Pencil Museum Inc.

Having seen a picture on my Facebook, it renewed some thoughts about a couple we have not seen in three years. He does not post often, so I am glad I happened upon it.

Do you recognize one of those names, the sixth one from the top.

After seeing their post on Facebook, I kinda remembered they lived in Wisconsin and sure enough, not only do they live here, but not too far from where we are here at Horicon.

It would be so nice to see them again.

We communicated via Facebook and made a time to see them.

I remembered they run a pencil museum...googled it and found the address.

They live here at the museum, a fascinating place, right on Lake Winneconne.

Karen and Tom Schmitz surrounded by pencils!!!

Karen showed us all the pencils they have collected from many places...the latest being from Switzerland.

This collection is quite whimsical.

I told Karen I would never look at a pencil the same way ever again.

They boast of having over 20,000 unique pencils, 1884 slate ones, an 8 foot long one, drum stick ones, and bullet pencils.

Sooo interesting!!!

They treated us to a home made meal after our tour, which was very tasty.

Introduced us to another Wisconsin cheese which we liked.

Our captain, Tom, took us on this nice pontoon boat all around the lake. The dock is right behind their home.

A very nice leisurely ride on Lake Winneconne.

He was also our guide and told us all about the area. He grew up here and shared a lot with us.

We certainly did enjoy our afternoon seeing and visiting with these friends, and catching up on so much.



Tom told us one could travel by boat from their home all the way out to Saint Lawrence and beyond...wouldn't that be nice. I was already looking where I could pitch a tent on the pontoon and GO.

Thanks Karen and Tom for a wonderful afternoon!!!

Until next time...

Tables to TABLE

We have three weeks left to finish the projects that were put before us while here at the refuge.

Erin, volunteer coordinator, asked if we could put two children's picnic tables together, we said sure. We had no idea what kind she was talking about!!!

These two boxes had been stored for some time. I got the skid loader to pick them up and bring them over to our work area.

Anybody who has worked with this material knows how heavy it is.

We got one unpacked and went to work on it.

It did not take long...we were able to get the other one put together.

These tables are tiny but mighty.

They really are cute, and we got many comments on them.

I really dwarfed the table.

Oh, and by the way, we have one more large picnic table that needs to be  put together when you have time...allrighty then.

The two little tables were placed on the deck with help from our firefighter friends...I did mention, they are heavy!!! The large table is still in our work area waiting for its home, but it  looks like the one in this photo.

Until next time...

 

Kettle Moraine

What is a "kettle moraine," you ask? At least that is what we wondered.

After our little tour of Fond du Lac, we drove east to the northern section of the moraine.

This drive takes you through rolling hills and quaint towns with interesting names, and

beautiful old churches as you follow the green acorn signs.

In an earlier blog, I mentioned "The Ice Age Trail." Some of it passes through the moraine, which is in the State Forest where the National Park has this visitor center...a very interesting stop.

We learned a little more about this glacier and the effects of what it had on the landscape.

Some new words for us were Kettles, Drumlins, and Kames.

We climbed to the top of this tower for some amazing views of the wind farms, farms with barns and silos, and toward Holy Hill which is in the southern unit of the moraine, another place we plan on visiting in the future.

I thought this beauty of a scene was worth sharing. People take great pride in their land.

Everywhere we go, yards are as sharp as a pin.

The answer: a Kettle is a depression left from a glacier, some are dry and some hold water up to 200' deep.

What will our next post be? Work or play? We work 3 days and are off 4...time to explore!!!

Until next time...

Tour de Fond du Lac

Fond du Lac is a town south of Lake Winnebago, the largest inland lake in Wisconsin. It is French for "foot of the lake."

The Winnebago Indians were here before the French explorers visited.

Lakeside Park was an area which we explored. It is a 400 acre park.

This lighthouse is one of six on Lake Winnebago inside the park.

After stopping at the visitor center for the city, we discovered there isn't a whole lot to do here.

We climbed the 40' of which there are 70 steps to the top for some pretty views.

It was built in 1933, Cape Cod style with a flagstone base.

The flag flew at half staff for the victims of the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

We enjoyed our short time visiting this light.

While waiting for a zillion teenagers to come down from the top, I noticed this etching on the side of the stairs, W+C, and no, we did not carve it there.

Time for lunch and this turned out to be a winner.

I had the shrimp stuffed crab and Wallace had the haddock stuffed with crab. Delicious.


