MONDAY MUSINGS: WIND TAKEN OUT OF SAILS AT JERSEY SHORE

Have you ever returned to a place which holds good memories and been terrible disappointed? Well, that's what happened at our last car picnic. It wasn't me that kept repeating "it used to be so beautiful" as I had never been there before...

Our car picnics have been a welcomed breathe of fresh air where sometimes we even are able to leave our car. Before we left home Natureman reminded me to wear good shoes not sandals as this was a place we could go walking in a nearby area located in Westby, less than a half hour's drive.

Natureman's 35 year old family memories of this place were of a beautiful park with lake for fishing, hiking and swimming. Arriving to a parking area with just one car should have been a red flag. 

The lake, Jersey Lake had been drained... It was still a serene sight to me with a variety of ducks swimming around but understandably a shock to Natureman.

Let me digress with Google knowledge about Jersey Park upon our return home... 

brochure pic

The once summer attraction of 371 acre Jersey Park was popular for its main feature, its lake for with a great beach, swimming and fishing. For you fishermen it was well stocked with bluegill, crappie, perch, trout and largemouth bass. 

 This man made lake was part of the Land Reform bill with a large flood control dam fork the west for of the Kickapoo River and Peaceful Valley Stream. What we saw on Friday was no longer a 36 ft. deep lake for motorless boating but maybe a kayak???

At the mention of a dam you might be able to surmise that dam is no longer. Remember me talking about continued flooding after the large rains the last couple of years. Well, that dam was washed out and FEMA monies obviously were not enough to cover replacing it along with with other area infrastructure needs. IS this why our flooding downstream has been so much more severe?

Apparently this wasn't the first time the lake had been drained though. One winter a CAFO (" Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation/ agricultural facilities that house and feed a large number of animals in a confined area ) had dumped their sewage on frozen ground which ended up in the lake polluting the pristine water. Yuckola... 

Back to our car picnic time. 

Since there was a large family in the pavillion area we had just sat in our car facing the lake which still held a serene beauty. We discovered the 2014 Eagle Scout project of a concrete sidewalk and accessible fishing decks high now resting high above the remaining water. 

We'll have to return sometime to hike the challenging 3 mile trail encircling the entire lake which runs through the forest with hills included/ the narrow trail which originates(d) where we were along its northern and eastern shoreline. We didn't explore to see how established those intended trails became... Natureman's wind had been taken out of his sails... 

FOTO FRIDAY: TWINKLE OF AN EYE

This FOTO FRIDAY is special as its photo  has to do with a memory of my friend Jean who loved violets. At her celebration of life I decorated the tables with violets. 

Friends and relatives were offered a violet to take home with them and since neither her niece nor nephew wanted to worry about a plant on the plane, I inherited theirs. One, I gifted to a mutual friend who couldn't make it that day and the remaining one I kept. 

After the violent blooms were spent, the violet put all its energies into leaf production. Then finally after months of being just green, it put its heart into blooming. 

There's a little sparkle on the delicate petals that reminds me of the twinkle in Jean's eyes...

Last week's FOTO FRIDAY was GARDEN GUESTS

TBT: TERRIBLE THREES?

TBT: We've all heard of folks with children referring to the terrible 2's, but what if a child doesn't go through the terrible 2's, will there be terrible 3's? 

That is yet to be determined as Ms. H, the youngest granddaughter turned 3 yesterday. 

Her Mom  was kind enough to unknowing help me with today's photo montage below indicating 'heredity' certainly is apparent. Here is Ms. H. flanked by her parents, all at 3 years old.

 Ms H.'s Mom was a good natured 3 year old so if genetics has anything to do with disposition, "3" should be a really great year!

MONDAY MUSINGS:THE OMISSIONS

Political conventions can't be the same due to Covid 19 and so there's a lot missing, especially all those people. Speeches abound but the faces are different this year. The 'modern' party's emphasis is on diversity and age.

Yet, our household conversation this past weekend was about what has not been mentioned in the 'moving' convention speeches. Maybe a little tiptoeing around some of them. Strategic? Probably.

