Third Time is a Charm

Our third stop this summer was Windsor, Colorado.  Our youngest grandchild was confirmed on June 12th.  That was the third confirmation in the last 6 weeks.  That also marked the end of the big events we needed to be at this summer.

Well, we got out of the "Arizona winter" weather as we left Wisconsin.  But neither of us expected it to be hot (99 degrees) for the Sunday Ella was confirmed.  What happened to spring???  That must have happened on the day we traveled across the Mississippi River and through Iowa. 😂

Roy and Char Beyer, Ella's other grandparents traveled to Colorado as well, which was great since we got to spend extra time with them.

Below is a picture of Ella and Abbie with Pastor Halldorson at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Greeley, Colorado.  

Officially now all of our children and grandchildren are confirmed.  No more grandchildren in grade school.  Where did the time go??!  

Ella and her family:  Nate, Bret, Ella, Kim, Tatum and Jonah (brother-in-law)

After church, Bret and Kim had an open house.  True to Lutheran tradition, there was more than enough food!  Besides Mexican food, there was an abundance of other salads and side dishes, plus cake pops, rice Krispie bars and cake. No one went away hungry.

There is always a lot of kidding around and laughter when our family gets together.  You can tell there was some sort of joke or snarky remark by the looks on Lisa and Bret's faces!  We sure are thankful for the Lord blessing us with family and friends.  🙏💖💕

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Alas, the rain returned yesterday and ruined the chances of us doing one more bike ride in Wisconsin.  Guess we have to be thankful for the days of sunshine and warmer weather that we did have.  The pics below were taken on Saturday morning.  This was the view of the Algoma lighthouse looking through a spider web.

We headed first to the lighthouse and the beach with no planned route in mind. 

As usual, I was stopping to take pics of the lake and a nearby statue that captured my eye.  Don waited patiently while I snapped away.  Notice how busy the street traffic was......

The statue was next to St.Agnes-by-the-Lake Episcopal Church which is situated across from the beach. Their congregation first met together in 1877!

After winding our way through town we headed for the hills, so to speak.  There was even less traffic out here.

On our way back we noticed some big objects on an old decrepit barn.  At first I thought they were metal sculptures.  We had just ridden past a house of an artist who had a sign outside advertising her sculpture business. 

Then we both realized the objects were birds!  Maybe huge crows?  Nope! They were turkey vultures!

The ugly heads gave them away.  I never thought I'd see this type of wildlife in Wisconsin!  These are certainly not the type of birds that congregate at Roy and Char's backyard bird feeder!  Talk about creepy!😨

Manitowoc Maritime Museum

 We were neither feeling "sub-par" nor "sub-versive" when we took a tour of the USS Cobia submarine docked at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.  No sub sandwiches were on the menu.  Okay, I digress.   So much for all the puns about subs and on to the focus of this post.  

Twenty eight submarines were built in Manitowoc, Wisconsin during WWII.  The ship building company here employed 7000 workers who worked three shifts 7 days a week during that time.  Before that could be done the company had to figure out how to side-launch the submarines into the narrow bay. Like they say, "Where there is a will, there is a way" and the process was developed and perfected.

The USS Cobia was built in Connecticut and has been dedicated as a National Historic Monument for her service during WWII.  Since 1986 she has safely rested in the Lake Michigan waters by the city of Manitowoc.

Before we did the tour, we sauntered around part of the large museum and came across this photo.  It made me chuckle, so I just had to include it in this post.  That's a teenager for you.

We quickly realized that living in a submarine would be easy if one was young, supple and thin.  For those of us in our older years, it is a real pain going from one area into another!  This was one time I was glad I was short or shall I say "height challenged"?

One of the most used places in the submarine is the head.  The tour guide told us that men had to learn how to correctly flush the toilet and that they hoped the previous person had done it too.  Otherwise they would wind up with brown freckles!  This is one time you hope all the newbies are quick learners.😖  Did you notice how much toilet paper they stored and this was pre-COVID!

Imagine sleeping right above the torpedoes and sharing that bunk with someone else.  This was called "hot-bunking" since the bunk was probably still warm from the previous seaman.  One gentleman on our tour had served time on the USS Cobia and shared many interesting tidbits.  He said you also had to avoid touching the torpedoes since they were highly greased.  I can't imagine trying to get out of those bunks and making it to my morning cup of coffee without getting dirty/greasy.

Eating was done in shifts, with 24 men squeezed into the small eating area.  From the information in the museum, the men in the subs were the best fed guys serving in the war.  The gentleman in our group told us that after 3 weeks at sea there was no milk nor fresh fruits.  When they were at shore they could basically ask for anything they wanted (within reason).  I don't think lobster or sushi would have been available.  After all, what American young guy during the war years even knew what sushi was?  

 

I wonder how many cooks were in this kitchen at one time.  Two?  Possibly three if they were all skinny?

Below is the captain's quarters. The doorway was covered with glass to protect all the memorabilia.  The captain had donated his notes, pictures, shoes and even his cap to the museum so it would look just like it was during his tenure. 

All the men went through intensive cross training during their time onboard. Everyone had to know each job on the ship.  If the sub had to dive quickly or engage in evasive maneuvers, the men in compartments had to stay in place and do the jobs assigned to that area.   

Masks were required on the tour.  COVID is still around unfortunately.  It did feel a bit claustrophobic at times to me since it was warm and there was no air movement.  Roy waited for Don to bend over and get through the doorway. 

As we made our way through the larger bunk area our tour guide told us about the red lighting.  This was used because it was easier for the eyes to adjust if they had to go to other areas that were darkened or had little lighting to conserve energy.

All in all, the tour was quite interesting and enlightening. If you are ever in the area, do the tour!😀

Short Post, Short Ride

The weather FINALLY was nice enough yesterday for a bike ride.  Don checked, and it had been almost a month since we had ridden.  I think that must be a record for us because when we're home we are out and riding 5-6 times a week.

Char and Don discussed our planned route (there was none). Don was in the lead and we never knew which street he was going to turn on.  At that point it didn't matter.  We had virtually no traffic and of course, nary a stoplight since the closest one was in Luxemburg. almost 15 miles away.

It turned out to be part city and part country ride.  The last portion was on the Ahnapee Trail going west, one of our favorite places to ride.

And this was our turn around point:

This morning we rode another portion of the Ahnapee trail and also the Ice Age trail.  No pics.  The camera was forgotten back at Roy and Chars's.😞