The building has started!

We had not had a chance to get up to the property for a month. Since that time, the land had been cleared for the new utility building and construction had started. We still had bendy trees (trees where the snow weight had bent the trees over) from the heavy snow that occurred this winter, and needed to get them cleaned up. We had algae growing on the stairway that we wanted to get cleaned off. And, we had to re-deploy our trail cameras. So we had some work to do, but could only afford to be up for a one-nighter.

We left Friday a bit after 9:00 AM and arrived at the property, after checking into the hotel, around 1:30. We checked out the construction of the building and then got to work. I started by weed-wacking the picnic table space and the path at the water.

Lorraine then got going on the stairs, sweeping them and applying Wet-And-Forget. Since she could handle that task, I could get going on cutting up the bendy trees. I started up at the driveway split and worked my way back to the fire lane and start down the clearing driveway when Lorraine joined and we were able to get to the outhouse. Then it was time to call it quits for the day work-wise.

We went back to the hotel to get cleaned up, and then went to get dinner at Cino De Mayo. After a lost credit card scare that we were able to resolve, it was back to the property to have a small fire. We headed to the hotel around 9:30.

As usual, I was up pretty early on Saturday morning, and it was back to the property to try to wrap up our work. I had bendy trees from the split back to the road, and from the outhouse to the clearing, and that was the first thing I tackled. I then was able to deploy the trail cameras, with two new ones at the building site. It allows us to see the construction as it develops.

I was headed back to the hotel by 9:00 AM. I had really thought that we would need to work throughout the day before we could head home, but good use of our time on Friday meant that I was able to wrap things up in my morning trip to the property. This meant we had the day to travel back home with no need to go do more work.

We decided to make this a less-hectic trip back home, so took off to head to Sparta where the Butterfest was occurring. We checked out the art show/flea market and did not see much that impressed us, so after some excellent mini-donuts, we decided to travel south to Westby rather than hopping on the interstate to the east. We had taken that route when Lorraine attended school in LaCrosse and thought we would like to retrace that path in the heart of the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. It is the area that made me fall in love with Wisconsin and its topography.

We travelled down to Westby, and then it was on to Viroqua. We stopped in Viroqua to go thru the various downtown shops and farmer's market. Then it was back on the road to Boscobel where we stopped at the A&W to grab some lunch.

It was then on the road back home, taking the Galena route that we had done so many times back-in-the-day.

This was a very successful trip, and I am feeling good about the resolution to the winter damage (it only took three trips to get things cleaned up!) and the beginning of the building construction. We still have an unimaginable challenge at the water, where more and more debris has stacked up against the boulders, something we will need to tackle on our next trip.