First Snow Of The Season

It's been a very cold weekend, barely getting above freezing today and now tomorrow.  Late last night we got our first snow of the season.  I stepped outside about midnight and got this picture.

Most of the snow melted or evaporated today, but not all and we even had some more flurries this afternoon.  But we are in for the night and in our warmest comfy clothes with the thermostat bumped up a tad.  I'm still cold.  It's going to be a long winter.

Leaf-Free Streets II

Click the pic to read it much more easily!

Before Halloween I put out the sign we requested and received from Clean Lakes Alliance promoting leaf-free streets to help prevent phosphorus from fallen leaves entering our lakes, which contributes to massive algae blooms in the summer.  My thought was that hopefully parents would see and read it when trick or treating with their kids, and maybe even neighbors would join in.  I know we can only do so much, but at least we're doing something.

We'd been pretty windy the last couple weeks so there wasn't a need for the sign or any action to take before this, but we knew it was coming.  Now, there is a chance of rain later tonight and we finally did have some leaves on the street in front, so this evening was the first time I went out and raked the leaves on the street curb up onto our terrace.  If I'm advertising it then I better do it, right?  

I did buy an smaller, inexpensive metal tine rake to keep around the corner of the front door for this purpose.  We already have a broom stashed there, and they stay relatively hidden behind the bushes and drain pipe.  I thought the metal tines would be more flexible than plastic because I want to get the leaves up but leave any rocks in the street and not pull them onto the terrace.  

There weren't many leaves today, but we'll continue to do our share to keep less leaf-tea from running into the gutter at the end of the street, which empties right there into Starkweather creek, which then flows directly into Lake Monona.  I like how they used our address to give us the correct sign, rather than a generic one, and we may use it every fall now.  If everyone did just a little bit, either this cause or another, change would happen more quickly and easily.

I also took a quick picture of the back yard, and you can see how the plants have started melting just since our first frost, and easily another hard frost last night/this morning.  I may try to strim much of the plants into mulch this weekend, but it's forecast to be some of our coldest days yet so I might wait.  I mowed last week to mulch the black walnut leaves in the back yard, and that needs to be done again, too.  Any leaves in front will eventually be raked into piles, vacuumed up and mulched for the flowerbeds once they are done falling and much drier.

We even have a chance of getting our first snow late Saturday night, but I think the forecast may have changed to earlier precipitation so might just be rain earlier in the afternoon.  But the inevitable is coming, no doubt about it.

Happy Halloween 2025

We had a little different look for Halloween this year with some new decorations.  

Same skeleton as last year hanging on the door but some new little lights I got for free after last Halloween, ghosts in the kitchen window and 2 strings of pumpkins on the right railing.  The rest is from a dollar store; pumpkinhead on the left of the door and skully on the right, the sign at the bottom of the steps and the window covering.  I did forget to use the flickering flame light bulb, but no matter.  I also never got around to carving the pumpkin, but I have ideas for a trail cam video with the critters in back again.  We also moved the flowers to the porch for the little kids to make it up our stairs more easily.

Originally I ordered a different window covering online then found this one at a dollar store.  What I received from my order was not what I ordered so I was very glad to have this as a backup.  And I like it well enough, but even though I only used black masking (painter's) tape to hold it on, the plastic was so thin it ripped when taking it down so the search will continue next year.

There were very few houses in the neighborhood with any Halloween decorations other than pumpkins and mums, and fewer with lights on to welcome the kids.  We got about 25 trick-or-treaters this year so got rid of a lot of candy, but not all of it.  That sure seems like a lot of walking for only a few giving houses in an area.  I feel a bit sorry for kids these days.

The picture above makes it seem so much brighter than it actually was.  We do have street lights, including one directly across the street, and I can see shadows from a neighbor's front light, across the street and 3 houses down. After the break I altered a picture to more resemble what human eyes saw, and a wider view that also amplifies the light.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Fire And Ice - First Frost

When I left for work on Friday morning the frost was very apparent.

It won't be long now and I'll be strimming the melting plants into mulch for next year's spring revival.

One day earlier we had a company out to wash the house.  Temperatures were around 40ºF so I wondered if they would cancel, but they carried out the job.  Normally I get the power washer out every year and clean the house as good as I can, but things build up and don't come off with just the power washer.  It was expensive, but the house siding and gutters look immaculate now.  Blankets of white snow will not make the dirt on our white house stand out this year.  There was a faint smell of bleach outside, but already seems to be fading.

