One of These Seasons Doesn't Belong

Mr. Deck Chair and I are headed to couples' therapy after what he had to endure during the night while I was sleeping. I mean I honestly wouldn't have known the white stuff was a possibility until I had Up North sisters text me asking if it was snowing here yet. I guess it was on some Wisconsin or Minnesota weather dude's radar. Just not mine.

But sure enough there was a late-night deck shot and one this morning when the sun wasn't even up. Both shots so ugly if you ask me. It it is time one of these seasons stepped aside for a minute (or month!).

Naturally, I was like, maybe I could take some picture so this juxtaposition (oh my high school English teacher would be proud of that!)

So the park above and my church yard here were great photo ops to show that again, one of these seasons doesn't belong.

I honestly didn't pay much attention to the white stuff since I had church then BINGO. But apparently even a high of 30 degrees (below freezing in my mind) means the snow can melt if the sun is out. Either way, it's fine with me since the roads were clear all day.

I just hoped the "Nordic Fever" would blanket our Vikings with good vibes today. Ugh. I don't have a defensive reason for our loss since I was getting scoring updates at BINGO. 

But dang, I wish my fave NFL team could align with my currently undefeated fantasy team! Who knows? When I said one of these seasons doesn't belong, maybe football and BINGO don't mix. Then again... that means one of us deserves a big WIN!!

Very soon, please.

Close Doesn't Count

The good news is that both hubby and I made it to church and sung in our choirs and coughing wasn't an issue! About time.

The bad news is that some things didn't go quite as we wanted after that.

I've been batting a thousand at BINGO this fall. Two wins in two sessions. But today this was the closest I got with one to go during Ring Around The Free Space.

There goes my streak! The only saving grace (besides having fun with my BINGO babes) is that no one won the Progressive Jackpot in the last coverall game so that'll be up to close to $4,000 in November! I'll just keep crossing my fingers!

The other negative, of course, is that while I was betting the odds, my Vikings were just odd. Ugh. I hate losing by one score! But since I didn't watch it personally, maybe the dirty Eagle were just stinkin' good. I have no excuse.

Unrelated... My undefeated Swedish Chef Mafia fantasy football team is sitting at a 99% chance to win. So there's that.

The WIN though is that I took a few pictures of fall colors yesterday. Because today we had so much wind the trees are quickly turning naked!!

And Jim was on the mission to bag them up! We may need one more round in about a week, but that's fine. This is the only case today where "close to being done" actually counts.

The Colors of Weekend

It's been a colorful weekend. But I'll be honest, I didn't like ALL of the colors. Like above. Yes I realize we often consider Labor Day weekend as the end of summer, but dang, I wish the leaves would pay attention to the real calendar! Not quite ready for fall, that's for sure.

Saturday was a very laid back day on Blue Jay Drive. Finally got a little bonding time with Mr. Deck Chair!

In the evening, I shot pictures of the last waterski show of the season. It got dark pretty quickly so i didn't have a ton of stellar shots. I love how they twist and turn off the jump and I never know which way is up, but they more often than not "stick the landing." 

Today we tried to hold onto summer green.

Since our golf scramble for Royals Football got rained out 2 weeks ago, we got together with the other half of our foursome and golfed 18 at Bullseye this afternoon. Always a fun time with Mark and Trisha.

Saw plenty of wildlife – well mainly deer – who were trying to distract us on this very uphill par 3.

You can barely see the green from down below but look where I landed! Bring on my birdie dance!! Nevermind that I had an 8 on the hole prior. No one can take away my legit, non-Mulligan birdie!

After our round, we caught dinner at Ida's. Always yummy.

Speaking of yummy... I was just thinking of yummy chocolate...

As in the color of our new neighbor's nose! Yup, don't tell my hubby, but I am in love with the new guy next door. Meet Moose! A mini Bernedoodle, but a BIG cutie!

Hope you had some color or at least a bright spot or two to your weekend. Yay for no alarms tomorrow! Happy Labor Day!

The Good Race

It was a day of racing (of sorts) in central Wisconsin today. First we went to Tom Reffner's funeral, where Father Gruba (famous in NASCAR circles) shared a lot of great stories – both funny and heartfelt – about Tom. Very cool tribute for our "extended family" member, who's taken his final lap.

Didn't quite get home in time to get to state cross country for the girls' Division 3 race, but it was exciting to hear our Lady Royals took 4th as a team and Lucy (far right) finished 3rd overall. That is fantastic!! Love that we have such a strong girls' program – with no seniors. Congrats!

Then this afternoon – in this lovely 38-degree weather – hubby raced around getting the last of the leaves out of the front yard.

And I raced around prepping for tomorrow's Packer-Viking game. Because guess who's going to Lambeau? This girl! It's going to be cold so I had pick from one of our three Viking winter jackets – plus get hand warmers and do the nails and all those essentials. Pretty jazzed my former boss is taking me because, in his words, I'm generous, super helpful and "just a good shit!" SKOL!

We capped off the day with a relaxing (non-race pace) dinner at Savory Steakhouse with friends who just happen to be 1981 Assumption grads – or are married to one. Delicious food and lots of laughs. They're going to a haunted corn maze but I declined with a pleasant but firm "Hell no!" Not, not, not my thing. 

