Madison Farmers' Market

On Saturday morning we went to the farmers' market on the Capitol Square in downtown Madison (see here).  The market is open year round.  However, the outdoor market runs every Wednesday and Saturday mornings from mid April until the first week of November.  On Saturdays it is held on the inner ring around the State Capitol.  During the winter, it is held indoors nearby.  The market begun in 1972 is billed as the largest producer only farmers market in the country.  There are no resales allowed--the person behind the stand is the producer of the product.  Vendors are members of a co-op and elect members to sit on the Board of Directors.  There is a currently a 5 year waiting list for vendors to sell at the market.  Though it is a market, it is also an must see experience.

On Saturday vendors offered meats including bison emu, ostrich, chicken, beef and pork.  One could purchase fresh cuts, prepared meats and even smoked and fresh trout.  Vegetables included the usual spring mix of leafy greens, rhubarb, tomatoes, onions, etc.  And of course artisan cheese (and curds!) flowers, bedding plants and baked goods (Amish pies).   Don't forget mushrooms, popcorn, honey and maple syrup!  Many of the vendors are certified organic and others advertise "no sprays." 

Literally thousands of shoppers take advantage of the market and most follow the unwritten rule and walk counter clockwise around the square.

But with all the concern about walking in the appropriate direction with the flow of the crowd and trying to remember which vendor had the best deal on what, where would one find Donna and her sister Dianne lurking?  Squeezing the tomatoes perhaps?  Perusing the spinach?  Checking the squeakiness of the cheese curds, maybe?  Not even close.

Whoopie Pie anyone?

May 24

Well it came as no surprise.  I should have known better.  The rapture came and went and passed us by.  Oh well.  Life continues and so do birthdays.

Speaking of birthdays, the better half of our team celebrated her birthday on the 24th.  She continues to be 39.  It was a special day starting with a spinach and bacon souffle at Panera Bread.  After digesting both our breakfast and the daily paper, we went to the Olbrich  Botanical Gardens in Madison here  The gardens lie on a 16 acre tract along Starkweather Creek and across from Lake Monona.

It was a rather cool and overcast day and the gardens were abuzz with volunteers removing bulbs, planting annuals and providing a general clean up.  Signs of spring (finally) were in the air and the blossoms were still evident even after the recent storms.

The jewel known as the Thai pavilion seemed out of place with the spring colors.

There were far more volunteers in the gardens than visitors though a bus load of school children from Mount Horeb were evident. 

It was a ducky day (or turtle-y?)

We were almost enraptured. 

The Great Horse Race

Yesterday, we participated in a horse race for the ages.  Jockeys Easton, Chezney, Grandma and Great Aunt Dianne braved the cold rain (not a whine but merely a statement of fact) donned their jockey duds and mounted their assigned steeds.  Hearts were aflutter with the anticipation of racing out of the starting gates and galloping into the winners circle. Bets were laid awaiting the start signal.  And then after an eternity of waiting, the race was on.  But there was some confusion at the gate resulting in downed horses and jockeys:

Three jockeys and their brave steeds hit the dirt!  No one was hurt.  They were able to right themselves and the race continued:

But one fearless jockey was not involved in the three-fall.  Easton managed to hang on and steer his horse into the lead.  Steady and sure he rode:

And he rode into the victory circle where he collected his pirate-loot winnings:

As the winner, Easton recieved a real pirate's pistol, an eye patch and a hook to attach to his arm if he ever lost a hand in combat with fierce deep sea denizens.  Chezney in second place earned a photo shoot with the winner.  The excitement of the race lasted throughout the day.



Water Softener

As I have been accused of being a weather whiner, I won't discuss the weather.  Instead, I'll discuss water.

We decided to add a water softener to our system to help prevent water heater failure and other hard water issues.  Water softeners for RVs are different from those for stick houses.  Most stick house softeners are of a large capacity and have electronic controls.  Those for RVs do not.  Ours also uses regular table salt instead of the rock or solar type salt used in homes and some RV softeners.

We bought the Mark 8000 from Flo Pur.  It has an 8000 grain capacity which means if the water is tested at 10 grain hardness, the softener can condition 800 gallons of water before recharging is needed.  It attaches to our water hook up with a garden hose.  I also added an adjustable water pressure gauge.  So far so good. 

