Down in the Valley

A few years back, some smart people decided to buy up 1,700 acres of unimpressive, tumbling prehistoric sand dunes in central Wisconsin and turn it into a golf course. Well, 3 and counting. Oh, and somehow get people to fly in private jets to pay about $300 to WALK an 18-hole round. 

Wish I had been that smart!

Sand Valley opened in 2017. And yes, they built it and people have come. And keep coming. At first hubby didn't want to go see it unless he was golfing. Last year he got to golf there – thanks to winning some silent auction prize. And this year, he won it again and will golf there next week. Still, no visit for Robyn.

Until tonight.

We joined our next-door neighbors Niki and Mick and Mick's mom to visit Craig's Porch, where their daughter works. When we first drove into the grounds it was impressive. Hard to believe what they've created. 

Walking up the hill to the "snack shack" they call Craig's Porch it seemed like we were on a beach boardwalk.

Then you'd peer over sand dunes and see the course. Crazy cool!

The way Craig's Porch is situated, you can eat a very inexpensive meal ($1.50 tacos) and sit in Adirondack chairs while watching players on the 1st, 10th and 18th holes. So we parked ourselves there and enjoyed the food and the view. Did I mention they have amazing ice cream sandwiches, too? They do.

The guys – eating, drinking and talking golf.

Even though we watched putting on the 18th hole, we could have faced the other way to see the action on the 10th.

I took a short jaunt to check out the walking trail and other scenery and came across a Monarch tree – for lack of any other label. Was stunned and amazed.

They were all just hanging out there like they were getting ready for bed for the evening.

And others were eating nearby.

I need to get back there and take more pictures! I'm actually doing a senior shoot there this Saturday. Now I'm crazy exited.

We stayed long enough to see the sun starting to set. Gorgeous, huh?

And looking over the sand dunes on the way out, I was surprised not to hear waves lapping at some beach. Wow. Sorry it took so long to finally get there. But even seeing just a little section of the place, I have to say it was worth the wait.

Thanks for joining us via pictures!

Simultaneously Downsizing and Upsizing

It's always a fun time at the annual physical. Said no one ever. I knew going into it today that I had gained back the weight I lost before last year's visit. But that wasn't the worst of it. In a nutshell, I'm shorter and fatter than a year ago.

Wait. Shorter?? Well, allegedly.

The nurse-medical-type lady took my weight and height. She said I was 5 feet, 1 3/4 inches. Not 5' 2" as previously reported. (Or the 5' 3" on my driver's license, for that matter.) Before I could demand a recount, she says, "Oh that happened to me, too. I lost an inch and I'm only 45."

Oh, I feel so bad for you, Miss 5'8" Nurse Lady that you aren't 5'9" anymore. Sigh...

Anyway, my doctor was nice and even said, "I'm not going to pick on you about your weight. I probably have the same BMI." I'm allegedly in an "overweight but healthy enough" range that I should live 5-8 years longer. Longer than who or what, I don't know.

Also, my cholesterol is dang good. So this King Cone diet is good for something, I guess!

In fact, I went there to celebrate. Hey, I passed the physical, so cheers to good health!

Now I just have to find the right flavor to make me taller...

La-La-La-Bomba Squad

This just in...Jonathan Schoop is the Twins' 7th player to hit at least 20 home runs this season – tying an MLB record and setting one for the franchise!

I don't know about you, but I don't feel like anything I accomplished today can compete with that!

I did draft one heckuva fantasy football team last night. Not really. I am so out of the loop I know my quarterback and kicker and the rest are just names. I don't think the Swedish Chef Mafia are going to be setting in any league or franchise records this season. But we will have fun!

I also tried to accomplish some BIG tasks today. If you count playing games, buying raffle tickets and eating bad (but yummy) food for a good cause as a "task."

Today was our United Way campaign kickoff at work. That means it was Courtyard Festival time and a whole lotta fun. Our department's fundraiser was Go Big or Go Home. We had big dice to shake out of 5-gallon pails and this gigantic bag toss – actual beanbag chairs getting tossed into the hole. This is my coworker who actually got it on the board. My attempts fell short. Very short. Guess I gotta work on my upper body strength.

Of course, it doesn't take a lot of muscle to pull money out of your wallet. So I was helping United Way win that way.

Tonight I had a marathon. Not a running one. A church meeting. Really gotta get to bed.

As usual, the pillow is always the winner at the end of the day. Hopefully my Twins can keep up their streak, too!

You Pick the Ending

Imagine sitting in a movie theater watching a one-time showing of a great movie... and the projector eats up the rest of the film halfway through. What if you were reading a single-print page-turner of a story and the book was missing the last third of its pages?

How will these stories end? Tragically? Happily? Do we just let our imaginations run wild?

That was me today. IRL (in real life, as they say).

