Monday, September 26, 2016

Of Spilt Milk

As dinner was winding down this evening, Heidlebeere poured Himbeere some chocolate milk.  Only she missed a little and there was a spill.
Himbeere: Hey, Quasar!  Come clean up this mess!
(Quasar is the dog, about 12 1/2 years old.)
Me: Quasar canʻt get up on the table anymore.  This is a job for Max.
(Max is the puppy that Heidlebeere recently acquired, now about twelve weeks old and full of energy)
Meanwhile, Brombeere is looking down ,shaking her head, wondering what kind of people she lives with.





Saturday, September 24, 2016

A Maritime!

We decided to run to Manitowoc today and visit the Wisconsin Maritime Museum there. The big draw? They have an actual World War II submarine on display there.  Actually, during the war there were 28 submarines built in the shipyard at Manitowoc. The submarine on display is the USS Cobia.  Not one that was built there but of the same class. It is a GATO class submarine
The museum is right in the mouth of the Manitowoc River as it comes in from Lake Michigan.
The USS Cobia sits at dock, as if it was just waiting for resupply before going back out.
In the museum they had a periscope set up.  You could even look through it and see out across the town.  I thought it was pretty cool.
In the forward torpedo room
There was a tour of the sub just getting ready to go as we arrived so we jumped on it and did the tour. The sub was launched November 28, 1943 in Connecticut.
Playing on the ladder in the forward torpedo room. 
The USS Cobia did six war patrols during the war and is credited with sinking six ships, a total of 20,000 tons of enemy ships. During all those patrols and battles there was only one fatality among the crew.  An ammunition specialist was killed during a surface battle when he was hit with machine gun fire.
The forward torpedo room. 
I was amazed at how nearly every surface inside the ship was covered with instrumentation, cables, knobs, or dials
The officersʻ mess. 
The spaces were just tiny. The officersʻ mess was luxurious with all the space. There was actually room for several people in there.  Not necessarily comfortable, but they would fit.
In the control room. 
The control room was in the midsection of the ship.  Above it was the conning tower, where the periscope was.  Thatʻs also where the captain was usually found when he was on duty. Below the control room was the pump room. They sounded the klaxon for us, the horn they sounded whenever they were diving the ship.  The radar on the sub is still functional.  Its figured to be the oldest working radar mechanism in the world. They get it up and running once or twice a year just to make sure it still works.  Each time they do they have to notify the local airport as it interferes with the airportʻs radar system.
The control room.  The red wheels controlled the dive planes. 
From the control room we continued aft to the crewʻs mess room.  It had seating for 24 people at a time.  The crew ate in rotations.
The crewʻs mess room. 
Moving back from the crewʻs mess was the crewʻs sleeping quarters.  Room for 36 bunks.  However, they were not assigned to individuals.  You just took what was open when you got a chance to take a nap or get some sleep.  The lights in the crewʻs quarters were always red so the crewʻs eyes didnʻt have to adjust after being in there for a while. Each man had his own locker, a small one, but that was it. Submarines were sometimes called "pig boats" because water was at a premium and the crew usually was allowed to shower only once every week or two.  Only the cook got to shower daily, for food sanitation reasons. When the ship first put out to sea the shower was usually packed with canned food anyway.  Nobody could shower until theyʻd been out long enough to have eaten enough to clear the shower.
The crewʻs quarters, 
Next came the forward engine room. The pistons were as big as gallon cans. The engines actually heated the water to produce steam that propelled the ship.  So the room was always hot.  They said the temperature normally was around 120 degrees.  The rest of the submarine usually was a cool 90 degrees.
The forward engine room. 
Even though the ship was decommissioned in 1970 the engine room still had a heavy smell of diesel. There was also an aft engine room, divided into separate compartments in case one was compromised and flooded.
The rear torpedo room. 
The USS Cobia has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.  On the tour I made it through all the hatchways between compartments and only banged my head once that really hurt. I think I made it through one hatch without banging my head.  The bottoms of the hatches were about two feet off the floor and the hatch was probably only four feet or so tall.  Not a big opening.
After we toured the submarine we went back inside the museum and looked over the exhibits they had in there.
They had several small boats on display, one of which they had stairs so you could get into it.
The kids had a good time playing. in the sailboat.
They had another room with exhibits on building boats over the ages.  Lots of nautical gear and equipment.
They also had a "hands on" room where the kids (and grown ups) could play in the water. They had tanks set up around the room that represented the different lakes in the in the Great Lakes - they were set at different heights to show how each of the lakes is at a different elevation.
They even had a little section that illustrated how locks worked to raise and lower ships as they moved between the lakes.
When we finished at the museum we headed over to the Cedar Crest Dairy for some ice cream. Reputed to be the best in town, it was very good.
No soft serve, this was hand dipped ice cream, made on site. And lots of yummy varieties. I had teh black cherry.
Their landmark was a giant cow out front of the store.  The kids loved it
No trip to Manitowoc would be complete without a visit to the site where a piece of Sputnik crashed to earth 54 years ago.
The only thing marking the spot was a marker set in the sidewalk in front of an art museum.
We found the museum easy enough but then we all spread out until we found the marker.  Flat in the sidewalk, it took a few minutes to find.  But we did find it.

