This was the week we went to Wisconsin.
We spent Monday packing and making other preparations. I have some basil plants I’ve propagated on the kitchen windowsill. They need their roots kept damp, so I watered them well and put plastic produce bags around each pot, closing them up as closely as I could around the multiple stems.
In the afternoon, we took the pups to their lodgings. They always cry when we leave them home alone, and they cried when we left them in their hotel room. They get to play outdoor with other dogs several times a day.
We flew from Redmond to Seattle, then on to Minneapolis/St. Paul, where we had a rental car waiting for us. It was about two hours on the road to reach Onalaska. We met up with a friend from the Madroña Vineyards pop-up meetings group the next morning and went out to have breakfast at the Blue Moon Restaurant, where we have been before. It was so nice to chat with someone who is an old friend, but whom we’ve only met online before. She brought us a jar of their maple syrup and a bottle of Madroña Nebbiolo from 2019, a very nice wine. We gave her a set of my books. We learned that we had more in common than we thought.
I had met Katie the kitty before, when the family went to the shelter to look at the kittens, but she’s full grown now. She likes to keep watch, but especially when someone is leaving the house.
We savored the Nebbiolo Wednesday evening. With pizza.
We’re staying downstairs in the basement in the guest room, just off a play area for the kids. You can see they have made good use of their space.
I did some cooking. I made some lasagne to put in the freezer for later. It has meat in it and no vegetables, but it’s not for me, so it didn’t matter. It should be enough for Karen and the kids for two or three meals. David is fed through a tube now, so he won’t be eating it.
Thursday evening, Karen and I went to hear Daphne sing in one the choirs at her high school. (They have several.) The kids did a good job. It was lovely to listen to.
The combined choirs from the performance sang O Fortuna from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. It was amazing! It sounded just like the recording I have.
The next night, Charlie and I went to watch and listen to the show choirs. They were singing AND dancing. We got there when the auditorium was already full. I found a single seat and planned to sit there by myself, but the woman sitting next to that seat got up and offered her seat to Charlie. It was very kind, but the woman in front of me had big hair, making it hard to see. I could see around her, though. Daphne really seemed to be enjoying it. I was impressed with how the kids were able to perform during this show, too.
Last week the incoming water pipe in the front of the house burst, and the water company had to turn off the water to the house. That would be a big problem anyway, but David is housebound, at least until they can get a wheelchair ramp installed. Karen was able to get a plumber to jerry-rig a hose from the neighbors' (with their permission, of course). Yesterday we had a hard freeze and woke up to no running water. We had an anxious few hours before we could reach the plumber. We had bottled distilled water, but it was inconvenient. Late morning, though, the plumber arrived and switched out the hose. (That’s the short version of what he did.) We will have to leave a faucet running for a few days until the weather warms up.
They’re going to come on Thursday to excavate and replace the pipe.
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What's in The Doll's Storybook: Do you know a child who needs to learn how to deal with a fire and stay safe? This week’s story covers the basics. Here's Fire!
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