Wow, I have been lax or busy depending on how you look at it.

Christmas eve came and went. I drank a lot, fell asleep on the living room floor. Magically, when I woke up all my guests were gone!

Christmas was nice as usual. Kids got a load of stuff, I think Tracy was happy with her coat. I got a game a shirt,sweats and a new down vest.

Mom's house was nice again too - real relaxed, which is good because, while not hungover, I did feel extremely fat. Of course I ate too much there and left me with a case of Jingle Bowels.

Did a bunch of running around on Saturday, exchanging and returning. Then off to the Schroeder's for our final Christmas event of 2009. Nice relaxing, great lasagna, enjoyable time with friends. That last sentence was horribly written, but you know what I mean.

A few days left of light work and then New Years eve.

The JV team just keeps on keeping on. Another nice win to go 6-2 on the season. Joel played most of the game it was nice to see. I keep giving hime pointers and he says "I did do that" I laugh because he must think he did - I need to tape him and show him.

Anyway he had 5 points to go along with the 25+ minutes.

The grouting of the bathroom is DONE! So close now I can finally see the end.

Yes it is coming to an end. I actually started grouting the bathroom. All done except the ceiling. Took longer to clean the thinset then actually grout the walls. I may get it done before Christmas. Ha.

Otherwise a relative boring few vacation days. Had Brookes birthday party yesterday. Fixed my sisters computer.

Bought some of those Williams-Sonoma frozen croissants and made some today. Underwhelmed by the size frozen. Wondered if I got gyped. Let thrm thaw and rise the requisite 9 hrs or so and then but them in the oven. 6 filled the cookie sheet they were awesome.

Save some for Christmas morning. On to the next week - final week to Christmas.

Virtual Thursday

So that is when you have off Thursday and Friday - you get to move your week up a few days. Tomorrow will be Virtual Friday.

Going to try to get the snowboard to the shop today. Hopefully getting in some runs this week or next. Excited to get out there. I have a lot of mental things I need to work out. Cheaper than therapy. I just wish the runs were longer. Although lift time can be very solitaire as well.

Anyway the big news is Mackenzie got a phone last week. I hemmed and hawed and finally broke down. She is doing too much after school and I need to be connected with her. Ride times coordinating with Joel and the car and everything else. 2 weeks ago I ran late picking her up, is just an example.

The best part is seeing her face when we told her she could get a phone. I think I had to put sunglasses on. We went to the phone store, just her and I. Picked out a phone. (Samsung Solstice - a very nice touch screen phone, free after rebate). Got a pink skin and set her up. within minutes she was entering contacts etc. I told her, like I tell her brother, this is a big test to see if she can behave responsibly with this phone. So far so good. Although some people are just contacting her way too early on weekends. So we set new rules as we go. This is a great bargaining chip as well. Do right you keep it, mess up I take it. Then it only gets used when you need it.

So far I have more cat pictures on that phone than I care to see.

Had a really nice time with the family at Eagans and the Pabst Theater on Friday night. Well Joel opted for basketball and Grandma took his place. Dinner was pretty good and the show was excellent. Our seats wer really good too. Center stage 12 rows back. Just phenomenal.

Updates from Joel is that JV won again and F, V both lost. That makes JV 5-1. Not bad And he got mucho playing time. 10 + minutes. That's great.

Breakfast with Santa this morning was nice to get together for breakfast.

Well we got home to go get a christmas tree. In and out in 15 minutes, just the way I like it. Going to use the picture we took for our Christmas cards.
Hit the walk and driveway with the snow blower to clean up. I caught some lights in the auger and well, I lost a set of net lights. Oh well. the tree is in and up - waiting for decorations tomorrow.

Snow day yesterday, cold day today. I had a bunch of things to say but can't remember anything. Busy weekend, Dinner, Christmas Carol at the Rep and then Breakfast with Santa on Saturday.

Another weekend gone. Shopped till I dropped on Saturday. I think Tracy and I hit 13 different stops (2 for eats) and that includes a mall. All in all a nice day and we didn't want to kill each other. :D.

quick observation - people, if you send a xmas list to people expecting them to get you something off that list...3 weeks before Christmas. Don't buy it for yourself before the 25th. Just sayin'.

Sunday we did a whole lot of nothing and then went to the Kewaskum Christmas parade in the evening. Mackenzie was in it for the second time with the Girl Scout troop. The picture did not turn out as well as I thought. But it was nice.

Went home and had grilled cheese samaches and soup.

Now off to figure out where to burn my last 4 vacation days for this year.

Dog Days

You've heard of the dog days of summer. Well we officially have the dog days of winter. This is the time of the year where Baily flourishes. Cold, below freezing temps. Fell asleep outside and got snow on him. He's back out today. I cannot imagine how hot he must be during the summer.

21 days to Christmas and what started out with me being in the spirit is slowly tapering to my normal self.

Joel had a game yesterday, All three levels beat Campbellsport. That is very rare. Joel had limited playing time again. I told him talk to the coach, find out what he needs to work on. I mean from 28 minutes a game last year to 3 minutes a game and not even getting in the game on 2 occasions, there has got to be something lacking. Probably agression. He's smart, sees the court, makes plays but just doesn't get as involved. He needs to play with the intensity he played summer ball. Banging, taking control, being confident. Something he won't learn from me.

Snow.Snow.Snow. Lets get this season of snowboarding in and then get some surgery for this neck.

Bad day. Work was slow, sitting in my office sun streaming in all nice and warm. I forgot to get Kiki at school after intramural's. So much so to think to myself, I wonder where she is. "Oh Shit I was supposed to get her", luckily it was only 10 minutes after I was supposed to get her. Needless to say she was the last kid there. Ugh.

Then I go to drop the car off for Joel at school (so he has it for coming home from his basketball game). Halfway to FonDuLac - I realize I left my phone in the other car. Not so bad. We stop at the ATM to get some money to get into the game. Some punk starts approaching me as I was getting my money and I think, really? He's just looking for cigarettes. Get in the car and drive to the game. Mackenzie asks as we drive away, do you know that guy, he's waving to you. This was the guy behind me at the ATM. I said no.

Mind you Joel has seen limited playing time this year. New coaches so he has to show up all the time to prove it, again. So he has started practicing with a vengeance. It payed off this game. However, because we were running late by the time Tracy gets home, drop the car off, get money, the game has started. Just in time to pay the door and hear - "Joel Turk for Threeeee". Tracy and I look at each other and frown and laugh at the same time. Get to the bleachers and watch the game. A thrilling OT win 51-49 over Winnebago Lutheran.