It'll be scary enough walking solo into Packers territory tomorrow. We'll see if it turns out to be a trick or a treat!

The Good, The Bad, and The Foggy

THE GOOD: My Vikings pulled off a win last night against the 5-1  San Fransisco 49ers. And Cousins was on fire.

THE BAD: I needed 70 fantasy football points from him to maintain my undefeated status in our fantasy football league at work. In the end, I got 21.02 points. A solid outing any other week when I wasn't getting knocked off my perfect season pedestal. Still, I'll take the REAL win over fantasy any day.

Also the bad, maybe. We had thunder, lightning, and hail in the middle of the night. As far as we know, the hail didn't damage anything. But our trees were greeting the morning sun naked. Just kidding, there was no sun today! Just rain.

THE FOGGY: When I got out of work, all the car windows in my level of the parking garage were fogged up. Yes, I've been driving for decades but I always forget the best way to de-fog the windows so I could get out of there. The answer is pretty much put your defrosts on high.

And tonight the foggy was settling on the front property. Maybe you can't tell. But as I type, it's already thundering and raining again. 

All I can say is I will take any and all of these any day over snow and ice and freezing temps. Yeah, let's not talk about that. Almost time to watch The Voice!

Spooky Sweetest Day :: Redheads, Black Cats, and Witches

I noticed a pop of color in our backyard yesterday before we left town. Sauntered down there this morning to take a picture before the trees got naked.

When I realized it was two redheads back there, I definitely had to take a picture! I told hubby (a redhead fan) that I got these for him for Sweetest Day, but he insists his hands are already full. Ha. I'll keep them that way!

We had company today anyway. 

My sister Rayna came down to visit. She has now officially moved from Arizona to Wisconsin, living in Siren again – close to two sisters and our mom. She was visiting friends the last few days and made our house part of her tour! So great to see her and catch up.

To get some fresh (but crisp) air, we walked over to the neighborhood Pumpkin Shed and checked out their fun decorations and inventory. Lots of neat stuff. Get there if you can – Deer Road and 70th Street.

Decided to take our picture by one of the inflatable decorations. Are there 3 witches or just that 1? No need to answer. But we do have a family joke from when we were young and our dad would say, "Get to bed with yas." And it sounded like "Get to bed, witches." Maybe we were hearing it wrong. Or maybe right?!

I bought a black cat pumpkin that could be Sylvester! Perfect pumpkin – it's cute and I don't have to carve it!

After Jim got home from singing up at Rudolph church, we went to eat nearby at The Ridges. Saw a few friends and had a great meal. Now we're all so stuffed we could fall asleep.

Almost time to get to bed, witches! 

Just Needed One More Hug

Worked just a half day today then hubby and I hit the road to the Platteville-Potosi area to see the kids one more time before they drive back to Raleigh this weekend. Momma needed just one more hug since it will likely be a few months before we see them again.

With the recent explosion of color around here, we were excited for a scenic drive on this sunny day. Not happening. The color lasted only until about this exit (above) in Portage. Then it was sporadic and minimal.

It reappeared after we picked up Carter and Mamie and took them over to the Potosi Brewery. Pretty!

The brewery holds a special place in their hearts since that's where they met while working there during college summers. Jim and I just think it's cool – and they have good food. The beer cheese soup we had tonight was delish!

It wasn't until we were talking over dinner that we realized it was 4 years ago today that Carter had his horrific accident on the way to his last day of work at Potosi.

It was a foggy morning collision that totaled his car but somehow left him shaken, but not injured. Praise the Lord! As Jim said tonight, it was good to see him in person on this "anniversary" instead of visiting a tombstone. Again... praise the Lord!

Now, Lord, keep your protective wings over these kiddos and that Honda Accord as they drive out to Raleigh, N.C. 

And thanks for letting us get in one more hug... or two or three! 

P.S. And thanks for keeping my Honda HRV safe from all those deer in the ditches on our way home! 

Move Over, Leaves... There's Other Fall Color

The first thing I noticed this morning was the freezing temperature. I mean literally freezing at 32 degrees. Normally that wouldn't matter, but my car was parked outside since my side of the garage has equipment from the builders. 

My windows were frosted over and I had a heckuva time remembering at 6:50 a.m. where I put my ice scraper after last winter. There's something wrong when you have both ice scraper and golf clubs in your car, isn't there?

The next thing I noticed as I was heading east was that I was in for one colorful sunrise! It was floor to ceiling pink paint and only got pinker as the minutes went by!

So here's me traveling north with my window open, feeling the 32 degrees and trying to snap pictures of this glorious view. I couldn't stop because there were cars behind me. So this is a 55 mph view of the sunrise just before 7 a.m. And since it's mostly blurry, it almost looks like a painting. How cool is that?

I didn't realize there'd be so many colors competing for autumn's attention! But I was just smiling and feeling blessed the whole way to work.

Then this evening, God and Mother Nature switched up the palette and provided some orange in the sunset.

