Thursday, 30 August 2018: Brussels

We went to April's for breakfast this morning.  She is such a doll and such a hard worker!  She had quite a special going for breakfast!  Goodness that's enough food for the entire family.  

Pat come over in his “batmobile”. Some might refer to the Polaris slingshot as a three-wheeled motorcycle, but Pat prefers to call his a bat mobile.  Pat and Justin are on a team to select a new committee boat for Windjammers.  Pat came over to look at our Bayliner and he and Justin went out for a quick day trip before we all met at Chadouirs Dock for a late lunch.  We extended an invitation to pat to join us in Mexico even though he usually spends the winters in Arizona ... anyplace except Wisconsin.

Monday, 27 August 2018: Brussels

Gully-washer of a rain storm last night set Justin and me up for a long, lazy morning in bed followed by a binge watching session of Downton Abbey.  We are quite enjoying the season and today we wrapped up season five.  Only one more to go.

We read lots of Packer news and caught up on info and advice from the Motley Fool.  I am obsessed with watching the stock market and the securities I've placed on my watch list.  I was convinced that the market would react negatively right after the inauguration.  I think we've been living on borrowed time.   I am very conservative so we aren't likely to see huge jumps, but we better not see steep dives either.  

We heard a crack n the night and woke to see that the top of this tree had fallen.  The tree was rotten on the inside and the part still standing has a huge crack.  The part that has fallen is at least 40'.  Good thing that didn't fall on top of our house!

Saturday, 24 August 2018: Green Bay

We went to Sean’s house yesterday.  He’s done tremendous work since he bought the house about two years ago.  He’s rebuilt the stone walls and has made quite the oasis in his backyard.  We all headed to a local pub for the first half of the Packer/Raider game — third of four preseason games.  We had quite a late start, 9:30pm, since the game was on the west coast so we drove to Rouer’s in Brussels during half time to finish the game with (owners) Tracey and Brian.  

Justin went to farmers market this morning while I stayed to hang out at home. He’d planned to go to the Merlin after but when he saw that Artscape was in full swing, he called me so I could join him there.  We enjoyed the trendy artsy-farts venue for the afternoon.  Once we were both back at home, we set out northward in the Bayliner.  It was quite dark when we got back to Chadouirs Dock but we were learning how to identify the cut into the dock from the water.  

In the news this week Aretha Franklin died.  Tom McCain died.  Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer, plead guilty to campaign finance charges and refused immunity

Paul Manifort was also found guilty on eight counts of fraud.  I made sure I filled out my voter registration form.  My sole voice will be heard next time.

Tuesday, 21 August 2018: NEW

Holly and Erich and their crew came for a quick visit on their way to northern Door County for a stay in a yurt.  They also have Lynn, their German exchange student. She will be with them the entire school year.  She is really quiet and although she is a vegetarian, she does eat dairy so she can enjoy the fabulous cheese from nearby.

We went to Packer Practice and got a glimpse of quite a few players, many of whom won’t make the cut.  We are ready for football!!

Sunday, 19 August 2018: Brussels

We watched the kids for a while today.  Willow is such a doll.  She definitely has her grandpa wrapped around her finger.

Wednesday, 15 August 2018: Brussels

Best Birthday ever!  Our new granite countertops were installed.  My, oh my!

Two installation guys came; one was big and brawny and one was skinny and scrawny.  I really felt bad for them as they’d wrangled with the huge slabs to get them in the door. Several hours and several thousand dollars later, we had the best looking granite countertops on the planet.  Well, almost... we weren’t 100% satisfied with the entire project, but …

AnneMarie and Louie stopped by for a visit.  Justin has been friends with AnneMarie and her family for years.  Louie is her two year old Labrador / golden mix.  We sat outside by the bay for a great visit.  He was quite pleased to be able to chase his balls into the water again and again.

..

Gemma found a fish carcass to chew on while we were out by the water.  I enjoyed watching several butterflies.  Monarchs are here in Wisconsin during the summer and we follow a bit of the Monarch Trail as we travel to Celestun.  Today's butterflies weren't Monarchs but they were pretty.  

Justin took me to dinner at The English Inn.  Justin had a lobster thermidor while I had white fish with Oscar sauce.  Our dinner was so-so; thankfully, the atmosphere was perfect for a birthday celebration.  And what better than Door County Cherry Pie for dessert?

Sunday, 12 August 2018: NEWisconsin

I finally finished gathering the papers for 2017 taxes.

We’ve asked several local people for their advice on an accountant/tax person and we called a few to see if we could get a feel.  We went to H&R Block last year, but I want to have our person.  We will need an accountant in Mexico and we already have our lawyer there.  How much overlaps remains to be determined at this point.

The biggest thing going on lately hasn’t been concrete. Instead, it has been the countertop.  Jason came over a few days ago to cut off all the edges of the existing countertop.  Since that will remain and the granite will be placed on top, it needs to be a bit smaller so it will not be visible.  We put up plastic all over everything so as to keep the dust to a minimum.  Justin said the house looked like a “kill room”from Dexter (the popular crime drama that I can’t even watch because it is too creepy).

That left me to paint under and all around before the next steps.

Paul, from Bay Area Granite and Marble, came over on Wednesday to complete the task of templating.  He had his magical  gizmos that helped him do his exact measuring.  It was rewarding to see the actual application of all the CAD programs we taught in schools.  Paul left with a sketch of exactly what we wanted but when we received the actual design from the shop technicians, it wasn’t even close. 

 

  

We called and there was a major breakdown in communication so we headed to Bay Area Granite to resolve our concerns.  Anthony was wonderful.  He was knowledgeable and very professional as he tweeked the design to meet our specifications.  What a mess!

 

 

On Friday, Jason (and Parker) came back over to install the support brackets.  Unfortunately this time, we didn’t put up the plastic and oh ... my ... goodness  — What a mess!

There was saw dust everywhere!  And even with me holding the shop vac right under the router saw.  Good thing

Space behind the sink is finally filled in.  We are getting close?