Merry Christmas!

Gracie loves the tree

Oakley is tired

Here it is almost a week before Christmas and it doesn't feel too 'Christmassy' yet.  I mean I washed and waxed my car on Sunday.  We got the tree Sunday as well and I had the car in the garage, waxing it while the tree stood next to it.  There is no snow on the ground.  I find myself wanting to take the kayak out of the rafters and get one more trip in during this 'warm' spell.  A fall bike ride on the trial would be cool too, but it has been way too wet.  Too easy to wreck the trails.  Instead I daydream of adventures for next spring. Researching places and plotting maps.

Another sure sign that it is the holiday season is that Joel will be home on Friday.  Got some mail from Southwest Airlines the other day, did not realize it was for him.  Thought it was my free drink coupons for 2015.  Nope they were Joel's free drink coupons!  I had better get mine.  Who pays for all his travel??  I want my $20 of freebies.

Finally, it looks like Kiki might actually play in her first game of the season on Friday.  She is feeling better, the arm is good and she has been practicing hard the last week and a half to catch up to those in game shape.

Holiday in New York

My annual December visit to New York for work was this week.

As almost usual - my first flight was cancelled, then the replcement flight was delayed.  I should have been there before 2 PM. I finally got in at 9 PM  This is what you look like after sitting in the airport for 7 hours...

After a long day I still manage to go out for a few sights and grab dinner.

The whole album of pics if you want to see more.  There is even a small video.  It's cool and fun to go out there, but I have done it close to 6 times, now and I don't want to sound non-appreciative of it but its the same all the time.  I would like to have others with me to experience it some time.  Sounds like a family trip for some year.

Had dinner a my first Kosher steak house.  It was probably my first kosher any restaurant.  What does that mean?  Nit real sure, it was a bit more expensive that's for sure.

I also went to a store that I have always wanted to see.  B&H Photo.  I have ordered from them out of the back of photography magazines before the internet was available.   This store is crazy.  Just tons of people all over so many different areas over 2 floors.  It was overwhelming for sure.  Very nerdy, very cool.

The plane ride home was only delayed about an hour (all due to weather).  I had some free drink coupons that expire at the end of the year so I used them up.  No more beer for this guy.  Right for the hard stuff.  Bottle of scotch please.  Take the edge off a long week.

Until next time.

Wow long time with no posting.

Well Thanksgiving is here and gone.  Joel was home for under 100 hr and is already back in AZ.  Not too bad as it was cold here and I want to go back with him.  Don't worry he will be back in less than 3 weeks and this time for almost a month.

Basketball for Kiki has been up and down.  Blow out losses and blow out wins.  So far 1-2 on the season and it's not a lot of fun for Kiki watching all the action from the bench.  I hope she gets to play this year.

What's next?  Maybe get the lights up this weekend.  Doesn't mean I will turn them on that's for sure.  Freaks.

My last business trip of the year is next week.  New York City. I plan it this way.  Should be nice, too bad Tracy is not up for a lot of walking around or she would come with me.

Lion King on Saturday and ETID on Sunday this weekend.  Looking forward to it!

Brrrr

So it is cold and it is snowy.  Kinda put dampers on hitting the bike trail one more time.  I am thinking of getting the x-country skis out though.

So what do you do when its 12° and -1° windchill?  You grill out of course.

Yep that's snow in the grill as I light it up.

Having that feeling of Deja Vu again.  Oh Yea now I know why.  It's high school basketball time!

Kiki is playing for the Kewaskum Indian Freshman squad.  The deja vu, is Tracy and I  running back and forth to school for practices.  The reading of the schedule and remembering (and finding)where all these away games are and how we all did this with Joel what seems like an eternity ago.  Except this time Kiki is the player and not the little girl we would drag everywhere with us.  Bringing her Nintendo, and art stuff and dolls and whatever else would help entertain a 7 year old for several hours of bleacher and car time.

Now Tracy and I will be doing it on our own.  Waiting late at night for the team bus for those far,far, away games for that same little girl who is now doing it herself.

Happy everything!

As October comes to a close, I would like to thank everyone for the Birthday well wishes and cards as well as the Anniversary well wishes and cards.

Been a great month for all us special 'October' people!

