Domek Lesny Blog

Domek Lesny

2012-04-24T01:08:00Z

Welcome to Domek Lesny!

This blog is dedicated to our house in the north woods of Wisconsin. We took ownership of the house after Joe's father died in March of 2006. It needed a lot of TLC as the work was beyond Joe's father in the later years. This blog is the tale of our clean-up, restoration and decoration efforts. We decided to name the property Domek Lesny as it means forest cottage in Polish.

In the four years after my Fathers death a lot of work has gone in the house. The 1st floor or "road" level of the house has been totally remodeled or redecorated. The last 2 year with the help of Susan, Larry, Pam and Lou we started to basement or "Lake Level" of the house. And early in 2009 the basement was finally finished. In 2009, it was all outside work. The house has been repainted. New gutters, a new sidewalk, retaining wall, and drive way repairs are underway. 2010 brings the boathouse repairs.

Joe Wardzala

Moved to Facebook

2012-04-24T01:07:04Z

The blog is moving to Facebook check out and like http://www.facebook.com/#!/DomekLesny

Joe

Opening 2012

2012-03-25T20:35:53Z

Earlier this week I received an e-mail from one of the neighbors of Domek Lesny. She said in her e-mail that there was a fire at the place next to ours. I was planning to make a trip up this weekend any way. It was just me and Riley making the trip, we had to drive in a heavy fog. At one point Riley decided to help drive. But even Riley could not see. Any way we made it up.

This was the 6th year I have opened the place. And for the 4th time in a row I had no problems. Since everything went smoothly I decided to check out the first damage. I looked outside at first. I could smell the smoke but I could not find any damage. So I went in side and looked out from our 2nd floor windows towards the south. I have looked the Windows thousands of times and I am very familiar of what I should see. I can see Bob's place next door, and over Bob's house I can see the former Perlwitz house. I was so busy looking for fire damage. But was surprised to see this.

I know it's hard to tell because my camera focused on the branches. But you do see the roof of the house next door. But beyond that, sand. A house used to stand there. Now the house did not burn down, the new owners of the property had it knocked down. There are a lot of memories with that house. RIP Anita.

After the rain and fog cleared out I was able to clean up the property and fertilize the lawn. Wait it is still March, I normally do that in May sometimes in June.

I was able to enjoy the weekend and got a nice photo of this guy.

That reminds I have to get some to cut that tree down, it's dead. And notice the buds on the trees. Again it's only March.

Hopefully it will be a long season and we don't have Winter in July.

Joe

Happy new year and the all american family

2012-01-08T16:24:06Z

Happy 2012 everyone. I know I have not posted much last year but I hope that changes this year. In 2011 we bought a Toyota Prius because the 2006 Highlander has a lot of miles on it. The Highlander has been retired to trips to Domek and the Prius for local traffic.

I was not alone in the purchase of a Prius in 2011. My Sister Pam and her husband Lou purchased a red one.
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Obviously they were purchasing diamonds or jewelry when they took the above phone.

My Brother Larry purchased a 2012 Prius V recently.

Obviously that photo is not from Wisconsin.

And finally my Prius.

While people in Wisconsin have been busy trying to recall their Governor, Illinois has been passing new laws. One of the new laws as of January 1st it is legal to pick up road kill for it's meat and/or fur. So we have been driving the roads of Illinois looking for road kill. And what is more American than picking up road kill? Perhaps we can start a new reality TV show, American Road Kill.

Speaking of all American. Did you notice the color of the Priuses? Red, White and Blue. Now that is more American. Driving Toyota.

Have a fun 2012!

Joe

New driver

2011-10-12T00:38:08Z

People have been asking me why do I not post to the blog any more. The truth is after making the long drive back I am too tired to write. This past weekend I final got some help with the drive.

As you can see he has both paws on the wheel, he is looking down the road and checking his speed. The problem is that he cannot reach the pedals, so I have to set the cruise control for him. He does very well unless a truck or bird goes by.

