A Very "Productive" Weekend.

 I got a lot accomplished this weekend.   It might not seem like a lot to others, but there  were various projects that I have been putting off and finally got to tackle them...  So I'm feelin' pretty good! 

I ran 7 miles! I did laundry.  I embroidered a half dozen things for myself and other people.  I fixed the coffee maker! I purchased vacuum parts and bags at Menhards.  I replaced the batteries in the Garage Door Opener.  (Kind of a big deal.) But the really, really BIG thing was I cleaned up the basement area and organized a sizable section.  That took most of my Saturday.

And finally,  I was able to marathon through several episodes of Game Of Thrones.  

The big thing was the clean up/ organization in the basement area.  I kind of live down there and each day I walk around a mountain of old magazine collections and dead plants that Dave has "saved" from the recycle bin at church over the years.  But somewhere while doing my seemingly endless embroidery projects,  I tugged on the cleaning thread and it began to unravel. 

It started with just a simple shop vac of the area.  My embroidery area has scraps of thread and material that looks unsightly and can only be vacuumed up with the shop vac.   The problem in that the handle has limited reach.   I used an old tube from a Christmas wrapping paper roll,  and it worked!

Right up until the suction of the vacuum collapsed the tube. ( which was kind of hilarious if you ever saw it.)   I needed a better tube extension so I headed to Menhards to buy more.    While I was there I bought some vacuum bags for Dave's obsolete vacuum.  (They didn't fit... But there is more to that story.) 

No, it didn't look this bad.

I hurried back and continued cleaning things and stacking things and organizing things and ultimately,  throwing a number of things away.  By the way,  I found the "right" vacuum bags in the process!  See!   One of the perks for discovering what you have buried under a mountain of cardboard and magazines.You find things you thought you had lost. 

No, it doesn't look this good.

Don't worry!  Nothing "important" got tossed. Mostly I simply consolidated things and stacked them up neatly.   Any left over crushed cardboard was thrown into recycling.  ( Which is brimming at the moment...)  But now I can see all the way to the Basement door from my dark little corner.  And there are no longer any "trippables" out there. 

I still may have to make a trip to good will for a few items that people might be able to use.  But I will wait for Dave's "OK" on that one.  

There is still the other side of the basement to organize.   And there are the shelves and tables that have tools and shop materials all over them.  A project for another day.   But for now...  They pose no immediate threat to me or any  unsuspecting wildlife.  

I also fixed the coffee maker ( no pictures.) This will be the third time I actually took this specific brand of coffee maker apart.  I guess German Engineering is not all it was cracked up to be. There was a short right at the connection of the power cord.   I removed the bad part and reconnected the wires.  I'm not sure what caused the short, bt for now, it appears to be working.   Without any of my special connectors,  I will have to make do with what was provided.  Hopefully it will last a while this time. 

There is more, but I don't want this blog to get too long.  ( They always do when you wait to sum up the week on a weekend.)  Perhaps I will have the MOJO to blog again tomorrow.  We shall see. 

Hope everyone else is having a great and productive weekend.  I think  I have a long weekend next weekend, so I will have to plan accordingly.   I wonder what I shall do with my extra day.  I'll have to think about it.  

As for me...  Have a great day and thanks for stopping in.   

A Successful Mushroom Hunt.

I dislike Morels.   I think I have covered that before on this blog.   Everyone wants them.  Everyone is out looking for them.  No one wants to share their successful hunting spots.  It is a dodge ball, secretive competition that seems to favor everyone but me.   So I hate them.  Silently.  ( unless you read this blog) 

So needless to say.... I did not find any morels  this year... Again! A big zero!  Unless you count the one that someone left in the middle of the path a few weeks ago.  ( I don't!)  As if to taunt me by showing me that they are in the area.. but I will never find any.   And THEY can find them so often that they just leave the surplus on the trail for random strangers to find.  So mushroom hunting for morels is a complete waste of time!

And yet... I continue to look for them.   Why?  Such self abuse should be banned.   But similar to fishing...  you never know when you will find something out there that was unexpected, but still desired. 

And so it was that Sunday afternoon,  I found my first Oyster Mushrooms of the year. Pleurotus populinus     Also known as the "Spring Oyster mushroom."

I found them in a stand of big leaf aspen.   And they were growing in several places.   I gathered what I could and brought them to Dave.  

He was excited and wanted to hunt  for some more.   And since it was mother's day,  they was still the opportunity to possibly find a morel or two. ( except for me... cause morels hate me.) 

On the way out to the woods,  we found a tree loaded with Dryad Saddle!   

