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)

My Kinda Town . . .

After almost fifteen years of living in Fennimore, I've realized that this, in truth, is my home. Today I took a little time out of my hectic schedule to look around and see where I'm really at. I won't try to compare Fennimore with Chicago (although it may be necessary to make note of some similarities and some unsimilarities). As you approach Fennimore you won't mistake the looming skyline for a looming skyline. As a matter of fact it's pretty much the same as thousands of other small rural communities around the country. After a while of living "out this way" one can determine where he's at by the size, shape and color of the closest water tower.

The industry in town is anchored by a Rayovac plant on the East side. Significantly this plant came very close to closing due to offshore sourcing to China. Most employees were let go and production was nearly nil. Turned out that those Chinese producers couldn't come close to the quality that Rayovac was known for. Voila! The work and the workers all returned to the Fennimore facility and now all my clocks, tools and numerous other battery powered gizmos are purring away on good old dependable Rayovacs. Like most other Wisconsin towns, we have our own award winning cheese factory.

Unlike most other Wisconsin towns our factory is guarded by Igor, a giant cheese loving mouse (he is sometimes referred to as a rat but, I think mouse is more cheese friendly) If you look real close, squint your eyes and, maybe have a few glasses of wine to go with your cheese, you will see the similarity between Fennimore's Igor and Chicago's Picasso.
Unlike most other Wisconsin towns Fennimore sports ONLY three taverns. (If you count the bowling alley, golf course and a sports bar a couple miles out of town, we almost come up to Wisconsin standards) For example, about five miles down the road, there's a town of twenty homes and one tavern. Now that's how Wisconsin is meant to be. (Ironically the bar is named Cheers II, and everybody in there DOES know everyone else's name)
Main street in town, Lincoln Avenue, which is a State route, is fairly unexciting with most of the traffic just passing through. The businesses are the usual standard drug store, insurance agency, newspaper office and a lawyer or two. If dining out is on the agenda, going South to North there's a Chinese restaurant with better cooks than battery makers. A block or so up the street you'll find the atypical small town restaurant, Fruit Cakes (I don't understand the name but what do I know about fine dining. It was previously named "Our Little Restaurant and Bakery" that made a little more sense to me) At the top of Lincoln is Friedericks Family Restaurant which is housed in a building that resembles a train station. This will mean more after you learn about "Dinky". The dining scene is rounded out with a more commercial flair. We have BOTH a Subway and a Hardees. Interestingly like most small towns (and large town neighborhoods) the older citizens (mainly male) have a morning meeting place. In Fennimore there are two such places. Fruitcakes attracts the rural crowd who swarm in after morning chores are done. And, the "townies" gravitate to Hardees where most of them have their own ceramic coffee mug.
On the corner of Eleventh Street and Lincoln Avenue stands the "Old Opera House" a lovely two story building which formerly housed the nicest restaurant in the area as well as the nicest bar in the area with the nicest hotel rooms in the area upstairs. It also contained (you guessed it) the nicest banquet hall in the area and around the corner, downstairs was a fairly nice bar/pizza place. Unfortunately tough financial times and a summer of Lincoln Avenue construction took its toll on the place so it sits empty waiting for the next entrepreneur to hit town with a sack of money. In its heyday the restaurant was named "The Silent Woman". Kinda catchy but the logo caught the eye of many a woman's rights groups.