This past weekend (Columbus day weekend) we spent 4 days at Domek. The weather was beautiful. We went on the Artist tour on Saturday. We went to a glass making studio, a Weaver and a pottery maker. Those people lose to talk, we spent an hour at each place and it could have been 2.

I am getting ready to close down for the winter. I pulled in the old boat dock. Possibly for the last time ( I know I said I was going to get a new one, next year). The boat dock was falling apart when we pulled it in. So I have to find out the cost of a new one and set a budget, ideas?

And Wisconsin is one step closer to recalling their Governor. Elect David Obey!

More to come.

Joe

Vacation 2011

2011-07-10T22:15:30Z

A lot of things have happened over the last week; I turned 52. We became Great Aunt and Uncle to Sydney Ella Crosbie, born July 8th. I finally took Susan to a restaurant she always wanted to go. I caught a fish. And Turtles are taking over the world! Where do I start?

Congratulations to Paul and Jessica Crosbie on the birth of their daughter Sydney. All are doing well.

Now on to me. For my 52nd birthday I painted the interior of the garage. I enjoy the smell of paint fumes. Susan also took me to the best place in the world to have Prime Rib (excluding Lawry's) Pub 'n Prime in St. Germain, Wi. It was great along with 2 Marker's Mark Almost Perfect Manhattans (they put olives in it, which made not so perfect.) But it is still the best Prime Rib you can get anywhere.

Now on to the not so nice stuff. Warning the rest of this posting is not suitable for younger viewers or people who have weak stomachs.

Susan has been asking me to go to a very popular restaurant in the area. I will the real name out of this posting but we will just call it the Giant who wears flannel. I have been to the place twice in my life and I remember it was really awful. I offered to take Susan out to Lunch on Friday, and I asked her wear she wanted to go and of course it was the Giant who wears flannel restaurant. I asked if she was really sure and reminder it was really bad. But we went any way.

We arrived at about noon and parked the car. And walked into the restaurant, while walking in we saw a guy outside throwing up along side the building. Most people would have stopped right there and went elsewhere. We continued.

The place is a family style buffet and you have to pay before you enter. There were 3 old ladies at the cashiers desk to take you money. One of them was sneezing like crazy. Not a good sign. We entered the dining area and were sat at a very large table, one side just had a bench to sit at.

The waitress came up and offered to bring us our Buffet. Which confused us because we thought there was buffet line. But not it's Family style buffet where they bring you plates of food. About 5 minutes later the waitress brought the food. Susan looked at the food and I thought she was going to run outside and throw up too. It was bad, it was so greasy and over cooked it was disgusting. We ate any way.

Susan noticed that all the dining room employees were wearing red shirts. She asked me if the guy outside had a red shirt. I said no. And Susan said OK I have been here, we are not coming back!

Later I told Susan the guy outside was an employee. They send him out to throw up to warn people away. They figure if you come in and eat, you will eat anything. Anyway it make a good story.

During vacation I try to go fishing in the morning. This trip was no different. But I was not catching any fish. But finally Saturday morning I had a strike. I caught a small mouth bass, a small one. But it was a fish. While I went to grab the fish to remove the hook, the fish jumped and the hook went right in to my right index finger. So now I had a fish on a hook hanging from my finger. The fish jumped again yanking the hook not only out of my finger but out it's mouth too. Ouch! I was done fishing for the day.

For the past month I have seen more turtles around than ever. I spotted this guy this week swimming in the lake.

I know you cannot see him/her very well, I need to get a better telephoto lens. But it's a turtle or is it? Any way I think turtles are going to take over the world soon.

I also rescued this guy earlier the same day.

I am sorry if you got sick if you read this. Have a good summer.

