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? 

Painting

Who likes to house paint?  Not this guy.

This weekend I rented a lift to help with the really high spots and man were they high and it was cold. And the lift is a bit bouncy.

Not quite done with the house yet - I have about 4 hours worth of painting left.  Stuff too low for the lift yet that still need a ladder and a few other odds and ends.  Cannot wait to get this over with.

Back from vacation again.  If you had not read about it or looked at the pictures go look for the link in the previous post.

Another busy weekend for us.  Saturday night I finally got a chance to brew the next beer on my list.  It was more like a recipe that was dependent on my green thumb.

The hops in the back yard were fully grown and time to be harvested.

I got the ladder out and clipped the vines down.  Brought them up to the deck and started picking them off.

About 10 ounces of one variety and 7 ounces of another.  I would have had the same of each but I nicked a vine of one early in the season and it died off.  

Off to the brew session.

The hop bombs.  I used them all.  Can't wait to see how it turns out.

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