Land of Lincoln



Our first crop in Milwaukee!!

The big news for the week is that we harvested our first crop from our vegetable beds.  The lettuce, spinach, and mescalin have grown enough to enjoy our first fresh salad.  Our beans are starting to pop up along with some squash, zucchini, and peas.  While we finally figured out how to keep the squirrels from digging through all the beds, something is now chewing on the leaves of the beans - not sure what yet so I'll have to keep an eye on them.  That aside, it is always gratifying to see something come out of the work involved in putting all the beds together, but I hope it is more than just some lettuce.

Friday night we took in a Brewer's baseball game with our friends, Greg and Rhonda (Jo works with Greg).  While we had a fun night enjoying dinner and taking in the game from the great seats that are available from Northwestern, our home town Brewer's didn't have their best game.  Between some pitching challenges and a mistake or two in fielding the Pirates won pretty easily.  But it was still fun to be out at the ball game although the weather was so cool that they had the dome closed.  In keeping with my tradition, I've included a picture of the famous racing sausages (the link will take you to the table of winning results for the year, yes they actually track that).  Because what would be a baseball game without running meats.

Saturday we packed up the car early in the morning and headed to Madison to pick up Kathy, Drew, and John to then drive onto Springfield, IL (since there is a Springfield in almost every state, I thought I should clarify).  Kathy and Jo's cousin and her husband were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and since they were both in the wedding party they wanted to go.  We decided to take an extra day and see some of the Lincoln sites in Springfield.  So after a 4 hour drive from Madison and a picnic lunch in front of the Springfield Union Station we toured the Lincoln museum, his house, and finally his tomb.  I would highly recommend the museum for anyone passing through Springfield.  They do a good job outlining not only Lincoln's life but also what the country was like at this time and some of the impact of the Civil War.  One really interesting exhibit was where they showed Lincoln's face at the start of his presidency and near the end.  Amazing what a toll it took on him - and of course, most of our presidents, they all seem to go gray dramatically during their time in office.  Also, very interesting how much more personal the president was back then.  A friend of Lincoln's requested a copy of his Gettysburg address and he wrote it out himself!  Also, you used to be able to walk on the lawn in front of the White House - imagine having a picnic there.  Sunday we attended a mass for Jo and Kathy's cousin where they renewed their vows and then had a nice reception lunch where we caught up with the many of their Quincy cousins and their families.  Mary and Mike (Jo's Nebraska based sister and hubbie) where also able to make it so the three girls got caught up on each other's lives.  All to soon it was time to be back on the road to Madison and then Milwaukee.  Where we arrived late Sunday night, exhausted from almost 7 hours of driving, but glad for the fun we had along the way.

 The key for the rest of last week was chilly.  The temperatures dropped into the 50's and 60's and since we don't have the heat on the house anymore, there where a couple of chilly nights.  I puttered around the house working on weeding, cleaning, and getting the supplies together for my next painting chore - I'm going to scrape and repaint the outside of the windows and the storm windows (at least until I get tired of doing them).  Jo had a short week at work without too much drama, which is always nice.