Nice day today.

5:04 pm.
80º F, Hot sunshine, W wind 4 mph.

Good afternoon,

Have you used one of these? I have - a lot. Not one this fancy though. I think it was at one of the German farms, but not all that sure. This one is made of some pretty solid oak, from about 3"x5" members. The joints are all dados and wedge locked tenons. Very well built. There also were several buck saws around to be used on these sawbucks and for other uses. I haven’t used a buck saw for a number of years, but have the saw buck much-ly. Normally with a chainsaw. The present one I use is made from a couple of 10' logs resting on a couple of shorter logs to raise it off of the ground some. That way I can put a whole log on it at one time and cut it into firewood blocks. Not too sure how those at the museum held shorter pieces as there is not tray in the V of the legs. They would split a longer log into firewood sized pieces most often, then cut it to firewood lengths. I use a power splitter, so buck to length first. Should make one like this - just to have around. Those at Old World were used to give the groups of kids coming through to get a "feel" of wood cutting. An easy way to get all of the firewood cut the interpreters use in the wood ranges for the baking and cooking demonstrations too.

The motel was great, owned and operated by a family from India. The owner was behind the desk and very talkative. Turns out he, and his wife, both are very well educated and hold engineering degrees. Both had interesting roads in their lives so far. The each spent time working for others and completing their education on several scholarships. Now, besides owning the motel and a couple of others, each have their own manufacturing businesses. He designs and manufactures dental tools. He has no employees or no manufacturing facilities - everything is done with sub-contractors all over the world via computer mostly. Interesting concept. His comment was something along the line of, "Why bother with all the hassle and we can spend more time with the family." I applaud him for the thought, but it seems he really isn’t spending that much time with his family it seems.

When we checked into the motel, we requested a smoking room, only to find that it was non-smoking when we got to the door. I went back to the desk to get a different room, but the smoking rooms available for us was on the second floor. I asked if there were any on the first floor and he said no. Then said there was a smoking suite on the first floor and he would let us have. OK! It was the same price, so I said OK. He also said that it had a whirlpool tub and king sized bed in it too! The big bed was not a big deal for us as one needs a road map to find the other in it. By far this was the fanciest room we have ever had in a motel! Neither one of us had ever actually used one, so this would be another adventure. Margriet found it was a bit much for her, but I really enjoyed the use. Guess I could have stayed there for a long time. Really nice.


We don't know what the prmotion is that Whitewater has going on, but all the street lamp posts have wooden chairs hanging from them, decorated by various artists. This one is painted yellow and has holes in it at random as a piece of cheese with a mouse chewing on it. There were several "mice" also attached to the chair or looking out from one of the holes. Kind of cool, but not sure the reason. Guess they are trying to keep up with Madison's cows and Appleton's butterflies and frogs on their respective main streets. Seems to be better to look up at them, rather than looking down at cracked sidewalks!

I did manage to walk down the driveway and clean out the overhanging branches on one side of it. The breeze was right to keep the mosquitoes off for most of it. I also mowed the driveway center and some of the edges. That was a lot harder, since the wind was not in my favor, so had to wear a long sleeved shirt, and my hips started to talk to me. After cutting some, the mower just stopped. No matter how hard I tried it would not start. Then I found that a weed or branch had taken off the plug wire! I really didn’t have such nice thoughts for a couple of moments and grunts. There still is much lawn to mow, but will do it in short spirts.

We have a new neighbor and lost another. There was a dead female cardinal on the ground outside of the backdoor. It probably means there are two or three chicks that also will die in a short time. Cardinals are fairly rare, so hate to see that happen. Suspect it flew into a bedroom window as it was just below one. Our new neighbor has taken up residence outside of the bathroom window - a chipmunk! He has a burrow started, but will try to dispatch is fairly soon. They can cause a bunch of problems, given a chance. We don’t have many of them around here and hope it will stay that way.

The garden is still intact. All of our potatoes are up now, so will need to hill them along with the leeks. I think we will not have a crop of radishes as they seem to have bolted. Probably will replant them again. A couple of the broccoli plants are starting to form heads. We will keep a very close eye on them as we really like broccoli. The peas are in full bloom and should be setting fruit soon too. I have to get some poles up for the pole beans too. They are starting to set runners and now is the time. Saw lots of beans being grown at Old World as they were a big crop in the good old days. All were pole beans. Ours are ahead of theirs though. Most of the garden looks to be in pretty good shape. Looking forward to the profits of our efforts. It will not be long before the raspberries start producing too. The black raspberries at Old World were starting to ripen, farther south than we are, and I snitched a couple from the bushes in the woods. Also sampled some mulberries too. They have a lot of trees there which are loaded. Almost can taste the pies and jams made from them.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

A really good one

06/29/06, 7:06 am.
63º F, Partly cloudy, WNW wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

Up rather late after a very busy and nice couple of day. We really had a good time! The weather cooperated very well - not too hot or cool, partly cloudy, and a bit of rain on the trip home last night. We got home VERY late last night - way past my bedtime - about 9:45 P.M.! I can’t remember when I have been on the road that late in many years.

After a good breakfast in Casco with the Bible study bunch, we headed south about 10:00 A.M. With the construction on our normal route through Manitowoc, we chose and alternative and it worked great and no orange signs to look for! We did encounter a lot of construction and detours on our sojourn. Seemed every time we crossed or came near a 4-lane highway there was construction with detours. Most of the detours were not that well marked and we too a couple of side trips. Lac la Belle was the worst, but we did see some monster homes that we are glad we don’t own. Maybe it would be better to say have the mortgage for. We did travel the state and county roads as much as possible, enjoying the countryside immensely.

We followed state highway # 67 through the Kettle Moraine State Forest and found the hills and moraines beautiful. We stopped at the Ice Age Interpretive Center along the way. Margriet totally enjoyed the view as it is set on the rim of the moraine. Impressive. The highway also followed the shore of Long Lake (there must be 100 lakes in Wisconsin with that name!) and found the areal filled with "summer" cottages jammed together so neighbors seem to be sleeping closer to their neighbor than their spouse. Reminded me very much of the Waupaca Chain of Lakes area.

After leaving the Kettle Moraine it seem the real construction zone began. Lots of detours (one detour even had a detour!), orange signs, and interesting side trips. We finally did pull into Whitewater a little after 3:00 P.M. and found our motel. I had hoped to get there about an hour earlier, but the construction along the way had different ideas. After getting unloaded and acquainted with the room, we headed out to find a place to eat. Whitewater is a nice small city, one I would live in if I had to. The restaurant we chose, Jessica’s Café, was on the main drag and very nice. It seemed to cater to old folks like us as well as the college crowd. Kind of reminded me of the restaurants I frequented while in college. Margriet had a chicken stir-fry and I had clams. More than enough to eat. I could not even help Margriet clean her plate, or think about the dessert that came with the meal!

Yesterday was Old World Wisconsin day. The park didn’t open until 10:00 A.M. and we were waiting at the gate when it opened. Since we are members of the Historical Society, the entrance fee was $0.00 for us! We really like that! Also included in the deal was a pair of audio players, operating something like a CD player without the CD. Punch in a couple of appropriate numbers and it played a description of the display in front of you. Very effective and very complete. While there is a conventual indoor museum, which we didn’t go through, but the majority of the displays are depictions of farms or small town building groups. All are restored very well and staffed by period dressed interpreters. The idea of the park is to show the various ethnic groups that settled in Wisconsin and how they lived. There are several German farms as well as those of Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, and other nationalities. Also a small town set up. They are set apart from each other to get an idea of what they really may have looked like when constructed originally.

I really was impressed by the details included in the displays. I think it is one of the best depictions I have seen and on a very large scale. I also was surprised how far some of the buildings came from. There were several that came from northwestern Wisconsin, a few miles from our deer camp! That is a long way to bring even a small cabin, let along some of the very large ones. The whole park has a loop road going around it, something less than three miles long. It can be walked or there is a tram available to also ride, getting off and on at various points along the way. We ended up walking the entire path, not using the tram at all. I would have liked to, but Margriet was having such a good time and snapping so many pictures, we just walked. I am surprised how well both of our bodies took the exercise. We each have a small kink in our backs, but everything else seems to be closer to normal than expected.

The park closes at 4:00 P.M. and we left a little before closing. I assumed we would be on the road toward home about 1:00 or 2:00 P.M., but there was so much to see and places to walk! Since we had not eaten lunch and a rather light breakfast, we stopped at almost the first restaurant we came to. Again a good meal for reasonable prices. The small "Mom and Pop" type restaurants seem to suit us best. We again hit construction a lot on the ride, especially around I-94 and U.S. 41, causing delays and some interesting side trips. We also ran into some rain. Not all that much, but some of the showers we drove through were rather heavy. Some of the rain drops for awhile seemed to be the size of golf balls. We more or less outran most of the rain and drove north out of it.