We have a fine butcher shop which brags about having 36 varieties of Bratwursts and, each Fall, its parking lot is lined with hunters bringing in their antlered (and unanterlered) kill for processing. We have two lumber companies. Not unusual for a town our size but, how many towns have a lumber company owned by Bill Wood? Fennimore is home to Southwest Wisconsin Technical College. I don't really know much about the college except that it keeps growing and building more buildings. I guess they specialize in Nursing, Mechanics and citizen safety (police and fireman stuff)
And!!! Would you believe? We have no less than FIVE bakeries. (and you wonder why I keep gaining weight) Each bakery sorta does its own thing. One only does baked goods. Another cakes and pastries. I'm not sure what the other three specialize in. I usually pass out after hitting the first two. You can add in our Kwik-Trip and Caseys for doughnuts etc. and you're never more than a few steps away from temptation.
Historically, Fennimore like Chicago was a railroad hub. Of course Fennimore only had one train (a narrow gauge one at that) while Chicago had a few more. The railroad era is well documented in our very own "Railway Museum" which features an actual narrow gauge engine and tender named the "Dinky".
There's a small replica of a Chicago & Northwestern train. For a buck your kid or grandkid or childish cousin Kenny can ride in the little passenger cars while a old guy dressed in an engineer hat toots the whistle for all of the town to hear. For a quick, easy lesson on Fennimore's past, a local artist has painted a mural depicting the whole thing on the side of some buildings adjoining the RR park. If you cross the street and wander on behind the Subway you'll find one of the real treasures of Fennimore. Almost as great as Dinky and Igor is the Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum. This truly a "Must" stop. The museum is now located in an old Red Schoolhouse and presents some of the best collections of toys and dolls available. Many important collectors lend their "collections" for exhibit there.
To round out our little (long winded) tour, we pass the town supermarket, four gas stations (what we lack in taverns we make up in gas stations) some doctors and a dentist who's also a Brigadier General in the Army Reserves and even the "The Place With Your Friendly Hardware Man".
Appropriately last on my list is the place across the street from our home, The Larson Family Funeral Home. How convenient can it be?
That pretty well wraps up our little tour of what has become my hometown. I'm sure I've missed some really important stuff. What the hell come see for yourself!
Oh yeah! the mosquito at the top of the page. We have NO mosquitoes in Fennimore. Honest to God, maybe one or two will wander into town on occasion but normally we are Mosquito Free! This sorta makes up for the lack of great restaurants.....NOT!

Price is Right or Deal No Deal?

While spending the past week in Minnesota, I had the chance to watch quite a bit of TV (HD TV I may add). One morning, it may have been Thursday, I tuned in to one of my favorite game shows, The Price is Right, when what to my wondering eyes did appear - a jolly young man in an Armani suit. It wasn't Santa, it wasn't Drew Carey, it was none other than our President, Barack Obama. It struck as an odd coincidence, the Prez speaking to us about the National budget in a time slot usually devoted to giddy, greedy, goofy acting housewives and college students trying to win something they don't really need for nothing. Ironically each prize that's won actually benefits our economy in way of some kind of "now you got it, now pay taxes on it" tax. Barack didn't have a wheel to spin or curtains with unknown stuff behind them or even pretty models with shiny aluminum attache cases, just his mouth and, I assume a teleprompter. I tried to concentrate on what he was saying and, although I won't be expecting any prizes, I guess it pretty much summed up as "The Price WILL be Right!" I don't want to get into anything political here so let's move on to another observation from a week of HD TV viewing.

What the hell happened to Bob? Remember Bob the guy who was the envy of all his neighbors and the idol of all his neighbor's wide eyed wives. Bob who by taking a certain little pill had improved the size of that certain part of the male anatomy. Well, I did did a little research and found out what happened to old smiley. It seems that at a neighborhood cookout one of Bob's many female admirers got her frilly little beach coverup a little to close to the chestnuts roasting on an open fire and lit up like an America's Got Talent contestant. Bob, in his haste to smoother the smoldering suiter, tripped over that certain part of his oversized male anatomy, bonked his head and rendered himself unconscious. Firemen, who were called to the scene, mistakenly grabbed that certain part of Bob's male anatomy and tried to attach it to a nearby hydrant, turned it on and . . . now all parts of Bob's anatomy are scattered over the once lusty neighborhood. So, no more smug smiley face hawking illusions of greater dimensions and giggly, jiggly housewives will have to take their fantasies elsewhere.
At least we all have the assurance of our President that bigger, and better things lay ahead. And, there are plenty of game shows to help provide tax dollars to offset our country's deficit.

