I'm Exhausted!

We had a wonderful, whirlwind, loving visit from daughter Rachael and her boyfriend Eric. It was my first time to meet him and I must say I was very impressed with his character, politeness, congeniality and obvious love for Rachael. After five days, they jetted off back to Portland and their hectic lives, but not before utterly relaxing into the laid back lifestyle we enjoy in Central Wisconsin. We did a lot of “porch sitting”, beer drinking and several BBQ’s, including the famous Packer Brats which are filled with Miller Lite and cheese of course. Rachael commented it wouldn’t be a visit to Wisconsin unless she consumed cheese with every meal.

My friends Jackie and Andy graciously invited the kids to an afternoon of canoeing from their lakeside home on Memorial Day so while the kids explored the Chain of Lakes, all interconnected, Marc and I enjoyed a wonderful visit. The weather cooperated and it was an awesome and perfect 80 degree sunshiny day.

The next day we also enjoyed great weather as we worked off what little stress was left by banging some up at the shooting range which is very close by to our home. Eric was impressed we had the place entirely to ourselves and that there was no range master hanging over our shoulders.

While Marc taught Eric the basics of welding (he started a rebar bottle tree for me), Rachael and I visited some vintage shops for her search for old and unique jewelry pieces. One local shop is famous state wide for its eclectic and fun collection of yard art.

Part of the reason for their visit was to explore the Appleton-Green Bay area since they are giving some tentative thought to leaving Oregon to search for a much more affordable place to live. Of course, one couldn’t visit Green Bay and miss touring Lambeau Field, which they said was an outstanding experience, including the obligatory cheese head photo op!

They wrapped up their visit by accompanying me to the shelter for a kitty visit. Rachael has missed having a cat but their current apartment lifestyle is not conducive to having one so she was busy imagining adopting one once she can own her own home. (Eric’s colorful shirt is actually a smock which volunteers are required to wear during visits.)

Too soon, the hour of departure arrived, so one last photo of the family and they were off for another year. Marc’s vacation time extends through Tuesday so now it’s time to get back to work!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

This is about the only garden growing around here these days since our spring has continued to remain so cold and blustery.

Our regular garden has struggled to rear tiny heads just mere inches or fractions of an inch since planting up to a month ago. Last evening I hustled to cover everything, even bringing ferns inside, as the weather called for a frost warning which will continue again tonight as well.

Marc was unexpectedly dispatched to Bismarck in a big semi with a load, as he wears his “other” hat of CDL driver for Blenker Transport; as if he didn’t have enough to do with his many projects. Just as soon as he returns, he will head out again for a potential new project in Marquette, MI—a four story dormitory for the college. I swear they are working that man to death and I’ve about given up on ever getting much needed things accomplished here on the home front. Nix our plans to sell the RV this year probably; there is just too much to fix on it for Marc to see his way clear to doing so. It didn’t help that I inadvertently added to his burden while trying to open the slides and not realizing the battery had been removed. There was a small meltdown of the 12V components and now Marc doesn’t know what will be entailed in trying to fix it.

Thankfully, daughter and her boyfriend will ride to the rescue, coming to visit at the end of the month for five days and Marc signed up for a long overdue vacation week so we could really enjoy our time with them, showing them central WI. We hold out tiny hope that they may consider relocating here since the blush is off the rose with Portland, OR and its insanely priced real estate. Beautiful places are often the most costly so you have to ask yourself at some point “At what price beauty?” or even better: “At what sacrifice, beauty?” Do they continue to work long hours just to support their housing costs or do they consider moving elsewhere where they actually could own a house AND have a life beyond just supporting a roof over their heads? And as they say: beauty is only skin deep anyway.

As I do so occasionally, I wanted to remind readers to please continue to think about donating to your local humane society. Thank God people in this community are doing so, and we were able to save this sweetest boy Chance, from a horrible death from being run over by a car and having his leg crushed beyond repair. Yes, he's still struggling with the aftermath but he has a such a loving attitude, is full of life and will soon make someone a wonderful and devoted companion. If I wasn't on the verge of being the Crazy Cat Lady already, he would certainly be coming home with me!