Joe

Boat Dock

2011-05-09T14:59:00Z

Spring has finally arrived? The ice is gone and I was able to put in the boat dock. We were going to buy a new boat dock to replace our 40+ year old dock, but that did not happen. I had to do some minor repairs, but it still good. The first section of the boat dock is older than the house, my Dad built it soon after purchasing the property so that section is 45 years old. The decking is redwood and is in good shape. So I guess I will maintain it for now.

Susan went to the Sayner Stampede on Saturday. She was gone all day. Sorry I cannot take the excitement of a Stamping and Scrapbook convention. I would rather stay home and sand Drywall. I sanded the ceiling of the attached garage and it's is almost ready for paint. But it was very dusty, I had drywall dust in my Eyes. Ears, Nose and Throat. And you would think it was a good idea to use a Leaf blower to blow out the dust out of the garage, no it was not. I have dust all over the outside of the house. Let's hope it rains to wash it away.

We found out that one of our favorite restaurants closed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBNsjyzqkRQ Oh well maybe we will find a new place.

Joe

Opening 2011

2011-04-10T20:59:00Z

We just got back from a quick trip to Domek Lesny. It has been almost 6 months since the last visit. The house and everything is still there. But big changes on the highways. At the 94/894 interchange just south of Milwaukee, the entire interchange is being redone. I think this is the 5th time in my life time that interchange has been redone. And in Oshkosh at the Lake Butte Des Mortes Bridge / highway 45 interchange that is being redone. The construction in Wausau is done, but they are going to be started new construction soon.

I guess Wisconsin has plenty of money since they took all the money away from the State Union workers (I know the highway money comes from the Federal Government).

We did go to a new "Mexican" restaurant in the area. People make fun of me when they ask how was something. If I like it I say "It's OK". Well this place was below OK. The best part about it was they served Pepsi Products, so Susan was able to have a Diet Mountain Dew. Needless to say we probably won't be back.

This morning I did walk around the property to inspect. And I found someone has been eating trees.

I know it's hard to see but someone ate the bark off on the trees. I think it's the Republicans!

You can see wood chips at the base of the tree in the above image.

And the tree that is laying on the ground nearly hit the power line. I think the republicans are trying to cut of my power! Seriously the tree just missed the power lines and even though it does not look like it, almost hit the garage.

And it was very foggy this morning. There is still ice on the lake.

I know it is hard to tell but that is ice and fog. We hope the ice will be out for our next trip. And it looks like the projects for this year include cutting down trees.

Joe

Escape Wisconsin

2011-02-26T02:06:00Z

I don’t know if any one remembers but Wisconsin used to have an Ad of "Escape to Wisconsin". They had bumper stickers, Radio and TV ads. People from Illinois would take out the “to” and change the bumper sticker to “Escape Wisconsin”. I wish I had some of those for the Wisconsin Democrats now “hiding” in Illinois. Hey they would be a great bumper sticker “I am a Wisconsin Democrat Hiding in Illinois” or just “Hide in Illinois”.

Soon we will hope to return to the North Woods of Wisconsin. That is if the current Wisconsin Governor does not stop people at the border and only let republicans into the state. It appears that while we are hiding in Illinois the State of Wisconsin was taken over by a Dictator who wants to take away rights from people, threaten them with their jobs and make them suffer. Is this Wisconsin or Libya? They both appear to be very similar.

Don’t give up your rights. Support the Badger 17 and the state employees of Wisconsin.

Joe

2010 Season ends

2010-10-24T20:56:00Z

I have not been posting much this year, I have been busy with other things. Any way I did finish up the drywall in the garage, The joints are taped, I just have the finish coat to complete (next year) and some sanding then paint. I has made a big difference, the house stays warmer.

Because I have drywalled the garage I noticed that the service door to the house from the garaage never had weather striping. So we had cold air rushing in around the door. I fixed that this weekend.