We watch 3 quarters of the varsity game and leave to head home. By the time we get home it will be 10, on a school night. Late for Kiki.

Just about through Fondy and I realize we need gas. Quick pull into a gas station and see a mini van. 1994 Quest mind you, just like the one we had, same color, same wheels, same rusted hitch. quite a bit worse for wear, rust in the wheel wells etc but still running. It had to be our van, there were very few of them when it was new and even fewer now. To have the exact same 2" hitch and tow bar I left in it, (cause it had rusted tight) is just too coincidental. To think I got $1500.00 trade on that in 2003.

Anyway, I reach into my pocket, dig out my wallet. Look for the familiar debit card, that I no longer see, or feel in any pocket. Flash back to: "Do we know that guy, he's waving at you" I left my card in the ATM, damn punk asking for cigs completely knocked me off my game.

Man what a day.

It seems I have only been updating this blog every week. I hope to change that, I have a bunch of things to revisit but by the time I get here I have forgot.

Well let's see. Tuesday Joel kicked off the basketball season with a home loss Vs Beaver Dam. Joel played 0 minutes. Coach only played 7 and honestly that's why they lost. The line was winded. Friday was a different story at the Old Scenic Moraine tournament in Slinger. Everyone played and Joel had 2 pts. They won by 22. Saturday it was the same as Tuesday. Played 6, they still won by 6 but it was not without its moments. Joel is a bit pissed off, he was the #1 option last year (6th man) scored 6+ points a game. I told him to use it for motivation. Hit practice harder. Prove the coach wrong.

Wednesday was an easy work day until I tried to make the pumpkin pie. Started it a bit later than I wanted to because I was waiting for Mackenzie to get home from from piano lessons. Anyway I think it was a mis-measurement of flour and the dough was not dough but mush. I really had no energy to try again that night, it really put me in a lousy mood. Have not been in too great mental shape lately and that made me snap.

Thursday morning I slapped a new crust together and made the pie. Came out of the oven 10 minutes before we had to leave. I must work better under pressure, I don't like it but it seems to happen that way.

Mad it to Mom's for a great meal and football game. Good to see Jim out and about.

Friday I worked a little bit then put some lights on the house, got the rest of the decorations out of the basement for Christmas. That's Tracy's job :). Went to the basketball game that night.

Got home hung out a while then went to watch Glen at the Bagg End with his new band Spoiled Rotten. That was pretty fun. I hope them continued success.

Saturday, did some more lights, still seems thin outside. I think I am channelling Dad. More lights, I was even thinking about getting one of those obnoxious inflatable things. Went to Joel's game where the won the tournament and are now 2-1 (if you did not get that from the beginning of this rambling). Anyway, always great to see mom and Jenny at the game. Had some pizza afterword.

Not much going on today, need to figure out what to eat for dinner. Any help?

Back to work Monday - Can you believe it's almost December.

Tomorrow is Monday, or virtual Wednesday if you have off on Thursday and Friday.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving.

Guess what? We had a birthday party at our house again yesterday. I just love hosting people, clean the house blah blah blah. At least it wasn't my food and drink to prepare this time. Although we are front runners for the Christmas Eve dinner as well with Tracy's family, whoo hoo. Ah at least its the way I get motivated to finish projects.

Speaking of, almost done with that damn bathroom. Just to clean the walls up, and grout them. Oh and hang a shower rod, and a towel bar and install base molding and caulk the tub and install the shower faucet/shower-head. Oye.

I still have to make a dresser for Jenna. I haven't forgot. (to Jenny who reads this blog occasionally)

Did some shopping today after the Packer game, grocery and other. Made me tired and thirsty.

One other thing, Joel starts Ktown JV hoops with a real game V Beaver Dam on Tuesday. I will start updating his stuff as often as possible. Twitter, Facebook and Blog. I am so connnected! LMAO.

This is kinda funny. A picture of Joel and Matt at around 3 and then 16.

Whats better the reminiscing about an old car you once had?
(mind you this one did not have the best track record, I know)

How about racing it in a video game?

Leonid Meteor Shower

More like a drizzle, Kiki and I woke up at 3:00 AM to catch a view of this. Since that was supposed to be the best time for viewing here. It was cold and windy but clear. We saw about 12-15 in 30 minutes then Dad was cold and tired. It may have been better if the neighbor a few houses down did not have every light on the outside of his house on. I contemplated getting the air rifle out. however it would have been just too far away.

Wow - a whole week went by again.

Let see I ended up in Jacksonville by the way of Atlanta this week. Hurricane Ida's rain screwed with flights all over the east coast. I got to dinner 30 minutes late on Tuesday night. Ended up sitting between to the CEO and CIO of my company. Considering this company has 30,000 employees that's pretty cool. It was fine once I got over the initial anxiety.

Wednesday was an all day global planning session for on of my accounts I work on. They just happen to be the one I was visiting the week prior in NYC. Anyway Meetings all day, flight at 7:30, then get home by 11:45 PM. That is a long day.

I played with my phone a lot figured out how to use a bright kite application as well as a few other things. I really think I will twitter more when I travel. Just so many thoughts of what I see and do. I thought it would be pretty interesting if not funny on some of the things in my head. Of course I am a little goofy so I don't think every one thinks I'm as funny as I think I am.

I really wanted to post on craig's list missed connections after my flight from Jacksonville to Atlanta on Wednesday night. To complain to the world about this 5' 8" 250 pound kid I sat in front of - I say kid because I am 41 and he was 25 ish. The guy was the typical loudmouth know it all. Chatting next to the poor soul sitting next to him. First he talks Texas Hold em. Then he talks about living in Texas himself from 1990 to 1994 he left when he was in 4th grade. Race relations and neighbors in Texas. Really? you were what 9? Then he talked about a few other things which by that point I stopped paying attention. Until his 4 month old started screaming (right behind me). His 4 month old is the smartest and has motor skills way above any other 4 month old. His wife (sitting next to him and almost as annoying) is pregnant again. Then he starts discussing her biological clock, and shes chiming in 'uh-huh, that's right, Did I mention that he can be heard about 3 rows either way, he is so loud. Then the plane hits a bit of turbulence and he panics - 'Take the baby, take the baby' to his wife as he starts freaking out. It stops and he says wow that was weird. For the guy who travels from CA to ?? all the time this was not a big deal. Then the baby is crying again do to pressure changes (descending) He cups the kids ears and gives him a pacifier. 'See when I hold his ears is helps with the pressure' The poor guy subject to this next to him said 'or it could be that ye is sucking and that is helping (like gum)' Duh. There were a few more exchanges and i could not get off that plane fast enough...it was hilarious and horrible all at the same time.