What Have We Been Doing?

Working of course! The weather has been kind to us on a few days allowing us to finally get outside to all the chores that wait. Our main priority was the garden since the growing season in WI is so short we need to take advantage of every single day we get. Marc got busy on constructing the gate and I got half of it painted before it was hung. Once up, I finished up the painting on another day.  

From that task he went on to buy and plant 300 onion sets! This past Saturday was nice so we prepped the opposite side of the garden and got in three rows of various types of peas, one of spinach, two of chard and lettuce. It’s backbreaking work to stoop over and plant thousands of tiny seeds! We still have about half or more left to do when the weather clears. 

Since Sunday rained, we made the trip to a nursery in Appleton to finally purchase the birch trees I wanted for our small grove. In the far right of the photo you will see the area where we've placed those large boulders--the grove will go there. They will get planted next weekend if the rain abates; one has paper bark and the other silver bark, three stems in each set. Trees of good size are very expensive so we need to spread out their purchase; to complement the grove I still want a quaking aspen to complete the trio.

Meanwhile, in off moments when I wasn’t needed in the garden or had a paintbrush in my hand, I finally got started on the redo of the $14 Goodwill table I had purchased last fall. It was a dark, beat up mess but held potential so I figured for the price, it deserved a chance. If all else failed, I would just spray paint it and use it on the porch! Working outside, I put on three coats of stripper over as many days, which I removed with a putty knife. In between and after, I was hand sanding like mad to the point where my arthritic fingers and hands finally told me they didn’t want to work anymore. After speeding things up with one of Marc’s old sanders, I moved things inside due to more rain and cold and am now in the process of applying the natural finish I want, Tung Oil. I figure it should match my antique hutch fairly closely. Each coat needs to sit for 24 hours so it too, is a slow process but the table is looking fabulous!

I’ve also been busy working with the shelter on their main annual fundraising event, Cinco de Meow, a dinner and night of games to be held May 7th. Recently I distributed publicity posters to all the businesses out at the Chain of Lakes and donated some of my jewelry and new glass flower art to the cause for the raffle baskets. On the day of the event I will also be called upon to help set up and decorate the VFW hall where it is held. I enjoy making the glass flowers so much I have made several for myself and with Marc’s help for doing the backer for the pipe inset, I got the first one on display outside. Some, I am adding hand beaded jewelry accents to the center. There will be many more to come after Marc cuts these tomato stakes to size and does the small block of wood I glue to the back.

Coming up: Marc is working on making me a kitchen window box with kitties on it! Wait till you see that; hopefully in my next episode…he is enjoying his wood working shop so much he could spend all his time buried in the basement!

Last Minute Winter Stuff

Yes, you read me right; we had another snow storm this weekend, with wind chills in the twenties so it was another indoor weekend for us. Marc needed to take it easy anyway as he had some minor surgery on his back with the removal of a cyst which inhibited his ability to move his shoulder and left arm. At least this allowed him to rest up after his arduous week in ND, where he logged a 73 hour work week! We are very excited to note however, that the forecast for this coming weekend will be spectacularly warm for us—the 60’s! That means we’ll be able to complete the garden fencing and painting of the posts.

I finished up my yard totem and got it planted and completed the first flower plate faces as well. Marc has purchased copper pipe which will be used for their stems and they will be planted in the gravel area where no real vegetation is intended. I really enjoy the search for their parts, then piecing them together and seeing how they “grow” into originals, so I plan on doing more. Compared to some, mine are rather tame so I need to keep an eye out for more colorful glassware. My final project was a beaded wind dancer which sparkles in the sun. These also are a fun project so I will likely be making at least one more. I may eventually paint the PVC pipe.

Last evening was nice enough and Marc was moving well enough to tackle pruning the lilac forest. I’ve wanted to eliminate the dead wood since we’ve owned this property; we figure the bush is likely from the 1940’s since that’s when the original farmstead was built here, in the area where we are planting the garden. The poor thing has been badly neglected for years and years so hopefully this is the start of bringing it back to health and more blooms. Now I’ve got two huge piles of branches and twigs to pack out across two lots to our burn pile as today’s major chore!