Wednesday, 20 June 2018: Bayshore

Justin and Jordan are finally able to apply the fist coat of paint the bottom of the new Bayliner.  The previous owners kept the boat on a trailer and only launched when they wanted to use the boat.  Since we want to keep the boat at a slip for the season, the bottom must be protected with special paint.  It is a three or four step rather involved process. My task was to do the masking prior to painting.  I am pretty sure their fun-meter pegged out early in the afternoon but they kept at it until early evening.  As I understand it this will take several days and the goal is to be able to launch the boat this weekend. 

 

 

 

 

 

Geese in our front yard. 
Good thing Gemma didn't see them.

 

Sunday, 17 June 2018: Bayshore

Happy Father’s Day!

Jordan and his family joined us for breakfast at April’s before the cousins headed home.  

Randy and Marsha, Kris’ parents, were at Jordan’s cottage for their celebration of Father’s Day. After Randy’s scare earlier in the year, we certainly had cause to celebrate.  We joined in that celebration later in the afternoon.  For Wisconsin, it was really, really hot but sitting out by the bay, we were quite comfortable.

 

 Mike and Mandy told Justin and me in late march that Willow had the rest of the family wrapped neatly around her finger.  Guess what?  They were right and Captain Grandpa is right there too.

Saturday, 16 June 2018: Door County

I made my new rolled omelet for breakfast and it seemed to be a hit.  Deer came to visit in the front yard while we were eating.  Justin served as our tour guide again this time pointing out sights in our neighbor hood as well as Sturgeon Bay and points north.    We made it as far as Peninsula State Park and then Cave Point on the lake side.  Back at home we had steaks from Marchant's for dinner.   This was the first time we dined in the gazebo this season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, 15 June 2018: Custer, Wisconsin

We headed about two hours out to Custer for the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair.  

Cousins Jim and Mick from St Louis met us there.  We were particularly interested in learning about solar hot water for Celestun where we have plenty of solar and not enough hot water. After a couple of hours there, we set our sights on Appleton.  Mick went to Lawrence University forty what years ago so we went to the campus for a walk down memory lane.  Next stop:  JD’s for a burger and turtle sundae...YUMMY!

Back in Green Bay Justin lead a driving tour before we enjoyed the local Friday fish fry at Chaudoirs Dock for dinner.

Thursday, 14 June 2018: Bayshore

Justin has been busting his butt clearing our property, resetting beds and stoking fires.

Of course, this includes chopping and burning down trees.  Last year when Kent, the tree guy, came over, we put the trimmings, etc in beds around the trees to give it time to dry.  Now, it was time to burn and clean up the beds.  Justin and I wanted to move our fire pit to a new location.  What a perfect opportunity to fell that tree.  With a strategically located fire, the tree was down within two days.  Justin's newly oiled and sharpened chain-saw made easy the work of breaking down the tree.

Justin tripped across three baby raccoons as he cleared out a spot near the preserve.  He called Gemma over thinking she’d be interested and she was!  She charged, they took off and she caught one.  Remember that she has no teeth.  She must have broken its neck because when I got home, both Justin and Gemma were proud to show me her trophy. The over protective parent that I am, I was quite happy when Justin wrapped up and discarded the carcass. 

Sean came over to visit. School is out and now he can celebrate too.

Jonas and Caleb visit pretty often and they usually like to play in the creek.  They build dams and then break them down.  They hunt for toads and frogs, and yes, they know the difference.  One day earlier this week Justin picked them up from school.  By the time they got here, they were out for the count.

 

 

Wednesday, 6 June 2018: Chicago

We drove into Chicago to see Paul Simon!  He has started his farewell tour that will take about two years to complete.  It Was Fabulous!!!  When we bought these tickets in February it seemed so far away and now, here we are.  

