Tuesday, 15 August 2017: Brussels

Happy Birthday Paula! 

        And how old am I? 

               When did that happen?

Justin has been saying pretty often lately, "...it is your birthday month!"  Well, he totally surprised me today with an airplane ride over Door County.  I we went to Sturgeon Bay for breakfast at The Inn at Cedar Crossing where  I had a fabulous frittata.  Afterwards, I thought we were taking a leisurely drive along the bay when Justin turned into Cherryland Airport.  After takeoff, Buzz, our pilot, headed south so we could fly over our house before heading north toward Washington island.  The weather was great for flying -- clear and warm.  What an awesome birthday!

Eric and Holly and the kids came up to spend a few days so Jordan and his family joined us for dinner.  Tripp and burgers were a perfect birthday dinner capped off with s'mores at the bonfire after.  Maybe we can do this again next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday celebration at Abravo's

earlier in the week

 

Saturday, 12 August 2017: Brussels and the Bay

I went into town to run errands.  On the way home I realized that this is the first time I have felt like I was gaining on errands.  So far, the list has just been endless.  I got at least a dozen things accomplished today and it does feel good.

I keep saying that I want to go to Sturgeon Bay to get more familiar with those environs but the draw to Green Bay to complete other tasks always wins out.  Maybe next week I can venture to points north.


Jordan and Kris are celebrating their tenth anniversary.  They hosted a party at their cottage for family and friends.  Justin made his famous potato salad.  Our gift was a picture I had taken of the two of them sitting on our beach at sunset.  Actually Willow is with them but you really can't tell.  Before sunset I decided it was time to go so Gemma and I walked the two miles down the beach back to our own slice of heaven. 

Thursday, 10 August 2017: Green Bay

Caleb gets in a quick nap prior to kick off

Packer preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles.  They say preseason isn't as important, but hey, it is The Packers.  Some of the plays were, well, rather loose -- but it was the first game.  Most of the starters don't get much or any playing time.  This is the time to see who will make the team.  We took Caleb.  Jonas declined but we took Caleb.  We went to the store before hand to get him a new shirt and cap as we all needed to be "Packered up" for the game. 

The field and the stadium in general certainily look different than they did just a few weeks ago when I was here with Alan and Lisa.




Taken during our tour on 26 July.



 

 

Justin and I are certainly
ready for the season!

 

 







Friday, 4 August 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road

 

We had quite the storm last night.  Wisconsin has had more rainfall this season that any on record.  The fields are lush and the crops are loving it.  Of course this means Justin has to mow our yard every week for sure.  I had imagined that we'd be fighting the zebra muscles on our little slice of beach, but instead the waves are pounding into our break wall constantly. 

Farther down, in the preserve, we've had a good bit of erosion. 

Yesterday, we collected twenty-three pieces of other people's docks.  This morning we saw that these dock pieces were wedged in-between our trees on the shoreline.  About 8:30, one of the neighbors came knocking on the door..."Say, I think you have my dock."  And then another neighbor showed up with his golf cart to haul his pieces home.  It was clear they'd been down this road before and apparently, our property is the place all good docks go. 

Tuesday, 8 August 2017: Brussels, WI

Justin went into town this morning to meet with Steve from On-Site Marine.  He is rebuilding the carburetor for the Morgan.  I stayed at home and finished cleaning the windows along with a handful of other chores.  Both Justin and I continue to like best the days when we can stay home and putz around our home and in the yard.  

Justin saw a sign in town earlier today that said today was national soft-serve ice cream day.  We had leftover pork roast, fresh asparagus, fresh tomatoes and fresh green beans for dinner which meant that we could have ice cream for dessert.  Our day came to a close after a late night run to Frosty Tip 11 miles down the road in Dyckesville.  Justin had a chocolate cheesecake sundae and I had a double mint chocolate sundae... too decadent for words.  

Wednesday, 2 August 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road

Gemma spent the night in the bathroom.  We couldn't stand to have her in the bedroom with us and couldn't run the risk of her funky skunk-smell on the couch, carpets, etc.  She cried all night.  

