Crazy Friday and suffering from Hitch Itch this weekend

Whew, what a crazy Friday!

Started out easy enough, with no babysitting on my schedule.  So I was going to *sleep in*.   Ahhh, not to be.  It was the thunderstorms, lightening, rain and shivering, shuddering, shaking dogs prevented that from happening.    (they don't like storms)

So I was up and at em, and out the door by 8am to register the Tracker and pay our sales tax and plate transfer.  Fortunately, we had the truck plates we had just renewed for the Nissen pickup that we sold. Were able to be put those plates on the Tracker.  Technically the Tracker is considered a *car* because of the passenger seat in the back. But can be registered as a truck too.  So next year when renewal comes up, we could change it to a car plate.  Both truck and car are the same price now in Wisconsin, so there really isn't any benefit to changing it I guess.

Once that was done, I went over to Erin's house and we took wee Chelsea with us 30 miles north to Marinette.  We were getting the groceries for the shower meal on Sunday and had planned to stop for a mani-pedi for Erin while I watched Chelsea, then maybe a lunch out, and maybe some other shopping, who knows.  But enroute I decided to place a call to Mom.   That changed everything.

I knew my Cuz John was up there on his Harley, visiting all of them in the U.P.  And I knew he was going to be coming through by our house on the way home to southern Wisconsin.  I wanted to double check with mom if he was taking off on the motorcycle through all the storms or going to wait a day till more of them passed.

Mom hemmed and hawed at first, but finally admitted they had been planning on leaving in a few minutes to come down and surprise me!  They had just loaded up John's Harley into the back of their pickup truck and they were ALL coming down for a visit!  (plus bring our tow bar to us that my brother had, and pick up a lawn mower we had for them)

Oh boy!  Now we had to quick get our groceries and skip the mani-pedi and get back to my house before they got there.  We were only half an hour away, and they were two hours away.  So we had time.

I picked up an apple pie and a cherry pie from the bakery for them as a treat, I knew I wouldn't have time to bake one.  Lowell loves getting apple pies from me, and it's something I know I can do for him that he likes...

Got home, got the groceries all put away and sure nuff, here they came!

He bought the Harley from them during the Spring when he visited them in Florida.  

Gosh, he looks good with it, like it was made for him! 

He took the time to re-gild all the eagles, and really dressed the bike up.  He added some fringes,

flags and all his little touches.  He drove it in the parade on Veteran's Day too.

We enjoyed our pies, and then Cuz John wanted to take off from here to get ahead of the storms. 

So it was hugs and good wishes for a safe trip, as he hopped on his Harley and hit the highway

Now it was close to 2pm.  Lowell wanted to run to Green Bay (35 miles) to get some things at Harbor Freight store.  Right next to it is Goodwill, so mom and I wanted to go along!    We called Steve at work and told him to stay there, and not to ride home with the other co-worker and we would pick him up on our way past the university. 

We picked up Steve and headed to the stores.. while we were in Goodwill, we heard TONS of rain coming down, huge boomers and cracks of lightening ... all was very dark outside in the parking lot.  Suddenly there was hail,very BIG hail!   Lowell and Steve had taken their nice new pickup truck and drove over under the Goodwill drop-off drive through canopy to keep the hail off!   The guy wanted them to move, but Lowell said not till the storm was over, and nobody was coming to drop things off anyhow. 

We finished shopping and dodged out of the store through the raindrops when the guys pulled up to the door of the store for us.  Whew!   It was AWFUL driving back up on the highway... drivers were pulling over here and there because of the decreased visibility.  Some were braking constantly and stopping on the interstate in the middle of the road.  How dumb!   If they kept rolling to the next exit or overpass, they could pull over instead of the middle of the road!....   Finally we reached a spot where the police were there, waving folks to keep going and not stop in the middle of the interstate.  Either pull over or keep moving .  We kept going and made it through as it was letting up the more north we got.  We later saw on the news that Green Bay got almost 3 inches of rain in one hour.  (the hour we were there)   

The folks loaded up a few more things from our house, and we discussed Lowell doing the body work and repainting on the little Tracker.  He might have some time this fall to work on it, or else next spring perhaps.   They wanted to get back up to Michigan in time for the truck pulls at the Iron County fair... they hit more rain and storms on the way home, including fog.  By the time they got back up to Michigan, the truck pulls had been cancelled.  So they stayed in, warm and safe and dry,  and ate leftover apple pie that I sent home with them! 

After they left here, we worked on a few projects on the motorhome and the Tracker to get it all ready to tow.  Soon we went to pick up Steve's car from the Park N Ride where he left it at 5 am in the morning.   I got to drive the fun little Tracker there and back.  What a cute little vehicle!

We tossed some burgers on the grill and tater salad and finally relaxed in our livingroom for the evening. 

Whew, what a day! 

