Isn't that adorable?

Mike might kill me for this one, but I couldn't resist. So cute! Jez just loves to snuggle in the winter. Her amazing cat powers can get us to adjust to her every whim. She has trained us that when she tickles our face with her whiskers we lift up the blankets so she can crawl in. If we are in too deep of a sleep to feel the whiskers she resorts to licking the nose or eyelids. I think a person in a coma would wake up when that tongue scrapes across their eyelids. When she get too hot under the covers she finds her way to the pillow (usually mine because she knows she can take it over and leave me with a corner...maybe).

Good thing she is so soft and furry and cute.

Sad Sunday

Otto

A puppy abused and broken.
In need of rescuing.
Saved by love and tender care.

A brave character stoic and forgiving.
Suffered through surgery and rehab.
Always ready with a kiss.

A dog hyper and rambunctious.
Too smart for the average owner.
Patience and training prevail.

A friend playful and fun.
Always ready for a game.
Too cute to ignore.

A companion steadfast and loyal.
Ever present concern without judgment.
Unconditional love.

An old soul painful and failing.
In need of relief.
Laid to rest with unselfishness and grief.

For those of you who do not know the story of Otto I will briefly explain. He was rescued by my Mom and Tom when he was a about 6 mo old. The original owner kicked him and dislocated his hip and on another occasion broke his leg. When I told my mom and Tom about the situation they decided they would rescue him. He required surgery and rehab which they paid for and patiently preformed.

His back leg never did heal correctly, but that didn't stop Otto. He was a crazy puppy. Since he had field dog blood(meaning he was bred to be a hunting dog, not a house dog) he was extra energetic. My mom and Tom got him into training classes asap. This helped, but he was a smart dog and needed proper stimulus. So they gave him things to do like getting slippers(he knew which ones were Tom's and which were my mom's).It took many years but he started to calm down.

He was there for my mom and Tom through my mom's cancer ordeal. He gave them each what they needed from him. After my mom died we were glad Tom had Otto to help him through it. Unfortunately, Otto started having problems shortly there after. It turned out he had prostate cancer that spread to the bones. He was in much pain. A few weeks later, Dec 6th, we had to put him down. Otto will be missed.

The Supper Club Phenomenon

Mike and I went to Simpson's Red Ox last night for supper. It is a local supper club. To the locals a supper club is nothing new or interesting. However, my brother mentioned that the rest of the country really has no idea what one is. He was asked, "Are there dues to pay?", "Is it an elitist club?" (Remember he live in MS, so it was assumed supper clubs were for whites only.) Amusing as this was to us Midwesterners, when we thought about we could see why they would think that. Club would normally indicate some kind of membership.



Here is a little history on supper clubs. Supper clubs in United States are a dining establishment generally found in the Upper Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. They were traditionally thought of as a "destination" where patrons would go to spend the whole evening, from cocktail hour to enjoying night club style entertainment after dinner. I found this interesting as there is not any after dinner entertainment anymore. They feature a casual and relaxed atmosphere. Menus included dishes such as prime rib, steaks, chicken, and fish. An "all you can eat" Friday fish fry is common at supper clubs in Wisconsin. They are normally family owned and can be found in every town small or large.



As we were waiting to to be seated, Mike and I were talking about what makes a supper club a supper club. We noticed the bar area is bit darker then other restaurants. It is definitely a social place as you will commonly see generations of families frequenting a particular supper club. Drink of choice? Old Fashioneds for the adults and Shirley Temples for the kids. For those of you who don't know what Old Fashioneds are, they are another Midwestern favorite. A drink normally made as a brandy sweet, or a whiskey sour. A more involved explanation will have to be for another blog.



Growing up in WI, supper clubs have been a way of life. Every Friday night as a kid waiting up to an hour or so in the bar with my parents to be seated to eat deep fried Perch or another fish of some sort. Fond memories? I am not a patient person when it comes to eating, but I did love my Shirley Temple.

A headless deer

A recap of Deer hunt '09

On opening day the areas we scouted on our trip to the cabin a few weeks ago had several cars parked near the trail entrance. This is a sure sign there are already hunters in your prime spot. Prime spot unfortunately does not be secret spot.

After stumbling around the woods in the dark, Mike finds a spot he feels is adequate. It in fact turns out to be more then adequate as three doe walk by him. The problem is, it is only 9 am on opening day.

