We are getting a nice treat of Wisconsin weather.   It was cool today, but sunny.  And each day this week should be warmer.   This is good!

Chris had a long weekend at her Insurance Women’s conference, and it sounds like it was a good time.   I made it down to see Mom on Friday and spent a little time with her.  Made it home Saturday afternoon and had a chance to get some things done around the house.  As long as the yard has still been dry I pulled the run about out of the boathouse and moved it to the garage.   Moved some dock stands over from my neighbors, who are donating them to us!   And scraped them down a little, and tonight wire brushed them down.  I will put a quick coat of paint on them before putting them in the water,  which I would like to start on this week!   Some of my old ones have rusted through the joints and are being retired.  So have some work to do to integrate the different pieces.  But it will work.  The water is very low yet,  a good time to be getting some of this done.

Put new spark plugs in the focus,  I thought it was time for a change after 160,000 miles.   But the thermastat housing seems to be cracked again.   I think this will be the 4th.  Ford used a plastic housing, the original went 6 years or so but the replacements have not been so good.   But the rest of the car has been good to us so we will try again.

Had a chance to brew some beer this weekend.  Good friend Mark lets me brew with him.   we made a rye blond dopplebock, and have it on 3 different yeasts right now.   I can’t wait!

A good day in South Florida.   It was a nice day, around 80.   A little cloudy,  and just had a quick shower, so  a little more humid than the other days.  but very comfortable.   So we made it to church this morning, did a little cleaning in the condo,  and just spent time relaxing.  Our last day here so ate some of the left overs in the refrigerator, and made some  hamburgers down by the pool for supper.   And just spent some time with some of the neighbors outside.  The wind is cooling down with the evening so we all came in.

The trip down was eventful as usual lately.  After New Years Delta screwed up our flights home and we had to stay another day.  March Airtran had plane problems and we missed our flight to West Palm and had to fly into Fort Lauderdale, picked up by our guests Bev and Wally.

And this time when I checked in Wednesday night.  Chris’s boarding passes with seat assignments printed out but I only got one boarding pass with ‘seat request’ rather than a seat assignment.  We got to the airport early Thursday afternoon to try and sort it out.  At the ticketing desk they told us only the gate could give the seat assignment.  The gate said they could only assign the seats while we were boarding, but don’t worry she checked and everyone’s seat she had assigned.  Well Chris boarded along with most of the people, and we found out Delta is leaving 8-10 seats un assigned on their flights.   While they were calling out seats I was one of the last two, and guess what,  the last 2 were oversold and could not get on.   I explained my wife was already on, and they could not figure out how that happened.  Another gate person tried to offer $400 for someone to get off, but that did not work.  They said when over booked they should board by the order people bought tickets.  But they had already boarded (because they did not realize they had too many people)  and they can’t convince me  that if Chris had her seat assigned, and we booked together,  that I was one of the last to book.  But they already screwed up.  I told them to go ask Chris if she wanted to go ahead,  but she did not and came off the plane Non to Happy!  but that got the other guy of us two on the plane with his buddies.   We had some discussion with the gate personnel.  We were too late to get any flight to West Palm.  Which was unfortunate, since we were at the airport early enough and if we had known could have gotten another flight earlier out of Appleton.   But I told the gate person (not the original but another who was anxious to try work something out for us so we did not have to lose a day of vacation)    that we could go into Fort Lauderdale.  She got us on the next flight out (which was their last flight to Minneapolis), and it turns out she overbooked that flight to make it happen.  But I learned that even at that point they could have sold another 6 seats on the flight.    I am convinced that if some one purchases a business class flight at that point they will get a seat assignment.

But she got us to Minneapolis and then on a flight to Fort Lauderdale.   And we are lucky enough to have a good friend Audrey who was willing to pick us up in Fort Lauderdale at 11:30 pm instead of 10:30 in West Palm.  And they did book us in First Class to Fort Lauderdale.  We did not know they still served dinners on china in First Class, which was pretty good.  And I drank LOTS of wine.  So we made it!  And it has been relaxing.  The picture is lunch Saturday with neighbors Al and Vivian and Ron and Verna.

We are now checked in for our flights tomorrow afternoon, and will see where our journey takes us!   Making plans for our next trip down,  in May to close up the condo for the year.   But that will be awhile.  In between we will have some reminders of winter in Wisconsin I am sure,  and Chris will be going to New Mexico to visit John and Marie.

So keep Wisconsin warm for our return,  hope everyone has had a great weekend!

