WHO?

On one of my recent jaunts to Dodgeville I noticed a rather large bird perched atop one of the utility poles. (We used to call them telephone poles but, that's not necessarily true anymore.) As I got closer I still couldn't make out exactly what it was and being on a errand of mercy I didn't want to take time to stop and check it out. Suprisingly, on my way home, about an hour or so later, I noticed that the creature was still sitting up on it's lofty perch. Now I had time . . . and a camera. I pulled onto the shoulder across from it and just started shooting, The lighting conditions were so poor that even with my zoom lens I couldn't clearly make out exactly what it was that I was photographing. It wasn't until I got home and dumped my pictures into iPhoto that I realized that I had run upon a wayward Snowy Owl. With a little computer magic I was able to extract a suitable image or two. A few days later our newspaper ran an article about these owls being spotted in our area. Seems that the Lemming supply in the far north is low and they're looking to Wisconsin for vitals. (Not sure if they're into fishfrys) At any rate, about a hundred have been seen which, I guess, makes me one of the lucky few who got to see one up close. This just adds another thing on my list of stuff to watch for as I roam the back roads of the area. I've taken a couple of trips up along The Mississippi to check out the migrating Tundra Swans and have observed quite a few Bald Eagles on those rides. (I counted forty-one on the last trip) And, I'm always on the lookout for deer but, now another critter not native to the area has been spotted. Quite a few people (most of them sober) have seen Black Bears stomping around down here well south of where they normally stomp. This, along with several sightings of Pumas, kinda makes wildlife watching a little more adventurous than normal.

Here's our fine feathered friend on a lookout for a lemming lunch.

Some Tundras working on their more vegetarian diet.

About a half mile closer than I want to be when I spot one of these guys!

Still Alive?

Where's Grandpa been?

Just realized that it's been over a month since the last post. (Actually I was reminded by the wife person) It's not like nothing has been going on. I guess I just get lazy or, by the time I think of something to post, I get an idea for another one. Usually while I'm on on one of my driving excursions I get my great ideas. I even compose them in my mind but, by the time I get back to the computing thing, it's lost. (Too bad cuz some really good stuff is floating around out there in never, never land) I'm considering getting one of those voice recording gizmos.
As a matter of fact since the last post we've had a ninetieth birthday, a christening, a first tooth, at least one trip to the Twin Cities, Evansville and Madison. I cruised the Mississippi river shore line stalking the not so elusive Tundra Swan. I even had a "Man Date" grocery shopping excursion with a neighbor who is equally nutty about the super market experience. (Just take my word for it, we had a great time and scored some real savings at the cash register.)
And! Just this past weekend we celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary early by treating each other to dinner and a The Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert in Madison. (It was an late afternoon performance so us not so youngsters could get home at a reasonable hour.)
All in all it's been a pretty busy month and rather than trying to tell about it in several hundred thousand words, I'll just drop in a few photos of the highlights.

Great Grandma gets an unexpected assist from Saffie.

A few of the hundreds of Sandhills gathered along the Wisconsin River
near Spring Green flipping me "The Wing" before they continue their journey South.
(Someone took the time to count over fifteen hundred of them)

Some of the thousands of swans on a stop over
on the Mississippi near Brownsville Minnesota.
(Just about ten miles south of La Crosse)
Picture quality suffered from being threatened by some renegade geese
who are in a witness protection program.

Edith either squeezing out a her first tooth or just another baby toot!
(Must be all that "Pull My Finger" training)

Don't know? I expected a German construction gang doing road work.

Too Much Input?