We had golf league after work tonight. It was very, very windy and we heard storms were in the works, but it was so sunny we figured we'd be good. And then, because I was golfing pretty well (for me), I put it out of my mind.

I had just done my par dance – I get them so rarely, I have to have a dance – on hole No. 3 (par 3) when I hit my best drive ever on No. 4, a par 4 which does involve getting over water. Twice. I got on the green with my second shot!

Guess what's in the hole? My ball after I sunk a 30-foot birdie putt! I just fell down and laid on my back in disbelief. I haven't needed a birdie dance in ages. Many ages!

Next hole was much the same. I was actually putting for eagle. No luck there, but still feeling pretty good. Then we got to the next tee box and our view was darkening.

Because we have the convenience these days of looking at the radar on our smart phones, we knew our time was limited. Had my longest drive ever on this hole, too. Missed my par putt, then...

BWAARH! BWAARH! The storm sirens were sounding. Lightning spotted. Evacuate the course.

But... but... wait. I'm having my best round ever! How was it going to end?

Reminiscent of the Bishop's round in Caddyshack, I wanted to keep playing! I was totally on pace to finish in my 40s (which has happened less than 5 times in my life). But I also could have gotten overconfident and imploded the last 3 holes, too. We'll never know. Will we?

I say we pick our own ending. My golf partner and I agreed I could assume I golfed well the last few holes and finished around 46 maybe. Ha. I'll take it! Better than a tragic ending.

What stories are you struggling with in your life right now? I say rip out the pages and write your own ending. You may need to invent your own par dance, too!

Past Their Prime? Nope

Awhile ago, it seemed we couldn't go 24 hours without rain. As I looked at my apparently neglected hanging baskets yesterday, I realized we've had a bit of a dry spell.

Thankfully today, the one day I have no outdoor plans, we got rain. And rain. I realized that not only were my annuals wilting, my shriveling perennials (above) are pretty much past their prime as well.

[Let's pause a moment and observe that Mizz Two Black Thumbs here knows the difference between annuals and perennials. I don't know how to keep them alive. But I know what they are.]

OK. Onto my point of being past their prime. Maybe they're just in post-season for the summer but pre-season for a long rest over winter. We are only past our prime if we let ourselves believe it! God bless people like my twin sister who realizes it's just post- and pre-season.

Today was her first day of college. Ever. Yup, since she's my age she's tipped the 50 mark. But yup, she believes we're never too old to learn.

She'll be studying business management through the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College (WITC) in Rice Lake. [That's Up North, somewhat in the neighborhood of Luck.] She'll still work her full- and part-time jobs because she's a tireless rock star that way. But this hopefully will open new doors for her. Doors she can walk through with pride – and with a smile.

Good luck, Loving Sister! You got this! Thanks for inspiring us to realize it's never too late to make a difference in our own lives or other's.

We're never past our prime. If we don't want to be.

Day of Rest... of Stuff to Do

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but it often becomes the day of get the rest of the stuff done that you never got around to this weekend – or during the past week!

So today went something like: church, cleaned up cat puke, senior photo shoot, cemetery visit, some freelance work, lawn mowing, then out to Anchor Bay with hubby to enjoy dinner and the music of Southbound. Still on the list to do: dusting, vacuuming, putting stuff away from the past week... oh just everything.

But I'm going straight to bed so I can count it as a partial day of rest.

Hope you all can do the same. Have a super week!

Having a Ball

When you have so many balls up in the air, you don't know what to do... you catch each one and enjoy.

Last night was footballs. Home opener for our Royals. School doesn't start until next week, but fall sports are underway! We hosted Dominion – a tough Milwaukee area team. Lost by some 30 points but at least we scored 19 so we are quite capable. Very young team this year with lots of kids I didn't know. But took pictures of as many as I could so I imagine I will get to know them.

Today was tennis balls and golf balls. Sort of. Our Lady Royals tennis team was playing some sort of 4-school competition in Wisconsin Rapids today so I caught about half an hour of that – took as many action shots as possible – before heading to golf.

Today was the 8th annual John Swendrowski Memorial Golf Outing in support of the Assumption Football program. Gorgeous weather. Since hubby's all-male foursome fell apart this year, I got to golf with him. Yay! And with such late notice, got teamed up Len and Marv (two guys overflowing with wisdom, comments and jokes). We didn't win any prizes for our game, but it was fun.

At the banquet afterward, I did manage to win this raffle basket of chocolate, coffee, and other goodies.

No wonder I'm having a ball this weekend!

But, Mommm

I believe I heard it from my hubby first – years ago after a teenage eye roll – "The reason parents have kids is to embarrass them!"

All in good fun, of course. When they look back at it. In a decade or so.

