March 15, 2011

At 8:00 am the fire outside was still going (hot embers) and needed to be knocked down in order for us to leave. FF Riz - aka the lumberjack (if you caught the dream sequence entry), needed to tackle this while I finished cleaning inside. I had hung some wall decor to get it out of the way, since we were de-cluttering this trip! Outside trees come down, inside tree (decor) goes up!



Smoke-inhalation free, clean cabin, loaded truck and we are on the road.

Hurry up end of April!

March 14, 2011

There's a dream sequence that's like a crazy Seinfeld episode. (It would be good to believe that it is not remembered when we awake!) It involves a lumberjack who we will call Riz. In this dream, Riz needed the satellite dish to have a better signal, so he scoped out the tree line between the dish and the satellite that was floating up in space. With the precision of a fine jeweler, the lumberjack used his axe and his ox (we'll call the ox Zo). He climbed the trees and wielded his axe at the bark as the trees crumbled from his strength. His trusty companion, Zo, pulled all the trees and stacked them nicely into several piles. After hours of laborious work, the lumberjack had cleared the yard of not six trees, but thirteen. It seems it's just hard to keep a lumberjack from performing his skill.

Now back to reality!

By 8:15 there were five pieces of heavy machinery on the property.











By 9:00, one tree was down and six guys were standing around a huge pile of brush attempting to set it on fire...ha ha! This is the same pile we had tried to burn a few years ago before the flood floated it to the other side of the property.



And the group congregated for a short coffee break. How many guys does it take...never mind, not a good time for a joke when these guys have chainsaws within their reach!


At 10:15 it was back to smoldering. I hope (really hope) they get this going since they won't be able to put hot, gas soaked wood in the chipper.

With the man power Darrel decided to get for the job, one of them was the owner of the company we hired last year, Bob. Don't think this encounter wasn't too AWKWARD! He wondered what he did wrong. I handed Carlo a shovel and they chatted. I stayed in the cabin so I wouldn't end up with my shoe in my mouth!!!

At 1:30 they were packed up and gone and aside from my disbelief, the pile was blazing away. They left two huge piles of logs that Steve is suppose to take, unless a flood comes in and takes it first...or if someone comes along and steals it. All of these are good possibilities!






Carlo hung a couple of bird houses in the back as we hope for returning visitors as Spring arrives!



Hopefully the entire job is done by our next visit...since that was the deal! Get me a marker and get that chore off of the list!!!

March 13, 2011

We had another appointment for an estimate at 9:00 am. We waited for Jeff until 11:00. Obviously the time change affected his appointment keeping skills...You're not hired! He did show up and we weren't impressed.

We went to Menard's for some storage units and then organized the maintenance room with what we bought.


We heard from our Saturday appointment, Darrel and worked out some details...You're hired! Work starts tomorrow at 8:00 am. Not sure what part of "waiting until we checked our schedules " was misunderstood, but at least we can be here when the work is being done. Unlike in July when I had to leave that tree cutting job to get home to the flood in my basement and they didn't work nearly as well as while I was hawking them!

We did not enjoy our leftover Chi Pan (should have ordered small). We watched TV and went to bed by 10:15. Gotta get up early to cut some trees!

March 12, 2011

I like traveling on a weekend...it doesn't matter what time we leave, (although I like to leave as early as possible no matter what day we leave), seems likes there's less pressure, less traffic and the ride seems to go quicker. Once we got to O'Wich, we met with Darrel and another guy (maybe it was his brother, Darrel) about cleaning up the property. This chore was on the "Extra Work List" from a previous blog entry. As they left, Darrel said he'd call with a quote. Within a 1/2 an hour he did just that...we figured they had just gotten to the black top via the Burma Road, and gave his cost. We told him we'd get back to him in a few days after we checked our schedules, since he wanted to start while it was still cold out.
We tried Chi Pan, another new restaurant in town. Way too much food and we had lots of leftovers. I'm barely a fan of leftovers let alone leftover Asian food. We will see...

March 7, 2011

We wrapped this weekend up like it was a gift! Hoping to unwrap it in five days!!!

March 6, 2011

The weather since 2010 up to an including now...has not been too good. Actually, it sucks! Here is a summary of the damages that poor O'Wich has endured:
* The floods left debris everywhere. Not sure what was in all the flood waters but I am thinking it wasn't anything good since the health department of Columbia Country offered free tetanus shots.
* The floods also caused all of our firewood to float away and I am beyond certain that some thief-in neighbor continues to lurk about to see what other possessions of ours that he can scoop up.

* Beavers took three of the only four nice trees we had and the floods washed away over three feet of shore to take our last nice tree. This tree is hanging over by its roots.
* To continue on complaining of the floods - the high waters have caused an upheaval of wildlife. Most of the inhabitants have left and what remains are a crazy couple of chipmunks, squirrels and mice. There is even a lowered population of birds.

