So far this weekend, we have three new friends...

This weekend has turned out to be an exciting one so far. To give a little background, our recent drama started with a few "crumbs" below our front yard tree. Now this tree in front of our house is very large. Our home is an 100+ year old duplex that we've converted into single family housing. (We did try to rent to tenants-- unsuccessfully. After the second tenant tried to barter for rent instead of paying cash, we decided that the landlord business was not our thing and quickly converted it into a larger home for us! It's now a home that has two of everything-- perfect for keeping kosher!) Anyway, back to the tree. Half of our house is two stories. This tree is easily taller then the second story. A few weeks ago, we noticed bark starting to fall off a major branch of the tree. Then, nothing.... then a week ago, more bark. Then, the next morning, more bark. Before we knew it, we had a HUGE hole in this major branch!! We can't find any tracks below or on the branches of this tree, so we have no clue what kind of animal it might be. We're posting a picture. If there's any wildlife experts out there, we'd appreciate any input. Please! Any more tree parts that go missing will seriously compromise the integrity of this extremely large- happens to dangle over our house and our power lines-- tree. So-- that is friend number one for the weekend.

Friend number two happens to be on our "good" list instead of the "you know what" list. His name is Mr. Cole. Okay, we really don't know if his name is Cole, but he works for and owns Cole Music. I think we're correct in assuming his name is Cole-something-er-other. Anyway, Mr. Cole is a very friendly man that keeps a music repair store on the main drag in Marshfield, Wisconsin. As mentioned in a previous post, Lorie's banjo has been mighty twangy. On a whim, Lorie and I stopped at this store. We had actually gone to Marshfield to look for a different store that's subsequently closed, and we stumbled on Cole Music. When we walked in, we looked around and saw the glorious sight of all sorts of stringed instruments in various stages of repair. We asked if him repaired banjos, as there were a few of them on the wall. He said, "Four string or Five string?" (leaving off, of course, the dreaded six string banjo that's not a banjo, but, rather, tuned to a guitar-style tuning for those that aren't brave enough to learn real bluegrass!) We knew immediately that this was our man! Lorie sent me to get the banjo from the car, and we lovingly unpacked it from its gig bag. In a matter of 20 minutes, Mr. Cole has the thing singing like a hillbilly in the blue fog of the Kentucky mountains on a crisp, fall morning. (yes, that's GOOD) Lorie loves the sound of the newly filed, tuned, and strung banjo! Lorie said it was like "baby's first haircut" as this was banjo's first time in a "real" repair shop.

The final friend of the weekend is Old Man Winter. Again, we ask ourselves, which of our dumb relatives came to this state, stayed for a single winter, and actually stayed for more punishment! Lorie would like everyone to know that she is 50% gypsy, and she's not quite sure why that half of her family didn't pack the caravan up and move on out like any normal gypsy would... but no.... they stayed. We are going to post one more photo just to prove how ridiculous this is-- this was taken in Stevens Point at about 3pm. Keep in mind that the temperatures are expected to dip another 10 to 15 degrees for the evening lows. Again, we ask ourselves, "why do we stay in this blasted state?"