The weather is the story

In short, the weather here has been cold and wet.  Since we arrived in Wisconsin, we have had snow, sleet, rain, cold, wind and then more wind and cold.  And more rain.  And then mud .  Mud up to our ankles.  One can count on one hand the number of days that we have had sun.  It takes only a few fingers to count the number of nice days since we arrived here.  Most days have been wet, and windy with highs in the lower 40s.  But at least we don't have to deal with tornadoes.  We would much rather put up with our weather here than having to suffer through the constant string of tornadoes that are inundating the South.

But we have some good news on the way weather-wise.  Thunderstorms on Saturday are the only wet weather fore casted for the next 5 days.  Whoohoo!  But then the weather man is usually wrong.

Back in DeForest, WI

We arrived back in DeForest on Wednesday, April 13.  We left Hollister at about 7:45 AM on Tuesday and drove to South Beloit, IL, a distance of about 560 miles.  We stayed the night at a Flying J and then traveled the remaining 65 miles on Wednesday morning.  We managed to avoid the Madison morning rush hour traffic which is always a concern even when not towing a trailer.  And we avoided the spring storms which roll willy nilly through the midwest this time of year.

Unfortunately, the weather here has not been great.  We have had one nice day here since arrival.  Temperatures have barely reached 50 and skies have been cloudy.  Rain has become  frequent and is forcast for most of the next ten days.  We had snow showers on Saturday which did not help to cheer us up.  Lows have stayed above freezing so far, but it seems that is about to change also.  Tomorrow there is a winter storm watch for several counties just to our north.  Several inches of snow are expected in the area, but if the weather prognosticators are correct, we should only get rain.  However, below freezing temperatures are also possible for us.

We became reacquanted with family.  A Thursday night pizza party was followed by a Friday night movie ("Tangled")/popcorn (microwaved) and sleepover.  The movie had its scary jaw-dropping parts:

We survived the plot twists.

The morning brought expected guests to a somewhat crowded bed:



One overnighter slept in and did not join the communal bed.  But video games on a smart phone were de rigor for those who rose early.  We felt at home again.

Hollister in the Spring

On Thursday we wanted to leave early and get as many miles behind us as we could before a mid-morning breakfast.  However, we met a very nice couple from Ontario at a Love's gas station in Tucamari.  They were pulling a 27 foot 1995 Award 727 with a Roadtrek motor home.  Well, they had to talk to us , and we had to talk to them about our Awards.  They have a very nice set up.  They can park their Award and take out the Roadtrek to tour.  The Roadtrek is a motor home about the size of a mid-size passenger van.  But the best thing about their rig is that the Award is fully solar powered.  They spent the winter in the Yuma Arizona area and dry camp.  Their solar set up provides for all their needs.  As I recall, they had 4 solar panels on the Award and two more stored in boxes to be installed on their Roadtrek.  They are using several AGM batteries to store their electricity matched with a pure sine wave inverter to distribute the power.  As he is a retired electrical engineer, he knows what he is doing.  Very impressive set up and great people too.

Once on the road we drove from Tucumari to Joplin, Missouri.  We dealt with high winds and very dry conditions most of the way. Fire warnings were posted along I40 and I44 due to the conditions. We passed through Amarillo, Oklahoma City and Tulsa but did not see green grass until we reached the far eastern portion of Oklahoma.

Missouri is quite green this time of year. Spring has most definitely sprung.  We arrived in the campground (Turkey Creek in Hollister) on Friday morning and were welcomed with a green lawn highlighted with yellow dandelions and trees enrobed in red and pink blooms. It was quite a sight especially coming from arid lands of dust and low brown grass. However, all good things have a dark side. We were also welcomed with highs in the upper 80s and high humidity as well. And a thunder shower sailed by us at about 4:00 AM Saturday morning. Overnight lows sunk way down into the mid sixties. Welcome back to the mid west.
Today we have had more of the same. We tested our air conditioner (the test had nothing to do with the hot, humid weather). Though it has been idle since last August, it tested out perfectly. Cool air came from where cool air should come from. The test had such good results we accidentally let it run all day. Not sure how that happened.

We expect to be here only a few days, and then we will make a run back to the Madison area between the fore casted rain storms sometime next week.