December 29, 2009

7:15 - 63° 41° 1° The only thing stirring is me! Today is the very last day at O'Wich - for 2009, anyway! We were fortunate to get here so many times this year. Each visit was relaxing; even when there was work to be done! Hopefully 2010 will afford us an equal amount of opportunities to return. And tackle the much shorter To Do list!

We have lots to do today before leaving. A bit extra since our return trip is not yet planned - and with the road as torn up as it is, my car may not be coming here at all...thanks to Josh Douche. So I am off to make the beds, pack, straighten up, gather garbage - etc., etc., etc. We are looking forward to scanning our calendar to find time to come back - will you be visiting O'Wich in 2010?

Happy New Year!!!!

December 28, 2009

H-9yr-A

We got up at 8:00 at by 8:30 Paul was sitting at the table and enjoying a cup of coffee. He visited for a while and after he left we went for breakfast and then ran errands at Fashion Bug, Walmart and Tractor Supply. We came back and gave leftovers to the animals and put more seed out for the birds.

2:00 - 63° 43° 30° The sun is shining, the skies are blue and it's a beautiful day here at O'Wich! Our drive chime alerted us to an unexpected visitor...it was Bernie and his grandson. They had returned to stack the wood they had delivered earlier in the week. He was surprised to see us but not nearly as surprised (or maybe happy - maybe relieved) that the wood had already been moved and stacked! It was nice that they came back. They stayed for about an hour and then trekked back out the rocky road.

We went to LaTolteca for dinner. This was an extra special dinner because Alex (and his parents) gave us a gift certificate for Christmas - it was made out to Sendry. That's a far cry from Cindy and Carlo!!! We enjoyed our meal immensely, except for all the kids that were in there - at 8:00 pm!

A little TV watching and a nap round off the evening before calling it a night.

December 27, 2009

The temperature dipped below 20° during the night - yes, the outside temp! I was up around 7:30 and Carlo already had started a fire going. It snowed several inches during the night and the snow was still lightly falling as the birds got started on breakfast. Wonder how many will body slam themselves into the door today! The colors surrounding O'Wich are pretty muted for the most part...at this time of year there are brown trees, dusted with and standing amidst white snow. There is rarely any movement except for the feather filled sky of the cluster of birds. And of course the crazy squirrels - one of which leaps as though he can fly!

We trampled a path from the wood pile to the cribs and I am now Paulette Bunyan - without the axe and ox - however we have sleds! Carlo and I froze our butts, hands and feet while bending and stretching and slipping and sliding while we moved the wood. In 4 1/2 hours, we moved lots and lots of wood. We filled both cribs, put wood on the deck of the outhouse, put two piles on the front porch and barely took a break during this time. We were sore and exhausted and had all we could do to muster up energy to have lunch.

We have barely a few hours to rest, get ready and prep some snacks before Steve and Cathy arrive for our evening get-together. As we waited, the bird vs window count is up to 2 and there were several deer that ran across the property closer to the river.

Carlo ran for bird seed and suet and I started cooking. When he got back he hung up the driveway alert that Rick and Katie gave me for Christmas. To check that it was working, he pretended to drive in and out of the drive - he wasn't in the truck - but it was funny. It will be great to hear people arrive prior to their knocking on the door.

Steve and Cathy arrived promptly at 4:00. We had appetizers, visited, ate sloppy hoes and then played Apples to Apples. By 8:45 they were gone, the kitchen was clean and we watched TV to end our very busy, laborious, achy day. Ahhhh!

December 26, 2009

With Christmas behind us we can now concentrate on enjoying Carlo's days off - well mine too; but I'm still on vacation! It snowed all night long after two days of rain. I got up fairly early to pack, shower and to shovel the unexpected accumulation of snow. Because Carlo had to work and do the same, we didn't pull away from my house until almost 10:00 am. Of course the usual two stops were made before embarking on what appeared to be a pretty traffic free highway. As time passed there were more cars getting on and the problem then became the weather. It seemed to worsen as we traveled further north and at some points we were in the midst of some white-out conditions. Of course the crazy drivers didn't help and with the roads as horrible as they were, we didn't see one accident. We did pass one stranded motorist (well we think he was stranded - maybe he wasn't!) We passed a front end of a semi truck that took out a guard rail - possibly yesterday or maybe earlier - not the cab, just the fenders, hood and grill - we also passed lots of state plows, noticed a flock of birds and was quite surprised to see the barn still leaning!

Due to the weather it took us four hours to get to O'Wich and even the highway leading to our road was a bit weather worn. When we arrived we noticed the front of the truck encased with ice. It certainly was a wintry drive and we were quite relieved to have arrived safely.

During the week, Bernie had dropped off a load of firewood so it looks like tomorrow is gonna be a busy day. We will be stacking wood in our empty wood cribs...that is gonna be a lot of work.

We decided to have left-over Christmas turkey dinner for lunch and then went to visit Paul, Betty and Steve. Today is Paul's birthday and we wanted to give him his gift along with the Christmas presents we brought along. They gave us a set of solar lights that have hummingbirds on the top that will illuminate when they are charged. We'll put those out in the spring.