Sometimes it's what people don't say which really affect our daily lives. It's not like the 'other' side is going to ignore these topics/ are they?

Before throwing out our list, how 'bout you supply what you missed hearing about... 

Let's talk. Just comment on FB/ on the blog site... 

FOTO FRIDAY: GARDEN GUESTS

FOTO FRIDAY this week deals with uninvited guests. This has nothing to do with Covid 19 either. We definitely have a yearly conflict with 4 legged uninvited garden guests. If the plants don't have a chance to get started, there won't be a crop. 

Whether it's chipmunks, rabbits, raccoons, possums/deer our dog Balto does little to deter them so other means are implemented. Our live cage and Natureman have worked overtime to dissuade these guests and take them (deer excluded)  to new homes with larger woodlands.  

Adios to another 4 legged fellow. Enjoy your new home. The chickens won't miss you.

Last week's FOTO FRIDAY was HAIRLESS WIG

TBT: WOOD RICH 2012

All of this talk about Natureman and his wood pile made today's TBT to 2012 pretty obvious.  Come with me back in time and you'll understand...

Life in the End of the Rainbow Valley is never dull and certainly different than the first half of my life. Perhaps this is why some of my friends told me that I needed to blog. The last time I blogged was about another country, El Salvador, so welcome to my foreign 'country' life, that's not so foreign anymore...

My first topic is WOOD. The End of the Rainbow Valley is really at the end of a mile long dirt road in the back of a valley with a barn, chicken coop, two houses, the old and new house, surrounded by woods - lots and lots of trees on 44 acres. Some of you may not know that we heat with wood. That's right. Don't worry we have back up systems : a furnace, in floor heat in addition to a wood stove and our main source heat, an Ukranian stove. 

The Ukranian stove is not a typical fireplace with a flue going straight up but a flue that zig zags back and forth, warming the stones which also throw out heat. One request 'Natureman' had with the new house was that we would still heat with wood as he wanted to continue living light on the earth, not consuming more electricity/ gas than necessary. I concurred as long as he was the one chopping! Stacking, hauling and starting a fire are all skills that I have perfected although I am not the one one does the majority of all the above. 

After 30 some years chopping all the wood does get old and last year we opted for slab wood to be delivered in addition to the wood gathered from downed trees and recent storms. I was not, I repeat 'not' ready for the new pile to arrive before summer has even started. BUT a humongous pile greeted me when I returned home one day last week.

 I was not a happy camper as I just wanted to look out the window and not see wood which I equate with winter. But a man's worth in the country is his 'pile of wood' and let me tell you we are WOOD RICH. When I left the valley on Friday there was a mountain of wood needing to be stacked. When Natureman told me he was planning on stacking wood while I was gone, I laughed and said jokingly "so, it will be done upon my return, right?" I never in my wildest dreams believed that 5 cords would be stacked by my return. After spending the weekend in Milwaukee I returned to this sight - 

WHAT A NATUREMAN! Am I a lucky girl or what? I am certainly RICH in many ways.

SPICING IT UP...

It smells so good inside the house right now and I know whose fault it is... 

It's mine and it's all due to an eggplant that just needed to be eaten. Thanks to ALLRECIPES.com for having Marrakesh Vegetable Curry, a Morrocan meal as one of their eggplant recipes served with coconut rice.

It was such a hit at our dinner table,  I'm sharing, So here's what you'll need and what I substituted in parenthesis.

1 sweet potato, peeled & cubed (potato)

1 medium eggplant, cubed

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 carrots, (7-1/2") carrot, chopped

1 onion, chopped

6 T olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 t ground turmeric

1 T curry powder

1 t ground cinnamon

¾ T sea salt

¾ t cayenne pepper

1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, drained ( black bean)

¼ c blanched almonds

1 zucchini, sliced

2 T raisins

1 c orange juice

10 oz spinach (swiss chard)

Directions :

1. In large Dutch oven/ electric skillet place sweet potato, eggplant, peppers, carrots, onion, and 3 T oil. Saute over medium heat 5 min.