Then we headed back home.  It was a fun day.  Lots of interesting things to see and good ice cream.  How could you do any better?

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Playing Hooky

As today approached it was looking pretty busy.  I had five things I either wanted to go to or ought to go to on the calendar but they conflicted, no way I would be able to go to all of them, or even most of them.  One was an all day event - way back when I registered for it the day was clear but then, gradually as the day approached, things kept coming in, all landing squarely on the 17th of September, 2016.  So in the end I had to pick and choose which to go to.  To top if off, all the women-folk I live with decided they wanted to make a run to Chicago to see Erdbeere and family, go through the temple, and visit an Ikea store.  Well, I have heard enough about how Ikea stores are laid out to know I never want to set foot in one.  Plus, making that trip, as nice as it would have been to see Erdbeere and family, was yet another conflict for the day. So I decided not to go.  Most of the stuff I wanted to go to today was in the morning so that made it a little easier to decide what to do.  So I went to the funeral of a friend and decided to skip the afternoon stuff and go play. The afternoon stuff was stuff the grandkids would have been more interested it - the fun for me would have been to see them enjoying themselves. So since they had all gone to Chicago I decided to load my bike into the car and drive to the Dells of Eau Clair County Park.

According to the map, the park is full of trails, including a stretch of the Ice Age Trail, which I have heard a lot about but have been unable to find out very much about in the way of online descriptions or photographs.  Lots about what a wonderful thing it is and the great volunteer effort going on to develop and preserve it, but not much in the way of what its like to actually go on it.  Besides, I have been to the Dells of Eau Claire County Park before and its really a very beautiful little park.  I checked an online map of the park and found there is a bridge, called High Bridge, about 1/2 to 3/4 mile back in the park and decided to try to ride my bike to it.  The Ice Age Trail runs over that bridge so I thought I might be able to actually ride a short stretch of the trail.
One of the most interesting things about the park are the dells themselves, which are right off the parking lot - real easy to get to, even for someone like me who is a bit unsteady on their feet sometimes. So when I got there I spent some time hiking around on the rocks that make up the dells and looking at the water passing through them.
Quite beautiful, quite rapid water.  Not a good place to go swimming, even though some people do from time to time.  But its actually pretty dangerous to swim among the rocks.  There is a swimming beach in the park just up the river, if you want to swim.
This time of year its getting too cold again to swim anyway.  Today's temperature was only in the low 70's.
The rapids are a stretch of the river maybe 100 yards long.  Then the water settles down and becomes quite placid again.
It became apparent pretty quick that the Ice Age Trail does not lend itself well to bicycling.  More suited to walking.  But I still wanted to get to the bridge so I decided to give it a try anyway.
This little foot bridge had a smooth, even approach from the east but the west end had two steps.
There were portions of the trail that were smooth and level but they never lasted very long.
There was also a stretch where the channel started to get pretty narrow again.  There was even a switch-back at one point as the trail moved up the side of the hill, away from the water.  Away as in higher up the side of the canyon from the water.
Then High Bridge came into view.  It appeared to be wide enough that at one time it may have actually been able to accommodate cars, back before they got so big as they did in the 40s and 50s.  But now days the bridge is for foot traffic only.
Part of that is because the approach to the bridge from either side involves steps.  The south side not so bad.
The north approach, however, has some pretty steep steps.  No biking on this trail.  At least, not the kind of biking I do.
Besides, there were other portions of the trail that were pretty rocky and uneven anyway.  Lots of stones and roots to deal with.
In the end I was able to make it to High Bridge and back but I would never try doing it on a bike. This is strictly a hiking trail.  But it was a nice hike - the fall colors have begun.  Not much but a little bit of color.  And leaves have begun to fall, as well.  A nice time of year.

