Monona In California?

Check out the top street sign - yeah, it was hard to get the entire street name - Carlsbad's Paseo Monona - from my vantage point.

Thanks for the tip, Graham!

Things I Miss About Monona - BLIZZARD!

I have to say, even though it's in the mid-60s and sunny here in the San Diego area, I am really bummed that I don't have a chance to play in the Wisconsin snow.

I dreamt that I was skate skiing on Monday night. At this point I feel that I could handle a nice, snowy winter from about mid-December through the end of January. After that, I'm over it. Thanks to ex-neighbor and friend Erika for snapping the pic this afternoon.

Things I Don't Miss About Monona - Stairway to Hell

I loved our Monona home. A nice, central location not far from downtown Madison. A proper 105' x 95' lot. Fantastic neighbors. Cool mid-century modern style. I could go on and on. But for all of the house's strengths, one thing that perpetually bothered me was the basement stairway.
Not the fact that the stairs themselves were overdue for a refinishing (one of the few remaining things on my to do list prior to us moving), but the fact that the house's architect seemed to fail in considering that someone over about 5'5" would ever reside here. There simply wasn't enough headroom clearance for anyone of even average height - and I'm 6'1". Not sure how this slipped by the inspectors back in 1963 - maybe the builder slipped a little something in an inspector-bound envelope to overlook this.

The first month or two was brutal on my cranium, but soon I found myself automatically listing my head to a 45 degree angle in order to clear the textured ceiling. Every guest who ventured down the stairs had to be told to watch the clearance. But still, every few months I'd end up crashing skull to plaster if I was doing something slightly out of the ordinary on the stairway - such as vaccuming the stairs, painting trim, or, inevitably, portaging something both bulky and heavy.

And while I'm still sad that I no longer call that house my home, I do have one happy head that's no longer inadvertently raining bits of plaster to the stairs below.

Things I Miss About Monona

Getting ice cream at Monona Bait & Ice Cream.
Tacked onto the front of a typical 1950s ranch house (and likely occupying the spot formerly used for the house's garage), Monona Bait & Ice Cream was always a fun destination for Celeste & I to pedal to on summer nights. Serving only the best ice cream from UW Madison's Babcock Hall dairy, it was always a treat to buy a scoop or two and then walk across Monona Drive to the park on the shores of the lake.

Make mine a scoop of chocolate peanut butter please.

Cedar-Lined Campsite

I'm quite certain that 75% of my readers (that would mean, um three readers) know that I was back in Monona in the first part of the week to spruce up our home now that the (lousy) tenants are gone. Monday night I shared a hotel room with my parents, they went home Tuesday afternoon so I camped out on our sublime three season porch that night.

campsite - leave no trace!

Sleeping on the porch was one of those things I always wanted to do during our ~5 year tenure - but due to lame excuses I never quite got around to doing it. Since it was a cool night with temps dipping into the lower 50s, my trusty 40 degree Kelty bag was perfect. While the iPhone pinged with numerous emails from Taiwan, I was able to tune those out and listen to the wind blow through my old neighbor's majestic maple trees - the same trees I cursed every spring as they littered the yard with helicopters that needed to be pulled from the garden beds.

One quirk of the upper Midwest that I had forgotten about was the birds. Every morning at first light all of the songbirds - cardinals, wrens, robins, jays, sparrows, etc. - join in a cacophonous chorus. While I was awakened at 5:something, I was able to drift back to sleep for another hour.

I'll post some pix and such from the trip in the coming week. Tired now, off to climb into a real bed and enjoy the cool sea breeze blow past the palms. Glad I was finally able to spend a night on the porch.

Things I don't miss about Madison pt. 3

What's made of aluminum, paneling, bad plaid fabric and crushes home resale values?

The W.T. family down the street on Cardinal Crescent and their 1970s motorhome. This moved in to the Monona neighborhood over the summer of 2007. It hasn't moved since. In fact, they added a small porch out front and would hang out in it all day. It's become their vacation home.

Now normally I wouldn't care about an old vehicle in the driveway. Even an old RV. I enjoy old cars. But this thing is simply decrepit and creepy. I bet it smells of mildew and urine.

Click HERE for a great use of old motorhomes. (Sorry, the video can't be embedded.)

Things I miss about Madison pt. II

Or, rather Monona in this case.


Saving big money at Menards. Not so much the savings, but the handy location about a mile away from our home. There were plenty of weekends where I'd make two to three trips over there over a 24 hour period. I've needed to purchase felt feet for the new IKEA table for about a week now, but can't justify driving five miles to spend $3 at the nearest hardware store (Encintas Home Depot). So the kitchen floor gets marred a little bit. It's a rental.

When we first moved to Monona, I figured I'd be hitting Home Depot most of the time. I've always been partial to HD, but this Menards was so handy - and so Sconnie. The "freebate" deals were too good to pass up, the Sunday circular was always read. Where else can you buy Famous Dave's BBQ sauce for $.29 after mail-in rebate?

After about six months of living there, Menards was my default home improvement center, I'd only made "special" trips to HD - like if I needed Behr paint or a gas grill. Or if Dad sent a discount coupon.

[cue jingle]
plumbing, electrical, appliances too
the savings will always come right back to you
you save big money
you save big money
when you shop Menards
[/end jingle]

Things I don't miss about Madison pt. I

The wretched condition of Monona Drive, especially after the brutal winter of '07/08.

empty home

This has been, by far, the hardest move for our family. We really felt that we had finally set roots down in this home. Heck, in our 15 year relationship, the Monona stint was the longest time we've ever been in one house. But the show goes on - the opportunity here in Carlsbad is one that I could not pass up.

We were all sad when we took a last tour of the house as we truly felt that we were going to be there for the long haul. Allie and I poured so much energy (and cash) into that place to make it ours over the last five years. We've had a good track record of buying "diamonds in the rough", sprucing them up to our liking and then being happy with the results. While the Monona house wasn't perfect by any means (If I had an ice pack for every time I whacked my head on the low ceiling coming out of the basement), it was from the era we enjoy best (50s-60s), the yard was great and the friends and neighbors phenomenal.


Anyone wanna buy it?