2. In medium saucepan add 3 T of olive oil, the garlic, turmeric, curry powder, cinnamon, salt & pepper on medium heat 3 min.

3. Pour garlic and spice mixture into Dutch oven with vegetables. Add garbanzo beans, almonds, zucchini, raisins, and orange juice. Simmer 20 minutes, covered.

4. Add spinach to pot and cook for 5 more minutes. Serve!

POWER OF ADJECTIVES for WE, THE PEOPLE

Remember those parts of speech called 'adjectives?  I had a couple of staunch grammarians during my education who imprinted the importance of those 'modifiers', those 'describing' words called adjectives. We were taught adjectives will give your readers more information about the noun whether it is the subject/ the direct/indirect object. Adjectives will make your writing more interesting...  

Last night one heard a lot of adjectives if you were listening to the same program.  It wasn't my intention to watch the program but just transfer it from my phone/laptop to our Smart TV for Natureman. My intention was to go to another room and continue reading my book. 

Well, guess what?  I found myself not moving as each person on the screen shared their descriptors... adjectives like decent, respectful, experienced, courageous, passionate, empathetic, caring and resilient; a man of wisdom, dignity and integrity. His 'own' man.

These adjectives spoke of the kind of person one would want as a leader, someone to help us, We the People, find our 'common ground' again. 

The truth is those grammarian teachers didn't tell me "adjectives" could be so powerful, they could make me cry. But these did because I have missed seeing them embodied by the person now living in the White House.

Yes, it was the first night of the Democratic Convention 2020 via a YouTube Live broadcast and the man they were describing is the democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden...

MICHELLE SAYS IT LIKE IT IS...

MONDAY MUSING:A MAN'S GOTTA DO WHAT A MAN'S GOTTA DO

Everybody has a different idea of how they like to fill their free time... Since I usually start my days much earlier than my other half, my day is almost over for the outside by the time Natureman finishes his morning regimen inside.

Feeling better Natureman had gone back to whittling down 'his' wood pile and stacking while I finished watching The Twelve, a Flemish series and Sugar Rush. 

Should it be mentioned that Natureman is complaining of not feeling well again? 

Hmmm, woodpile, swiss chard and pesto making this weekend 'might' have been a little too much... 

He'll be checking in with his doc today. 
A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

FOTO FRIDAY: HAIRLESS/ WIG?

 FOTO FRIDAY: It's not just hairdressers that are removing hair from the floor. In our household our vacuum cleaner gets such a workout. 



Our Husky Shepard mix dog knows how to shed. Two coats and it's summertime.  Even though Natureman had brushed Balto the day before hair was still coming out as he was being pet the next day.

That night after the kids left and Natureman was on the phone in another room, I started brushing. This is just from one side but it looks like a new coiffeur for the pooch.

I had to show the total amount removed from that sitting.  It looks like he gave birth, doesn't it?

Any knitters out there that would like a new project?

So any hair pics to show us?

Last week's FOTO FRIDAY was :REAPING THE REWARDS

MASKLESS?

On a mail drop off in the next town's post office I parked on a side street since Main Street is under road construction. After  grabbing the mail off the front seat and donning gloves, I was almost to the post office's door when it dawned on me my mask was still sitting on the front seat. I trudged back to the car, grabbed it and put it on.  

Upon my return there on the post office's door was a sign with bold lettering  which read masks needed to enter. But wouldn't you know upon entering the tiny post office there inside was a guy picking up his mail maskless?  I side stepped the maskless guy as best I could, opened the mail slot to drop in the letters and hightailed it. 

How have we as a society become so selfish feeling we don't have to follow rules even for safety's sake of others much less ourselves? Why did they even have to make a rule for inside? Inside or out there's this airborne virus.

On Face Book last night my joy of looking at a friend's son's wedding photos quickly turned to sadness as it was obvious there was not one single mask in sight. Chairs were not set apart either. Why would folks have a large gathering with the people you love the most ie family and friends and not even wear masks? 

I just don't get it. Bottomline is this virus is going to be around a lot longer than necessary unless we all start wearing masks...