Honestly,  ever since I found those ones pinning a few weeks ago, I had given up on dryad saddle being anything other than survival food!  But catch them early... while they are still tender, and they are awesome!   These guys were still in the pinning stage and had not yet formed their pores under the cap.  They were tender and brittle when you flexed the caps.  We harvested everything we could. 

Once in the woods,  we found even MORE!  But these guys were past their prime.  It was obvious the moment we tried to cut them from the tree.  They were tough and leathery!  We took a few of the smaller ones, but even those will be set up for drying later.   Once they open those pores, they seem to get overly tough and inedible for normal dishes. 

Once home,  I cut up all of the oysters and about half of the dryad saddle.   Dave whisked them up with some noodles and beef tips and they were delightful! perfect texture and flavor. I guess part of the mushroom education is knowing when to harvest certain mushrooms and how to cook them at their best.  Our education continues. 

So I just wanted to post that since it was not going to make it in the last post.   Certainly a different subject from racing and family.   So... here it is.   I now will be looking forward to hunting other mushrooms as they make their appearances.   And I will be enjoying the forest now that many of the morel people will be leaving.  I doubt they will be caring much about new and exotic species of edible mushrooms that make their appearances all summer long.  ( Except the Chicken of the Woods....) And this is where I will gain ground and use my new found knowledge to acquire mushroom species they have ignored or  abandoned.  They will be mine!  All Mine!  muhahahaha!

Hope everyone had a great Monday. And thanks for stopping in.

The River Bank Run, Mother's Day, 50th Anniversary, Family Gathering in Michigan Weekend!

Whew!  That is a Huge title!   And we tried our best to cram in as much junk into two days as we could.   Which means that we pretty much had no time for ourselves and did not achieve everything we had wanted.   But we survived!   And I have something to blog about at the very least.

And it is late.... so I should try to limit the 700 pictures and all the details to just the bare memories that we will be able to recall...  So let's get started

I was fortunate enough to have Friday off from Work....  A Z day!  ( That's "Z"  for Zebra... Not "Zombie"...   Which would still be cool.  Just sayin'.)  Cheryl and I spent that day traveling to Michigan and picking up our packets for the Grand Rapids River Bank Run!  I signed up for the 10 K and Cheryl went for the Big 25K. ( about 15 miles... for those of us who only live in the US and are not Military....) She was part of the "two Hour Club" from last year and wanted to get in the special bib and special room set aside for the snobs that can run faster than everyone else.  Snobs!

How did it go?   Well, I finished my 10 k in under an hour.   That is fairly consistent for me.  ( Just under a 10 minute per mile pace... for those who are not runners...  Living only in the US and do not know the Metric System conversion rate.) I was pretty pleased with that.  

Cheryl, on the other hand....  Finished 14 seconds over the 2 hour mark.   Meaning... She got kicked out of the two hour club the very year she was allowed into it!   What a loser!   ( First loser.... to be exact!  Her words.. not mine!)   But..... She was still able to climb the golden stairs and join the uber elites in the special "two Hour Club" room.   And what did she find? 

Wait for it....

Bagels.   That's it.   No wine,  no cheese, no special beer or cigars.  No dancing women.... just bagels.  That was a lot of work to get something rather "ho humm."    Somehow, that made her feel a little less bitter about failing to crack the two hour time  for two years in a row.  

But the celebration could not last forever...  And eventually we had to go to the Fam's for some additional celebrating.   Namely,   The folks were having their 50th Wedding anniversary.  They wanted it to be small, so we just invited Andy and Tanya.     

Mike and Julie's new cat.

But then Julie and Mike heard about it and decided to crash the party.    

Are we boring?

It didn't take them long to get bored, but we managed to have a good time despite their constant yawning and stretching.  It was almost as if they had run a 10k run that morning.  ( That is a little over 6 miles... for those folks who were educated in the US public School system, are  not military, or have ever run a race in the early morning.) 

Finished take.

Outake #1

One of the highlights was when we got the folks to pose with their cake.  Andy made them take several dozen takes to get the right ones.   Just like Mom makes us do every time  the entire family gathers up.  

 

Finished Take

Outtake #2

What a long weekend!   And there is MORE!  But it is getting late and I will have to blog about the rest tomorrow.    Monday is supposed to be a big day at the Zebra.... So I will definitely need some beauty sleep tonight. 

Outtake #1

Outtake #2 But Cats are Family!

Hope everyone had a great Mother's day weekend this weekend.   Cheryl and I managed to kill 4 "birds" with one weekend visit to Michigan... so I think that is pretty impressive.  Perhaps next time we will be able to spend some time with each other.... just the two of us.   Maybe....  