So this just one of the things I see when traveling. Better for blog or twitter than face book by far.

Well off to try to finish the tile this weekend.

Tile Time

Well its time to tile again. I Actually have the back wall almost done, now today the sides and then maybe the ceiling.

Yep thats me in Time's square. Around 8:30 AM CT this morning.

Post Number 300

Well here is post number 300! And it started some time ago. Off to NYC today. If the Yankees win the World Series tonight the place well me crazy. Should be fun.

Happy Halloween

Today is Halloween. Trick r Treat at the Turks again. Gonna be cold and windy. Kiki is semi sick too. :(

Have an awesome menu planned.
Aunt Nancys home made sauce meatballs and sausages
Spagehetti
Polenta
Bread
Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes
Apple Crisp

Jenny, Jadyn, Jenna, Mom will be over.

Visited my brother in the hospital yesterday. He looks like he's in a ton of pain yet, pretty miserable. He needs to get well soon.

Had a wonderful birthday dinner last night. Kathy, Glen, Susie, Tim, Tracy and I all went to Wasabi for sushi. It was really good. Kamakazi rolls, Wasabi rolls, a few stanadard rolls as well as some assorted Nigiri. Had a few drinks and made it a really nice night. Thanks to everyone!

Glens band Spoiled Rotten starts tonight as a Halloween bash. Can't make it - but Good Luck!

Oh yea, Happy Anniversary to Tracy - 17 Years, WOW. Love ya.

Its my birthday. I actually looked forward to it this year. Not sure why. Probably cause I don't care too much and the fact it falls on a Friday. That I took the day off. That I am going to dinner with friends tonight. That I actually had a birday present I wanted. That tomorrow is Halloween and thats always fun. It's also my 17th anniversary.....

So behind on the blog. Have a ton to say no time. Here are the kids 1st quarter report cards. Kiki's really not supposed to get letter grades. Just lame D and S (developing and secure). Luckily the teacher does this on the side...

Nice weekend. No stress to push me over - did not touch the shower tile. Cleaned up the shop, went to Reilly's birthday party. Learned that Jim is going in for surgery on Tuesday. Apparently his ribs are not healing right, overlapping. So he gets flayed open to fix it. He'll have a cool scar if anything.

Changed the oil on both cars, picked up Kiki from camp, went to the pumpkin farm with Grandma, then the apple orchard, then home for dinner. Joel drove himself to open gym at the high school. That is awesome.

Got a tough week this week. Lots to do, next week I will be in NYC, then the week after that Jacksonville. Let's hope I can really get this done. Still have not found any drive to do much in work or other.

Kickoff birthday week with a bang.

Catching up

A lot has passed since my last post.

Lets see I got the bathroom floor tiled and grouted. The toilet and sink set and made the bathroom actually usable. No pictures for now, since I had to send my laptop in for a replacement GPU do to overheating. So I will be getting back to the bathroom in a week or so, need to get that shower done. But I have a full weekend this upcoming Saturday. Reilly's birthday. Fundraiser pickups, Season pass pictures (Sunburst). Clean that basement work room and get that back in order. A few other things I can't thing of

Joel's 16th birthday went off well, I drank too much, but it was a long time since I let go that much. He scored ok, has a new iPhone in his possession and he's happy.

Jim came home from the hospital on Sunday, Nicole and Mom took care of him. He just told me his chest tube hole is leaking a bit and he may need surgery for the ribs, as they are overlapping each other incorrectly. Yuck. On a good note the police report indicates that someone pulled out in front of him so it was not just incompetence on his part. He doesn't remember what happened and this helps.

I had what I hope is my final epidural steroid injection on Tuesday. Again Mom had to take care of me due to the sedation. Man she as a bunch of dilapidated sons. In 8 days I turn 41. Yeesh. The nurses at the surgicenter were giving me early birthday well wishes....

Relaxing

Here it is Sunday. The birthday party has come and gone. All that work remodeling, cleaning, preparing. And its over. Slept a bit later (8:00). Gonna spend the rest of today doing nothing. Watch some TV, maybe plant my garlic. It is pretty nice outside today.

Thanks to everyone for the gifts and money, Joel did alright.

Fall is here and the colors are changing very quick. A rare sunny day yesterday.

Until my brother was in a motorcycle accident. 13 broken ribs! Ouch. Gonna go visit him in the hospital tomorrow.

Well Tuesday is here and I still have a ton to do. Finishing the woodwork today, gonna start the tile tomorrow after the countertop is installed. Do the floor first then the shower. Not gonna make it I am afraid.

Well its official, Joel is a licensed driver. The DMV is still a trip. Go to the info line, fill out a form. Wait. Take the test, review errors with instructor. Go back to the information line, get a new form and a number. Wait for your number to get called. Go to that window, finish filling out the forms (notarized). Pay for it ($43.00). Get another slip, give it to the picture window. Wait. Take your picture, wait. Get your license!

One interesting note, by the 10:55 appointment that Joel had, the instructor had given 6 road tests, Joel was #7. Amazingly, even the instructor thought it was amazing, all 7 passed. She did say she was done for the day. I don't know if I could take 7 road tests in a row...

Look a cute Woodpecker....what?

We heard this woodpecker on the house yesterday morning. Aw how cute. I looked at the ground to see a lot of wood chips. So I chased it away to see this nice hole.

#@%$^ing woodpecker!

Time to kick this bathroom in the ass. Drywall is done, texture is down. Next prime and paint. Meanwhile I build some drawers for the cabinet. Should be doen with that today. Then I can start tiling should be awesome with the cold and snow predicted. Time to make sure I have kerosene for the torpedo heater.

Yes, it's Joel's birthday but it's also the 1 year anniversary of Dad's passing. It all seems like such a blur, time went by so fast. I am sad, if not a bit angry because it just doesn't seem right. I will deal with it, but I still miss him.