Teach your children well...
MASKLESS?

SOCIAL DISTANCING

Just like nothing had happened Natureman awoke feeling better yesterday. His gravelly voice had subsided as did some of the stomach issues. I stayed out of the kitchen as he made what he wanted for breakfast, thankful he was eating. 

Out of town friends were on our day's agenda. Friends, we hadn't seen since our visit to Arizona over a year ago, were passing through en route cross country. They promised to wear masks and we would do social distance visiting on our screened in porch.  The one request I asked of Natureman was to please not do any garden nor wood work before their visit. He said he wasn't planning on it. Okay.

Rain helped dissuade him but I saw him eyeing the pile of wood. You could just tell he was itching to move more wood. A big 'thank you' to all who have offered to help. He just isn't ready to share 'the fun.' 

Our friends arrived midday but had eaten a late large breakfast and since we usually don't eat lunch until afternoon during the summer, we visited as the light rain came and went. The guys had spoken about going shore fishing as they used to do although Natureman wasn't so sure if he was game.  Knowing his stomach could cooperate eventually changed his mind. The guys took off in separate cars and went down to Goose Island to use some of that purchased live bait while we girls caught up on our lives...

Natureman returned content after having caught 3 fish; 2 small bass and a Northern. The latter had been fun to reel in... I was glad he hadn't brought it home as fileting it is not exactly easy. Nobody wanted to eat the lunch I had in mind so we just snacked and visited a bit more.  

It was great to be able to spend some time together as who knows when we will see other again. I'm getting a little teary eyed just thinking about it. They were my first friends moving to this area...

Today one of Natureman's sisters and her husband are RV'ing down the road a bit so he'll also get to see them. Since we won't be traveling I'm very thankful for the possibility of social distance visiting outside...

MONDAY MUSINGS: OVERDOING

This past week has been a tough week for us as actually the chemo combo 'had' been pretty smooth sailing. Yep, the operative word being had. Sure, there were some minor showings of the known side effects but where there is usually calm the third week that was not the case this round. 

Each day Natureman would go to work in the garden. Corn to be picked and beans to be canned. Inbetween he would tackle the huge pile of wood waiting to be stacked and each day he would return to the house complaining of not feeling well. Muscle and head aches, stomach issues...  

It's August and time to let the garden go, we have plenty and a third of the pile is gone.'Overdoing' is not helping nor is temporary relief of over the counter drugs.

Appetite waning and diet adjustments eliminating those taunting fresh veggies. Natureman insists he just isn't hungry. He'd want to skip meals and I would be like a pusher trying to get anything in him including snack attempts.  As each day passes fatigue takes over as chores and even daily walks seem too demanding. There was talk of placing an ad in Craigslist to sell the goats. Proof, the man is not feeling well.

Finally, he conceded and telephoned the on call Doc this weekend. The decision was made to stop taking the daily chemo pills  for right now with a steroid ordered for his hospital infusion day Wednesday.

It is disheartening but we really have been so lucky. 

Yep, that stacked area is 5 rows deep...

Fingers crossed he can get some relief and also understand 'overdoing' is not the remedy...

FOTO FRIDAY: REAPING THE REWARDS

FOTO FRIDAY comes with great rewards after a full morning and part of an afternoon if you read yesterday TBT. So what's a better way to enjoy it than to make sure that garden project gets right on one's dinner plate.



Last night we had a corn salad dinner and it was yummy. Friend Nancy shared one of her favorites Fresh Corn Salad recipes off the Food Network courtesy of Ina Garten. It was so simple and good, you need to have this one too. 


Here's the link:

FRESH CORN SALAD

Have any corn recipes to share? You know who can use them.

TBT: SHUCKS

TBT: Every August for at least the last 15 years you will find us on the front porch doing this particular activity...  If our goats could have seen over the stacks of wood they would have become super excited because we were sitting there shucking corn and they would soon be receiving those shucks and eventual bare cobs. They really have Natureman to thank because he's responsible for how that corn came to be growing across from their pasture.

