Nellie Sawyer

Robert finished with a seriously decent time of 1:36…

Rob Geitner

Funny how some people like short shorts and others like long shorts… isn’t it? They both agree on black socks however.

Also running the race was Karen Peterson from Maxwell’s House, Polly Helm from Door County Nature Works and Gerald Rex from Main Street Market.  We really saw a lot of people we knew and it made for a really great day, but it didn’t end at the park. After my athletes showered at my niece Kate’s house, we had lunch at Husby’s.  We saw Jeff and Sally Pfeifer (Thomas/Pfeiffer Insurance) and Fred and Debbie Anderson (The Ashbrooke). Sally was kind enough to give me one of her cow bells for next year’s race.  Thank goodness because I just about had my hands clapped off.  Outside at Husby’s Garage we got a table and watched the band The Nicks play.

The weather was beautiful too.  We sat with Mike and Carrie Mesic from 106.9 The Lodge who were major sponsors of the race. I also ran into long time pal Dick Burress who just retired after being The Door County Emergency Services Director for years. This is Dickie and me with Mike Mesic.

Mike, Sarah and Dick

That’s the Sister Bay Bowl behind me with all new siding and a nice porch.  It looks great.  My niece Kate Hastings tends bar there on weekends.

It was a really great day.  Thanks go out to the runners, the sponsors and all the volunteers that make the Door County Half Marathon so successful.  See you there next year!

Polly and Don Helm have expanded Design Works, a division of Door County Nature Works. They were previously operating out of the back half of the Bay Wear building.  They will now occupy the entire building as Bay Wear has moved. They have even given the front of the building a makeover. Don and his dad are pretty well dressed painters if you ask me. Even with paint on their shirts, they look good…

Polly and Don are waiting for a new awning to bring the new look together. Nice. Design Works offers everything from carpet, tile, hardware and bedding to  furniture, an interior design. You name it they have it. They even have a commercial line for hotels and such. This is Polly in her new digs…

Check out both places… they have tons of really beautiful things and will help with any decorating needs.

Joe Smith, the manager at Shipwrecked Brew Pub has started a new venture…HOT DOGS!  Across the street from Shipwrecked in the yellow building is Fat Louie’s Olive Oil shop.  In the back you will find Joe and Megan making hot dogs, serving up soft serve ice cream and so much more…

I had a Junk Yard Dog today… yum.  Here is the menu… if you can read it.

Bruce Hill from the Lull-Abi was there too and he ordered a walking taco which looked to be an open bag of Frito’s, taco meat, cheese and sour cream.  It looked delicious!  All of the items will be great picnic fare for Harbor View Park located directly across the street.  Good Luck Joe!

The cherry blossoms and trillium are blooming as we speak.  The Door County Half Marathon takes place tomorrow at Peninsula State Park.  Our Nellie is running so Eric and I are heading over there with her to watch.  After that, Husby’s Food and Spirits will host live music (THE NICK’S!) and serve food outside at their Garage Bar.  I am sure my gang will be heading up that way. At 7pm the alt-rock band Cracker plays at the Door Community Auditorium.  The Sister Bay Bowl has classic rock band Bacchus Lotus beginning at 9:30 pm Saturday night.

Not for you, check out the Ship Yard Tours in Sturgeon Bay.  I would like to go since Mark works at Bay Shipbuilding who is part of the tour but it always falls on the marathon weekend…damn.

So much to do, so little time.  Lots more to come… stay tuned.

Breakfast

Sooo, I headed over there at about 11:30 to check it out.  Right away Mikey served me  biscuits and gravy.  The milk gravy had sausage and was perfectly peppered and was served over buttermilk biscuits . The chefs, Rosemary (the head chef) and her sister Susan will offer skillet breakfast specials every morning along with other specials. I sampled a few different “skillet” dishes which offered the usual eggs and hash browns…yum… but in addition a Cajun skillet with chorizo (a personal fav) and another with kielbasa and even another one with chicken. I loved them all but I know the boys in my fam damily, who are HUGE eaters will LOVE them.   The chefs mentioned different daily Eggs Benedict specials ( I had the regular and the crab… yum and again, I am a huge fan of Eggs Benedict) and  french toast specials and other sweet treats.  Here is a list of my other samplings…Potato Pancakes and applesauce/syrup, Jalapeno sausage, Kielbasa, , Chicken Fajita Skillet, sausage, bacon and probably more that I couldn’t possibly eat.  Oh yeah and…chicken fried steak… I thought I was the only person in the universe  Door County that made that! Divine. Oh yeah… and you can get a Bloody Mary or a Screwdriver… BONUS!!!
Best of luck to Auntie Barbie and Uncle Mike and the entire Lautenbach family!  Everyone knows the most important meal of the day is breakfast!