I'm not sure which part of this post this photo pertains to.
Take your pick!

Pass the Pepto Please!

Who could ask for more? I'm enjoying a relaxing stay up in the "Twin Cities" while SuperG (Grandma Jo) lends a helping hand to the recent kid havers. Not so little Edith (Edie not to be confused with Eddie) is doing great. So of course there is no end to the constant pampering being applied. (I mean pamper like spoil, not Pamper like diapers. Although she does get involved with a lot of those too) My main job is to stay out of the way so, this trip up, I packed my handy Mini Mac a set up shop in a little corner of the recently remodeled basement. (Right near the bean bag/treadmill) This has enabled me to keep in constant contact with the free (and slightly inexpensive) world as we know it, as well have access to any and all important information like where to find a White Castle in the "Cities" area. As you can see by the photo above, I found one of the two that exist around here and put down a hardy (and I may say, healthy) sack of "sliders" for lunch yesterday. Among the other "Wonders" of the "Cities" I uncovered a good old fashioned, eat until you die, bakery up here. I had gotten a tip that such a place existed not too far away. Armed with a pocket full of cash and a keen nose for the scent of a biscuit, I set out for Shangri-La. What I found was El Dorado . Felt like Indiana Jones as he first cast eyes on the "The Lost City'. There it was, display case after display case filled with mouth watering delights. A case just filled with cookies, one with donut type goodies, one with sweet rolls, muffins and various Danishes, another showed off decorated cakes and still another overflowed with french pastries. The walls are lined with shelves of fresh baked breads of all sorts. Like so many little sirens on a rocky shoreline they all called out my name, clawing at the glass begging me to, "take me home with you!". Right about there my head started to spin. I felt like Alice in Wonderland or Dorothy in Oz. When I recovered my bearings, I realized that a young lady behind the counter was not the "Good Witch of the North" but a powered sugar dusted salesgirl asking if she could help me. Without a sensible thought in my head, feverishly pointing to ahd fro (maybe even fro and fro) I blurted out, "two of those, three of those, a couple of those sugary ones and some cherry things" The next thing I knew I was back at Summer's house. Jo was applying a cold cloth to my forhead and Sammy the friendly Daschund was licking my hand. It wasn't a dream there really were a bag and a box of assorted goodies on the kitchen counter. Those wonderful tidbits are long gone but the sweet taste lingers on. I would have pictures but I have nothing left but memories, a few crumbs and a quite a few extra pounds. I have made another trip to the bakery but with a more sensible approach. (Only one small bag and one small box of treats) I have a bunch of photos of other parts of our visit and I'd love to post them but first - "I NEED A NAP!" Tomorrow I'm off to take in a Twins game and to sample the Target Field fare. I'll report back on Friday.

I can't close out without a least one picture of the newest Grandkid, Edie.

Just About Too Much!!!

This blog is definitely about "Too Much". Part of the reason for so much dead time between postings is that so much has been going on that I haven't had the courage to select just one thing to write about. We've had births and birthdays, graduations and congratulations, grand kids and Grandkids, sport's moments and moments in sports. So, in no particular order, I'll try to briefly recap a few of the recent highlights. Starting with the biggest news this week. On Wednesday, June twenty ninth, Jo and I hit the road once more to get Up Nord in time to be on hand when the newest Grandkid dropped into our lives. Not wishing to disappoint Grandma Jo, Edith Ann (Edie) arrived Thursday night at around 10 o'clock. No lightweight, she weighed in at 9 pounds 10 ounces and stands at 1 foot 10 inches. In typical fashion, she eats, sleeps and poops. I guess that's a sign of that everything's working okay. Big Brother Eddie seems to accept little sister Edie as a permanent figure around the house. Little does he know what's in store for him. For real details and numerous photos, Mommy Summer and Grandma Jo will be happy to provide enough to satisfy any interest. Here are a couple of my favorites -

Eddie meets Edie.

