November 14, 2010

Since Wendy made me walk a dozen miles yesterday, I slept like a log and didn’t get up until 7:30. Looks like the 12” of snow that hit Minnesota changed its mind and went northeast and hit Canada. I am disappointed to have missed the dusting since every first snow of the season I have been at O’Wich for – but I wasn’t looking forward to driving home in it! Wendy and I enjoyed a very relaxing weekend. Outside of walking 23 miles, we had a great time. It was wonderful to catch up with each other and I look forward to visiting again!

November 13, 2010

We woke-up relatively early and after a quick snack, we headed to the Dells (at 7:30) to shop at Menards. By 10:00 we had shopped at not only Menards, but Dollar Tree, Wal-Mart and another trip back to Menards. By the time we made our way through the rain, the trunk was loaded with the potential of my having an elegantly decorated Christmas tree. “Deck the halls!” We drove to Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast and a short rest before hitting the Tanger Outlet Mall. We walked every inch of this place and ended up with some great deals.

We bought ourselves purses which were the hit of the day!

When we got back in the car we were done…or so we thought! We stopped at Starbucks and on the way back visited a resale shop where our luck with great deals continued. After checking out, we hit up one last resale shop before heading back to O’Wich for our second short rest of the day.

The car was screaming "enough!" as was I!!!

We went to dinner at the Cove and I was once again delighted with my meal. We finished our evening up with a jaunt through Wal-Mart. I’m sure we didn’t walk more than 3 miles but it felt like it was at least 10 miles. Our day consisted of almost 15 hours of shopping which is more than I have “casually” shopped in a very long time! I think Wendy was trying to kill me!

At 9:30 we put in a movie and I tried to rest my weary legs! I didn’t make the movie, but I stayed in the living room until it ended. I wonder if I snored while Wendy watched the flick…if I did snore, hopefully she had seen the movie before!

November 12, 2010

After work and a nap, I left at 9:00 to pick up Wendy (my niece) for our weekend away. The trip went well and as we exited the highway, I needed a few minutes outside of the car to overcome a horrible, unexpected feeling – most likely due to not having food for over 12-hours and drinking coffee. Once better and back in the car, we went to Tamarack for their yummy burgers – hold the onions! We headed to the cabin after a quick stop for Cremora, ice, milk and bread. After settling in, killing the flies that awakened from their dormant state once the heat kick in and chatting the afternoon away, I needed to bail on our visit and get to bed. By 6:00 pm, my night had come to an end and I left Wendy with her reading, the remotes and peace and quiet. Good night!

October 30, 2010

At 5:00 am, I found another incredible sight of a sky filled with stars and a brilliant moon. Also shining was the light at Cascade Mountain. They must be getting ready to 'make the snow'!

I got up early - not because of the birds chirping or the sun shining - but because my phone was ringing! It was still dark at 7:00 while I chatted with Carlo and started in on the coffee. Lots of coffee...not seventeen cups - but a few cups. I would have had more, but I ran out of cream! Good thing I am leaving after I clean; the easement is filling with water. What's going on??? It's not the 24th of any month.

There were 'goobles' of turkeys all through the backyard. They were flying (more like hovering) and were too much in abundance to even count. This was the most I have ever seen at one time. (Goobles equals more than 25). Not much else is happening at O'Wich except it is a blah sort of day and the only sounds echoing through the morning air is the sound of gunshots, again. These sound pretty close, like the ones from yesterday. I thought it was Deer Bow season. Those are the loudest arrows I've ever heard! Duck, duck - Deer!

October 29, 2010

It was still dark and gloomy when I got up at 7:00. The night sky had been home to a brightly lit moon and a sparkling sea of stars. May it have been a 'Harvest Moon'? Once I got my coffee, I noticed the gloom was merely a lack of color - everything is sort of a sepia hue with a few (very few) scattered gold colored leaves.

The only sounds adding to the ticking of the kitchen clock were that of the shotguns, which in my opinion, didn't sound very distant. Is it STILL duck season? If so, and the duck is hit - there wouldn't be much of anything left to it!

Dave showed up at 8:15 with the new pump and hot water tank. Hopefully I'll have water in a few hours...but at least I have heat!

I got things ready for the trip to the shed, but there was front everywhere. I waited for the sun to dry things up and by 10:30, some of my chores were done, I picked up some branches and twigs, took a couple of pictures and the pump was in. I heard water running!

After Dave was gone, around 11:30, I cleaned under the cabin, put stuff away, changed a bulb, visited with Pete and cleared the firewood from the steps of the outhouse.

