A Day to Ride

Last week Mike was on vacation and I had a few days off as well. So, as most vacations go we had the week packed with stuff to do. I got one day to do what I wanted. I picked going to visit a friend who just so happens to have at least 20 horses.

Nikki and I have been friends a long time. I am pretty sure it had something to do with me having horses when I was a kid. She was determined to be around horses and since I had some she made it her mission to get involved. I really owe her for my own love of horses. I know I would not have done as much with them if she hadn't pushed for it. She is truly a horse lover and has been as long as I have known her. Even as a kid she knew she would have lots of horses some day. Now she runs Dun Dreamnin' Appaloosa Ranch. http://www.wildwebranchers.com/dundreaminranch.htm

She takes great care of the horses. Putting endless time, energy and money into them. Any money she makes training and selling horses goes back into the care of her horses. This is no easy task when you have as many horses as she has.

So when she asked what I wanted to do...go for a ride or check out the waterfalls nearby. I, of course, said I wanted to go for a ride. Even though she had to do most of the work getting the horse saddled up she is quick. It has been a while since I have had to do that so it was best to leave it her. Mike and I did brush our own horses...well, I did make a last minute horse switch. The one I was brushing kind of freaked out over a noise in the barn and started pulling back. This made me flash back to when my horse as a kid did the same thing and when the halter snapped it almost took off my finger.

Nikki decided to ride the horse I was brushing since it was acting up. I am sure Nikki wanted to make sure it didn't get away with anything and knew I am too soft. I tend to be a bit easy and the horses take advantage of it. They always have. Don't get me wrong, if I have to be the boss I can. When your dad puts you on the young horses as a kid to break them because you are the lightest, you learn how to hang on, fall off safely and take control. I just prefer not to be aggressive if I don't have to.

Below is just a taste of the ride we were able to enjoy and a beautiful day.

Mike brushing the horse he was going to ride. Sensei was a great horse.

What this horse lacks in a tail he makes up for in personality and ease of ride.

a trail along the river. Nice.

This was a really great view, but I couldn't get a good shot of it. We were heading down a steep hill and I didn't want to hold up the horses.

Down by a different part of the river. Wait, let me pull half a branch out of my hair since we were clearing the trail with our heads.

Ok, that's better.

Me and Gem. She was a gem of a horse too.

This is the horse that started it all for Nikki. Cheers on the left and her grand daughter to the right.

Cheers was originally one of the horses we had when I was a kid. Nikki fell in love with her. Through out our childhood Nikki rode and worked with Cheers. This took a lot of work too, because Cheers can be a mean horse. I think Nikki is the only one she really likes. I am glad Cheers will be living out her days with the one person who loves her the most.

So, that was our day to ride. Thanks Nikki.

Adventures in Canoeing

There once was a canoe that lay resting next to the cabin for the past 20 years. In its hay day it was faithfully used for many a family outing, but now lay abandoned to the woodland creatures. Although still a viable floating vessel, it's outward appearance caused one to scoff at it as they passed on the way to the outhouse.

A rescue mission was hatched. We would free the canoe and use it for the purpose it was intended.

The mission accomplished!

There wasn't any reason to capture on camera the fumbling, bickering and adjusting it took to get that whale on the truck. It is best that we not have evidence of that. Although, I will say that by the end of the weekend we managed to get it loaded in 15 minutes. We will just say that this was a bit less then it took us the first time.

No anchor so tying up to stumps was the way to go.

The view from the canoe. Not bad. Very peaceful.

Ok, you caught me. I am not fishing. I am reading. Perfect!

And the whole reason we liberated the canoe. Yes, we know how small the fish is, but that is why they invented the "fishing story". So, from now on it was at least a 10 inch fish and it will continue to grow each time we tell this fishing story.

My Crazy Husband

Mike informed me he does not like being the butt of my jokes on the blog. I disagree. I don't make jokes about him, I only document his behavior. He just gives me a lot of material to work with.

I know this is a really bad picture, but Mike was getting annoyed with me taking more pictures of him.

He came into the computer room and said to me "I am setting up a Bloody Mary/Snack bar in the living room if you are interested." Why the living room? Well, the Masters is on and leaving the tv to prepare anything was out of the question.
Yes, that is a reel to reel player. His parents where going to get rid of it and Mike decided we needed to have it. He was so excited when he got it working. He was playing the oldies but goodies all day.

Another not so great picture, but the real question is what is he doing?

We had just bought new flat screen tv and the lighting in the living room was less then adequate for setting it up. So, Mike went to get his head lamp. It worked great. I have to say I thought this one was actually pretty darn genius.

So, for those of you who ask me "is he like this at home?","he must be a riot to live with"...he does have his moments.

