Martha, Rachael and Betty

Ah! I think I smell Cavkis baking.

That's Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray and Betty Crocker. Yep all three gathered in the Blume kitchen this weekend. The occasion? The Annual Christmas Cookie Bake. This tradition started centuries ago in an ancient Teutonic cave. Fire had just been discovered and cookie dough, which had been discovered many years before that, was starting to go bad. Isa Gudfurduncin, a distant relative of either Jo or Ron, accidently dropped a spoonful of her dough onto a rock at the edge of the fire. Voila*!!! the first cookie was born. Isa gathered all of her female relation together and started dropping stickfuls of dough on the hot rocks. (Only Isa had a spoon so the others had to make do with whatever was handy - some hands even) The men of the tribe were busy in nearby fields watching the exciting entertainment of the time, a game of "Kikemindanutz". Each woman hoping to attract the attention of a guy, decorated her "Cavki" with nuts and berries and even colored sugar from the local Piggly Wiggly. Enough of the history lesson, on to this weekends cookie bake. There isn't too much to tell that can't be seen in the well captioned photos below. The women, along with baby Saffron, took over the kitchen, Ron and Derek took refuge in the living room while the dogs, Tina, Snoopy and Sammy went wherever they thought they might pick up a wayward morsel. The results were, not just tasty but but very attractive. Isa would be proud of the latest "Cavki" bakers.

Saffron gets her first exposure to "Cookie Madness".

With Saffron a safe distance away, the activity reaches full force.
To the real Martha, Rachael and Betty - Eat your hearts out.

Sammy to Tina - "Did you hear something hit the floor?"

And there they are!
Not bad for some old dough and a few hot rocks.

* Voila - probably the origin of Ron and Jo's mothers' name which in a later translation of this story was misspelled Viola.

So this baby walks into a pet shop...

The only thing Tina enjoys more than telling corny jokes
to little kids is making them laugh until milk comes out of their nose.

Just couldn't resist doing that. Now that I've got your attention, let me tell you about the weekend. Halloween was fairly uneventful. The usual gangs of kids fighting with me over mini-sized Snickers bars and me trying convince parents that I really didn't take any candy out their kids' bags. I'm not too worried, the best lawyer in town has retired and I've been practicing putting an ill-fitting glove on. And then on Saturday (couldn't come up with a smooth transition here), We (Grandma Jo) had to opportunity to babysit little Saffron while Derek and Jeanna went out for a belated birthday "celebration" (Dinner and a movie). Grandma had a great time holding, feeding, changing and making weird gurgling noises with the baby. Conversely (I don't know what that means. I think it has something to do with a tennis shoe) Grandpa Ron enjoyed snoozing on the sofa pretending to be watching the BIG plasma TV. I understand that the picture is even more vivid if you're awake. In gratitude for the babysitting stint, Jeanna gave Grandma and Grandpa a certificate for an overnight stay at the Marriott Hotel on Madison's Westside. I have to go off on a sidetrack for a minute. Have you ever tried to go to a Red Lobster Restaurant? It may just be us, but, over the years we have tried on numerous occasions to eat there because, one, JoAnne really likes Lobster and it's realively affordable there. Two, their commercials do such a great job of making the food look appetizing that even a "non seafood lover" like me starts to drool just a little. And, three, those Cheddar biscuits are SOOOOO good.
Every time we tried to enjoy some of those delicious looking dishes there was a waiting line that stretched into another county. This time we'll fox them and go real early. Jo had thumbed through her cache of gift cards and came up with one for that Lobster place. She convinced me that eating lobster would give her the necessary fortification for a tough evening of Grandmothering and our arriving early would insure prompt seating and an on time arrival at that baby's house. No! No! Au Contraire Mon Amie. There was still a waiting line but for our efforts we received a little machine that would explode when the next shrimp boat anchored in the parking lot. I have since found out that there are people ("Seafood Lovers") who actually live in the waiting areas of every Red Lobster in the Free World. We laughed , we cried, JoAnne ate lobster and I ate as many biscuits as they would bring to our table. Back off of the sidetrack. After the babysitting stint we retired to our hotel. The bar in the lobby looked very inviting and I could imagine the cool taste of that flavorless O'Douls washing down the six dozen Red Lobster biscuits I had consumed. Once again may I say, "Au Contraire Mon Amie!". The bartender told us in no uncertain terms that he was closed and we should go away. Huh? A bar in Wisconsin closing on a Saturday night when there was still a living breathing, red blooded person willing to belly up to it? Not only that, it was "Fall Back" night which usually gives these places an opportunity to stay open an extra hour. Needless to say, eating and drinking establishments didn't get very high marks for service that night. Sunday morning brought still more, "there's no room a the inn" (except it was restuarant this time). After visiting two "really good" breakfast places which undoubtedly were well known to be "really good", we opted for the safe haven of funny named breakfast dishes, Denny's. Service was good (we got a seat right away because everyone else was at the "really good" places) food was tasty and it was realatively inexpensive. For our trip home we decided to take the "scenic" route. This really paid off. The route takes you through a valley between the Wisconsin River and the high bluffs that border it. The color was very nice (not quite as brilliant as last week but good for November) and the road was fairly free of traffic. As we drove by one of the recently harvested corn fields that lined the road, Some thing caught my eye. then another and a whole lot of others. In the field were dozens of Sandhill Cranes who were stopping for lunch as they traveled somewhere south. A quick U-turn and out came my trusty digital. They posed and pranched for the camera as though they knew that I could make them famous. After we (the cranes and I) had exhasted every possible pose and prance, it was back in the car and off to home. As we continued North and West we encountered still more of these lovely birds. All in all I'd guess we must seen several million of them. (Could have been a billion but who's counting?) Hey, this post has gone considerably longer than intended so I'll close with a few fun fotos.