While Carlo ran for some last minute groceries we needed, I attempted to keep the fire going - I really am not good at this chore! When he got back he determined the wood is hard and takes a while to get going! At least it wasn't my lack of fire skills that kept us from having heat. I was able to watch the squirrels and birds after Carlo put out some fresh food for them.

6:30 pm - 58° 40° 20°

I was feeling like one of the five (current count) birds that hit the patio door - I decided to call it a night around 8:00 pm. Nothing like sleeping at O'Wich! Good night!

December 21, 2009

Today: Back to reality; or semi-reality. Carlo has to work but I'm on vacation and am the owner of a very lengthy To Do list. If it weren't Christmas week, I'd have nothing to do! I have a couple of last minute errands to run, bake some treats, cook a bit and wrap gifts...all in three days - yikes!

We got to our cabin closing chores so we could head out - cleaned the fireplace, gathered the garbage, re-stocked the bird feeders, made the beds, packed the truck, etc...etc...etc!

I was finally able to capture a few pix as we headed out.

Saturday will be here before we know it and we will be back (weather permitting) for our last visit of 2009 - but until then ~

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 20, 2009

We woke up to the sight of four huge deer in the front - I wish I knew how to capture that...the windows are in the way, the screens are in the way, the rails are in the way...but rather than spook them by opening the door, we watched them through the window while they picked at all the fallen bird seed that was on the ground.

I am thinking the fumes from the fireplace are causing such a high number of birds to crash into the patio door. by around 8:15 am, there were about 9 birds that crashed - so far! I'd like to attribute it to the 'high energy suet' but they were crashing last week too! Either the same birds haven't learned yet or there are more birds out there than we can even count.

Paul stopped by to have his coffee card punched and we visited with him for about an hour. While he was here, I noticed a cardinal in the back so my sights were on looking out for him well after Paul had left.

Carlo went to Tractor Supply and then I spotted it...the cardinal. The most beautiful shade of crimson - and so incredible against the background of nature dusted with the bright white snow! I missed snapping his photo in the back of the cabin, but noticed he flew to the front - in the area where Carlo said he's been the last few days. Sure enough - out the front is right where I captured him - well digitally! He was a lot further away than if I had a chance to snap him along the back deck.

While I cleaned, Carlo moved some snow near the swing and put some corn down. Now if the deer show up, there's a good chance in seeing them AND possibly taking some photos. Of course now the swing will be in the way! Go figure!

We were watching a movie and having a snack when a huge woodpecker slammed right into the window. He was dazed for close to 15 minutes and I was able to get a picture of him - since he wasn't moving! Thank goodness he was able to fly away although he did stop to rest on the rail and seemed sort of weak. Heck, wouldn't you be after crashing into a window? Before long, he was gone. (I'm thinking another dad joke might fit in here really well!)

We started dinner around 5:30 after finishing up some last minute grocery shopping. I'm still in need of some pretzel rings! Another incredible meal of grilled steaks and potatoes...heavenly. We watched a couple of movies and a couple of deer that were catching a late night snack - Splendorful!

December 19, 2009

We were up before the sun and enjoying a fire and coffee - got the cremora! Carlo hung a suet that drew a dozen birds. there was a red one, a huge blue one and a red headed woodpecker. (I could just hear my dad inserting some joke right about now!!!) I was able to take several photos of our flying feathered forest friends who seemed to enjoy dining on the 'high energy suet'!

We decided to order a movie: Julie and Julia. By the time it was 3:00, the movie was over, Carlo had returned from picking up some parts for the patio screen door handle/lock that broke {again} and the fire wood was stacked in the cabin and re-stocked in the bin on the deck. Rumor has it that 3 - 5 inches of snow are on the way - on Christmas Eve!

It was also starting to snow and once we came inside the birds went crazy at the feeders; for like their 90th meal of the day.

We went to LaTolteca at 5:30 and for the first time in all our visits there, the mariachi band was playing. It was fun - yet a bit awkward having the live musicians right by the table. We just relaxed for the remainder of our evening. Such bliss!

December 18, 2009

Waking at 5:00 am having missed dinner, there was nothing to eat for breakfast and there was NO cream, which means NO coffee - we had no choice but to grab our well written list and head out. Just after 6:30 am we were having breakfast at Norm's. Then we shopped for groceries, ran into Kmart and were back at O'Wich by 9"15! That's what I would call an extremely productive morning!

We started a pot of chili since our guests are arriving around noon. We're having Garry and Bernie stop by to discuss their re-building our front stairs in the spring. The arrived right on time. We visited a bit - these two are like old friends; easy to talk to and very friendly. We stepped outside and pointed and chatted and pointed some more and luckily, Garry understood exactly what we want so all that was left was to dig into the chili! It was tasty and before long it was after 2:00. They said their good-byes and we will wait for the next step - the price!

Around 4:00 we left to run some errands. It was a bit too overcast for me to bring the camera but hopefully I can capture the snow on the fence tomorrow or at least before it falls off...the snow, not the fence!

We were still full from lunch and watched TV in the evening and were in bed by 9:30 - it was a fun and full day!