PS… Cousins Megan, Annie and our Joe will be working at Mike’s Port Pub Saturday night… see you there!

I found it really delightful. Darling tops, dresses, jewelry and purses.  She also has lingerie and home accessories.  Here is Audrey holding the top I bought.  If you look closely you can also see the necklace and earrings I bought to match.

I wore this to baby Brody’s (our grandson) baptism yesterday…

Best of luck Audrey and Jim on your new venture!

Yes, it has been an early Spring.  After talking with Bobby Lautenbach from Orchard Country Winery and Dave Schartner from Schartner’s Farm Market, it looks like the cherries will be really early this year.  They talked of harvesting possibly even as early as June.  The freeze we had last Sunday combined with last night’s freeze may have taken a toll on the cherry crop this year.  The trees have not yet blossomed so it remains to be seen what damage has actually occured.  Dave thinks quite of bit of his cherry crop has been hit.  One can only hope that that’s not really the case and there will be a nice crop this year.

Our grandson Jaden, who is 11 bagged a 23 lb. turkey this morning…

Congrats Jaden!

Beautiful isn’t it?  This was taken weeks ago and even then the ice was already breaking up.  Southern Door County saw more than one ice shanty drift off into oblivion, most likely ending up in the bottom of Green Bay.

We open in May with expectations of cherry blossoms by the middle of the month if the decent weather holds.  Reservations are coming in nicely so if you have your dates picked out, better give me a call.

Pat also took this picture of a barn… I am partial to barns for some reason.

And he calls himself an amateur!

Last night, American Folklore Theatre won the Governor’s Arts, Culture & Heritage award at the Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Tourism. 

A well deserved congratulations to Holly, Dave and EVERYONE at AFT!

Happy Spring… I am sure glad it is here!

I was glad to see the Roadhouse decided to rebuild in the likeness of the original Carlsville bar…  meaning they kept the large porch and the western style facade…

The Roadhouse in Carlsville...

We wish the “new” Roadhouse best wishes for the upcoming season… I know everyone is looking forward to their Grand Opening (hopefully this spring!)

Fast forward to this week… Wednesday, we (his family and ours) will celebrate one year of his sobriety.  Don’t feel embarrassed for him about me writing this blog about him.  Trust me he isn’t embarrassed.  He like all of us… especially me, are proud. Proud that he had the courage to do so.  Proud that he’s a better dad, son, brother, uncle, co-worker and friend for doing so….

Each year he helps me put my floats together.  He stops by so he and I can chat.  He brings his two adorable kids by so I can feed them candy and chips. In his honor I am giving thanks to those that helped him who shall remain nameless but they don’t need credit… they and we know who they are.

So… Wednesday we will celebrate with Tom and our families.  We’ll have dinner, laugh, talk, celebrate and give thanks for ours and his many blessings.

We love you Tom… You’re the best!

(Lucky for me he doesn’t have a computer…hahahahahaha!)

JR Jarosh’s famous Jacksonport Polar Bear Plunge gets underway promptly at noon at the beach in Jacksonport.  If you haven’t done the plunge before this could be your year as the weather will likely be in the 30′s… but then again this is Door County and the weather could change in minutes.

But the main event IMHO will be Frosty Fest right here in Egg Harbor.  The parade begins at 1 pm at the Catholic church and heads north and turns right at Casey’s.  After that I don’t know where it goes because we head to Egg Harbor Lodge to park our own float.  This is our Wisconsin Badger themed hot tub float from last year…

Egg Harbor Parade 2011

Real classy with our cans of Bud Lite.  After the float there is a one mile fun run.  And for the low, low registration price of 15 bucks you also get a pair of Frosty Fest gloves!!  Too cute…

We also will have ice sculptures throughout the village, The Egg Harbor Lions Club will be selling brats and you can get yourself a Bloody Mary at Mojo Rosa’s outdoor bar.

We won’t have our annual Hot Tub Girls float this year but look for us to have some kind of festive float. We have a plan but we don’t assemble it until we get to the church parking lot so it’s kind of a hit or miss type gig.  Most of the time we think it’s pretty good but sometimes the wind blows the living heck out of it.

After the parade we will head downtown to watch the rest of the Packer game.  GO PACK!!!

But most of all from all of us Egg Harbor Lodge we wish you and yours a happy and healthy 2012!

Bill B. doin' his gig

It was delicious…  I would highly recommend ONE.

Then it was off to Husby’s for a burger and then over to the Sister Bay Bowl where we ended up bowling a game with Lucas Willems (I got a 66 if that says anything).  So if you are wondering what we do in Door County in the winter,  most of the time it’s not much but from time to time we have a blast!  Thanks Cole!