7063. Draw Charlie Brown

 Back in April, I saved a link on Facebook on how to draw Charlie Brown. I decided this would be a good COVID-19 Bucket List activity. Even though I never got around to finishing writing the COVID-19 bucket list -- 19 things you want to do during quarantine, I still wanted to do this Charlie Brown drawing.

Finally after being on my to do list for several weeks, I decided to finally draw Charlie Brown. 

The directions are pretty straight forward. 

Photo Courtesy of Charles M Schulz Museum Facebook

Even not being an artist, I was able to do a pretty good job. I do realize his ears are lopsided but it does look like Charlie Brown.

The Charles M Schultz Museum Facebook page has other Peanut character tutorials if you scroll through their feed. Maybe one day I will try to and conquer Snoopy.

6478. Make pickles

 Back in June, Janis asked if we wanted to help make pickles since she was having hip surgery and couldn't do the pickling herself this year. I've never made pickles and neither have Danielle or Erin so we figured it was a good time to learn. 

Janis got the pickles (1/2 bushel) and dill from Wagner's in Black Creek. Erin and I stopped at the store to pick up a few odds and ends that Janis requested. Then she requested mustard seed. We stopped at the Pick N Save by her house. We head down the baking aisle and no spices. Finally after wandering up and down the aisles (and asking an employee), we found the spices next to the canned soup!?!?

Pickling making is a relatively easy yet time consuming process and we were going to make three different types of pickles.. refrigerator, dill, and bread and butter.

First thing we had to do was wash all those dang pickles to get off the grit. 

Then we started to cut the pickles. We chopped the pickles for bread and butter and made spears for the rest. I did not cut off any fingers or require any band-aids. Janis had them just in case. :)

Then we had made the bread and butter "stew" -- pickles, onions, and garlic. This mixture had to sit for 3 hours.

After a lunch break, we started the brine and canning process. We made the brine for the refrigerator pickles which we would finish at home by laying cucumbers and dill in a bowl. Cover with a plate for 48 hours and jar.

Then we made the brine for the dill pickles. Erin and I jammed the jars full of pickles and dill. Erin was much better at jamming the jars with pickles than I was. She did most of the bread and butter jars. I just filled the with the mustard seeds, alum, and red peppers flakes at the bottom of the jar

Danielle would fill the jars with brine. 

I would make sure the air bubbles were out of the jars and then Danielle would put them in the pot of boiling water for 15 minutes. Repeat with the the bread and butter pickles.

Cooking is what takes forever. We could only get 4-6 jars in the pot at time and we had at least 12 jars of each the dill and bread and butter pickles. Each batch has to cook for 15 minutes exactly

The dill and bread and butter pickles have sit for 6 weeks. So they are sitting on top of my hutch.

The refrigerator pickles are good to eat after the 48 hours but are best after a week in the fridge. The refrigerator pickles are really good. I am almost out. 

This was a great day. It wasn't hard to pickle. Even the scary jar tongs weren't that scary. Now if only I knew how to can peaches.

Virtually Hanging With the Cast of the Babysitter's Club

 I grew up reading The Babysitter's Club by Ann M. Martin. I still have all my books tucked away in a box in the garage. When I saw that they were coming out with Babysitters Club series on Netflix, I was excited. Not that I have Netflix anymore....

Scrolling through Facebook, I saw that Barnes and Nobles was hosting a virtual chat session with the cast of the Babysitter's Club and Gale Galligan, illustrator of the Babysitter's Club Graphic Novels. It was during the middle of the day on a Saturday afternoon. I had nothing else going on. I made sure I was online for this. 

Gale Galligan hosted an Zoom event and Facebook Live to chat with the 5 characters of the Babysitters Club TV show on Netflix. This was the fist time I saw the actresses that were playing the beloved Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacy, and Dawn. 

Some of the characters were similar to what I pictured them to be. Sophie Grac was just how I pictured Kristy to be. The same with Claudia.. Momona Tamada was perfect. Shay Rudolph was kind of how I pictured Stacy. Malia Baker did fit Mary Anne just not as I pictured her. 

Then there was Dawn. I knew they made her character from the blond California girl to a Latina. When I read this, I was like other readers "How dare you mess with the books?". Dawn is blond. However, within the first couple of minutes of watching I totally loved Xochitl Gomez, who plays Dawn. Switching from a blond California girl to a Latina made sense and Xochitl is a goof fit. I'm glad they have that diverse cast. Probably back in the late 80s, early 90s when these books first came out, a blond Dawn made sense (stereotypes, I know) but now a Latina Dawn fits just as well.  