He asks himself, "Do I take her now and ruin my chances at a buck?" "No, this must be a good sign that deer are in these woods, it is only 9 am. I will have another chance at a deer, maybe a buck."

After he basically shoos her away, he sits and sits and sits. No more deer seen that day or the next. Not even a deer seen the following weekend. Well, he did say he kicked one up during a drive (walking through the woods to push deer to other hunters). I guess it was too far in the distance or too deep in the brush to take a shot.

Not only is he kicking himself for passing on that doe opening day, but I am kicking him too. I told him before he left for the hunt, "it's not about a trophy it is about food on the table". We have a pretty sparse freezer at the moment.

So, what is this about a headless deer you ask? Well, his uncle has more time and land and friends with land to hunt. This allows him to harvest multiple deer. More then he needs, since his wife hunts as well. He had an extra deer he gave to Mike. Again, you ask "why no head"? He shot a nice 8 pointer. Since it was a nice rack he cut the head off so he could mount it European style(remove all flesh and bleach the skull nice and white). That is how we ended up with a headless deer. He was a big boy so it will mean lots of venison for us.

I had planned on taking a picture of the deer if Mike got one, but I decided a headless deer would not make a good picture. So I just added a picture of deer from the Internet. Much nicer.

cabin trip '09

The plan was to go to the cabin to scout for good tree stand locations for deer hunting and do a little small game hunting. First, we would take a detour over to Dawn's house (Mike's sister) for dinner with the family.

She made lasagna. As you can see we were very happy about that

Seems like everyone was happy about that.

(Mike and his niece Kylie)

One must have the proper attire for this adventure...at least Mike must.

Can you say Elmer Fud?

After trekking through the woods without even a sound of wildlife I thought it would be a good idea to try to bait some squirrels with a little granola. Is hunting squirrels over a bait pile illegal?

Umm...that swamp got deeper then I thought it would.

Umm... yeah, like up to my knees. Not to mention very cold.

Even though we didn't see any in the woods at least there is some proof that they exist. Now, they just have to run in front of Mike's gun so we can have dinner.

The Cabin.

Notice the outhouse off to the left. Yup, no running water.

But for tent campers like Mike and I this is the Ritz.

Not sure why so blurry, but that is probably a good thing. You are less likely to see the mouse turds this way.

This carpet has not seen a hunting season yet. In a couple weeks it will be black.

So, this is what Mike and I call a great weekend.

Looking forward to many more.

Have you ever wondered if life is passing you by? I know it's cliche, but let's face it, it happens. In the words of Tracy Lawrence, "Time Marches On". In a relatively short amount of time, a mere countless number of things can take place and make you wonder what's next. Or, make you wonder what it all means. For example...

• Farrah Fawcett dies.
  
• Michael "Wacko" Jackson loses his nose permanently. No, wait, that didn't happen. He died.


• You find yourself living in some of the most beautiful country you've ever seen. I mean, seriously, Wyoming? Who would've thunk?
  
• Or, did you live in Texas? I thought it was Tennessee...no, maybe Florida. They're kinda near each other, eh?
  
• No, idiot! You own a house in Texas!
  
• And you live in Wisconsin!
  
• Right...how could I forget?
  
• Your sisters have 4 offspring between the two of them.
  
• You've had, like, three dogs.
  
• And a cat that doesn't know how old she is. Bless her heart! It's freakish, really...
  
• And now you're 36.
  
• And your sperm don't swim like Michael Phelps.
  
• But practicing for the past 13 years has been, like, Bill and Ted rad! Practice makes permanent!
  
• Now they want a sample.
  
• It's a science project.
  
• I love science!
  
• Actually, I'm not really in love with science. It's more of an intrigue...
  
• Either way, it's all about giving the the sample!
  
• David Letterman is sleeping with a fugly intern. WTF?
  
• Arsenio Hall has been asked to take his place.
  
• Late Night with Aresenio Hall.
  
• Psyche!
  
• Who says that still?
  
• You did.
  
• All the time. And it seems like just days ago I was wearing pinch-rolled jeans and a cardigan.
  
• My Mother-In-Law passed away after fighting cancer for 4+ years.
  
• I miss her.
  
• And loved her like my own.
  
• S.T.P.

• Did I mention I live in Wisconsin now?
  
• Again.
  
• My cousin is now a Dr.
  
