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20050813 Stoughton WI 62/76 Cloudy, intermittent rain, cool.
We got onto the road at a decent hour and ran the 80 miles to Stoughton and the Viking Village RV Park in an hour and a half. It surprised me to see the Army Ammuntion Plant near Sauk City still in existance (it's not in production) on US-12 south of Baraboo.
We set up camp, then took the laundry into town. We called my cousin Cynthia and arranged to meet for dinner. We brought the laundry back and put it away. We called Steve Fortney and arranged to see him tomorrow for lunch.
Then I started cleaning the floor. To do it required getting things out of the cabinet under the sink. There, Dolores discovered a mat that was all moldy and some water. I tore all the stuff out and looked at the problem - the kitchen sink drain line was leaking at a slip joint. I went to get some teflon tape, wrapped the joint and found that gave no improvement. I went back for slip joint washers, which also didn't help. Time ran out so we left it.
We went to Halvorson's northwest of Stoughton and met Cynthia and her buddy Larry. Dinner was nice, as usual. We chatted before, during, and after it. She's now twice a grandmother (son Brady has a girl and boy) whom she dotes on. Stacy is still in Austin, but will be back in a few weeks for 10 days. Cousin Fran was here not long ago with husband Duane. They bought a condo in Seattle but don't use it. Dwayne's troubled over retiring - making money that he won't in retirement.
She also gave me cousin Fran's phone numbers - the ones I have don't work. Hmm. Cynthia and Larry volunteered to assist daughter Susan and husband Wyatt if they come up here to research the possibility of moving here.
Dolores called her brother Joe. They arranged that Joe and family will come to the trailer Monday early and take us to the Rotary Garden in Janesville. It's full of flowers and that is a big attraction to Dolores's family.
When we left Halvorson's, we returned to the trailer. I did an emergency repair on the leak - duct tape wrapping. I'll attend to it properly later.
Then we downloaded and stored the photos from today and yesterday. Now we're taking it easy before bedtime.
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20050814 Stoughton WI 58/85 (the 85 should be 78 or so; the sun hit the thermometer). Partly cloudy, beautiful upper midwest day.
After breakfast in the little house, I dropped Dolores off at church while I went to get things. I picked her up at the end of the service and we went to Steven Fortney's house.
Steven Fortney's uncle Tom married my aunt Elsie in 1928. Tom died at 40 in 1944; Elsie never looked at another guy, worked in nursing in Detroit until retirement, then moved back to Menomonie where she died in 1979. Steven & I were pallbearers, with other Fortneys and my brother John.
Steven is a retired high school English teacher (31 years) and member of the City Council of Stoughton WI for 21 years. He's been a labor negotiator on both sides and belongs to a number of organizations including the Torske Klubbe, a Norwegian-American group that meets once a month to hear papers of interest and just get together. A number of the UW-Madison professors belong to it.
He gave us coffee and we chatted for a bit. Then we went to lunch, which we took on a patio overlooking the local lake Kegonsa. We chatted some more. Then he took us on a great long tour of Stoughton, showing us all the amenities the town has and most of the historic homes and the historic district. It's a very nice town full of Norwegian-Americans, 12 miles from downtown Madison. Housing prices are not bad, property taxes are a little high.
We returned to his house and saw his garden and more of the house, then chatted more. Finally, we took our leave and returned to the campground.
There, we sat outside and read the sunday paper until we grew tired of flies. We moved inside and will do small chores, then read or watch TV or whatever strikes us.
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20050815 Stoughton WI 66/86 Partly cloudy, warm. Picture Link
Dolores's brother Joe, his wife Rena and son Ben showed up about 9:30. We jumped into their Toyota Scion and rode 27 miles south to the Rotary Gardens in Janesville. This set of flower gardens showing the styles of Italian, Japanese and other gardens was donated to the city by the Rotary Clubs of the area.
The flowers are spectacular. The settings are very nice. The main building has conference facilities and a gift shop. All-in-all, a very good attraction.
Dolores and Joe, due to their flower-growing heritage, were the most impressed with the place. They wandered all over the place talking about the various plants.
We went to a Mexican restaurant on the south outskirts of Janesville for lunch. Very nice.
Then back to the little house in the campground. They dropped us off, we waited a few minutes then drove to their house in Madison. Rena had gone to a board meeting and Ben was working on the computer upstairs, so we chatted with Joe and played with their insane dogs (Silas and Freckles). The Joe took us on a long tour of Madison, all over the town. The new Center for the Arts is being finished at great cost, donated by a family, and looking beautiful. The acoustics are said to be amazing.
The UW campus was another big part of the tour, as was the arboretum in town and many neighborhoods.
Joe said the houses have appreciated greatly in the last few years and so have the taxes.
Rena came home after a bit and we continued chatting until daughter Kerri got off work. Then we all (less the dogs) went to eat at a Blue Plate Diner in an old converted service station - good re-use of an old building.
The blue plate food is the old, not fancy, just good, type. We were all filled when we left. We chatted outside for a bit, then came back to the little house.
Now we're doing the chores and taking it easy. Tomorrow we move to Lake Geneva, WI, 60 miles down the road to see my cousin Lynn and husband Gene.
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