Wow! It's been nearly a month since my last blog. Things have been fast and furious around here. Probably one of the busiest months in a long time.
Where to begin (This is where a 76 year old memory comes in handy) There were trips to Minneapolis, Evansville, Chicago and Duluth as well as a paddlewheel boat cruise up the Mississippi. visits from my California son, an Evilbear and helpful neighbors. There's some funny things and some sad. I'll try to whip through the boring stuff and embellish the more interesting things. In not necessarily numerical, alphabetical or sequential order, here we go.
As a belated birthday present to JoAnne, we took a Saturday paddlewheel boat lunch cruise up The River. It was really pleasant and relaxing. (Just what Busy Bee Jo needed) A few highlights were going through the locks and whale watching. The locks part went smoothly but not much on the whale watching front. (Although it did keep the other passengers alert.) I guess the only real humor of the day was being accompanied on the cruise by a Tammy Faye Baker lookalike. I tried to get a photo of her without being too obvious because, I'm sure, she didn't want to cause a distraction from the less made up surroundings.
The following week my oldest son, Rick, flew in from California for a weeklong visit. We talk on the phone a lot but don't get together very often due to a couple of thousand miles of Nebraska separating us. We put in a pretty busy week of golfing, sightseeing and a bunch of picture taking (mostly on Rick's part). When he's not bragging about parring the eighth hole, I'm sure he's completely boring everyone back home with his hundreds of barn and tractor photos. We slipped in a trip to Chicago to lunch on Chicago Style Pizza with daughter Elaine and dropped in on niece, Michelle, and nephew Ron's (What a cool name for a nephew. Even cooler, he has a son named Ronnie!) birthday party at my sister's house. It was a great week with great weather. As a matter of fact Jo even let us use her convertible one day.
One of my favorite bloggers, Evilbear by name, emailed me that he was planning to take a photo tour along The River. Being THE Mississippi River nut, I was more than eager to pass on more riverside travel information than, I'm sure, he wanted. Somehow we have become fans of each other's blog without ever meeting or even having ever known each other. We made plans to get together for a face to face, in depth discussion of potential photo ops. We met at the local Hardies, exchanged pleasantries and got to know each other a little bit. Then I sent him on his way North not knowing that within twenty four hours I would be making the same trip.
Last Thursday night we received word that, Summer's husband, Reid's mother had passed away up in Duluth. Super G swung into action. We were packed, and on our way so rapidly that we actually reached Minneapolis before Evilbear was out of LaCrosse. On these "Missions of Mercy" my main job is to drive and provide comic relief. (when appropriate) On the other hand, Super G (Jo) is there to give relief to Summer and Reid caring for the grandkids. The wake and funeral service were quite emotional with many people eulogizing Rita (Reid's mom). In spite of her own physical ailments she really touched and improved the lives of many others.
Afterwards we headed back to good old Fennimore. The ride home was a little more relaxed and enjoyable than the trip up north had been. We took a number of scenic routes on the Wisconsin side of The River and other than a few blinding rain storms it was a pleasant ending to an otherwise sad week. The big surprise came when we arrived at our house. It seemed that on the previous Sunday, our Pastor had given a sermon about people helping people. (could have been the Good Samaritan story?) At any rate the following day some of our neighboring families, kids and all, swooped in on the Blume estate and raked up all the leaves in sight. (one family hadn't even heard the sermon) A little aside here. The kids from across the street had been "stealing" our leaves all week long creating a huge leaf pile in their yard. The funny part is that they would take turns burying each other in the pile. Not funny? Well it is if you realize that I live across the street from the funeral parlor and these kids belong to the undertaker. Makes you wonder what else they do for kicks over there.
The one thing that didn't happen was my high school buddy, Ken, and his wife, Linda, were due to come for a visit to Fennimore on Saturday. Needless to say, on Saturday Jo and I were up in Duluth. Not to be cheated out of the opportunity to see Fennimore first hand Ken and Linda drove up from Chicago anyway and seemed to have pretty good time without us visiting some of the local establishments that we've never been to.
Well, that's what I've been up to. As if this rant hasn't "run off" long enough, let me add a few photos illustrate a tad of the doings.

Just a peek of "Old Muddy" from the upper deck.
(I wish I could remember all the different nicknames of the Mississippi
that Chevy Chase used in his "Vacation" film.)

"Big Wheel Keeps on turnin"
(Enough to make Mary proud!)

"Super G" enjoying a well deserved relaxing moment in the sun.

Tammy Faye???

Railroad Swing bridge.

The guy who sits in his little cabin waiting for a boat to come by
so he can open and close the bridge and wave.
(He had a special wave for Tammy Fay.)

Son Rick, in search of "The Photo".

Who sez we don't pamper of our cows up here?
Cows get thirsty too!

Kickapoo Valley dressed in it's Full Fall Finery.

The Blume Estate before being ravaged by leaf thieves.

