December 23, 2011 through December 26, 2011

Christmas Week!

Friday: I've been on vacation for over a week but today is the first time since Thanksgiving that we've been back to O'Wich. We were on the road by 8:00 and for a holiday week the traffic wasn't bad. Upon arriving at O'Wich, our fall season scarecrow greeted us with his snow dusted hat. The accumulation was minimal, but everything looked pretty, fresh and bright! Inside we had four trapped mice (they were dead) and six undetonated traps. The good thing is that there were no signs of active mice and not a drop of poop to be found; thank goodness! A quick inventory and we were off to town. We had lunch at Culver's and then divided and conquered our list - me to Walmart and Carlo off to get gas, go to Pierces and Tractor Supply. All stops were successful, including the $17 taco salad in the shape of a Christmas tree!

I went to Fashion Bug and was able to buy 4 out of 5 items I tried on! Thanks to a gift card from Laurie for my birthday and one from Rick for Christmas, I have a 95 cent credit - now that was some good shopping if I must say so myself! THANK YOU!!! After we got back I fixed up some cards and gifts for our friends that we will see tomorrow. We ended up napping and skipped going to a restaurant for dinner and opted for a stuffed crust supreme pizza from Pizza Hut!

Saturday - Christmas Eve: Since we were wide awake at 4:00 am, we got up for coffee and a trip to Walmart. There were no crowds and it was a great shopping experience - although we really didn't need to go shopping we took advantage of a list that Alex gave me for his birthday. The sun was up as we made our way to the truck and went to Norm's for another tasty breakfast - including a cup of cream of cabbage soup! We watched a Christmas movie before my trip to the salon for a much needed haircut. I think I may have finally found a place that I would consider revisiting!

At 3:00 we headed down to Betty's. Steve was out so we missed him. Pauline was on her way back to Milwaukee but we were able to wish her a Merry Christmas as we passed her on the road. Cathy and Art were with Betty and we visited with them for close to 3 hours. We headed back to start our unconventional Christmas Eve dinner German / Italian style...Carlo grilled brats, Italian sausage and hot dogs - Hebrew National Jumbos!

We watched a Christmas Light Show on TV, which saved us from driving around in the cold to look at the lights - yet another unconventional Christmas event. We were in bed by 8:30 and exhausted!

Sunday - Christmas Day: We woke up to see what was the matter from all of the clatter that sounded to be on the rooftop and to a fire burning in (on) our (fake-o) fireplace. The clatter was not that of Santa and his reindeer, but of a critter between the ceiling and the roof. While Carlo was investigating the point of entry for the rodent, he found the dead mouse bag was empty, so some creature visited the front porch during the night - I wonder if the visitor thought there were Christmas cookies in that bag! And one could only wonder who the visitor was since it wasn't Santa, his reindeer or his elves! And the stockings were not hung by the fireplace with care or at all...what the heck is going on here?!!!


Our unconventional Christmas continued when we decided against the ever popular eggs and sausage for breakfast and tore into the taco salad tree as the Griswold's Family Las Vegas Christmas replaced the fireplace - Merry Christmas from one unconventional family to another!


Our unconventional festivities continued as we, along with a bench, our furry Russian hats and the camera headed down to the river for our Christmas photos. C'mon, smile already! And just for the record, the 10 second timer is not nearly long enough! Our outdoor festivities have come to an end on this beautiful, sunny and 37 degree Christmas Day at O'Wich!

The afternoon of our unconventional Christmas included a nap (not me this time) and many rounds of WWF (yes, me).  The unconventional Christmas Dinner hit the grill and I'd much rather have this than some conventional menu - after all, 2011 is the year of the unconventional Christmas celebration at O'Wich!

After dinner, Carlo ended his day and I finally found some Christmas movies that kept me up until way after 1:00 in the morning!

 Monday: We decided to get on the road at 7:30 after baiting for mice and locking up the cabin. With no construction, minimal traffic and not stopping along the way, we were home by 10:30 - without my cord to transfer the photos from the camera to the computer - BALL-JAM! Then this techno-challenged blogger remembered that the laptop has a card reader and wallah! taadaaahhhh!! viola!!!  - successful transfer. Crisis diverted and ye olde blog - with photos - is complete. And this my friends wraps up the O'Wich 2011 blog...until next year!

November 22, 2011 through November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving Week!

Tuesday: I drove to O'Wich to meet up with Carlo who was coming from the U.P. The drive went great thanks to the wonderful conversation I had with Wendy along the way...it was as if she was sitting in the car with me! Before I knew it, I was pulling into the driveway. I knew I was going to have a bit of cleaning to do since I didn't straighten up when the Girls Weekend ended last month...but I had more than I had expected! There were certainly some mouse-festivities that transpired in the less than 30 days since I had left. Two of the sticky mouse pads were missing, there was one mouse in a trap, and there was lots of mouse $hit - EVERYWHERE! Every horizontal surface seemed to have been christened! I Clorox wiped every surface and vacuumed every inch of the floors and the furniture. After four hours, this wasn't the light cleaning I had in mind! I drove down to visit Betty and Steve after my laborious arrival chores were complete. Carlo joined in on the visit and afterwards we went to LaTolteca for dinner. I was exhausted after such a hectic day and was upset about the mouse that was being seen from the corner of our eyes and loose somewhere inside the cabin; until we heard the "snap". Ah, now I can settle in!












