DATE TREE?

Opening Day

By Todd Wilkinson

Tyler and I had a good opening day..

EDITOR’S NOTE: TODD IS MARY’S NEPHEW, AND OUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR. IF YOU NEED TODD’S FINANCIAL ADVICE GIVE HIM A CALL IN PRAIRE DU CHEIN, WI.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM THE MOHAVE VALLEY, AND A NON-TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING DINNER.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving from Spooner. Renee saw in a magazine where you could take the breasts off of a turkey and stuff it with stuffing and tied all back together with twine. This is what it looks like. But it tastes good.

The weather is here I wish you were beautiful

Still 2 for 4 dollars!

On our last walk(: 

Sun is going down on this south padre adventure. We're coming back in March

By Uncle Hans

LOCAL CAR SHOW

COOL HOOD

I’VE NEVER BEEN TO A CAR SHOW WITHOUT A ‘57 CHEVY. ARE THEY STILL MAKING THEM IN MEXICO OR SOMETHING?

UP NEXT …….

WAX ON, WAX OFF ……..

Cart Escalator

By Uncle Hans

I know I am a country bumpkin, but I was in the city recently and found this.  This is an escalator that you can take your shopping cart on.  It was in a Menard's  (Menard's is a regional franchise that competes with Lowe's and Home Depot, which are national)  Their stores, like all these DIY (Do It Yourself) places, sprawl out to cover a lot of square feet.  But what about in the city, where each square foot of retail land is quite expensive?  How do you have an "upstairs" in a shopping experience that is "cart based"?

     I just have not seen this before.  This store opened less than a year ago.  Anyone else seen this?

    It is an idea that ain't coming to Spooner any time soon, where a square of retail-zoned land costs a nickel.......

By Uncle Hans

OUT BOAT SHOPPING?

New Door

By Uncle Hans

We have this cool old door downstairs that is extra- wide (40 inches).  Great for moving furniture and  equipment in and out.  But it was original from 1961 and was so worn out that snow would accumulate under the sill inside.    The dimensions (40 by 74) made it hopelessly "non-standard" and it took a long time to find a replacement.  After considering buying one "close" to correct and modifying it, I finally decided to order a "cu$tom" door.  Yeah.   $$$  like $750!  Ouch.  After waiting 6 weeks, it finally arrived.....with some problems.  After spending that kind of money, I could not bring myself to hire someone to install it.

  But the "custom" door had only 3 hinge pockets and the frame had 4.  Hmmmmm.  and the 3 hinge pockets it had were rounded and my hinges were square.  Hmmmm.

Quite a few Milwaukee's Best (The Beast) and quite a bit of !@#$% and presto!  It was installed.  Another "jobli" completed (but it needs paint.)

By Uncle Hans

EDITOR’S NOTE: THE PICTURES ARE BY UNCLE HANS, I WAS NOT IN SPOONER OR INVOLVED WITH THIS PROJECT IN ANY WAY.

MORNING HIKE

Canadian Geese

By Uncle Hans

The Canadian Geese are on the move and Cable Lake is a convenient "Wayside Rest' on the freeway to Mexico (or wherever they go).  They don't eat, they don't talk, they don' move much, they just float around a few hours and take off again.

                                                                                                Cool...............

By Uncle Hans

THE BOUNDRY CONE

ARIZONA SUNRISE

Early Snow Storm

By Uncle Hans

Yawn.....     another picture from Cable Lake with a lot of snow in it.  But the date was interesting.  We had an early storm, in November with 15 inches of snow, lots of wind and drifting, and followed by a plunge in the temp..   Big deal.....

     The spooky thing is that 74 years ago, almost to the hour, there was a nasty storm that ended up in the record books as "The Armistice Day Blizzard".  On November 11 1940, it was sunny, even into the mid 60's in many areas.  The duck hunters were giddy, and all piled into their blinds for one last shot at the ducks in shirt sleeves.  This storm hit like a ton of bricks, and totally unannounced. The temp dropped 50 degrees in several hours.  Record low barometric pressures were recorded.  It was  a large area, but mostly Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

  Like ours, snowfall was about 15 inches.  People were stranded, many on islands in the Mississippi river around Lacrosse.  Some drowned and most froze to death because they did not dress warmly (it was in the 60's!).  145 people perished.  I played volleyball last night with someone who's great-grandfather died in Hibbing.  He was hunting, by himself.

  The National Weather Service was centered in Chicago, and made radical changed in the way conditions were reported and forecasts made and distributed after that storm.  We knew about our storm at least 72 hours in advance.  School was out for two days, the first day they called school before the first flake fell.

     And they were right.  strange.

    If we can get the RV out of the garage, we are off to Texas to lay on the beach in a few days.  And veteran's Day is not about a big storm.  It is about remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our way of life......

 

By Uncle Hans

I HATE THE DENTIST

Timsan’s

By Uncle Hans

.....our favorite night out while playing "surgeon for hire" is a Japanese restaurant called Timsan's.  I have since tried to reproduce the ginger sauce at home and came close.  But there is no way to recreate the very hot grill and the flavors it  creates with the ginger sauce.  MMMMMMMMMMMM!!

By Uncle Hans

SUNNY & 80

THIS IS THAT TIME OF THE YEAR TO BE BRAGGING ABOUT OUR FALL WEATHER, “SUNNY & 80”. IT TRULY IS BEAUTIFUL FOR NOVEMBER. WE’RE IN SHORTS AND T-SHIRTS, AND WE’RE STILL SLEEPING WITH THE DOORS AND WINDOWS OPEN.