And last night was perfect conditions for a fire, very little breeze and not too cold.  I built up a big fire about a half hour before sunset then settled in to watch it burn for a few hours.  Had a good phone conversation with my Mom and watched the Bucks game on my phone while being warmed by the flames.

I should really do this more often.

Fall Updates & More

We've had a much milder fall than normal so far, but cooler days are coming.  This morning was our first frost warning though we had none here, but a few more chances are coming soon.  I'm writing this on Monday but I think I'll set this to post on Tuesday, just to put a day between this and the Ace stuff.

My wife cleaned up the stump area on Saturday leaving only the wildflowers that were still blooming, a couple red ones, one cone flower plant, and there are still small yellow ones that appear from time to time.  We also got the new bushes caged for winter so the rabbits don't eat them down to the nubs like they did last winter.  Hopefully by the end of next summer they'll be big and strong enough that we won't have to do this again.

I spent 4 hours on Saturday morning making baguette, and 4 hours on Saturday afternoon/evening making loaded baked potato dinner rolls to go with steak for dinner.  Another King Arthur recipe, which is my first stop when looking for something different to make.

My wife thought I was just making potato dinner rolls, so this was a tasty surprise seeing all that went into these.  They were a lot of effort for only a small pan of rolls, but they're so very good.  So good that these will definitely be made again in the future.

On a side note, I also made my first batch of homemade taco sauce.  It seems to have turned out well, and we'll have tacos later in the week to verify.  But another thing that we have everything in the cupboard to make, so why the heck not?

After all that on Saturday I took Sunday almost completely off, except for making the taco sauce mentioned above.  But today I looked at the forecast (cold and rainy tomorrow) and so I went out after work to do some of things I had planned on doing yesterday.  First off, I cut up all the sunflower stalks.  There is only the one sunflower left out front by the bird feeder and I may leave that for some time yet until it is completely dead.  

Once the stalks dry out completely there's not much to them, but they'll be easy to light and will make good kindling.  The root balls I separated into another bucket.  Those I may just run to the dump as yard waste to get rid of them.  I like to keep organic waste right here and compost it, but sometimes it's just got to go.  And as you can see the gardens have been cleaned up, mostly.  The two parsleys will be removed when it is time to plant garlic in that garden, yet this fall.

We've been pretty windy lately so I had to pick up some sticks today, which I would normally put in the fire pit but realized the pit needed cleaning out, so I got that done, too.  Ready for a fire now, whenever the wind dies down and I have that energy.

The calendar has me itching to clean up everything for winter, but the mild weather has stretched that timeline quite a bit this year.  I'm not going to complain, once winter gets here it will drag on seemingly forever, then we'll happily do it all over again come spring.

Ace And I, 1994

It was the summer of 1994 when I first saw Ace Frehley and his solo band live at a club in Chicago.  I was coming into town to visit a friend and heard an ad for the show on the radio.  When I got to my friend's house I let him know exactly what we were going to be doing the next night.  Thankfully, he agreed.

At that show I met a woman who knew Ace, and though I had been drinking quite a bit she seemed to like me a lot and took me backstage to meet him after the show.  It was brief, and I was drunk and starstruck.  We kept in touch and eventually she invited me down for a Kiss convention in November that year as Ace was the featured guest.  It was there I met Ace for the second time, an even more brief meeting as, because of my woman friend, I was allowed to cut the line to get a picture with him as he was about to greet everyone.

This is the only picture I have of Ace and me.  It was a Kodak 110 Instamatic camera with a flash bar, but even the archaic camera could not be blamed for the poor picture she took.

This picture was taken right after as attendees started moving through the line.  I have that same shirt he's wearing as I bought it at that earlier club show.  Very cool shirt and I still have it, but it's way too small for me now.

All just memories I've had for decades by now, but a youthful, fun experience that I will hold on to forever.  Thank you, Ace.

Schuster's Farm

I had the opportunity at work today to visit Schuster's Farm, a family-friendly local attraction.  I've driven by it many times but have never been, and today another staff and I took 6 clients for a several hour visit.  I tried to snap pictures when I could, and while they were quite busy today it is a large area so I managed to get some pictures mostly without people in them.  I can take pictures of our clients for work, but once I transfer them to work I'm supposed to delete them from my phone.  There's rules about pictures, and there were several other groups like ours there, as well, so just being mindful.

