First Week of the Season

I'm trying to understand why blogger only places one space after my sentences, where two spaces should be. Is it really a space saver? Things look squished. Anyways.

After another long and snowy winter in Madison, the snow is gone -- except for the three inches we're getting tonight. I'm back on the road, living the nomadic life and trying to find the fun in the places I'm shipped off to. I couldn't have asked for better weather the first few days in the field, 60s, 70s, and lots of sun. The projects this week blow... Interstate survey and 20 acres of a completely filled-in wetland lot. We dug holes anyways. It's always good to remember what fill looks like, right? Are there little fonts or symbols to indicate a sarcastic tone?

At least the wetland lot was beautiful. Lots of push piles to walk across. There are no ticks or mosquitos yet, which makes everything 100 times more enjoyable. Part of the lot was a stand of really old oak trees, incredibly beautiful!




There was a pretty impressive tally for the first week. Here's a run-down. I'm going to put this in quotes, just because there's a button for it.

Holes dug in fill or disturbed A - All of them.

Birds seen/heard - turkey, sandhill cranes, owls, rooster, ducks, goldfinch, woodpecker, cardinal, several songbirds I need to identify.

Golf balls - Me 5, Susan 3, Jeff 3, Rodney 1. I win!

Animal tracks - Deer and raccoon.

Bramble bushes - Several. First blood.

Safety vests - Obnoxious, stuffy, fit like blankets.

Old habitation structures - One fort.

Celebrity sitings - One. A.J. Hawk from the Green Bay Packers, or "The movie preview cell-phone guy" as he's known to Susan and me.

Susan juggling golf balls.
The fort.

Now for the "reviews".

We stayed at the Extended Stay in Green Bay. Fairly sub-par in my opinion. Yeah, they provide burners for cooking, but who wants to cook on crooked burners in pans with chipped-off teflon? It's location next to the airport made it obnoxiously loud. There was no cleaning service for stays under 7 days, and while I freakishly love to clean at home, I don't feel I have to take out my own garbage at a hotel I'm paying to stay at. Also, there was no complimentary breakfast -- this matters when you're hoarding per diem. And... the hotel was pretty far from everything, unless you want to walk an unimpressive mini-mall or McDonalds. The one thing I loved was complimentary passes to the state-of-the-art fitness center across the street. Despite all the rest, I would stay there again for that.

The food...

Walker's in Beaver Dam on the way up. We love this place, at least most of us do. It's a sorta small town cafe/diner. They usually have "all you care to eat" pancakes or french toast for $5. Who can beat that? The milkshakes and bakery selection are awesome, they always put cranberries on their salad, the prices are reasonable (although there are VERY few places you actually get lunch, a beverage and tip in WI for under the allowed $9 per diem), and the waitresses are cheeky. Susan and I got approached - via yelling across the aisle - by an elderly couple asking if we went to Beaver Dam high school. When we said no, they proceeded to yell questions at us, asking us to explain our life history in about 5 minutes. They were cute.

Suamico Junction Deli and Gas Station. This place was a crap-shoot. It's one of those gas station/delis/grocery all in one. Only, there was no deli. All nice and fixed up from the outside, but must not be making it in the recession. So no fresh sandwhiches. We ate our bag lunch out on some fancy iron tables and chairs, but got blasted away by the blaring country music, obviously turned up loud enough for the whole village of Suamico to hear. My ear hurt for about an hour afterwards.

Kavarna in Green Bay. I love this place. Vegetarian coffee house with amazing yam fries and a great menu. Rachel was right, the espresso milkshake is pretty damn devine. This is where we saw A.J. Hawk and his wife (they've got good taste). I thought it was open mic/singer-songwriter night, but my hectic mind got Tuesday and Thursday mixed up. We showed up on Thursday to no music. Whoops. That's okay, because they have old games, and it was very entertaining to watch Jeff (remember the slight OCD tendancies from my Richland Center blog? Jeff, you're probably reading this and wanting to punch me in the belly right now...) try to rearrange all of the Trivial Pursuit question cards so they all faced the same way. Highlight of the night, when Susan and I got a hold of a big handful of "properly" arranged cards and threw them across the table. Could you sleep that night, Jeff?

Jeff frantically sorting Trivial Pursuit cards

Richland Center

Hasn't been a bad place to be stuck most of the summer. It's beautiful. My grandma's family is from here. Frank Lloyd Wright used to hang out on my great-grandpa's porch, and "he never wore shoes...". The novelty is wearing off though. The crews are downsized, we're sick of the (very few) restaurants, and the poison ivy is endless.

Here are some of the highlights of life on the road in Richland Center:

1). My friend Courtney lives here. We've reconnected. Her boyfriend rocks. We talk carpentry (or rather, I pick his brain because I WISH I could do carpentry). They've introduced me to Wii, and I love playing Mario Cart with my Mii as the driver. It's hilarious. They also have Izzie.

2). Izzie. She's a kitten I rescued from the highway in Gotham. All black and silent. She was less than 1lb and you could see her rib and hipbones. She walked the white line of the highway to curl up at my feet in my noon shadow as I was trying to dig a hole. She purrs more than any kitten I've ever seen and does the sweetest 'making biscuits in the air/doggie paddle' movement with her front paws when you hold her and pet her. I LOVE her, but can't take her home.

3). Marijuana Dan and his theories about Frank Lloyd Wright being a vampire. On second thought, this deserves it's own post.

4). Bogus Bluff Cave. This is an amazing hike, sometimes nearly straight up the bluffs, to a cave that's nearly on the top of the bluff. They say counterfeiters used the cave to make bogus money, then would send signal up and down the Wisconsin River. The cave, a series of short and narrow tunnels, really doesn't seem suitable for any printing operation, but it's cool nonetheless. We hiked up there twice, the first not knowing where it was (Marijuana Dan's directions weren't the best), and then again with headlamps. The hike, the view, the cave, and drinks at the Bat Cave afterwards made for some of the best days of the summer.



5). Local night and the piano parties. Local night in Spring Green is fabulous. Local food, local beer, local characters. If it manages to not get rained out, which happened pretty frequently this summer. The Bobs are great. Ponytail Bob has the best stories (Yeah, I often make up names for people -- especially if I don't know their last names). Once we realized that playing piano and slight OCD tendancies seemed to be a common denominator between Bob W. and Jeff, we plotted to get them together for an evening of piano playing at Sue's. It was the best, even though I don't know many Ben Folds or Billy Joel songs. Now Jeff is stuck at headquarters, so this Thursday night tradition faded fast. At least I managed to get into Bob's library and rearrange some books. He only figured out a couple of the switches.

6). We're finding stuff. That doesn't happen too often with our preliminary surveys, but the area along the Wisconsin River is loaded with cultural history. If it weren't for the poison ivy (which nearly all of us have had), the mosquitos, and the cranky property owners yelling at me, this would be one of the most ideal archaeological surveys.