Don't Look at the Calendar

It is August 25.  The sugar maple trees are already oranges and reds.  The deer are eating the plentiful acorns that have fallen to the ground.  A few mornings have been down right cold.  We had a very early spring.  Now an early fall.  Should be in the 80's for the rest of the week to hold off autumn.  We definitely want good weather for Tad's and Carrie's wedding in September in Door County. 

We're Winners!

Case and I attended the annual picnic for people who live on our lake.  There is a raffle with many prizes.  We bought 6 tickets for $10.  Yes, we are the last of the big time spenders.  When it was time to draw the tickets, we went to sit with people who basically won everything last year.  I told them that I wanted to sit at the winning table this year.  We won 3 items (fishing rod, a basket of handmade cards, and a fabric wall hanging.)  Our winning friends from last year won only 1 item - restaurant gift certificate.  They said that we stole their luck!    We bought 6 tickets and won 3 prizes.  Those are great odds.

Not a Day of Rest

Case and I find ourselves chairs of the Sawyer County Fair parking lot.  The fair begins today and mercifully runs only 3 days.  We have a large crew taking different shifts but there was much work leading up to this day.  This week 5 of us painted the entire grass lot with parking lines.  Yes, it is as bad as it sounds.  The Lions Club will receive $1500 for this project. 

I am thinking of wearing my long underwear for my shift.  It was 39 degrees this morning.  Finally, Northwoods weather. 

A Day of Rest

What is nice about retirement is taking a day of rest when you want to.   We woke up to a gentle rain that has settled in for the day, we had breakfast and then slept until noon.  Life is good in the Northwoods.

A Day at the Beach

My Tuesday walking group crossed state lines today heading for a beach in upper peninsula Michigan.  It is a county park called Little Girls Point.  You can enjoy the sand but mainly you come to pick up rocks - from pea-sized to larger than a softball.  All free for the taking.  We brought buckets.  We brought boxes.  We brought bags.  Since we carpooled, we had rocks for up to 4 people per car.  Going home you could actually feel the vehicle ride heavier from the additional weight.  For a special day like this, we had a potluck salad lunch.  There was a large variety of good things to eat.  Weather was in the high 70's.  No insects bothering us. Lake Superior was 78 degrees.  Many went swimming.  Perfect for wading to chase the elusive rock. 

My treasures include granite, quartz, a coral fossil, sandstone, chert, feldspar, rhyolite, and porphyry.  Yes, I have been studying my "Rocks and Minerals Field Guide to Lake Superior" that I received as a Christmas present. 

Olympics - Summer Olympics

After I got over that there was going to be no ice skating, I have settled in to enjoy the Olympics.  (I know this is not the winter Olympics with all the events I really enjoy watching, but I hear the Olympic music and get excited with the opening ceremonies and think yahoo and all the winter stuff.)  We have watched cycling, water polo, beach volley ball with Misty May and Keri Walsh and, of course, gymnastics.  In my youth, I took gymnastic lessons.  Balance beam was my best event.  I could do a cartwheel and turn before eventually falling off.  You can just imagine how the other events went if that was my best.  Didn't have a flexible enough gymnast body. 

I have figured out table tennis, though.  After the server does some kind of odd ritual with the ball - think Art Carney: "Hello, ball."  - the server palms the ball and pretends to serve because I don't even see the ball going back and forth.  They make clicking sounds with their mouths to mimic the ball hitting the table.  No one can see a ball going that fast let alone hit it.  So that is what I figured out - to clue you in.  It's all pretend!  Event: Olympic Charades.