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!