Wisconsin Or Bust

When we moved into the house, there were utility locates all over.  Paint and flags and such.  They dug up a few places at either end of the street, did their work and then left, never digging up where they had marked on our property.  A week later, the "Road Closed" signs went up at both ends of our street.  This was like, June.  And nothing happened. We were wondering if we got away easy.     Until last week.   Suddenly we are a hive of activity.     The first day, they dug up all the sod along the street.  They put up temporary mail boxes at both ends of the street, and the post office left us a notice about where to go to get mail, and that packages would be held at the PO.   Now the pavement is completely gone.  As time has gone by this week, the construction zone has gotten more and more torn up.  Pipes laid out everywhere.  Giant concrete culverts are stacked along the way.  Man holes s...

First, the first installment in the story on how we came here.......  The Idea.  The very idea! There we were.  Sitting in our living room on Kinsey Ave. in Kremmling, Colorado.  Circa 2017...ish.  I'm not entirely sure on the date.   Bryan had been working for the grocery store for roughly five years.  I had been with the paving company for 2 years, and I was off for the season.  (As you know, I had four months out of each year off, Thanksgiving through the 3rd week of April, every winter.) Bryan was working too hard.  His arthritis had been in remission, but was starting to creep back in.  He was stressed and tired and sick and cold and discouraged.   I had done a little research about retirement and what we needed to do to get ready.  So of course my "feed" online had retirement stuff in it.  An article popped up about the 10 best states to retire to.  Hmm, I thought.   We had started to feel li...

 First an update: We are still fighting that John Deere.  It sucks that we paid so much money for the darn thing, and have had so many problems with it.  Reminds us of Gina's Neon.  It had one failed sensor after another.  This one has one failed safety switch after another.  We are putting some more switches in it this week, so we will see if we get anywhere.   Bryan is looking for substantial snow removal tools and methods.  It's a long sloping driveway, so we will need reliable and easy snow removal, or my car will never make it out of the garage in the winter.  Now that I know I have to work, it's a critical issue.   We got the raised beds delivered.  Some assembly required.  We are about half way through putting them together.  So stay tuned.   Bryan put up shelves pretty much everywhere!  He put me a set of shelves and a closet rod in the laundry room.  He put up that old set of coat hoo...

 An update: We are of course working.  No time for either of us to do anything extracurricular.  But Bryan is getting a few things worked on, since he doesn't leave home until 10am each morning.   I got a bunch of stuff unpacked.  Started on loading my bookcases in the living room.  Found one box of oil lamps and put them on the mantle.  Found my good storage shelf until.  It will go in the "green room".   I did end up getting July 5th off, which gave me a four day weekend.  So I'm taking this time to catch up.  I'm hoping to come up with a better plan to keep on top of things, because work is literally kicking my butt!  I will try to work on my office stuff and blogs at night after supper from my couch.  Hoping that works out better.   We are officially Wisconsin residents.  Well, only Bryan is, for real.  Last week, Bryan was able to get Wisconsin plates on all our vehicles.  He got his...

 Sorry, not much to add this week.  We have been working, dodging rain, and just maintaining the status quo until we feel like our schedules seem normal.  We got the grass mowed during a little window between downpours.  We have giant weeds...or they could be nice plants.  We don't know.  We have never seen some of these plants, so don't know what they are and if they should be pulled, weed-whacked, or just left to grow.   I have the 4th of July off (but not the 5th, like everyone else) so I'm going to weed my flower bed, and maybe try to get my deck washed off.  I will use the hose nozzle we bought.  Water pressure out there isn't great, but it can be done.    We don't have a pressure washer.  We were going to use our big rebate from the appliances at Menards to get it.  But our closest one does not have the model we want.  For some reason we can't use the rebate money to have one shipped.  Full price plus ...

 Between issues with the John Deere and all the rain we've been having, it was super tough to get in and get that giant lawn mowed.  But we did it!  It is all mowed up, at least for now.   Bryan has come to the conclusion that we have to use John Deere belts, and not an aftermarket one.  But he's still having issues.  It's all the safety switches.  There are bunches of them!  To get the tractor to work (AND WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS) Bryan hardwired past the safety switch on the seat.  Unfortunately there are several more and it's hard to tell which one is failing.  So, we are back to tractor not starting again.   So, news in general:  I forgot to report on the GIANT snapping turtle in the Wildlife Report!  We saw that sucker on the 3rd day we were here!  Coming back from our first house showing, which was east of Park Falls, it was in our lane of the county road.  It was about the size of a large pizza,...