How cool is it to live somewhere where the leaves and clouds change into glorious colors at the same time?!

P.S. Remind me of that when I gripe about living in the Wisconsin this winter!

Pause to Enjoy

After working at home and having strenuous decisions with the countertop guy, we were in a good place for a Monday. We made "concrete" decisions if you know what I mean. But it dawned on me after work that I hadn't taken time to realize our most colorful tree took a turn!

It's a weird autumn because the neighbors across the street had full-color scheme weeks ago and now their tree is naked. I guess we had different weather or soil conditions 20 yards away because our dude finally got with the program today!

So nice to pause and enjoy before sunset.

And try to be artsy with my camera phone, of course!

Now hubby is mowing/collecting some leaves and I'm continuing our cabinet Jenga game to see what fits where in our new setup (until The Voice starts). We still won't have everything done TOTALLY done before Halloween week, but we'll just organize stuff in baby steps and realize we'll have to open 3 cupboards before we find what we need.

Shhhh.... Enjoy the fall colors, Austins! 

WTF (What The Fall?)

Been a little out of the loop as I deal with a new fall favorite. Not pumpkin spice. Allergies! 

Woke up Thursday morning coughing and had a runny nose. That continued through the day and in one of my work meetings, someone mentioned maybe I had fall allergies. Well, I've never had those before!

But according to Dr. World Wide Web, I definitely matched the symptoms: runny nose, coughing, watery eyes and even the "dark circles under the eyes." Who knew that was a symptom? As a precaution, I took a COVID test and that was negative. I just couldn't figure out what triggered it. Until... 

One of the online sites had this to say: Mold is another fall trigger. You may think of mold growing in your basement or bathroom – damp areas in the house – but mold spores also love wet spots outside. Piles of damp leaves are ideal breeding grounds for mold.

So you mean after spending an hour in the light rain in piles of leaves for a photo shoot Wednesday night, that could be a trigger?! Sure was. 

Claritin helped but I took today off anyway. I think I needed to catch up on rest after three solid weeks of gutting the kitchen and dining room plus a wedding in there. My body needed to rest. And the rest of the house needed a little attention.

Didn't get too far with that. I woke up in the middle of the night and ended up watching the Ryder Cup (over in Italy) and tried a few naps today between mopping, washing windows, and of course – golfing!

It's been a few weeks since my golf partner Marigene and I got out. We were a bit rusty, but who cares? Let's get more rounds in since it FINALLY stopped raining. I figured as long as I already had the allergy gig going, I might as well try to enjoy the outdoors.

And keep Kleenex (or Porta Potty toilet paper) on hand! 

Like I said, I am not used to or equipped to handle fall allergies. Bless your heart if you deal with this every year. Now that I've been there, done that, I don't really see the need to experience this again.

Just do your thing, Claritin. Please.

You Need to Move Along, Noah

Figures that after months of drought conditions, we've had non-stop rain for days. Like inches per day at a time. I know we need it, but dang, it's been ill-timed. First, Saturday for the wedding and now today for a senior photo shoot. But I survived both and made the best of it. 

Take that, Noah!

It reminded me to step outside and try to capture some artsy-fartsy rain pictures.

Weird thing. It seems like rain drops only collect on the backside of pretty leaves. 

Maybe that's not always the case, but definitely in my yard anyway. Still, very pretty, if you ask me!

I was glad it lightened up a bit for my photo shoot this afternoon. And since the young man wanted to wear a baseball cap for most of it, he was cool with it. Thank goodness it wasn't a girl with hair issues! 

I guess there's positives in everything. We just have to look for it. Even if they are soggy!

Technically it's Still Autumn Right?

The brownish-green grass disappeared overnight and now the only color out there in our winter wonderland is white and a few brown and orange autumn leaves holding onto their season for dear life.

Sadly, they're not long for this world.

As predicted, we officially got 6 inches of snow in Wisconsin Rapids. I think only 5 on Blue Jay Drive but it all still weighed in at "heavy and wet." Schools were closed so most of our team worked from home again. 

And while I was working, the neighborhood snow angels swooped in to clear our driveway. I love that even though hubby is the one laid up, they treat me like a helpless female who can't remove snow. I don't mean that sarcastically. I love that. And am so grateful that for today I didn't have to try and remember how to operate the snowblower. Thank you, Mike and Mike! Jim thanks you and my back thanks you, too!

To illustrate how heavy that snow is... remember these straight trees (at right) from our front yard yesterday?

Mother Nature likes to bend them apart so they look look like fuzzy rabbit ears. Or, as a friend pointed out, wings. Maybe snow angel wings? I tried to get a selfie in front of them to look like an angel, but as Santa pointed out the other day, my name does not appear in that column either!

Over lunch, I did break out the lens ball and got this somewhat creative shot. I need more practice but I still think it's cool! Since winter hasn't technically started, I'm guessing I'll get a few more chances.

We could still get another inch or two tonight. At least I know I don't have to travel in the morning since Friday's already a work-from-home day. We were also lucky we didn't have to deal with power outages here either. It's been a very long couple of days for many of you.

Take care, enjoy the last days of fall, and be careful out there!