Wednesday: Our day started with a call from Betty. We thought she was calling about Carlo helping Steve with installing a stove but she was calling to invite us to have Thanksgiving Eve dinner with them at our place. We got moving to run some errands for some small chores that were on our list along with getting some accompaniments to share for dinner. Carlo started a fire in the pit and cleared up some wood that was laying around. I couldn't stay out with him due to how cold it was - so I opted for the ever popular nap! This was cut short when Steve called to let us know the plans were changing and he was on his way with the food. Shortly there after, he pulled up on his 4-wheeler to drop off the "go withs" for us to prepare. We got busy with that and 45 minutes later he was back with Betty and the un-carved - but cooked - turkey. In under 1.5 hours we had dinner and dessert and were once again, alone. Our expectations were very low and we were both pleasantly surprised with the unexpected yet delicious Thanksgiving Eve Turkey dinner!










Thursday - Thanksgiving: We had a very lazy Thanksgiving day...which I was most thankful for. I slept most of the day, watched some TV and slept some more. Carlo cooked Thanksgiving Dinner; Spaghetti and Meatballs with Garlic Bread (thanks Karen!) After dinner it was time to do what I do best - I went back to bed! Thankfully, I do love to sleep!












Friday: We spent Black Friday getting ready for the drive home. We avoided all the stores and all the crowds and set 10 mouse traps before we left!!! We did find the two missing sticky traps - one was under the recliner and the other under the couch...empty!

October 23, 2011 through October 26, 2011

I had a very enjoyable girls getaway, having arrived mid-morning on Sunday. The visit was full of rest and relaxation, great conversations, wonderful company, delicious food, a few errands and a little bit of work.

A group effort cleared out the flower beds and moved a ton of leaves from the driveway. Seriously, thank you for the help...as we said, many hands make for lighter work! Since leaves are relatively weightless this amount equaled a lot of leaves! It also helped one realize that the driveway is much larger in the fall than in the summer!!! But when it was all done, it looked amazing!

Monday and Tuesday afternoons were spent around the campfire. If I may have a chance to brag a bit...I set two very good burns that kept us toasty until the sun went down. We shared many funny moments, charred a few marshmallows and laughed hysterically - but what happens around the campfire...stays around the campfire!

L to R: Betty, Laurie, Carla, Me, Karen (and Lady in the front)

We stayed until Wednesday morning and left after closing up the cabin. This was probably the only stress I felt for 4 days...however; mission accomplished and I can't wait to have another girls getaway - who's free in the Spring?!

September 27, 2011

We closed up the cabin for the winter, just in case any future plans we have to visit need to change. We drove home into, you guessed it, more rain!!!

September 26, 2011

We were up around 6:30 and still exhausted and sore from the weekend of damp weather. Coffee helped warm us up and yes – it was STILL raining. Carlo saw a mouse on the eave of the front porch and covered the opening.

Hopefully the mouse gets the idea that the entrance is closed!

We had leftovers for breakfast after spending way too much time looking for Pita bread. I guess the Pita and the Brats were at home. I can’t remember everything!!! We stripped all the beds and Carlo went off to the Laundromat – there were so many sacks, I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever see him again! I made the beds with other bedding, waiting for the fresh blankets to arrive.
 

I laid out the tile formation for the corner – where one day, the new wood stove will be situated. Hopefully my tile cutting skills will not suck when tile cutting time comes along.

I also put together the crappiest ever boot rack – which the attached labels advise to not exceed 3 pounds – I guess we’ll use this rack for our invisible boots!

Carlo got back around noon and brought a little sunshine with him. We ate more of the leftovers for lunch and then I finished making the beds with the awesome smelling, freshly washed blankets. ''


We returned the borrowed wood splitter and visited with Betty for a bit. When we got back we cleaned up the outside, added a huge pumpkin and more bird seed to the rock garden and added an additional tarp to the wood crib. Our much used brand new fire pit may not see another flame for quite sometime, but I am glad we were able to get some use out of it so soon! We were way too tired to go out for dinner and even too tired to eat.
 

September 25, 2011

The morning started with a huge continental breakfast and then we hit the outside to tackle the wood crib project. Rick, Jackie and Alex unloaded the fallen and bowed crib and then we moved it to its new location. The spikes we have wouldn’t fully bore into the ground – ergh! Jackie, Rick and I split wood and eventually it was loaded to the new – okay not new; repaired – okay not really repaired; stable – okay not really sure about this either…wood crib! Many, many hands make for much lighter work! We are appreciative of the help!

Alex gathered up a bunch of rocks for the rock garden and I put out gourds and pumpkins for decoration – and whatever critter is going to eat them up!

In between all the chaos – we were in the midst of a giant rain delay – which lasted the entire day. The weather was a total change from the day before and a greater disappointment since we were finally able to coordinate a get together that included able bodied and willing helpers. What we got done was great – but we weren’t able to tackle our chain sawing multi-tree project. Now we can only hope to not lose the wood to weather or thieves! We were able to tag team several batches of wood from the easement that the electric company left in manageable pieces, but the wood wasn’t good enough for inside and will eventually end up in the fire pit.

We got lunch together so Rick, Katie and Jack could leave at 2:00. They were right on schedule – we even got in some family pictures – in the pouring down rain!

We kicked back, even napped due to still being in our rain delay, until Jackie and Alex left, which was around 7:00 pm. Katie even posted a picture of a tuckered out Jack on the car ride home!

  

The evening was spent cleaning and moving furniture back to our non-company configuration and we called it a wrap at 10:00 pm, as it continued to rain!