UPDATE on Mom-In-Law and CAMPING at Bayshore and JAMESON birthday party

We received good news via Pete by phone calls yesterday and an email last night:

Mom's fever was measured at 101.8 this evening.  White cell count is about half of one percent. Hemoglobin dropped from Friday to this evening. She has lost 15 pounds since the last measure, Mom attributes the weight loss to the sores in her mouth and throat, nausea and poor taste in her mouth.  Her Oxygen level is still good.  Morphine is helping a bit with the pain. Infection is identified in bladder and throat. She is coughing up phlem from her throat and with the help of morphine is getting some sleep. She is receiving IV fluids and antibiotics.


She is in isolation with no visitors until her white cell count goes up...   if she continues to improve, they might let her go home later this week if she regains strength.  We are all hoping and praying for her.  Thank you so much everyone for your kind words of support, your prayers and you well wishes.  I printed them off and put them in a card for her, so she knows so many of your good people care about her!

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We had a nice time camping Friday night at the campground here at Bayshore.  As the last 2 sites around us were taken, one by a nice couple from Sturgeon Bay in Door County, turns out they know Steve's brother and wife very well, and we also had some other folks in common too.

And on the other empty site, we watched a big 36-38ish ft motorhome pull up, and back in very skillfully into a difficult site across from us, slow and steady wins the race.  Not only was the site tilted side to side, but also front to back.  It was the only site left and they were determined to get in there.  Once they successfully maneuvered it in, as the driver got out, we complimented him on his backing-in finesse!   They had three cute little pomeranian doggers, that all yipped in unison in agreement with our words.  LOL  But they were good and quiet campground doggies after that.

Supper was a treat of Italian sausage, sweet corn and spiced rice... yummmmm

We put in our little pittance of $5 to the rangers for some firewood, for the tiny bundle ... (we forgot to take some from home)   and had a little campfire.  Large metal campfire rings here with a flat section with a cooking grid, but we think you would have to get the fire going first in the open area, then shovel the burning logs and coals back to under the grid to be able to cook on it.

We turned in early Friday night and got a good night's rest.  Saturday morning we awoke to rain rain and more rain.... (the weatherman said *scattered showers* ===  he lied)   He also said it was going to be very hot and muggy.   I was thinking about the nice outfit I had brought along to wear for Jameson's 2nd birthday party-- if it was going to be too hot, I would be sweating bullets.  On TV with morning coffee, I saw an ad for Kohls having a special sale that started at 7am!   It was 6:15 am and I decided to do a quick run 10 miles down the highway to see if they had anything I might like.  Steveio insisted on coming along too. Ack.  I hate shopping... and I hate it even more if I have a hovering husband, suggesting outlandish clothes or getting lost where I have to go looking for him!   He did BOTH of those things of course in the half hour we were in the store.  Didn't find a sun dress, but I found 2 nice lighter summer tops for sale and we headed back to the campground.  Through the pouring rain.  It was a high speed windshield wiper type rain, and we could barely see the road.  Scattered showers... yah ... right.... if you say so, Mr. Weatherman.


Now it was time to get out to Jesse's folks house in Rio Creek for the party.   By 10 am we were loaded up in the car with our 2 portacribs they were borrowing, 4 lawn chairs, 2 folding tables, a cooler with 2 big salads, video camera and birthday presents.   Wheeeeeeee   Guess what?  The rain stopped and held off for most of the outdoor party.

They had a blowup bouncy toy for the kids, plenty of food, and lots of babies to hand around.  

Grandma Lisa (Jesse's mom), with wee Scarlett and Jameson clinging to her.   

Granddaughter Allegra tries out her new shades from her goodie bag.

Jameson was insisting he was FIVE, not two. 

Jameson loved his Sesame Street cake, with Grover and Elmo flying in a plane

For some reason, our granddaughter Chelsea decided she didn't like her Uncle Dan...
but our granddaughter Allegra was thinking her daddy is just wonderful. 

Daddy Jesse entertained us on Jameson's new ukulele, while Grandpa Wade looked on with humor.

Our granddaughters, Allegra and Chelsea

Sassy boy Jameson is tossing pieces of bark into the flowing waters of this unique fountain... 

We waited for updates on Steve's mom so that kinda threw a damper on the celebration.   Pete called during the gift opening, just as Jameson was opening a present from his Great Grandma and Grandpa Pfundtner, what timing!   With good news that she was doing better, we were able to relax a bit more and smile and enjoy the little guy's party, which is what she wanted us to do.  She is in isolation so can not have visitors anyhow, they don't want to chance any more infections.  She wanted us to keep on camping and do the birthday party without her.

Oh, by the way, it was cold and damp at the party, I could have worn the original outfit I had planned on, and never had to go shopping for anything new afterall!

After the party was over, we cleaned up and packed the car, we headed back to our campground.

Back at the campground, we drove down the cliff drive to the water... to the bay waters of Green Bay.  

I snapped these quick outta the car window, so they are a bit crooked.

It's a popular fishing boat ramp, and there were trucks and trailers as far as the eye could see in the parking lot.  When our kids were little, they didn't like camping here.  There is really no beach or swimming area for kids, just the boat launches, rocks and piers to moor your boats at. 

