Why I Oughta...

There I was, minding my own business, driving home when I came across this thing: a converted fridge into a kegerator just sitting on the curb.  Tank, hose, tap.  Everything right there.  Including the - undoubtedly - energy sucking 80's fridge.  There's some ingenuity at work here with the tap coming out the side of the box and the plywood shelf in the bottom to hold up the keg.  I got out, looked the thing over, snapped this photo and thought about trying to figure out how to get it into the van for like 10 seconds.  Texted it to Nat's Dad who said:  "move along".  Good advice in this case, I think.   I drove by a few hours later and someone had stripped the hose, fittings and tap off the fridge, took the tank and left the box.  That was probably the right call.  

We've been able to spend a little bit of time this summer up in Twin Lakes on Lake Elizabeth with the kids and little Lizzie.  I've posted a few times about Lizzie.  First, when we got her .  Then, earlier this spring when we marked her 7 month mark .    She was born on July 21st of last year , so we're coming up on her 11 month mark and there are still some new experiences - including her first trip into the lake.  Our dear Maisy - who Lizzie isn't a pimple on - spent some time up in Paw Paw Lake in Michigan.  We bought her a dog life jacket and that's the one that Lizzie is wearing in the photo above.  Maisy was a good swimmer, but one of the funniest things was seeing her swim in the lake only to haul her out by the handle on her back, on top of the jacket, only to see her little legs keep swimming even though she was out of the water.  Turns out, that's a Cavalier thing!  Lizzie does the same thing. The girls love this big 'yoga mat' as they ca

We're now all set up with fishing rod and a little tackle box up.  We went off to Walmart and came home with a few little poles (for the two younger kids) and an intermediate one for the Babe and I even bought my own rod.  When we were picking out the equipment the lady at Walmart was very helpful and encouraged me to get a license.  After answering a handful of questions, she printed out this barcode license that says that we are supposed to carry this with us when we fish.  We didn't buy any stamps because, well, we're just beginners and we're catching a lot of little things and tossing them back. The Babe has had the most luck of the bunch.  She throws her line in - usually with a wax worm on the hook - and most sessions, she pulls out a fish.  A lot of panfish (bluegills) and a few bass (not sure if they're large-mouth or small-mouth...again....we're beginners!) so far.  The King of the Ball Tossers is currently using a casting practice weight.  One of

Over the years, we grew into some food 'habits' during our repeated trips to Southwest Michigan and Coloma.  These were places we went , food stuffs that we picked up and fell in love with over time.  Now that we're spending more and more time up in Wisconsin, that same pattern is falling into place.  It seems like we're already coalescing around some favorite spots and foodstuffs like the King of Club cheese spread .  On a Saturday this month,  I packed the kids into the minivan and headed up to the Lake Geneva area to pick up some fishing supplies at Walmart.  After we left, I wandered around the the various big box stores and strip malls near the highway and came across the Lake Geneva Pie Company .   It was open early and there was a crew in there baking. Having never picked up a pie from this place, I pleaded my ignorance and asked for help.  She lead me to the Lakeshore pie.   From their site : Lakeshore Berry Crumb.  A customer favorite is our tantalizin

At the Elkhart Antique Flea Market there were so many treasures that it was hard to focus.  It was colder than we thought and we weren't dressed for the wind and weather, so we were hustling around.  I posted about the Schlitz glass pitcher yesterday , but today comes a treasure that is closer to my sweetspot:  vintage Christmas stuff. Above you see Santa and Mrs. Claus on a little bench giving each other a smooch - and it is pretty cute.  They're salt and pepper shakers and this is what I *think* is the first matching pair of vintage Christmas ones we have.  I posted about this "Merry" (without Christmas) one  back in 2014.  And this spaghetti trim Salt shaker (no pepper) in 2015 . This new pair was in a booth that was close to the entrance and I picked them up and liked them right away.  But, it was like the 2nd booth we had visited, so I passed and moved on.  Just like the Schlitz pitcher, since it was on the way out, I stopped by and the vendor was packing

