Open Jam

We are hosting open jams at the Boscobel Hotel on the 2nd Friday of the month at 8pm.

Wow it has been a long time

Spring is here. Morels are popping up. I am working on a way to integrate my twittr, facebook, and this blog so they all stay updated.

Forgot the picture

Deer Hunting 2008

This is the view I have right now. I am out in the woods behind our new house. Itis opening morning of the 2008 Wisconsin gun deer season.

It was a brisk morning but the sun is shining on this south facing hillside now and it is warming up.

We have not seen any deer yet but we have 9 days. So for now I am quietly munching on a granola bar and just enjoying the woods.

It always happens...

Well I let this blog go for awhile.  Things got busy and it just got pushed back.  I have been thinking how in the world I am going to catch up and I decided that I wont.  I will just move on from here.

By the way, the canoe tripe with Gwen was fabulous!  That really is an amazing river to canoe on.

We have been busy this summer and are now preparing for the fall.

There...short and sweet.  I will do some look-back sort of posts later but I had to get back into the swing of things.

Be well...

A New History

After a very long week we are starting a 3-day weekend.  Woot!  Gwen is on her way from the U.P. and we are going to paddle this weekend.  Today, we are going to warm up a bit by paddling the Wyalusing canoe trail.  It is a 6 mile trail of almost all calm backwaters.  It wraps around the trees at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers.  Sunday we are going to run the "Crookedest River in The World"...the mighty Kickapoo!  We are going to put in at Ontario and take out at Wildcat Mountain State Park landing.

It's going to be great.  We haven't seen Gwen in a long time so it will be nice to have her here again.  

The plan for the weekend is to have a cookout here Sunday and a campfire that evening but it looks like we might get thunderstorms instead...bleh.  Not sure what we will do now.  It will be really nice to have a few days off no matter what happens.

Everyone is out putting flowers on graves this morning.  We didn't go...just too tired to get up this morning.  Steph is cleaning the house and I am working hard to get rid of this headache I woke up with.  I will write more later.  I need to find a dry bag in order to take my phone and camera with me this weekend.

Be well...

Canoe Believe It???

It was a beautiful Saturday morning when Steph and I set out for our first canoe trip with the Mad River Adventure 16. When we got to the Wyalusing boat launch the water was calm but very high still from the flooding. We put in and the first thing we noticed is how terribly tippy it was. We spent the first half hour trying to not move a muscle because it would have swamped on us. Initial stability was crazy but we are used to that...final stability was scary since each time it tipped my butt would slide towards the water. It was all I could do to stay upright. We tried to love this boat but there was no way we could put Zach in the middle without capsizing. 

We loaded up and headed all the way back to Madison to return it.  We went to Gander Mountain and found an Old Town Guide 147.  The reviews on this all say the same thing...stable, stable, stable!  This canoe looked better, felt better and was $50 cheaper!  We also got a $100 gift card free with the purchase.  The register jockey ran it up wrong the first time and voided the first transaction...when he ran it again I had hit my daily limit and it declined the card!  How frustrating!  Mom saved the day and used her card so we didn't drive 2 hours for nothing.

Driving home was a total nightmare.  The wind gusts were crazy.  The foam car top kit i bought only had one strap for the middle and that isn't enough.  3 times the wind slammed the canoe and rolled the foam blocks out from under the boat.  The canoe scratched the hell out of my roof and every time it happened we had to stop on the interstate and go find the blocks then re-top the boat.  It was horrible!  We finally pulled in to Dodgeville and I went into China-Mart to get another strap...which of course was too short.  :(  I ended up tying 2 of them together and had Steph inside the car holding the strap tight so the damn boat would stay on.  

Sunday afternoon when we picked up Zach we continued on to Governor Dodge State Park and paddled the new Old Town.  It was awesome!  Very stable and comfortable.  I forgot that I left my phone in my pocket so I did get a few pics even though they are camera phone pics.  Here is a link to the pics I took.

Happy Trails!