 

Between the two of us Justin and I have seen a handful of big names. Paul, and his 14 piece band did some old favorites as well as a few that I wasn’t familiar with at all.  This was fantastic,

We did get a laugh out of the parking attendant.  We had Gemma with us of course.  We parked and let her have a little walk about before we cracked the windows and headed to the United Center.  This process took us about 15minutes and it was broad daylight.  As we were leaving the parking lot, the young attendant told us we would not be allowed to leave our pet in the car.  I pointed out to him that he’d seen Gemma when we entered.  Justin scoffed and said we’d left her in the car all over the world.  Poor thing, he tried to explain that they couldn’t take on the responsibility should our pet “perish” — he probably spent those 15 minutes rehearsing what he’d say to us.  We assured him we’d absolve him of all responsibility.  Clearly, our beloved pet didn’t perish.

We stayed in a little pet-friendly hotel just north of Chicago.  We decided to forgo Chicago highlights since we were coming back in just a few weeks.

Thursday, 31 May 2018: Bayshore

New word of the week from The New York Times ... “procrastibaking,” or the practice of baking something completely unnecessary, with the intention of avoiding “real” work. I didn't realize there was a word just for that practice.  Goodness knows I have perfected the art!

I've been cooking a good bit and totally loving it!  I'd never perfected omelets so this summer I've learned to bake omelets and roll like a jelly-roll.  The filling options are endless and with parchment paper, my new BFF, cleanup is a breeze.  I also found success with smashed potatoes.  Justin dubbed them as "stinkin' delicious".  

I downloaded an app to save recipes so that is a bit of a game for me too.  I'm sharing successes with Mary who is kind enough to humor me.  She and I have often shared cooking experiences and just thinking about it, perhaps I need to introduce Justin to Cornbread salad.  (I started to make shrimp and grits for dinner the other evening to find that I had two boxes of cornmeal but no grits!  Doubting that they'd even have grits at Marchants, I changed the menu to Shrimp scampi with linguine -- it was scrumptious!)

I raided Kris’ rhubarb and made rhubarb muffins.  I have a few other treats I'd like to make with rhubarb.  Justin planted some last year but we will need to wait another season before we can truly have a crop.

We buy our meat at Marchants and our eggs from Tony and Mo.  The farmer's markets have started so we are almost farm to table without even trying.  When you start with good ingredients and have an appreciative (or forgiving) audience, it makes all the difference!

Monday, 28 May 2018: Brussels

Memorial Day. Three day weekend!

Erich came to town for Jordan’s birthday.  They had plans to go fishing with one of Jordan’s co-workers.  We all met for burgers at the Dysckesville Bowl...still the best cheese curds on the planet.  Later, Jordan, Erich and Justin and I went to see Han Solo, the latest Star Wars movie.  It was my first time for dream loungers.  The theater has discounted senior matinees on Fridays as well as discounted movies on Tuesday evenings.  Maybe we will need to come back.  You know, on our fixed income, we need to watch for these discounts.

The Spider Man is coming and I am not talking about a Marvel superhero, but the pest control man.  I drove myself crazy fighting spider webs last summer.  I even got peppermint oil from Lisa but nothing worked.  Next door neighbors Don and Amy Hurckley told us about Peninsula Pest Control and their effective spray to combat spiders. I don’t like to kill spiders since they eat all the other bugs but enough is enough.  He can’t come soon enough to suit me.

We haven’t been pouring as much concrete since the water is up.  Now Justin is focusing on getting the plants into the ground and into pots.  Erich brought a bunch of HUGE hastas when he came to visit for Jordan’s birthday.   We bough about twenty raspberries plants from a local farm.  Some should produce this year and even more to come in future years!

On the Casa Maria front, we heard from Alanso after Bijon prompted him for an update.  Seems now Alanso needs the original document when the corporation was established some fifteen to twenty years ago.  How is it that a document that no one ever mentioned before is now a show-stopper?  Since the corporation was first established in Quintana Roo, the lawyer, Alanso, needs to close out things there before he can establish us in the state of Yucatán.  Since Bijon doesn’t have the documents and the original notary’s papers have been turned over to the state archives, it could take “months.”  We told Bijon that we’d pick up operating expenses in November even if we haven’t closed.  That might be risky but we want to be able to make it ours once we are back on-site.  From time to time Justin and I talk about how ready we will be to go back to Celestun.  When the time comes.  I am not ready now, but I know I will be by October. 

