Rest in Peace Rosie

Friedman's Red Rosie
March 7, 1998 - October 7, 2009

One of the hardest things about owning a pet is having to say goodbye. We will miss you pretty girl!

The Chipmunk Bunker

Dan the plumber was here today so these big plastic pipes are gone now, but for the last couple weeks they have provided an endless source of frustration for me (and entertainment for my mom and dad!)


The chipmunks figured out that this was a safe haven, so they would go running in here as soon as I came out the back door.


I know there's one in there, and I go back and forth and back and forth but I just can't seem to get it.


Drats, another one got away again out the other end of the pipe. I couldn't care less about the squirrels, but the chipmunks drive me crazy!

The Pesto Project

This is my mom's little herb garden, which supplies everything she needs for making her two favorite summer treats ... bruschetta and mojitos!


Last year we procrastinated and our basil plant froze and died, but we didn't want that to happen this year. We've had some pretty cold nights here in Green Bay lately, which have made some of the leaves start turning brown already.


With a serious cold front moving in tonight, Mom decided it was time to harvest the basil and turn it into pesto.


Look at us now, staging the ingredients just like those fancy shmancy cooking blogs! But really, all you need is fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, EVOO and parmesan cheese. Oh, and a food processor. Dad bought this one a few years ago when he started mass-producing salsa and it works great for this project. Note: the bowl of basil above was just for the first batch. You want about 1/3 cup pine nuts for every 2 cups of packed basil leaves, with garlic, oil and cheese added to taste. Our plant produced enough for three batches of pesto this year!


Here you have the finished product! Mom used half of the batch on top to make a fresh tomato and mozzarella pizza today and the remainder will go in a pasta dish yet this week. The two containers below look a little greener because they went into the freezer for use later, so the parmesan cheese was left out. When the pesto is thawed you simply shred some cheese and add it in fresh. And you can bet I'll be there when that happens ... I can smell cheese from anywhere in the house!

The "City Cousins" Come to Visit

Uncle Jim and Auntie Lisa took the family up north to visit Grandma and Auntie Jody in Rhinelander last weekend, so they stopped by Green Bay to visit with us for a bit on their way home to Illinois on Sunday.


Here I am with my "cousins" Madison, Hunter and Ryan Rose (who is also called Rosie like me!) As always, the trampoline proved irresistable to all the kids!




You can see pics from the annual summer pool party at their house here.

Mid-Summer Update

Sorry for the lack of posting here lately, but Mom doesn't spend too much time on the computer in the summer and I've been busy the last couple months supervising the latest home improvement project.


I'm not going to post any photos until the project is finished, but I will tell you that it involves building out into the unused attic space upstairs ..... under the skylight that was installed when the new roof was put on in 1996. Between Army deployments and other projects this one fell by the wayside for several years after that, but better late than never!


We always had tomatoes in three barrels on that side of the house, but those had to get moved to set up the scaffold so Dad built another raised bed for them in the back corner of the yard. This area always becomes a swampland in the spring, so he has to do that or the barrels would sink altogether.


Here's a shot of the finished project, taken in late May. The photo below was taken just today, so you can see how much everything has grown! It's also working quite nicely as a screen from the adjoining yards, since it appears our redneck neighbors two doors down have a relative living in that tent. The people in the gray house behind them must be getting tired of looking at it too, because they just put up that big wooden fence last week!

Rain barrel production halted due to rain

All this rain we've had lately got Mom and Dad thinking we should build a few rain barrels, so we can recycle it to water all the flowers, veggies and herbs on sunnier days. Luckily Dad found a place to buy these used plastic barrels for only $7 each. He then spent another couple dollars on some tubing and faucets at Home Cheapo last weekend and he was in business!


This first one is very close to the house, so he added an overflow outlet with a hose that runs around the back of the A/C unit and comes out in the yard farther away from the patio.


This is June in Wisconsin, so of course within minutes of finishing the first barrel it started raining and soon it was filled to overflowing!


Barrel number two had to wait until this weekend. As you can see we finally got some beautiful sunny weather here! That was yesterday.


It was really nice most of the day today too, except for this freak thunderstorm that knocked out our power for a minute and dumped enough rain to fill this one more than half full in less than ten minutes!

And she scores again!

After the unexpected find of the outdoor fireplace, Mom thought she'd used up her bargain hunting luck for this summer and she'd never find the baking rack she was actually looking for. But lo and behold, driving home from work just a few weeks later she spotted this .... sitting on the driveway at a house only a few blocks away, and priced at only $20 too!

Normally we're not allowed to buy anything that Dad has to go back and pick up with the truck, but in this case he didn't mind. For the last couple summers we had a small table outside the screenhouse which was very handy for serving food and mixing drinks, but that finally got refinished and moved to the basement. We really needed something else to replace that, and this fits the space perfectly.


I think it matches nicely with the rest of our "outdoor living room" decor. With the exception of the matching seat cushions, every piece of furniture was picked up at yard sales over the years. Even the huge six-sided picnic table was carried home from a neighbor's house around the corner!

Score of the Season (So Far!)

The garage sale season has officially begun here, and look what my mom scored this weekend for only $20!!!!!


This was really a stroke of luck because Dad was just talking about buying a new outdoor fireplace. As you can see our old one is literally falling apart. It served us well for almost 15 years, but the fire we had last weekend was its final hurrah.


Yes, as a matter of fact I DO think I'm a lap dog ...... and I sure do love my mom!

Sunbathing Squirrel

You never know what you'll see when you look out the window into our back yard these days. Note that the snow is almost all gone and we actually had sunshine today!