October is a month with a lot of special days. Birthdays galore.

Happy Birthday to Joel who turns 16 today. Man hard to believe he's that old already.

Joel about 6 here.

Almost 16 here.

I couldn't ask for a better son. Makes me proud.

Closer...

Look drywall with mud. Yea! Countertop gets measured today and I can almost start tiling. Hope my wood work shows up soon I need to stain that up quick.

Well the bathroom progresses ever so slowly. Pocked a hole in a supply line with a drywall screw, had to pull the wall down and re do the copper. all under time constraints of haveing to get to my Mom's for dinner by 5:00. At least I don't have a Packer game to contend with today.

Mom had put together a nice dinner, getting us all together.

I finished that new Dan Brown novel - the Lost Symbol. Reads very much like his other books, pretty fast paced (it still took me way to long to read). some surprises. some good, some not so good in my opinion. Anyone want to borrow the book is more than welcome.

Got my first piece of regular drywall up last night. Was going to go for 2 but then it started pouring and I did not have the energy or the will left to track wet through the house. I can only get these sheets up the stairs through the front door.

I will finish today if it kills me.

Birthday Month

Wow October already. Time fly's whether you're having fun or not.

Best month of the year, really, they don't call it Septemberfest, do they?

Bathroom remodel is plugging along, I should have walls up this weekend. See the Picasa album here for pictures

Tub is finally done and in.
Time to shim the walls and rock it!

Sad Saturday?

It was one year ago today that sat on the deck, fire in the pit, music playing and better than 1/2 bottle of tequila in me. Emotionalizing about my Dad. Three days after that he was in hospice. I don't want to be too sad about it again today, but I will try to repeat (well, minus a lot of that tequila) if the weather cooperates. A remembrance if you will.

Feel free to join. Let me know early enough and I will grill something.

Picasa 3.5

Picasa updates! If you are a big user of Picasa (I am) as a photo organizer. The newest version is rolling out. It will allow you to tag by peoples faces automatically. If you use Picasa Web Albums right now you may already do this, but now you can do your entire collection. It works pretty good but it is a lot of work to confirm the matches. Once you have done that it should be easy to maintain. So easy to find people. It worked so well it tried to identify faces of pictures of pictures. Meaning a picture of the kids next to the fireplace also picked up the school picture behind them. Oh yea and having to ignore all the people in crowds (brewer games, graduation ceremony's etc) can be bit if a pain but you can multi select and ignore (CTL- Click).

I now know that I have 1161 pictures with Mackenzie in it somewhere and only 706 with Joel. Which kid was born first? Which one is a bigger ham!

Have fun.

Tub is in. Now just to finish the drain and the worst, well close to worse is done.

Thanks to Mom for helping with my shots yesterday. The sedation is always fun. Even bigger thanks for the lasagna for dinner! That was good!

Too early to tell if it did any good or not. Let you know in 3 days.

Todays the day. Another dose of steroids to the near base of my skull. I hope I get some relief and don't hit the mood swings like I did last time. I just need to feel better, get some motivation, finish the bathroom, build a dresser for Jenna, maybe do a cabinet job for some side $$.

Went to Joel's open house yesterday. He is funny. 2 girls seemed quite enamored with him but with us on his 6 he was a little shy. One wanted a hug(denied) and they tracked him down in between other activities we did. I had to pull him aside and tell him not to be too shy because now you look like a jerk ( Wait maybe he's onto something). He finally gave them the time of day, at least a little bit. Anyway Tracy was giddy to see that interaction, that is until we made her mad. Then she didn't talk to use the rest of the night.

You know I completely forgot to blog my brother's birthday on Monday. Happy 38th! I did text him on xbox live though.

Nothing new here, one piece of durorock up on the ceiling and my neck hurts as always. Only 5 days to a cortisone injection.

Are you ready for some football..

Seriously, the only TV I absolutely watch on schedule if the NFL.

Anyway - The bathroom is progressing slowly. The shower light is in, heat lamp and fan are in all wired. My new supply plumbing is not leaking. It sit correctly behing the wall. Next is getting the sheet rock on the ceiling and then the tub. Then the fun work of adjusting the walls then rocking them. Look regular light, shower light, heat lamp and fan. Glad I am done crawling in the attic for this project.

I think it may be a cabinet day, can't work above my head again. Also need to attend to the lawn. I should grill, how long can this awesome weather last?

Made an awesome gourmet grilled cheese last night. Sharp cheddar, Greyer, on fresh sourdough and made with herb butter. Washed down with a Fat Tire.

Nine-Nine-Oh Nine.

Not much to say. Worked on the plumbing today - dropped some copper and bent it, need to get a few more elbows. ugh.

Bloggohrea

Good news. New Belgium Brewing is being ditributed in Wisconsin with regularity now. I picket up Mothership Wit and 1554 enlightened black ale. Two complete contrasts yet both pretty good. Now just to get better prices.

No labor today. Bought a few more things needed for the bathroom. But that's all I did. Shoulder and neck did not feel up to more above head work.

Took Kiki and Joel geo-caching. Yea it was more hiking, but it was nice - we almost hiked 5 miles. Found 10 caches total. Not great but we had fun. Next time we bring the mountain bikes - one spot was a super mountain biking area.

Came home made some marinated chicken on the grill, and laying in the hammock having Mackenzie read out loud to me.

Snapped some hammock strings getting out. It's showing some dry-rot. :(

I finally pulled that shower drop out. What a pain in the ass.

See updated pictures at Picasa

Ok do or die weekend. Time to kick it up a notch on the bathroom. Neck and back are killing me but that's not good enough reason to puss out now.

Picked up the new backdoor/garage door. Looks really nice. Can't wait.

Enough Blog time to turn this:Into a bathroom.

Back to school

Quite possibly the best ribs I ever made. This was 2 full racks but was fallin off the bone so easily. This is the final sauce up before eating.

A Day in the Dells

Spent Friday and Saturday in the Dells. Talk about weather swings. Cold, Warm, Storms, really cold.

Did some school shopping for Joel and Kiki, raced go-karts, ate, swam at the hotel pool and finally played minigolf.

No Paul Bunyan. HiltonHonors Gold gets me free breakfast.

See the pictures here. Dells Pictures

Crap - work sux when you take a long vacation. Still waiting to get more pictures from the rest of the Doods.

Here is one to hold you over.