ONE PROBLEM I’M HAVING THIS YEAR IS MY DAYS OFF. FOR THE LAST 13 YEARS I’VE HAD SUNDAY AND MONDAY OFF, PERFECT FOR WATCHING MY PACKERS FOOTBALL GAMES. THIS YEAR I’M ONLY WORKING FOUR DAYS A WEEK, AND I HAVE WED., THUR., AND FRI. OFF. MY HEAD GETS A LITTLE MIXED UP ON WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK IT IS, AND OH, HOW I MISS WATCHING MY PACKER GAMES!

AS THE BROTHERS MOVE THEIR MOTORCYCLES TO THE BACK OF THEIR GARAGES, REX AND THE SCOOTER ARE GETTING OUT AT LEAST TWICE A WEEK. EAT YOUR HEART OUT…….

   “SUNNY AND 80”

Hill Billy Hell

By Uncle Hans

We spent a few days across the state playing "surgeon for hire".  We found this Halloween light display.  Not sure what it means...................

 

This town has a new barbeque place called Bubba's.  Kind of a knock-off on Famous Dave's  Those of you familiar with Famous Dave's would be interested to know that the original restaurant is near Dave's home in Hayward.  It is one of our favorite motorcycle/ snowmobile stops.  They would also be saddened to hear that it burned to the ground a few nights ago.  Undaunted, Dave plans to reopen temporarily in a pole barn at his house in a couple of weeks.
     Bubba has a pig to ride at his store.......

 

...................But, if Renee is planning to ride Bubba's pig to Dave's pole barn, she needs to find a new direction........................ 

 

Have you ever heard the old saying "like trying to put lipstick on a pig"?   

By Uncle Hans

MUSIC

CAN YOU HEAR THE MUSIC? IT’S TIM MACGRAW WEEK-END IN LAUGHLIN. WE WERE IN TOWN ON FRIDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE SATURDAY NIGHT CONCERT TO HEAR THIS WARM UP BAND IN THE PARKING LOT OF THE GOLDEN NUGGET.

 

THEY WERE SELLING 16 OZ BEERS FOR $5. THEY WERE COLD BUT NOT AS GOOD AS THE $2 BUSH LIGHTS AT THE WANNA WANNA BEACH BAR…….

UP NEXT

BREAKFAST WITH BUD

WE MET PAULIE FOR BREAKFAST AT THE OLD NUGGET IN SEARCHLITE, NV. IT WAS GREAT TO GET TOGETHER AND FILL HIM IN AND GET FILLED IN. HERE IS A PICTURE FOR AMY AND JUDY.

YA…….. THOSE ARE OUR BEER BOTTLES ON THE BAR BEHIND US, SO LET’S SAY WE MET PAULIE FOR LUNCH……..

BACK TO WORK

YESTERDAY WAS OUR FIRST DAY BACK TO WORK, AS DEALERS, IN THE CASINO. THIS MAKES OUR 15TH WINTER AT THE SAME LAUGHLIN CASINO. OF COURSE IT WAS GOOD TO SEE OLD FRIENDS AND MEET NEW DEALERS HIRED OVER THE SUMMER. IT ONLY TAKES ONE DAY TO HEAR THE STORIES OF SUMMER AND THEN IT’S LIKE WE NEVER LEFT. THE BEST STORY WAS A COUPLE OF DEALERS THAT GOT INTO A FIST FIGHT, BOTH WERE FIRED.

WE HAVE A COUNTER ON OUR HOME PAGE THAT COMES UP WHEN WE BOOT UP THE COMPUTER AND IT WAS COUNTING THE DAYS SINCE WE WORKED LAST, 189 DAYS. THE COUNTER WAS RESET TO COUNT DOWN THE DAYS UNTIL WE QUIT WORK FOR NEXT SUMMER, 173 DAYS. THAT’S 25 WEEKS UNTIL SUMMER !!!

I GOT AN E-MAIL FROM UNCLE HANS YESTERDAY CONFIRMING OUR RESERVATIONS AT HIS CONDOS ON SOUTH PADRE ISLAND. NEXT YEAR HE HAS BLOCKED OUT THE WHOLE MONTH OF OCTOBER FOR BOTH CONDOS. WHAT A GREAT WAY TO WIND DOWN THE SUMMER ON ‘DA BEACH, THANKS UNCLE HANS !!!

TOMORROW IT’S HALF WAY TO VEGAS (SEARCHLIGHT, NV) TO MEET PAULIE FOR BREAKFAST AND RE-TELL OUR STORIES OF SUMMER AND GET CAUGHT UP WITH PAUL AND HIS NEW JOB.

   “SUNNY & 75”

Leftovers

We emptied out the camera today and found a few leftover pictures of South Padre.  So I guess I’ll do a post about them.

Yes there was a farmers market on Padre.  Wasn’t very big and had some really strange looking produce that I sincerely wished I had taken pictures of, but it was interesting.

A few other people found it too!

At the Coral Reef while watching the Packer game one Sunday, a couple from Danbury, WI. was telling us about a great flea market we should check out.  We did and I was not impressed, but that didn’t stop me from spending about $50.  But I think I will skip this experience next year.

The tractor they use to clean all the seaweed off the beach.  They usually had to do this daily.

Isn’t this beautiful?  The last sunrise we saw at the beach.  As usual, it didn’t disappoint.

 

And now we are back in Mohave Valley and seeing the beautiful Boundary Cone!

And I guess it’s true that all good things come to an end.  Next week, after 189 days off, we go back to work…….