For a peek at some fine photos, check out Evilbear's blog at - http://evilbearphotography.blogspot.com/

"Hey! Don't Slam The Door!"

That's something I hear from JoAnne quite a bit. No, she's not referring to the device that blocks out the "peskies" of this world. Pesky insects, pesky salesmen, pesky Witnesses and pesky cookie sellers. No, she's referring to that pesky piece of land that interrupts the Lake Michigan Shoreline just Northeast of us, the County of Door. It's a little strip of land that, beginning in "Titletown USA" extends northward into Lake Michigan and becomes "The Cape Cod of the Midwest". For years I've stated my preference for the Northwoods section of Wisconsin over this fingerfull of hotels, motels, timeshares, condos, galleries, gift shops, restaurants, orchards and wineries. This past week has changed my view of Door County. This trip I viewed it over the shoulder of a three year old on an adventure and an eight month old whose every move is an adventure. Our vacation club membership provided us with a great two bedroom condo that was perfect for Jo and I as well as son Derek, his wife Jeanna and Grandkids Saffie and Sebastian. Saffie discovered, with some apprehension, the delight of waves lapping onto your bare feet as well as a giant bull gently lapping at your cheek. She took great pleasure in finding a stone to throw and finding it to throw again. She experienced the glow and warmth of a fire crackling away in a fireplace and the cackling of a mother hen with her brood of chicks. She learned that bunches of grapes grew on a vine and that baby goats went after a bottle of milk more eagerly than her baby bother. Hopefully all these things will remain in her memory for years to come, I know that they're etched in mine. After this past week, I still prefer The Northwoods but I have a new fondness for the Door. I promise not to slam it anymore!

Sebastian controls his excitement on the way to Door County.

Derek, Jeanna and Saffie check the Eastern shore for sea monsters.

Saffie works on her herding technique.

Saffie meet Mr. Bull . . .

. . . Mr. Bull meet Saffie.

Finding the perfect stone means everything
when you're only a stone's throw from an ice cream shop.

Al Johnson's may have goats on the roof but,
Julie's has Blumes on her chair!

"Watch it or I'll stomp the juice out of you!"

Meanwhile Sebastian tangles with a stubborn highchair.

Saffie contemplates a day well spent and
plans for tomorrow's adventures.

Grandpa toasts the Door for a fun and restful week while . . .

. . . Sebastian remains relatively unimpressed.

A complete album of the Door County Adventure (including a short video) will soon be available for viewing on Grandma Jo's Picasa page.

Bon Appetite! (Or dining out in Southwest Wisconsin)