 First of all, general updates: Dishwasher and disposal are installed and operational!  All plumbing and electrical working smoothly.  I have run the dishwasher twice, and all seems to be working just great!   Now Bryan has to rebuild the cupboard and drawer.  Then I can do more unpacking! Speaking of unpacking, another load of spent cardboard went to the recycle place this week.   Parts are here to fix the John Deere.  But SOMEBODY has been at work the past couple days, so he won't get it fixed until HIS weekends (Monday/Tuesday for now).  It's so nice that he's working!  Takes the edge off our worries! No rototilling yet.  Too wet.  On Tuesday night 5/21, there was the crazy continuous thunderstorm, and it rained buckets...and buckets.....and buckets.  It didn't let up for maybe 3 hours or so.   I went to the first Farmer's Market of the season on Wednesday 5/22.  It's like 3 blocks from our house....

 Since I last wrote, here's an update: We got the "credenza" for the TV, assembled it, and put the TV on it.  We think it looks good.   To me, it looks a little "fat guy in a little boat" because the TV wider than the table.  But we liked this one.  It's actually a coffee table.  We wanted a longer one, but the price of tables went up considerably as they got longer.  So, this is what we ended up with.  I like it.  It goes with our mismatched farmhouse chic!  We decided to place the TV there because that's where the cable ended up for the internet.  So...that's where it goes for now.   And now for the BIG NEWS! We are done with Tomah!  We got the storage unit emptied out and swept on Saturday.  Ya, we know, we should have gotten it done before May 1, so we didn't have to pay rental for May.  But we just didn't have it in us.  Remember, we are old, and at times have been sickly.  And because we...

I'm not sure I will have the time to blog every day.  It's looking like that will be the case going forward.  If I have time, I will, but for the most part will try a weekly posting to see how we do.   Today's update:  Bryan continues to work on the dishwasher.  Today he is working on the desk in his office.  He is going to use my old giant desk, which we agree won't fit into my office, and I'm going to order a new desk, actually two:  a small front desk that faces the outside door, and another small desk that has a hutch, for inside the closet.   Bryan is planning the garden.  He is thinking a 20ft x 20ft patch for this year.  He has all the seeds and starts, but we don't have the transplant items yet.  We didn't really have time to start tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, or cauliflower.  So those will have to be bought when the time comes to get them planted.  I bet him money that no pumpkins will grow.  I can ...

 Ya, that last post, I didn't notice that it wasn't updating, and when I went to post it, it was all fouled up.  So I posted an earlier version of it, said "To Heck With It!" and went to bed.  Internet issues will clear up any of this type of issue, going forward.    So, updating you now with anything I missed on the last posting. Today 4/27:  Bryan is unpacking the trailer and working on my dishwasher.  I'm getting office work caught up, and later will be unpacking the boat load of boxes still left to unpack in the kitchen.   Yesterday 4/26:  Bryan had an interview with Super One, the grocery here in Park Falls.  It went well.  The only issue with that job is that insurance doesn't start until the 6 month mark.  I can probably get away with being off of insurance that long, but Bryan can't.  So we will see.  He has also had a phone interview with Kwik Trip.  Issues with that are, there's no openings in Park...

 It is so hard to write in the blog when there's so much to do, and the internet is uncooperative! Please read, comment, and share! So I thought I would update you on this one posting, and hope I can keep it going forward!  (PS, Bryan has a lot of pictures that I don't have yet, so I will be going back and adding those in as I go.  Thanks for your understanding!) Monday, April 15:  We looked at houses all morning.  I will blog about that.  We found one we liked among the batch (I think we looked at 6 places altogether?)  Called the recommended mortgage lender, and she shot us down.  Bryan's transfer is not set yet, and I don't have a job.  So they said we had to wait.  We had enough cash to buy the place outright, but that would have left us with ZERO for any of the things we needed for the house (washer/dryer, etc.) or any cash to live on until we got our jobs solidified.  So it was back to looking for a camper.   However...

Sorry, the internet has not cooperated.  This should have posted yesterday.  Anyway, read and enjoy, and don't forget to comment! Monday April 8, Tuesday April 9, and Wednesday, April 10: I did a "punch list" of what had to happen, and when it had to happen.  I managed to do all of the things on the list.  Here it is, for the curious..... Monday  Trash out  Rhonda,  Print resumes Run laundry Run dishwasher Pack laundry Clean microwave  Pack kitchen and bath Gather dump items Kitty litter lid 2 small bowls for water and food Soda stream bottle for water Air freshener Zip locks  Kitty litter shovel Bag up kitty litter box for trailer  Bryan,  drop off moped, get chair 730 Occupational Dr appt 8am City market, thank you cards Grocery list            Paper towels,  white trash bags, simple green,  Lunch with what's-his-face Home 12pm ish Load heavy furniture  Buyer walk thru 2:30  Contin...