Another Peaceful Weekend

Our campground was almost full again this weekend. We only had one open site.  There was a little bit more activity than last weekend, but overall another very peaceful weekend. Have I told you we love this place!

Kevin golfed with a friend on Friday morning and that afternoon we went out for a fish fry at a place in Beaver Dam called Game On. They had a coupon for an all you can eat cod fish fry for $9.99 with a second one for half price. Well, the price was good, but the food not so much. The fish was heavily breaded and quite greasy. We won’t be going back.  Wisconsin is pretty well known for Fish Fry Friday. Most every restaurant and bar has it on their menu.  We don’t eat out often, but we do enjoy a good fish fry. We’ll keep trying new places until we find one we like.

We haven’t been doing very much. It’s just been too hot and humid to really get out and be active. We have two rental paddle boats available at the park. We’ve only rented them three times so far this season. I guess no one wants to put forth the effort in this heat.  We have plans to go out in one of them ourselves, but not until it cools off.  The same goes for bike riding. There’s a bike trail not too far from us called the Wild Goose State Trail that we’d like to explore, but not until it’s cooler.  I guess we’ll be busy once this heat breaks.

I have been walking early some mornings or doing my Wii exercise program. The new EA Sports Active 2 gives me quite a workout. Much more than the Wii Fit does. I’m trying to stay fit for our job at Amazon.

I’ve been seeing signs for a Farmer’s Market in Beaver Dam so yesterday morning Kevin and I drove into town and checked it out. I bought some delicious pecan rolls from the Amish vender. They make the best bakery and it’s so reasonable. As you can see, there were several vendors, but nothing else caught our fancy.

Kevin needed a new golf glove so we stopped at Dunham’s Sporting Goods. They had some great sale prices, so we both ended up with a new glove and Kevin got some covers for his irons.  I forgot my head covers in the golf cart the last time we golfed. Hopefully, someone turned them in. If not, I’ll be back at Dunham’s. You get a 10% discount with your AARP card. Being old has it’s advantages :)

The farmer has started cutting the wheat in the field behind our camper. Even though we’ve lived in a somewhat rural area, it was mostly corn that was grown around our house. This is the first time I’m seeing a combine in action.  So far, he’s  been on the far end away from us. I’m thinking there will be quite a lot of dust and noise when he gets directly behind us.

 

Here he is shooting the wheat onto the tractor carts to be pulled away.  Cool!

The beginning of this week is predicted to be hot again. It’s supposed to cool off later in the week, but we’ve heard that before. Maybe we’ll get in some golf late in the week, maybe not. I’ll do my two hours rocking the babies and spend a day painting at Eric’s house. Not much else going on.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

*Canadian Online Shopping*

This post is for my Canadian friends out there.  I came across a website that you might find helpful.  It’s an online shopping site called Canada Post.

I did a little looking around on the site, and it looks pretty cool. You can search for all kinds of items including electronics, clothing, outdoor items, etc.  You can discover deals, compare stores, and check out pricing trends.

I did a search for utility trailers, and found all kinds of choices. You can narrow down your search by the amount of money you are willing to spend or by the brand you are interested in.

So, check it out. It looks like a great site.

Peaceful Weekend

Even though the park campground was fully booked this past weekend, it was so quiet and peaceful.  Many of the people told us they were stopping here for the weekend on their way to the EAA Fly-In in Oshkosh this week. 

It was still quite hot and there just weren’t many people outside. I think some people left for the day and others were fishing.  We only sold $34 worth of wood.  The last time we were fully booked for a weekend, we sold $198 worth of wood.  I think it was too hot for campfires.

I’m not complaining, it was sure a nice and peaceful weekend.  Just kind of strange to be outside and not hear anything.

Last week we didn’t golf at all. It was just too darn hot. So, this morning Kevin an I went back to Fox Lake Golf Club.  I was doing really well through the first six holes, on track to have my best score of the year.  You guessed it, I fell apart on the last three holes. I still had an okay score, but it could have been so much better.  Kevin also had an up and down day. Oh well, we still had a great time together. Sure beats going to work on a Monday morning :)

There are four parks with campgrounds in Dodge County (that’s the county we’re in.)  Each park has until August 1st to submit a budget proposal for next year. They are having a contest between the parks to see which park submits the best money saving, revenue generating ideas. The winning park gets an extra $500 for a project in the park.

We talked to our boss, Mike, and told him some of the ideas we have for improving the park. He told us to email our ideas to the Parks Director.  We’re hoping the budget for next year will include full hook-ups for our host site.  If we win, maybe the extra money can help us get those hook-ups. I’ll let you know what happens.