The 4th of July is upon us, so we will be laying some low for a while, waiting for the vacationers to have their fun. After that we may decide on another sojourn of some kind, but not a very long one. This one was well worth it to be sure.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Da 4 Bears

6/26/06, 6:22 am.
61º F, Cloudy, N wind 5 mph.

Good morning,

We took a day and went to the zoo on Friday We have been talking of doing that someday on our normal supply run for a couple of years now. The only problem was, that by the time we finished Bible sturdy, there was only time for either shopping or the zoo in Green Bay. So .... Friday we just decided to go and then do the supply run afterwards, when there was not Bible study to interfere. Most importantly the reason is that we are planning to head to Old World Wisconsin in Eagle after Bible study tomorrow.

We had a good day at the zoo. I have been there once before about 5-6 years ago and was impressed with it then. I still am. For a small city, Green Bay does a good job. The current attraction is the acquisition of a couple of giraffes and building a new building to house them. Their compound is right next to the lion’s, separated by a chainlink fence. The two lions were laying down next to the fence, keeping a very close eye on the the giraffes, as though they were sizing up a meal or two.

We wandered around the zoo for a couple of hours, totally seeing everything. We wore out our legs, at least I did. Forgot to put on my knee brace and pop a couple of pills, regretting it. The zoo is very kid and handicap friendly. There were a lot of each present and enjoying themselves. In our great planning, we forgot to take Margriet’s camera along and the map to get to the zoo. Fortunately, we had a Green Bay map and my camera in the car. Green Bay is putting in "roundy-rounds" at many intersections. The type they are putting in are not nice, but they look nice. There is only one lane in a too small circles. If there is any amount of traffic, it is difficult to access the circle and all but impossible for a semi-truck. The distance between the exits is also too short. Can’t get a turn signal turned on and if you do, the radius of the turn shuts it off immediately. No one knows who is turning when or where! Got behind a semi that had to do a couple of back ups to make the turn. Someone needs to do some redefining I think!

Since we would not be able to make a supply run on Tuesday, we did it after seeing the zoo. Not really too many things to pick up, but some were important. One important item were some tomato cages. For some reason I thought we only had 4 plants but we really have six. Guess we will need to pick up a couple more the next time we get close to a Fleet Farm!

On the return trip we stopped at Sloven for the fish fry they have. Actually I had the trout boil and Margriet had pan fired walleye pike. Both were good as usual. I had to help Margriet finish her meal. The trout boil is all you can eat, but I could only eat one helping. That is a bit unusual for me. Normally I eat too much. Not often I am a good boy. We haven’t been to Sloven for a long time, so it was time to stop as well as it was getting late in the day.

Saturday, before the rains came, the wind was up some and I went into the woods to cut a smaller cedar tree down to make a couple of fence posts. Since it was only 4-5" in diameter at the base, I didn’t even get out the chainsaw. Bowsaw and axe did a very adequate job. I peeled it and just finished when the rain started to come. I had forgotten how easy it was to slip the bark from a green cedar. Didn’t take long at all since there is so much sap in the wood. Will cut it into sections and plant it. There is a good number of cedars about this size in the woods, so should not be short of fence posts for some time. Don’t have a big need for them either come to think of it.

Yesterday was strawberry Sunday at church. There sure were a lot of strawberry desserts to consume. Margriet made a cheesecake (from scratch and very good) as did several other gals. Guess it is the dessert of choice and there were not too many folks complaining about it. Strawberry season normally hits it’s peak on Father’s Day, but this year seems to be a bit later. I see the wild strawberries are also producing now too.

The area is really becoming covered with many wild flowers. The ditch lines, fence lines, openings in the woods, and fallow fields are becoming filled with red, white, yellow, blue, purple, orange, and varying textures of green. It really is becoming more beautiful as the summer continues. I am sure all of the rain has helped. The last round of rain started Saturday afternoon and is continuing off and on since. Looks like it will for a few days more. Yesterday was fairly wet, so I was forced to watch a couple of pretty good car races on TV. Both were road races, one NASCAR and the other Champ cars. Both races had some serious crashes, requiring the race to be stopped to clean up the wreckage. No one was seriously hurt, but it sure looked like there should have been.

After Bible study tomorrow, we are heading south probably ending at a Super 8 motel in Whitewater. We will probably go to Old World Wisconsin on Wednesday and then head home. Who knows though. We might find some detours along the way - either direction. Weather may have a say in the matter too. Appears there may be some rain, but we are sure we will find something to do and be amused a bit. The rain jackets are already in the van and the camera batteries charged. Suppose we should pack our toothbrushes too?

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Less daylight than yesterday!

06/22/06, 5:11 am.
64º F, Bright clouds, WNW wind 5 mph.

Good morning,

This is the first thing we saw leaving the parking garage in Madison. This is looking from the west. The capitol building looked much better than the last time we saw it. Then there were road construction barricades around it and a lot of construction. This time there are only road signs indicating your can only go to the right, even though too often we needed to go to the left. I suspect the next time we are in Madison, the capitol building will be on our 2-SEE list. Will be interesting to see if the renovations have changed it any since the last time I was there. If I remember.

Yesterday we spent most of the time under severe storm warnings until 8:00 P.M. Nothing came from them, at least here. We did get some rain early in the day. I guess Oshkosh got some serious weather. As usual, most of the real weather misses us. It was rather humid and the air filled with Astrid’s favorite bird - mosquitoes. The afternoon did dry out enough for me to get outside and do a couple of things done though. I walked down the driveway clipping the brush encroaching and trying to snatch the van or people as they pass. Didn’t really do a good job as the mosquitoes really chased me back into the open again. Will have to revisit the problem again.

I now have a so called workbench in the outhouse! It is approximately 2'x 4' with one corner knocked off some. The additional corner on the top will make a good place to mount my chainsaw chain sharpener, allowing for additional clearance and it should be easier to sharpen the shorter chains. The bench top is mounted in a corner of the building and supported by a brace from the back wall on the open end. Should be easier for me to keep the floor cleaner. Under the narrow end is a good place for me to put the small two-drawer file cabinet I have and still be able to see what is in it. Now I have to get the "stuff" some organized in the building so I can actually use to floor space some and get at the next part of making the building more useful.

Margriet built a small pork roast for dinner last night. It was excellent. I found a recipe for cuscus with currents to go with it. When I "read" the recipe, really skimmed it, I didn’t realize that it was served cold and not hot as we normally have it. Margriet made it anyway and it really was good. More like a salad than a vegetable or the like. It is definitely a do again! The roast was one of the boneless "country ribs" we buy in big bag fulls for cheap. Really not ribs but end-cuts from processing. In the bag there are always several pieces bigger than the rest making a perfect sized roast for the two of us. We are able to eat the entire piece of meat and not have any leftovers. Margriet put her good pork rub on the meat and it didn’t take long for it to disappear! The cuscus too!

The next couple of days are supposed to be rain free and rather nice. It is warmer along the lake shore this morning than farther inland for a change. Suspect that will change before long though. Plan to be outside as much as possible today. If the mosquitoes allow it. The days are getting shorter now, so have to make the most of them. It won’t be long and the snow will start to fly again. Hooray!!

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Troll-ing

06/21/06, 6:23 am.
55º F, Cloudy/wet, SE wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

What a beautiful day Monday! It was some hot, getting up into the 80's, and there were a bit of a threat of thunderstorms in the afternoon which never came, but over all - beautiful. Tuesday was a carbon copy. This kind of weather is tolerable. I noticed the high for Monday was in 1995 with a temperature of 95º F. I remember that summer as one very hot, starting in the spring and lasting until well into the fall. The humidity and mosquitos were also oppressive.

These little critters, trolls, were all over the Little Norway grounds. Seemed like there were a thousand or so hiding everywhere (as this one in a dead tree trunk) and some out on plain view. Some were small, like this one and others huge, carved from tree trunks or trees. Like I said they are for the most part so ugly that one might consider them cute! Guess the winters for Norwegians are very long and cold. They must have sat rather close to the woodstove and done a lot of carving. Not only little critters, but much decoration of their homes and buildings, besides creating many useful tools and utensils. Like if it could be made from wood - it was. They even had a version of wooden shoes. Much craftsmanship and creativity went into their work.

