Happy Fourth
Last day of a 5 day weekend. And I could still use another day off.
Goldiebug cam to visit. She arrived on Saturday and we've had a really nice visit.
Highlights: Pizza, Gaming Sunday, Mailboat Monday, Relaxing Tuesday, and just too much Wednesday.
Goldiebug arrived just in time to get takeout pizza for dinner. we picked up the Zumpano's pizza while she settled in. Had a nice dinner and lots of chatting. She started in on a photo project that she continued to work on during the rest of her stay. No reading for her! But the photo-book is going to be FABULOUS when it is done. The question is, can she finish it before her midnight deadline on Friday???
Sunday we invited B and her friend Cindy to come out to the farm for a day of games. I made a glazed spiral ham, home-made potato salad, fruit salad, broccoli slaw, and pound cake for dessert. Cindy & B arrived around 11:30 and we played and ate & played, until they left around 7pm. We played a full complete game of Harry Potter clue, for the first time since we got the game 2 Christmases ago. It takes a LONG time to play, and might go faster with fewer players because you get more clue cards. With 5 people you only get 3. Then we played Taboo, which I'd never played before and it was a LOT of fun, even though our sand-timer kept getting stuck (you have to get your teammates to say the word or phrase without using the half-dozen most common descriptors which are "taboo"). After several rounds, we needed to move around a bit, so we went outside to play a some Bocce ball, but it was nearly 98 and we were cooking, so back inside, after just a few rounds. After eating we segued into... a game I don't know the name of. (Edit: Anybody's Guess) You play in 2 teams, and each team takes turns guessing how quickly the other team will be able to guess a word/phrase based on a specific set of clues. You have to know your opponents knowledge strengths pretty well to maximize your points on this game. B surprised everyone with a couple of correct guess on the very first vaguest clue. Pony Express indeed! It was a work night for B, and the two of them probably should have left an hour before they did (nearly 8pm) but we all had a great time.
Monday we were up very early for a vacation day. We were headed into Lake Geneva to take a ride on the last remaining, longest-continuously operating marine mail delivery route. AKA the Geneva Lake Mailboat cruise. We didn't buy tickets ahead of time, and this cruise often sells out and it's a holiday week, so we wanted to get there as soon as the ticket office opened at 9. We left at 8:15, made a pit stop at Piggly Wiggly for Dramamine, then downtown Lake Geneva. They have the newest electronic version of meter-less paid parking. I have used it once before in Milwaukee, but that didn't prevent me from entering in the wrong stall number (367 instead of 567) so that when we got back from the boat ride we had a parking ticket. =( Thankfully, it was a regular weekday and we could stop at City Hall on our way home, and I presented my case (with receipts) clearly showing my error. I just got an e-mail today saying that they were waving the ticket for me. Yay!
The mailboat cruise, was great. It lasted 2.5 hours as we cruised around the 20 miles of Lake Geneva's shoreline, gawking at all of the mansions built by the rich and famous of 100+ years ago and today. We got lots of history, saw some beautiful mansions, and common-folk homes, as well as some incredible water toys. At about 40 docks, as the boat slowly cruised by (not stopping) a mail delivery boy (young college age) jumped off the front of the boat onto the dock, stuffed the mail into the dockside mailbox, and then had to jump back onto the boat before it was too late. One wrong step and it's into the drink for the kid. When they are lucky, a person will be there for the mail handoffs, but occasionally, disaster happens and the kid is left standing on the dock This happened twice on our run, once because the mailbox hadn't been emptied for a few days and the Sunday paper filled it to capacity, the kid had no where to stuff the mail. But at least he never fell in. When he missed the boat, we had to circle around to pick him up. It was a nice cruise, but it was soooo hot. We nearly melted while we waited in line to board, for about 30 minutes. When we got back to the car (and found the parking ticket) it was 110ºF out. We then headed to the Public Library, about a block down the beach, so Goldie could pick up a library card for her collection. The YA librarian also gave us a good tip on a great place for lunch Egg Harbor Cafe, as well as the inside scoop on local fireworks for the 4th and the location of City Hall. So, library card, lunch and city hall were all completed and we got back to the farm around 3. Relaxed for the rest of the night, with leftover ham for dinner.
Somethings wrong with the AC, our bedroom is not the wonderfully cool (nearly frigid) delicious sleeping space it has been. It was HOT all night., and Goldie froze. WTF, we didn't touch the thermostats. Tuesday we stayed home, we read and watched Bridesmaids ( a terrible movie, the only saving grace was Melissa McCarthy), while Goldie worked on her photo-book project (until 2 a.m., if you are sick by the time you get home there is only 1 person to blame!) We did go out for dinner to Fred's "Best Burgers in the World" restaurant, in Burlington. The burgers were oh-my-gosh-good! The curly fries were okay, the onion rings excellent and the sweet potato fries very good. (I want a copy of the photo of the sun setting over the railroad tracks, please!) It was 8:30 by the time we were heading home, and we decided to see if the Burlington Public Library was still open. Surprised us all that it was, and Goldie picked up 2 more cards for her collection.
Today. The 4th. AC still weird upstairs, hot in all the bedrooms now. I am very unhappy. B & The Mater came out to the house for the day. Today it was 102º. It took M two hours to water the backyard & garden. I watered out front after dinner for an hour. Once again, a lot of prep work, another fruit salad, burgers (2 types) dogs, baked beans, corn on the cob, left over potato salad, chips & dip, beverages. Entertaining The Lady can be trying, food & drink, and baseball helped out. We played Settlers of Catan, the geography- German, edition. It was a lot of fun (and yes, I won). B wanted to play a 2nd game, but we had to watch the Sherlock episode, The Reichenbach Fall, because Goldie hadn't seen it yet, and we wanted to see if her version had any more clues in it. (It did not.) Time to feed everyone again, and get them packed up and out, and then clean up everything, and bam, it was 9:30. I had fun playing the game, but quite honestly, a second day of outside guests so soon was just too much. I should have been in bed an hour ago, but if I don't write this tonight I'll never find time to do it. I really wish we had 1 more day off.
The dogs have been perfect all day, are now jumpy. I'm assuming its from the fireworks (we could see displays from 4 communities over the cornfield out front, but they've been over for more than an hour. Both Clancy & Elsie are on hair triggers for barking fits. We are all tired. I almost forgot to make my lunch for tomorrow, but that's taken care of. And now, it's shower time!