A Little Too Busy

 We've done a lot of sorting, preparing to either move or move stuff into storage until we figure out where to move.  One of the things I discovered was an autographed baseball and card of Hall of Famer Robin Yount.  I don't recall who gave it to me, and it's been in a box for many years.  Someone on Ebay wanted it, and it's now one of the items that's gone.

 

 There's good news and bad news.  

Our house is on the market.  We have open houses this weekend and a handful of private showings already  on the schedule.  On the bad side, we have incredibly warm weather for the end of March, and the Asian beetle eggs are hatching, making our home a hatchery.  We are doing what we can to minimize the proliferation of beetles, but it isn't fun.  At least no mice have died in the walls recently (knock on wood).

My mother's health issues have not improved.  I got a call from her Sunday morning, and she was headed to the hospital by ambulance.  There were then two trips back and forth to Cedar Rapids.  She hated the hospital and wanted to go home but doesn't feel secure at home by herself.  

So, in between preparing the house for sale/showing and assisting Mom towards the best path forward, it's been crazy.  I'm feeling a little PTSD, similar to going through Justin's and my dad's end of life.  The doctors haven't been able to figure out what's wrong with my mom, except that she's not eating enough  or keeping hydrated.  There's loss of appetite, feeling full after just a couple of bites, and no energy.  

Julia is headed for San Francisco for a previously-arranged trip to see Allie on Tuesday.  I'll be spending some more time in Iowa, figuring things out.  My uncle Lawrence used to tell me repeatedly, "It's hell getting old,"  when I was a teenager.  I didn't understand then.  I understand better now.

 

Winds of March

The winds of March bring change.  I saw my first robins this week while walking along Spring Creek.

My mother turns 86 today.  Happy Birthday, Mom!  We were supposed to go to Iowa for a visit, but she asked us not to come.  She is nursing a bad cold that has lingered for a week.

Julia called the realtor this morning to start the process for listing our house for sale.  We are in the last stages of getting things ready, and there isn't much more that can be done.  I loved this place for many years, but the time and expense for upkeep on an older home with its acres of land isn't that attractive anymore.  Wisconsin winters have also worn us down. With global climate change, less snow and more ice isn't a good trade-off.

We are nervous and excited about the changes ahead. Tucson is drawing further ahead as our next place to land, but we haven't made any final decisions yet and will probably take some time after this place is sold.  Renting for a year in Arizona, Colorado or even Mexico remains a possibility.

Ten Degrees and Getting Colder

 

Cold Sunrise

 

That's just the name of the song written by Gordon Lightfoot.  It was actually -13 F when I got up this morning (wind chill -24).  Tucson may have pulled back into the lead!  There's a lot of weighing pros and cons of Colorado vs Arizona by the wood stove.  Not much else to report.

I did enjoy a few games of pool and a beer with my brother this week.  We don't get together very often, so it's good to try to keep the lines of communication open, especially with my mother celebrating her 86th birthday next month.  He lives in Milwaukee and just started semi-retirement.  Our opposing politics and lifestyles keep things very casual and surface-level.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.   It's important to find common ground.  He and his wife have started going to concerts and recently saw the Steve Miller Band.  Music is one of our common interests.

 

 

 

Sort, Gift, Sell, and Purge

Julia and I have been working very hard to get the house ready to sell and get ourselves ready for a significant downsize.  Over the last 30 years of living in this particular corner of southern Wisconsin, we have accumulated a lot of possessions and crap. 

Sorting:  Going through everything we own and making a determination of what to do with it.  Our house isn't particularly huge, but we do have a lot of storage space--a full basement and outbuildings.  It's too much stuff, and it isn't going to fit into our new place, which may be as small as 1100 square feet with very little storage space.

As we go through things, we are realizing that a lot of stuff is just plain worn out and not worth hauling half-way or more across the country.  Other stuff isn't going to be useful wherever we end up.  This week, I said goodbye to my Polaris Sportsman ATV with a plow, which was primarily used for digging us out during winter storms.  At the time I bought it, I was the one primarily maintaining the 1/4 mile shared driveway.  

After 12 years, we have more responsible neighbors with even bigger toys (tractor with a loader).  I haven't used the atv all winter, and it's time to let it go to a close friend who has recently moved north of Green Bay, where the winters are longer and the snow is deeper.  I gave him a very good price and also threw in all of my beer-making and wine-making equipment.  