In the fall field mice tend to move into the house. And this year was no exception. Last night I was woken up by the sound of a very large Maine Coon running around the bedroom. Susan was still awake and I asked her what was going on. She said Riley was chasing after a mouse. I asked "Toy mouse?" No a real mouse. He was chasing after a small Field mouse. He play a game of field hockey with the mouse, I guess that would be field mouse hockey. He play with the mouse all night, he did not kill it. And he was exhausted, but he could play with the mouse for days and days. The mouse ran off, I guess we will take care of it the spring.

Next year I iwll finish up the attached garage. And then start work on the big 2 car garage. I needs electricial rewired. Insulation. And Drywall. I thought about tearing it down. But it's built on a concrete slab that is about 12 inches thick, that would be a lot of work. So it stays.

And next year I need to replace the 40+ year old boat dock. It is in bad shape and it's time for a new one. I hate to get rid of the old one because it's made out of redwood. But time to let go and move on to more modern materials.

And i have a lot of door trim to replace. I have a lot of wood rot. Time to use PVC or other material. So next year will be the year of plastic.

Have a good Winter. See you next year.

Joe

Happy 100th Birthday Grandma Elly

2010-09-20T12:59:00Z

Susan's Grandmother is 100 today.

In the above image. Susan's niece Sam. Elly. And Susan's brother David.

Happy Birthday Elly.

End of Summer

2010-09-06T20:02:00Z

It is hard to believe it is Labor day. Where did summer go? Since vacation we have only been up twice, mostly due to scheduling conflicts with work. Last week I was in San Francisco for VMworld 2010. I basically I was at the conference 12 hours a day, so not a lot of sight seeing. I did walk the entire length of the Powell Street Cable car line, I recommend taking the cable car it is a lot less work.

I have been working on the attached garage. After removing the closet I rewired the entire garage. The garage was originally wired by a 13 year old boy. So it was not up to code. The wiring worked, but was not safe. Now 38 years later that former 13 year old wired it properly. I have added more lighting and GFCI outlets. I impressed myself because the garage has a 4 way light switch, and I did that when I was 13 by following an electrical book.

And I removed the Fiber Glass Insulation that was in the roof rafters. And I put new insulation in the ceiling instead, where it belongs. I have added ventilation to attic in the garage. When I pulled down the old insulation, I had carpenter ants falling all over my head! Thousands of them. I had to spray ant killer and that took care of them. It looks like the old insulation was keeping roof damp, and that is what the ants liked.

I also put in proper steel brackets to hold up the garage door. My Dad put in temporary wood supports 38 years ago. So I think it was time to put in something more permanent.

This week I started to drywall the ceiling. Below is an image of the work so far.

Only 11 and half sheet of dry wall to go. I am doing that next weekend.

Joe

Summer 2010

2010-07-11T16:02:00Z

We just finished up on 2 weeks vacation. And it was an interesting vacation. It all started way back on June 26^th. On the 27^th it was a cloudy day I decided to remove the not to code electrical going to the boat house. And Susan was cleaning house.

My Dad put in a 220VAC circuit to the boat house for a lake water pump they used to water the grass. I am not using it and was not to code. I had already disconnected everything at the boat house end. All I had to do is disconnect it the circuit breaker panel. I hate working inside of electrical panels too many things can go wrong. But it had to be done. I was being very careful, all I could think of was accidently knocking out the power to the TV and Susan would miss part of her favorite cooking show.

Carefully I disconnected the wires to the circuit breaker. Move the wires out of the way. Then I pulled out the circuit breaker. Suddenly I heard Susan scream “JOE!”. My first thought was not I have done it, I have disrupted Bobby Flay. Then Susan screamed “Oh My God! It won’t stop!” Then I knew it was something serious. I thought the Cats were having a huge fight. I ran in to the house. The first thing I asked, “Where is Riley?” Susan said “I don’t know, but my Defibrillator went off.

Susan said she got very dizzy. Then her Defibrillator shocked her. It went off 2 more time while I was there. Susan if fine, her heart went into Ventricular tachycardia or V-tach. I rushed her to the Emergency room and all was fine.