I'm finding it hard to describe the place as I'd never been anywhere quite like it.  They have fields of flowers and pumpkins, and corn for mazes.  Several different farm animals to pet and even a bunch of parakeets.  Wagon rides, a haunted forest, and several different areas for kids to play and climb.  I didn't get pics of the other areas as I had to stay back with a couple clients while the more mobile ones explored.  Overall, lots for kids here though they sometimes have bands at night and do have a bar for the adults.

The day was mostly overcast with just a peek of sun here and there, while temperatures called for a light jacket or sweatshirt.  I found the day interesting and I believe all had a lot of fun, especially since we got to take them out to eat afterwards.  After the break are more pictures, if you're interested, and you can find more information on their website here.

And Then There Were Two

Yesterday got up to 87ºF and today was to be the same, so I got started early on some more yard clean-up.  Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, as well, with our highs only in the 60's for the next few days after, followed by a bit warmer again.  Strange weather, this October.

The front sunflower is still doing okay and has two new beautiful blooms and they face the house.  This was the last to bloom and will be the last removed.

The large sunflower behind the corner of the garage also got a reprieve as it had two nice new blooms on top.  All others have been removed, with some bare stalks remaining to dry out until they are more easily removed from the ground.

It was a shame to take out most of the large sunflower plant by the back steps, but it was done blooming and all heads had been eaten as much as they could be.  This stalk was by far the thickest and pulling it would have brought up the whole area so that and the smaller one next to it remained as bare stalks to dry out in the ground.  I also noticed it had a new tenant this morning that I would have to evict before I started.  

My biggest sunflower, 2025

And actually, by the time I got to this plant I forgot about the spider as I snapped off limbs, so I have no idea what happened to it.  But I don't have any spider bites, so that's good.  Leaves and limbs went into the compost bin, the thick stalks are by the garage to dry out so they burn well and quick.

There's still plenty of time for fall cleanup, especially with the summer-like weather we've had.  Lots of leaves yet to turn before they fall, and we still have some wildflower blooms in the stump area.

Otherwise, a mostly relaxing weekend here.  (I've been following the news a lot this year, but I have to stop.  What is happening is so outrageous at every turn - I just can't comprehend the madness anymore.)  The Badger football team lost today, as I expected.  And the Brewers beat the Cubs in grand fashion to open their playoff series.  This is a good team; I really hope they go all the way and win the World Series.  Whether they do or not, I'm enjoying the ride.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Fall Is For The Birds

The autumn equinox was Monday, and it came with little fanfare around here.  I've not had a fire since before my vacation, and I went downhill after getting home from work that day.  My wife had been sick over the weekend, a stomach bug with mostly extreme exhaustion as the symptom, and I was getting it.  I spent the next two days at home, mostly in bed.  Today was my second day back to work and while still tired I've got a few good meals in me again so feeling much better, thank you, but cold and flu season is coming.

I caught the birds above in a spur-of -the-moment video just a bit ago.  Though only one sunflower survived there it got big and made the birds very happy for the cover and extra seeds.  And the cats spend lots of time sitting there watching (and chirping at) them.  

I took the pics below yesterday afternoon.  I've not done much in the yard the last few weeks, and the flora is certainly losing its luster.  Many of the sunflowers are half brown, but their last little buds are still blooming.  I'll do some mowing and cleanup tomorrow, but it's still too early to pull and compost most everything.  The ten-day forecast shows beautiful weather for us for this time of year, probably our last taste of summer temperatures, and I hope to enjoy it fully.

New Mums for fall, on the steps.  Plenty of time for those blooms yet.

If I find good seeds available on the sunflowers I will save them, otherwise I still have enough from my big sunflower two years ago to plant more next spring.  At that time I will make myself more prepared to harvest the seeds from the first, biggest, and strongest blooms for the future.  Right now, the heads get poached before the seeds are even ready to harvest, by birds and small critters that climb the plants  to get after their bounty.

I'm very tired tonight, but maybe after some cleanup of the yard tomorrow I may try to have a fire while watching the Brewer game.  Then later tomorrow night I have another live-stream concert I want to watch.  I love a good concert better than a movie any day, always have.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

*Well, I guess you can't upload a short video just to Blogger anymore.  If I get a better, longer video I may upload to ToYoube, which seems to be the only way to put a video here now.  I'm too beat to do anything else right now, sorry.

Vacation Recap

I was looking through the pictures I took last week and found there weren't many.  I truly did just try to take it easy, and apparently I managed that pretty well.  Yet, there were some highlights so let's see what I can remember.