Happy 21st Birthday to Joel.  I was going to do a big post about this but, his actions speak louder than my word ever will.  Keep making us proud!

And my favorite sad pumpkin.

Last weekend was our 'annual' Halloween 'Party'  I use quotes for those terms because it's been informally annual for almost as long as we have lived here.  I call it a party, but it's its more of a get together than a party.  Everyone comes over we eat, drink, laugh eat some more.   Does that make it a party?  Po-Ta-to, po-Tah-to....

Anyway, the weather was spectacular (as it is often a crapshoot this time of year).  High 50's and sun.  It may have been a bit breezy but not too bad, I will take it.

We have Jack-O-Lanterns

The bonfire ready to go.

Jim and I enjoying some brother time, before everyone else came down.  I don't know if anyone took a picture of the annual Christmas tree conflagration.  It was intense, as usual. 

The next morning I went out and was able to restart the fire easily as the coals were still red hot.  You know you have a good fire when 7 hours later its still good to go.

Good times, can't wait to do it again next year.  

Since I did not get a chance to get my fall camp/kayak trip in this year, I still wanted to get some more boat time in.

Friday I planned a little trip for a nearby river.  If the weather was right and was feeling up to it Sunday I would do it.

Sunday came and it was sunny and a bit chilly, in fact when I got up around 6:30 it was 30° and a pretty hard frost was on the ground.  I talked with Tracy and I went back and forth should I get some yard work done instead?  She convinced me to go for the trip.  It is birthday month after all.

So I loaded up the car and we were off by 9:15.  (I say we as Tracy was only dropping me off and she would be picking me up later).

The river: Sheboygan.  The put in:  County Hwy J - just west of Johnsonville Sausage company.  The tempuarture at 9:50 AM when we got there 44°.   The put in was not your run of the mill easy, next to the river slide in and go.  Nope this was a nice 20' grassy steep slope, basically under the County J bridge.  I slid my boat down then grabbed my gear and got in, worked a few new things that I had picked up for my camping trip.  A spray skirt, and some warmer wet weather clothing.  I got all set and then realized I left the batteries to the camera in the car.  Tracy scooted down the hill to  hand them to me.  Then I waited to make sure she could get back up the slippery, wet hill.

Off I went,  no more than 10 minutes into the trip, I came around a corner to see cows close to the river.  Of course I loudly say "MOOOO".  The cows look up, and a few even start walking towards me, who's the goofy guy in the green banana?

This river is a mix of some tree lined banks to open farm fields.  Nothing spectacular like the high cliffs of mirror lake.  You can tell you are in farm country.  Corn, cows, barns, and junk left all along the bank.  Old cars, trucks and just 'stuff'  

It is interesting because I see more than I might had the trees not lost most of their leaves.  But there are still a few trees holding on for a few more days.

The river is mostly flat water.  Although it is more riffly than the Milwaukee river.  One ro two sections that were 200-300 yards long where you pick up some speed and have some fun but nothing to classify as rapids.  When scouting this trip I saw the gauge was higher than average and the flow rate was also much higher than average.  I would be hard pressed to do this river in any lower water,  It was at times only a foot deep in places.  Bumping a few rocks here and there.

The river passes the Sheboygan Airport and a little jet took off an flew overhead.  It then tuns south and goes under Highway 23.  There is the old Plank Road Trail that runs parallel with Hwy 23.  So a foot bridge also passes over the river.

At this point I was about 11 1/2 miles in and could have attempted a take out at the trail rest spot.  But I was making good time and decided to push on.  As the river continues it starts getting more urban.  More houses on the banks, swings, docks.  Into Sheboygan Falls there is also a large manufacturing plan for Bemis.  It was noisy and smelled of wood pulp.  Kind of anti climactic after 13+ miles of, for the most part, quiet river.  Not much longer after that I came up to the take out.  

When Tracy picked me up it was now 55° and I was not even cold.  Pretty happy with the way my clothing worked.  15 miles in  one afternoon.  Probably too much in such a short time.  I was tired the next day and mys arms and shoulders were pretty sore.  Its almost 4 miles more than my previous long.  I would say 10-12 miles a day is good to go without a break.  Good to know future trips.  

Would I do this river again?  Maybe.  it was nothing special, but it was close to home so that makes it a little more easier to like.

