Brian called a dance for the Swingin' Singles Square Dance Club in Waukesha, Wisconsin on April 29th. There were lots of dead deer along the road once we entered Wisconsin. We have found this stretch of Hwy 94 to have many deceased deer along the roadside. Haven’t figured out why this stretch of the highway is so deadly for the deer. There were three squares at one point but ended with only one square at the end of the night. Is that bad? Maybe Brian tired them out. On the way back, we stopped to pick up some Burlington Northern Railroad items that my brother had purchased.
Brian and I went to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre on May 5th with Mike and Sandy. We celebrated Mike’s birthday, which was on May 4th. We won’t say how old he is now. We saw Guys and Dolls on the main stage. Our seats were right up front, and we enjoyed seeing the actors up close. There’s always more food for dinner than one can eat in one sitting. We took home the leftovers and had them for lunch the next day.
Brian went into the recording studio on Wednesday, May 6th and recorded four songs. He recorded My Back Pages and You’ve Got A Friend for Gold Wing Records, I Knew Jesus (Before He Was A Star) for Solid Gold Records and Garden Party for Wild West Records. Brian has recorded about 40 songs for square dancing since 2013. He should investigate releasing a “Best Of Brian” CD. If you want to listen to any of Brian’s music head over to https://callerbrian.com/music-and-videos/
On Friday, May 8th, we drove to Ames, IA and checked into the Microtel Hotel. Along the way we saw a tow truck being towed by a tow truck. We had supper at a local steak house/restaurant where you could grill your own meat for supper. Brian called a dance for the Triple G square dance club that night. There were six squares dancing for the Mainstream tips and four squares dancing for the Plus tips. There was club furnished pie and ice cream after the dance. Very delicious!
We drove back home on the 9th, emptied the suitcase and exchanged speakers so that Brian could call the dance at Triple T on Saturday afternoon. There was a small group of dancers, but they seemed to be having fun. We went out for supper after the dance. Now just sitting in the motorhome watching TV and taking it easy.
On Sunday the 10th, we went to church in the morning, our Capitol City Chapter antique car club meeting in the afternoon and then out to supper at Olive Garden with Debbie’s stepsister and her husband. Little did we know when we set up the supper date that it was Mother’s Day. Lots of families but only a short wait time at the restaurant. It was fun to see everyone all dressed up for the occasion.
A couple of free days followed until Wednesday. We went to pick up Debbie’s stepmother as my dad left several coin collections when he passed away. She had everything loaded into my dad’s pickup, so we took that to the coin shop. The shop was very gracious and took several coins at face value instead of making us take them back home. We went for lunch with her at Ze’s in Bloomington and then drove back to her house. She had a couple of little chores that needed to be done around the house, so Brian took care of them for her.
On the 14th, we met with our financial advisor, and he was pleased with how we were handling our finances. We left his office grateful for his advice over the years. We went to dinner with Mike and Sandy Driscoll on the 15th and then on to Burnsville High School to see High School Musical performed by the students. It started late but was very enjoyable once it got started.
On the morning of the 16th, Debbie went to a Ladies Luncheon at Mike & Sandy’s church in Savage. After a great brunch supplied by the attendees, several games of BINGO were played. I won the second game, which was a regular game, but with a twist. The caller didn’t say what the twist was so after I yelled BINGO, I stood up and did the Twist. Everyone in the room seemed to get a good laugh from that. However, I think I’m banned from future luncheons. Brian stayed home and practiced his calling as he was doing the Jolly Promenaders dance at night. There were at least five squares in attendance that night.
The next few days will be very busy for us.
On Sunday the 17th, we had supper with a former co-worker of Debbie’s and her husband, Linda and Mark. Debbie worked with Linda many years ago before Debbie got laid off in 2009. But we have kept in touch through social media and it was very good to see her again.
Another few lazy days until the 20th when we had to take the motorhome and the Maverick up to Camping World for some minor repairs and regular maintenance work. It seems like every time we go up there for some work, it takes at least 4-5 hours no matter how little or much they need to do. But everything was taken care of for our trip back to Arizona.
On the 21st, we had supper with another friend from work, Sue and Scott. We met at Big Louie’s and had a great time getting caught up. We even played a couple rounds of their meat raffle (didn’t win anything) and just sat and chatted. The restaurant wasn’t busy to we didn’t need to rush out of there. We made plans to get together again in the fall when we return back to Minnesota.
For lunch on the 22nd, we got together with our great friends, the Driscoll’s and Maiden’s at Clive’s Roadhouse in Burnsville. Again, lots of chatting with each other and a good meal. On the 23rd, we had supper with Debbie’s brother, Peter, and stepmother, Sharon at Culver’s in Plymouth. This is a favorite place of ours since their menu is so varied and they let adults order off the kid’s menu. We all had a cup of frozen custard after dinner.
On the 24th, we went to Mike and Sandy’s house to have a Memorial Day bonfire. Other friends, John and Pat, were able to come also. However, a new set of steps was being built at Mike & Sandy’s AND it looked like a storm was approaching. So, no bonfire that night. We went into their house to escape the rain and had some ice cream for a treat.
Nothing happened on the 25th for us other than going to the cemetery to visit the graves of my father and grandparents, so we used the rest of the time to start packing up the motorhome for the trip to Arizona. Brian had a hair cut appointment on the 26th with his hair stylist before we left. The 27th, we took the Maverick to Freeway Ford for an oil change and to check out the left rear brake light that didn’t work. It turns out that something had shorted out with the towing package so they couldn’t fix the situation. We decided to just leave things as is for now, since we leave for Arizona the next morning.