May 14, 2010

Wow, I can hardly believe it's been "over" an entire month since I've been able to visit O'Wich.

We traveled separately since Carlo's vacation was including a trip to the U.P. for fishing. I got a head start - new route (thanks to construction) and a needed stop for groceries and actually saved time in the end! We didn't do much once we had both arrived, it was just nice to get away from the confusion of real life; if only for a couple of days...and considering the amount of work that was laid before us - is it really considered relaxation? The answer: YES!

March 29, 2010

Up with the alarm - we need to get ready to leave since we both have to work tonight.

Garry and Bernie arrived before we left which worked out great - we were able to review the days menu, exchange valuable information and take the time for a quick photo op!

Unfortunately, the drive home was not without incident…I was sleeping away – quite comfortable I would like to add, when some horrible noise woke me up. All I noticed was the semi-truck in the lane just left of us. Thinking the truck dropped something from it, or lost a part that we were driving over, Carlo tells me that was not the case. In fact, it was the drive-shaft of the Tahoe that was making the noise. He safely pulled over to the side of the road, and got out to inspect the truck. After checking things out, he got his gloves on and then went back under the truck and removed this truck piece that was a good 30 – 36 inches in length and 6- 8 inches in diameter. He explained that the front wheels would need to pull us since we no longer had rear wheel drive. We had to get off the highway, luckily (if you would want to call it luck) we were at Rte 59 (and not still in Wisconsin) and ended up driving home via Irving Park Road since we could not exceed 35 mph. It took nearly as long to get home as it did to get there last Friday. Another lucky thing is that Carlo knows about cars and trucks and knew how to get us home safely. What a trip! As I said earlier...truly voted number one for this trip being "the longest in traveling time" EVER!

March 28, 2010

So - we have this space ~ that we shall refer to as a void ~ between the original cabin and the addition - left for us by short cut Bob. Just this past year, we have been noticing some wood and insulation debris falling into the addition (aka the bedroom). Since my diversion of birds building nests in the eaves of the porch was to use empty egg cartons, I came up with jamming plastic bags into the void...about a dozen bags sealed it up pretty well...Yep, during the last year I was very pleased with my inventions of warding off pesty critters and the debris falling and even came to and end - or so I thought.

R-E-W-I-N-D: When we got to O'Wich on Friday, the bags were gone from the void. I put more in there AND during the night, there was a lot of noise of scratching and the pitter patter of little animal paws and sounds of movement coming from the ceiling. Carlo took the newly replaced bags out, hoping whatever I "trapped" up there would just decide to come out, since the weather was pretty nice. Wish we knew *WHAT* was up there. We have a plan to find out - stay tuned!

We are loving the drive chime that Rick and Katie gave me for Christmas. It works much better now that the weather has warmed up. It works so well that it chimes when vehicles drive down the road and animals wander past it during the night. But it serves its purpose when the visitors continue to arrive as did Paul this morning for his little visit.

After breakfast, we watched a little DIY and felt motivated enough to get out in the sun and re-build the flower boxes next to the stairs. After a lot of muscle, hard work (for me), re-planting two bushes, buying five bags of dirt, four hours of time and the planting of some gladiola bulbs we were soon admiring our work. Oh, yeah, Carlo knocked me down too! No, not really, but as I was falling, he was kind enough to PUSH me away - he claims in an effort to keep me from hitting my head...I think he was just concerned I would land on him!

before photos from 2007

after the stairs were removed

after our hard work; sans the mulch...it floats away when we flood!

The skies became a little cloudy and of course we had even more visitors - repeats from yesterday, but the question remains...why? Seriously, this place is like Grand Central Station. By 3:00 we were pretty much done with our version of Yard Crashers or Desperate Landscape - where the hell were Ahmed or Jason...not at O'Wich!

We cleaned ourselves up and got ready for dinner at LaTolteca, first stopping by to drop off a birthday gift for Steve...since he was the one visitor we were hoping would stop by! Dinner was incredible, as always, however by the time we got back, my cold was really beating me up. I took a Benadryl and was able to rest (well okay, sleep) for the entire evening without any discomfort. Sleep was going great until the "scratching on the ceiling" noises began. After waking Carlo up to check out the noises, I, luckily, was dopey enough to fall back asleep!

