Why I Oughta...

Continuing the series of items that 'got away' from a recent Estate Sale up in Wisconsin.  First there was the telephone chair .  Then Da original Mare primary poster .  Then the Snoopy bank from my childhood.  Today, it is this set of beautiful Christmas ornaments.  I've bought plenty of vintage glass Christmas ornaments from Estate Sales and Garage Sales over the years.  But they were almost always a deal.  Like $1 a piece.  As you can see in the photo above, this sale had a heckuva collection.  Some really nice ornaments.  But they were asking $5 a piece for each of them.  Too rich for me.  I took this photo on Friday and knowing that they cut the prices on Saturday, I went back.  And all of these were gone.  At 50% off, they're closer to being the right price for me.  But alas, they weren't meant to be.  Seems that how I value these is off from the market?  Good data point for when I come across more ornaments in the future.  Seems that $2.50 is the po

I've written numerous posts about club cheese .  It (Club Cheese) is my preferred version of cheese.  Better than cubed or sliced.  My personal favorite is the King of Clubs from Mars Cheese Castle , but I also really like the Bucky Badger Club Cheese - which is far easier to buy.  I've posted about Glas Club Cheese that we bought at the Woodstock Farmer's Market and Brewster House Club Cheese that I didn't love .  On a recent trip up to Wisconsin, Nat wandered into a place called The Cheese Box .  She said it reminded her of Bobby Nelson's , but much closer to home.  On their homepage, they show the inside of the shop and their counter .  Looks like a place I'd love, right? She came home with a few club cheeses including this Mild Cheddar - which was awesome.  This is private labeled for The Cheese Box, but they're not making it, I don't think.  They do, however, make their own curds and Nat scored a container of those (that didn't last v

Last Summer, I was up at the Lake Geneva Walmart buying our fishing license when I noticed a guy who looked familiar in a trench coat inspecting a kayak along with a youngish other man.  I looked them over and couldn't right away figure out who it was.  Then it clicked.  It was Chicago Alderman Ed Burked and his ( infamous) security detail .  Of course, that got me wondering what the Alderman was doing up there and a few searches on Google lead me to this story about how he came to acquire a place called Honey Bear Farm.   On a recent run, Natalie came across this sign you see above:  Honey Bear Bay.  Kinda neat.  We had talked about my run-in with the Alderman and the name of the farm must have stuck because when she came back from the run, she showed me this photo. As for the story, it is just *too* Chicago politics to believe.    From the Chicago Tribune : A subsidiary of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. sold an interest in prime Wisconsin real estate to two of the m

Like a lot of you guys, we're fans of Mars Cheese Castle.  We make a trip there a few times a year and - of course - come away with a crock of the King of Clubs club cheese.   Turns out, there's a place that lives in the shadow of the Mars Cheese Castle that has decided to take a different tact towards succeeding:  Mars has gone big.  Bobby Nelson?  He's stayed small.  If you've listened to Steve Dahl for any period of time, you might have heard him talk about Bobby Nelson's.  I convinced Nat (and her folks...Dahl fans!) to make the 25 minute drive over to the cheese shop to check it out.  Above you see the sign:  Wisconsin Cheese!  Bobby Nelson is a former wrestler (wrassler) who had the move the "full nelson" named after him ?!?  Kinda awesome. Below is the shop.  If you look closely at the right side of the pic, you can make out one of the turrets of the Mars Cheese Castle.  They're like 300 yards apart.  Inside, this place is awesome

Same story as the Disneyland tray from the Wisconsin Antique Mall :  I passed.  But not before picking this thing up, admiring it and giving it quite a bit of thought before, ultimately, putting it down and letting someone else own this. Remember: It is enough to enjoy the existence of things without possessing all of them . But, now, back to this record.  Or ' piece of vinyl ' if you will.    It was released in 1979.  And charted as high as on the Billboard Pop Charts . Here's the track listing: The whole record can be found here on YouTube .  Not so great, if you ask me. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah seems to be the standout.  Here it is: Or Maybe Chim Chim Cher-ee:

We were up in Twin Lakes recently and as we pulled out of the driveway, we saw these guys.  No...not the geese in the background.  I'm talking about the bright red birds.  They were small, finch-like with black wings.  But super vibrant red body and head. I haven't come across birds like this before, so off to the Field Guide I went.  And found this:  the Scarlet Tanager.  From the book: "Migrants (late April - May, Late August - early October) are fairly common and can be found nearly anywhere.)   Checks out. 

