Busy Week

This past week was quite busy for me. On Monday I worked at Eric’s house and went to his softball game, Tuesday volunteered at the daycare, Thursday went to lunch and Jersey Boys with two of my friends, and Friday I ran some errands. Whew!

Jersey Boys was a wonderful show, and we had a great time. I didn’t recognize all of the songs, as The Four Seasons were a little before my time, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the show. I did a little research on Frankie Valli.  He’s 77 years old and is still performing a full schedule of shows all across the country. Wow!

We had another full weekend in the park. About half of the sites were occupied by members of a family reunion that had our Quonset hut shelter rented on Saturday.  Although we didn’t have any real problems, the group seemed a bit “rougher” than the clientele we normally have.  There seemed to be quite a bit of drinking going on.

The only real issues we had revolved around the bathrooms. Someone stole two rolls of toilet paper from the men’s bathroom. And, an adult female thought it was an okay idea to let five little girls play in the women’s shower and get the floor all wet.

That really annoyed me. If I would have seen it earlier, I would have said something. But, I came upon it when it was all done. I went into the women’s bathroom to check on supplies. I walked in as a woman with five little girls between the ages of about four and seven were coming out. The girls were fully dressed, soaking wet and complaining how cold they were. The woman said, “Well, you wanted to get wet.”  I found a plastic cup in one of the shower stalls. They must have been playing in there for quite a while because the floor of both showers and both toilet stalls were soaking wet which caused the entire floor of the women’s bathroom to be slippery. 

The weather on Saturday was drizzly and cloudy with a high of about 71 degrees. Absolutely no reason for anyone to need to get wet. And, in what world did this woman think it was okay to let kids play in the showers of a public restroom. I am just amazed by the unthinking, rude, inconsiderate, disrespectful behavior of some adults. And, what a lesson to be teaching those kids. Do whatever you want, no matter how it inconveniences everyone else who uses the PUBLIC restroom. Okay, enough of my rant. But, come on now, really??

Otherwise, the rest of the weekend was fine. Just a bit more activity than normal.  I think we’ve just become spoiled by how quiet and peaceful this park is, even when there are lots of people camping here.

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

Another Family Visit

Last Saturday it was my turn to have a family visit.  My mom and her friend, Richard, along with my brother, Ron, and his wife, Laura all came for an afternoon visit.

We had a nice day. It was still a bit hot and humid, but not as bad as it had been. We sat outside and chatted for a few hours. This was the first time my family had visited us at our site in Beaver Dam. They really liked our “backyard” and were amazed at how few bugs there are.

Kevin grilled some brats and burgers. I had made beans and tortellini salad, and my mom brought a carrot cake for desert. Plenty of good food! We ate inside our screen tent, just in case a few flies wanted to bother us. Kevin was happy to take the picture and sacrifice being photographed :)

On Sunday evening, we went to the Must-Skies Waterski Club’s show on Beaver Dam Lake. They put on a very nice show. Next week they’ll be competing at the National Competition in Janesville, Wisconsin.

We’ve never been to an amateur waterski show. The lady behind us was telling me that Wisconsin has more teams than any other state, and the national competition is almost always in Wisconsin. I had no idea.  Here are some pictures from the show.

The jumpers were pretty awesome!

This doubles pair won at Nationals last year in their category. Hopefully, they’ll win again this year!

Yesterday I spent another day working at Eric’s house. I painted the ceilings in both bathrooms and put a primer coat on the door trim of both outside doors.  Eric and his friend, Adam, put a coat of mud on the walls last week, but they still have to sand it before I can paint the walls. The end is in sight!

I went to watch Eric’s softball game before I headed back home. I must be good luck since Eric had three hits and three RBIs.  I forgot my camera so here’s a picture of him playing in the outfield using my cell phone camera. He’s the guy in the back. Great game, Eric!

Today the heat and humidity have finally left town. It was the first day in many weeks we didn’t have to run the air all day!!! The windows are open, and there’s a nice refreshing breeze out of the northeast. Ah, what a beautiful day. I went for a nice long walk this morning.

In my last blog, I posted a picture of a strange mud patch on the side of our shower building. Blog reader, heyduke50, sent a comment letting us know it was a mud dauber wasp nest. I did a little research to find out how to remove it. Turns out it is a nest built by one female wasp. She stings spiders and grubs and paralyzes them and encases them in the nest for her babies.

Kevin took a screwdriver and pried it off. We thought it would come off in one piece, but he had to scrape it off in chunks. There were all kinds of grubs inside of it. We’ve never seen or heard of this before. Very interesting. I didn’t take a picture, because I thought it would come off in one piece. It really was amazing seeing all of those grubs inside of the nest. Cool!

The summer sure is flying by. In two months we’ll be leaving for Kansas to work at Amazon. I hope we have some nice weather in the meantime!

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

More Golf

The weather was a bit cooler today so Kevin and I went out and played nine holes at Fox Lake Golf Club. Our tee time was 9:00 a.m. and they sent us out on the back nine. We had a nice relaxed game with no one in front of or behind us the entire round.

It’s still pretty warm, but not unbearable. I think I had my best round of the summer. I had two bad holes, but the rest were pretty good. If I could only figure out why my drives keep going to the right, I’d be quite happy with how I’m playing. Kevin did not have such a good round. We spent a lot of time looking for his balls in the long grass :(

On Monday, the farmer finished harvesting the wheat field behind our camper. I was a little concerned that he would create a lot of dust when he got right behind us. But, the wind was blowing away, and there was very little dust.

Here he is out our back window. The edge of the field is only about 25 feet from us.

Something unusual has appeared on the side of our bath building. I think it’s some kind of hornet or wasp nest. It’s hard as a rock.

And, this moth was also on the bath building. It’s the biggest moth I’ve ever seen. It was just a little smaller than the size of my hand. Wow!

I’ll end today with the beautiful sunset we had a few days ago.

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

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!