After getting back from the hike to High Bridge it was time for the second half of the afternoon's adventure.  I had recently discovered a covered bridge that was either fairly new or I had simply missed it in all the other times I had been looking for covered bridges.  And this bridge was on biking trail - no motor vehicles allowed.  I had to go.
And what added more to my delight, I found there was a second covered bridge just down the trail from the first!  This one hadn't been listed and it wasn't very long or big.  But it was cool enough to go through!  And under some train tracks, no less!  Both bridges were over small creeks.
A little further along the route I had mapped out was a bridge over the Wisconsin River.  Not covered, but cool enough nonetheless.
The total route I had mapped out was about five and a half miles from the first covered bridge to a little park named Bluegill Bay park.
I arrived at the park and rode around on some trails through the park. This park was on the flowage behind a damn on the Wisconsin River, just below the confluence with the Eau Claire River.  A nice little park.
Today, as I was there, there were only a few other people at the park so it was pretty quiet.  I had driven there several weeks before, just to check it out when I was in the area, and there had been quite a a bigger crowd that day.  Maybe the cooler weather has slowed the traffic down.  Anyway, after biking around it was time to retrace my route back to the covered bridges, to the place where I had left the car.

It was a nice ride, part trail and part on quiet city streets.  I went by three small parks on the way to Bluegill.  All in all, a nice day.  A total of a little under twelve miles.  And the weather was cooperative, too.  It was cloudy pretty much the whole time, with only a slight breeze.  A couple of times it got pretty threatening, like it was going to rain, but other than a few light sprinkles, it never did.  Almost perfect biking weather.  I was actually glad I had worn a jacket.

It was a good day.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Kitchen Chaos

While we have had a lot of fun this summer, and have been able to do a bunch of traveling and visiting and playing, behind it all there has been chaos in the kitchen at home. A constant backdrop of drama at home, if ever there was such a thing.

When we moved into this house the kitchen counter configuration was "U" shaped.  You can't see it in the photo below but the dishwasher is in the peninsula.  We later learned the way it was located and installed brought some issues but we'll get to that in a few minutes.  
One nice thing about the "U" shaped configuration is that it was nice to gather grandkids around when working in the kitchen with them.  But, anyway.  That's what our kitchen looked like right up until May 27, 2016.
Actually, this story began in early April.  Our dishwasher had begun having issues with becoming difficult to get started (it would start but then before really getting into the cycle it would stop) and occasionally not draining out properly so we decided to have someone come look at it.  However,our normal appliance outfit doesn't service the brand we have so we had to look around for someone else.  I always feel like you're kind of taking a chance when you start with a new service company but what can you do. I checked the website for the brand of dishwasher we have to see who in our area services them and made the call.  We waited a couple of days to get in their schedule and began doing dishes by hand.  Our day came, the service man showed up and took a look at it and decided it needed some parts that had to be ordered.  Sorry, it will take two or three weeks for them to come in.  So we continue doing dishes the old fashion way, in the sink.

Finally the parts came in and the service man came back. As he was working on the dishwasher we mentioned how gross the dishwasher had gotten a few times while we'd been waiting for parts.  We noticed that even though it hadn't been run it would periodically get water in the bottom which would then stagnate and get gross.  So we'd run it enough to drain the water out.  But we learned we had to check every few days because the water would come back.  Well, the service man said that meant we needed another part because its not supposed to do that. Guess what?  Two or three more weeks for this additional part to come in.  Two or three more weeks of doing the dishes by hand.

Finally, at long last, the day arrived and the additional parts came in.  The guy scheduled the visit to install them and we were getting excited to get our dishwasher back.  He came, he installed, he went away, and we ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher. Then the next day we ran a second load.  That was when we noticed the floor all around the peninsula counter was squishy when you walked on it, including a little bit of water bubbling up between the boards in the floor.  Not good news.  We called the serviceman back, this time he came right away and determined that the drain hose on the dishwasher had split, allowing water to pump out onto the floor instead of going down the drain like it should have. He ordered a new drain hose - it had to come from the manufacturer because of its unique design. Two to three more weeks waiting.  But that wasn't the worst of it.  Having been flooded, the flooring under the dishwasher and counter was ruined. When we removed the dishwasher (I was able to do it myself by now, having learned how after all the times the serviceman had been here) and began pulling up floor boards we began to see that the two times we ran the dishwasher had pumped out quite a bit of water, wrecking the floor in a large portion of the kitchen.  This was definitely more than a minor puddle on the floor. There was even water in the basement, under where the dishwasher sits. We cleaned up all the water we could get to and pulled up flooring until we got to where the sub-floor was dry. Then we called the insurance. That was a Friday evening.