Justin and Gemma relaxing on our new
couch after a looooong grooming session

I did a bit of research and while the urban legend says to wash your dog in tomato juice after they've tangled with a skunk, the AKC website gives a few reasons not to do that.  One, your dog will smell like tomatoes; two, if your dog is light in color, they will turn pink; and three, perhaps the most compelling reason not to use tomato juice was the warning that, if Fido chose to shake during his bath, your bathroom would look like something out of a slasher horror film.  Instead, they recommended hydrogen peroxide (hurry so as not to allow time to bleach the fur), mixed with baking soda and Dawn dish washing liquid.  So, I was off to the store to get a new bottle of hydrogen peroxide. 

Meanwhile, as soon as Justin was up, out came the sheers.  Gemma' s been quite the ragamuffin lately; today was the day to get our poodle back.

Tuesday, 1 August 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road

Jordan, Kris and the kids came over for breakfast this morning.  Justin made French toast for all of us. It was his first time to cook on our new stove.  He used the griddle it was über sexy.



Gemma got skunked.  I gave her a bath at well after midnight.  Oh my goodness.

Monday, 31 July 2107: 1429 N Bayshore Road

Garbage is sexy. Since everything is measured on the scale of "sexy?"  or "not sexy?"  Garbage is sexy.  You put it out on the street on Monday morning and it disappears.  Yesterday Justin got up early and broke down the old window and then went on to mow the grass.  Alan helped me bag up all the pieces and get them to the street.  Now, the old window is all gone!  How cool is that!  It would have taken an act of congress to get rid of carpet, vinyl and window in Germany and it simply wouldn't have been able to happen in Japan.  I would have had to find a way to get that stuff in a dumpster at school -- at nighttime.


For their last full day in Wisconsin, Justin and Alan went sailing with Dave Gay while Lisa and I ran errands and went to the National Railroad Museum. 



After a great visit, Lisa and Alan left this morning.  They headed to Renard's on their way out of town. Nothing like more cheese right before you leave.

Saturday, 29 July 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road

Our new sink is in!!!

Oh, so sexy!

 

Friday, 28 July 2017: North East Wisconsin

Alan, Lisa, Justin and I headed to Oshkosh today to the Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) annual event.  Justin has been to EAA several times and now I'll be ready to go back next year.  Lloyd and Gloria Anderson are quite active with this group; they go up and help out at the sea plane base.  An estimated 600,000 aviation enthusiasts show up during the week-long event with over 10,000 aircraft.  Hundreds of planes fly in and the static displays are only shadowed by the aerobatic feats.  Today, the Blue Angels received top billing in a salute to veterans.  We thoroughly enjoyed the day after many, many sighs and gasps at the precision maneuvers as well as the stunt flights.

 

 

We wrapped up the day with a late dinner in Appleton on the way back to Green Bay. 

Thursday, 27 July 2017: North East Wisconsin

We've had jammed packed days lately.  I thought we'd have more down time, but there has been little time for lolly-gagging about with the needed exploring and making sure that Lisa and Alan get to know our slice of Green Bay.  A trip to Renards was at the top of the list on Sunday -- no visit to Wisconsin is complete without lots and lots of cheese!

We all went sailing with Dave on Monday.  Terry is "up north" at her family's cottage as she is winding down her summer.  That left Dave free to invite us to spend the day on the water. 

After breakfast at April's, we had dinner in our gazebo on Tuesday.  I made zucchini noodles with shrimp and avocado pesto which was just down-right delish!

Lisa and Alan and I headed to Lambeau field on Wednesday for the Legendary tour.  Justin passed and stayed home.  After a spectacular tour and shopping in the pro-shop we headed to farmer's market and a late lunch at Chefusion, an upscale, local haunt downtown on Broadway. 

On Thursday, we loaded in the car and headed north.  First stop ... breakfast at the White Gull Inn in Fish Creek.  Our friend Senator Rob Cowle's keeps his boat in Fish Creek.  We walked down by Rob's boat after brunch hoping to catch him.  Justin talked to him later on the phone to learn that he had a bout with Lime's disease.  How scary!  We saw goats on the roof at Al Johnson's in Sister Bay on our way through Peninsula State Park and Whitefish Dunes State Park.  It was a great day

Lisa and I hadn't had time together in so, so long.  We are having loads of fun catching up.