Yes I am a giant here. Actually one more step back and we would be in the lake.

Yes I am back from vacation in Canada. I need a vacation from this vacation. More to post as I get dug out from work and get all the pictures from everyone.

-JT

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you have a great day.

Apparently I am not posting enough. : P Now that I am linked to Jenny's Blog I may get 3 readers. So I x - linked to hers too( see the side bar). Now there will be no posting starting Tuesday night as I am in Canada, roughing it for the most part.

Other than Wednesday night (laying out side) it has been a miserable week. I can only hope this carries into my fishing vacation next week. Time to put on a happy face so at least everyone else isn't bothered.

Good times.

Laying on your back at 11:30 at night on the deck is not great for the comfort (even with a blanket), but the show above was very nice. The Perseids meteor shower. Perfect viewing. Moon was very low and behind trees. All the light off and the house shielding as much stray light from the south as possible. Mackenzie and Joel and Travis and I were out from 11 to 11:40Pm. We saw at least 15 really good ones. Large, bright and long tails. As well as more than 10 smaller ones. Worth staying up for.

Great Taste of the Midwest

Home from the Great Taste of the Midwest. Rain all the way there. Sun came out just in time...to make it nice and hot and muggy. Other than the mud on some parts of the ground it was great weather. We attacked the fest differently than last year. Moderation was the key and because of that we were able to get through all the tents. Had some really good beer, some interesting flavor and one or two that need to go back to the drawing board. More styles, aging methods, ingredients and more breweries that ever. Good times.

Hope to get tickets for next year!

Well tore up the bathroom. pics to come. Registration for Joel tonight - Sophmore year. Yikes. Then get geared up for the Great Taste of the Midwest. In Madtown. My liver is already doing exercises to be ready. No not really, ok maybe.

Happy 31st Birthday to my little sister!

August is here already

Holy shit, It's August 2nd already. Man, 1 more month of summer vacation. next weekend is beerfest, then 1 more week and off to Canada. Somewhere between there I intend on getting the bathroom done. Starting tomorrow. ...

Saturday was a loong day of shopping and running around. Ordered a fire door for the garage to kitchen entrance. Not cheap, but it will match all the other doors - 6 panel pine and oak jambs. Ran into Mom by complete coincidence at Mayfair while Kiki got a ton of school clothes (30% Gap coupon, thanks Nicole!). Picked up the Wii sports resort with Joel's gift cards and Kiki's cash. They played well past 1:00 AM. Actually that's not saying much because we did not get home from errands and dining until after 10 PM any way. Not sure I can do another 11 hr shopping trip again. Although Tracy will tell you sitting on a couch at Mayfair really does not count. That's where I saw Mom, felt like an old man, getting ready to sleep with the wife shopped.

Today, Joel and I washed and vacuumed both cars, first time I did them by hand all 2009. Dad would NOT be happy with me. Before that I just finished mowing the law for the first time in 5-6 weeks and the right axle broke on me. Dumped the mower deck straight into the dirt. The absolute farthest from the garage. Luckily I was just finished. So I dragged the jack to the spot, lifted it up jury rigged the front wheel and limped it to the garage. About 150.00 in parts to fix. The tractor is 12 yrs old and thats the first thing to ever really ' break'. I have bent some things just out of abuse and use but never like this. While at it, changed the oil and the air filter. 304 operating hours. Doesnt seem like much for 12 years, but that's the equivalent of running it more than 1 day straight every year. Think about driving around the yard for over a day.

Made citrus tequila chicken thighs on the grill. Weber recipe of the week, Really good and juicy but I expected more citrus, using lime and orange juice in the marinade.

Not too much more to say other than Saturday is beer fest in Madison. I may have mentioned that...looking forward to that.

Thanks to Mom for coming over Sunday night and enjoying some grilled pizza during the bouts of monsoon rain we got. I wanted to take a picture or two of the pizzas because they looked really nice on top of tasting pretty darn good. Totally forgot once the rain hit (over and over).

Watched Better off Dead with the kids last night. Nothing like a 24 yr old comedy to bridge some age gaps. I forgot a lot of funny lines. The kids thought it was amusing too.

Mercy Buckets!!!

Another week, another crappy week of weather. Between the deer and the lack of heat the garden is in poor shape. Green tomatoes and bean plants with no leaves. Maybe better luck next year. At least it's weedless.

Joel is all done with with the first year of baseball for Kewaskum. They split the last double-header with West Bend East. Joel pitched 5 innings 2 runs.

Mackenzie has one more game left for softball. Then summer vacation can actually start.

Joel got his road test appointment for 10/9...

Went to dinner Friday night with Kathy and Glen. Ended up at FireFly in Tosa village. It was good but not spectacular. Not going out of my way to go there again. The garlic fries appetizer is the highlight of the menu. Went to Cafe Hollander for a few belgian ales as it was actually a nice night to be outside. After that McBob's on North, for a minute then a house party 2 blocks away. Ha that was different and fun. Went back home for a night cap. talking with my hands too much breaking Glen's AleAsylum glass. Not too smooth. In bed by 3:00. Oh yea the kids were at Nana's.

Getting ready to remodel the bathroom. Just got to create a plan to get it done. It's not a huge project just going to be a messy inconvenience.

I may be back. This is the third post inside a week.

Joel lost the last game 15-5. One more week, one more Double header on home starting 9:30 on Thursday the 23rd. Then the season is over. Let me know if you want to go I can tell you where.

Saw the movie The Proposal last night, predicable, but funny none the less. Need to go do some call back work on a basement. Carpet is hitting some doors and high humidity is sticking some doors. Not the way I want to start a Saturday.

Wow two posts in a week.

K-Town baseball has now won 4 in a row. That makes them 4-11 with a chance to go 7-11 for the season. Which for the first year in a long time having a Freshman/JV baseball squad is not too bad. Joel keeps pitching 3-5 innings at a stint and has it down.

Mackenzie has softball tonight. That's always fun to watch. She has gotten to be one of the top fielders on the team. Now with their top hitter out with a broken arm it should be and interesting game.

Continuing on the baseball theme. My over 40 team is in 1st place in the second half of the season. Winning last night 14-7. I actually started a 9 run rally with two outs. Good to contribute occasionally.

Glen gave me some new music. Well the only really new was Rancid. I highly recommend. Mix of punk, ska and other. Very catchy stuff.