Just to say Happy St Patrick’s Day!

It seems like it has been a long week already, and although I could have used it I did not make it out to celebrate today.   It’s certainly not like in the old days when I got out early afternoon.      But we are saving our celebrating for the next few days.  Tomorrow night we fly to Florida and will have a relaxing few days.

The weather here has sure been great, a reminder of what nice weather can be like.  But this is Wisconsin,  they are talking snow for Saturday!  Yes much too early to think it would last.   But it has been a good run.

I hope all are having a great time, and that you have a great weekend!

Not much to say tonight,  not in a writing mood!  But I am overdue for an update just so everyone knows I have not forgot!

The good news is Mom is doing well.   We had a little scare when she went into the hospital on Sunday with trouble breathing.  Fluid had built up in her, congestive heart failure.  But they put her on an IV diuretic and watched her and she was doing well on Monday.  And Tuesday she got to go home.   Not many results from the tests and she will see the doctor in about a week and get more news.   She is to drink less fluids and watch her sodium.

So she came through well, Skip spent a lot of time at the hospital, mostly waiting for some news and a chance to check her out.  In St Lukes form it sounds like that took 1/2 a day.   but we all have to say she received much better care than we were used to when Dad was there.   One nurse said Aurora has worked on that,  I think she was lucky enough to be on a heart floor with less patients.  And we think they gave her something to pump up her adrenelin,  because she is talking non stop!  Not sure what that is about but she is feeling good which is the important thing.

Otherwise not much new.  I am still working lot’s of hours.   Last Saturday volunteered at the Hops and Props beer festival at the EAA, and that was fun.  And looking forward to our yearly gathering with our cousins on Saturday night in Milwaukee.

So the temperatures in Wisconsin have been good, although we are stuck in an eternal fog.  But they say come Monday we could see the sun again.  For now I heard some flood warnings go up, I think the frost is quickly starting to come out of the ground.

Take care, take time to enjoy!

I am behind in updates.   It seems we keep busy, I am not always sure with what.   We both have been putting in some extra work hours, and that shortens what is left of the day.    Last Friday we worked at St Rapheals fish fry, and will be doing that again this Friday.  They do a very nice job.  Last week the leader in the kitchen thought we did about 1000 dinners, and he has a pretty good feel after a number of years.  And they managed to never have anything run out at the serving window.  Usually at some point the kitchen runs short of perch, or shrimp or fries – something that gets a rush faster than it can get fried.   We did run out of baked haddock in the last hour,  there were a lot of people choosing  not fried food!   Also ran out of baked potatoes near the end.   So this Friday should be interesting,   usually the amount of dinners served grows each week.

And we made it to Milwaukee last Saturday and visited with Mom.   She is doing well going into her 90th year.  And she treated us, as usual, to a great brunch on Sunday morning.  And yesterday I was back to Milwaukee, stock club night.  So had a chance to have a great beer with Allan Miller at the Sugar Maple bar,  60 American Micro Brews on tap.  Only time for one quick one as I arrived in town for the meeting.  I fantasize about living within walking distance of that bar.  And had a chance to talk with Mom for awhile before bed.  And then up early this morning to get to work and back to the fun.

So now about my bedtime after my 4:30 start to the day.  But have a nice weekend to look forward to.  As I said Fish Fry tomorrow.  then on Saturday night I am volunteering with my Society of Oshkosh Brewers (SOB’s) at the Hops and Props at EAA museum.  the classiest beer festival I have ever been at.  Great beers, 5 bands,  food, in a great environment.  It will be a good night.  And Sunday morning doing brunch with some of the neighbors.

Add on to that the best weather of the year.  We should extend the weekend into Monday!   Hope you all are enjoying yourself, and have some good weather.  Life is short don’t miss it.

Sunday evening,  we made it home today.   But we hated to leave,  it was cool when we got to Florida but got warmer each day.   And Saturday and Saturday night were great,  and today should have been even nicer!   We all got some sun burn to take with us.  We had a great time having  Bev and Wally with us.  Ate, drank, laughed.   Showed them some of our favorite restaurants, walked the beach and did a little sight seeing.   Life is good.

It did not start out smoothly!  We had booked our flight out of Milwaukee, so left work around noon and drove down to catch our plane.  Drive was easy and were in the airport plenty early.   Got on the plane,  then they found a maintenance problem that was going to take 10 minutes, then an hour.   Then they brought us a new plane.   Wally had thought I was brave to leave a short time to change planes in Atlanta,  guess what?  Didn’t make it.

