Saturday, January 17, 2009

Friday Cold...


I woke up yesterday morning, and in my bathroom, my greeting was this silent testimony to the brutal environment outside. Don't overlook the minus sign to the left of the 14.0. With the wind, -35 degrees. What's it like when it's -35? When you're walking from point A to point B...you hurry. I decided not to walk to the bus, and wait on the corner for a bus that could be on time, late...or even early so I miss it. That could leave me standing there for 30 or more minutes in the blast. There's a company here in Madison that has a blast freezer. It gets to -70...don't want to work there. I chose to drive my trusty Jeep. I turned the key in the ignition...the ignition switch didn't want to let go. The starter just whined as the engine kind of tried to start. After a very few minutes...got 'er started. The throttle was stiff & automagically kept the rpm's up around 3000 or so. Probably woke up all the neighbors & I thought the beast might just shake apart. So I drove to work, which is quite an anomaly. I think the temp in the Jeep got up to around -9 by the time I got to work. Quite comfortable. On University Avenue, the road is so messed up from two years of record snow fall, it's like a washboard, with 3" ridges running across the road, perfectly spaced to cause the Jeep to think it's off road...a few times I caught some air. Quite the adventure....Friday cold...

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Dan's Jeep

Back in the late summer of 2008, it was time to fulfill a long time dream...to buy a Jeep Wrangler. Tim was visiting a dear friend & youth pastor, Steve, who I knew had at least one Jeep in the past. I asked Tim to ask Steve if he'd be willing to look over any Jeep I found out there to let me know if it was a decent buy. I got a call from Tim indicating Steve had one for sale. Steve told me to take it home for a week to see if I really wanted it. He indicated you gotta want it.....cause it's not comfortable. Well he's right....it's a bit of a beast....but I love it. See pictures here.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Sturgeon Bay for Robin's Birthday

January 3 is Robin's birthday. For weeks we've been discussing the need to talk about our finances & just touch base on a whole number of financial topics...fun huh? Well, I had this brain storm...let's determine to have a Financial Summit. Let's make this summit meeting fun so it's not a big drag. So I decided to couple the Financial Summit with a getaway trip for Robin's birthday. Robin will have to weigh in on how she felt about sharing her birthday trip with a Financial Summit, but I thought it worked out great....so here's the story.

Thursday, Jan 1 2009, we headed north to Sturgeon Bay in Door County for two nights. We stayed at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast, The Chanticleer Guest House.

We stayed in the Grand Suite, with a big jacuzzi tub, 4 poster king size bed, wood burning fire place, couch, rocking chair, table & chairs for breakfast....very nice.




This fireplace was wonderful. We had it burning whenever we were in the room...







Here we are on our sleigh ride! Beautiful sunny day and a brisk 20 degrees.



A woman at the Candleworks Shop (where Robin got to make a candle) told us of an awesome hike. We went to Cave Point on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula & hiked about a mile south to Whitefish Dunes state park. Along the way we saw the most awesome display of nature...the dolomite caves carved by the water, with ice spears & flows all over....amazing in a beautiful sunset.

See more pictures at our Photo Journal.