Tonight I got to witness some good-natured mother-son fun. It goes without saying that whatever sport you play in life, your mom is your biggest fan. Right? Tonight I was shooting a picture of seniors for a football schedule poster. And the moms asked to be a part of it. They had something in mind. And I'm so glad they did!

What a hoot of a shoot.

So we have these tough guys...

And moms come in to show some love...

Then move in for a simple kiss on the cheek! Can you just hear the collective, "Noooo!"

I was laughing and couldn't hold the camera still! Here's my boy Trent misbehaving for my friend Jodi. Ha.

They did cooperate for one so the moms will appreciate that.

And we did mother-son goalpost pairings as well. It was fun. I just don't think the boys realize that even though school hasn't started, the "lasts" are starting and will continue for the next year!

Be patient with your biggest fan, boys. Some day you'll thank her on national television with a big, "Love you, Mom!"

I just know it.

Sound and Light Show

I love that the ferris wheel at the Central Wisconsin State Fair was sporting Vikings colors last night. Sure, I had to wait for it, but the proper combination finally came up! Pretty, isn't it? And it was just one of the highlights of the night.

The fair – more specifically, the grandstand show – has been on our calendar for many weeks. Our friend Kathy (aka Kat, aka Jim's classmate from Assumption) was going to be singing with a very popular Wisconsin band called Vic Ferrari.

Basically, it's her dream come true. And hubby and I have been along for the journey. It's been awesome to see. We're so thrilled for her. And thrilled that we can share her voice with the thousands who hear the band each year.

So we picked up our friends Mark and Lisa and headed up to Marshfield after work yesterday. It was the first day of the fair and not a huge crowd for a Tuesday night so short lines for pulled pork sandwiches and mini versions of Elephant Ears called Mouse Ears. Just as good as I remember them!

My one disappointment was that I was finally tall enough to ride all the rides, but they weren't running yet. Even the ferris wheel just lit up later. No passengers.

Concert was fun. They perform a little bit everything. I got some pictures of the band but mainly was getting pictures of Kathy. They normally don't have a female singer so this is a huge deal that she's on board for the rest of the "season" anyway. Her stage time is limited until they get more practice in with her. But she definitely rocked and commanded the stage when she was on it!

Yes, no matter the temperature, you get goose bumps when she sings! Pretty sweet!

She's so awesome! Try to catch them yet this summer. They are quite literally all over the Wisconsin map during fair and festival season. https://vicferrari.com/

Rock on, Kat!

Playing Telephone

You young folks really have to stretch your imagination to realize what these two boys are doing is called "playing telephone." Yup. We'd string two tin cans together and have conversations. The sound didn't really travel through the "line" but sort of echoed in the can a bit. Either way, you'd pretend you were talking and listening anyway.

That's how it is now when my signal drops or connection gets sketchy. Both happened tonight.

Called my mom on our land line since that's usually clearer. I decided to multi-task and get steps on the driveway but quickly realized I couldn't venture too far from the house and keep my signal! Still, I got my steps and had a nice conversation with Mom.

When I got in the house, the land line rang and it was Carter's number showing up. Here he tried to call my cell but got some message it wasn't in service. Apparently, my office walls are steel vault. I never can get calls on my cell in there. Don't know if it's Verizon or my phone. I kind of think it's a good excuse to phone shop! Either way, it was great hearing from him for no special reason.

I kind of felt like I was playing telephone. Got to talk up a generation and down a generation and I was feeling the love on the "line" in between. I like that kind of signal.

A lot.

Perfectly Cloudy

Clouds always get a bad rap... unless you're a photographer. I don't know how many times I've heard someone exclaim how it's a beautiful, sunny day for pictures! Uhm, nope. We don't want the sun. The sun creates random shadows that are even hard to fix in Photoshop. The sun also tends to make people squint. Not appealing either.

Today, with 90% chance of rain, I was just hoping for dry clouds at noon. It was lightly sprinkling but done by 12:15 p.m. Whew... Senior Photo Session on!

Met up the daughter of a former co-worker (from both newspapers days and Iola days). Basically have known her since birth and now she's entering senior year! Had a great time tooling around Stevens Point with her with random stops for building, alleys and whatever looked like a good angle.

I don't always share many of my pictures, but Leah's pretty special and you can see why it was so easy with NO sun to deal with!!

Schmeeckle Reserve across the street from where I work!

My favorite. Love the boardwalks in the park!

We may or may not have been trespassing. Not sure but I do know we weren't injured and did not go on the tracks. Just liked the graffiti cars!

Downtown in The Square area, as they call it.

Pillars...

And more pillars. Who knew?

So many different kinds of brick buildings, too. Loved them!

She's a stellar athlete and will be playing hoops for Valparaiso. She's also great at golf and softball, too. So fun to watch! And we had fun today, too.

Now if only I could make a deal with Mother Nature for perfectly cloudy conditions for my remaining shoots. Never hurts to ask, right?