We had planned to meet in West Palm Beach around 10:30 pm.  I had the car rented and was going to take Bev and Wally to the condo.  Now we were in Milwaukee not going to get into West Palm, no other flights later into West Palm.  There was a flight to Fort Lauderdale  but the ticket agent doubted we would make it and should plan on an overnight in Atlanta and catch a morning flight to West Palm.  Well we told her to put us on the Fort Lauderdale and take our chances.   But Bev and Wally were leaving Chicago and would be in West Palm with no guidance!  Well MJ was off of school last week and had been at the condo.  I gave her a call and she was in Orlando but planning to head back to Fort Lauderdale.   So she agreed to take off right away and head to West Palm, and would take Bev and Wally to the condo!   So they were taken care of.

I tried calling Avis to transfer my car to Fort Lauderdale,  but when I said I wanted to return it to West Palm they said hey didn’t have cars they could book me with,  take my chances when we land!      Well we got out of Milwaukee,  landed in Atlanta when the other plane to Fort Lauderdale should have been taking off,  but a gate agent was waiting and directed some of us to the Fort Lauderdale planes gate and some people to a Tampa flight!  We ran up the conourse,  luckily the plane was close.  They had waited and boarded some of us from the Milwaukee flight and were also trying to book soem people from a late Rochester flight.   So we were on the plane!

We landed in Fort Lauderdale around 12:30 and then I was going to start hitting the rental car desks.  But when we came out of security there was Bev and Wally!  Wal had got on the computer and figured out what plane we would be on, and with some directions from Mary drove our car down to get us.   So we stayed up a few more hours talking and relaxing,  and so started our vacation!   Things went smoothly after that though!

The first couple of nights were cool,  but last night we had a late supper at an outside table at a local restaurant.   And sat out a little longer when we got back to the condo.   And today’s flights, even though I had booked even less time between flights,  were smooth and we were early arriving on both flights.   Now back to real life!

We did not plan this well when we were trying to find a common weekend for us, in that we missed Mom’s birthday yesterday, her 89th.   But we told her last weekend and will go down again this coming Saturday.   This Friday we help out at the parish fish fry.  In between a lot of work and sounds like a chance of snow.  We will just have to remember paradise!

We hope everyone is having a good day!   It was another long week but this one should be better.    My work was a little more under control this last week,  but not much.   Amazing how doing a bunch of new things can make it so hard to get caught up and develop a routine.   My work load seems very high right now, the good news from there is the plant’s workload is picking up.  Hopefully that trend can maintain itself through the year.   I will eventually get this figured out,  for now it is every day of putting out fires and hoping to keep the next one from starting.

More good news for us was that we had snow,  but not the snow Milwaukee, or the East Coast received.   So I had plenty of exercise moving snow  but it certainly was manageable.   The mornings have still been very cold though,  most of  last week was near zero or below.  This week they are predicting a little warmer weather,  staying well above that zero mark.

We are preparing the basement for a plumber to come in on Tuesday.  I broke down and hired someone to move our laundry tub and washer hook up.  I could do it but probably take more hours than needed.  And I have not had much extra time.   The most  time will be spent putting the drain pipe together to go into the unit our downstairs toilet sits on.  From there an ejector pump pumps it up so it can go out the sewer pipe.   One of those projects I have been thinking of and is getting closer to needing to be done.   And we will have the ejector pump replaced.  20 years of pumping shit up hill has to take its toll.  And as the plumber said,  it is much easier to replace on your own terms than when they go out when most needed!

So hopefully that gets done and then we head out of town on Wednesday.   Wednesday afternoon down to Milwaukee and fly out to West Palm Beach.   10:30 Wednesday night we should be in West Palm with Bev and Wally.  Looking forward to it!  Floridians,  break out the sun!   So you will hear from us on how the weather is!

I-pod is charged, tickets are on the counter, camera ready to go.   Have yourself a great week.

So hope everyone has had a good week.   I don’t think we know anyone currently on the East coast,  and digging out.  Weather is mild here.  Just did some cleaning up in the yard and trimmed the apple trees.   I trimmed them last winter and one tree had more apples than we have ever had.   So trimmed the other one back even further this year,  and will see if we can force something to blossom.

We had a great brunch with the neighbors after church today.   Went to Robbins and they do a wonderful job.   So don’t need much to eat the rest of the day!   About to work on my homebrew club newsletter,  have an exec meeting this week and will miss the regular meeting next week as we head to Florida.  I can deal with that.    So I will dig up some articles as I start watching the super bowl and get the framework in place to add the minutes and last minute updates.