I always joke around with Susan that I could shock her heart using 220 and a couple of metal spatulas. And here I am disconnecting a 200 circuit and Susan’s Defibrillator went off. What are the odds?

We spent the next several days visiting various hospitals. Susan did get to see some nice quilts at the Hospital in Weston, Wisconsin. And I was able to by a new chain saw in Wausau, highlight of the trip.

We did go to the Apostle Islands, 2 hours north of Domek Lesny. We took a 3 hour cruise and tour of the Apostle Islands. The tour leaves from Bayfield, Wi and circles around the Islands. And they tell you facts about the islands. Below are some images from the trip.

And there are no Devils on Devil's Island. In fact it is the most northern part of Wiscsonsin. No I can se I have been to Furthest North, South, East and West parts of Wisconsin.

And we did see a rare Lake Superior Sea Lion laying on hist back sunning himself.

OK. I had to throw a picture of Riley in there.

Because of my recent back issues I had to stand up during the tour. But only for a few minutes and only once. And I stood up when there was nothing to see (just water). I went to the end of our row and leaned against the rail. When this not so nice old lady to row up asked me to move or sit down because I was blocking her view. I was standing behind her and 2 rows back. My Answer was, NO!. I even moved up to block her view. What is she going to do? Have me thrown off the boat? And the only thing I was blocking was the view of Lake Superior, Canada was 300 miles away so you could not see that. I am glad we did not get ship wrecked.

Back at our home away from home. I did some bike riding. We made a few trips to town. Traffic was really bad. So I would take the back roads to get back home. The back roads are fun because you get to see the wild life. We saw a couple of huge Wild Turkeys. And there was young Deer standing on the road. He was a young buck, just getting his antlers. He stood in the middle of the road and put his head down like he was going to charge the car. But he didn’t. I was able to drive past with no trouble. I guess that is what I get for not sitting down for that old lady on the boat.

I did get some fishing in. One morning I caught a very Large Small Mouth Bass. But he broke the line and I thought I lost my Favorite fishing lure, the “Jitterbug”. But shortly after breaking the line the fish spit the lure out and I was able to retrieve it.

I did go out on the boat one morning and fish. I caught a very Large Large mouth Bass (on the Jitterbug). It took me 10 minutes to real it in. And I did land it. It was much larger that the Bass that my Dad had on the Wall. I was going to keep the Bass and have it mounted. Then I remembered Susan does not like seeing my Bass hanging on the wall. So I threw my Bass back.

I did some work around the house too. I finished up the boat house. Then on my birthday I decided to tear out a clothes closet that my Dad put in the garage. A clothes closet does not belong in the garage. I removed it in about 3 hours. Which lead me to rewiring the garage. The rewiring took my 8 hours. But now it is all up to code. Which leads to the next project; Dry walling the ceiling in the garage. That will take me a while.

Enjoy some photos from the Lake.

Joe

Now what is crossing the road?

2010-06-14T00:22:00Z

I took a solo trip up to Domek Lesny this weekend. Last month we saw a Bear crossing the highway. This time I saw the most viscous animal crossing the road. I was just north of Merill when I saw something that looked like a leaf blow across the road, when I got closer I saw that it was a mouse. Good thing it did not hit the car because that would have been a lot of damage.

But about 20 miles further I saw something worse than a mouse or a Bear. Along the road. Grazing in the grass. All green in color. Getting ready to pounce. Yes it was a Deere. John Deere. I was very lucky it did not run in to the read because that could put a dent in the car.

Getting serious now. There has been a lot of rain up there. The lake is at least 3 inches higher, probably close to normal level now after a 5 year drought. We lost maybe 10 square feet of beach. But that is OK, since it is 10 feet that belongs to the lake. And the boat was sitting on the bottom of the lake, it took me about 45 minutes to bail it out.

