Spooner Weather

By Uncle Hans

A blog about the weather in northern Wisconsin! It is out of frustration and to make the rest of you all feel pretty damned good! This was the view out of the front windows this morning................



......and this is the snowblower I took off the tractor........a MONTH ago! Last year we had a "late" snow (mid march) which was wet and heavy. The blower plugged up and the impeller got bent and had to be welded. So this year I took it off the tractor to avoid being tempted into being stupid again when the wet, heavy late winter snow came............



.........the snow came last night, about a month late, and six inches. This is how far I got in the car. It is deceptive looking, but the snow is wet and heavy and there is a coating of ice underneath because it started out as rain. With the car stuck in the driveway, I resorted to the all-wheel-drive van.....



.....so, I set out on my day of work, two surgeries in two different towns and 120 miles of driving. The main roads were actually pretty good and the scenery was beautiful, for, say, January or February........














.........................and this is what our road looked like at 2 PM when I got home from traveling and working. They had not plowed......



.......and when I got home and maneuvered the van past the car stuck in the driveway. I was so depressed by the weather that I went first to check on Renee's spring flower plantings in the south-facing window in the bathroom.

   

Yes, they are doing well

Yes, there will be a spring

Yes, that IS a Christmas cactus blooming next to the young flowers
and, Yes, it IS STILL SNOWING LIKE HELL!!


By Uncle Hans

MARY’S BIRTHDAY

OOPS….

I DIDN’T POST A BLOG FOR MARY’S BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY. WITH OR WITHOUT A BLOG, TODAY SHE’S A YEAR OLDER. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY !!!

WE BOTH GOT A KICK OUT OF THIS BIRTHDAY CARD UNCLE HANS AND RENEE SENT TO HER.

 

THE INSIDE OF THE CARD SAID,

“ANOTHER YEAR OLDER AND NO SIGN OF SLOWING DOWN. HAPPY BIRTHDAY”

MARY HAD $10 FREE PLAY AND A $5 FOOD COMP AT THE COLORADO BELLE CASINO, SO WE HEADED UP TO LAUGHLIN.

A CASINO PARKING GARAGE IS THE PERFECT PLACE TO WAX THE CAR.

 

THAT’S WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE SPRING “TO DO LIST”, THERE ARE ONLY TWO ITEMS ON THE LIST, WAX THE CAR, AND WAX THE TRUCK. UNLIKE THE FALL LIST THAT GOES ON AND ON AND ON.

OF COURSE NOW THAT WE OWN  ANOTHER TRAILER UP ON THE MOUNTAIN, I SUPPOSE THERE WILL BE A SUMMER LIST?

MOSTLY WE ARE IN A HOLDING PATTERN COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS (27) TILL OUR WISCONSIN VACATION. THIS PICTURE KINDA SUMS UP OUR NON-WORKING HOURS…..

 

MARY HAS THE PUZZEL TABLE ALL SET UP, AND REX HAS HIS SCOOTER TO PLAY WITH.

Timber !!!

By Uncle Hans

Here is the problem. Our place is full of beautiful mature oak trees, all infested by some sort of carpenter ants and all weakened. All are at risk of falling and crushing something, and, in this bad boy's case, the garage............

.............this picture shows the problem, he is hollow at the base. A good windstorm and down he comes......

........here are the complicating factors. These three little maple trees that I transplanted last fall, not thinking about where the big oak would fall. It looks like the big tree, if not dropped just so, will wipe out these three little trees.....and the garage as well.........

......enter Handy Dan, my neighbor and the guy on this blog to "go to" when there are problems like this (for example, he and I BUILT the garage in the first place). His little friend is called a skidder, no idea why, but it is used in the woods to harvest trees.......

........so a cable is attached to the tree and the skidder is moved a safe distance away. The winch on the skidder puts tension on the tree. Then Dan "notches" the tree on the side that we want the tree to fall toward. (he is doing this in the picture). Then he goes to the opposite side and makes the main cut, just above the level of the notch......

.......Result?................................... A perfect shot! Not even the branches touched the garage......

......this is how close the branches came to one little tree, but they caused no damage.......

.....But then Dan and the skidder left and the minimum wage people were left to clean up the mess (we don't have illegal's in Spooner and actually have to do our OWN cleanup!) That tree will supply about one half of our annual firewood supply, but we burn "recreationally", not for heat.

By Uncle Hans

Bellagio Gardens

One of my favorite places to visit in Vegas is the Garden at the Bellagio.  They change the theme of it 3 or 4 times a year.  This theme is spring and butterflies.  Enjoy the pictures of the Bellagio Garden.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a live butterfly or maybe it’s really a moth and it is huge, I’d guess it’s 6 or 7 inches.

 

 

 

 

 

This a floral representation of a picture by Andy Warhol.  If you look close you can tell that it is a bunch of shoes. I didn’t recognize it as shoes until I saw a  copy of the painting.

 

 

The Bellagio Garden is worth the checking out whenever you find yourself in Sin City.