One last thing of note, it was 1 year ago Joel and I started our road trip to Colorado and South Dakota. I think JT grew 8 inches in that time. Time is flying....

Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom...SNAKE!!! OOH a Snakke1

For those not familiar with that little ditty http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/

Well that was the largest garter snake I have ever seen around my house - 3 ft long and thick as a broom handle. Right by the front door. I tried to catch it but it wanted no part of me. Besides it keeps the Chippy population down. Have not seen too many toad either come to think of it.

Nice weekend. Did the birthday party thing again. Yeah! Check my picasa albums for the updates. http://picasaweb.google.com/jdttat

Went to the WB farmers market, bought a few things, got stung by a bee on the finger, did some yardwork, typical :)

Not much else to say.

Another Week gone by by.

God it's going fast. One day of summer school left to go!! Mackenzie had another play today. She really like the acting. No stage fright there at all. She also had an awesome baseball game on Thursday. Good hit, caught a fly ball in the outfield and the won 5-4! Monday was another game too they lost 7-4. She through a girl out from the outfield at second. She has got a good arm, so fun to watch.

The K-Town freshman team finally got in the W column. Sweeping Port Washington in a double header. Joel started pitching the first game and had a complete game shutout winning 14-0. 3 hits and 1 walk given up. About time, he's finally getting some innings and look the rust is off. He's pitched in the last 3 games more than 4 innings each time.

Saturday we had the Party for Dad's side of the family. I would not call it a reunion. There were enough people missing, but it was alright. I really don't know why we don't do more. At least I have a good time. I think Mike Tolfa looks more like my brother than Jim. No offense, but anybody argue with that? Maybe because Jim has so much more hair than me. LOL.

How can I forget the fourth of July? Another first without Dad and Mom did alright. brought all the stuff down and we followed a few hours after. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Well off to a client visit in Milwaukee tomorrow and then we will try to hit the farmers market on Saturday.

That's all I got for now.

Joels game

Well here it is July 2nd and watching Joel play baseball Vs Nicolet.
It's 60 degrees and cold. Jacket on and hood up.

Joel started CF. Playing well, 2 put outs and perfectly executed hit
and run. Batting in the 2 slot.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Edit

They lost the first game, Joel pitched the second game and went 4 1/3 inning 3K 1BB and no ER. They still lost 5-4 in 7... Fun to watch two complete games.

Negligent Blogger

Wow, I joined Facebook and have let this blog slide. Facebook is alright, not sure I am all about posting every thought to a site for my 'friends' which is a term to use loosely. Some truly are and some are just people I know but haven't interacted with in years if not decades. For family members reading this I was located by Dan Schuh on Facebook. Brought a lot of good memories as he was one of my best friends from Kindergarten to 8th grade. In high school we just drifted apart. He had different ideas and people he wanted to hang around with and it was not the same as mine. Too bad to let that get in the way. I want to send him an email and see if he would like to catch up. I bet he's got a lot of stories to tell.

Anyway that leads me to the negligence of this blog. I had every intention of adding to this the past week but never found the time. I have been screwed up with my sleeping for the past few weeks and it hasn't got much better. Shoulder pain and medication are the two main reasons. That and having enough time to sit and actually gather my thoughts. Joel an Mackenzie have been so active this summer and I have traveled 2 out of the last 3 weeks, it has been tough. As I sit here typing this the entire family is sleeping. Nice quiet time before I begin doing all the other things that have been neglected the past few weeks.

Mowed the lawn last night and ran out of gas with a small soul patch left to mow. Arrgh. Finished my last basement of the year last week before fathers day. Got home to realize how lucky I was as my trailer blew out the valve stem on the tire as soon as I got home. Maybe it was Dad looking out for me somehow.

Speaking of fathers. Fathers Day may be one of the best days of the year as far as I'm concerned. Makes me so very thankful for my wonderful wife and awesome kids, I often think they are the only reason I am around. This year was nice. Mom came with us to Moe's Irish Pub for a brunch and then came home to just relax under the (super cool) umbrella on the deck.

Baseball is in full swing at the Turk house. Joel practices every day has a game almost every other day unfortunately the split JV/Freshman squad is 0 fer the season and Joel does not like the coach. Even so he's sticking with it. Doing some pitching, some good some not so good, batting around .300.

Mackezie's team is now 3-1. She has improved so much in a year. It's actually getting fun to watch. Again no one like this coach either. In fact he's kind of a pud. I went to watch/help on Thursday night and ended up instructing more than he did. I don't think he said 10 words. Made me think I could do this again if they needed me. I told the coach 'sorry for taking over, just a hard habit to break' plus when you do nothing to help correct batting and fielding problems....ugh

Oh yea Kiki is in summer school. Acting class, Math and Tennis. They just put on a play yesterday for readers theater. Very cute. Joel is also playing summer league basketball for the JV season. He seems to really enjoy that quite a bit.

Well time to get going, weeds to pull and spray, trailers to fix, tools need to get cleaned and put away, cars washed etc etc etc all the things I neglected in the past few weeks because I was making $$ in a basement...

I'll try not to be so lax on this, it really is a good outlet for me. Even if no one reads it.

Cheers

Updates coming I promise.

Test of text blogging

Weekly Update

Schools out! I would have posted last week but I was in Columbus and Cincinnati. Worked in the basement on Saturday, but not Sunday.

We actually read the Sunday paper on the deck this morning. The first time in 2009 it only took to the middle of JUNE. What a crap summer so far.

Kiki's softball team is now 2-0. Winning over Batavia 17-9. Playing stellar 2nd base she was part of 2 force plays and threw out 2 runners at first. Way to go.

Week review

Well here it is another week and less blogging..

Lets See..

Kiki won their first softball game 21-13. It was pretty impressive. She plays 2nd base and went 2-4 with a walk.

Joel is back to baseball, is playing Left, Center, 2nd and just about every other position. Can't wait to see how this goes.

I did not play softball, I visisted Jenna, her surgery went well and she should go home today. Yea!

Had my first physical since high school. Gave blood for my first ever cholesterol test. Got a tetanus shot. You know they are not supposed to give a shot through tattoos? Red ink especially. They had to find a area in between to give me the shot. Kinda funny.