 

 

Sunday, 9 July 2017: Brussels

This weekend Brussels, Wisconsin celebrates "Belgian Days."  This area is the largest Belgian settlement in the US and, I think, outside of Belgium.  It is serendipitous that when we were in Kaiserslautern we were living in the largest American expat community in the world and now, we are in the midst of this large Belgian settlement.  The parade started at 10:30 and we were there for the pageantry as well as the display from the local fire departments, vintage snow mobiles, and tractors.  Fair food was a bit different from what we experienced in Germany.  Today we enjoyed Belgian tripp (pork sausage with cabbage inside) and potato jutt (a sort of potato soup with spinach and nutmeg) but we did not have any Belgian pie.  I had waited to try the local dessert since I knew Belgian Days were coming and I knew that then I could get the real deal.  Unfortunately, when we got around to eating, all the pies were gone!  The rain pushed us on to the local restaurant Belgian Delight but they too were out of pie.  We settled for dinner of bouyah (a sort of chicken stew) and traditional pie at Sweet Seasons in Dyckesville (Justin had cherry and I had rhubarb).  Tomorrow I'll see about a Belgian pie from Marchant's Grocery Store.

 

Friday, 7 July 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road

Our new range arrived yesterday and was hooked up today!
We are cooking with gas -- literally. 
The range was one of those things we thought we had put on the back burner, so to speak, until next year.  That was before I cashed in a pretty good supply of American Express reward points.  Our frig may not have French doors and there is no water dispenser or ice maker but our range is all that and a bag of chips.  I can't wait to get the sink put back in so I can really cook.  I've promised Justin a cheese cake to celebrate. 

Thursday, 6 July 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road

Readd and Justin have removed all
the trim from the old  window

 Our window is in!  Readd and Justin worked most of the day yesterday and finished up today.  From getting the saws-all going to increase the hole in the wall to applying the great stuff to close up the holes, they got it all done.  I couldn't wait to get out the windex.

Old window out -- don't stop now!

Readd removing the siding to enlarge
the opening for the new window

New window in -- how sexy is that?

Tuesday, 4 July 2017: North East Wisconsin

Happy 4th of July!

Summer has finally come to Wisconsin.  It has been very rainy and rather cool throughout the summer so far, but this weekend it is warm and sunny.  We have noticed more cars on the road in Door County and certainly more boats on the water.

We painted the countertop today. We used a Rustoleum product designed for countertops and even though Justin is the king of painting, it didn't turn out like we wanted.  We were both very disappointed.  We didn't expect miracles; we only hoped to get a couple of years out of this.  Most frustrating.

Later we headed  to fireworks downtown.  Parking karma was with us and we parked right on the Fox River near exactly where we wanted to settle for the view.  Of course we left Gemma at home since she gets all frantic with fireworks.  These were fabulous!!!  We were not disappointed at all!!!  Initially we had talked about getting a hotel room downtown but in the end we decided we;d rather be at home and enjoy our own digs  All in all, in was a very good day.

Saturday, 1 July, 2017: 1429 N Bayshore Road

Justin really wanted to have a party today, the Saturday before the 4th, and we had planned on that all along.  Even though I was not in favor since we were not farther along with the house, we didn't un-invite people.  The sink isn't in but the mirror is up.  Jason came over and set the boards up that will form the wall under the bar.  Justin connected the dragonfly lamp in the gazebo and we set up the dining room table and buffet in our "bonus room."  We straightened up a bit and I was almost out of the shower when Sherri Shade arrived.  Dave and Terry Gay came over too so I had an appreciative audience for my Blackberry elixir.  






The beverage of the house this season is a blackberry infused vodka that I make into a limeade with a simple sugar syrup and club soda.  It is very tart and refreshing.  Apparently, one of the Door County local concoctions is Cherry Bounce -- brandy or liquor of choice infused with the delicious and abundant cherries.  When Terry had my Blackberry beverage she explained that while the beverage was flavorful, it might not have too much punch since mine had only been resting for a week as opposed to the three months or more required for Bounce.  Then she bit into a blackberry and exclaimed that the entire side of her mouth was numb and she felt  like she'd been to the dentist!  Well, I guess it did have some punch.  At the end of the day, I added limes to the grocery list.