Yesterday was Bible study day and the last of the unit we have been working on for several weeks. That means we will be going to breakfast next week. This time in Casco. We had a pretty good discussion, even though we took a couple of left turns here and there. At one point we got into a discussion of what the word debauchery means. Seems everyone knows how to use it, but unable to really explain it’s meaning. When I got home, I opened up the dictionary on this machine and looked it up. The list of related words is 30 words! Kind of interesting.

It seems weird since not leading the study any more not to be in the process of preparing for the next unit. Normally I would be putting the last touches on the next workbook and printing it out. The many hours of writing in the past, seem to have disappeared into other tasks. Don’t know what happened to the "extra" time not building workbooks. I do enjoy the research and writing of the workbooks, but had gotten some stale and burned out.

After getting home yesterday, Margriet filled the house with the smells of sourdough. That is a very pleasant aroma, especially when the "dough" is in the pan and baking. We now have three new loaves of bread and a small batch of "Ghost Town Cookies" to dispose of. What a chore! She started the process before we went to Bible study, knowing we would not be going to Green Bay on a supply run. If that what it takes for fresh bread and cookies, we might not be going to Green Bay much. Of course my waistline really doesn’t need it.

I made sure that I watered the garden yesterday. Was a good thing too, because it meant we would have rain during the night. It really boomed, flashed, and poured about midnight last night. Margriet had closed most of the windows (we have not had any closed for many days now) in the house during the early evening, but there were a few still open. Got up to close them and watch the fireworks a bit. Cool! Besides the garden getting a good drink and the mosquitos enjoying it, no problems that I know of.

I have been working some on a couple of projects around here in-between mosquitos and sweat drops. I think I have the rabbit defense more or less complete. At least I think they cannot get into the garden. I do need to put some more-or-less permanent posts in and some kind of a gate for access. Dealing with chicken wire and hardware cloth have produced numerous nicks, cuts, and holes in my body. Nothing big, but very irritating when I start having red leaks in my hands and forearms. What normally would be something to ignore, it is a little more difficult when the blood thinners I am on cause the leak not to stop right away. Oh well.

Another little project is putting up a "bench" in the outhouse. Actually it is part of a display from Dale’s which he through out made from f" particle board. It will not be a heavy duty bench, but at least I will have some kind of a work surface to sharpen tools and such on. It also will provide someplace to put things in there - out of the way. Need to get organized! Want to get some of the stuff I have been "storing" on the sun porch out there. I have a couple of small projects I want to do, but need a place inside to do them.

IF the lawn drys out this afternoon, it is time to chew on the lawn a bit. It is not as high as I thought it would be after coming back form our last sojourn, but now it needs to be trimmed. I also need to walk the driveway with a clippers and remove the new growth encroaching on it. I kind of hate to cut some of it as they are wild roses. They have more or less bloomed out. I really like them. There are many other wild flowers starting to bloom now too. They continue all summer. One of the really nice things in this area.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Is the cooler coming?

6/19/06, 5:12 am.
68º F, Clear, SW wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

An old Norwegian checking out a Norwegian Stabbur (store house) at Little Norway last week. The building is rather recently built by one of the restoration folks as a gift to the museum a few years ago. The stabbur is built to make it more difficult for little critters to the at the food and other supplies kept within. Not too sure how successful their efforts were, but at least they tried. The foundation posts has cut flat rocks on top of them, extending out, between the logs of the building to "prevent" the critters from climbing in. The steps to the building have a gap to the building, to prevent the same thing. The upper floor extending out over the lower one, to provide some shelter for things under it as well as weather protection for the logs. A permanent ladder from the "porch" to the second floor byway of a trapdoor in the floor. It is an interesting building and design. It was not open to go into, but would have liked to.

The valley Little Norway is located in was named Nissedahle, or Valley of the Elves, buy the early Norwegian settlers. The folks running the museum have place carved trolls everywhere. Some small, some large, some in the wood pile, some carved from dead trees. There are also some carved in the original members of some of the older buildings. Most are so ugly they are cute and all have tails!

Yesterday was pretty much a wasted day as far a accomplishing much. Margriet woke up yesterday under the weather (maybe the weather got to her) and feeling very puny. We didn’t go to church and hardly did anything. She took a couple of naps during the day and other than reading a lot, not too much else. I managed to stay close by and in the process managed to watch a couple of pretty good car races. NASCAR was rain shortened and a champ car grand prix race. All in all, a pretty lazy father’s day for me. Nothing exciting at all and I like it that way.

Our weather yesterday was very wet. It rained off and I all day and very humid. We had a couple of very hot, humid days. Yesterday was some cooler, but Saturday really got to me. I did make a few rounds with the mower and worked on some other things, but only in short bursts. Not what I want to do. The 2-DO list seems to keep getting longer every day. Our part-time neighbors came up on Saturday, but left early in the afternoon yesterday. Probably because of the weather. Late yesterday afternoon we did have some severe storm warning up, but nothing really happened here. There was a couple of tornados which did some damage closer to Milwaukee. I watched the storms on radar, but seemed the really bad stuff disappeared as it came here. Like that too. The weatherman predicted the rain would end yesterday morning about 10:00 A.M., but think he should have said 10:00 P.M. instead.

We did have some unhappy news late last week. My second cousin in Georgia broke her hip and was transported to a hospital some 50 miles away. Lib is in her 90's and in frail health and the doctors were concerned about preforming surgery because of it. They did do the surgery, but she has not awaken yet. The last report we had was Saturday so don’t know what has happened since. Karl is at the hospital, so doesn’t have access to email. We are spending some extra knee-time and hope you do too.

It appears the day will be pretty good weather. Tomorrow too. Hope it drys up some rather quickly this morning so things can get done around here. Time to get the day a-going.
In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><

Hot and more of it.

June 17, 2006, 6:00 A.M.
59º F, Cloudy, S wind 5 mph.

Good morning,

Welcome to Mad-Town! This bovine welcomed us as we left the parking ramp when we started our walk to the museum. There were many along State Street and Margriet had a ball taking pictures of almost all of them. I guess they were interesting. Different for sure.

Margriet had a good time walking State street, even though it was under construction for some of it. This is about as close as I have seen in this country to a "European" style shopping street. Only bicycles and buses are allowed on the street proper (and a bunch of construction equipment at the moment) so pedestrians can walk anywhere, dodging the buses! There are many different shops and restaurants along the street. Some of the restaurants specialize in ethnic foods I have never seen in restaurants before. The other shops have just as much variety of merchandise. A real mix of everything imaginable. Kind of cool. We decided there was not much there for us to buy as it seems to be aimed at people with a significantly different lifestyle or tastes than ours. We didn’t walk the entire street that is blocked off as we both were feeling our ankles really were about at our knees. We headed back to the parking ramp and headed for something to eat.

Yesterday was very much a down time day. Margriet did a load of laundry, but I did little for most of the day. We did stagger uptown to the post office and a couple other errands. Both of us were hurting physically. This morning the aches and pains seem to have lessened a bit to a more tolerable level. The heat and humidity are a huge factor in our pains I think. While it was 15-20º F cooler here than Green Bay all day, and still is, it was still hot! Hotter today is the prediction. The humidity at the moment is reasonable, but that will not continue and there are predictions of thunderstorms this evening/night. Not really looking forward to the humidity or the heat.

The farmers in the area are sure making hay while the sun shines and afterwards. The farmer who plants the closest field to us was making hay all day and into the night yesterday. As a result, there was a lot of traffic on Winding Road, almost all tractor though. The farmers sure can use some rain. Hope it comes tonight, but not in a deluge. Slow rain would be good. The corn fields, for the most part, are not in good shape. Don’t think most will have it knee high by the fourth of July this year. When we were in Chetek, the corn there at the time was better than most of the corn here now! They were complaining of being too dry. We still have some being planted yet, thanx to the wet spring.

Plans today are to get some things done around here. Not much too physical I think. There is a lot needed to be done. The lawn is a prime job, but I am sure it will be done in small doses. I need to get the outhouse some organized too. Seems it has become a "dumping" place for to many things. Maybe the van will get some attention too.

We also have some things to wrap and get into the mail. We have a present for my brother’s wife, Mary, intending to give it to here when we went to Chetek. Instead, it remained here when both of us forgot it. We remembered it, actually Margriet remembered, when we were about 50 miles west of Green Bay! Didn’t go back as we figured the postal service needed some work! Hopefully it will go out Monday sometime.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Hot has returned

12:25 pm.
82º F, Cloudy, S wind 11 mph.

Good afternoon,

Can you tell this is Norwegian? Old Norwegian mythology required a dragon head be placed at each peak of the roof of each dwelling or building. This one is at one end of the gift shop at Little Norway. This application is some different than I have seen before as there is also the dragon’s spine along the ridge (the blue on the right of the picture behind the head). Most "old" Norwegian buildings in this country had a dragon of one kind or another on each peak.. Most were less pretty!