After our brief tour of Fond du Lac, we explored another part of the great state of Wisconsin. I will save that trip for another time.

Until next time...

Floating Platform

Another project that was given to us was building this floating platform.

We started here with the dimensions Mike gave us.

I might add, we started this late April, just after we arrived.

This is the next step. Boards were attached so the floats could be attached, per Mike's orders.

We laid them all out.

Wallace got them all screwed down.

We had Mike check things...his comment was, " You did not miss a screw!" In the past, when the platform was turned, some of them fell off. Not this time!!! I was the checker and made sure they were attached. It helps to have two of us.

With every float screwed down came the big day.  Here, Mike is hauling it out so we can turn it.

With Mike on the left and me in the skid loader, we get it turned without a problem!!!

Now with the platform turned over, I push it much like a barge  back in the shop, floats below now.

We need some posts, 12 in all.

Wallace had fun with the screw gun.

This was the next thing to do. Attaching the boards to the top of the platform.

Oh, I forgot...we attached the posts before we put on the top boards.

Uh oh...we are now in the middle and we are going to have to rip the next board to fit...no problem...Mike is very pleased.

This is what it looked like after sweeping it off and removing the tools.

Next we drill 2 holes in each post. Yes, we...I eyeball the drill so Wallace keeps it level...call me anal it won't be the first time.

A big rope will be placed through these holes later.

It is now loaded onto the lowboy for transport out to the marsh where it will be finished next spring. We won't even get to see it put into place unless we come back...I think we finished this project way too early.

We ended up taking 19 of the boards back and picked out some good ones. Picky, picky, picky!!! Lumber is just not what it used to be. When I explained to the owner of Wisconsin Lumber how we were taught to place the board down (bark side up), he agreed. This helps it not to cup. We got to visit with Randy a few times...a really nice gentleman. He said we make his day because we are so friendly. That's Texas for ya.

Wallace set this up. Dirty trick. I was sound asleep.

So, I will end this story here.

Until next time...

 

Boardwalk and Other Stuff

We changed our work schedule to help with this.

This is what we started out with. The floor and posts were done last year.

 

Next the side boards were added.

In this photo, Wallace and I are cutting off the posts with a reciprocating saw.

One of my jobs was to screw the top railings down while the others cut and brought the pieces down to be attached.

All help was on deck this day.

I kept saying "it is so crooked!"

Mike told me I was being too critical right now.

Mike, Shane, Dwayne, and Wallace would hold up the 2 by 8 and Mike would call me down to put in the screws after being measured and marked as to where they should go.

In this picture you can see how crooked it was turning out to be.

Mike was not too concerned about it...he had a plan.

The posts were where the problem lay. Some were leaning in and some were leaning out!!!

The next day, Ed joined us. I don't know who left that drill up on the railing, but it was not me!!!

After measuring and holes were drilled, the rope was pulled through on both sides.

Now for Mikes plan. Shane brought in the excavator while Mike was in the water attaching an implement to the posts...the excavator straightened out the posts. Mike used me as the one to eyeball while they straightened.

We were off the next day when the gang finished tweaking the other side with the excavator (left side).

This is the finished product, not too shabby, huh?

On that day off, we traveled east to Lake Michigan, then north to Manitowoc. From there we cut back over to Fond du Lac and south back home.

We found a side road that led down to the beach where I could put my hand in the water of Lake Michigan.

Next we climbed on board the USS Cobia to see what it was like to be in a submarine.

I don't know how 80 men lived in those close quarters!!! Wallace could hardly get through the doors.

One thing I remember is that the deck is made of teak...it does not float, so if it sunk, it could not be found by enemies.

It was used in World War II.

In the background is the ferry that can take you over to Michigan.

We want to do this before we leave. It started raining, so we headed home.

Another road trip!!! Dave Bolin, refuge specialist, asked if we would like to take this part to be repaired...a 367 mile round trip.

He would get someone else to do bathrooms for us and we could take off...sounds good.

We finally found a strawberry patch that was open for picking.

We ended up with 7 quarts, $20.00.

This is how I pick...oh, my aching everything. I get carried away and just keep picking.

The strawberries were so clean! You can see there is straw being used.

When we arrived, I got out and started picking when a fellow approached. You were assigned a row!!!  Allrighty then.

The people were very nice.

Here is our bounty next to our Mardi Gras flowers.

I have put up 4 containers of freezer jam, 2 quart bags of berries for later and have enough for a couple of pies...oh, my. You just can't beat fresh!!!

Until next time...