First off, we'd had fall-like temperatures for a few weeks, but as if on cue the weather started turning nicer and warmer during my vacation.  This looks to last for at least another week, which is good.  It was way too early to have to switch from shorts to pants!

I didn't mention it last post, but there was a bit of a bigger project on my list - actually more of a PITA than "big" - that I chose to ignore all week.  There is a drawer in the kitchen I need to figure out how to fix.  The old, outdated hardware simply wore out and my first fix, didn't, so I do still have that to do but I have a new plan and will get that started this weekend.

I began the week by going to my Mom's on Saturday for the Badger game.  We hung out, I cooked dinner, and I spent the night.  It was nice, but I got some wires crossed in my head about the Packer game that Sunday so left for home earlier than I needed to.  Not a big deal, but another lunch out with Mom would have been nice.

On Monday we had a new rug delivered for the living room, which led to maybe the biggest chore of this vacation.  The new rug was for the living room, so that rug was to move to the bedroom, and that rug was to move to the porch.  So, basically, we had to work backwards; clean up the porch for the rug from the bedroom, clean up the bedroom for the rug from the living room, then clean up the living room for the new (bigger) rug to be placed.  It was certainly good to get the cleaning done, but we wound up moving around most all of our furniture that day.

Some shopping, mowing the lawn, and plenty of time spent with my feet up all week.  Oh, there were a few little jobs done here and there but hardly anything else worth mentioning.  Now that I said that, I did want to mention the dill pickle bread I made.  It was interesting and not bad, a good baking exercise, but I may look for a different recipe if I make similar again.  

Most importantly, my wife and I did get to spend some good time together and enjoyed several lunches or dinners out, and several drinks out during the week.  It was nice to spend the time together, but later in the week the less I seemed to do, and that was good, too.  Now, sigh, back to work.

58 & Vacation

I've been on vacation this week, and today I turn 58 years old.  Normally I have a certain main project to do on my vacation, plus a list of other chores to get done.  This vacation I still have that list but no real big project and I'm placing more of a priority on rest and relaxation than getting things done.

My wife got me some Belgian sour beers, Rodenbach and Duchess de Bourgogne, that I may begin to enjoy starting later tonight.  Today we strolled State Street as it had been some time since I'd been downtown, and enjoyed lunch at State Street Brats.  Tonight we plan to meet some friends at Come Back In for food and drinks, then get home in time for the Packers game.

Overall, a good week so far.  I may reflect on this week more at a later time, but for now, all is good.

Last Tiger Lily 2025

I know I've posted the last tiger lily to bloom more than once in years past.  Here's this season's last, under a towering, aging sunflower.

The weather has been cool here recently.  For long enough now to feel like fall is actually here already.

Panorama Fire Pit

I had a relaxing fire last night, and a good conversation with Mom.  The mosquitoes were terrible so I had to spray myself head to toe with repellant, and resign myself to having to take a full shower again today to clean up before bed.

Recently I needed to upgrade my phone from a Pixel 7A to a Pixel 9A because my battery was going.  Last night I found out how much better the panorama feature is on the new phone, likely AI assisted.  I notice only one error stitching images together, the back steps and roofline of the house in the first picture.  But if you open the pictures full size you get a lot of detail of the back yard with no real distortion.

Just got home from a nice dinner on the bank of the Yahara river.  Dining, relaxing, and watching the boats go by on a beautiful Sunday evening...

Henry Vilas Zoo on Friday

I had the occasion for work to visit our local Henry Vilas Zoo again recently.  Not a group outing this time, just me and a client taking advantage of an opportunity to join another staff and client's outing for a few hours of strolling through the zoo on Friday morning.  

A beautiful day and very busy, as always, but if you can find parking it's a great way to fill time and spend zero money.  I was working so my full attention was on my client, but still I couldn't help but take a few quick pictures of some of the residents of our very nice local zoo.  It's easily taken for granted to have this in our city.  I didn't spend a lot of time getting every exhibit or even perfect shots, even though I managed to omit getting the many people, including many moms and lots of kids, in the pictures I did take.  Enough pictures I thought it would be good to share, so please enjoy.

There's a few of them, so after the break, of course.

Dog Days of Summer

We had planned to go to a Jamboree to sample different foods from black-owned restaurants last weekend, part of Black Restaurant Week here in Madison, but it was postponed due to rain until this Sunday.  Because of that, it will be in a different location farther from home and the weather is questionable so I'm not sure if we'll go tomorrow.  