• Way to go Scott!
  
• Brett Favre is a Viking.
  
• Loser.
  
• Kelby and Haley are pregnant! Woohoo!
  
• Talk about trying. We thought his dick was going to fall off! But it didn't...
  
• "Beeeazley, Davis!"
  
• Lander Bar.
  
• Airbus A-300.
  
• It's deer hunting season again.

You get the idea. Before you know it, shit happens. Some great, some good, some bad. But it all happens before you truly digest it. And when you finally get the chance to sit down and think about it, it happens all over again. When does it slow down? When can we catch up? Probably never. That's the way time works. It continues on, relentlessly, until the end when you realize you would have done it differently if you could do it over.

Well friends... You can't do it over.

Find peace in knowing that it's never too late. Yeah, I know, cliche. But we can always live for today, not to mention tomorrow. Don't let time pass you by. Live each day...each moment...as if it might be your last. And remember, as mentioned in an earlier post, it's always worth the extra mile and extra time to make memories.

We'll meet again.

Until next time,

Doc

WI fall

I was so excited to try to capture how pretty fall can be in the fox valley. However this fall has been a rainy, miserable fall. This has directly impacted the fall colors. Sure the leaves changed colors, but with no sun shining through them they are just dull and depressing. We did manage to get one nice day about 1 week before the peak colors here in the valley. I did my best.

Ok, so this isn't a fall color, but Packers and fall do go hand in hand.

We went to 1000 Islands Nature Center in Kaukauna. Yeah, anyone from the valley is laughing right now, but it has its pretty areas. One can pretend there isn't a giant, groaning paper mill just to the left of this picture.

This pic doesn't really capture how pretty and brilliant the tree looked with the sun shining through.


We asked a passing squirrel to take this pic.

Ahh, to pretend we are deep in the woods. At least the paper mill had stopped its incessant groaning at this point and we could actually hear some birds chirpping.

No I did not take these and no they are not in Kaukauna. My friend who lives up north in Amberg, WI took this and the next one.

Now this is how it should be...Beautiful.

I only wish I could have seen it myself. At least I have some pics to remind me how pretty WI can be.

The Butter Dilemma

Who knew this could be so complicated. I have been giving this some more thought since both my father-in-law and my sister have been saying real butter is the way to go.
This is note worthy because my father-in-law and my sister are on opposite ends of the diet spectrum. My father-in-law is all for what tastes good regardless of the effects. My sister is not only gluten free but does not eat beans or rice. Basically she is a carnivorous rabbit.
When Smart Balance came out I did some research and it appeared to be head and shoulders better then margarine and butter. It is made with natural oils, how bad could it be. It became the only "butter" we would use.
Upon further research I found that yes, Smart Balance is made from natural oils, but they are blown to bits and added to caking ingredients to make them "butter-like". So, in laymens terms Smart Balance is very processed. Not as bad for you as margarine, but not natural either.
We all want natural right? So real butter seems to be the...eh hmm...natural choice? Well...only if you buy butter made from pampered organic grass fed cows. Otherwise your real butter is chucked full of chemicals injected into and consumed by the cow which ends up in the milk. Seriously, does butter really need to be this difficult? Oh, if you are looking for a low fat option...eat less of it. There is really no other way around it.
So, now I am off to look for butter made from grass fed cows...maybe living in the Dairy state will have its advantages.

WY to WI

Ok, here it is. The first blog update from WI.

The move itself was pretty uneventful. When you are talking about a caravan of three vehicles traveling over 4 states any number of things could have went wrong. I did my best to document the process.

Each and every box hand packed. Not a job I want again anytime soon.

First things first. Get the bike loaded.

Does anyone else see a problem with this picture? From a physics stand point where is the majority of the weight going to end up in this scenario? Yes, at the back end. So, why is the only girl in the pic pushing most of the weight?

All loaded and cleaned.

Morning one sunrise.

Mountains in the distance...bye mountains.

Cool rock formation. Still in WY here.

(keep in mind I took these pic while driving 70 mph)

Did you know Uhaul's low decks make your move easier? After 22 hours staring at the back of this I will never forget.

Morning two. Somewhere between SD and MN.

In the Midwest we will farm anything...including the wind. There are hundreds of these windmills all lines up in the fields.

Crossing the Mississippi River from MN to WI.

Touch down at the farm. Can't unload for another few days.