Lastly and sadly my grill may be on its last legs. The ash catcher system rotted out and they don't make parts for this 15 yr old grill anymore. Weber what were you thinking? So I am debating trying to fix this one or go all out with a new one. Then the great debate, gas or charcoal. Maybe I get a gas and fix the charcoal one. I really have to see if I could do pizza and smoke stuff on a gas grill. Plus the gas grill I really want is uber expensive. Maybe I will drag this last basement gob out another weekend to help pay for that.

Oh yea that's right the weather is nice and I am back in a basement. Fun stuff, hope my neck and shoulder hold out.

Found my patio umbrella stand!

Made really good chicken on the grill. From LeRoy Meats of Horicon. Gotta get more of those.

Now using autocad to create dodecahedron nets for Joel's geometry class.

The Mother/Wife is a way the rest of the family will play. or something like that.

Had a nice waste of a day Saturday. Playing golf. Need I say more? It was fun we had a good time, Joel did not do as good as he or I for that matter would do. He did OK, we will blame it on the new clubs. That's Tim's excuse it will work for us too.

Mackenzie had a fun time hanging out with the Haley and Alissa. Even went swimming in the 65 degree pool.... Crazy girls.

 

Good thing is, Its Thursday. Bad thing is it's Thursday. Nice to know the weekend is close but I still have a lot of work to do. Gonna be in Madison tomorrow.

Joel played the last of tennis for school on Tuesday - Lost in the sub sectionals for state, 6-3, 6-2 against Ripon. Only won 1 varsity meet, did not lose a JV match. Guess what, tennis ended. Baseball started Wednesday. At least between hoops and tennis we had 2 weeks.

Mackenzies softball games start next week too. The screwed up the shirt order, how hard can that be?

Speaking of softball, I continued my spectacular comeback with a 1-2 and a walk. Not real spectacular, spectacularly bad maybe. More like spaztacular!

Mom brought a cherry pie over - mmm, mmmm that's good.

Looong Weekend

Ah other than a few work snags the weekend went nicley.

Friday - Let see dinner ate La Chimnea, Tracy slept the way home and that was then end of Friday. She can't hold her tequila. 2 Margaritas Hahahaha.

Saturday - let see, the weather kinda was on and off. Emptied the storage locker for the year, Did some grocery shopping, picked up a nice market umbrella for the deck. Only problem is, its a bit bigger than the old one and wont fit in the table and stand. So we search for a stand-a-lone-stand. Or not.

Sunday - another wok snag. nothing like giving me a pit of the stomach feel when my cell phone rang. Anyway - We got a bunch of plants and vegetables and turned the gardens and plants. Grilled a few pounds of pork shoulder. Kiki went to Boltonville rain days and about 3 hrs blew through $25.00, no food, just carnival games. Hey she won a gold fish! Mom cam over, we worked her for in the garden for dinner. Steak, hamagers salad, potatoes etc. Had a few strawberry 'ritas. (none for Tracy) Had a fire in the Chimnea and enjoyed the evening and company.

Monday - Joel's day. Went to Dicks sporting goods and got him his early birthday present. A Set of gold clubs. We hit balls in the yatd and at the range. It was fun and that kid can crush the ball. We will play a round next weekend. The fellas better look out. Oh and the goldfish is dead already. Between the cats and Kiki standing over it it every 15 minutes, it never had a chance. Kiki was sad. Now we have a dead fish on the counter. She can't decide how to bury it.

Joel also has sub-sectionals for tennis tomorrow. Bus leaves for Portage at 6:00 AM. Yea, no school to play tennis. How does that work. Where did I go wrong when I was in school?

Weekend

Well here it is - Friday. I don't have a lot of work, but what I do is critical for what it's worth. Tracy and Kiki are going to the Titanic at the MPM for a school field trip today.

Joel lost another Varsity singles meet 6-1,6-4 Gave em a scare in nothing else. He has a small tournament on Saturday and Sub sectionals for state next week. Really proud of him for the the dedication to this sport he only started playing a year or so ago.

Other than that, not much else going on, plant some plants, mow the lawn, empty the storage locker and relax a bit. Summer is right around the corner.

Oh I did get 'discharged' from PT so my neck while not 100% is pretty close and I don't have much issue anymore.

Update to the GTMW - we are o-fer at least 8. Not cool.

Joel had his tennis meet yesterday. Lost varsity 6-0, 6-0 and won JV 7-5.

Total Auto Body softball go mercy ruled 13-0 in softball. I had the hardest swinging bunt ever. Only 1 at bat in 5 innings that is how bad we played.

Had my last PT visit for my neck. I am at about 90 % feels pretty good. My quads are in severe pain still from running in softball.

GTMW

Denied again - at least 0-2 on submissions for the 2009 Great Taste of the Midwest.

Have a beer on me

Let's see, last post was last week. Almost another week.

Joel lost in tennis to Milwaukee Lutheran 6-2, 6-2. Then beat the JV squad in a second match.

Mackenzie had the spring concert and I was home room dad for the night. Keeping those rambunctious little crazies in their place until go time.

Joel has a few more home matches and the the season ends.

I have softball tonight we will see how that goes.

Either I am lazy or just don't care too much. I meant to update this on Wed nite and last night.

Let see in Softball we lost 2-12. My quads still hurt but nothing like last week. that's a good thing - I went 1-3, I think that makes me 4-12 on the year. Decent if it were hardball, not so good for softball.

Joel had a tennis meet against Kohler last night - lost the no 1 doubles match 6-0, 6-0 and he played a singles match against one of the varsity alternates and won 7-3. It was fun to watch but not sure how you act at a tennis match? Not like a baseball or basketball game.

Not much else over yesterday. Just updating the grill log.

I did get a garmin gps from REI on Saturday. Pretty slick unit. Playing around with it and loading maps for Canada next! Geo caching anyone?

Ever have that feeling when you have something that's got to get done and your not sure how its going to go, but it goes well and you get that feeling of relief. I just had that for a project for work. Made my whole day look better.

Happy Mothers Day

So to break with the tradition that is as long as I have known my wife, she did not go meet mom and the sisters at McDonalds and spend the day with them.

She spent it with her family and foremost - me! Well the kids have a lot to do with it.

Made breakfast, cleaned the house a bit, Joel drove Tracy to Chipotles and then I made pizza on the grill. Mom came over for some nice company. Had a few frozen margaritas. First of the year, with first pizzas of the year.

Yummy.

Nice day for a Rummage sale!

doors opened at 8 and by 9 we have made $15.25, Mom is working it like a pro!