Grandma Jo wastes no time explaining
the fine points of the "Granny Code".

Wow! Kids nowadays learn sign language at really early age.
She could already pass her driver's test.

On other news fronts we had Grandkid, Elizabeth graduate from the University of Chicago, Catherine from Prospect High and "West Coast Roy" the San Jose longboard expert will be heading to high school next year. Elizabeth is pursuing continuing education at Chicago while sister Catherine takes her musical (and social) talents to Saint Louis University in ....St. Louis. (you know it's right across the street front Wash U.) The West coast Blumes Rey, Mina and Roy continue to wow thousands with their musical prowess. Rey on trumpet attends U of California at Berkley, Mina, on Trombone, has traded her soccer cleats for whatever you wear to play Lacrosse and Roy reels off saxophone riffs while reeling off some hot longboard moves. (I'm told that a longboard is a, dah, long skateboard) Rounding off the Grandkid news, Saffron is hoping to enter either Yale or Harvard this fall. (I don't think she will meet the height requirement) In the meantime she's extremely busy teaching little brother Sebastian how to wrap Grandma around your finger. And, Veronica (Jr.) and Harrison are being Jr. and Harrison down in Arkansas. I've been told that this is the end of the line as far as Grandkids go. A nice round number of ten with an equal number of boys and girls. Great Grandkids anyone?
Now the "Rest of the Story" or maybe a story of rest.

What a great idea. A treadmill with a built in beanbag.
This is really a deluxe model complete with built in speakers for your ipod, a fan for cooling and even a little time keeper so you don't over exercise

In the sporting arena, been to a couple of Cub's games and have absolutely nothing to say about that. On the other hand, I have returned to my old friend, Golf. Not nearly as friendly as I remembered. Seems like the course is longer, harder and has larger bunkers and smaller greens. I tried to use my age and health as an excuse but even with new meds and my youthful mind (second or third childhood???) my head comes up my shoulder drops down and my back snaps crackles and pops. The only part of the game that hasn't completely deteriorated is cart driving. There's a good possibility that you won't read much about the Cubs and my golf game any time soon unless stranding 50 or 60 men on base or shooting seventeen on a hole is considered newsworthy.

My Fellow Americans

Last night I recorded the Letterman Show because I thought the Betty White segment might be funny. After watching her present her "Top Ten Ways to a Long Life", I was ready to switch channels when Admiral Michael Mullen came on. I thought this was going to be a real yawner and it was until, Dave asked him about his early life. Well this guy was a number one Goof Off. His time at Annapolis and early naval career made my wasted youth look like time spent in a mountaintop abbey somewhere in the Himalayas. This guy bumbled his way through The Naval Academy graduating in the BOTTOM third of his class and went on to become The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, three of the guys that helped me Goof Off my way through high school went on to fair heights in the military, one a Colonel in the Army (ours) another, I think, a Commander in the Navy (again ours) and the other has never admitted to me how high he went while serving in the armed forces. Although I have almost (not any) military experience, I do have extensive Goofing Off experience. Does this qualify me for a high level government post? I think so! In today's world it seems like indiscretion and poor judgement are essential to holding high level political positions. Here again, I'm sure that, if that is what it takes, I can be as indiscreet as the next guy and, poor judgement, did you ever see some of those outfits I wore in the Sixties? With some major elections coming up soon, watch for campaign flyers and commercials pushing for my election. In the mean time I'll be working on as many indiscretions that time will allow by studying up up on Tom Jefferson, Tricky Dick Nixon, Billy Clinton, that Edwards guy and "Home Photography for Fun and Profit" by Senator Tony D'Weiner. I will appreciate your votes and promise to live up to the standards set those who (or whom) served before me!
(for a humorous peek at Admiral Mullens, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YLsETCKd7Y&feature=related)