  We were able to get new windows installed in Marie’s condo before we left.   Unfortunately we attended a funeral, but we were happy we saw Tom recently.  Jackie fulfilled his wishes and it was a moving ceremony at the National Cemetery in Cape Canaveral. 

We try to have patience in our travels.  Long days in the car are not fun, and as we get older our joints are not happy with long sedentary hours.  So we plan our trips with what is next 5 hours away.   That gives us time for a relaxing morning and to be settled before rush hour and cocktail hour.  So our first day was to visit old friend Jeff in Jacksonville.  We had a nice hotel and spent a number of hours in his favorite brew pub.  Good meal and lots of good discussion.  From there on to Charleston SC.  There is a lot of good press out there on Charleston and well deserved.  One of the pre-revolutionary colonies it has a ton of great architecture and history.  We started our investigation of Charleston by taking a horse drawn carriage tour in the city.  It was very informative and we got a feel for the beautiful city.  Chris and I took a long walk through the marketplace and down King Street and had a lot of choices for a relaxing dinner.  The next morning we planned a boat trip out to Fort Sumter.  Jeff joined us as he has visited a number of Civil War sites.  Seeing the site of the start of the civil war was very interesting.  Being in Charleston made us very aware of the history surrounding the start of the war, and how Fort Sumter continued to play an important part through that war.  Then the Spanish American war, fortified for WWI and WWII to protect the coastline.  Being the first boat out in the morning involved us in the raising of the flag at the fort and a moving speech from a National Park warden.  The rest of the day was more touring of the city, a visit to the Charleston Museum (the first museum in the US) and of course more food and drink.

Tonight finds us in Asheville NC.  A good ride through the Carolina’s today, green and very pretty.   And no problem getting a beer in Asheville!  A large selection of breweries and brew pubs.  And we partook of some this evening.  Tomorrow on to Kentucky.

Main window delivered

install

Tom’s procession

a Moving experience

Charleston

flag raising

the Fort and our ride

The time continues to fly by for us.   It seems like February just started but it is really April.    The weather is consistently beautiful and we are always outside.   We probably have had a few days of rain, but mostly just short bursts of rain and then back to sunshine.   MJ has been here for breaks and she and Marcy just left from their Spring break.   I have had a few small projects around the condo’s, and now will do a little painting that I had planned to get done this winter.   Just some moulding trim and doors to spruce up in our place.   Since time is getting close to the end I had better get to it.  Some of our neighbors are starting to head north.  January February March is the height of the tourist season here so many people rent for those months, and people start to head home for Easter.   Our condo buildings have permits approved to replace main electrical panels (the insurance company mandated!) and that will start in a week.    That will hurry some folks home as they are preparing us for the power to be off for 5 days.  So it is sad to be saying good bye to friends.  But exciting to be traveling back to another set of friends and family.  Time seems to go quickly for us retired folks, so it won’t be long before we all will be back in Florida.   Chris and I are making some plans to be gone from our condo for the electrical week, then will be planning our trip back to Wisconsin.   Probably some new stops on the way home this year but no solid itinerary yet.  Already a number of plans for the summer; Hayward, Door County multiple times, Canada, Detroit.   Likely hitting the road in early May, so see our Wisconsin friends soon!