Saffron seems to enjoy a "Good Night" kiss
no matter where it comes from.

The Sandhill Crane version of the "We be cool" strut.

Either a "Dancing with the Stars" rehearsal
or a scene from "West Side Story".

These two hens seem pretty impressed with
his "Hop on one foot" come on.

You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out . . .

I gotta quit. I'm having way too much fun. see ya!

Bilingual Town

With the (Sob) baseball season behind us the only thing left, other than leaves and looming snowfall, is the football season. Here in Wisconsin football season is a very serious time. Just East of us we have a Big Red Badger team in Madison and Up Nort we have the Brettless Pack. Right here in Fennimore we have the UNDEFEATED Golden Eagles presently participating in the state finals. Another thing that pops up every year in Fennimore is the display of the BearPak cars. Being a newcomer to the community (only been here almost 15 years) I'm not sure of the origin of these vehicles. I first met the BearPak one day a few years ago when, on my way to the grocery store, I drove past the Catholis Church, I noticed a car parked on the lawn between the church and the parsonage. The car had a rather strange paintjob. One side was painted the Navy and Orange of the Chicago Bears and the other side bore the Green and Gold of the dreaded Green Bay Packers. The story that I heard was that the Pastor of St. Marys, who was a Bear fan, had been hospitalized and in his absence one of his parishoners, who happened to own the local body shop, transformed the pastors old Lincoln into a bipartison "Cheermobile". Since its initial appearance, the original "Cheermobile" has been joined by a twin. Usually the two are on display the weekends when the Bears and Packers play each other but this year they are proudly displayed in front of our fine cheese factory. (What's a true Wisconsin town without a cheese factory?) I feel it is only proper to give equal time to one of Fennimore's outstanding citizens Igor. Igor has been the mascot of Fennimore cheese factories for over fifty years and has a story of his own. But this story belongs to the "Cheermobiles" and an example of small town charm.

How's that for coexistance?
Igor can be seen in the upper left corner of this pic
and in his full glory below.

Oh Yah! Bin Up Der.

Yah I bin back from up nort. Had some fine time too yeh? I'm sorry but every time I go up to the Tvin Cities, I come back with a damn Portuguese accent. I apologize if I slip back into it from time to time. I be gettin' over it soon aina hey? Anyway, I made my little drive to Minneapolis and back with no outstanding incidents. Sammy took a page from Grandma Jo's book on travel and slept almost the entire trip. On the way up I noted some of the better photo possibilities which I would try to capture on the return ride. The most coolest on the ride up was watching the price of gas decrease at about the same rate as the temperature. I'm not sure where the thermometer bottomed out but the price of gas hit its low in Red Wing Minnesota. (See pic)
On the ride up I encountered a mixture of rain and snow all the way there and on the way home I enjoyed periods of sun and, usually when I stopped to take a picture, periods of clouds.
As a rule when I spotted a potentially perfect picture, by the time I got out of the car and took aim, Casper the friendly cloud would race across the face of the sun. On a few occasions, I tried outwaiting the friendly clouds but then mom nature countered with a nice cool breeze. (The real kicker was, when I spotted my first "Masterpiece" the light was perfect, I was in position, ready to shot "oh boy" and my batteries were dead. A mad dash 5 miles down the road to a gas station, the one with the cheap gas, and when I returned to the spot . . . clouds. This one was worth the chilly wait. See below) In spite of her efforts to completely screw up my photo ops, I managed to get a few nice shots. The shots represent only a tiny tip of nature's iceberg I wish each one of you could ride shotgun with me on my little excursions and enjoy all the beautiful little things out there. Yah sure okay? Here a a few of the 150 or so shots from the trip.

