September, October, November, 2016: Wisconsin

29 November was the last complete day of our twelve week stay in Green Bay.  We returned to Green Bay after picking up our car in St Louis when we landed from Frankfurt.  Our feet barely touched the ground during the entire time.  During September we spent a lot of time at Hartung finishing the gable ends of the garage and working in the gardens.  Since the grounds had been neglected for three years, some serious TLC was needed.  Erica and Rich are our new renters and they seem to be a great young couple.  They have voiced interest in buying the house; we'll keep that on the back burner for now.  We of course had the opportunity to have a beer or two with Lloyd and Gloria while we were tending the fire in the backyard.  Colleen stopped by a time or two to chat also. I asked Gloria to go to lunch right before we left, but her dance card was filled.  I am sure she is happy to have calm quiet neighbors for a while.  Justin worked on the Morgan and tried to spend some time reconnecting with the good folks from Windjammers Sailing Club.  He certainly got his service hours in helping with boats/docks out and even helping the chef prepare for the end of season celebration.  We spent some time with Dave and Terry Gay which was delightful.  We were even in town and were fortunate enough to attend their 45the wedding anniversary celebration.  Terry hosted a buffet at the club; she said she couldn't think of a way Dave would prefer to spend the day.  During our time in town we also got to go to John Miller's retirement party. Again, lots of folks from the sailing club getting together to honor a very special day in John's life.   

We spent our time in Green Bay at both Jordan and Kris' home in townand at their cottage.  The house was full with Jonas and Caleb, with dogs Charlie, Henry and Oopsie and birds Mort and Pepper.  In April, with another baby on the ground the house will be rather full.  Jordan and Kris continue to make improvements on the cottage.  They installed a Japanese style AC/heating unit and updated appliances arrived while we were there; the grounds look fabulous.  They really have done a lot to make it their second home.  Jordan has indicated that insulation may be in the cards before they get to addressing plumbing improvements.  We are totaled indebted to Jordan and Kris for opening their home to us.  An extended time with anyone is going to be filled with hurdles and this stay ended up longer than we had originally planned.  Words can't express our gratitude.  

One of the highlights of our fall was being able to spend time with grandkids.  We got to go fishing with Caleb and his classmates at the Wildlife Sanctuary.  We were also in town for Jonas’ 6^th birthday.  When we went to Michigan to buy a new car on the way back we stopped in Milwaukee to spend time with Erich and his family.  My heart melted when Lilly climbed up in bed one morning with her Captain Grandpa. 

We went back to Milwaukee for Thanksgiving at Mike and Mandi's. This was the first time in a long time Justin was with all his boys and certainly the first time for me to be with everyone.  This time next year, there will be two more grandbabies!  Gemma had a great time playing with Max and puppy Mel.  Mandi said that Gemma could come back any time since Mel slept over an hour later flowing a hard day of play. 

During our time in Green Bay we spent quality time with Sherri Shade and with Ric Larson.  We even got to have a few dinners with Sean.  I started to learn my way around Green Bay but I sure was glad we had GPS.  We spent a few weekends with Sherri at her family’s condo in Egg Harbor.  What a treat!  Sherry sold her restaurant, Red, and she even entertained going into Mexico with us for a while.  We went together to Peninsula State Park for a short hike one trip and on another, we went to a fabulous outdoor art gallery.  That particular trip Justin and I spent the entire afternoon in antique stores and in various architectural-antique junk shops. 

I got to go to not one but two Packer games at Lambeau Field!  Justin made sure I had the complete experience that included tail-gating and awesome Bloody Marys.  I learned that I like Bloody Marys and I even learned that there are entire dinners of both Bloody Marys and Margaritas.  The first game I attended was against Detroit and later against the Chicago Bears. It was important to Justin that I see the Packers play the Bears since this is the oldest rivalry in the NFL.  Yes, these were my first pro games!  Justin and Jordan also went to the Cowboy game which had a bit different outcome.  When Ric’s lady friend Debbie visited Green Bay we all went to the Packer Hall of Fame and that was way cool!  Yes, it looks like I have had a bit of the company KoolAid and yes, I am now the proud owner of a few pieces of Packer attire.