Jez has had it with this latest adventure.

Home Sweet Home...Well it is a house anyway. A small one at that, but it will work.

One thing about moving back home you have family to put to work unpacking.

Nice!

Break time.

Do you think he likes WI much? I would like to say he wore this only because there was a WI Badger football game on, but this is typical attire for most folks in WI. If it isn't red and white, it is green and gold.

Jez found her new favorite place.

Yes, those are hideous pink walls. We got the ok to paint them.

So our journey from WY to WI ends.

As a new adventure begins I will try to keep you posted along the way.

Goodbye Lander

One thing is for sure. I am tired of saying Goodbye.

We certainly have had our share of experiencing different places to live. Those experiences included many fun and memorable times with neat and interesting people. It is the people that make is so hard to leave. Lander WY is no different. It was only a short year, but plenty of time to make new friends.

There was a little going away party thrown for us...let me rephrase that...a big going away party.

A shelter was rented at a park and more people then I would have guessed came.

I wish I had the picture of the whole group, but they didn't fit in one frame.

Here are the party planners (Jim and Jean). With the help of the others they really made it a
day to remember.

They even made us a scroll signed by everyone to remember them.

We have been fortunate to have made such great friends in so many states.

Thank you!!

Sick of mountain pictures yet?

Too bad! Pretty soon all you will be seeing is pics of cows and cheese. So soak in the beauty now while you can. That is what I am trying to do.
This latest batch is from Jackson, WY. No, I didn't hike to the top of this mountain to get the pics. We took a Tram to the top of the mountain at a ski resort.

This one is for the skiers out there. This is an advanced ski run. I am not sure if you can make out the two runs (grooves) in the pic. It is straight down.

From the top looking out

an equally high ridge right across from us

First pic I took when I got off the tram. We were crazy high up.

Other then the overly long drive over (construction) and the expensive tram ticket it was worth another chance at soaking in the sights.

Vacation Wyoming Style

Ok folks strap yourselves in. You are in for a ride.

Yes, Mike actually talked me into getting on the back. I still don't have my own bike so what is a girl to do.
My Dad and Penny on their ride.

We went to a reconstructed pioneer village and when we walked into the old school house I saw my name on the chalk board. I know we live in a small town, but this is ridiculous. Of course my dad was the culprit. They had stopped in earlier and he wrote my name on the board.

I am not sure if this picture is PC. I hope we don't offend any Native Americans

After the pioneer village we headed to the Sinks. It is where the river runs into the mountain and comes out down the road at the Rise. A river running this fast would only take minutes to make it to the rise, but since it goes into tiny little channels in the mountains it takes it 2 hours to finally come out at the rise.

Our first hike was to the falls at Sinks Canyon. Yep, the same place I went with friends a few blogs back.

From left to right: Me, Mike and my dad.

Me at the falls. Much smaller then the last time I was here. But a good place to soak your feet after a long hike.

Of course Mike had to take it a step further and jump in.

Burr!! It was COLD!

On the way back my dad and Penny had to stop this rock from falling. Ok, not really.

Day 2: going to the Tetons.

At camp Mike is loading the bear box.

Our bunks for the night.

The tent cabin. 3 log walls, with bunks and a wood burning stove inside. Pretty nice and cheaper than anything else in the Tetons to stay at.

That afternoon we all went for another hike.

Not bad views.

Day 3: Another hike. First stop was The Falls.

A little Pika. You can tell people feed them. They will actually climb on you looking for food.

From the Falls we continued on to Inspiration point. This isn't it. This is just the path we took.

Mike and my dad up at that same point in the previous picture.

Ah! Finally made it to Inspiration Point.

Mike was inspired to have a beer he toted up there.

My dad was inspired to join him.

After Inspiration Point we headed around the lake. We decided to take a rest and soak our feet and soak in the view.

Mike and Penny after their soak and a snack.

Our view from the resting spot.

Day 4: No more hikes. Went out to South Pass City. Yup, the old mining town I went to in the last blog. Mike and I are at one of the old mines.

Here we are in the old jail house. I can really only imagine one of us belonging there.

On the way back from South Pass City we stopped for a pic of Red Canyon.

We hiked a total of about 15 miles, drank more beer, wine and rum than I thought possible, stayed up late, got up early and ate and ate and ate.

Now you know why I need a vacation from this vacation.