* The current winter conditions have caused the river to fill with snow and ice. The river is at about 15 feet #translation: snow + ice / warm sun = melting (which causes more floods). Weather is such a vicious circle.
* Floods + snow + cold + freezing temperatures = O'Wich settling and doors and windows not opening...some not closing and the new firewood structure is now leaning. This really means that things are not sooo good, Cisco!

And now for the extra work which also means might not get done, because extra work requires extra time...
* Branches, twigs, brush and debris is everywhere and needs to be picked up
* Continuation of mice killing - New O'Wich Motto: "Slay the mice!"
* Re-situate the firewood structure to keep it from falling. Or move it. Or burn it!
* Seal all openings

And of course, there's even a Honey-Do Wish List:
* Stone the fireplace walls
* Replace the stove to something more efficient
* Trim the bedroom
* Carpet the bedroom and re-carpet the living room (sniff sniff...mouse piss?)

And last but not least there is yet another list - the unfinished list of years past. (I feel like this is a cryptic exaggeration of the Christmas Carol)
* Septic - when the river gets lower
* Phase II Plumbing Project - would love to wash my hand IN the bathroom

So it seems that my Stay-cation will be a visit to O'Wich and become a Work-cation. At least I have other plans to break up the laborious two weeks. I think those other plans need to include alcohol!

This was a great Sunday for us...another day of doing nothing which included another day of not taking many photos. We watched TV and enjoyed a fantastic dinner at LaTolteca; Thanks to Rick, Katie and Jack.

March 5, 2011

Saturday was a very lazy day and we sat among the peace and quiet and just enjoyed our days off. Since we didn't do much of anything, I decided to note some of the conversations we had in the form of quotes. Here are various quotes that were said on this day, Saturday March 5 in the year two thousand and eleven...

* "Mice see all swooning birds as vultures."
* "What is the fly swatter doing out?"
* "Crazy chipmunks are like mini squirrels."
* "Flies come alive when you kick the thermostat up, causing fly guts on the patio door."
* "I can't talk because I'm busy."
* "If you try to do both then you can't breathe? Seriously? Then don't talk!"
* "There is a cinnamon apple scent ~quawfting~ through the air...beats mouse piss!"
* "Tigerblood and winning are on overload."
* "Hard to believe that satellite has so many channels compared to Wisconsin local option - not really; but there's still nothing on and I am missing Create TV."
* "There's a lot of water in that river."
* "Lazy day."

I doubt this will go public, but they are all O'Wich!

March 4, 2011

It ain't gonna happen but I am going to try to write less boring en route trip matters and attempt to keep with humor and photos only...or at least keep the details to a minimum...here goes!
This arrival found lots of heavy water soaked snow, a super high river and the most gigantic of puddles with a slight amount of ice as a top layer. One trip through this mess broke the ice like an egg that was dropped from the Sears Tower (nka Willis Tower) onto the top of some bald guy's head...or next to him on the sidewalk splattering all over his shoes!
Thinking we would walk into knee deep dead (or not dead) mice bodies, we were happy to find only a small amount of droppings (droppings = poop) and one dead mouse. He must have warned his family and friends to run for it as his neck snapped! We were very happy to not need to wade through a pile of corpses.
Got the satellite hooked up and although I'm mostly all ABC today and every day, I was happy for it to be working. I think someone else might be happier to be able to actually surf more than three channels later - maybe while I'm napping...okay, when I'm napping!!!
We tried a new restaurant in town, "Let's Eat", and although they are "working out the kinks" it was good and is added to the list as a keeper. I am so glad she did not say they were trying to work the "bugs" out!

It was way colder than it even looked and the rising river was a huge concern.

Hopefully morning will allow for a chance to take some photos, otherwise my new format of blogging will tank before it sails!

January 10, 2011

My Coffee Buddy and Our Friend, Paul - R.I.P.
12/26/1929 - 1/5/2011
Due to the passing of our friend and neighbor, we needed to take an unscheduled trip.

We left at our usual time and everything went well until we entered the cabin. Something gnawed at the siding and as horrible as it looks, it doesn't appear that anything (of the something) had gotten in. On the inside however, the tree set traps were fully loaded with three cracked necks! (I'll keep those images from you...for this round anyway!)
As I was putting my things away (that I had dropped onto the chair when we walked in), there was another "trapless" mouse at the bottom of my stuff on the chair. Between the stress of finding it and my headache from the screaming (not Carlo...me!) I was sick to my stomach. Carlo looked for their point of entry and then left me behind to get more traps and mouse killing bait...Houdinis I tell ya! This is the first time I've been creeped out.

This is the end of my journaling for this trip. I ended up getting crazy sick for the rest of the trip and the three days that followed.