March 27, 2010

Of course since I slept so much during the evening and through the night, I was up around 7:00 - Carlo by 8:30 - and since we missed dinner last night, we were looking forward to breakfast and running some errands. With Norm's, Tractor Supply and Walmart under our belts (literally on the Norm's, since that's where we ate), and the truck full of purchases, we headed back to O'Wich. We were glad Josh took some of the much begged for wood *while* we were gone.

We watched a squirrel for a bit as he stopped several times to pose for the camera!

Since it was such a gloomy day, we stayed in and watched a movie. Our restful afternoon ended quickly when our "visiting neighbor dance card" was ready for punching. Rick stopped by; impressed on what we have done with the front porch, I'm sure he left impressed with our craftsmanship. Glad the conversation was short, still it was packed full of B$ - coming and going!

Good- bye!

We grilled dinner and ate around 8:30. Part of dinner was very disappointing but the blame is all pointed at the cow! Looked good but the taste was not so good - worst cut of meat ever...time to find the meat trucks that hang out in town.

March 26, 2010

This trip was voted the "longest traveling time" EVER! We made lots of stops along the way and the ride still seemed to fly by. We left around 9:15 and made our usual stops, adding Walgreens and Dunkin' Donuts. We stopped in Janesville for lunch, gasoline, a visit to Shopko and Farm and Fleet.

We purchased our fourth set of cushions for the dining room chairs since the comfort of the tush is paramount to enjoying time sitting at the table. I think we may have finally found a suitable cushion! I also bought a pair of jeans and a top too!

We got to O'Wich just after 3:00 and it was AWESOME pulling into the driveway and seeing the porch and steps were as far along as they were. The layout is exactly what I planned and envisioned! I can't wait until the entire project is finished.

before after (but still sort of during and this was taken on Monday after we left)

And a close up of the wrought iron piece! Love it!!!

On porch looking toward the stairs - the porch seems so huge...glad we chose to move the stairs all the way to the edge of the porch.
before after

At the stairs looking toward what will soon be a screened in porch.

before after (or really during)

When we were done admiring the work, I brought in firewood, tightened up the screws on the bench, and swept the leaves off the porch and the back deck while Carlo hung his "new" squirrel peanut dispenser, filled the bird feeders with seed, put leftovers out by the tree and got the fire pit ready for a night-time burn.

Of course, Josh snooped by, I mean stopped by looking to get our old stairs and attempting to work a trade...what part of "just have at 'em - we we're going to burn them" was so hard to understand? So he said he'd return the next day with his little ATV pull-along - Geez! Then Tom stopped by with his 'tales of woe'. Will this be another fun filled weekend of visitors???!!!

We watched a little TV and (I) napped until Carlo could start the burn. He was kind enough to wake me to take a photo of it and the 7/8 moon he saw up in the sky. Awwww! I was back inside and in bed by 10 - and was glad the day was over!

March 2 through March 4, 2010

Disclaimer: Another boring blog lies before you with absolutely no photos - and in all honesty, I'm O.K. with this!!!

Tuesday March 2 ~

We left around our usual time and made our usual stops. We did stop for Carlo to get lunch and got to O'Wich around 12:30. What a huge difference a couple of weeks make...the road was in terrible shape and I can only imagine how bad it is going to be in the weeks and months to come. We barely settled in when Garry arrived (and he was right on time). We finalized our plan with him and visited for a bit.

Carlo loaded up the feeders and before you could blink an eye, birds came from all directions! We kicked back until 5:30 when we left for LaTolteca and Walmart. Dinner was delicious and really hit the spot. We watched TV for the rest of the evening and I went to bed early (for some) - although I had been up for 24 hours!

Wednesday March 3 ~

We were up on the early side - we had an appointment with another Gary today for phase II of our plumbing headache. Some poor quality control on his part will certainly have his crew return to correct a couple of existing issues along with excavators and others to finish the job.