By the time we called it in the water was stopped and the worst of the wet was cleaned up - there was no urgency anymore. Nevertheless, the insurance company was really good about getting the claim off to a quick start and a local company called to begin the "mitigation" of the damage underway.  We let the local company know Saturday morning was soon enough, they didn't need to come out right then.  So they arrived Saturday, took their moisture readings, and set up their industrial fans. Those of you who have been around industrial fans know what the next several days were like at our house.
Fans everywhere, each in the way and loud.  I think we had something like four or five of these fans, along with two industrial (read "big") dehumidifiers running twenty-four hours a day.  In the way every time we went into the kitchen to do anything.
Because our dishwasher's electricty and water were supplied from the basement there were small holes in the floor that the water hose and electrical cord passed through to get down there.  That let the water go into the basement as well but in the end I think that helped as much as it hurt. It reduced the amount of water that went into the flooring, keeping the area of damage smaller.  And because the basement right under the kitchen is an unfinished storeroom its just cement.  And most of the stuff we keep in there is in plastic storage tubs so, except for one or two boxes that got their bottoms wet, there was no damage in the basement.  Just water that had to be cleaned up. Still, the mitigation company felt the need to put a fan and dehumidifier down there, pointed at the ceiling, to help dry the wood out.
So the next week was filled with lots of noise in the kitchen and working around the fans anytime we needed to do anything in there.  Every day or two the people would come by, take a moisture reading, and decide the fans needed to keep running.  You could hardly converse in the kitchen, it was so loud.
After several days of fans running they decided it was time to pull our the cabinets.  The readings they were getting back in where the dishwasher had been suggested the flooring under the cabinets had gotten pretty wet.  So all the cabinets on the floor, except for the one the sink had been in, they pulled out and moved into the garage.  Because of the plumbing for the sink they just lifted it up onto some small boards so the air could move around it.
So the cabinets went out into the garage.
The counter tops also went out into the garage.
And the fans and dehumidifiers kept running.  Actually, by this point I think the fans and dehumidifier in the basement were removed.  But upstairs in the kitchen the noise continued unabated.
To try and keep our kitchen functional we brought in our big water thermos and a card table.  Then we set the microwave on the card table and laid a piece of plywood over the sink cabinet for the water. And a big tub became our "sink".  Not pretty but it provided a small amount of work space.
And the sub floor was out, bare and a challenge to keep clean.
Food preparation became challenging because, even with the card table and makeshift sink, there was hardly any work space at all.
Grilling out side helped.
Doing dishes got to be a real pain.  We had to take the tub into the bathroom and do the dishes in the bathtub whenever they needed doing.  That was a real nuisance. That was probably one of the most difficult things about having lost the kitchen.  We'd wash dishes in the tub and then bring them out to the kitchen table to dry. Because we fully intended to eventually get our dishwasher back we never bought a dish drainer through all of this.
While everything was torn apart we decided it would be a good time to do some painting.  After all, the kitchen was the last room in the whole house we had not yet painted in the 8 1/2 years since we moved in.  So we went and picked some paint and started at the east end of the hallway and began painting.
Through all of this, the garage became our storage and staging area.  There were times there was so much stuff out there we could hardly make our way around.  The dishwasher was out there.  The cabinets were out there.  A lot of the stuff from in the cabinets went out there.
All the stuff from the kitchen was out there, along with the usual junk that gets stored in the garage.
Finding things some times was quite a challenge.
During all of this we also acquired a "new-to-us" refrigerator.  Both the new fridge and the old one spent some time out in the garage.
A couple of the lower cabinets were water damaged enough that they had to be replaced.  The insurance coverage was such that refinishing the remaining cabinets would be covered.  That was so they would match the new one.  However, the cabinets were quite possibly the original ones from when the house was built in the late 50s.  In fact, our neighbor said they had the same style in their house until they had replaced them several years earlier and her's were the originals.  But as we worked with the cabinet maker to do that work they told us that it would actually be a little cheaper to just replace all the cabinets, rather than refinish them.  The nice thing about that was the match was assured.  But that also meant waiting two or three weeks while the new cabinets were made and shipped.  By now the work being done to the kitchen was getting to be major - Broombeere decided she didn't like the soffit above the old cabinets so with the help of some friends we took it out.
