Not-So Vintage Postcard/POP

I received an interesting "postcard" (to use the term loosely) from my friend Don last week.

Unlike most postcards, this one was quite large. And made of wood.

And not only is it a cool piece of Sconnie to add to the garage wall, it also spurned a conversation in the "Arts & Crafts" department where I spend 40+ glorious hours every week. See, many of you four readers know that I'm a picky eater. I'll eat poultry and fish, but no pork or beef. And I've been that picky for 20 years now.

Anyway, I was complaining to my coworkers that Allie and I have not been able to find turkey brats out in California. A dinner that we generally had about once a week in Wisconsin had been off the menu due to lack of availability.

Well, it turns out that Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad has 'em. And they're not just Turkey Store brand but made at the store. So we picked some up over last weekend. They were enormous and delicious.

So thank you Don for spurring the conversation. If you make it down to these parts the brats (and Leinies) are on me!

Dog on the Blog

Allie has been looking for a good, adoptable dog from the local Labrador rescue organization for the past few months. Well today we finally found "the one".

We went to a dog festival "Paws in the Park" in Solana Beach today as she had heard that a certain pup was going to be present.

Her name (at the moment at least) is Pebbles. She's about 4-5 years old, an almost-white yellow Lab female. And probably the fattest Lab I have ever seen.
She came to the rescue from a breeder and pushed out some puppies over the years. In fact, relatively recently as she's pretty droopy on her underside.
Weighing in at a whopping 125, our first goal is to get her weight down to about 100 or so. Then down even further if possible. She's on a prescription weight-loss dog food (can't wait to find out how much that costs) and with many walks planned by Allie, she should do alright.
She's a pretty mellow girl, reminding us a lot of the last Lab we rescued from a breeder - Nessie (R.I.P.). Her foster "parents" state that she's only barked once, loves tennis balls and swimming and is great around kids. She seemed pretty nice today even though there were hundreds of distracting dogs around.

Allie will pick her up sometime later in the week. It'll be great to have a doggie around the house again.
Oh, and name - right now we're leaning towards Juno. In Roman mythology Juno is protector and special counselor of the state. Also the sister (and oddly also the wife) to Jupiter.

New Ride

Because a man can never have too many bikes, I added another cruiser to the fleet this week.
Electra* Indy. Inspired by a classic Indian motorcycle, the Indy rolls on a hydroformed aluminum "tank" frame with a three-speed Nexus rear hub, alloy three-piece cranks, full-wrap pinstriped fenders and righteous cream diamond-tread tires. So. Much. Fun.
*what else? The finest cruisers made, bar-none!

Vintage Chicago Postcard

Okay, another vintage Chicago postcard that my scanner didn't want to include the border of. This one is also unsent. John G. Shedd Aquarium.

Copy from the back:

"In Grant Park at the lake front. An octagonal building of Georgia marble. Donated by John G. Shedd at a cost of $3,000,000. Exhibits ten thousand fresh and salt water fishes and other aquatic animals from all over the world. It is the largest and most modern aquarium in the world.?"

And still a fun place to visit. Allie, Celeste & I, along with my parents, visited the Shedd a few years ago. Fish are good.

N I N E !!

Celeste is nine. Wow! Allie and I are wondering where the last nine years went.

Here are some pix from her "family" b-day party last night. Uncle Danny was a guest...

nine whole candles
there they go. well some of 'em
earrings
Florida t-shirt and a Webkinzzz (and one online-only Webkinzzz)
and of course, Legos!

Field Trip - Springfield, WI (1994)

Since all three of us were down with the flu this past weekend (what non-senior citizens get the flu anyway??), there are no pix of us frolicking on the beach, enjoying abundant California sunshine and perfect high-70s temps. Nope, sad to say, we barely left the house.

So you'll have to deal with more old scans.

Back in the pre-Celeste days, Allie and I used to enjoy hitting antique stores and architectural salvage places (yeah, this should be an entry on this at Stuff White People Like, but I digress). We rarely spent much money, we mainly liked to check out the old junk. I'd occasionally walk away with a good deal on a cool old finger-chopping electric desk fan and Allie may have found cool pieces of vintage McCoy pottery, but we were mainly interested in browsing.

Our friends Rob and Peg turned us on to a small place just northeast of Lake Geneva. We just called it "Springfield", based on the unincorporated town it was located in.

"Springfield" was an old elementary school that had been turned into an architectural salvage shop. Run at the time by an introverted old man, the old school rooms were filled with antique doors, windows, millwork, staircases, etc. You name it. From what I recall, he would salvage these items from Lake Geneva and Milwaukee buildings prior to demolition.
The building's school roots are obvious. Chalkboards and classic school clocks were still up on the walls, and a teeter-totter was put to good use by Allie and myself.
I don't think we ever bought anything there, but loved picking thru the piles of stuff, both inside and out.
I had started collecting old bikes by this time, but was pretty particular - I only wanted old Schwinns. These two clunkers were still cool enough to photograph though.
Allie, Peg & Rob check out a wooden boat with a sweet mid-to-late-50s Johnson...
Aye, Cap'n Rob...
And Allie finds an old sink in the yard. This is shortly before she found a beehive.
I'm not sure this place exists in this state anymore, but looking at a sat photo from Google Maps, it appears that there's even more junk piling up. (building on left side of pic)
If anyone cares to attempt a visit, it's on Spring Road, just west of Hwy 120, about a mile or two north of the Rt. 12 interchange. Visit and send me some info and pix!

EDIT - excerpt from an email from Rob last night -
"Yes, it's still there, more of a mess than ever, we were there last year looking for a closet door for Lake Geneva (no luck of course). Still can't remember what it's called either."

Old Stuff - Chequamegon 1993

My friend Don & I were successful in being able to register for the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in 1993 to participate in the 40 mile race. So we loaded up my little craptacular 3 cylinder Subaru Justy and headed up to Wisconsin's North Woods.

Don rented a quaint cabin on one of the many beautiful lakes in the Cable, WI area.
Taken the morning of the race, a little brisk (probably in the 40s). Nice Lund - just like the ones my grandparents had on Green Lake. But theirs had a 20HP Johnson.Getting prepped for the race. Dig Don's Allsop Softride Stem. Not shown - purple ano hardware.
Don & friend Lisa at the start. These were the days when it was acceptable to wear cotton while cycling. Wicking schmicking.
Yours truly with a mushroom-shaped Bell Image Pro lid. My bike has Don's old Softride stem (black/silver).
I have no idea on what my results were, but I do remember bonking badly about 15 miles into the 40 mile race. Some Powerbars and Gatorade got me going again. Sadly the Chequamegon's site only has results going back to 1997.
Afterwards there was Hamm's to be had. From the Land of Sky Blue Waters (waters...).
And go-karting.
And the po-po (Washburn County Sherrif). Luckily I got off with a written warning (I still have a copy of it in my photo album).
And Pez.