What's different about this year as I have alluded to before is we couldn't go buy seed. Luckily, we had leftover seed but we had no clue as to how old the corn seed was. So Natureman planted it thicker than usual knowing some seed probably wouldn't germinate. And sure enough there were gaps but as he thinned, he transplanted those crowded seedlings to fill the gaps giving us three full~ 25 ft long rows of corn. 

It was a bumper crop.

As the water heated up on the stovetop, the goats got to snack on the 2 garbage cans full of husks. They were thrilled. 

It would be a couple hours later before they would get to enjoy the de-kerneled cobs.  

Pinterest educated I used the bundt pan to hold the ears in place as I sliced off the kernels without my knuckle skin. The kernels stay mostly inside the pan which makes it much easier for scooping them up to fill the freezer baggies. 

Here's Natureman gleaming as he blanches the beautiful ears of corn from his arduous garden labor of prepping the soil, rototilling (more than a couple of times I may add) planting, transplanting, mulching and weeding to see the final product come to fruition. A wish he had last winter to be able to have a garden this year has come true.

After cutting off the kernels, each batch goes into quart ziplock freezer baggies, 27 in total. We will have plenty to get us through until next summer.

It's a lot of work but we know from where and whom cometh our food. In the End of the Rainbow Valley his name is Natureman... Here's to many more gardening seasons.

"K"UARANTINE KAREN with a "K"

If something was testing me to see if I would become 'K'uarantine Karen, yesterday was it. What I discovered was the 100% satisfaction guarantee return policy of the purchased mattress set should also read only to customers with the patience of a saint.

Unfortunately after only 2 weeks I discovered the bounce back memory foam of the pillowtop mattress was not bouncing back. Natureman's imprint was still there in the middle of the bed. 

That's not how it's supposed to look. So I placed the first service center call which would turn into 4 calls and end almost 4 hours later... 

The first call was the brand company rep specifically for the store where it was purchased.  There were 7 people ahead of me in line so I could leave my number for a return call. Within 10 minutes the call was returned with the service rep proclaiming the item  defective and giving me another phone number this time for the brand company's warranty department.  You know where this is going...

Of course, there was wait time but no option to leave a number. Once connected and having repeated all the info again, the brand warranty rep apologized but the store where the item was purchased had to file the claim for a return/refund.  She gave me the same first number.   I explained the store's rep for her company had provided her number to me.  "Why would I call the same number again? "Well, obviously she quipped, "that rep didn't disseminate the correct advice and I should ask for a manager."

Call #3:Redialing the same number I pushed the return/ refund option. The recording informed me due to COVID there was a large volume of calls to please hold. I decided to take my paints outside with my phone as long as I was on hold. 

I propped my cell phone up and decided to have therapy working on daisies. The wait was long enough for me to get a lot of the daisies started. The rep came on, story repeated and before she could refer me back to the product's warranty company, I said nicely, I need to speak to a manager. 

During this wait of the same music and a recording to go on line to register your product for its warranty adding due to the 100 % satisfaction guarantee return policy, registering it wasn't necessary. Since I was talking to myself my responses became more sarcastic with each time that message came on. A girl's gotta have some fun , right?

Can you find the grosbeak?

I worked on painting the bird for the daisies's side, the grosbeak. Everything still needs tweaking. Perhaps I'll have time to finish this side...

A manager eventually introduced herself apologized profusely for the delay and said she would help me through this. She had my info but wanted me to verify it and 'she' would call the product's company because they don't handle returns/ refunds and promised me she would follow this through. She gave me her name just in case we got disconnected. I kept painting, positive I would be disconnected.

After a long while she returned saying she wasn't successful due to the long wait, apologized but would connect me. Can you see my eyes rolling? The paint's drying and my phone's not dead yet. Yet.

Finally, a claims rep answered with her child trying to get her Mom's attention. The rep apologized, "I understood " Is she 3?" I asked. I decided we might as well have some banter. She needed an adult for some convo anyway. 