 

Plus, he received his rototiller back, which he originally sold to me when he got divorced half a dozen years ago.  His new wife likes to garden, and the old house he bought has a big lot for plantings.  If our house sells quickly, he will also get my old John Deere lawn tractor. 

A lot of our furniture isn't going anywhere but the dump.  Old beds and mattress sets don't have any value on Facebook marketplace.  Neither do worn-out couches and futons. Or cheap end tables and coffee tables. At the end, we hope to do some kind of sale, but I don't have high hopes for any of it.  The hardest part, especially for Julia, is sorting through all of the kids things' and old photographs.   They all have sentimental value, but, honestly, there are lots of things we haven't touched in over twenty years.  Placed in boxes and moved from our prior house, they never got unpacked, and now it's time to say goodbye.  

Julia has found a new home for her large floor loom. It was a gift to us from someone who didn't know how to use it, and it will now be a gift to someone in Julia's weaving guild.  Once that's gone, the wood stove room (family room) will be almost empty.  But there are many more rooms and outbuildings to work on.  Our local transfer station (the dump) and Goodwill are going to be seeing a lot of our vehicles during the coming months.  We plan to list the house for sale in mid-March.  

Not really SAD, but

A lot of people are affected with Seasonal Affective Disorder in Wisconsin.  We have many, many days without sun during the winter months.  This year, we've had a string of days with heavy fog and unseasonably warm temperatures in the 30's and 40's.   Personally, I can't claim that I've ever really felt the effects of SAD, but this year, knowing that we are likely moving west later next year, I've been very impatient and annoyed with Wisconsin weather.  

Sun trying to fight through the clouds

It hasn't helped that my daily routine involves looking at the weather in Fort Collins and Tucson.  Their weather has been spectacularly sunny and more pleasant this time of year.  

So, I haven't been blogging much because not much is going on. I've substituted indoor pickleball for hiking. The trails have been muddy and not much fun. For Christmas, we had my mother, Julia's brother and Allie here.  I went and retrieved my mother from Cedar Rapids and brought her here.  My brother was nice enough to take her back.  

Brother, mother, and me

Julia would like to take a trip somewhere warm in February or March, but it's too early to say whether that will work out.  We are busy getting the house ready for sale in the spring.  In fact, we had our first showing to a friend of a friend who  heard we will be listing it in the spring.  Things will work out one way or another.  

One thing we have decided upon is not to buy anything out west until the money is in the bank from our house sale.  At that point, we plan to put our remaining household belongings in storage and head west with the Scamp to Fort Collins.  I took the opportunity to give some family stuff to my mother and brother in anticipation of our downsizing.

Callie soaking up the heat

From a personal standpoint, Julia and I will be glad to put 2024 behind us.  It was a very tough year with the loss of Justin, our son.  It definitely took its toll.  My body and mind are slowly recovering, and I am sleeping much better after some very poor sleep for many months. 

The Cruise--Details

I didn't include more details in the prior "The Cruise" post for two reasons.

1)  I didn't think anyone would be interested; and

2)  This trip didn't include much of the normal topics:  good beer, good coffee or John-style travel.

But there are details, which may be useful to some people contemplating how such a trip is put together.

On the first day of the trip, we drove three hours to pick up my mother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  At 85, she isn't comfortable driving for long distances and hadn't flown for many years. We then drove 3 1/2 more hours to Chicago, where we checked into the Wyndham, where you can get a room that includes the cost of parking for up to 12 days.  

We were up early on the hotel shuttle to O'Hare, where we then boarded the a non-stop American Airlines flight to New Orleans. Here, we checked into a Hampton Inn near the port.  My mother was pretty tired, so Julia and I went out for a Cajun dinner and live music. 

 Remembering Hurricane Katrina

On the third day, we walked to the port, managed some crowds and long lines, and boarded our ship, The Getaway.  Because this was my mother's first cruise, we booked separate balcony rooms. We learned that Norwegian gave my mother a free upgrade to an expanded balcony room. That allowed us all to sit on her balcony together with table and three chairs.  I don't know if Julia and I would ever cruise again, but if we do, we will get a balcony room.  It's a lovely way to escape the crowds and enjoy sunrises/sunsets.   On our only other cruise, we had an interior room with no windows.  