A few blogs back I ran on about my adopted hometown, Fennimore Wisconsin. In it I tried to not compare it to my original hometown, Chicago. In general Jo and I are fairly content in our comfy little rural community but, things came to a head this past weekend. Originally a good friend, and former high school classmate, and his wife from the Chicago area were coming up to visit. It was kind of a reciprocal deal as we had gone down to visit and have dinner with them a couple of months ago. We had dinner at a restaurant that Jo and I both like very much and had many a fine dinners at in the past. As in the past the service was great, the food was outstanding and the atmosphere was perfect for a get together with old friends. As the weekend for our Wisconsin get together approached, the question arose, "where to have dinner with Ken and Linda?". We started down the list of potential eating places in the area. Nothing really stood out or even came close to the place we went to in Illinois. Now in Fennimore itself, after Hardys and Subway, fine dining doesn't exist. So this means that after a three and a half, or more, hour drive we need to ask our guests to get back in the car and travel a little farther. Our first choice was a restaurant (twenty miles away) that is part of an old restored brewery which also houses the "National Brewing Museum". I called there only to find out that the on night we chose they were hosting a giant "Brewfest" and dinner wasn't being served. Next choice, a good steak house in Prairie du Chien (twenty five miles away) was closed for the owner's daughter's wedding. The list continued to get shorter and the distances longer when good old Ken came to the rescue. He came down with a case of the flu and they had to cancel the trip up north. What Ken didn't know is that his sickness really saved four folks a lot of grief and growling stomachs because, when Saturday night rolled around, Jo and I decided that we may as well go out to dinner ourselves. We hopped into the car (Jo's new one that she lets me drive on weekends) and with the top down we drove off into a beautiful Wisconsin evening. We headed to Mineral Point to the restaurant we had decided to take Ken and Linda to. Only thirty miles away and although the service was usually pretty poor the food was good and the menu has more interesting choices than your run-of-the-mill supper clubs. I had called earlier to make reservations only to be told that they didn't take reservations. But we took a chance and as we arrived we were greeted by hungry, impatient looking people milling around outside the place. Given the number of people and knowing how slow the service was, it didn't look like we would eat anytime before Thanksgiving. Let's move on. There's a little lake outside of town (Mineral Point) that has a golf course and a restaurant. Folks say the food is pretty good. After driving a couple of miles down a barely paved one and a half lane road we started noticing more and more cars parked on the shoulder. As the "club house" came into view it was apparent that there was a rather large wedding party going on. It was so crowed that half the guests were celebrating in the parking lot. Oh well there's another golf course on the other side of town. The food there is good and with so many people at the wedding it shouldn't be too crowed. Wrongo!!! This place was hosting, not only a large private party but a just as large golf outing. We were told that we could be seated in the nearly empty dining room but probably couldn't get served for at least an hour or so. (The "or so" was the deal closer) Hey, there's a place in Dodgeville, less than ten miles away, where an old friend and very good cook is chef. Our attitudes and the crisp Wisconsin evening are starting to cool off making the top down excursion even more uncomfortable. We arrive at still another jam packed parking lot but I do find a "Close up" spot where I park as Jo runs in to check on the possibility of getting some kind of meal. She was gone a long time,. Maybe she found a table for one and ate on without me or, maybe she got a job as a cook or waitress or maybe she just got trampled by the crowd of "well fed" celebraters. It turned out that after waiting for a long time just to speak to someone, she finally figured out that there was a (a very riotous) private party, a wedding dinner, and a full dining room and bar. After she managed to fight her way back to the car we sat looking at each in awe. We had driven in excess of fifty miles in just under two hours and still hadn't had a bite to eat. It was getting late a, without driving at least forty or fifty miles more, our choices were Culvers, Hardys, A & W, Pizza Hut or Country Kitchen. Country Kitchen got the nod. So off we went. We were greeted by a friendly young waitress who seated us in a clean and cozy little booth. Five or six other groups of diners (all about my age or older), who probably had the good sense to come here in the first place, were enjoying pleasant conversation and plain old good food. We ordered straight off the "Seniors" menu and in no time at all we had devoured sensible portions of vittles that were just this side of home cookin'. Back in the car (with the top up now) we headed home deciding that the next time we want to go out for a "nice dinner" we're going to drive straight to the airport and fly to Chicago, St Louis or San Francisco and save a lot of time and frustration. And when Ken and Linda do come up to have dinner with us in Wisconsin it will probably be a home cooked meal in our dining room in Fennimore.
Adding insult to injury, I opened my email only to find an ad for my favoritest food in the world ...

Considering the amount of time we spent trying to find a place to eat I could have dam near gone to Chicago and truly enjoyed myself.
One more little aside about the weekend. It started with us going to Milwaukee's Miller Park to be humiliated by the Cubs great showing against the Brewers but ended with us celebrating little Saffron's third birthday. (By the way, at Saffron's party I treated my self to a homemade version of a Chicago style hot dog. All is not bad!)

End of an Era!!!

Today I waved a last goodbye to an old friend. We sold our 1993 Honda Civic. Fortunately Jo wasn't here to see it drive off into the sunshine. It would have been like seeing her kid off to college or jail or to Piggly Wiggly. The "Blueberry", as Derek had named it years ago, is off to a new home. After eighteen years and over two hundred and ninety thousand miles the little bugger was starting to show wear. (happens to the best of us) The paint was wearing thin, the rusty areas were overpowering the nonrusty areas, the air conditioner was only conditioning part of the air and the muffler wasn't doing a very good job of muffling. In spite of all that, she (I think it was a she), still gave us forty plus dependable miles for every gallon of gas we fed her. BUT! The sorrow of her passing is short lived. Just watch the Wisconsin (and Illinois and Minnesota) highways for "The Little Old Lady From Fennimore" zipping by in "Blueberry's" presently unnicknamed successor. And one of them will probably be topless.

We could call it the "Newberry"
but I think Chrysler had a model called that in the past.
(Oh I guess it was a Newport)