We are into November. Summer has gone quickly and it is starting to feel like winter already! It has not been as nice a fall as we would have liked. But we have had some fun in spite of the weather. In September we had some guests. Old friends Jeff and Jeff stopped by for some golf. VW was headed to Spooner to winterize his cabin. Right after that Tiffany and Steve came by for a couple of days and we had a chance to give them a taste of Oshkosh. Then I dried out for a few days! And we started hitting our blood tests and doctor appointments. We came through just fine there. Dental appointments got a little more interesting. I did get to bottle a big batch of beer with my friend Mark, a Russian Imperial Stout we will try to store until next summer. Chris and I also did some Oshkosh tours of the Museum and then the Paine Arboretum. The Arboretum had special Tiffany collection presentation that was beautiful. And Chris and I spent a couple of days in New Glarus (southwest Wisconsin) for their Octoberfest. We visited Monroe WI for a nice lunch and visit at the National Cheese Museum. Chris has been going to Swiss influenced New Glarus since she was a young girl and we really like the small town. Of course besides great Swiss food it is home to one of the best breweries in the country. After New Glarus it was home for a few days and then up to Door County. Judy kindly hosted us for a night and tried to keep us there by having a tree drop down on the driveway! A storm blew through during the night and dropped a number of trees in the area. But with some help from a friend that was cleaned up pretty easily, and Chris and I headed to Washington Island for our annual trip with a great group of friends. We took the car ferry over and arrived on a nice day and got in some outside time and corn hole. The next days were not quite as nice but we still got in some biking and hiking. And of course lots of good food and beer! Steve even brought out his accordion and we had a musical evening sing and dance along! It is nice to be able to take over the full resort. We all renewed our bitters club membership by having our full shots of bitters! Once back from Door County I headed south. Chris and I planned to redo our Florida bathrooms and wanted to get that done before we arrived in December. So I worked with our Florida contractor to set up the day after I flew down and they were there as promised. I did as much preparation as I could removing racks, handicap bars, and sink cabinets. The main goal was to remove the tub in the guest bathroom as we never use it nor do any guests. And as some of us get older it is much easier to not have to step into a tub. We picked out the same tile for each bathroom and the guys did a great job. They stripped down to the studs and put up new concrete board and built new shower pans in each bathroom. They finished ahead of time for me and we love the way it looks. Everything is finished except ordering glass doors for our shower, which will be a special order. I did a lot of wall patching and have everything cleaned and painted. There will probably be a little touch up needed when I get a fresh look but I feel good about what was accomplished. I wanted to be home for Chris’s visit to an oral surgeon. Our dentist found an issue under a crown she had over several teeth. Unfortunately the issue turned out to be a tooth that needed to be extracted and the area needs to have bone growth helped so next summer a post can be added and then and implant placed some months later. First step is done and so far she is doing well. She just got a single crown for one tooth next to the issue. If she continues to progress as well we will head out on the road next week. The forecast is for high temperatures in the 30’s later next week and we prefer not to be here for that. So the initial plan is to Cedar Rapids for a couple of days, then Kansas City to visit Nancee and Steve, then decide on the route to New Mexico for a couple of weeks. After Thanksgiving we will head out again for Florida. The next month will be more fun and excitement!
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