The temperature has really jumped in the last few hours. It is still about 65º F at the lake shore, but inland, like here, it is much warmer. Green Bay is still hotter and are expecting to break temperature records. The humidity is really the hard part to handle. Fortunately there is a pretty nice breeze, but we also are expecting some thunder boomers tonight.

The day before we left, the church secretary gave us three potatoes for planting and a gad-zillion and 4 leeks to plant. When she said there were a few in the bag, that is really what I expected to find. We have now two rows of leeks in our garden and three hills of potatoes. The rabbits managed to dine on about half of the leek tops last night, ^%$(*&09b. I hope they will come back, but will be sure to get the fencing up around them TODAY! I really didn’t think that the rabbits would bother onion family plants. This is the first time I have had any damage like that. Maybe just a dumb rabbit.

Both of us have emptied the pictures we took from our cameras and put them on our memory stick. Now we get to edit them and then put them into some better sense of order, or story. When we arrived at Little Norway, Margriet’s camera indicated that the battery was about dead. I ended up taking most of the pictures as a result. Toward the end of our stay there, I wanted her to take a couple of some things my camera is not as good as hers to capture. When she turned it on, the battery indicator showed she had a normal battery level again! The net result was she took a bunch of pictures on our way out and a couple of the ferry across the Wisconsin River. Hope we can figure out a reason to return there some day.

Margriet has gotten a load of laundry done and it is on the line to dry. Hope it does in the breeze, but the humidity doesn’t help any. We do have a couple of short errands to run uptown, but we are staying reasonably low today. I want to crank up the mower, but will see about that later. Do have to work on the anti-rabbit program too. Our traveling kit has also been cleaned and restocked so need to put that in its place again too, ready for our next adventure. Probably will happen sooner than later to beat most of the city dudes.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

We're back!

06/16/06, 7:58 am.
59º F, Cloudy, SSW wind 6 mph.

Good morning,

We are back! After a really good two days. The main focus of the trip was the Wisconsin History Museum and it lived up to expectation. We arrived there after lunch and checking into our motel, just north of Madison in the community of Windsor. I thought the museum would be larger, on the order of Milwaukee’s, and would need to return the next day to complete looking at the displays. We were finished in the afternoon, so had a "free" day the next day. Looking at the map, we were not that far from Mt. Horeb and Little Norway, so .......... that would be our destination for the day. Other than home again. The trip was well worth it! We really enjoyed ourselves and learned a bit of the history of the place.

There was a lot of construction along the way. It made it possible to take some wrong turns and have some scenic adventures of our intended route. Momentarily we forgot the season of winter was over and we are now in the season of road construction. We made a lot of circles in Manitowoc, Fond du Lac (twice, one each way), Columbus, and Madison. Some of the construction projects were underway when we were there last a couple of years ago! On purpose, we try to avoid the interstate and "main" highways as much as possible. Looking back, the places we encountered construction was on the "fast" roads somewhere. The county roads or secondary state roads we traveled were very good and we saw much more of the real countryside. On our return trip, we took a bit of a detour to cross the Wisconsin River on the state’s only ferry it operates - it is free too!

Madison is easier to get around in when we have appropriate maps. I downloaded a couple before leaving and they were a big help. So many of the streets are one-way, usually opposite of desired direction, and the maps indicated the direction. We got to our planned parking ramp without too much trouble (other than the construction) and walked a couple of blocks to the museum. The museum does an excellent job of displaying. One floor (a rotating display) of the American Indian and their culture in Wisconsin was especially good. Learned a great deal from it and Margriet really had a learning experience. Another floor (also a rotating display) displayed the various immigration periods to Wisconsin and the lifestyles of the various peoples. Saw lots of items we still use as well as learning something of cultures other than the Europeans we normally think of. Fortunately, the museum closed earlier than we had planned so we could not spend too much money in the store. We did pick up a few small things, including a cookbook of course.

Our ride to Little Norway was so worth it. The "museum" is really a homestead which as remained in the family since. The museum is a private one and very well maintained and displayed as a outdoor walking museum. All of the original buildings, plus a couple of modern ones, are still there and maintained. The interiors of each are more or less displayed as when they were first used or their prominent use over the history of the farm. One building was the Norwegian display from the World’s Fair in the 1930's. It had been originally built in Norway, disassembled and shipped to Chicago for the fair. Afterwards it was again disassembled, moved, and reassembled several times before finally coming to Little Norway. Little Norway was well worth the entire trip. We really enjoyed the time there and the driving through the hills and valleys to get there. It was a really a fun, twisting, hilly drive. Wished I had my Mustang again to really have some fun.

We got home a bit before 7:00 pm. last night. Late for our normal habits. We are very tired this morning and were last night. Seems good to be home again and in our own bed. Both of us have pains in our back. Literally. Not too sure what happened, but Margriet had a pain in her hip before we left. She found popping a couple of pills removed the hurt for most of the day however. I woke up yesterday with a pain in my lower back which I think is related to my back injury while in college more than anything else. I have not experienced something this serious for many years, so it is very unexpected. As in the past, I expect it will pass in time. I must have stretched something on Wednesday not just right. Suspect we will spend a reasonably quiet day today, but should pay some attention to the lawn and like that.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Rain might be coming

6/13/06, 3:46 am.
52º F, Cloudy, NW wind 2 mph.

Good morning,

Another nice day coming, but there will be some rain this afternoon. Might even be a couple of thunder-boomers. Then it is to get hot for the rest of the week. Hope it doesn’t get too hot - we are thinking of heading to the Wisconsin State Museum in Madison tomorrow. Since we have a membership to the Wisconsin Historical Society, we get in for no cost. Like that. We think our timing should be about right. Most of the schools in the state are now closed or closing for the summer, there shouldn’t be any "field trips" to contend with. I am sure that most folks don’t take a vacation in the summer to visit the museum either.

In preparation for the ride, I have been working the web to find directions, &c. The last time we were in Madison was on the return from our southern ride a couple of years ago. Then it seemed the entire portion of the city we drove through was under construction. Couldn’t even stop to take a picture of the capitol! It is a crazy town to drive in at best. Really don’t have any good memories of driving there - ever. There are a lot of one-way streets in the downtown and they most often seem to be going the opposite way I have wanted to go. Should be an adventure.

I have never been to the museum, but have been to the Capitol as a kid. We have made it one of our priorities. Another place we have made a priority is Old World Wisconsin in Eagle, Wisconsin. Hope to get there this summer too - hopefully early in the summer before the real hot comes in. We also get a reduced rate there too. Margriet has really done much reading of Old World and every time she does, she says we HAVE to go there. It really does look interesting from what we have seen in books and on the web.

I had the first chance to try out Medicare Part D for the first time yesterday. It really made a difference on the cost of the medications I take - about 22% of the cost I have been paying in the past. While there is a monthly fee involved, we will still come out ahead on the deal. There is not a huge savings over the year, for my present needs, but every little savings helps. While there has been a lot of press of how hard it is to get the benefits, for me, it ain’t true. It took about 2 minutes to make the changes at the drug store. The druggist almost seemed happy to make the changes. There are a huge number of providers for the coverage, but the State puts out a book of all the approved plans in the state. It is just a matter of looking through the plans and pick the one which makes the most sense for our needs. All provide about the same coverage, so it comes down to a matter of who you trust with the lowest cost. Judging by the number of plans approved in Wisconsin, there must be a buck to be made in this deal for the companies.

Today is Bible study day and then off to Green Bay for our normal supply run. We have some things that are some very necessary things we need. We also think it is time to really get serious about looking for a new gas range. We will take some time today to do that. There is not real hurry so can be looking for a good deal. I would like to get another range the same brand as we have, but the company is no longer to be found. When I sold their products, it was a family owned company, but the tax laws were forcing them not to keep it in the family as the then present generation retired/died. I suspect the company was sold piece meal, but not sure. The other range line I sold was Magic Chef and they too are not to be found, at least of their own manufacture. Probably will end up with a Whirlpool. Have to see what is available and at what cost.

Margriet built some homemade bread and cinnamon rolls yesterday. Haven’t tasted the bread yet, but the rolls need some continuing quality control tasting! They seem to be palatable though. She tortured me for a very long time with the aroma of them baking. Think she set the temperature a bit low so I had to smell them longer. She also made some honey-butter too. I was forced to lick the beaters clean. Boy I have some really tough chores to do at this place!

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Beautiful weather

06/12/06, 12:05 pm.
54º F, Partly sunny, NNE wind 6 mph.