Milwaukee Redeemed

It may be hard to believe, but one little eclectic cafe redeemed Milwaukee, WI for me. Let me explain.
Milwaukee is the largest city in WI. It is known for brewing beer and building Harley Davidson's. What is there not to like about that, right? Well, it is an old, dirty city with lots of crime. I know that describes most large cities, but that is precisly what I don't like about cities. Since I am not into "the city life" I find very little to like about them.
A big city does offer a few things worth mentioning. Variety, culture and entertainment. Well, on April 3rd 2010 Milwaukee offered me all of those things. We started out going to Milwaukee Public Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Very interesting and entertaining. In fact it kept us busy for 3 hours. By the time we were done we were starving. Chris (bro-in-law) had done some research and found this little cafe he thought sounded cool. We didn't know just how cool until we got there. The atmosphere was old school cafe melded with an alternative flare. That alone told me this place was going to be great. When we got the menus the level of coolness catapulted to awesome instantly. For a "Veggie" it doesn't get better then this place. Rather then have a few so so veggie options, this place had a majority veggie/vegan menu. For any of you gagging at the thought of that, I am here to tell you it was incredible. I got a vegan gyro. I haven't been able to have one since I went "Veggie". Oh how I missed them, but no more. I don't know how they do it, but I never would have been able to tell it wasn't meat. Mike got a vegan BBQ Rib sandwich. The "meat" even had a smoke ring. BBQ is back, baby!
The only bad thing about that trip to Comet Cafe is that it is about 2 hours from my house. However, the next time I am jonesing for a gyro it will be worth the drive. So, one little cafe was able to redeem a whole city in my eyes. Thanks Chris for finding this gem for us. It topped off a great day with you and Heather.

Simulated Fun

What do you do in WI when snow is still on the ground, but spring is right around the corner?

Go to a bar and play golf on a golf simulator.

That is what we (Mike Jr, Mike Sr, Cathy and I) did.

Let me tell you, it isn't for the faint of heart. You have to be prepared to do poorly. For me, that is just par for the course (pun intended). Give me a sport with a ball and watch me go down in flames. Jr and Sr, on the other hand do not have the same familiarity with failure that I do. This led to far greater frustration for them. I was even happy...happy to share my failure with Cathy. She contributed nicely to my ridiculously bad score. I was just glad I didn't actually have to go chase that stupid ball after every hit. Now that is my kind of golf.

Now, when you look closely at the score keep in mind Jr had a previous chance to practice on the simulator. He knew what to expect, where Sr and I had to figure it out on the fly. Granted, I could have played 20 times before and Jr still would have beaten me. Yes, we all know he is annoyingly good at everything.

Yeah, I was swinging so many times I looked like a windmill.

BTW, that is only 11 holes. I don't know if the computer could count high enough if I played 18.

Well, spring/summer can't come soon enough.

Whether I am playing real golf this bad, or doing whatever. I will be happy as long as I am outside.

Nordic Skiing

Nordic Mountain

(Mountain should be used loosely here. It is really just a big hill.)

On Fridays girls ski half price. Now that is my kind of skiing. A good opportunity for me to try skiing for the second time. Mike's plan was to try snowboarding for the first time.

Right after we got our gear on.

It quickly became obvious we were very over dressed. After a run or two we shed some layers and it was much more enjoyable.
Getting ready to take on the bunny hill.

The last smile you will see on Mike's face during his snowboarding attempt.
Frustration quickly set in.


Mike on the snowboard going down the bunny hill. Good thing he had that helmet on. One of his trips down the hill he wiped it and the helmet went flying.

Heather looking like the snow bunny that she is.

How could she not with the world's coolest sunglasses on.

Oh yeah, did you notice Mike is on skis now. He decided to take on snowboarding in stages. One hour at a time. The rest of the day he had fun on his skis.

Taking on a blue square hill (intermediate). Not bad for my second time skiing. It is important to mention the first time I skied was about 18 years ago, so does that even count? I hated it that time. All I can figure is the skis have greatly improved since then and that is why I was able to do it.

You know she wouldn't be this cool with out those sunglasses.

Heather taking on a black diamond. A short run, but steep.

I am cool by association. Just gettin in close proximity of those sunglasses will do that for ya.
Heather was just so happy she finally got me to go skiing. I was just happy I was able to do it this time.

All I am thinking here is "Go, go, go before the chair catches me in the back of this legs. And please don't wipe it."

Mike was happy he got me to go skiing too.

Look at Mike coming down behind me. He has the form down pat. Me...not so much.

I did greatly improve over time. By the end I was sliding to a stop on two skis.

No snow plow/pizza stops for me.
Would I go again, Yes.

Chicagoland...um,not really

Mike had to go to "Chicago" for training this past week. I went along to make a mini trip out of it. Well, the training was in Deerfield about 45 min. north of Chicago. Deerfield is Suburbia land. All business parks and apartments.

Our first night we got to the hotel just in time to flip on the Super Bowl and order a Chicago style pizza. It was GOOD! The Super Bowl and the pizza. This ended up being the only picture worthy thing we did.

One thing we did do was eat. Cheesecake Factory on night two. We all know the cheesecake is good, but we had fried olives stuffed with sausage as an appetizer. YUM! On Tuesday I was pretty much snowed in. Mike took the Element to class and ate at the cafeteria. I had left over pizza. Dinner out was at the Ram...not very note worthy. Lunch on Wednesday was good. We went to Portillos. It is known for its Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago style hot dogs. I had the beef sandwich and Mike had the hot dog. Very good. Wednesday night we had Chicago style pizza, again. Guess who's idea that was. Pizzaboy! He can't get enough. It was awesome as well.

When he got done on Thursday we thought about venturing into Chicago, but realized by the time we did anything we would be fighting rush hour traffic to get home. So, we just headed home but took a detour to go to the new Cabelas on the way. Big store, but not sure it is worth all the hype.

So, that was our adventure to Deerfield. Maybe we will make it to Chicago some day.