She filled out the claim, sent me an email with instructions of scanning pics of the mattress tags cut into fours (which BTW say do not remove.) She added due to COVID , returns were not accepted so either dumping / donating was up to me. Since this non returns is all new policy, it might take a while to get the refund/ exchange.  I was to call back to make sure my email with the photos reached them. Then, when confirmed, I needed to mail them in.  

You didn't realize this was a bedtime story, did you? 

She laughed when I said I probably wouldn't be calling back today. "I totally understand." she replied. " Well , I hope your daughter takes a nap. She answered "Me too." 


'K'uarantine Karen did not come to fruition thanks to painting and time to work on another side of the bird feeder post...  

At least I got some painting done during that time. And I think in the long run, it's more important to be a kind human...

Besides, I had a terrific late garden lunch awaiting me, our first corn and a sun ripened tomato prepared by my very own Natureman.



UPDATE#1... Look what appeared on my FB comment section posting after my blog piece from a friend in our same city... 
Seriously, what are the chances???

"We went thru that same situation! A pillow top started breaking down after two wks. We had the 90 day guarantee as well. Decided to just do a return. That went ok BUT we waited over 6 mo to get our money back!!"

MONDAY MUSING:FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

Today's MONDAY MUSING finds me stating there are first times for everything even when one finds oneself in those senior years...

Last weekend we found ourselves at a first, a 'drive by' celebration of life. A deadly tubing outing on Sugar River for 25 year old Ben Belzer had brought his family and friends to one of our city's parks where cars were directed to a side entrance of Myrick Park to line up in a procession.







All cars were given a 2 sided handout en route with a couple photos.  The folks handing out these out were masked as were we.







































The car in front of us had decorated their rear window and when someone they knew walked over to hug them, she directed them to park.  So they left the line, parked and walked up to the large pavilion. The 20+ year olds looked like they were probably Ben's former school buddies maybe from SOTA/ his Waldorf school days... 

La Crosse's Three Rivers Waldorf  School was our connection being there. Ben's parents were instrumental in starting the school in La Crosse and Natureman's wife had been Ben's kindergarten teacher.  She would have been proud of her former student, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate who had worked for U.S. Congressman Ron Kind and at Blumenfeld & Associates, LLC and had become personal assistant to Wisconsin's Governor Tony Evers.

The following was Governor Evers's statement giving insight into the young man whose life we were there to remember:

"Ben was simply incomparable. He was remarkably talented and, even at 25, thoughtful and mature beyond his years. He was exceptionally bright and inquisitive, and he had a thirst for knowledge and understanding of our state and our world. He brought out the best of us with his wit, never shying away from a laugh even in the most frustrating of times. Ben was always optimistic about how we could be part of making this world a better place. He brought an unrelenting joy and drive to his job and the work we do each day, and it resonated with every person we met, everywhere we went."

"Months ago, as we asked folks to limit their interactions to a circle of five people or less during this pandemic, and someone asked who was among my five people—Ben was. I am grateful and humbled that I had the great fortune of spending as much time with Ben as I did. I talk frequently of our Wisconsin values of kindness, respect, empathy, and compassion—Ben was truly the embodiment of these qualities. Through the most challenging of times since joining our team and especially these past few months, Ben came to work in earnest service of the people of Wisconsin and he did it with unmatched enthusiasm, grace, and humility. I could never have asked for a better partner in serving the people of our state.
"We are devastated by Ben's death, and our thoughts and prayers are with Ben's family and friends as we all mourn the loss of an exceptional young man who was taken from us far, far too soon."


Along the slow moving line as it neared the pavilion was a small memorial with flowers, followed by photo poster boards, and a print of State Street in Madison and also a beer print which I assume was his beer of choice. 

Another masked person handed each car a clipboard with a sign in sheet and sanitizer. Eventually there was a card basket station where we could leave our card. 

Ben's big brother and parents were standing towards the end. Most folks didn't stop to talk. The truck in front of us did, but Ben's folks's exhausted eyes told it all and they still had at least another hour to go. I asked Natureman if he wanted to say something and he shook his head no. We just nodded, and drove by.

That was it. So sad. But in the time of COVID, this is how it has to be. Just another unprecedented 'new' normal...