Just an old guy. Had the second softball game last night. Neck and shoulder are not too bad. Shagging fly balls in warm up my quads just cramped so bad. I couldn't run much more than a trot. Played a few innings and took myself out - 0-2. Not a lot of fun there.

Tennis Win!

Well the team did not win, but Joel's No 1 doubles team did!. Congrats! 6-2, 6-4. You can find his results in the Journal Sentinel Online or in the sports section if you actually get the paper.

Now if that lousy school rag would give the tennis team some ink.

Sunburnt head, steaks on the grill, yardwork. All an indication that summer is around the corner

Kiki's Spring Recital

Not to be out done with proud pop moments, here is Mackenzie playing the pumpkin boogie during her spring recital. Way to go!

When you are the top Varsity doubles team for Kewaskum, you make the Milwaukee Journal. Very cool, another proud pop moment for me.

Well I got my mail -lottery entries in for the GTMW for 2009. Fingers crossed we get them!

I saw this silly little app - These are all the states I have stayed at least 1 night.


visited 25 states (50%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or website vertaling duits?

Tuesday is sports day

Last night Joel had another meet. Lost 6-2, 6-0. getting better, having fun at least.
Mackenzie had her first Softball practice and I had the first softball game in our league. I feel pretty good a little sore but the neck back is no worse for wear. I had 2 RBI and 2-4 (3-4 with a FC). An one Whifffff. ouch!

Always playing catch-up

Wow another week without any posts.

Well it was a busy week. Monday I was in Little Rock. For work.

Got to stay in the company lodge. Basically the Little Rock campus has its own on site 6 room hotel. Pretty cool. We got kicked out the last day and had to find a different hotel for the last night. We got kicked out because clients get top billing over employees.

Monday night we stopped at Shorty Smalls - a very famous rib joint in LR.


Tuesday we went to the Flying Saucer. It was 3 years since the last time I was there. I added 5 beers to my countdown to 200! You can only have 3 a night, but when I went back Wednesday night they seemed to be out of many of the beers I wanted to order and I was pretty full from dinner. So I only had 2.

Dinner was and even more famous rib joint. The Whole Hog Cafe. Check the site. More awards than you can shake a stick at. I would have to say they were pretty damn good. Shorty smalls was no slouch either. They were slightly different types. Think Riverside Brewery ribs for shorty and a more smoky, true barbecue rib type for THWC.

Wednesday before dinner we took the 10 minute free tour of the William Jefferson Clinton Library. I say 10 minute because we got there 10 minutes before closing. The guard let us in for free and we whipped through as much as possible. Like the man or not, it is an impressive facility. I could not find the blue dress, however.

Tomorrow I will be on the road for the first out of state business trip of the year. I cannot believe this either. But it's only little rock, AR.

Oh yea, softball practice went ok. The only think I hurt was my pride.

It's Friday and I am pretty excited, well as excited as I have been in the last month or so.

I have not been right for some time now. I was up at 3:30 this morning. Yea 3:30 AM. Been easily irritated, and to put it mildly, mildly depressed. I am affecting every one. I have been restless yet, don't want to do anything, unfocused.

I keep thinking these may be more severe side effects of having steroids injected into my spine 6-7 inches from my brain. Can't confirm, Internet is full of crap for this stuff.

Anyway it's 70 degrees out and work is almost over. Maybe some sun will help.

Oh yea, I am going to softball practice tomorrow for the over 40 league. I hope it goes well with little pain. I am very apprehensive about it. Both for my neck and the fact I am old.

Wow I have not posted since Sunday. I did not realize that.

Well not much new here. Joel is driving even more. I took him out to drive the civic last night. Not to bad, a few stalls, a few thousand mile off the front tires from to much gas and letting out the clutch...I also had him on I 43 two days ago.

I have been in a funk lately, can't quite figure it out. Could be the weather, my boredom between 7-9 PM most nights. Work? maybe something else?

Speaking of work I will be heading to little rock next week. ya hoo.

Happy Easter

Hope you all have a nice Easter.

Took Joel out for an hour of behind the wheel. Boy, talk about flashbacks. I so felt like a Dad yesterday, an old one at that. He did pretty good, not bad for the first time behind the wheel.

Kathy and Glen came over for Pizza and egg dying. Well at least the girls did. G and I played xbox while there was coloring on upstairs.

Off to Mom's house for dinner later today.

Spring Break starts NOW!

You know bacon cooked in the oven is really good?

-JT

Another day to remember.

Yesterday Joel got his temps drivers license. Yea, I am even older than I thought I was. If you see us coming, get off the side walk!!!

Another day, another milestone.

Today we sold Mom's convertible. Less than 24hrs after I listed it. So fast. It surprised me, I know it surprised Mom. Very bittersweet. It went to a nice college girl, who will have fun with it and we got what we were hoping for. But just a lot of memories came flooding back, working on the car, driving the car, selling the car, cleaning the personal belongings out of the car.

6 months to the day Pops passed away. I almost felt him helping us along on this one.

Joel will take his temps test this week. Very car-centric post.

Today started out shitty and ended up really nice.

Up at six to find the cats knocked a glass of water I left in my office, all over a keyboard, paperwork and the floor. I woke most of the house with threats of killing cats.

Went to Mom's and but the new battery in the "Sea-Breeze". Made sure it was road worthy and picked up some landjagers at Helds in the process. Took some pictures and thought about Pop quite a few times.

Joel lost in the tennis tournament, 6-0, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1. Considering he was placed as the top doubles team for Kewaskum and played against the top talent in the area, not too bad. He had fun and that's a good day, win or lose.

Busted open the grill for 2009, Had Kathy and Glen over. Sausage fest. Cheddar brats, plain, onion, and polish sausage. Some potatoes, snacks, salsa, beer and it was a nice end to the day.

Lets hope we dont get all the snow predicted tonight.

Cheers!

Another semester

Going into the last semester for the first year of high school. Nice to see these type of report cards. I told him there are still 4 kids doing better than him. Take em out. hahahaha.

Seriously, This is awesome.

Joel is in Watertown for a tennis meet today. Hold a 4.0 and three sports? Very nice. I am so proud.

Not to slight Mackenzie at all, she also has a stellar report card. Lots of nice comments from teachers. But since they don't really 'grade' it's harder to quantify. Good Job!