I did make a trip to the Landfill. I had to get rid of the rotten wood and junk from the boat house. I have to say they have a new person working at the landfill. There were no lines getting in or out, and it was busy.

And my new drainage around the boathouse is working. With all the rain, no water or mud got into the boathouse.

I did get some time to fish. I caught 3 fish. That is a record for me. I caught 1 perch and 2 bass. All I do is catch and release. I hate to clean fish.

I have started to redo the electrical work in the boathouse. I was down there Saturday and there were little ducklings catching mosquitoes. It was funny to watch them. One duckling figured out they can trap them against the boat.

And Sunday morning I was working on the Electric. I was making a trip back down to the lake. When I heard a load screech, then a splash. Then another screech and the sound of wings flapping. It was an Eagle catching a fish. Well it better be a fish. We need the ducklings to catch the mosquitoes.

Joe

How to keep Bears off of your property

2010-05-16T22:30:00Z

While driving up this last Friday we saw something that I have only seen 3 times in my life. A Black Bear. We were on Highway 51 just going through Irma, Susan was on the phone with her mother. Susan was telling her about the different animals we say this year. When Susan yelled out "Look a Bear!". And sure enough on the right side of the road running towards the highway there was Black Bear. Luckily traffic was light and the Bear ran behind our car and made it across all 4 lanes of a divided highway. If I only had my camera ready.

Seeing the Bear reminded my of the last time I saw a Bear. It was in 2005 and me, my Dad and Susan were driving back home after dinner (it was before 6:30pm, so my Dad would not miss Wheel of Fortune). We just pulled up to our back lot and there he was, a Black Bear. He saw us and took off running. They can run fast!

My Dad said "Oh great, how am I going to keep the Bears off of my Property!". I answered with "That is easy. Put up goal posts.". My Dad looked at me confused. I said, "it keeps the Chicago Bears away".

This weekend DirectTV came out to replace our 2 satellite dishes with 1 satellite dish. The left the old dishes behind. Oh great more junk to get rid of. Or should I make something with them? Susan suggested bird baths. I wanted to duct tape them to the top of the car and make it look like a mouse.

And I did some work on the Boat house. I found some ancient cave carvings in the concrete.

If you can't read it is says; L.W., M.P., P.P.,L.P.,J.W.,S.P., and Misty July 13,1971. Who are these people and why is M.P. listed second? I took this photo by hanging upside down from the roof by my toes, and there is only one way down. That is why the photo is distorted.

And finally a photo of the repaired corner.

I think it will last another 39 years.

Joe

What month is it?

2010-05-09T22:31:00Z

Susan worked this last weekend so I took a solo trip to Domek Lesny. I have probably made the trek close to 500 times in my life time, if not more. There is one thing I have learned is that you always hit the bad weather at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. And that was true for this trip. I stopped in Stevens Point for a rest stop, it was raining when I stopped (at culvers). When I came out it was snowing. And snowing hard.

Traveling northing bound on Highway 51, (I know it is I39 now, but will always be 51 to me) , traffic was moving 20 to 40 miles per hour. Too slow for me. Liuckily the temperature was above freezing, so I did not have to worry about ice. I saw one roll over accident. But I made it safe and sound (in my normal time).

Saturday morning I woke up to this.

And one new thing I learned this trip. See the trees that are bent over from the snow? Do not shake the snow off those trees. Unless you want to bombarded by ice and snow. And when the tree whips back up in the air, hitting other trees and knocking down more ice and snow. My camera and blackberry were soaked.

Norte that the Ferns are coming back up. They will be fine. Nothing can kill those ferns. And the boat was about to sink, another inch or so of rain/snow and it would have sunk.

The snow was all gone by the end of the day. Actaully it was a very nice day. I was able to pick up more supplies for the boat house. And I was able to finish the repairs of the wood rot. And I fixed one of the over head door so it closes properly now. And I found out that all the digging I did around the boat house helped, no water got in on the side I repaired.