December 17, 2009

We left later than we usually do, but still stopped for coffee and at the bank. Traffic was good and about 12:15 we stopped in Janesville for lunch at Red Robin. Getting there was a journey in itself...getting off at the wrong exit, being in the wrong lane, going round about - again and then again - but we finally made it. Thank goodness it doesn't matter what we do! During this expedition we found a Farm and Fleet and a Shopko - both which might be visited in a near future travel! The closer we got to O'Wich, the more snow we noticed on the sides of the road, which just weeks ago was rolling pastures of green - the snow certainly makes things look different! :)

The road to the cabin was much better with the snow on it, but even with the packed flakes, was not in the best of condition. As we pulled to our driveway, we noticed that Steve had plowed for us which made getting in a very smooth and easy arrival.

Looks like some little critter was trying to break in or maybe just keep warm! These little paw prints were on the deck just outside the door!

There was a good 12" of snow on the stairs and what appeared to be even more upon the ground. We brought the snow blower knowing we would need a path to the front porch, the propane tank and possibly the shed or wood crib. Carlo took care of that while I got the water running - this was the first time of me doing this with the new plumbing and it went well!

Carlo started a fire, I moved some of the snow from the back deck and then he moved the rest. By 4:00 it was 54° 43° 22° and everything regarding the cabin, the plumbing and the below zero temperatures of this past week appeared to have been without incident. What a relief!

Time to work on a grocery list! Obviously the grocery list writing took more energy than we thought...our thoughts to stop moving took over the pen and paper project and the stopping turned into an unplanned end of the evening!

December 5, 2009

Today we needed to pack up and drive home - we both have to work tonight. We were going to stop at IKEA for a book case but by the time we get there - we think it might be too crowded..so we are postponing that until our days off.

We cleaned up, made the beds, scooped the fireplace ashes, fed the birds and got on the road.

We only have two more visits planned before 2009 ends...will they be R&R or will be get something off our To-Do List?????

December 4, 2009

7:00 am 64° - 49° - 21°

More flurries have covered the ground during the night and it was beautiful, quiet and peaceful to look at at the break of day. The birds started up early this morning and then continued to be amusing to watch as the snow kept falling. I didn't' think birds hung out when it was this cold.

And what better way to follow up some great R&R than with a tasty home-cooked country breakfast?

Today was a laze-around day - watching TV, a visit to Paul and Betty and a trip to Tractor Supply.

We stopped at Culver's for a treat and postponed dinner while we ate ice cream from the lid of a banana split boat - why are things at Culver's always so hard and out of control??? Can't figure out what to order to begin with and then they don't know what a bowl is and their marquee offered TURTLE BREADED COD!

We started a monster fire since it was barely 18° out and after our ice cream settle, we decided to order a Bud's Special to go...Carlo pick it up and it was perfect. Anyone who has had the pleasure to dine with us at Bud's is most likely salivating right about now!

After dinner, Carlo grilled up some brats we bought so I could have them at home. I love the taste of anything grilled!

The rest of the evening was full of naps and TV.

December 3, 2009

The temp was down below 30° during the night and it looks like Cascade Mountain was hard at work. The lights were on all night! By 8:30 am the flurries began - Does this count as an official first snow or does it disqualify? Depends on what you heard and if it sticks!

We had a tasty breakfast and to not disappoint those that not only missed having O'Wich pix from last week (check the blog, they've been added) but also questioned the missing meal pix - I will do my best to oblige...starting now!

It snowed for about an hour - enough to accumulate a bit and for me to have been here four years in a row for the first snow! I think the birds know something - they seem to be having a dining frenzy!

We are having company in a couple of weeks so for lunch today we are trying one of the appetizers we would like to serve - Reuben Dip. It should be ready in an hour and then we;re off to Menard's.

This dip was quite tasty - I think we've found ourselves a keeper.

At 3:30 we left for Menard's. It was a disappointing excursion. Rte 33 had an ice patch on a bridge that was scary - and when we got there they didn't have one of the items we went for and the other was a special order. So the two hours we were gone felt like much longer. Time to get back to O'Wich and grill up some steaks for dinner!

We were done with dinner and cleaned it all up by 7:30 and ahhhh - a cup of coffee....what could possibly be better? Napping until bed time certainly should be up for a nomination and a tasty snack before bed.

Good night!

December 2, 2009

We were on the interstate by 9:45 after a stop at the bank and for coffee. There was more traffic than normal but it moved along. We stopped around 11:30 at Cracker Barrel and had a tasty lunch. It's the second time we've eaten there and we're glad we weren't disappointed! Once back on the road we got to O'Wich by 2:00 - yep, in time for GH! While Carlo fed the birds and loaded up the wood tub, I started putting together the new garbage can we bought. It took an hour along with a lot of help from Carlo. It's function is certainly less than it's fashion. The liners don't fit and it's not as sturdy as it appears, but it somehow ties the decor all together!

The truck had a bad headlight - so to beat the soon to end daylight, Carlo headed out to get a new one. After a short nap - we took at rip for groceries - then I took another nap and woke up around 9:30, just in time to go to bed!