Good afternoon,

A couple of really nice days. The temperatures have been very comfortable during the days, but I did turn on the furnace, reluctantly, yesterday morning so we could get ready for church in the warm. Otherwise the weather has been perfect. Wish it would stay this way until September 1st when to daily snow fall should begin. Would be nice. I keep saying that, but the weather doesn’t hear me apparently. Supposed to get hot, into the 80's, again toward the weekend. Have to get out the sweat-dehydrant again!

The road between Muskrat City and the main highway has a new surface now. Friday, the crews added some real blacktop to the portion which was torn up by the pipeline construction, the put a coating of tar over the whole works to Muskrat City then covered it with pea-gravel. The runners and cyclists will not be happy about the pea-gravel during the Trout Fest later this summer. But it seems to be the road surface of choice in these parts for secondary roads. The "rough road" sign is still up, but it is a whole bunch better than in the past. Good to see that portion of the project is finished and it will not be too long before the suburbs of Green Bay will be getting Lake Michigan water to drink.

I think my little brother will again be heading south today or tomorrow. I have my calendar marked both ways and not sure which is right. I suspect they will know! Meeting them in Chetek this year was really a good idea I think. We had more of a chance to swap lies than just over a meal in a restaurant somewhere. Most of our time was spent at Kaye’s and I think the thee gals really had a good time (they are better at swapping lies!) Maybe next year we can do something similar. We also had a chance to catch up on things in Chetek through Kaye and really had a good time spending more or less a whole day with her. Not sure if we will have a chance to stop to see her this fall when we head to the Holy Spirt Conference. Time will tell.

Being the nice guy that I am, I made breakfast this morning, bacon and eggs. When I fry eggs, I usually fry the bacon almost done, the make a couple of circles with it and crack the eggs in the middle. The bacon normally finishes cooking while the eggs fry. This morning, as they were close to finishing, I turned off the gas, since the cast-iron frypan holds the heat. Well this time instead of turning off the gas, I turned the valve to wide open. A minute later I was trying to figure out what the clicking noise was, when it dawned on me what I had done. The clicking noise was the igniter which only operates when the valve is open to it’s fullest. Once I finally did turn off the gas, I discovered the contents of the pan had some very hard eggs and some bacon with carbon formed in it’s place. I hear carbon is good for an upset stomach, so we are ready for the next upset!

We really spent a lazy day yesterday. After church we went to Sloven Country Inn for lunch. They were much more busy than we expected, so ended up heading to Kewaunee and Grandma’s. Out of our normal character, we had a walleye fish basket with potato pancakes. We normally don’t buy anything that expensive as it usually is too much for us to eat. At $6.00/basket, I guess is really not too high a price, and the portion was just about right for us. Food was good too.

Afterwards we went home. There was a Formula 1 race on from England and it overlapped the scheduled NASCAR race. Before the F1 race was finished, my eyeballs decided to they needed to close, so took a nap. When I woke up, watched the NASCAR race. I had no idea who won the F1 until this morning when I opened the news from the BBC! The NASCAR race was a good one taking all of the afternoon. Almost missed the news! After the race, there really wasn’t all that much on TV of interest, at least not for us.

One of our tomato plants has blossoms! Don’t think I will have tomatoes on the 4th of July! Been working on a fence to keep the critters out of the garden. I have been using the sawhorses of my Dad to build it on. They are a bit too low to be comfortable working at and I have a real kink in my lower back. Wish they were about 6"-8" taller. In the process of building I am using a lot of staples and ran out. Went to the lumber yard to get more and did, except they were not the right staples. Size was OK, but the width of them was too narrow. Will need to pick up some in Green Bay tomorrow. For some reason I had a hard time finding them the last time I needed some. It is an old stapler, but uses heavy gauge staples so I like it.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Cool day

6/9/06, 12:06 pm.
56º F, Sunny, N wind 16 mph.

Good afternoon,

A decidedly cooler day today, but a beautiful sunshiny day anyway. The humidity is also down and it really feels very comfortable outside. The north wind is also keeping the mosquitoes at bay. Like that too. I would not be too mad if this weather stayed until September 1st, then it can start to snow some everyday. The weatherman said the rain would stay to the west of us and so far today he has been right. He is predicting some scattered frost in the northern part of the state for tonight and tomorrow night!

Yesterday in our wanderings, we noticed that there are some farmers still planting or re-planting crops yet. Not too sure what. The corn crop really looks way behind a normal year. Wonder if the corn will be knee high by the 4th of July this year. The corn really looked good in the Chetek area earlier in the week. I am sure it will be knee high there since it is halfway there now!

Yesterday I had a hankering for some Southern fired chicken! So .... I pulled some chicken out of the freezer and made some. It really turned out very well with mashed potatoes and milk gravy. I tried to make more potatoes than we would eat so we could have the leftovers for mashed potato patties for breakfast this morning. They were too good, especially with the gravy, that I ate them all up for supper. Oh well. This morning I took out some "country ribs," actually more like a couple of small, boneless pork roasts. Margriet bought some spices to make her pork rub and it got my taste buds wanting to rub on some pork! I will allow her to make that for supper tonight. Ain’t that nice of me?

After I went to bed last night, Margriet chatted with Brenda online for a bit, then called her on the phone. Arnoud apparently has a return of the cancer which has been in remission for sometime. He is having radiation therapy at the moment and from the sounds of it will be also having chemo later. Margriet said Brenda really sounded good on the phone, but we are really worried about him. We are not sure, but think the cancer is near the heart and not very accessible. Keep Arnoud, Brenda, and all of his caretakers in your prayers. Don’t like to see anyone hurting, especially family. Margriet was most upset when she came to bed finally.

I have been whittling at the lawn. Yesterday and the day before, my hips have really been causing problems. Seems I can only walk a hundred yards or so, before needing to stop and let things calm down again. I really am discouraged with this. My knee acting up I can put up with, but the hips not. Have to figure out a "work-around" of some kind for this. Too much to do. Maybe get a couple of goats!! Not only cut the grass, but also provide some milk and meat, along with fertilizing the garden! Hmmmmmmmmm..............

We finally picked up the mail yesterday and in it was our phone bill. For some reason, the phone company says they owe us money again. Not only that, but the credit we paid the month before was about half of the actual check amount we sent. The bill is very low this month (compared to normal) and closer to what it should be for a change. I sure can’t figure out what they are doing. Don’t think they can either! Would be nice to find a way to have a different supplier and one that could provided broadband internet in the deal too. That would open up a lot more websites and programs for us to use. Maybe someday.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Cool day

6/9/06, 12:06 pm.
56º F, Sunny, N wind 16 mph.

Good afternoon,

A decidedly cooler day today, but a beautiful sunshiny day anyway. The humidity is also down and it really feels very comfortable outside. The north wind is also keeping the mosquitoes at bay. Like that too. I would not be too mad if this weather stayed until September 1st, then it can start to snow some everyday. The weatherman said the rain would stay to the west of us and so far today he has been right. He is predicting some scattered frost in the northern part of the state for tonight and tomorrow night!

Yesterday in our wanderings, we noticed that there are some farmers still planting or re-planting crops yet. Not too sure what. The corn crop really looks way behind a normal year. Wonder if the corn will be knee high by the 4th of July this year. The corn really looked good in the Chetek area earlier in the week. I am sure it will be knee high there since it is halfway there now!

Yesterday I had a hankering for some Southern fired chicken! So .... I pulled some chicken out of the freezer and made some. It really turned out very well with mashed potatoes and milk gravy. I tried to make more potatoes than we would eat so we could have the leftovers for mashed potato patties for breakfast this morning. They were too good, especially with the gravy, that I ate them all up for supper. Oh well. This morning I took out some "country ribs," actually more like a couple of small, boneless pork roasts. Margriet bought some spices to make her pork rub and it got my taste buds wanting to rub on some pork! I will allow her to make that for supper tonight. Ain’t that nice of me?

After I went to bed last night, Margriet chatted with Brenda online for a bit, then called her on the phone. Arnoud apparently has a return of the cancer which has been in remission for sometime. He is having radiation therapy at the moment and from the sounds of it will be also having chemo later. Margriet said Brenda really sounded good on the phone, but we are really worried about him. We are not sure, but think the cancer is near the heart and not very accessible. Keep Arnoud, Brenda, and all of his caretakers in your prayers. Don’t like to see anyone hurting, especially family. Margriet was most upset when she came to bed finally.

I have been whittling at the lawn. Yesterday and the day before, my hips have really been causing problems. Seems I can only walk a hundred yards or so, before needing to stop and let things calm down again. I really am discouraged with this. My knee acting up I can put up with, but the hips not. Have to figure out a "work-around" of some kind for this. Too much to do. Maybe get a couple of goats!! Not only cut the grass, but also provide some milk and meat, along with fertilizing the garden! Hmmmmmmmmm..............

