Hockey and Basketball, but no wins

We finally got to enjoy some spring like weather as our temperatures managed to just creep into the 60's.  We promptly took advantage of it by preparing our garden beds and getting our peas into the ground.  This was mostly so we had some reason to be out checking our vegetable gardens on a daily basis for the first signs of growth - none yet in case you were curious.

We had a busy end of the week as we took in a show at the Marcus Center and then attended both a hockey game and basketball game.  We started out with seeing "Catch Me if You Can" at the Marcus Center on Thursday night.  We started the evening with a delicious dinner at the Water Street Brewery where Jo decided to try the beer sampler.  Unknown to her was this consisted of 8 oz of 8 different beers.  A bit more than she was prepared to down in one sitting - so I helped out a bit.  The show was fun and enjoyable and what you expect of a Broadway show.  Nothing too deep about it but the singing was well done and the sets interesting.

Friday night Jo got the use of the Northwestern suite for the Admirals hockey team's first playoff game.  While we had a nice time, especially since our nephew, Drew, and his girlfriend, Amy, were able to join us, it wasn't a good night for the home team.  The Admirals lost in overtime.  On top of that we weren't able to add a picture of Jo with the Admiral's mascot to our picture gallery of Jo with local sport team mascots.

Saturday we spent the day enjoying some warm, sunny weather for once and after our morning run and lift we worked in the gardens getting the peas in as mentioned above.  Sunday, we had tickets to the Bucks playoff game.  We were able to bring along our other nephew, Chris, and his wife, Angela, to this game.  But alas, our bad luck held for this team as well as they fell to the Miami Heat and were eliminated from the playoffs.  Not too good on the winning front this weekend.  But we had a great time and got to see both of our local nephews and significant others during the weekend.

Go Brewers

We are still waiting for Spring to start here in Wisconsin.  Our weather continued the pattern of raining, cold, and overcast.  While a few spring flowers are trying to peek up they had to contend with the snow that came down all day Friday.  Fortunately the ground was warm enough for it not to accumulate, but Jo and I are certainly both ready to start to see some temperatures at least into the 50's.  I went out to check on our vegetable beds to determine if I should start prepping them and they are still mostly frozen solid - in the middle of April!

Thursday night we attended the local Red Cross chapter's annual fund raising event.  During it they recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the local community and the stories are so inspiring.  Friday night we headed to the Lake Front Brewery for Friday night fish fry with several of the people we have met in the volleyball league we joined this winter.  It was fun getting to know more about everyone beyond how good they are at volleyball.  The polka band added to the atmosphere and the food was great (but then it is hard to go wrong with deep fried fish).

Saturday night we took in the Brewers game against the Cubs.  Keeping with my usual tradition I have included a picture of our Racing Sausages just so you can get your fill for another year.  Also, Bernie the Brewer (the team's mascot) visited so we snapped a photo of Jo with him - we are trying to get a picture of Jo with all the local team's mascots (a real coup would be to get her with Bucky), we have managed the Buck's and Brewer's so far this year (which leaves the Admirals, the Wave, and, as mentioned, the Badger to go - well and maybe one or two of the Sausages).  Sunday we lounged around at home taking our time reading the newspaper and working on the details for some of our upcoming vacations all the while hoping for warmer weather for the upcoming week.

The thrill of magic

Winter just won't let go of Wisconsin this year.  We spent another week with the temperatures struggling to get into the 40's.  That coupled with four days straight of rain and clouds left last week feeling a bit gloomy.  But hopefully all these April showers will bring lots of May flowers (one must remain optimistic in the midst of all these gray days).  Jo spent most of the week traveling for business.  First she hopped down to Phoenix for a couple of days and enjoyed the sunshine and significantly warmer temperatures.  Then it was over to Naples, again, for a conference and more time in the sun and walks along the beach.  I held down the home fort working on repairing some scratches in our hardwood floors.  While I can't say the repairs are perfect, they are at least less obvious.

Saturday we headed downtown to enjoy a great lunch at the Smokeshack in the "Historic 3rd Ward" (yes you must apparently always append the Historic when describing Milwaukee's 3rd ward).  They have a variety of barbecue dishes and this is our new favorite downtown restaurant - Jo found it about two months ago - say be prepared if you visit for a meal there.  Afterwards, we went to the Marcus Center to enjoy Bill Blagg's Magic show.  A great performance in an intimate venue so he was able to engage the crowd in several of his magic tricks - including me, I got to confirm that he was actually using chocolate milk in one of his tricks (nice treat to have a glass of chocolate milk in the afternoon!).  We thoroughly enjoyed the show and had absolutely no idea how he did some of his tricks - but I guess that is the point. 

Sunday we lazed around the house reading the newspaper and books although we did manage to get out for a nice long walk around the neighborhood.  Then all too soon it was time to get ready for another week of work.  As you can see from the photo of the week, our orchid is blooming again.  This is one of the orchids from our 25th anniversary party and it blooms, on some totally unknown cycle to us, every two or three years.

Some warm weather - in New Mexico

I seem to have a small case of writers block since I don't really feel too motivated to write my blog.  Which is sort of funny, since according to Google, this is my 200th post.  So I'm going to keep it short and sweet.  I spent last week enjoying some sunshine and warmth visiting my parents in New Mexico.  While we didn't hit the casinos, I'm really just to cheap to spend money on gambling, I managed to convince them to eat out for Mexican food three times in four days.  I certainly got my fill of the delicious food and I like to think that I saved my mother from having to cook.  Besides the lovely weather, I got out for a few runs although the lack of oxygen at that altitude continued to plague my enjoyment and speed.  We spent an evening looking at the slides from my childhood and enjoying a good laugh at the fashion and hair styles back then. 

When I got back in town we headed over to the Bradley arena to watch the Milwaukee Admirals play (a farm team for the NHL).  Unfortunately, they lost but we had a nice evening watching some exciting hockey and talking with people on Jo's team.  We must be bad luck for the Admirals as we couldn't remember ever seeing them win when we attended a game.  Saturday, Jo decided to get her cut really short, like she used to have it, which is a dramatic change for her.  I think, she was tired of all the effort to keep her longer hair looking nice.  The rest of the day we caught up on things around the house and enjoyed watching the NCAA basketball games.

We are just getting rid of the last of our snowbanks, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before I can get outside and start working on the vegetable garden.