Click Here for a Map of my trip

Where there is a will there is a way?

Waaaay back in January Tracy and I went to BBC lighting to replace a light cover that she broke.  Going there I just knew that's not all we would come home with.  I was right, we also had a new hall foyer light.  You know to replace the original from almost 20 years ago that had not aged too well.

The big issue was how to actually install that bad boy.  I have a ladder that would get me high enough but not reach far enough to get to the middle of the ceiling.  I though about building some ladder to ladder plamk thing, but there is not much room to get in there with the stairs and loft.   So it sat for months.

Tracy called an electrician - $300.00 to do it.  Nope, scaffolding was going to cost me $80 to rent and then drag that shit back and forth.  With the house being painted and my fear of artificial heights conquered. I figured it was time.

With Tracy out for the day, I seized the opportunity.  A quick trip to Home Depot and $60 lighter I had a plan.

I built my own scaffolding.

A 10ft high platform so I could take down the light and rewire the new one.   I after doing this I was really glad I did not attempt to to this with a ladder system.  These lights are pretty heavy and they need to have the chains run and wires pulled right up to the installation point.  This was way more stable and allowed me to drop a wire nut or place a tool without having to go up or down.

With the new light up I broke down the scaffolding and cleaned up.  Less than 3 hours from start to finish.  Most of that was in the building and cutting of the scaffolding lumber.  

I am just busting out the honey do list this year....

Well another opportunity to go on my kayak adventure shut down by similar bad weather (rain/wind cold).  That pretty much closes the book for this year and getting a camping trip in.  It's not me, its the outfitters.  Most of them close for the season so there is no one to pay for shuttle service.  Since it is just me I don't have any way to do a 2 car set up.  I will try to get in some weekend paddles in the next few weeks.  Until the rivers ice up I guess.

I can't believe it's more than halfway through my Birthday Month.  I spent a week for work in Minnesota and just got back from 2 days in Arkansas.  Not feeling to special yet, however....................Last weekend was the KEYS 5K.   Third year for me to run this. Boom, another personal best time.  I just get better with age.  Shaved a minute off last years  with a 12 min/mile pace.   Just think if I actually trained instead of just jumping in.  I could get 11 or even 10.

Before the KEYS Run on Sunday it is Homecoming the day before.  Mackenzie and some of her friends went.

Yep its all downhill from here.  She sounded like she had a good time.  Where did the little girl go?

I also detailed the new car.  That was fun, well for me anyway.

New Addition to the Family

After months and months of research and test drives we finally have a new car in the house.  Yes we retired, (but still own) the 2003 Subaru with 318,000+ miles on it.  

Last Saturday we picked up Tracy's new baby.  A "Soul Red" Mazda CX-5.

We went back and forth between this and another Subaru Forester, but ultimately Tracy picked the Mazda.  They are so much alike in so many ways, she couldn't go wrong either way.  

Here's hoping for another 10 years of relatively issue free ownership.

Although it now looks like I have a small used car lot in my driveway.

Busted plans

Man you know what really stinks?  Trying to plan something for a few weeks, get all excited about it and then have mission control throw up an ABORT message 2 days before launch.

That's what happened to me.  And mission control in this case is Mother Nature.

With most of my house work behind me for the summer and fall well into its splendor, I was looking to get a river camping trip in before it gets real bad.

I planned the course, got all the reservations,  pick ups scheduled and acquired some essential gear.  I would leave Friday October 3rd and drive to the St Croix National Waterway.  (Yes by myself).  Put my boat in the water and kayak down the Namekagon River until it meets the St Croix River - headwaters to the Mississippi. About 38 miles over 3 days with 2 nights of camping.

And then I watched the weather forecast.  5 days ago the extended was for a chance of rain and highs in the 60's.  Sounds fine.  Then later it was more chance of rain and highs in the upper 50's. Still not too bad. Well as of today there is even more rain and add some higher winds (10-20mph) and highs not even to 50°.  Wait it gets better:  Friday night also could get snow mixed with rain.  Cold, I can handle, Wet sure, winds ok.  Put 'em all together and I no longer expect to enjoy myself, but just try to stay warm and dry.  So I cancelled, everything.  I am a sad panda right now.

