Double winner

The gents from the Sportsmen’s Club called to say that the pair of raffle tickets I bought at  the recent Winter Fest came up a winner! (At the time, the tickets also were good for an extra helping of booya stew, which seemed like victory enough in my book.)

I can’t recall the other prizes -- one was a hunting gun -- but my tickets were good for a free round of "extreme bowling" at McKenzie Lanes and a painted picture frame.

I do have a charmed life.

In situ

Lark Nest Design, this blog’s for you.




A new chapter: Furniture. (For the back story, click here.)

 

I bought this funky mid-century table+chairs for a song, and muscled it into the Loveless truck just as the organizers of a nearby estate sale were locking up the doors.

It needed the care and attention of someone with imagination and spunk. To the rescue: Lark Nest's Kim Yeager, who somehow can see the beauty that lies beneath.

So, Ms. Yeager, here’s that "in situ" photo you requested. (I know, sparse. But hey, we don't even have plates!)

Winter Fest

We’re what they call “Weekenders” in our new Wisconsin community. You get the drift: we make our home in the city and head to the country on the weekend.

But Chris and I got a warm welcome from the locals last Saturday when we jumped in with both snowshoes at the Balsam Lake Winter Fest, a convivial event put on by the Chamber of Commerce.

Maybe it was Chris and his crazy costume that broke the ice … hmmm ... not sure. People kept taking his picture and giving him beer.

One of many Balsam Lakers who wanted to meet the Beer Man. 

A highlight (aside from the drag races on Balsam Lake and the minnow races at the Thirsty Otter) was partaking in the first-annual 5K snowshoe "race." Thankfully, it turned out to be a lovely walk through the woods, despite the 3-below-zero temps or something crazy cold. The nine of us, plus a dazzling German Shepherd named "Blade," enjoyed fresh snow, a windless morning and bright sunshine on snowshoes. Spectacular.

At the American Legion hall, we learned a little more local lore, much of it from a guy who had a real name but told us most people called him Cowboy. We enjoyed his company, even as he kept talking up the Fawn-Doe-Rosa, which we had here-to-fore considered more worthwhile as a primo parking lot for people trying to sell cars and boats.

With Cowboy's urging, we splurged on raffle tickets and an extra portion of soul-warming booya, a pot-roast stew that members of the Sportsman's Club were slow-cooking in giant caldrons over an open fire. The pot was so big and the stew so thick, they stirred it with a wooden paddle.

Life is good.

My new best friend, the Thirsty Otter. Also a great local hangout spot.

Booya! Just saying the name makes me happy.

A scenic spot on the 5K showshoe race.

Those racing 4 x 4 trucks left nothin' but snow trails in their wake.

Turnkey

It has taken 13 months, but we’ve completed the major chores standing in the way of making the weeHouse functional. Hip hip hooray!

The time lag is a bit appalling as I write this. But in between, Chris endured a serious hand injury, the weeHouse took on water, the builder ditched us, we built a retaining wall to stop the mudslide, and hired a landscaper to grade the hill and plant grass. We also built a walkway and two decks and -- most important -- spent a little time fishing, canoeing and hanging out at the fire pit.

Some before-and-afters:



March 2012: Ikea kitchen in need of doors, drawers.





January 2013: Cabinets complete, Richlite countertop sealed, new faucet installed.

The kitchen reconfiguration turned into a major effort, not least because the very thought of setting foot in Ikea gave me the hives. Alchemy left me room for an oven next to the fridge (which I decided could wait), so I put in doors and a drawer. Putting in a full-sized sink created a multitude of cascading issues eventually solved with a trip to Rockler Hardware for a hinge that would work.

As for the poor, beautiful weeHouse bamboo floors....

November 2012

... they became waterlogged this spring, buckled and turned black at the edges. Alchemy continued to hang in there with us, providing new bamboo floor and hiring Chris to install it.

Now, furniture!



Today: Lovely.

Christmas at Loveless

The weeHouse flew through the air about a year ago, arriving on its Loveless perch on Dec. 22. My how time flies.

The place is still pretty far from being ready to entertain overnight guests, but here’s hoping that a year from now we’ll be welcoming fellow adventurers to Loveless Lake – with steaming mugs of coffee sipped from this most handsome Christmas gift from my brother and his wife.

Merry merry.

Save the date

Just in time for the end of the world and the Mayan calendar, winter has arrived in the Midwest. The blog, in turn, has taken on a new wintry design as well.

Twelve inches of snow dumped on Minneapolis a couple of weekends ago and, if weather.com is to be believed, Loveless got about 14 inches.

Soon, the lake will be frozen enough for us to ski and snowshoe and fish. Chris is starting to talk about hosting a fishing and frolicking party in frosty February, so here's hoping we all survive the doomsday.

Mark your calendars!

How ‘bout them Cheese Heads?

From F&A Dairy's web site.

Here’s a great story about my Loveless Lake tax dollars at work. (Since I can’t vote, the least I can do is support progressive thinking wherever I can find it.)

According to a recent story on WCCO-TV, Polk County officials have found a new use for the briny waste water from the F & A Dairy plant in nearby Dresser, Wis. As it happens, the salty byproduct works wonders in melting winter ice off of the roads.

For the past four years, the county has been experimenting with the cheese whey – remember Little Miss Muffet? – and discovered that it’s cheaper and more effective than the magnesium chloride that normally gets mixed with the salt before getting spread on roads.

F & A Dairy, which we drive by on the way to the weeHouse, churns out 5,000 gallons of the brine waste a month, according to the report. It charges Polk County 9 cents a gallon to haul it away.

The county said it has cut its use of salt by about a third, and saved taxpayers $40,000 by substituting the brine water.

“It’s a win-win for both us and the dairy,” Polk County’s Mike Norby told the TV station. “They get rid of their waste product and we get it for free, for just the trucking costs.”

Rock on, Cheese Heads!