Paul stopped by for a bit which saved us a visit down by him. When he left we went to Menard's to pick up our rail piece and to Walmart (yes again) to pick up a couple of forgotten items and to search for some unfounded Crystal Light Red Tea.

We got back in time for me to have a salad and get my dinner items together.

Carlo pointed out that I hadn't taken any pictures. I guess the pictures wouldn't be much different from those from previous visits...birds and squirrels and snow! But I did take some that will be posted within the next few months and currently have a name of "before" photos. Stay tuned!

Steve dropped by around 5:30 and stayed until a little past 7:30. Four visitors and two roadside chats and we weren't even here for two full days...we are busy doing nothing but being social! We were able to eat dinner after Steve left and watched TV until it was time to get some sleep.

Thursday March 4 ~

Our short trip has come to an end...our appointments were all completed...our unexpected social events were also finished. Maybe our next trip will be more productive. Maybe there will be surprises waiting for us. Maybe not. Maybe we won't answer the door!

February 13 through February 16, 2010

Here we go blog fans...one giant entry ~ hope those of you that seem to enjoy this blog are not disappointed ~ and I also apologize for the lack of photos. Sometimes things at O'Wich really don't change!

Saturday February 13 ~ We arrived at O'Wich around 2:00 in the afternoon after getting off to a late start. I was looking forward to indulging in a NS treat since giving up coffee at the beginning of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed an Undercover Mocha Joe and drinking it at O'Wich made it that much more enjoyable AND worth the wait!

Carlo ran to get some "supplies" and I got dinner ready while he was gone. By the time we were finished eating, I had been up for 22 1/2 hours so going to bed at 6:00 p m was just okay with me!

Sunday February 14 ~ After sleeping 12 hours, I felt great waking up at 6:00 am. Carlo made a tasty breakfast of cheesy scrambled eggs, fresh pork links and I added a blood orange. It was quite tasty!

Of course, Carlo filled the bird feeder, while I enjoyed music, the quiet and peaceful scenery and the birds ramming into the patio door - most likely from the high energy suet or the fumes from the fireplace - whatever it was the count was up to four!

Our field trip to Menard's was successful. We picked up some lighting and ordered a railing piece and bought some other things that were not on the list - of course! We now have new cushions for the dining chairs, a new boot tray and a new shower drain. I made a huge salad when we got back and after lunch, Carlo began to swap out the leaky shower drain for the new one. This (seriously) 15 minute task lasted close to 4 hours. 3 1/2 hours consisted of Carlo fixing the screw up left by Short Cut Bob, 15 minutes to install the new piece and 15 minutes to clean up. It was quite the ordeal - involving buying and using two drains, an additional trip to the store, the smashing of fingers, the scraping of knuckles. the swearing, yelling and screaming and the end result of a leak free shower drain. We're looking forward to the day when the remnants of Short Cut Bob are a distant nightmare!

It was too late to go out for dinner so we cooked some leftovers for Carlo and I stuck to my NS plan - oh, yea, what a great Valentine's Day (not).

Monday February 15 ~ Slept until about 8:00 - kept on track with my plan and worked out. Paul stopped by for a visit for part of the morning. After an awesome lunch (well awesome for me - leftover salad and baked salmon) I watched the snow fall and GH. Then we ran a few errands to Wal-Mart and were back by 5:00. The bird vs. patio door count is up to six.

Carlo was full from lunch, so our postponed Valentine dinner at La Tolteca was permanently cancelled. This was fine with me so I was able to stick to my plan and I enjoyed orange chicken with rice (a NS meal) and Carlo had some chicken and pasta.

Steve stopped by and visited for a couple of hours and then we watched TV until it was time to go to bed...ending yet, another, unproductive, relaxing and restful day.

Tuesday February 16 ~ Up at 6:00 am and there was plenty to do in order to wrap it all up and head home. I took few photos this trip and really did nothing noteable - it was just good to get away. We'll be back in just a few weeks!!!