I've been a Merkt's guy for a while.  Sharp Cheddar.  Sure, I'll eat the Pub Cheese from Trader Joe's.  Or if a tub of Kaukauna shows up for a party or get together...I'll slather healthy amounts of it on crackers, pita chips, tortilla chips or what-have-yous.  But it was always Merkt's that I came back to. Until now. I've found my new love and it is the King of Clubs Sharp Cheddar Cold Pack Cheese Food .  Yeah...Cheese food.  From the folks at the Mars Cheese Castle comes their house brand of cheese spread .  They offer it in one pound size but also in five pound size .  I probably need to stay away from the five pounder, because the one pound version barely lasted the weekend.  (the 18 ounce crock is cute, though.  Might become my go-to party-going bring-along?  Keep a few of them on hand?  I have to think that this stuff - being 'cheese food' - will last quite a while, right??) They serve the King of Clubs in their bar up at the Cheese Ca

Recently, we were up in Wisconsin just puttering around town when I spotted a sign for 'Auction Today' coming out of the gas station.  I followed a few other signs back into this light industrial park and arrived at this place:  Blue Toad Auctions.  Nat and the kids were with me, so I just left the car running, begged for forgiveness and hopped in to check things out.  The auctions take place on Saturdays at 10 am with a 'preview' session starting at 9 am.  I got there about 10:15 and the auction was already running. The place has seating for more than 100 people and has items displayed up front and down the sides of the building.  The auctioneer was moving fast and getting people to bid on the various items.  The day I was there, the place seemed VERY heavy in sports memorabilia.  And very little antiques and what appeared to be almost no furniture.  Perhaps that's how it always is?  If so, this might not be for us. Nat and I have had luck at the Shipsh

I spotted this big, brass Elephant up in Wisconsin at the Flea market in Richmond back in February.  This wasn't at the Lake Geneva Antique Mall, which I've posted about previously, but it was at this weird Flea about 2 blocks off of the main drag in Richmond.   We had the kids in the van and I think we were running somewhere, so I didn't have a lot of time in here as I just ran in there myself to check it out and see if it was worth coming back.  Turns out, there are dozens of booths filled with lots of junk (think: tube socks), but some gems if you could look past all the other stuff.  One of them was this big elephant.  If you look closely, you can see the price tag on him:  $35.  So, I passed, but snapped this photo to show Nat when I got back in the car. I posted a companion 'little' brass elephant on the blog back in the summer of 2016 .  Don't they look like a mother/child pair??? Also, there's a whole host of [Flea Market] posts here on the t

We stumbled upon this Mattel Toy Store up in Wilmot Wisconsin after we had a little lunch and checked out Wilmot Ski resort on a weekend trip recently.  It was closed, so we couldn't go in, but we put our noses up to the glass to check things out.  There's a big building attached to this place that has a big "American Girl" sign on it, so I'm thinking we'll have to check this place out.   Their Headquarters is in Middleton up by Madison , so this facility isn't the 'big show', but the girls still love those dollies and the sign on the building made them light up just seeing it. Looking out on the Web, it looks like in late Spring/Early Summer, they have a 'doll sale' , which might be interesting, right?  But, the weird part is that it appears that you have to have a membership to shop at the store ?  Membership is free, but it requires you to fill out this form .