Up at our campsite, we let out the dogs, asked the neighbors if they had barked (they hadn't).   When we do have to leave the dogs in the rig, we close the windows, turn up the volume on the tv and pull the shades so they do not notice anything from the outside. They just sleep and wait for us to come back.  We have set up the video camera from time to time to see what they do while we are gone, and it's a pretty boring film.   A yawn, a sip of water from the dog dish, and curled back up to snooze.  Good doggers.

We unpacked the lawnchairs from the car and got ready to make supper.  The wood was a bit wet for cooking outside, so inside the rig we cooked up some spaghetti dinner with garlic bread and a big salad for supper.  But we took it outside to eat at the picnic table.   NOW the clouds blow away and the sun comes out and it gets warmer.

After a nice walk around the park with the dogs, we stopped to chat with the neighbors.  They shared their campfire with us, and we brought over our soggy wood to add to their pile.  If you put one wet log in with 3 or 4 dry ones, they all burn about the same.

We sat up around the fire till almost 11 pm before turning in.  Things were quiet and comfortable, but cooling off a bit.  So we closed up the windows on the motorhome and that had kept the residual heat from the day inside. But about midnight I was feeling chilled.  Didn't want to get up and start the furnace which I knew would blast us out of the rig.  Then I remembered, we had electric hookups here!   So I just reached down outta bed, plugged in the cord for our electric mattress pad heater, and flicked on the controller on my side of the bed.  I was soon toasty warm and cozy for the night. Ahhh sometimes it's nice to be pampered camping with full hookups!    LOL

Woke up Sunday morning to sunshine, and sweet fresh air after opening all the windows and lovely birds singing.  It sure is good to be camping!   I baked up a tray of triple berry muffins....  (from a mix)

Since the mix makes a whole dozen, I brought some over to our neighbors as a *Thank You* for sharing their campfire last night.   

Now we are sitting out in our lawn chairs, updating this blog, sipping coffee, and watching all the other campers pack up and get ready to head out.  Checkout time is 3pm and I think we are staying till the last possible minute to enjoy the day. 

CAMPING - winery tour and drenching dodge to the motorhome

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Sunday was a crazy weather day in Wisconsin.  We had bright sunshine and heat and humidity, then scattered storms rolling through from time to time.   When it was nice out, we had taken a scooter ride and snapped these pics of nearby McCombs lake.  The water levels are wayyy down, over 4 feet at least.  We are having a severe shortage of rainfall in this part of Wisconsin.

This is the boat landing area to launch boats... good thing we didn't bring ours, because I think the truck would have gotten stuck backing down this channel to get to deep enough water! 

We sat around the morning at our camping spot, up in the woods.  But then in the afternoon it looked a bit hazy, but rainy, on and off.  So for fun we decided to brave the crowds and go up to Lakewood and tour the winery and get some ice cream.  

We tasted some wines and came home with a bottle of Northern Ice, a white wine that is semi-dry but sweet

We hit a little tourist trap and looked around.... yup, that was enough for us.  Didn't spend any money there.  but these cute ladybugs made from old bowling balls were a hoot!   The icecream was good too.

We got back to the cabin and our rigs in the mid-afternoon.  A few rain showers here and there, but it cleared up in time for cooking supper.  We had bratwurst and potatoe salad,  some grilled vegggies and baked some cookies in my Easy Bake Oven for dessert.... 

The guys gathered some more firewood for our campfire, and just got it going ...

I got in a little bit of knitting .... 

until the heavens just opened up with a huge downpour!  

Sharon and Fred starting flinging chairs under the fifthwheel and they headed inside.  By the time we gathered up a few things, and the dogs, it was TOO LATE!   We were getting drenched!  We were trapped and could not make it over to our motorhome. We ducked under a pine tree, huddled up tight.  Two adults, two dogs, a knitting bag with video camera safely tucked away under the cookie pan for protection.  I took off my watch and  hid that deep inside the knitting basket too.  It's not waterproof and I love that watch!   The more we stood there, the more it poured!   

We laughed....  we were soaked to the skin.  

We kissed...  there wasn't anything we could do but get wet!   

Suddenly it dawned on Steve.. all of our windows in the motorhome were OPEN!  OH NO!!  And I knew I left the laptop sitting near one!   So off we went through the pouring rain over to where our rig was parked.  There was no sense in running, we were soaked to the bones by now.  We got ourselves and the dogs inside, herded them into the bathroom to keep the water damage to a minimum.  No need to have wet dogs shaking off all over the motorhome, even where it was dry. 

We got the windows all shut, though the couch and the side of the bed were pretty wet.   We used just about every towel in the rig to dry off.  It was hilarious and we kept laughing all the while.   After we were all dried off and cozy, we curled up with a movie and went to sleep... as it kept raining all night long!   Most of the fireworks displays in the areas around us were cancelled too.  

Now it's Monday morning, the sun is out and things are drying off.... 

today we have to go HOME 

(dangnabbit!)

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