Friday, 25 May 2018: Green Bay

Rich and Erica, our tenants on Hartung, are getting married next Saturday.  Justin (and me but just a bit) has been working like a Trojan to get the yard up to snuff.  We know how great that yard can look and we know exactly how much work it takes.  Rich and Erica are great tenants but they don’t take care of the ground they way Justin would.  Still, it will be a great place for their special day.

One of the tasks was to till the area where there was once a vegetable garden.  The next door neighbor Tony was determined to convince Justin that his gas powered Mantis would outperform our electric Mantis.  Well, just like a gas powered chain saw will outperform an electric one, we probably knew some of the advantages and disadvantages but we were happy to have Tony share in the task of tilling.  Maybe I didn’t get it Tony, can you show me again... on this spot right over here.

I made two trips to the orthodontist this week to get a new retainer.  I swore when I had braces (again, and at 50) that I’d wear my retainer the rest of my life.  Well, that means you need a new retainer every once in a while.  This one was at least ten years old and icky.  

I met Charlene for lunch at a cute little restaurant near the club called Spork.  Yes, their cutlery was really sporks.  They were rather awkward; the food was ok and it was great to visit with her.  

We met John and Laurie for sushi dinner.  This is the second time we’ve been to Sushi Lover in Green Bay and it is surprisingly authentic.  Both Justin and I were pleased.  It is nice to go out and visit but I do need to stay home and get my chores done there.  Maybe next week ...

Sunday, 20 May 2018: Green Bay

We bought a tractor/mower last week.  We’ve been looking for a while.  We wanted to get one with enough steam to be able to pull a small trailer around the yard.  We ended up with the cutest little John Deere.  Wayne, the guy that sharpened scissors and chain saws had a tractor for sale in his driveway.  We stopped to look at it and then looked at the one in his garage that he was working on. The $17,000 price tag on that one put it out of our price range so we asked about the third tractor sitting to the side. Wayne said that was his wife’s and she’d just finished mowing.  Well, that’s the one we took home.

We also bought another sailboat last week.  We bought John and Laurie Miller’s 30’ Morgan, Merlin.  Yes, we already have a 30’ Morgan, Emerald.  The engine is getting worked on; we didn’t launch yet.  The price of Merlin was right and Laurie said she’d teach me to sail.  With lessons included, how can we go wrong?

We even have a built in coffee pot and microwave

Robin, Laura and their granddaughter joined us for a first visit aboard Merlin at the Windjammers Kick-off for the season

Saturday, 19 May 2018: Green Bay

I set my alarm for 4am.  No, I wasn’t catching a flight and I wasn’t even upset about needing to get up in the middle of the night.  I wanted to watch The Royal Wedding.  I texted Dellene to see if she was awake.  I thought we’d be able to share even it from a distance.  Do you know that that girl was asleep!  She’d set her DVR to record, but still... she was asleep!

Later, but still before 8am, I headed to Astor Park to meet Kris and Willow for a community rummage sale.  Astor Park is truly “old” Green Bay — the community was one of the first to be called Green Bay and there is lots of old money here too.  It reminds me of West University in Houston or Hyde Park in Austin.  Kris and I both were set to find treasures as the rummage sale has historically been dozens of homes.  The weather was iffy and, unfortunately, there were not too many houses participating.  We were so disappointed.  I would have been torqued if this was the only reason I was awake, dressed and out of the house that early on a Saturday.  

Jordan and Justin were at Windjammers for “boats in”.  That is always a long day so I had plenty of time to run errands and putz in town.

Erich, Brody and Finn came to visit for two days last week.  I hope they get to stay longer next time.

We’ve been mixing and pouring concrete all too often.  Justin is working himself into a frenzy fighting to save our breakwall.  Me?   I feel like I can work one day and then I need to take a day off to recuperate.  Lifting 60 lb bags of concrete is too much for me.