Joe

Operation: Save the Boathouse!

2010-04-30T19:26:00Z

I have found my project for this year. Rescue the boathouse. Last year I was cleaning out the boat house with a leaf blower, yes it was that dirty, when I noticed a lot of dirt flying our of one the corners. When I investigated I notcied the bottom sill plate was a bit rotted.

This past weekend I decided clear out the area where the wood is rooted an found that I did have minor rot. See image below.

What you are looking at is the bottom of the wall in the boat house. If it looks like there are 2x4s floating in the air. Well, they are. I determined the only thing holding up that corner was the rail for the overhead door. What to do?

I could go Mike Holmes on in and tear it all down. But I can't. The boat house is only 6 feet from the lake. And legally if I tear it down, it stays down. I only can repair it. I will repair it right. I will use pressure treated lumber. Make sure the drainage is away from the boat house. You can see below I have started to dig around the boat house. I have to lower one area by about 8 inches. And make it more water resistant.

And that electrical outlet with the romex running towards the other end of the boat house, it was just laying an the ground. Slightly illegal. That will be removed. I am going to redo the electrical. Other plans are to put in a bigger window. Fix the trim around the doors and windows. Move the Ceiling rafters from 24 inch on center to 16 inch on center, as they should be. Power wash the interior. Maybe a new roof. And paint and decorate the inerior to look like a cabana.

In other happenings. We had a strom last week sometime. It knocked down a tree.

Luckily it did not damage any buildings. But it was close to the house. Time to buy a new chain saw!

Joe

When did everything get a Northwoods theme?

2010-04-12T13:29:00Z

We spent the last week, April 5th – 10th, at Domek. It was great weather except for one day, it snowed (a little). We had a low temperature of 23 Friday morning, after a high of only 36 on Thursday. But it did get up to 61 on Friday.

I finished up raking the leaves. I guess I did more than I thought the last time up. It only took me a few hours to finish up. I moved dirt around. I add dirt to raise up the “Fern” bed on the road side of the house. I did that so the water would run away from the house. I also added Window wells to keep the water away and prevent the dirt from splashing up on the windows.
Typically April is the “muddy” month in the North woods. Muddy because that is typically when the spring thaw occurs, but this year it was way early. The ice was out on the Lake (Since April 1st). All the snow is gone. It was very dry. Most restaurants close for a few weeks in April to get ready for the tourist season that starts May 1st. Since most of our favorite restaurants are closed we try new places.

I saw on Minocqua’s Chamber of Commerce page a few places that were rated very high. So we decided to try them. The first place was the Black Bear Bar. It was a nice place, casual. It had a very north woods theme. Everything from Antler chandeliers to dead fish on the wall, a very typical north woods bar.

To go along with the bear theme. We went to a place named Smokeys. (Fine Dinning). It too had a North woods theme. But more of a rich man’s hunting lodge feel. It was fine dining. It was worth the 85 mile round trip. I will have to go back to see if they can make a Maker’s Mark Perfect Manhattan.

Friday we decided to walk around downtown Minocqua. We did our typical trip through the town. Stopping at Loon Land Trading Company. When we walked in the place was remodeled. I asked the owner when did they remodel? He said 2 years ago after the fire. I was confused because I was sure we went in last year, and it was not remodeled. I thought maybe we did not make any trips in the Minocqua in 2009, or I totally missed 2009. Any way they have nice stuff there, and one day I am going to buy those “Loon” Martini glasses.

We did go to one favorite restaurants “Tula’s”. They remodeled too! And they too are now a North woods them. Well it is more of a Nuevo north woods theme. They had paintings of animal on the walls and an artist’s rendering of a deer head. I had to ask when they remodeled because if they said 2 years ago, then I would know I totally missed 2009. They remodeled last month.
I was able to put the boat dock in. My chest waders had several leaks. I was able to get 3 out of the 4 sections in on Tuesday. But I go very wet. The water was not that cold. I did purchase a new set of Waders which are more like a wet suit. I finished up putting in the boat dock on Friday. And we did go for a boat ride around the lake.