Back in late January, I posted a photo from the Lakeview Room* out on Lake Elizabeth showing the colorful sunrise one morning .  Here's another one from the same room showing the view that we woke up to on a recent weekend morning.  The lake was still frozen and covered in snow and if you look closely, you can see one of the ice fishing shantys in the middle right of the photo out in the distance.  *Room name pending

We found ourselves near the Jelly Belly Warehouse up in Pleasant Prairie Wisconsin recently and decided to take the two youngest kids on a tour and stop at the factory store.  The tour is free and is a nice way to spend an hour.   They put you on a little tram ride that takes you around the facility and shows you how they make the beans.  But...this isn't a factory.  It is a warehouse.  And we went on a Sunday when the place was shut down.  Still was fun, though.  They also have an in-house bean artist that does displays like the one you see above with Mickey and Minnie Mouse made entirely out of Jelly Belly jelly beans.  Here's the non-operational warehouse: One aspect of the tour is the wait for the tram to arrive.  There's only one tram and if it is out on a tour, you have to wait for it to come back into the station for the next tour.  They have you wait - not in the warehouse - but in a separate spot.  The waiting room is actually upstairs where they have a

We wandered over to Kenosha one afternoon recently to make a stop at the Mars Cheese Castle and while we were out we, stopped at The Garage for a few burgers and root beers. When we asked, "Do you have a good sarsaparilla?".  The didn't say "Sioux City Sarsaparilla".  But they said "Gray's".  That's a good one. So, we all enjoyed a few bottles of Grays and it was tasty.   I've never heard of the stuff, but a quick look around the Web, I discovered it is from Janesville, Wisconsin by a family that has been making beers, ales and root beers for more than 150 years.  And, according to this review on the Soda Jerks , it is a local Southern Wisconsin delicacy. ...The root beer recipe dates back 140 years and is made with pure cane sugar. It’s a nice grog, good creamy head, rich vanilla flavor and decent carbonation. It’s one of the better root beers I’ve tasted. It’s only available in southern Wisconsin as far as I know, so a road

I keep my phone on the nightstand and use it as my alarm clock.  Because of that, it was handy one morning that we were up in Wisconsin, so Nat grabbed it and snapped this photo of the sunrise view (#nofilter) from the Lakeview Bedroom (Name Pending).  I say 'pending' because there's just one room that seems to have a name up there:  the Pine Needle Room.  That was named, I think, by Vic.  But, it has stuck!  That's the room that the Babe normally sleeps in, but this - the Lakeview Bedroom (Name Pending) is the room where Nat and I sleep when we're up there.  The windows face straight east, so we get great morning views full of colors that you can kind of see in the photos of the early morning fox visitor I posted a few weeks back .   And that really is a #NoFilter photo.  For realz.

There I was minding my own business early one morning recently reading on my phone when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some movement out on the back porch.  I looked up and saw this guy's head peeking out from behind a post.  Those pointy ears and his bright coat told me he wasn't a coyote.  He was there for just an instance.  Then off he went down the stairs.   I shot up and made my way to the window to see where he was heading.  After some frollicking in the snow, he made his way into the neighbor's yard and disappeared.   Nat tells me that she's come across a similar fox last fall up there - so he's a known neighborhood member.  Turns out... they don't attack dogs .  So they have that going for themselves...

Those of you who have been following along on the blog know a few things about me:  I'm pretty passionate about pizza and gardening.  But also about Club Cheese.  Yeah...Club Cheese.  You might call it Cold Pack Cheese.  Or Cheese spread.  Or a 'tub of cheese'.  Here in Illinois, Merkt's rules the grocery store, but Trader Joe's sells something that is a bit more whipped than Club Cheese that they market under the label "Pub Cheese".  It is all good stuff.  And I'll eat a lot of any variety of the stuff that I come across at parties and social gatherings.  Also, I'll eat a lot of the stuff inside my very own house. Pretzels, tortilla chips, pita chips.  I'm pretty agnostic when it comes to the vessel that I use to scoop up the club cheese and deliver it to my mouth. But, I've had a few Club Cheese experiences that have allowed me to demonstrate a strong preference for a particular variety. Sure, I still stay true to Merkts.  It *is

Down in the bowels of Union Station these days you'll find this hourglass and floor/wall takeover from Travel Wisconsin encouraging all of us to get up to 'see the fall color before the leaves fall' .  The hourglass is clever and in terms of size it is pretty big and grabs your attention as you leave the Great Hall and head to your platforms, so it seems like a nice placement. Really seems like Wisconsin is trying to horn in on the whole Pure Michigan thing, right?  Now that I'm not a Michigander any longer (or Michigander by lake house), I'm rooting for Wisconsin.  Cute campaign all around

We stopped at the Farmer's Market in Woodstock on a recent Saturday as part of a trip to Twin Lakes.   We were walking to lunch across the square that looks a lot like Stars Hollow (according to Nat!) and while many of the flower and produce stands/vendors didn't make me think twice, when I came across a booth that was selling club cheese , well....I was going to stop.   Turns out, it was a booth from the folks at Glas All Naturals Cheese Spreads .  At the booth, they had a variety of cheeses including the one you see above that I bought: Cheddar.   Glas packages their cheese spreads in glass jars (with *that* name, it seems like a natural fit!) and a metal spin-on lid.  It wasn't cheap at $14, but I figured I'd give it a shot and see what it was like.   You can see on the lid, they state 'keep refrigerated', but during the transaction, they also stressed the freezable nature of this particular club cheese.  They said that we could put it in t