I watched my soaps, loaded the tub with the firewood and visited Paul and Betty. By 4:15 I was on my way to Culver's when I ran into Carla and her friend Liza who were walking up to the highway. After a quick visit, I was on my way to pick up my cod dinner that I brought back to the cabin and enjoyed!

I did a little more work stuff and watched TV to round out my evening. After spending the day in the fresh cool air, I was tired and my muscles were sore - I was happy to get to bed.

October 28, 2010

Good traffic with only two construction areas and the forethought of getting gas yesterday helped me make the trip in less than three hours...including a stop for Cremora. It obviously rained up the O'Wich way - the tell tale sign being the over sized pools of water on the road. My car was "smoking" when I finally made it over and through the downed branches and into the driveway!

Even with the huge accumulation of leaves - everywhere - the driveway still looks good from over a week ago when Carlo cleaned it off. Other than all the branches AND leaves, everything looks in tact...ohhhhh, hold it - someone (I'm sure the neighborhood thief) took the electric radiator and box fan that were under the back deck and awaiting transport to a garbage can at home. Carlo DID tell him that he could have the welder and he also mentioned the missing items WERE trash. Maybe he thought he was being sneaky by taking them, but he actually did us a favor. I'm sure Carlo wasn't even to the highway when he helped himself. This guy is really something!

Our tank of propane was filled - the driver "kindly" left the bill in the door..."awwww, thanks, you really shouldn't have!" The temps were 56° in / 52° under / 40° out and I was able to crank up the furnace. The air is cool, there are dark clouds, the river looks pretty high, the breeze is waving through the trees, the pretty tree appears leaf-less but still leaning and between the birds singing and my melodic wind chimes the sounds around me are relaxing and beautiful to my ears. The peacefulness around me is always worth the drive and by 9:15 I was enjoying every musical note!

I'd like to say I had a productive afternoon, but I'd be lying. I napped, watched TV, napped and just like the statement on a bottle of shampoo - I repeated. I got a burst of energy around 6:00 when I reset the porch light timer and washed the patio door windows. There was lots of fly gut residue on the glass after the war was over - I can only hope that the casualties that were lying on the floor (waiting for the vacuum) were the last of them. I was like the Ninja Fly Warrior; in between naps, of course. I hope to get more done tomorrow since I have things to do outside and now it's too dark.

The evening was quiet and I got some work stuff done and looked forward to a good night of slumber!

October 16, 17, 18, 2010

I do believe my Roving Reporter was at O'Wich with Goldilocks this weekend. Let me explain...The Roving Reporter was cold (well of course he was cold...we had no heat), so he started a fire. Then the fire was too hot. Then he was tired but the bedroom was too cold. Then he laid on the couch but it was 6" too narrow and 6" too short. And the expectation of visitors to arrive kept the Roving Reporter from roving - get the picture???

He decided to do a little archeology work by unearthing (removing the leaves from) the driveway. What a nice difference a little sprucing up can make!

Then he decided to begin the building of Rome (or a wood crib - use your imagination) - he only has two arms/hands...and since there was a lack of civilization and no workers around, the city wasn't finished. I think this chore will need to be an import job...all aboard!

Carlo worked on replacing some more parts on the tractor, but it still didn't start the way it was suppose to. The flood water really did a lot of damage to the engine and the wiring...what was in that water?!

The neighborhood thief stopped by and admitted he had our lawn decorations but wanted to return them to us rather than leaving them when we're not there - really??? And he's worried someone might take them and didn't want us to think it was him - seriously??? Who else would do this except for him??? What fantasy world does these cretin come from???

On Monday the gas company showed up and set the tank in place and fixed the lines. The Roving Reporter ought to be nice and toasty now - oh wait, he's leaving for home in the late afternoon - disregard!

The guy doing the insulation showed up with a helper; didn't have enough materials but made a quick trip to Do-it-Best and added a few hours and everything was done...or so I'm told. Not sure why it's in blue AND pink and obviously it was not done to my expectations...oui! At least the blue is on the other wall! Or so I'm told!!!

Some minor set backs: the wood was never picked up - I'm sure someone will help themselves to it while we're not there...the wood crib didn't get finished - staffing shortage...and saving wood for ourselves didn't happen - it's wet, it's heavy and moving it is also a two-man job.

The remote interview for this entry was difficult, hopefully it wasn't too boring. There were quite a few photos for these three days, which were a pleasant surprise. But still, some people just aren't "wordy" or "blog-wise" enough during a conversation - but a big thanks for what was contributed by our Roving Reporter...Thanks!!!