No More Freezing

This is the new look.

For those of you who aren't on Facebook, you haven't seen my latest look. I was feeling like changing things up, since I've lost quite a bit of weight since last October but I'm not yet at the point where I want to go out and buy clothes that fit. So I decided to shave off my beard, honing my visage down to mustache and soul patch. I like it; it makes me look about five years younger and finally, after over 10 years, I can again see my chin.

This last week was really special: Spring truly arrived and so did my good friend, Jessie.

Jessie arrived on Tuesday afternoon. Knowing my love of refrigerator magnets, she brought one from Elvis' birthplace (one of her stops before me). We went out to Piggy's for dinner and spent the evening just sitting around and catching up while it rained and thundered outside.

Jessie gave me an Elvis magnet.

Wednesday was The Center's volunteer appreciation dinner, held at the Breakfast Club & Pub downtown. It's a restaurant that serves breakfast all day, and the dinner consisted of waffles, hush puppies, bacon and sausage, scrambled eggs and a scrambled egg casserole, all of them very tasty. And we mustn't forget the full bar (which was no host).

It was a good chance for her to meet the folks I work with at The Center. We had about 35 people in attendance, and it was impressive to see how many volunteers we have helping out.

There was a Center Trivia game with 28 questions. It was too long and some of the questions weren't really thought out, so it took up a major portion of the evening (which was only 6 to 8).

Gay humor is so wonderful!

I played the quiz but we didn't hang around for the prizes (the person with the most right answers got a prize, then everyone else got a raffle ticket for each answer they got right; we took off while they were figuring out the distribution of the tickets). When we left, I forgot my umbrella behind (it had been raining).

Things have been hopping at The Center, as the remodel has started on the huge space into which we are going to be expanding. The mice that have been living in the previously empty space have started migrating, what with all the hubbub in their previous home.

We've seen many mice crawling around in the rooms we now inhabit, and while they're being mitigated, there's been a running dialogue on our volunteer group, a chunk of which I've included here to demonstrate the joys of gay humor.

Golden eagle Donald

Thursday, Jessie and I made the River Run, which consists of heading north along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi, stopping at Nelson (population about 400) which has a fabulous cheese and wine shop and really good sandwiches. We each had a "Town of Nelson" sandwich and picked up some delightful smoked Gouda and the most repulsive cheese I've ever tasted, labeled "German Brick Cheese." I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.

Bald eagle Angel

We crossed over the river to Wabasha on the Minnesota side and stopped at the Eagle Center. We were the only two people, so we had the place to ourselves and the docents and volunteers were very attentive and informative.

On the way out, I broke down and purchased a stuffed bald eagle (not a real one but a plush toy). Now Rocky Raccoon has a buddy with whom to hang out on the couch.

Rocky Raccoon has a
new feathery friend.

Driving south on the Minnesota side of the river, we stopped off at Lark Toys, a jewel that sits just outside the town of Kellogg (nothing to do with the cereals, that I know of). They have a toy store that goes on forever and case after case displaying collections of old toys, troll dolls, nesting dolls and just about anything nostalgic you can think of from your childhood.

There's also an indoor hand-carved carrousel, a candy shop and a fudge shop, where I am required to purchase the best fudge I've ever eaten. They have a boggling selection of flavors: mocha, peanut butter, Dreamsicle, cotton candy, Nut roll (tastes like a PayDay bar), Shrek fudge (neon green, caramel apple flavor with a gummy worm sticking out) and many more.

We were also nearly the only people there, so wandering around was not as daunting as when it's crowded with people. And their prices are great. I locked in on their selection of rubber duckies.

As close as I could get to rainbow duckies.

They didn't have just a regular rubber duckie, but a baffling assortment of themed duckies (policeman, cowboy, etc.) and some wild designs and colors that drew me in. At these prices, I bought three multicolored polkadot duckies that now grace the bathroom sink upstairs.

We arrived back in La Crosse in front of the storm clouds, ordered in some Chinese food and again just lounged and gabbed while it rained outside.

Lark Toys has llamas, too!

We stayed up late, and woke up late on Friday. I don't know if it was the walking on Thursday or the humid weather, but my hip was nearly immobile when I got up. I put myself onto the heating pad and nursed it, but by the time 5 o'clock rolled around, when Steve and Pam arrived from Ettrick, I was still not feeling like heading out for any extensive standing or walking.

Our original plan had been to head down to the Farmers' Market in Cameron Park. It was opening weekend, so Steve pointed out that there hadn't been much time for anyone to grow anything. It was doubtful if there was anything there to purchase and cook up.

The only vegetables at Farmers' Market! ©Pete Solberg

So Steve and Pam went out and picked up a pizza, we cooked and ate it and then spent some time sitting out back, enjoying the finally pleasant weather and our assortment of fudge purchased the day before. With the sun going down, I suggested that they take Jessie out to show her Riverside Park and the International Gardens nearby.

The trouble was, only two people could fit in their car, so Steve and I stayed behind and talked while Pam and Jessie went on a very short sightseeing jaunt (after all, the sun was going down fast). I think the two really liked each other, or at least they're both very polite.

Pam and Steve left around 9, and Jessie went to bed not long after, as she was leaving the next morning. She was planning on driving north, eventually reaching Toronto. She left just before 10 a.m. on Saturday, and I've been eating leftover Chinese and pizza ever since.

On Thursday, when we returned from the River Run, I took the folding chairs out from the garage and set them up outside. On Friday, she asked if we had to take them back in and I replied only if it's going to snow.

This is something like what I'd like to put on the back of the house.

Ever since winter finally departed, I've been thinking about putting a four-season sunroom on the back of the house. During the warm weather, it would function as a screened porch, and in the winter, it would be a place in the house to get some sun and not feel quite so closed in: anyone who's ever had cabin fever will understand.

One of the primary motivators for the contemplated construction, though, is the inclusion of a hot tub. I'm thinking that daily hydrotherapy would really help with my slowly advancing creaky-joint syndrome. And I've always wanted a hot tub all my own. You won't have to go naked in it, but I'm going to.

So I was playing around online and found some images of sunrooms and came up with this rough estimation of what I'm talking about, which is included here in these pictures. I'll have to take a small mortgage out on the house to make this happen, but the house really needs a porch area and, in winter, a mudroom for entering and exiting the house.

Right now, the back porch kind of serves a mudroom function, but it's not heated and most of the space is taken up with the snow shovel and salt bags for when you have to melt your way out to the garage!

Well, we'll see how it goes. Right now, I turn my attention to getting the lawn back is decent shape. The weeds are taking over already. Time to call Nick of Nick's Lawn Care, my go-to guy for everything exterior.

Until then, I'm just enjoying the open windows and fresh air that spring brings. I know a lot of my California friends think I'm nuts to move someplace with seasons, but warm weather is ten times sweeter when you've gone through the cold and beauty of winter.