It came out above all the cabinets, including what had been over by the fridge on the south side of the kitchen.
That was a mess because as we tore the soffit out insulation from the attic fell down into the kitchen area.
Felt like we were tearing the house apart.
All that blown in insulation - lots of clean up. It was a good thing this was happening during the summer.
But, happy day!  About that time the new flooring arrived and was installed!  Reconstruction was beginning!
Getting the drywall up was a joint effort.  Broombeere, Himbeere, and Schwatzbeere all helped, along with the friends that helped take the soffit out.  It was good to have them helping because they knew what they were doing, and that it could be done without totally destroying the kitchen ceiling.
First the drywall went up.
Then all the joints were taped.
And then began the arduous task of "mudding" all the joints.  Some of the joints didn't meet very well so a fair amount of mud was required.  
So we'd put up mud, give it a day or two to dry and then put up some more.
 Then more drying time, then more mud and so on until it was finally done.  Blaubeere's husband did the final coat and sanding and did a really good job.  Even the contractor on the project commented on how nice it looked.  The final test is whether or not you can see where the work was done after the area is painted.  And you could not - it was done very well!
During all of this work much of what had been in our cabinets went out into the garage but there were some things that we had to keep close enough to be able to cook and eat.  So we moved our big shelves into the walk way into the living room and loaded them up with stuff we needed.  We also brought up some storage shelves from the basement and set them up in the walk way as well.  Yep, the passage way from our living room into our dinning area was lined with shelves full of kitchen stuff.  It was like that for several weeks while all this work was going on.
As you might imagine, sweet little Miss R got into whatever she took an interest in.  So the bigger, heavier stuff stayed on the bottom shelves, partly because it was made it harder for her to get into, and partly because it was less of an issue if she did get into it.
And she did get into it.
Then, kaloo! kalay!  The new cabinets arrived!  It was like seeing the light at the end of tunnel!  The lowers were brought into the kitchen and set more or less in place.  The uppers waited in the garage, along with all the other mess out there, until the carpenter came and did the installation. It was amazing that there was still room out there for them.
And the painting was done - gone was the old orange, replaced by a shade of purple you could actually see!  Everyone likes to give Brombeere a hard time because for years and years she has decorated in shades of white - her colors were so pale it was often difficult to see that there was any color there.
But the purple can definitely be seen and looked pretty good!
Just a day or two later the carpenter arrived and installed all the cabinets and counters and it began looking like a real kitchen again.
There was a little bit of angst after the cabinets and counter were all in when we realized that the corner cabinet had been placed wrong.  It was just a little too far into the corner so that the sink, if cut in this location, would have been off center from the window.  That was a big deal so it had to be corrected.  There was a big conference about what to do, we were presented with a couple options, and given a day to decide.  In the end we chose to have the sink centered which meant moving them all down the wall just a little bit.  But it was a little bit enough that a new piece of counter top had to be ordered and installed. Another week's delay.
But the new counter top came in much quicker than the cabinets had taken and the sink was installed.  It was like heaven to be given the okay to begin moving things back into the cabinets.
Today the last of the work was done, installing the hood fan above the stove.
The new look, purple paint, new (to us) fridge, new cabinets, new sink, new faucets, new configuration - it feels like a totally new kitchen! It is so nice to have counter space, running water, and all the conveniences of a modern kitchen right there again!  We even pitched in some money over and above what the insurance paid to add a garbage disposal.

Having the dishwasher so far away from the water source and from where the water drains put extra strain on the pumps of the dishwasher, leading to the issues it was having when all this began.  That is a benefit of changing the configuration from a "U" shape to straight along the wall, with the dishwasher right next to the plumbing under the sink.  Its amazing to think that all that hassle and inconvenience, worry and aggravation, and headache and sleeplessness could come from one small little split in a drain line. It hardly seems big enough to have caused all that trouble. I'm just glad to have our kitchen back to full functionality again.  Its been all summer long that this has been going on.