This is the one that sent me scurrying for batteries.

He huffed and he puffed and . . .

What a farm should look like!

A bright spot on the Wisconsin side of the river.

I wasn't the only one heading south today!

Open Letter to Sally, Uncas and Those Duchettes

If there is any question about the well-being of one Sammy Sacnu, let it be known that he is in the best of care. He is experiencing some much needed educating. Here are a few of the "NEW" achievements he has mastered. 1. Stair climbing 101. Within one day of arriving at the Blume household, Sammy has learned to bound up the stairs like a Gazelle who lives in a third floor walk up apartment in New York City. Very possibly, by the end of the day today he will master going down the stairs. (Grandma Jo is working on that one) 2. He has learned to sit at the table and enjoy the same food as his hosts. (This does not include sharing liver treats with Grandpa Ron) He seems to prefer sirloin over chuck, veal over pork and quail over chicken. Tomorrow he learns pie. 3. He finds that sleeping between Grandpa Ron and Grandma Jo in bed at night provides a better night's sleep than his lumpy little doggy bed. He sleeps until 8:30 - 9 oclock most mornings. 4. He has made friends with a number of squirrels in the neighborhood and has extended an invitation to them to live in his attic in Mineapolis. 5. He has learned to fetch. He fetches the mail, the newspaper, pecan rolls from the bakery, milk from Kwik-Trip and doughnuts from Casey's. He's really handy to have around. Tomorrow he wants to learn a few computer programs on Grandma Jo's PC. Who knows he may even start his own blog. So, while you and those Duchettes are frolicking around the Sound, (I don't know if your really frolicking around a sound or not but it was a chance to play on words - It had a nice sound to it.) Sammy is putting the time away from you to better himself. Are you?

Sammy and a shy friend lounging in the upstairs computer laboratory!

PS to those Duchettes - Caiden may be really cute but I think a trip to Southwestern Wisconsin would be beneficial to his learning experience. Look how Sammy's trip is going to effect the Sacnu household.

Big Pumpkins

I took a quick trip to Minnesota and back yesterday. My mission was to rendezvous with Sally in Winona, pick up Grandpuppy Sammy and bring him home for the weekend. Sally and Uncas are off to visit best friends Lisa, Brian and "Curly" (Caiden) in Seattle. Anyway, what a great little jaunt. I had forgotten how beautiful Western Wisconsin is. High rolling wooded hills and deep fertile valleys. It was typical fall day, kinda coolish with a brisk wind blowing. It seemed like everyone was out and about. A least everyone in the animal world that is. I traveled in the company of hawks and geese and before long a few Bald Eagles. As a matter of fact, one eagle almost had a close encounter with my windshield. Here and there I would spot groups of wild turkeys forging around harvested corn fields. And, one group (or are they called a "Gang"), not wanting to outdone by eagles, flew across the road in front of me. In spite of what they said on "WKRP in Cincinati", turkeys do fly. These guys were heading to a clump of trees on the other side of the road. I immediately started thinking of "Why did the Turkey Cross the Road?" jokes and the same with Eagles. Lucky for you, I couldn't come up with any. I saw an occaisional deer (even a few live ones) and many racoons who had given their lives for "Why did the Racoon Cross....." jokes. And a few "Dead Skunks in the Middle of the Road". So much for the Fauna now the Flora. My last post was devoted to "Little Pumpkin" Saffron in her Halloween outfit. Above is a picture of some "Big" pumpkins that I ran across on my trip. Unfortunately I didn't have anything the show a size relationship. Believe me, these guys were a lot bigger than Saffron. I'd say the big green one one the right was at least 4 feet long (tall?). I guess some pumpkin farmer was just showing off his handiwork. It doesn't take too much to entertain me while I'm on a drive so the pumpkins were a real highlight until . . . I crossed the Mississippi River. As soon as I came off the bridge and my front tires hit Minnesota asphalt, I was greeted by the best fall color I've seen this year. The high bluffs were covered with reds and golds reminiscent of Michigan's Upper Peninsula or Vermont and New Hampshire. The conditions just weren't good enough to get any photos that would do justice to the view. Just take my word for it or look at some travel brochures from the places I mentioned. All in all it was such a pleasant trip that I plan to do it again on Sunday. This time I'm going all the way to Minneapolis on Sunday and returning on Monday. Maybe if the weather conditions a favorable, I can take some nearly breathtaking photos.

Lil Pumpkin

Why is this kid smiling?

Could be the crazy hat...

Or the kiss from a friend!

Oh, oh, she just realized that Mom and Dad
has her dressed as a pumpkin.

Okay!
You want scary...I'll give you scary!