We finally picked up the mail yesterday and in it was our phone bill. For some reason, the phone company says they owe us money again. Not only that, but the credit we paid the month before was about half of the actual check amount we sent. The bill is very low this month (compared to normal) and closer to what it should be for a change. I sure can’t figure out what they are doing. Don’t think they can either! Would be nice to find a way to have a different supplier and one that could provided broadband internet in the deal too. That would open up a lot more websites and programs for us to use. Maybe someday.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Normalizing

O6/08/06, 5:58 A.M.
62º F, Beautiful day a-coming , WNW wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

So we have things getting back to normal again around FISKLAND. Margriet got our kit cleaned up and it is now back in the van, ready for the next sojourn. Never know when we will get an urge and take off. The gas tank is full and the van is ready to go. I got our Travelog up to date and published on this site as well as added to our continuing computer file. The blog site was down for maintenance about the time I was ready to add it here. I did get it on just as I was closing up fo the night and getting to bed. Now you know what we did where and when.

We normally take some hard-cooked eggs (cheese and canned meat too) along for "lunch" when we really don’t want to stop at a restaurant (which is often) but this time we didn’t use them. We had egg shortcake for lunch yesterday. We actually came home with more goodies than we left with. Breakfast was the rest of the sweet rolls Kaye bought for us. That was a real change in our ‘normal’ fare in the morning.

The cameras are also now unloaded of pictures, batteries are recharged so they are also ready for the next adventure. We actually didn’t take that many pictures this time. I still had a lot of pictures on the camera from previous events and emptied them too. Now I have to put them (a couple hundred) in the proper folders.

Yesterday I did manage to get some of the lawn mowed. For some reason, the sitting in the driver’s seat and doing a lot of fat chewing, my hips and knee paid for it yesterday. I could not mow for long, before needing to stop and rest the joints some. The past few times I have started the mower, I have had some problem starting it. Yesterday I discovered the throttle cable had moved a bit and the choke was not being set when in the starting position. Manually closing the choke solved the problem and the engine started on the first pull. Like that much better.

The soil is still super wet with standing water seemingly everywhere. Some of the trees I want to drop for firewood have about 6" of water around them. They will still be there when the water level drops some. I really was surprised how dry it was in the Chetek area. Dust was blowing from anywhere there was open ground or gravel road. For once I was happy to have air-conditioning.

Margriet continued in the cleaning mood after our kit was cleaned up, by attacking some of the kitchen cabinets. We have multiples of some things and others we really don’t use. At least haven’t for the past couple of years. They will go out to storage. Our cabinets are way too full of stuff. Not too sure how a couple of old folks like us manage to gain so many things. Our needs are also diminishing at the same time it seems.

Wisconsin has reintroduced wolves to the state several years ago. The Department of Natural Resources said in a recent report that there have been 25 farms which have experienced problems with wolves attacking their animals. Mostly farm dogs, but also a horse and a couple of colts on different farms. The DNR says there are between 465 and 510 wolves in 113 packs now in the state, mostly in the central and north-central parts of the state. The farmers are upset by their losses, but they are not complaining that much about it. For some reason an animal rights group wants the wolves eliminated again. Don’t understand that. Would think the farmers would complain more.

Today is another catch up day. Have to get up town to get the mail and like that. The van has rested for a full day so it too should be anxious to get rolling. ;-) Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Travelogue of an Old Norwegian and His Woman

Heading West to Meet Folks From the South

It is the time for my little brother and his wife to make their annual trip home to Wisconsin. This year, rather than driving to the Milwaukee area (an area I don’t care for any longer or care to drive there) to catch up with them, I thought it would be neat to meet them in the Chetek area and check in on some of our relatives there too.

06/04/06


8:45 A.M., FISKLAND, Sunny and looks to be a beautiful day.

As seems to be our style, we got off later than I had kinda’ thought we would. Actually there is not a "schedule" we are on, after all this is vacation.

9:45 A.M. Green Bay, Sunny, 35.7 miles/hour

Our tradition continues - stopping at Woodman’s to pick up a couple of sweet rolls and small bottles of milk for breakfast on the way. Margriet was some disappointed as her favorite custard filled long johns with chocolate frosting on were already gone. We had to settle for apple fritters instead. They also were out of the small bottles of milk, so she had to settle for a bottle of chocolate milk. Tough duty! After purchasing our breakfast, and some very large Band-Aids, we stopped at Woodman’s gas station for a fill up and a car wash. Have to make a good impression you know!

10:45 A.M., Black Creek, Sunny, 14.0 miles/hour

Short hour with the stop at Woodman’s. We will follow highway #29 to Chippewa Falls, then head north. There are a lot of cars on the road heading west. I am maintaining 55 mph(saving a bit of fuel), the speed limit is 65 mph, but there are many going much faster than the 65 mph.

11:45 A.M., Ringle, Beautiful sunshine, 53.6 miles/hour.

Traffic is lighter and the land is much flatter. Open highway and now stops or slowdowns at all. Surprised at the mileage this hour.

12:45 P.M., Abbotsford, Sunny and a bit warmer, 48.1 mile/hour.

Another rather high mileage hour. Again no stops, but shortened to stop at the Abby Café for a bite to eat. Seems this is a tradition too. We have stopped here almost every time heading west by this route. The café seems to have good food and not too high priced.

1:45 P.M., Withee, Sunny and a bit warmer, 15.2 miles/hour.

Lunch was some less than we are used to at the cafe. I ordered a Denver sandwich with a cup of soup, Margriet had a bowl of soup. The soup came and tasted excellent, but was not as hot as it should have been. The sandwich took forever to come and when it did, was the toast was rather soggy. Must have been under the holding lamp for some time. The restaurant was filled with folks stopping after church (we played hooky, but listened to Moody Church on the radio. Does that count?) for brunch. We had to wait a short time to be seated. Oh well, they are entitled to a bad day and we are on the road again.

2:45 P.M., Bloomer, Sunny yet and more warmer yet, 55.6 miles/hour.

The mileage is really surprising! The speed control is set at 55 mph but we drove more than that! As soon as we approached Chippewa Falls, the roadway was under construction - for 6 miles according to the sign at the beginning. It was a lot longer than that. Most of the construction was removing the left lane of each direction of the four-lane, narrowing traffic down to one lane. The speed limit was 55 mph and everyone behaved themselves. Our progress was not impeded at all thankfully.

3:30 P.M. Ride Lake, Sunny and much warmer, 23 miles

Checked into Rice Lake’s favorite Super 8 motel. Not many folks here, so no problem getting a room. We like this motel as we have been here before. Unloaded and we both found we were very tired. Not too sure how that happens when we were sitting all day. Decided it was time to take a fiver. Before falling asleep, I remembered that I had not packed any shirts, other than the one I was wearing! After our fiver, we sought out a store to buy a cheap one and remembered the Farm and Fleet store down the street. We found one for less than $10.00 that I liked very much. Wandered around the store for a bit. Nice store and the prices on many things are lower than the Fleet Farm stores at home.

After our shopping trip, we went to the Norske Nook for supper. A must do when we are here. We both had wraps with lefse being the wrap material rather than a tortilla. Of course they are much better that way! Mine was salmon and Margriet’s was chicken. Fresh spinach salad filled. Both were excellent. We have been saying every time we have stopped at the Nook we would have a piece of pie - next time. This was next time! Margriet had sour cream raisin and I had sour cream blackberry. Yum! Margriet embarrassed me by not being able to eat all of hers so I was forced to finish it up for her. Tough duty. Afterwards we rode around the city a bit and headed back to the motel. Thought it a bit late to be calling on folks. A really good day.

06/05/06, 5:30 A.M.

Today is our bum around Chetek day. No definite plans for the day other than to visit with Kaye at the start and catch up with Bill and Mary someplace along the line. Both of us are up early, in part to the early to bed and, for me, the alarm clock in my head. Actually slept rather well and had a good night. Ate some of the goodies at the motel for breakfast. The orange juice was rather thin and the clerk said the night man forgot to add the mix so we should not use it. Looked like the juice was made with only the orange seeds and water! Had the apple juice, very good, instead.

9:15 A.M., Rice Lake, looks like rain.