At the beginning of October, I took a quick trip to Austin.  One of my main purposes was to secure a storage unit for when household goods were delivered.  Dellene and I also looked all over the town for shelving for inside the unit.  Thankfully, the good folks from Texas arranged to hold a wine festival while I was there so Dellene got tickets for the Wine trail.  We also took a day trip to Waco to go to Magnolia, home of HGTV’s Fixer Upper.

As soon as we landed in Chicago and got Gemma, we drove to St. Louis to get our car.  We learned very quickly that the hurdles we faced with shipping was only the beginning.  Once on this side of the pond we had to chase insurance, plates, registration, etc. And as soon as we bought the second car, we went through it all again.  We decided to register the EOS in Wisconsin and the new Ford C-Max in Texas.  Another of our first challenges was to get new chips for our cell phones.  On the second run at it, we chose AT&T since they promise service in Mexico too and that's our travel plan for the winter.

Yes, I fell in love with the Bay.  Justin was eager to show me the sights some of which we had seen when I visited two years ago.  Somehow that morphed into us looking into real estate properties with a keen interest in buying.  None of this was even in the cards when we left Germany but... my, oh my!  Justin lived on the Bay when the boys were still young and he says that he had always wanted to get back there but never really imagined that it might happen.  We limited our search to south of Sturgeon Bay.  Any farther north totally is out of our budget and not too convenient.  Early on in our forays we looked at moving the Morgan to a different slip but with regard to costs and camaraderie, staying at Windjammers and in Suamico is the best idea for us.  We put in a bid on a house in town on East Bay Shore Drive.  Fragmitees and 1970s wall paper throughout could have been remedied, but the south facing sunsets and noise from the road would have been the order of the day.  We probably could have made money on it, but as the relator said "I didn't see the joy in your eyes."

We had serious conversations with Gene who owns the property right in front of Jordan and Kris.  He calls his 1969 trailer on an acre of land “home”.  The location would have been ideal to expand what Kris refers to as "the sweet spot" of a view from her cottage.  Justin was very keen on this property as well as the six-plus acres also adjacent to the cottage owned by Lou.   The land hasn't been cleared and has no well or septic.  The idea of building was very intimidating to me and we kept looking.

We spent days up and down the bay.  We met with realtors and stomped around on the shore as it was getting cooler and cooler.  We had an accepted offer on Ms. Timmerman's house.  The 2,300 sq.ft two story house is about a 15 minute walk down the beach from Jordan and Kris' cottage. With an attached two car garage and a 24x40' detached building with heated workshop we were almost tempted to tear out the wall and rearrange the kitchen and put in new flooring but in the end, we simply couldn't overlook the fact that the road runs through the middle of the property.  When the holding tank failed we were not willing to go any higher and Ms. Timmerman wasn't willing to go any lower on price, we were unable to seal the deal.  That very afternoon we drove back down North Bay Shore Drive.  We had been down this gravel road several times, but this time we saw it.  We actually saw "the perfect property."  I had signed up for Zillow alerts very early on and this property wasn't showing up because it was listed as "Vacant".  With a two car garage, a grandfathered boat house, a gazebo and... wait for it ... a 1979 Rollohome, the land is not vacant.  After well, water, holding tank inspection etc, we worked with the owners and the relator and had our house-hold goods from Germany delivered on Monday, 28 November. 



Most things went into the garage and the boat house while a few things went into the kitchen.  Painting and new flooring along with lots of cleaning and scrubbing will be first on the hit parade when we return in the spring.  More about "The LongHouse" later, but for now, we put the EOS in the garage, disconnected the battery, locked the door and walked away.  Next time we are in Green Bay, things will look quite differently -- because ... we will be on the Bay!

We started signing papers about 2:30pm on 30 November and we were in the car rolling south by 3:15pm.  We stopped in Madison to see the capital which looks just like the capital in Austin.  We were able to have dinner with Tammi, a friend Justin used to teach with.  Tammi left teaching to hang out her own shingle about ten years ago.  She is a counselor/yoga juru.  I'd love to be able to spend more time with her.

It is cold and rainy and Justin is fighting a cold. We only made it as far as Rockford, Illinois this evening, but we are on our way!