St Croix National Waterway

The section of river I was planning on doing is actually an interactive map built by the National Parks Service.

In dry dock getting fit with gear.

Most of my gear (minus tent and sleeping pad) that was already in the boat.  

I can only hope that there might be a break in the weather in 2 weeks or so to maybe attempt this yet this year.  Doubtful, but you never know.  

Kayaking with Kiki

 Kiki and I continue to have great road trips together.  Sunday was no exception.  My friend Bob calls me Saturday and says 'Hey, we are going to Mirror Lake state park"  (Jenny was also camping there this weekend).

I said I think we can do it it.  Tracy can't go because of her hip right now so I asked Mackenzie to go with me.  She had a little cold and was a little hesitant as she had never been in the boat.  "it's not that hard" I said.  " Ok" she replied

I packed the car before the sun came up and we were our the door at 8:30.  We couldn't have got a better day.  80° and sunny.  We got to the lake around 10:30 am and on the water by 11 once we got all unpacked and parked.

Great little lake right outside the Dells.  Awesome boat ramp and no wake for motor boats so first timers did not have to worry about waves.  Mirror lake lived up to its name.  Glass flat water.  However there were a lot of nice colors and even better were all the sandstone cliffs some over 50 feet above the water.

We made 3 separate trips going down each section of the lake for a total of 7 miles.  We stopped in between legs to give everyone a break and eat lunch or have a beverage.

Kiki figured it out in about 10 minutes (she chalks it up to her white water expereice in Tennessee).

Before I know it shes got her feet out and paddling like she's in some kind of lazy-boy.  Needless to say she enjoyed it.

We packed up and headed home.  What a great early fall day.  Wish they could all be that nice.

MORE PICTURES HERE

Hey good news! The project I started on Memorial weekend is finally over.  Yep, the house is done being painted.  121 days start to finish.  Ok, I really did not try that hard to do it fast.  To my credit it was way more than a repaint.  New porch, repaired many rotten windows, sills and stop.  I was not even in the state for more than 3 weeks.  Nice weather, friends with kayaks.  Rental of large machinery coordinated with others.  Almost couldn't get off the roof after painting the back of the chimney chase. (got a case of the yips when trying to get back on the ladder from the roof. 5 minutes to calm down and I was back on Terra Firma).

I am not actually done yet, I did have to order 3 new storm windows so when they come - they will need to be painted as well.  6 gallons of paint to do the job.  Incredible.  

What's next for this old house?  Hopefully nothing that will require me to go 40' plus in the air for extended periods of time.

Quick Visit

Last week I was in Arizona for work and so I dropped in on Joel and we went to dinner. By dropped in,  I mean drove an hour and forty five minutes to see him.

When I am at home, you don't think you miss them that much.  I mean it's just not always front and center with everything that is going on.

Well I picked him up at his apartment, met for the first time, his room mate Quincy.  For a while we did not think he even existed.  Grabbed a bite to eat and we talked non stop.  Real  face time not that iDevice thing.

Only got to spend about 2 hours with him before having to drop him off so he could go to a 6:30 steel bridge competition meeting (he's on the committee).  Then after than he had intramural soccer until 10 PM.

I gave him a few hugs and sadly went back to my room.  However, I found out he had an hour break between classes on Friday.  Before I headed back we met up for some Jamba Juice and a few more laughs.  I walked him to his next class, had a few more hugs and good byes and off he went.  Not as sad as the night before, but still a little bit.

Ahh my little buddy isn't so little anymore.  Does his own thing all by himself.  I suppose this is pretty much what it feels like when they move out for good.  Odd being in the nest instead of the one spreading wings.

See you later alligator.  At least for Thanksgiving if nothing else.

Yep he's still Joel.  

The original campus building Old Main is finally restored.  Last year it was completely covered with scaffolding and workers. 

Never get tired of mountains - even from the hotel room.

Zoo Day

All paint an no play makes Jeff a dull boy.

Because we had tickets to the Northwestern Mutual take over the zoo day.  NM Employees had the zoo all day and all to themselves from 4:40 to 7:00  including free food and drinks.

Nice way to spend a Sunday late afternoon.

First Stop, food!

Seriously lazy elephant.  Back leg crossed, leaning on this 'tree' eating hay.

Hmm ....looks similar?