The ship left around 4 p.m., and we watched the sun go down, as we made our way down the Mississippi River and eventually out into the Gulf of Mexico.  

On the fourth day, we had rough seas.  The captain told us that we were going to be outrunning a hurricane, so we went pretty fast through the big waves.  The plan was evidently good, as the hurricane passed to our east without incident.  No one in our group got seasick.

On the next four days, we visited ports that were fairly close to each other.  The limited travel occurred at slower speeds and overnight.  The ports included (in order) Costa Maya (a small town on Mexico's Yucatan), Harvest Caye (a small Belizean island), Roatan (a Honduran island), and Cozumel (a Mexican island). I don't recommend cruising to get to know places.  Almost all of the business near the port are owned by the cruise lines.  Prices are inflated.  Food tends to be bland.

My two favorite ports were Roatan and Cozumel.  On Roatan, Julia took my mother on a wildlife tour and gave me the freedom to explore. 

 

I ended up in a bar where the cab drivers go, drank a few bottles of cheap, local beer, and met a bunch of interesting locals.  On Cozumel, Julia and I walked past the port area and had some great blue corn tacos with mole, a sauce made from scratch with many spices and chocolate.  Later we found a bar overlooking the gulf with cold beer and a very pleasant breeze.

There was one more sea day on the way home.  The weather was not great with gray skies and drizzle.  We arrived at the New Orleans port early the next morning and checked into the Embassy Suites for another day in New Orleans.  Mom was tired again, but joined us for a Cajun dinner and live music.  The Cajun food was too spicy for her Iowa taste buds, so she ordered onion rings to stave off her hunger.

The flight home was supposed to be simple and non-stop.  Spirit Airlines cancelled our non-stop flight and turned a three hour flight into eight hours of travel through Florida.  We made it to Chicago without further incident, picked up the car, drove Mom to Iowa, and drove back to Wisconsin, arriving at about 2 a.m.  

After all of that travel, it felt good to slip into a routine at home again.

The Cruise

The election didn't go the way that I was hoping but did go the way that I expected.  Our fragile democracy continues on--only because the big bully got his way and won.  The changes that are coming will hurt many of the people who voted for the president-elect, but it will take time for that recognition to kick in.  Laughter is my medicine; watching the Daily Show's commentary on YouTube has helped me to keep moving on.  

The cruise was a great success.  My mother loved every part of it, and we enjoyed being able to share that time with her.  

Sunrise

Mom and the monkeys

Piranha pedicure in Costa Maya

Cozumel port

Roatan,Honduras wildlife refuge

Bicycle Shuttle, Cozumel port

Harvest Caye

We are back to a Wisconsin gray November.  We've already completed some projects to get the house ready to sell in the spring.  We also have started sorting through what we will be taking to Colorado after we move.  We won't do any serious home searching until after our current one is sold. 

See you After the Election

My mother, who is 85, has never been on a cruise.  Dad wasn't really into that kind of vacation.  We've been on just one cruise, and it was okay.  We took the kids.  My favorite part was walking circles on the outer deck.  Fresh air and water for as far as you could see.  My least favorite part was the ports.  There just isn't enough time spent ashore to get a sense of place.

So when she asked us to go on a week cruise over election day, we said sure.  She didn't care where--just so long as it wasn't here.  We didn't sign up for the Internet package, so it'll be a good chance for us all to unplug for a week that promises to be otherwise stressful.  Hope things work out while we're gone.

Autumn at Parfrey's Glen

 

Wisconsin gets limited days of glorious weather days, but we had one this past week during which we took full advantage.  First, there was a ferry ride across the Wisconsin River to get to our destination.

Even though it was a weekday, the local kids had no school on Friday, so the small parking lot was full of families who had the same idea.  Fortunately, one car was leaving and left us a spot. We were quickly on the trail.

While we still have peak color at home, many of the leaves have already fallen at Parfrey’s Glen, which has its one special microclimate, where supporting plants and animals are usually found only in northern Wisconsin.

The trail follows a small stream. Storms have wiped out much of the original boardwalk, so the last half if the trail requires a bit of rock hopping through the stream. 

Eventually, the sandstone cliffs close into a narrow ravine.

At the end, there’s a small waterfall and pool.

