What's Brewin'

You won’t find a Starbucks, Caribou, or Dunn Brothers’ coffee shop in the majority of small towns. What you will find are locally owned, independent coffee shops which offer the same products, and often for less. I will always choose a locally owned and operated coffee shop over any chain. I do not drink coffee, I prefer tea or hot chocolate so don’t think coffee shops are only for coffee drinkers.

Tomahawk is lucky to have a locally owned and operated coffee ship. It’s called What’s Brewin' and is located on W. Wisconsin Avenue. They also sell homemade fudge which I understand is to die for. They offer a variety of soups, sandwiches, and baked goods. I can vouch for their onion soup, it is good, much better than most onion soups outside my own.

Like coffee shops everywhere they offer Wi Fi, which is free. The interior design is all vintage 1940’s and 1950’s. They even had an old wooden high chair should your toddler need one.

Their hidden jewel is the courtyard in the back. It is a beautiful space where you can read books, visit friends, or play cards or board games. It is so peaceful, it reminds me of something you’d find in France or Italy.

The NaBloPoMo in October prompt for today is the word mask. What does that conjure up in your mind? In mine it makes me think of a covering up or disguising something so that it no longer looks like it did. Halloween masks cover up our faces, make us look like someone else. In the courtyard of What’s Brewing you will find masked stones and small rocks. They have been painted to look like something than just plain stones. They represent woodland creatures of different sorts and are very cute.

Stop in when you’re in town and have something delicious from What’s Brewin'.

The courtyard is so peaceful

What masks are these stones hiding behind?

You can't miss What's Brewin', it's right on the main street in Tomahawk, WI

Back to Blogging

I have been very negligent in blogging. I have no excuse, just laziness. I am challenging myself by signing up for the NaBloPoMo, which stands for National Blog Posting Month. The rule is you blog every Monday through Friday for a given month. I’m starting the October challenge so beginning tomorrow my hope is to blog every day, including the weekends. I can’t find as much information on this challenge as I’d liked. One source I found lists prompts for October. The prompts don’t fit in with the purpose of my blog.

To illustrate what I mean, here are the prompts for the first week:

• Monday, October 1, 2012
  When you saw the word mask, was your first interpretation protection, covering up, persona, or performance?
• Tuesday, October 2, 2012
  Are you good at hiding your feelings or is your face an open book?
• Wednesday, October 3, 2012
  Do you enjoy acting?
• Thursday, October 4, 2012
  How good are you at telling a lie?
• Friday, October 5, 2012
  Do you tend to cover up your failings or admit your mistakes?
• Monday, October 8, 2012
  If you had the superpower to know what everyone was thinking (but not saying) would you use it?

So, wish we luck.

To update one event while I wasn’t blogging. My 4 y.o. tortoise shell kitty Clare became very ill the last week of July. I don’t want to go into everything we went through, it was very traumatic. The cause of her death was two-fold. She had a condition of her spleen we didn’t know about, it was destroying her red blood cells. Her hemoglobin was 4, incompatible with living more than a few days. In addition it appears she ingested a tylenol I’d dropped, as her liver went into failure. The damage the vet saw on her autopsy was consistent with tylenol ingestion. Had her spleen been functioning she might have survived but the two together was too much for sweet Clare to tolerate. I miss her a lot.

Two weeks later I was at the vets with Clare’s litter mate, just for a well cat check and immunizations. A feral kitty had been brought in and the vet needed to find a home. So, he now has a home. His name is Cork, after County Cork in Ireland. He also has brownish ears that look like corks. He’s a very sweet kitty.

Cork, feral once, now part of the family

Mystery House Number One

When you drive by abandoned houses do you ever wonder what stories the house could tell? Maybe I’m just weird but I always wonder about who lived in the house over the years. Who had it built? Who was the last family to live there and why did they leave? Every abandoned house has a story, in fact, has many stories. I am going to try and learn, in the words of Paul Harvey, the rest of the story about abandoned houses I come across. 

This is house number one. If you are driving east on Highway 64 in Wisconsin this house is on your left, a few hundred feet into Chippewa County. I’m guessing it has been at least 25 years since anyone has lived in the house. There are a few out buildings and a large barn. The barn is in fairly good shape. I think it might be being used to store hay. There are tire tracks in the driveway.

I will be trying to find out more of this house’s history by visiting the Chippewa County Historical Society and the county surveyor’s records. When I learn more I will post the rest of the story.

There is an abandoned house in southern MN near the IA border I want to learn more about. It’s on Highway 52. It will be mystery house number two. I’ll post it next month. I hope to do one house per month.

As viewed from Highway 64 West

As viewed from Highway 64 East

The front of the house

The side of the house

From Google Maps

Tomahawk Pow Wow Days: 4th of July Parade

Tomahawk always has a big 4th of July parade, one of the largest in the state. This year’s seemed smaller, possibly because the 4th this year was in the middle of the week. There definitely seemed to be fewer parade watchers this year. It was a great parade. It was a very, very hot day. I felt sorry for the various bands who marched. Here are some photos of the parade. To see more photos go to the Tomahawk Main Street page on Facebook.

The empty wheelchair represents those veterans who have died

Tomahawk High School Alumni float

This group comes every year from Janesville, WI

Any parade in WI has to include the Packers

This was most welcomed by the dogs who attended the parade

A Toothache

When I moved here a month ago my plan was to keep the same dentist in St. Paul since I just need cleanings every 6 months. I like my dentist there and didn't want to find a new dentist. I'm continuing with my oncologist, primary care physician, ENT, GI doc, and pulmonologist in St. Paul  so I figured I'd keep my dentist too.

But last week, when I got a mail reminder about my July dental appointment, I decided no, I don't want to drive 220 miles each way to see the dentist. The dentist I had when I lived here in the 80's is still in practice and I like him. I planned to call after the 4th for an appointment to get my teeth cleaned.

Then Sunday I started getting a toothache. It has gotten progressively worse and, of course, trying to sleep is difficult because when I lie down the throbbing gets worse. I called my old/now new dentist's office and left a message, hopefully he can see me today (Monday).

My younger son Alex and his 5 y.o. son are here for the week, with his wife and 2 y.o. son coming over on Tuesday. They are staying at my former husband's place. We are all looking forward to fun activities all week with them and my daughter's girls. So I really don't want to be going through this right now. Compared to what some of my ocular melanoma friends are going through this week, with liver metastasis just diagnosed, this is pretty insignificant. I will keep that thought in mind and try not to complain too much.

Tomahawk River Walk

The Tomahawk River Walk is a short walking path between North Fourth Street at Memorial Park to the public library. It follows the river. It is only a half mile long. I get on it at the library and walk to Memorial Park. It goes under the bridge on 4th Street, which is nice. In the summer it can be difficult to cross the street from Memorial Park to the Dairy Queen across the street. I don’t like Dairy Queen so it presents no temptation to me. Here are some photos taken along the walk.

A view of the 4th Street Bridge, and Tomahawk water tower

Fishing the Wisconsin River

Evening Walks in Tomahawk

I’ve been able to take walks most evenings since moving to Tomahawk. I am one of those people who always carries a camera. You never know if you are going to see something you want to take a photo of.  I’m happy we now have digital photography. This allows users to delete the bad photos, unlike the past when we had to pay for all photos developed, even the bad ones. Here are some photos I took on a recent walk.

A cat with a Charlie Chaplin mustache

A blue dragon fly

Can you see the 4 leaf clover? I'm always finding 4 leaf clovers.  Still haven't won the lottery though.