Wisconsin Football

We spent the weekend in Madison with Jo's sister enjoying our Alma Mater and taking in a football game.  We had seats in the end zone this time, which was a first for us.  You get to see some touchdowns really up close and personal but anything past the 50 yard line going away is pretty much a guess as to what happened.  Anyway, the weather threatened rain at the beginning of the game, but turned sunny by the third quarter so while the temperatures where low (only in the high 40's at the beginning) we managed to stay warm enough.  While the team didn't play quite as stellar as last year, we still won the game which gave us all something to cheer about.  We followed the game up with some of our favorite Madison pizza for dinner, Rocky Rocco's, so all was good on Saturday.  Sunday we lazed around the house in the morning and then toured a few "green" houses that were open to highlight green technologies.  Several of the houses had put in solar panels and were enjoying the free electricity that day since the sun was shining brightly.  It would seem that most of these green technologies are best added to new houses as they are being constructed since it requires a bit of either wiring, plumbing, or insulation which seems best done when the walls are completely open.

The rest of the week was filled with the usual weekday events.  Jo was in Washington, DC for work and got to stay at the Hay Adams hotel right by the capital.  Great views from their rooftop meeting room and she really enjoyed her runs down the mall - although the ongoing construction meant a fair number of detours.  I held down the home fort while she gallivanted around DC with mowing, painting, and general repairs on the house.  I have now hit 5 events of door handles coming off in my hand and the other side plopping on the floor.  In the three previous homes we have owned that has never happened, so I guess this house is trying to make up for it.  It would get to me if it wasn't so comical when it happens.

Fun in the Sun - oops Rain

I went to visit my parents in beautiful, sunny, warm Albuquerque last week and what do I get - rain, rain and more rain.  Not only the rain, but the temperatures stayed in the 70's for most of the time there.  It was kind of fun since I hadn't really seen it rain in New Mexico in the many trips we have made over the years, plus there was actually a little humidity in the air so it didn't seem so dry to me.  The lower temperatures made my morning runs more enjoyable, but I hadn't really packed warm clothes - New Mexico is supposed to be hot!  Anyway, I had a great time catching up on the happenings of my parents and especially enjoying the two Mexican meals we managed to squeeze in.  Nothing like sopapillas with honey to complete a meal - especially when you don't have to share the honey bottle with anyone.  Also got to see a roadrunner in their backyard, but wasn't quick enough with my camera to get a picture - so you'll just have to take my word.

Came home to more crops in the garden, so we picked the last of our carrots along with some more cucumbers - so yes we canned some more bread and butter pickles (I think we are pretty well set with them for a long time) - and probably the last of the tomatoes and green beans.  The fresh carrots are great and have a wonderful flavor when compared to those in the store (of course, that could just be the dirt that I didn't get completely washed off).  The only thing now left in the garden is some parsnips (which are looking pretty iffy as a crop, very small roots) and onions, plus whatever last minute green beans pop up.  The success this year. especially our carrots, is making us excited for next year and refining our plantings and placement. 

The rest of the weekend consisted of rest as I'm still struggling through a cold that has settled into my lungs and some long walks.  The weather has turned early this year as several nearby towns had lows overnight this week around 32 degrees.  Must be trying to get us all ready for snow to start flying.  I've held off on turning on the heat in the house so far - just seems wrong to have it on in September - but each day the house is another 2 degrees colder.  It was down to 62 this morning when I woke up, but it is sunny today so hopefully we'll gain a few degrees.  Time to get out the warm comforters.

We got carrots

 Our raised beds continue to amaze us and for the first time in our gardening experience we managed to grow carrots of a size you could actual eat them for a meal and not just a quick snack.  The did come out of the ground looking like they grew next to a nuclear facility but they tasted delicious as we roasted up a bunch for dinner the night we picked them.  This along with another cucumber and bean harvest meant we spent a large portion of the weekend in the kitchen packing away our vegetable treasures to enjoy through the upcoming winter (another 8 jars of pickles are now in the basement).

The rest of the week was filled with resettling into our routines after our vacation and family visits.  I spent a day in Chicago to catch up with my sister and we enjoyed walking around Navy Pier and taking a water taxi on the Chicago river.  Unfortunately I was battling a bit of a cold during the visit which limited the amount we got to do.  Hopefully, I didn't leave that behind for my sister.  I was tempted to ride the Ferris wheel, but just didn't feel up to it, so that will have to wait until a future visit. 

We spent some of the remaining weekend on fill-up runs to Woodman's grocery store and Target, watching our Wisconsin football teams struggle (that's the Badgers and Packers for those not in the know on football), and catching up on some reading.  Monday, Jo's HR team had an outing to the Brewer's game.  We sat out in right field which was a first for us at the Brewers.  It was a pretty slow game until right at the end and fortunately the Brewers came out victorious.  As is my tradition, I've included a photo of our racing sausages but the finish line instead of mid way through the race (completely changes your interest level in the race, doesn't it?).  For those tracking on their Excel spreadsheets, the Chorizo and and Italian sausage are tied with 16 wins each - it is going to be an exciting sprint to the end of the season! (full results are at the link - check it out, you know you want to).

With all the family news last week, I forgot to add that we visited our favorite local beer garden in a nearby park with our nephew Drew and his girlfriend.  We mostly go for the wonderful pretzels and cheese sauce (it is Wisconsin, so you must have a cheese sauce) although the beer is pretty good as well.  Although with the shorter days we need to drink our beer a little faster than before and remember to bring jackets to stay warm.  We took our bikes this time as it is close to a bike trail that isn't too far from our house.

That's all the news for this week.

Bean Harvest

"The boss" informed me that I need to include more pictures from our recent vacation.  So to keep things running smoothly on this end, here are two more.  Hopefully this will appease those people (read Jo) who were clamoring more photos of European cities.  I choose to go with tower shots (left is Tallinin, Estonia and the right is Visby, Sweden) since personally I like medieval towers.

Our weekend was busy with family events as the nephew who lives in Milwaukee got married to a very special girl.  We had the whole family in town and our house was the gathering point for most of Jo's side of the wedding.  It has been a while since the Jo's family had all gathered and the brothers/sisters/nieces/nephews/cousins all got caught up on the latest happenings in each other lives.  The actual wedding and reception (held at the local Urban Ecology Center) all went smoothly and everyone seemed to have a good time.  Everyone had headed home by Monday so we got a little time to collapse and clean up the house a bit before the work week started.

We continue to enjoy bountiful harvests from our six raised beds.  This week we finally got around to harvesting most of the beans along with our shallots and near the last of the tomatoes.  The beans were all frozen so we now have about 15 packs of frozen beans to enjoy into the winter.  The shallots did really well and we have several pounds of them to use in soups and other dishes.  So as long as we don't mind living on pickles and beans we should be good to go if there is a short term food crisis (and the electricity stays on to keep the beans frozen - so we are ready for a small disaster, not a major one).  About all that is left now in the garden are a few cucumbers, carrots, and parsnips.