Having a house in the woods has issues. You do get mice in the house. And we had visitors over the winter. They made a mess of the house and the garage. I cleaned up the house the last trip. But I knew we still had mice in the house. We did bring all 4 cats up with house this trip. And they are probably the best way to get rid of mice. A few years ago Nikki was chasing a mouse around the house, but she tried to catch it by its tail using her front paws. Friday night we had excitement. I was asleep in bed when I heard a cat running into our bedroom. I asked Susan what was going on, she said it was Riley chasing after something. Riley had a mouse cornered in our bedroom. I tried to help Riley out by moving things out of the way, but he thought he was doing something wrong and the mouse ran into the closet. Riley went in after the mouse, but I did not want Riley to get hurt. I closed the closet doors and blocked it so the mouse could not get out, and set a mouse trap. Riley setup camp out side the closet. Riley even went and got all his toys to keep him company. In the early morning hours Saturday the mouse escaped the closet, Riley chased the mouse. But the mouse disappeared. It was a very exciting night for Riley. He was wiped out on Saturday. Before we left I setup mouse traps to catch the remaining mice. But I am sure they will leave knowing Riley is on the hunt for them.

Joe

Opening 2010

2010-03-21T22:11:00Z

The weather has been very mild lately, so I decided to make a trip this weekend to open the place up. It was nice driving on the completed Tollway, even in an Ice Storm. Looks like we will have to watch out for construction around Milwaukee and Oshkosh this year. They are widening the Lake Butte Des Mortes bridge in Oshkosh. And they are redoing the 94-894 interchange in Milwaukee. I think that is like the 4th time they redid those interchanges.

There was no snow on the ground. Just lots of leaves.

The new wall did not move one bit. But I have a lot of leaves to rake. I spent 4 hours on Saturday raking leaves, and have another 8 hours to go. My Dad used to say if I had a nickel for every leaf, he would be a millionaire. I say If I had a nickel for every leaf, I would higher someone to rake them.

The lake is still frozen. By the looks of it I say the Ice will go out the first week of April. Unless they have a cold snap. The over the winter low was 18 below zero. Below is a picture of the lake, it looks like it has frozen waves.

This year I was going to to the front entry way. But I noticed a small water leak at the pipes in the laundry room, so it looks like I am redoing that insteadr. And the Boat house needs it's sills replaced before it falls down.

We head back in 2 weeks for about a week. The entire "Family" will be there. And i hope to put in the boat dock in then.

Joe

2009 closing

2009-10-25T23:06:00Z

We closed Domek Lesny up for the winter today. I am actually looking forward to a 5 month break. But I am already planning the projects for next year. 1 major one, rip out the front steps and replace them with a new wooden desk. I have plans sketched out just need finallize them. And I need to repair the boat house, that should just be a minor project. But who knows.

We had snow. About 2 to 3 inches fell. It made it really hard to rake the leaves. I was mostly raking snow. Not all the leaves have fallen, but they will be there next year.

Closing things up this year was different. I used an air compressor with a special fitting I made to blow out all the water pipes. And a shop vac to pull out any water that was not blown out. The pipes are dry. And I only used 3 gallons of RV Anti-freeze down the drains. last year I did 7 gallons, but 2 gallons of that went in the water pipes. So after 3 years I finally got it right, no worries about frozen pipes.

And for the last 3 years I would put my Dad's Urn at the dining room table and deal out a hand of solitaire. He was to protect the house during the winter. Last year my mother joined him, she was in the kitchen. This year since my parents are in a grave in Whispering Pines, I have no one to guard the house. Then I remembered that I have Max's ashes (Max the Cat). So he is sitting and the dining room table playing solitaire.

Max, keep the house safe. See you next year.

Joe