We went out to a kind of fancy lunch recently to a place called Pier 290 in Williams Bay up on Lake Geneva that is run from the folks who run Gage Marine.  It is a waterfront dining destination (for some) and we wanted to give it a try.  We drove by a place called Harpoon Willies that seemed more our speed, but we ended up staying the course and heading to Pier 290.  I went with the Wedge, which I have to say:  they got a bit too cute with and wasn't awesome.  Wedge's are best when they are dead simple with super high quality ingredients, right?  The one at Pier 290 is a balsamic-based dressed wedge , which was their first mistake.   But, that's not the point of this post.  Nope.  While the food was just fine at the restaurant, their wall of honor/memorabilia/photograph collection in the hallway on the way to the restrooms is, by itself, worth the visit.  And one of the displays there is all about the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva that you can see above.  (Side no

This seems like a relatively important development for our family:  a Starbucks is set to open in the outlot of the Lake Geneva Walmart.  Most mornings when we're up in Twin Lakes, I head out to either Bodi's bakeshop to pick up some donuts or to McDonald's for a couple of Big Breakfasts.  Then, I usually take a trip to the Walmart to pick up rations for the day.  Having a Starbucks there - and one with a drive thru - will be really nice and make a quick addition to the routine.  And, gives me another reason to make that 15 minute trip besides buying knock-off American Girl Dollie stuff for the girls along with the turkey and cheese stuff for Dallas' turkey and cheeses.

Up in Twin Lakes, there is a row of fir trees in the side/rear yard close to the property line.  Well...at least I *think* they're fir trees.  I'm no conifer expert, so they might be spruce trees?  Chime in here if you know for sure.  Anyway...they were there when we arrived and they provide a good amount of screening.  And I never thought about them too much until I was recently walking by them as I dragged a tube from the garage to the pier and notice something pretty incredible about them:  They have purple cones.   They're pretty tightly wound up cones, but they're definitely purple.  A little bit of searching says that they might be Picea purpurea or they might be Korean Fir - Abies koreana .  Either way, they're pretty great to look at up there right now.  I'll keep an eye on the cones to see if they turn from purple to brown as they dry out and drop.

I came across a garage sale up in Twin Lakes earlier this summer that I was drawn in via a vintage bicycle (that turned out to be a reproduction and was too expensive for me!) and ended up buying this silly coffee mug for $0.25.  It has this husband/wife and a pig on it and just spoke to me for some reason.  It has a comic strip kind of quality to it, but I can't quite place it. Not Frank and Ernest .  Not quite Beetle Bailey .  Kind of like a hillbilly Blondie ? The same mug is on eBay for $19.99 , which seems nuts, right? Oh, did I tell you?  This got a MAJOR eye roll from Nat.   I made the mistake of leaving it in the front seat after I picked it up and she came across it before I could put it away. It has some crazing going on and I have to think it will survive the dishwasher if it still looks like this after 40 or 50 years, so I stuck it in the cupboard in Twin Lakes and I'll use it when I can. One of the big reasons why I bought it?  This "Made in Japa

I tend to do most of my shopping up in Wisconsin at Walmart.  Nat isn't a fan, so most of the time, the trips I make there are with just some of the kids.  We buy fishing gear, groceries (including turkey for grilled turkey and cheeses) and other lakehouse what-have-yous.  On one of my recent trips, I came across this huge pallet of New Glarus Spotted Cow 12 packs of cans right by the 'greeter'.  Interesting to see this craft beer being sold in Walmart, isn't it? Having recently read this piece about New Glarus planned expansion , this got me thinking.  From BrewBound : New Glarus Brewing Co. is adding 16 fermentation tanks that will eventually allow the Wisconsin brewery to double its annual capacity to more than 400,000 barrels.  The German manufactured tanks, each capable of holding about 580 barrels of beer, arrived via boat in Milwaukee earlier this week.  Carey had hoped the tanks would be operational for a busy summer selling season, but the additional

There's a whole world of cheese spreads (cold pack or Club Cheese or Crock Cheese) that I've been introduced to with our trips to Twin Lakes in Wisconsin.  The breadth of the offerings in the Club Cheese category at the grocery store is simply amazing in Wisconsin.  I feel like I just woke up.  The latest is this stuff from Shullsburg Creamery.   Shullsburg makes tons of cheeses , but they also have a strong entry in the Club Cheese category. Called "The Brewster House Old Fashioned Spreadable Cheese", this isn't topping the King of Clubs from Mars .  Nope.  But this is different.  More like cream cheese than anything else.  It is smoother, easier to spread that Merkt's or King of Clubs.  But is super tasty.   Won't hold up to all of the applications, but works really well on things like pretzels.  With King of Clubs or Merkt's, when you take it out of the fridge and try to spread it, you end up breaking your various chips and pitas and what-have-