As we spend more time up at Twin Lakes in Wisconsin, we are beginning to get to know the local community a bit more including places to shop like Lake Geneva Antique Mall  and this place above"  Anderson's Candy Shop, which is actually in Illinois.  Richmond, Illinois to be exact.  Richmond is a border town.  Check out this map that shows the town of Richmond, the location of Anderson's and it's proximity to the Wisconsin border (which I've circled in green) as well as Twin Lakes of Elizabeth and Mary. Anderson's isn't the first candy shop that we've discovered.  Because of Google Maps rerouting us one time due to traffic and accidents, we came across the Riverside Chocolate Factory in McHenry .  It is shaped like a teepee, so it is hard to miss.  I'll try to post something on that place the next time we go because I think that the kids actually like that place better. Mostly because they have LOTS of little bins of name-brand candy. And t

Check out that shoreline!  That's what they call Ice Jacking or Ice Heaving.  And best I can tell it is quite common in Minnesota.  There's dozens of stories like this one about it happening and damaging both the shoreline and occasionally, someone's property.   I took these photos a bit ago before the lake ice melted completely. We dealt with heaving with our old gate and the pavers underneath it as each winter they'd rise up by a small fraction of an inch, but it was enough to make the gate stick underneath it. That curling up of the earth and movement of the stones from the riprap is something I've never seen before in all my years spent around a lake.  Paw Paw didn't do this, but we also had a lot of beach area with a zero-depth entrance, so perhaps the ice had room to expand? If you look in the photo below, you can see it happening in the neighbors shoreline, too.  But, it doesn't occur everywhere.  Just in *some* spots. Based on what I'

It was back in May that we lost our dear girl Maisy just shy of her 11th birthday.  I still miss her dearly.  And we kinda tried to fill the void by bringing home a goldfish from RibFest .  BTW...that fish is still alive and well!  And the whole burden of cleaning the bowl has been pretty easy thus far.  Installed a filter, change out like 1/4 to 1/3rd of the water about once every ten days and the thing stays clean. Anyway...back to dogs.  Our dear Maisy was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  And she was.the.best.dog.ever.  First dogs often are, aren't they?   I've talked with a few people and they all say the same thing:  that first dog that couples often get BEFORE they have kids has a special relationship and bond with the family.  They're just different.  Sure, second dogs are great and they're also special.  But just about everybody that I've talked to has said the same thing:  it just isn't the same. And with Maisy being pretty awesome?  I'm gue

I feel a little bit like Sarah Palin when I stand on the dock at Lake Elizabeth in Wisconsin and look to the right to see the great state of Illinois.  Just a little bit. 

A trip to Madison - or anywhere for that matter - wouldn't be complete without trying some of the local pizza.  And when you're on campus at U of W, I think that means heading to Ian's for some Mac-and-Cheese slices.  I first came across Ian's when they opened in Chicago back in 2009.   Here's a post from Slice/Serious Eats that talked about their 'kinda-famous' Mac-and-Cheese slice .  First time I'd heard of something like that and ever since, Ian's has been on my radar.   Looks like Ian's in Chicago didn't make it and is now a Dimo's? But, back to Madison.  With some time to kill and a walk around campus towards the State Capitol, we went to Ian's on State Street and ordered a wide range of slices.  Of course, we had the Mac-and-Cheese.  But the girls also tried the cheese.   We also ordered the Macadilla Killa - which has Mac-and-Cheese in it but also buffalo chicken and a weird tortilla top.  Didn't love it.  And I t

A few weekends back, we found ourselves up in the Madison Wisconsin area and decided to take a trip to campus.  And, after drinking a Spotted Cow up on the Memorial Union Terrace, I had to ask myself:  Who know that Madison was so great? I think it was the limited view of the collegiate world that Lincoln-Way gave me:  after all....if you were able to think about moving on from LWHS and think about a big, land-grant, state university, why wouldn't you go to the University of Illinois?  And if not there, it seemed like the other choice was Iowa.  Or...maybe Indiana?    But Wisconsin at Madison?  Nope.  Not on my radar.  Don't actually know anyone who went there from my high school days. Subsequently, have come across some folks who graduated there.  There's a bunch of guys in our neighborhood in Elmhurst who are Badgers.  And, now?  I kinda get it.  Beautiful place.  So alive, too.  Between the campus and the Capitol, and the lakes.  My god...the lakes.  There's a