I don’t have any pictures again today. So, I’m showing you a picture of the hard work Kevin did today. The park has some teeter-totters and there were some tires laying on the ground under each seat. The Parks Director wanted them buried in the ground. So, here’s what Kevin did for a few hours today. Dug some pretty deep holes and buried the tires. Looks good, doesn’t it?

I tried to get a picture of a plane landing on the lake today, but I was too late. We’ve had quite a few planes fly over this weekend, I’m guessing on their way to the EAA.  I was looking out the window and all of a sudden a sea plane was landing on the lake. Cool! By the time I got out there, it was around the corner, so no picture.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

We’re Having a Heat Wave!

Much of the country is in the midst of a heat wave. I wanted summer, and now I’ve got it!

It’s been oppressively hot and humid this week, and the rest of the week is predicted to be more of the same.  You know it’s pretty bad when the weather guy tells you the heat index is 105* at 10 pm. 

Thank goodness our air conditioning is working great.  It’s been running non-stop from morning until about midnight. Then it shuts down for a few hours, and the next morning we start again.

I feel bad for both of our boys working in this heat. Eric, who is a HVAC Service Technician, is working tons of overtime, often on top of hot roofs. Korey lives in a cabin at camp during the summer, and it doesn’t have air. He’s actually been sleeping in the basement of the retreat center which doesn’t have air either, but does have a heat pump that pulls out the humidity.  Hang in there boys!

Last night we were under a thunderstorm watch. The clouds looked pretty scary, but all we got was a little rain.

 

I’ve really enjoyed watching the fireflies at night the last few weeks.  When they are blinking in between the trees, it looks like an enchanted forest.  I tried to get a picture, but no luck. Some things just have to be seen in person to be appreciated.

Today was my day to volunteer at the daycare. I’m really enjoying this volunteer assignment.  I rock babies for two hours a week. They’re so cute!

It’s been too hot to walk outside, so I’ve been using my new disc for the Wii.  It’s EA Sports Active 2.  I enjoy the Wii Fit, but you really don’t get much of a workout with it.  This new program is more of a workout. I’m actually working up a sweat when I do it.  I still like the Wii Fit for the yoga, so I’m switching off between the two.  We’ll see how it goes.

The campground is booked solid for this coming weekend. We’ve even got more people here during the week than we normally do. Next week is the EAA Fly-In in Oshkosh which is about an hour from us.  The fly-in is an annual event in Wisconsin and draws tons of people.  Campgrounds and hotels are booked for miles around. Apparently, some are staying with us.

Last weekend we were almost full. The park has an enclosed shelter that can be rented. A group had it rented on Saturday for a family reunion.  Lots of people and lots of activity.  So, it was a busy weekend.

By the way, my last post was a guest post from Blogsvertise. I’ve mentioned before that they pay me if I post blogs for them. That post earned me $10. There hasn’t been much opportunity to earn extra money with them, but when they send me one, I put it out there. The title will always have *asterisks* around it so you know it’s an ad. Feel free to read them or not.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

*Grilling out on our deck*

Guest post written by Michelle Lewis

One of my favorite things for my family and I to do during the summer is to grill out in our backyard. It just makes fixing dinner seem so much more fun and it makes convincing little ones to eat their food a little bit easier too. Plus, we have that extra family time added in there. We just finished building a new deck this summer and have moved most of our grilling out and some of our backyard activities to the deck.

I was online looking up safety precautions to take when you're grilling out on a deck when I ran across the site HomeproIMPROVEMENT.com. I looked through it and after that I decided that we should use it to replace our siding, which I noticed was looking pretty worn up against our brand new deck.

I did find some extra safety tips for barbecue grilling on our back deck though and have been enforcing them with my husband and the kids. I always remind them that it's better to be careful and have fun instead of careless and have to clean up the mess from an accident.

The Wallpaper Stripping is Done!

I’m blogging from our son Eric’s house today.  I don’t have my camera with me, so no pictures for this entry.

I’ve been spending one day a week at Eric’s house helping him with some home improvement projects.  The main goal for the summer was to strip the wallpaper in both bathrooms and paint.  Two weeks ago I finished stripping the wallpaper.  What a relieve.  The wallpaper had been put up directly over the drywall, so it was a bear to remove. 

For the past two weeks I’ve worked on painting both bathrooms with a primer/sealer.  I finished that today. I’m also painting the woodwork as I go.  About half of the house has white woodwork and the rest is brown.  Apparently, the previous owners didn’t finish painting all of the woodwork.

The next step is for Eric’s friend, Adam, who used to work in construction, to do a skim coat of drywall mud. You may be wondering why I painted primer before the drywall mud.  Adam told me that by painting the primer first, it will seal any wallpaper paste and will keep the finish paint from possible bubbling due to paste residue. 

