I went out and stood on Lac Labelle.
It was rather nice, the lake has frozen over
but there is no snow cover.

Off we go into another Winter season.

In the ever changing world of work...
Owen said they laid off the 2nd shift at the warehouse and he'll be working a split shift starting next week. We lose 7 people in my department this week.
At least we are still employed.

Beautiful weekend here in Wisconsin...The sun is shining and the leaves are crunchy.
Keith came home yesterday. We stopped at a park on the way home from the airport and took some photos.
He'll be here until the 24th and then he's off to Germany.

We went and saw The Rhythm Devils last night in Milwaukee at The Riverside Theater.

I had a wonderful time. It was a nice break from the work scene.
I was thinking last night at the show that I wish I was able to leave work at work and not have it affect my state of mind while at home.
Today went well but it may be an affect of the Post-Show-Glow...

It seems that during the work week I don't start feeling better until it's time to go to bed.
It makes me worry that I'm looking forward to sleep and not doing what I enjoy with my evening hours.

Keith is trying to come home tomorrow from Texas. It appears he will have 3 weeks before he goes to Germany.
I was talking to him earlier trying to find a cheap flight tomorrow (haha) best we could do is $470.

Uptight...
Home from work after a very stressful day.
Trying to relax with a wheat ale and Grateful Dead 11-11-73
I find that their music takes me elsewhere.

Picture Window

There's two windows like this on the front of our place. People walking past on the sidewalk can look into our place...
I brought home some scrap wood from work and bought some black felt and gave us a way to send messages to the outside world and maintain our privacy.
Margaret likes to do picture collages with her window.
I'm planning on doing some dyes to cover the top part because in the winter we hang comforters we bought at Goodwill to try and keep the cold out (single pane glass...) and the back of a comforter isn't fun to look at.

Well it looks as though winter is here...
There's some snow and freezing rain headed our way. Nothing serious but I know it's the start of things to come.

I've been pretty uptight over work lately...
It's getting harder to get the tension out of my neck and shoulders.

The fall has been nice. I hope it holds out for a bit before the real cold sets in.

I think this is my favorite shot of Keith while we were in Texas for his Air Force graduation.


Saturday morning...
Some coffee to drink and Grateful Dead to listen to.
Looks like a nice day. So many different activities to chose from.
I think I may go for a bike ride when the coffee is done.

These flowers appeared all by themselves on Mom's grave.

Summertime...

Nice time sleeping in this morning.
Just finishing breakfast. Looks like we're going to drive to Parfrey's Glenn.
We haven't made the trip since last summer.
Hopefully the line for the ferry isn't too long.

Tried photographing the thunderstorm we had last night.
When we got out to the country I found that I did not have my tripod with me.
Maybe next week when we drive down to Texas for Keith's Air Force graduation there'll be some electrical storms.

Death has no mercy. That might be one of the nice things about it.
It doesn't choose sides. No one gets off.
It's sad to lose someone who was in the public eye and to lose someone that's in your personal life leaves a hole that never quite fills in. Years later when you visit the grave you can still see the outline of the hole that was dug.

There's a lot more to say along these lines.

Life changes again...
My son is in the Air Force now.
It was nice to stare him in the eye and to have him tell me he'd succeed.
I wish the best for him.

Margaret and I put 23 miles on our bicycles today.
We've been fighting to stay awake till bedtime all evening.

Been working on some tie-dyeing in the basement.
I went down to Far Horizon's on Main St. and bought some incense. It's a little off smelling downstairs so I'm trying to make it more inviting.

I bought a package of black licorice candies from Holland.
Driving down the road I popped one in my mouth and instantly thought of Mom.
Funny how tastes can do that to you.

Keith and Monique...

We had a fun time snapping photos at Riverside Park a few weeks back when Keith took Monique to prom.
I got to use my SB-800 flash and was quite happy with the results.
They've been hanging for 6 months.

Here we are...
I put a screen door on the house today. Went good for the most part. A little uncertain at first seeing as I had never installed one before.
It appears as though it could be a bit more level but then again it may be the house that's slightly off. It does however function properly and shuts by it self :)

Cooking some mushroom and swiss bratwurst on the grill tonight.I bought them down the street at Detjens

I got the closet pole project for the sidewalk sale finished and hung ou the shirts for fun.
This weekend we may make an attempt at selling some shirts.

and so it goes...

Listening to Pink Floyd "Atom Heart Mother" this morning.
Gray and later to be rainy day here in the mighty Wisco.

Just got my order of shirts and such from Dharma Trading
We're going to put up closet poles across our sidewalk roof support pillars and try and sell some dyes. I'll post a picture when we get it done...
Although I don't expect to sell any shirts it would be cool if people I don't know stop and buy some.

We bought our tickets for the Grateful Garcia Gathering
We went last night to Sunshine Daydream in Madison to pick them up.
The traffic and people were time consuming, not sure what was going on but it was something...
Burned up some cd's to give away at the store. They were empty of customers so I left them with the owner to give out to nice folks.
I used up all of my discs for giving away. I hope there some good sales tomorrow.

March winds gonna blow all my troubles away...
I'm sooooo glad that spring is here.
January and February were a wash. Maybe next year I'll install some lights and see if those two months go better.
I dyed that sheet the other weekend. It's the first thing I dyed this year. I was more than happy with the way it turned out.
Margaret and I sold 11 shirts the other weekend at the tavern where we went to see Boney Fingers. It's always cool when people buy something I made.
I sent off for more dye. It should be here tomorrow.
I'm also getting some Batik wax...it could be fun or a horrible mess like my marbling adventure years back.

Working on rearranging the living room.
We've got the front windows blocked by our desks and it makes it hard to get at the plants.

We bought a new fridge the other day from Sears. (Thanks Mom !) It'll be in on the 31st of the month. Our current fridge is soooo tiny. It will be nice to be able to shop for more than a couple of days at a time.
We were going to get a stainless steel refridgerator until it was brought to our attention that magnets wouldn't stick to it...Who would make such a thing ?

I noticed that there used to be a Packer decal in the back window of my car so when we were in Madison yesterday I bought a Grateful Dead window decal to place over it.
Fly that Freak Flag High :) :) :)

Cashed in my bag of quarters the other day and bought myself an SB-800 flash for my camera.
It comes with a book on how to use it. Once again I'm faced with a learning curve.
Looking forward to spring and taking pictures. Everything is rather bland right now. It would be nice if we got some snow and ice.
I like frozen waterfalls but the weather has been a bit mild...not to complain however...I'd hate to see the gas bill if it was below zero. Gas and electric is $476 this month (YIKES!!).

I've been wanting to try and do batik to enhance my tie-dyes. I was looking at some copper stamping blocks on ebay and when we were in Madison yesterday I found one at a thrift store for $20. At least $10 cheaper than what I've been seeing online.

We've started eating low-carb inorder to decrease the amount of space we occupy...see how it goes. Continous self-improvement...be it mind or body.

Life is sweet :)
I thank the Lord on a daily basis for what I have and the people that I share love with.
I might have to get one of those bumper stickers for my car that says "Be Good People"