Last of Wisconsin Sports for a While

 This weekend went flying by - but then that is usually how weekends go.  If we could only could match that speed for Mondays and Tuesdays.  Jo was in LA on Thursday and Friday enjoying the last of this year's regional meetings.  Mostly it was a nice chance to see some sun and warmer temperatures.  Although to be fair, we have been enjoying a delightful end to February as our temperatures have "soared" up to the 40's and there is talk about hitting 58 degrees today.  I'm not getting too excited for spring as snow is predicted for Thursday and I'm sure we will still see some more winter in March, but summer is getting closer.

Saturday we spent the day exercising and taking a long walk to a burger joint nearby for lunch.  While the milkshakes with the burger were great it did make us a bit chilled during our after lunch walk.  Still it is always good to enjoy some liquified ice cream every now and then.  The rest of the day was spent reading, watching some of the last Olympics, and catching up on needed naps.

Sunday we were up bright and early to head over to Madison so that Jo could meet with some chemistry graduate students to assist them as part of her participation on the Chemistry board.  Meanwhile I checked out the latest progress on the condo.  We are starting finish up the work in the walls leading to the dry wall starting to be installed on the second floor.  Good to see walls again but there is still a lot to go.  Jo and I met up at the last of the regular season basketball games.  Unfortunately, after a valiant try the home town Badgers lost the game to Michigan State.  Although we have certainly seen big improvements in the play of the team.  We aren't too hopeful for the Badgers to make it to the NCAA tournament this year as the only possible means is for them to win the Big 10 tournament.  Could happen...  This is the last of our sports tickets at Wisconsin for this year.  Next up, summer and the Brewers.

Ah Warm Weather....

We headed to Naples, FL this week as Jo had a business meeting to which spouses were invited.  It was quite pleasant to step off the plane and be hit by warm, humid air.  Quite the nice change from what we left behind in Wisconsin.  While Jo spent her days huddled inside cold, air-conditioned conference rooms, I got out to enjoy making a little Vitamin D in the sunshine and to watch the waves roll in from the Gulf of Mexico.  Our hotel was right on the beach and it is always fun to stroll up and down the beach - although I'm not a big fan of the sand that always seems to get everywhere.  Anyway, we had three days of sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures in the high 80's and while I didn't get tanned (got to worry about that skin cancer), I did enjoy having my hands thaw out for maybe the first time this year (one of the challenges I have found with getting up there in the years, is the circulation in my hands in the winter seems to just stop).

We had the opportunity to enjoy a boat trip around Naples Bay one afternoon with the group, where we did some seashell collecting and saw dolphins swimming and osprey's on their nests.  Never saw any manatees.  Evenings were business dinners where we got to chat with the people Jo works with and their spouses.  Nice and interesting people who have traveled quite a bit and have had fascinating careers.

All too soon it was time to get back on the plane to head back home where fortunately, the temperatures had gotten into the high 30's and the snow had melted a bit.

Snow, Snow and then Some Snow

Last week was all about snow.  Winter wanted to be sure we remembered what season it was and proceeded to let the snow fly.  I had to shovel five out of six days and on one or two of those days it was multiple times during the day.  While most of the snow falls were fairly small (that is one inch or less for those in more snow challenged spots of the country) it still meant getting out and clearing the driveway and sidewalks.  Now, I realize we chose to live in a colder part of the country and I mostly like the white stuff - but 5 times in one week is pushing it.

We did manage to get out and take advantage of it with some cross country skiing.  It made for a nice break of our usual exercise routine and, for once, there wasn't much of a breeze.  Fortunately the snow stopped just in time for us to be able to make it to Madison on Sunday for a basketball game.  We stopped first to see the latest progress on our condo and then headed over to the Kohl's Center to see the Badgers drop another game - this time to Michigan.  Certainly hasn't been their year.

A Little Cross Country Skiing

We headed over to Madison on Friday so Jo could finally see the progress on our condo and to celebrate her sister's birthday with a little pampering - massage and pedicure.  This is the first time Jo has been to the condo in over a month and there were quite a few changes I had made that we finally were able to get her stamp of approval.  We are really happy with the newly opened up foyer/kitchen as there is much more light streaming into the area.  Of course, there is still a long way to go, but the lights are being roughed in, the new furnace is installed, and the rough plumbing is almost all done.  We have hit a few surprises, but so far have managed to find a reasonable work around.

The biggest surprise has been the fireplace for the family room.  We had been planning to use one of the new, more modern looking linear fireplaces.  As we are planning to have the TV above it, our thinking was this would allow us to get the TV as low as possible, since it sure seemed that a linear fireplace would not be as tall.  Well we were wrong.  Turns out that after multiple exchanges with the fireplace folks, we figured out that the old standard rectangular units actually are less space consuming and don't require as much vertical space - go figure.

Anyway, after Jo and Kathy's spa day on Saturday, we headed home right in the middle of a snow storm.  It took us about 30-45 minutes longer to complete the trip with a lot more stress, but we did manage to successfully get home without incident.  This snow storm gave us the opportunity to get up Sunday morning and get in some cross country skiing at Lake Park.  Unfortunately, the wind had picked up leading to drifting conditions that created some interesting skiing conditions as there were alternating low spots and snow drifts.  But we had fun getting in a little over an hour of exercise before heading home to some hot chocolate and the fun of removing all that snow from the driveway.