Thanks for stopping in!  And I hope everyone has a wonderful week this coming week.  Until then.

When All Else Fails.... Try Volunteering!

A series of events happened this week that I would almost consider a Miracle.  Perhaps a little small for most people, but I believe no miracle is too small for God and to those who are influenced by such a miracle.   So let me explain 

I was planning on heading to Iowa this weekend to help Cheryl with a Garage sale.   But then the plans were cancelled.   I then was planning on driving Dave's sister to the Airport.   That also changed.  I had plans to do some heavy mushroom hunting this weekend here in Wisconsin. But every time I head out to my favorite places,  I have not been encouraged by the harvest. ( A few pinning Dryad Saddles and a "gifted" half morel I found on the trail.   Someone else found them and left the two on the small bike path I was on in the woods.)   So what would I do with my new found weekend? 

Well, it happens that the Wisconsin Marathon  and Half Marathon was here in Kenosha this weekend!   I  could run another Half Marathon!  

And...  I have a Co-worker that will also be running the Half Marathon with her son.   So I technically would not be running it totally alone.   ( Technically.   Everyone runs their own race alone.) 

However.   Miracles continue.    I filled out the form on Wednesday night and tried to pay for the race... Three Times!  Each time,  my card was declined.  There was no reason.  The card was good.  The entry deadline was not until race morning.  There was no earthly reason why I should not have been able to pay for the race and join in on the fun  of self-inflicted pain. 

But then I thought.   I could  volunteer!

  I have often wondered what it takes to be one of the volunteers at one of these races.    Turns out... No cost!  You usually get some of the swag ( shirt, mug, jacket, bananas....etc. ) and all you have to do is direct traffic, hand out water, or hand out the medals.  That sounds kind of fun,  right? 

Pre-Sun rise.

Well,   I click the volunteer button and choose the "floating volunteer" who will help out where ever there is need...   And "Poof!"    I'm in! 

Sun rising over Lake Michigan!

Preparing for registration.

I did not rely on the 6:30 start time.   Especially when the race stars at 7:00 A.M.  So I woke up ridiculously early (2:30 A.M.!) and showed up several hours before the race started.   It was 51 degrees, but began raining early on.   I was lucky to be put in charge of the T-shirt hand out at the register tent.   People were signing up for the race even at that late of an hour!  

Sun rising.

At least it was sheltered from the rain and wind. And we were able to watch the sun rise over Lake Michigan.  A phenomenon I have only witnessed one other time  here on the Wisconsin side of the Lake.   Very pretty. 

  I didn't know if I would see Marion ( the Co-worker who was running the race) but she and her son happened to stop by for a question.  A familiar face at last!  I wished her luck and cheered her on.  

As the race neared,  I found myself helping out in the baggage claim area.   It was less sheltered from the rain and not sheltered at all from the wind!  The temp dropped into the 40's and I was wishing I had brought warmer clothes.   I luckily remembered I had my Work Gore-Tex in the trunk of the car.  That helped a little. 

Overall,  the task was easy and fun.  It might have been better had the weather been nicer for us.  But then the runners would have had to deal with  less than optimal conditions. Many of them commented that today was "perfect running conditions" for them.  I think Cheryl might have agreed. She tends to like the cold.   And does not shy away from running in the rain.  I'll have to ask Marion about her experience later on Monday.  I saw that she and her son had both finished the race.  But both of them headed out  shortly after before I could congratulate them. 

So now... after a long nap,   I have nothing left for the day.  I will do Laundry tomorrow and possibly a couple of the embroidery projects I have lined up.   The rain might have helped the Mushroom condition....  So a Hunt might also be in the works.  And if nothing else,  I would just run  through the park to get in some exercise.  

By the way.   I didn't get a shirt.  Or a jacket.   Or a mug!  But I did get s couple of Bananas and a rice cake.  I probably could have asked about getting one, but decided sleep was more important at that point in the day.  I do know that they offered  a Beer and Brat at the local pub three blocks away.  But again, I did not want to fight any more crowds and just wanted to get dry and warm.

The Verdict?   Volunteering was not a terrible experience.   It was actually kind of fun.  And if all of your other plans fall through,   it was a pleasant alternative that I would recommend! It's just like running the race with the early start time, cold conditions, and foul weather...  But without the sore leg "gimp" afterwards.  And you even get a banana when it is all over.  (And possibly a shirt, beer and brat!  If you actually want those things.)  Similar to the Half Marathon experience...  I might be willing to attempt Volunteering again.  

Thanks for stopping in.