After Adam is done with the mudding, I have to paint a coat of texture paint and then finally the actual colored paint.  Hopefully, I’ll be done before we leave in October.  Adam and his wife have a new baby boy, so I guess the finish date will depend on when Adam finds time.

Right now I’m waiting for Eric to get home from work, so I thought I’d take advantage of his fast internet to write a quick blog.  I brought my computer today to download an audio book from the library and to download Microsoft updates.  It helps keep our data usage down on the Mi-Fi.

Eric is an HVAC service technician.  With the heat and humidity we’ve been having the last few weeks, he’s been working a lot of hours.  The last few days we’ve had a break from the heat.  But, next week is predicted to be brutally hot and humid again.  I hope it’s not too awful for him!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

What a Difference

We’ve been back in Wisconsin just shy of three months.  What a difference a few months make.  Spring and early summer were cold and rainy.  When the weather finally warmed up, it did so with a vengeance.  We’ve had quite a few hot and muggy days.  Our air conditioning is sure getting a workout!  I’m not complaining, I’ll take warm over cold anytime.

Here are a few before and after pictures.  When we arrived at our campsite on April 20th, there was snow on the field behind our site.  Now, less than three months later, the wheat is turning a beautiful golden brown.

In early May we planted a garden.  It’s doing pretty well.  We’ve been enjoying the lettuce for weeks. I’m hoping to have beans soon.

 

We’ve had another new visitor at our birdfeeder.  I believe it is a brown headed cowbird.  I’ve never seen one before. I’m not sure what the little light brown bird is next to the cowbird.  There are lots of these little guys around all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

Last Tuesday, July 5th, we visited some friends in Waupaca, Wisconsin. It’s about an 1-1/2 hour drive from here.  The last several years, we’ve been part of a group of 5 couples that have camped together over the 4th of July weekend.  This year we weren’t able to join them for the weekend due to our camphost duties.  However, they were all staying until July 6th, so at least we were able to join them for a day.  We had a great day visiting with everyone!

It’s been pretty quiet for us.  About half of our campsites were occupied this weekend.  Overall, a well-behaved and quiet group.  We really like this park.

This weekend is Beaver Dam Lake Days. There were a number of activities scheduled in town all weekend.  Today we were going to go to a waterski show and a craft fair in the park.  A line of thunderstorms rolled through around noon.  Now it’s hot and really humid again and the ground is all wet.  So, we decided to skip it; maybe next year.

Instead we’re watching Steve Stricker of Wisconsin as he leads the field on the final day of the PGA golf tournament. Another relaxing day!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Happy July 4th!

Happy 4th of July everyone! This holiday has special meaning for me.  As I have mentioned in the past, I was born in Germany.  My parents immigrated when I was 11 months old.  They arrived in New York Harbor on July 3, 1958.  My mom has told me often how she held me up as we passed the Statue of Liberty so I would be sure to see it.  She grew up in communist East Germany so understood what it was to look upon that symbol of freedom!

My parents became citizens when I was in 8th grade which automatically qualified me for citizenship as well.  I am very proud to be an American citizen!!!

Here’s a picture of my mom holding me shortly after we arrived in the United States.  Their first years were much harder than they had expected.  The streets were not paved with gold as advertised.  However, they worked hard and made a good life for us.

 

 

 

On Wednesday, Kevin and I went golfing at a nearby course I had not been to.  It’s called Fox Lake Golf Club and a couple of the holes have a view of Fox Lake.

It was a nice course. Not too long which I like, and they have a weekday special of $14 for nine holes with a cart.  I actually had a decent round.  We’ll definitely be going back.

Surprisingly, our campground was not full for the holiday weekend.  About two-thirds of the sites were reserved.  We ended up with some people without reservations for some of the nights.  Overall, it was a nice weekend.  Everyone behaved.  The weather was pretty hot.  The only thing that would make this campground better would be a swimming beach.  We have a boat launch and a fishing pier, but the water looks too dirty to swim in.  I think the boats churn up all the gunk from the bottom of the lake. All but two of the sites are again vacant.  Back to peace and quiet.

For the past several years we have camped with four other couples over the 4th of July weekend.  This year we couldn’t go because of our camphosting duties.  They are about 1-1/2 hours away from us and are all staying through tomorrow night. So, tomorrow we’re driving up to visit with them for the day.  It should be a good time.

I wanted to show you my little garden.  It has certainly grown since the last picture I showed you.  The beans, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers are doing very well.  I planted peas twice and only had three plants come up.  The green peppers aren’t looking too healthy either.  We’ve had several meals using the lettuce.  So, all in all, I’m happy with how it’s doing.  Next year, I think I’ll start the peas indoors instead of starting with seeds outside.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!