The week went by quickly,  both Chris and I have a lot going on at work.   But I did leave on time one night this week so we could go out for Chris’s birthday.  Had a nice Italian meal at a restaurant we had not been to before.   But now the birthdays are out of the way for the year!

Other than that not much new.   Just enjoying the fact that the temperatures are warmer and hope they stay.   Starting to think spring!  So the big game about to start.  I am thinking Indy,  I like Peyton Manning,  but I won’t be too disapointed either way.  Next year Packers……

So enjoy,  keep life in perspective.

Randy

And hopefully the end of the super cold weather, as it should be.  But it seems that was not true last year.   One morning this week I looked the thermometer outside when I went for the paper in the morning and it was -16.  Luckily I had been on the treadmill first and my body had some warmth going on.   But it is getting better and today was warmer, and the next few days the trend should continue.  Of course the sun will go away and we may get some snow,   but still better than below zero.

Other wise it was a busy work week for both of us.  Still lot’s of challenges but getting better.  Certainly not boring and no lack of things to do!

We did get out to a movie this week.  Chris and I went to see Avatar 3D.   Pretty amazing movie.   I was pretty tired that night but am still thinking about it and HOW did they make the movie.  And the 3d is pretty amazing also.   Go see it,  something there for everyone.  If ‘you don’t like the story line you can marvel at the effects and ‘how did they do that”?

And we ended the week spending some time with Mom,  and had the chance to go out with old friends John and Mary Koss.   And we went out to a place we did many years ago, Pitch’s.  The ribs and hashbrowns were as good as we remembered them.  Which doesn’t happen often.

So time t0 start the next week.  I am sure it will go quickly for me, and that means getting closer to the next Florida trip mid month.  Can’t wait to see Wally and Bev and get WARM.

Enjoy life!

Another week gone by.  It has been a busy one.    My new job title is Regional Buyer.  So some of my old responsibilities have changed, and added some new ones.   So I have more plants to watch over and more items to take care of.   I used to take care of all outsourcing,  which are items that we cannot do in our plant and need to find vendors to do.   I also found other RRD facilities,  which has been a big push with the economy down – keep the dollars inside RRD.  I will still do the outsourcing,  but not be as involved once I cut a PO, and will not deal with the RRD plants.   I will now do that for 3 other plants also,  although they have no where near the volume we do in Menasha.   I also have other commodities that will be under my watch.   One person in our plant was cut and they name 3 of us as regional buyers.  Unfortunately one of the 3 resigned on Tuesday.   So for the moment I have a lot of new commodities, at least temporarily!   So it has been a week of trying to learn new things,  lot’s of conference calls and meetings.  Monday I still have to go to two of our new plants for a sit down and go through responsibilities.  And hopefully as the week goes on I have more time to do my job!  Now I know why my boss did not want me to take time off in January,  I had told him we had a long weekend planned in Feb.  so we have that to look forward to.  The next few weeks will continue to be ‘from hell’.  But it will start to get better.

We had a wonderful time on Friday night,  having our neighbors over for our holiday party.  A few people could not make it   but still had a nice showing and had the chance to really catch up with good friends.  I always seem to be in a rush to come or go,  and we seldom sit and talk.    Another thing I need to get better at!

Saturday I went into work for awhile.  Chris started taking down the tree,  I won’t let it down before my birthday!   So once the party was over it was slated to come down.  Chris did most of the work,  taking off the ornaments and wrapping them up.  Then the rest of the decorations.   So now they are wrapped, packed, and put away in the garage.    The house looks rather empty.

Luckily we did not get as much rain as I heard forecast.  Not a lot of down pours.  So the water seems to be running off well.   And the road does not look too bad,  which is important as the temperature is supposed to be dropping tonight and back to the cold.  The last couple of days near 40,  amazing for January.  A lot of the snow has melted off the roofs and the tops of the trailers, which is good.   Hopefully when it gets cold we do get to see some sunshine,  as that has been pretty scarce.    It sure has been easy to heat the house with the fireplace.   in the upper 20’s and 30’s Chris does not like the fire going much,  because the house continues to get warmer.  OK with me!

So the first football game is over, and I am happy with the colts winning.  Guess who I am NOT rooting for in the second game.

So have a great week.  I expect to be tired and ready for the next weekend to come, but will take it one day at a time.     Enjoy,  have a good beer.