Finally off toward the cottage and Kaye. Didn’t want to get her out of bed after all. This time when we knocked on her door, the two dogs announced our presence. Very effective door bell! Kaye really looks good and we had a very enjoyable time, swapping stories and pictures of our respective Grandchildren. We also brought along the lap top, so we could show her some of the things/people in our lives. While Margriet filled her in on the delights of the Netherlands, I went over to our old campsite to check things out. The site is still there, but well over grown with trees. It sure triggered some really good memories and stories (all true of course) in the pictures of my mind. In some ways I still wish we could have come there every year and camped for the summer. A light breeze had come up, keeping the mosquitoes at bay, but did experience a few deer flies.

11:30 A.M. Mud Lake, Semi sunny and breezy.

Suggested we go to Bob’s Café in Chetek for a sandwich. Kaye attempted to talk us into staying there and she would fix lunch. She didn’t prevail and we headed up the hill to Bob’s. We had a sandwich and a cup of soup, very good and better conversation. Afterwards we walked part of main street, window shopping, until we came to the bakery. Walking in, I knew we could not leave without something in a bag to take along. Kaye did too and insisted on picking up some things for us to take along. Yum! With our bootie in hand, we headed back down the hill to the cottage. I talked Margriet into walking over to the campsite so she could see were I had spent some very wonderful summers. Since there is now an ATV trail cut through, it was easy to get there for here. It wasn’t too long and it was time for us to head to Rice Lake again to see if Bill and Mary had blown into town yet.

2:30 P.M., Rice Lake

After taking a tour to see if Bill and Mary had arrived at their motel (Not!), we headed to our motel and decided it was time for a fiver. Accomplished that difficult task in good order. Kaye had mentioned that we should come back again for supper and bring Bill and Mary along. So we got out of buying another meal. Stopped at a grocery store to pick up something to add to the meal, settled on a pineapple and some Dutch smoked Gouda cheese (made in the USA) would work. We finally caught up with Bill and Mary and took them to the cottage, while Bill and I sat on the dock to settle the world’s problems (our personal problems are already solved) the gals wrestled up supper. A bit later I spotted a young beaver in the water off of the dock. I pointed it out to Bill and in his enthusiasm to get a picture, went out on the end of the dock and of course the beaver wanted no part of him and disappeared. After a very good meal and even better conversation, it was time to take some pictures after the dishes were washed. Bill and I managed to duck the duty, Kaye’s kitchen was way too small for all of us to fit.

8:00 P.M., Rice Lake, 88.7 mile/day

Dropped Bill and Mary off at their motel after setting up a time (I think) to meet them at the Norske Nook for breakfast in the morning. It was a very nice day. A very nice day! We really had a chance talk and catch up on times past. Wish it would last longer. Watched a bit of TV then to bed - early again.

Since it was Monday, Kaye’s kids in the area were all working and such, so didn’t really have a chance to see them. Maybe next time. For this old Norwegian, it is very good to get back to an area and the people I knew so long ago. The weather really cooperated with warm and breezy weather. Perfect. Aunt Mabel ’s side of the family is having a reunion sometime this summer. Kaye hoped that we would attend. It would be fun and we will see what happens.

06/06/06, 5:30 A.M.

Today is the last day of our sojourn and time to head east again. Hope Bill and Mary will wake up early enough to meet them at Norske Nook for breakfast before heading out. Our motel was nice and we had a good stay. The business was very light with only a few guests present. Good for us, but not the owners of the motel.

8:40 A.M., Rice Lake, cloudy and with the threat of rain.

Checked out of motel and topped off my coffee cup before leaving. The motel’s computer was down the entire time we were there. Apparently someone had downloaded a program which locked the computer system until a password was used. No one could open the system! They are putting in a new system with improvements before the end of the month. We won’t wait to try it out. Bill and Mary arrived at the restaurant about 45 seconds after we did. After much talk from Bill yesterday about their probably not being on time, I was surprised to see them on time. Had some good food and more fat chewed. Mary took a couple of pictures and asked Margriet to pronounce the Grandchildren’s names and to spell them. I thing she succeeded at the spelling, but not the pronunciation.

9:40 A.M., Rice Lake, looks like rain, .5 mile/hour.

Headed south and then east at Bloomer on Highway #64 after driving old U.S. #53 from Rice Lake. I still have visions of Aunt Jenny sitting along that road as we returned to Milwaukee after spending the summer at Uncle Louie’s in the tent. She always had a huge pile of vegetables for us to take along for the winter. She managed to over fill our already over filled ‘39 DeSoto.

10:40 A.M., Cornell, Mist hanging in the air, 40.7 miles/hour.

As we entered Cornell, we had to wait over the 10 minute limit for a long, slow train cross the road. Carrying mostly kiln dried wood from Canada on many, many flatcars. We stopped for gas in Cornell. I had intended to pick up gas in Rice Lake before leaving, but completely forgot about it. The price in Rice Lake was a couple cents per gallon cheaper, but the van doesn’t run on it’s reputation yet. The price had gone up 7¢/gallon in Chetek over night, so hoped to find it some cheaper down the road. We did.

11:45 A.M. Medford, Driving in a cloud, 43.9 miles/hour + 5 minutes.

This is familiar country for me, or at least used to be. Took my Girl Scouts near here, Chequamegon National Forest, to train for their canoe/backpacking trips, and I also took the high school kids into the "wilderness" here too. Did a lot of fishing in the Forest rivers and streams while teaching at Loyal too. Stopped to pick up some bottles of milk to have with the sweet rolls Kaye bought for us in Chetek. We will eat them in the car as we drive.

12:45 P.M., Merrill, some light rain at times, 34.1 miles/hour.

It has been many years since I have been in Merrill proper. The new highway misses the downtown. It really is a nice city. Stopped in one of the city parks at the Wisconsin River for a potty break. Found that the highway bridge was built in 1904 of masonry and the only one to still be in service in Wisconsin. Don’t build them like they used too! Took a few pictures and decided it would be a nice place to take a fiver. Accomplished!

1:45 P.M. Phlox, some heavier rain, 29.0 miles/hour.

Lots of really good farm land and fairly flat after leaving the Merrill area. Everything looks clean and green with the rain. Lots of "small’ family farms with cattle actually grazing in the fields!

2:45 P.M., Shawano, off and on rain, 44.4 miles/hour.

It was really fun driving through the Indian reservation. They have kept their highways much as they were in the 40's and 50's. Not straight and wide, but following the terrain with lots of curves. Fun to drive, but there are very few places to pass vehicles if necessary. They do have "Slow vehicle turnouts" every so often instead of widening the road way. The speed limit on most of the roadway is 55 mph, but in the good old days it would have been 65 mph. Most of the time you could not drive that fast, but I am sure many tired and found the trees rather immovable! The roadway itself has been very well maintained so really is a nice drive. Thought about stopping at the logging museum, but the rain changed my mind. We did stop at the Amish store and Margriet pretty much cleaned out their stock of spices. I also found some gooseberry jam to buy.

3:45 P.M., Hobart, Rain more serious, 26.5 miles/hour.

Back on the highspeed roadway and not really liking it. More traffic than we like. Should hit Green Bay during rush hour.

4:45 P.M., Green Bay, Rain, 11.6 miles/hour.

So the supply run is complete and the tank again filled. Gas prices had not gone up here since leaving, still at $2.869/gallon! Still too high. Actually didn’t need all that much for our supplies, so the wallet didn’t empty all that much this time. Traffic is very heavy in the city. Never have seen it with that many cars downtown. Lots of stop and go traffic for nearly a mile or so. That ain’t normal! Good to get out of it.

6:15 P.M., FISKLAND, rain stopped, 23.6 miles/1½ hour.

Stopped at Grandma’s Place for supper of shrimp/potato pancake basket. Good sized meal for $3.95 each. Kewaunee still on the shores of Lake Michigan and the river hasn’t dried up yet! Noticed the harbor was more filled with boats at the slips, but still not filled as other years. Good to be home. There were clouds of mosquitoes to welcome us home. Before unloading the van, long sleeve shirt was in order. The wind died so the mosquitoes were in full flight. Also noticed the lettuce, beets, and beans have sprouted while we were gone. The rest of the plants have also continued to grow. Maybe some good eating before the snow falls.

A really good couple of days away from FISKLAND. We totally enjoyed ourselves. Ate way too much food, but then we also had almost our fill of good conversations with our family. Never can get enough of that. Kaye really looks well and I think enjoyed our coming. At least we hope so. She lives in as close to a perfect place on this earth as God has made. 641.1 miles traveled on mostly good roads and weather. A bit of construction near Chippewa Falls and a bit of rain west of Green Bay (a lot of driving through clouds before that), but everything else good to go.

Ahhhhh ..... Home again.

06/07/06 6:50 am.
57º F, Wet clouds, NW wind 11 mph.