We considered going to Schenk Corners Block Party last night, but instead went out for dinner then to a neighborhood bar for drinks.  Still, a good night out for us.

Mom came up to the house last week.  She had a gathering at her brother's just a bit south, so wanted to make the short extra trip up to see me and Kate.  We set up our screen gazebo tent in the driveway, grilled out dinner and enjoyed a nice visit.  I'm glad she made it up to the house as the big city traffic can get pretty nuts so she tends to stay away, and I don't blame her.  My next visit down to see her will be next month, sometime during my vacation.

Today was to be partly sunny with scattered strong storms, and indeed it has been all overcast and very wet so we will not be going to Eken Park Fest this afternoon after the Packer game, nor the previously mentioned block party tonight.  Instead we will be staying in and I'll be watching the Brewers go for a franchise-record 14 wins in a row.

Starkweather creek, from this morning's walk.

A bit disappointing after having bigger plans, but the rest is needed and even welcomed.  I even napped for the last half of the Packer game today, waking up to another storm approaching and scuttling any plans outside the rest of the afternoon.  I'm not sure what similar events are left yet this year, but that's okay.  It feels like we are entering the dog days of summer.

Sunflower and afternoon rain and wind today, dark enough at times for the garage lights to turn themselves on.

Not a lot new here, otherwise, at least nothing that I want to discuss here.  The sunflowers continue to grow and bloom, and ordinary life continues.  Mostly drama-free, which is good but doesn't provide much writing fodder.  Blissfully mundane, I guess you could say.  

The Brewer game is about to start, so that will be most of my evening.  Hope you are well.

Saturday Picture Post +

Plus commentary, that is.

My wife and I spent time on separate chores this morning, mine at home and hers more unexpected and difficult.  By early afternoon we were able to be done and go out for a nice, but very filling lunch together, then relaxed at a pub for a few drinks before coming home to watch the Brewers win their game and extend their lead in the division, league, and all of Major League Baseball.  

'Chuffed' isn't a word often used here in the US, but seems to aptly describe our pride as fans of our small-market team doing so well.  It's happened with our different Wisconsin teams at different times, but it's always really nice to look at the standings and see your team on top and enjoy it while it lasts.

AtwoodFest 2025

It rained off and on though mid-day Saturday, so it was very warm and humid when we ventured down to the eleventh AtwoodFest early that afternoon.  The skies remained cloudy after we arrived, and we did feel a raindrop here and there.  A shower would have felt good in that humidity, but Sunday was to be much hotter (and indeed it is sunny and feels like 96ºF outside right now) so we wanted to visit this day.

For the most part I tried to keep my phone in my pocket and not think about taking pictures, but I did take a few.  It looks similar to past years, but the food seemed to be all on one side this year and the main stage has been in a parking lot off the street about halfway down for the last couple years.

I was having a mild flare-up so I did not partake in any food cart goodies.  We spent a couple hours walking, looking, watching and listening before walking home as the sun came out.  We're thinking about an evening visit next year, just to see what that's like.  Today I'm just resting and fasting, watching the Brewers hopefully get a win.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

Saturday Picture Post

Fete De Marquette 2025

We've talked about coming to Fete de Marquette in years past, just have never made it until this year.  McPike park is relatively new to Madison, established about 10 years ago, and creates a nice open space near downtown Madison.  Initially, it was even called Central Park.  There is a skate park and some facilities, but mostly it is open lawn (a very well-kept lawn compared to other parks) with few trees mostly on the border.

We went about mid-day on Saturday, early enough that it wasn't too crowded.  The skies were mostly clouds and there was a good breeze.  We spent a couple hours, then left as the clouds started to break up and the sun made it very hot.  Atwoodfest is coming soon, and so is Eken Park Fest in August.  There are more but we'll just have to see.

A few more pictures after the break.

Cacio E Pepe Rolls

My wife's latest choice for me to make from King Arthur's Big Book Of Bread - Cacio E Pepe Rolls.

This appears to be a recipe reminiscent of a classic Roman pasta. It's a salty, peppery dough with pecorino Romano cheese.  Once baked, they are also tossed in a topping of salt, freshly cracked black pepper, pecorino Romano cheese and olive oil.  Big flavor in these rolls, half of which have been frozen for another day.  They took about 4 hours to make, start to finish, and was a good baking exercise even if I never make them again.  I can't wait to see what she chooses next.