After returning to the truck, we continued our date night with pizza and beer at Tumbled Rocks Brewery in Baraboo. While the beer and food were good, the pour was a short one and in a 12 ounce glass. Shrinkification does not encourage repeat business!

 

Finally, we followed the former president's recommendation for early voting.  Unfortunately, for him, he did not benefit from our early vote. There's a wolf at America's door of democracy.

 

It encourages me that some Republicans are taking notice, but will it be enough?

 

Back Home. Where will our next home be?

With our mission complete to check out the top four choices for relocating next year, we drove home from Santa Fe without wasting any time, leaving early Sunday morning and pulling into our driveway on Monday evening.

Home, sweet home

I've mowed the lawn, picked up the junk mail, and roasted coffee for the week.  Did we reach any conclusions after five weeks of boots-on-the-ground research?  Kinda, sorta.  I confirmed for myself that I'm ready to move from Wisconsin after living here for the last 30-plus years.  Honestly, I could live in any of the four cities that we visited, but Julia and I are in agreement on the top two.

Not making the final list are Grand Junction and Santa Fe. We couldn't find as much bang for the buck as we expected in Grand Junction as it relates to housing.  Also, Julia felt that it was too isolated from a major airport and too small in general.  Santa Fe was just too expensive for us, although we loved many things about it as a destination.  As they say, it's a great place to visit, but we wouldn't want to live there.  We will be back.

In the final analysis of pros and cons, Fort Collins comes out on top, but Tucson hasn't been completely eliminated.  Fort Collins has a great beer scene, outdoor-loving people, dog friendly spaces, good housing market for us to downsize, mountains and trails, some folks we already know, decent pickleball opportunities, lots of sunshine, mild winters, and a major airport within an hour.  

We really liked Tucson also, and we can afford a lot more house in Tucson for the same money.  But the heat factor just can't be eliminated. I think I could get used to the summers and that they would be preferable at this point in my life to any winter.  But Julia doesn't feel that way, and it's going to have to be a mutual decision.  I know that I can be happy in Fort Collins, and if Julia is willing to downsize, it will work out just fine.  At this point, I think she is mulling over the downsizing part, so our decision isn't yet set in stone.  

In the short term, we have a couple of quick trips planned next month.  We are joining up with my mother for her first cruise.  Later, we will  drive to Kentucky for Thanksgiving with Julia's brother Scott for a big family Thanksgiving at Julia's sister's place in Lexington. 

In the meantime, I rescued this summer's refrigerated sourdough culture and will start baking bread again in the morning.  Today, we had our first wood stove fire of the year.

Living Large

 In full vacation mode, we have been doing the tourist thing for the last few days. We experienced the art scene in true brewedjourney fashion. While Julia bought a ticket to see the Georgia O’Keefe museum, I found an “art bar,” a place around the corner where people painted pottery while sipping brews from Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery.

My old Milwaukee Brewers hat was looking pretty ratty, so I bought a new one promoting Tumbleroot—about the same cost as Julia’s museum ticket. I had been to that museum during an earlier trip to Santa Fe.

That night we dined at Tomasito’s, a Santa Fe Restaurant specializing in New Mexican cuisine. I had the Wednesday night special, which was a chile relleno inside a flour tortilla also stuffed with refried beans, chorizo and slathered with red chile sauce.

Julia had the blue corn enchiladas with green chile, refried beans and Spanish rice.

At 4:45 a.m. on Thursday, we were on the road to Albuquerque to see the balloon festival. We weren’t interested in battling the traffic or crowds at the festival grounds so we opted for another viewing point and arrived just as the “dawn patrol” took flight.

At 7 am , the sun was starting to rise and Steel Bender Brewyard was open for business.

Just one

On the way home, we drove along the Turquoise Highway and checked out Madrid. 

We arrived back in Santa Fe in time to check out the Tai Modern museum. Julia loved the bamboo and rattan pieces. I got caught up in a couple of interesting pieces by Tony Fitzpatrick, who used the written word in his pieces.

This morning we took Callie on a walk up Canyon Road, It was too early for galleries to be open, but we enjoyed some sculpture gardens and historic buildings along the way.

 

Later, we played pickleball at Fort Marcy. The regulars were very friendly and accommodating, so we played and socialized for several hours. All of this excitement has me worn out. But as you might imagine, Julia has other plans for me with another restaurant tonight.