Good morning,

So .... we are home again. We arrived at FISKLAND at about 6:15 P.M. last night after a three day journey of 641.1 miles. We had a great time and great weather. The only rain we had was yesterday and most of that was driving through a cloud - more or less. The van behaved itself and so did we - more or less. We had some great times with some of our family and we certainly ate too much good food.

We traveled as straight a route as we could to get to Chetek and a crooked road back. The road west was fast and the return scenic. For us, the trip some where is not the destination only, it is the trip there and return is also important. We followed Wisconsin highway #64 for most of the return trip, through the countryside many folks don’t normally see.

Our first stop, after checking into the motel, was to visit with my cousin Kaye Monday morning on the shores of Mud Lake. I still love the place and the small house there. Uncle Louie built (my Dad also was in on the building occasionally too) the original many decades ago. He had perfect wisdom for the location. The original log cabin has over the years been replace with more normal, for today, construction. The replacement was done slowly over year, adding a basement and a small upper level along the way. The cottage would not be built in the same spot today with the building codes as they are today. It has not lost the original feeling when you are there. For me it is a perfect location and house for living in.

Kaye really looked and sounded well and we had a chance to "chew the fat" more than I think we ever had in the past. We spent most of the morning with her, before heading to Chetek for a sandwich at Bob’s Café. After an excellent sandwich and cup of soup, we walked the main street of Chetek to check out some fo the store windows. Kaye insisted we had to stop at the bakery, which neither Margriet or I objected too. Walking in you knew you could not leave without purchasing something - it just smelled like it! We ate some excellent fresh bakery on our ride home yesterday. Much good!

We left Kaye early in the afternoon and headed back to Rice Lake to see if we could catch up with Bill and Mary. They had not gotten into town yet, so we went back to the motel for a fiver. Much needed and appreciated. Afterwards we stopped at the local grocery story to pick up something to bring for the supper Kaye had asked us to come for that evening. Then we went over to the motel Bill and Mary were supposed to be at - the finally were. We corralled them and took them with us to Kaye’s for supper. Had a chance to "chew the fat" with them on the way, both directions, and also at Kaye’s. We had a chance to swap our current lies and had a good time.

Yesterday morning we met them at the Norske Nook for breakfast, before we both headed our own ways. Again, we ate too much but had a really good time "chewing the fat" some more. Bill and Mary headed back to Waukesha with a stop or two along the way and we headed east again. Probably will not see them until their next trip north next year.

We had hoped to get back to Kewaunee before the post office closed, but that was not to be. We got hung up for a very long time waiting for a train to cross the highway in Cornell. We also stopped for a potty break in a Merrill city park, ending up taking some pictures and I took a fiver. When we got to Shawano, we had to stop at the Amish country store to pick up a couple of things we really needed. I think Margriet bought about half of their spice inventory. Not really, but she did have her arms full of them. I did find a jar of gooseberry jam to take home. We also stopped in Green Bay for our normal supply run and gas (the same price as we left). Seeing we would be later than planned, we stopped at Grandma’s Café for a shrimp and potato pancake supper before finally arriving at FISKLAND.

Everything here was as we left it, with the addition of more rain. We were greeted joyfully by clouds of very hungry mosquitoes. It is nice to be welcomed home! Might have appreciated a different method though.

Today is a day to clean up and put away our kit, clean out the van, and get some back to normal again. It was a very nice couple of days away. Relived many good memories with the folks that lived them with us.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

Out the door.

6/4/06 6:06 am.
53 º F, Sunny , NW wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

So we will be on our way in a bit. Heading to the north to me my brother from the south. Plus the rest of our relatives in the area. Really am looking forward to the visit. Hope the mosquitoes are not as bad there as they are here. They are really gaining in numbers and hungry. Seems like I remember there were a lot of them there all summer long. Dad really had a problem with them and would fill the sleeping tent with bug spray every night before we went to bed. Not sure what he used, but probably contained DDT, which was legal at the time, but not now. Maybe in the years to come deet will be outlawed too.

I raked the claw of my claw hammer across the inside wrist of my left hand yesterday afternoon. Fortunately it was the hammer claw and not a knife. It dug a furrow in my hide, causing my body to leak some at that point. Nothing serious, but bled pretty good thanx the blood thinners I am on for my BP. The furrow went right over a pretty substantial vein there without cutting it. If it had been a knife, it probably would have cut it. Nurse Margriet went into action to plug the leak, but it ended my construction activities for the rest of the day. I was trying to pull a drive screw out of an old deck board, when the hammer slipped.

The right rear brake on the van started to grab last week. As time went on it got much worse. I took it apart and discovered that I had reversed the brake shoes. The one supposed to be in front was in the back of the brake assembly. The lining on each shoe are in different locations, causing it to make contact too soon in the braking action. After looking at my repair manual’s diagram again I see how I made the error. The diagram was of the left rear and I was working on the right rear - mirror image. Oh well, the error is corrected and hope it works for another 100,000 miles or so. Felt kind of dump when I figured out what I had done though!

Guess it is time to wake up my Woman and get the show on the road. Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><

A bright thing out there!

6/1/06 12:04 pm.
63 º F, Sunshine, SSE wind 4 mph.

Good afternoon,

Don’t know really what has happened outside, but there is a very bright light in the sky, nice temperature, and a light wind out there. Ain’t used to that. It really is a beautiful day, but the soil is wet as a sponge. The water still comes up between your toes! The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources made a startling statement - the mosquitoes will now start hatching! Guess those little fellas that have been buzzing around rather hungry, must be something else! They sure look, sound, and feel like them though. The frogs are sure are liking this time though.

We did go to Green Bay yesterday. Still no shoes for me. I thought we would go to a couple of stores and find little lower prices. Boy was I wrong! The prices varied between $140.00 - $170.00 a pair, rather than the high price of $100.00 a pair! Maybe I will have to make some from an old tire as the hippies did. I can’t believe the cost! Guess we will keep looking since I am not walking barefoot yet.

We did stop at Gander Mountain to look around. Found a couple of things we have been looking for, but have not found in the grocery stores recently. One was disposable cutting boards. We like them very much to cut up chicken and things like that. Just throw them away, rather than worry about the bugs that start growing on the wooden boards. The other thing was a spice, lemon-pepper, we use as a salt substitute. Tastes good too. All that we have found in grocery stores of late, also contain a sizable dose of salt! That seems rather counter to the purpose of the spice. We found a rather large container of it to be "normally" used on turkeys that are deep-fried. Surprisingly, to me, it is a product of Louisiana.

Of course while we were at the "Mountain" I had to snoop around the store. They have a lot of things I would like, but they also have a lot of things necessary to become a City Dude in the woods or on the water (that’s a scary thought) and really look good doing it. I would say that probably 75% of what is in the store is designed for City Dudes. Some of the things I would like to have are too old-fashioned to be in the store. Like a Jones style hat or a canvas upland game coat. I did manage to find a couple of things I really "needed" too. I have been talking several times about tying flies in the past to Margriet. I finally was able to show Margriet what I was talking about. I showed her some flies they sell in bulk (of course it was a fly tied on a #24 hook) and then the materials to tie them. The flies I used to sell for 35¢ to 50¢ each, are now $1.79 each. Actually that is pretty reasonable considering today’s prices. I suspect they are made in China or some such place. The materials are much higher priced than long ago, but they also were not as high as I thought they would be. Wish mu fingers would allow me to tie flies yet. I think the last I made were some jigs and poppers when the kids were little and there only were two! Kids that is.

We also took a trip to the south side of town check out the Christian Book store we like. It was something of a mistake and it took a lot longer than we would have liked. Seemed every route I attempted was under construction. Even one of the detours was under construction and had a detour! Seems most of the re-reconstruction in the city is taking place in that part of town. Margriet picked up a couple of books so I guess the effort was some worth it.

While in that area, and since it was about lunch time, we stopped at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for lunch. We didn’t have any pancakes, but was tempted, rather Margriet had liver and onions and I had a smoked turkey sandwich with onion rings. Onion rings are a real treat for me. IHOP brings back a lot of good memories of the kids when they were small and we would stop at the one in Oshkosh for a treat of chocolate pancakes, containing chocolate chips too, with chocolate syrup and whipped cream over them instead of normal syrup! It was a big deal then and only cost 79¢! Now of course they are much more.

A little farther down the road is the Woodworker’s Depot, http://www.woodworkersdepot.com/, one of my favorite haunts. Since we were that close and we had not stopped there for several months, we snooped around there too. Of course I can always find things there that would be nice to have. I did look for a couple of things I really do need, but they didn’t have them or they were out of my price class. They sure do have stuff there! It is a very good thing that no one has given me a blank check to the store. Gander Mountain either for that matter.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,


Chris <><