Updates & Random Stuff

Our truck is in the shop for repairs. Here is our rental. It's a Ford Escape. Three cylinder but turbo. It's a cute little car. Our insurance is covering everything. Our truck should be done Friday.

With all the stuff going on in the country, thankfully hubby's job is stable. Some rumors were going around and a meeting was called to reassure the employees there is enough work, including overtime, for several years. The company is actively hiring, and increasing wages for everyone.

Our favorite brand of brown eggs is back. The prices are stable, higher than before the bird flu, but stable. I found a double-yolk egg this morning.

We found an interesting place to walk just north of Kaukauna. We want to go back when the trees are green and there is some sunshine. I never realized the Fox River turns into a huge, raging river through Kaukauna. It was very cloudy, so my pictures don't do it justice. We also found another trail. We ended up walking 4 miles that day. Here is the Fox River. I see some flooding.

This area is "downwind" from the paper mill. The smell was undetectable that day.

The USDA growing zone is warmer here than it is in Hartford, which is still a zone 5a. Here we are zone 5b. Even Green Bay is 5b. Sheboygan is zone 6. I remember when Wisconsin was cold, I mean Really Cold. I think the summers here may not be as hot as Hartford.

Some of my plants are happy, some are not. The ones on the west window sill appreciate the warm sunshine and cool nights, which is how succulents and cacti grow in nature. I can peek at them through half-open vertical blinds. Vertical blinds only work for sliding glass doors. I do NOT like vertical blinds.

The shelf setup under the south window has mixed results. Some succulents are ok, some want sun, and my Jades have been wrinkling their leaves meaning they need more water, and those low shelves are no fun to water. It's not that I can't bend over, the problem is the metal rods in my neck don't allow me to look up while bending over, I have to go in sideways, and reach in to water, and then go back to make sure nothing is sitting in water.

When we moved in we noticed there was a wild area along the road. The first thing I thought of was "wildlife habitat". We could hear lots of birds but can't see it from our apartment. We asked to move to the front apartment if it ever becomes available. The red arrow points to the apartment complex.

Google street view

Then it was scraped down to bare mud and drainage pipes were put in.

My picture

Now they are filling it with dirt. No idea what they are doing, but maybe there was a mosquito problem.

That's all for now.

Oh Blinkin' Lights and Blaring Horns

Our truck's electrical system must have gone haywire. Friday hubby called me from work. He was on break and notice the blinkers were on. Then he noticed the horn was honking. He rushed over to the truck to find that the doors were locking and unlocking by themselves, ALL the warning signals were flashing on and off and the ear-splitting horn wouldn't shut the f up. He was kind of freaked out, and going deaf from the horn. By now I was freaked too. He disconnected the battery and all the noise shut off. Of course he had to leave the truck unlocked, because now the key fob had no effect. 

He was able to drive home without the horn going off again. He disconnected the battery and left it as is for the rest of the night. Saturday morning I called Service. I called Ford Service everywhere and NOTHING was open until Monday. 

Hubby watched YouTube videos, consulted the manual, and decided to pull the fuse for the horn, because who wants a horn loud enough to wake the dead honking continuously. We decided to stop at Auto Zone so they could diagnose it. Battery was ok. No codes were picked up by the handheld tester they use. The Alternator seemed to be questionable.

We have a service plan with excellent coverage, but service must be performed at a Ford Dealership. I was able to make an early appointment for Wednesday.

In the meantime, hubby figured out that it was fine to drive, but when parked, he had to disconnect the battery in order to shut off the lights. If we were only going to be walking around for a few minutes, we figured it was fine. For any extended time the battery would need to be disconnected and the truck would be unlocked. That was ok for work (parking is fenced in) or here at the apartment (nothing so far has happened).

We did drive around over the weekend and checked out some parks. They will be pretty once they start the green up.

We got as far as Kaukauna before the rain and sleet started. What an interesting town. They have preserved many old buildings and factories and converted them. We want to go back when the library is open. It used to be a paper mill. Here is a picture.

The Ahlstrom-Munksjo Thilmany paper mill is down river, in this picture. 

The river is wide and swift in Kaukauna. I looked it up. There is a 50 foot drop as the water races toward Green Bay. So the water runs north out of Lake Winnebago and into the Fox River. For some reason I thought it flowed the other way. Kaukauna generates electricity from the river.

On the way home I started to smell something. It smelled like dog poo. Just then hubby asked, what's that smell? Just then I noticed he had opened his window slightly. I also noticed we were downwind of the paper mill. 

It's the Paper Mill!!!! Your window is open. He promptly closed it. After we were down the road more, hubby opened his window again to let in some fresh air. Honestly, it was like sticking your nose into a bag of dog sh*t.

I always heard people say, don't live downwind of a paper mill. Sometimes the wind shifts and there's nothing you can do.

I looked up the paper mill's page, out of curiosity. Headquarters are in Finland, the mill has Swedish owners. They have quite an operation. The smell is explained, and they try to vent it out away from town, but sometimes the wind shifts. 

We got home just as it started to snow furiously.

I will update Wednesday, after we find out what's wrong with the truck.