Living In The Country -- Almost

Kim and I love living where we do, out here behind the Wisconsin State Patrol Building, set back in some virgin pine and lots of oak on the banks of Otter Creek.

In the summer, just driving down this long wooded driveway, you can feel the temperatures drop a good ten degrees from what it is in the city.

Almost every time we drive down the driveway, one of us will quote my dad, who upon being driven down the driveway his first time said: "You'd better not come home drunk on this driveway!"

This is true. There is very little margin for error.

Since we have moved here, Kim has begun to play "Monopoly". In addition to our original acre and a half, we have purchased the adjoining properties to both our left and right, establishing neighbor buffers on either side.

The property on the left contains the little bungalow that I have made into my "office". It is a place that is in constant need of being picked up and cleaned. I am a sloppy guy. It is good that we have this place where I can keep all my "important" junk.

The property to our right had a small deteriorating house on it when we bought it. Mrs. Brown sold it to us because the county was going to condemn it if she didn't re-wire it and put a new roof on it. So when we (we meaning Kim) bought it, we immediately called the Town of Washington and offered it up as a chance for the volunteer fire personnel to practice their fire fighting techniques.

I think they got about 8 practice burns out of it. They kept a hose on it all the while it was burning, dousing it between practices. If they had just let it burn, I think the entire neighborhood would have gone up in flames. It was a tinder box! I have never seen anything burn that fast and ferociously.

Now the property that abutts the interstate highway is up for sale, divided into four or five lots. So far nobody has bought a lot. I am thinking that the stipulation included by the seller that he be the one who constructs the house on said property is not a strong selling point.

We are happy that there is a patch of woods adjacent to our house that blocks any view of what will eventually be built over there.

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Dear Reader: I am going to be on the road Thursday through Sunday as I am going to be entertaining teachers in Green Bay on Thursday evening. (Do you think they will be able to identify?)

Then Kim and I are going to have a liesurely Friday in Green Bay, touring the Packer Hall of Fame, drivng down to Oshkosh to visit the Air Museum, then on to Milwaukee to visit a friend and have dinner at Mader's Friday night.

We may also take in a Brewer game on Saturday before returning home. At any rate, there will be no blogs on those days. Meet me here next week! I'm certain to have stories!


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