Gale and the cast talked about the show, how they started reading the books, their characters. They talked about their favorite episodes to shoot. Everyone said the camp episode or the wedding one.

Watching this Facebook Live event was probably the highlight of my day. It brought me back to my childhood where I couldn't wait to order the next book in the Scholastic book order or book fair. Now I need to think about getting Netflix again so I can watch the episodes. 

A Quick Visit to a Meadery

Stacy and I usually try to hit a brewery or a winery on our girls weekend. Due to COVID and where we went this year, our choices were limited. The winery in Ripon wasn't doing tastings but did have live music. We opted to head to Rushford Meadery & Winery in Omro.

Rushford Meadery & Winery is a small winery in an old school building. They grow apples and grapes on the land as well. We were a little shocked when we pulled up to find it was an old school building.

They have about a dozen different meads, wines, and ciders. The tasting included 5 samples. Mead is wine made with honey.

I went with the:

Northern White Pyment -- It was a semi-dry mead with hints of peach and pineapple. It was refreshing but not a must buy.

Aronia Berry Mead -- This was another semi-dry Melomel. It had berries, cherry, blackberry, and current undertones. It was very good.

Cider -- This was a semi-sweet cider with a clean apple finish. It was good and my second favorite.

La Brianna -- This was a sweet wine with a big grape flavor. It was by far my favorite.

Siren's Song -- This was a sweet Pyment. It wasn't bad but I preferred others to this.

The co-owner wasn't too friendly and didn't really engage in chit chat. I felt we were an inconvenience.

There is plenty of room to social distance and wine taste as well as enjoy a class. It was weird though being in a school building.

It was a different stop. I would give them another try with the right group of people. However I would urge you to check them out if you are in the area.

4917. See the Larson’s Famous Clydesdales in Ripon

I saw a news story or something about the Clydesdales near Ripon and decided I wanted to see. I was one of those girls who didn't LOVE horses so this wasn't an absolute must see NOW. It was one of those if I get to it, great.. if not, oh well. However because they were Clydesdales I did really want to see them because who didn't love Clydesdales horses especially in Budweiser commercials.

Larson's Famous Clydesdales are only open on Saturdays currently for one tour and show at 1pm. It costs $15 an adult for the show and tour.. cash only. That didn't stop Stacy and I from wanting to see them. Her daughter was excited to see Horseys too.

We got there a few minutes late. Parking was on the county road. We missed the introduction to the horses in the corral but we still got most of the tour.

After the introduction near the corral, we learned about how the Larsen's transport their Clydesdales and saw thee trailers.

Then we got to meet one of the horses. They walked us through preparing a Clydesdale for a show. It takes about 6 hours to prepare a team of six horses to show.

Finally it was time for a brief show. Mr. Larsen demonstrated what a men's single cart show was like at the State Fair.

After the show we got to see the other horses.

Including the baby horse.

The best part, even if the horse wanted to eat me, was getting up close to the horses

It was definitely worth the price of admission. The Larsens are world champions cart drivers. They love their sport and horses. If you are looking for something different to do in the Ripon area, this would be a must see.

4915. See the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon

Earlier in the year Stacy and I had planned on doing Rockford/Beloit for the girls weekend. Then COVID hit. We decided to do a girls day instead. After bouncing a few ideas around, we decided to head to Ripon since there were several bucket list items we could cross off while social distancing.

Our first was the Little White Schoolhouse which was the birthplace of the Republican party. I really am not really political or have ties to either party but I wanted to see an important place in our county's history.

The Little White Schoolhouse is a one room schoolhouse in the middle of Ripon. When we got there we could either look around ourselves or get a guided tour. I didn't think we needed a tour as I didn't care of the too much of the history of the schoolhouse, which I kind of regret now. I really regret not actually caring about the history of the place. I gravitated towards the toys.

You can learn the history of the Republic Party and what life in a one room schoolhouse was like by reading the walls and looking at the display cases.

You can also put on the dunce hat in a stand or sit in the corner.

It is not a huge place but it is a piece of history that is worth visiting especially since it's free. The hubby has never been there so I feel a repeat trip may be in the future. I would definitely read and learn the history of the schoolhouse instead of just going to it.

Seeing the Soo Line in Ladysmith

When I was planning our second of three county road trips, I discovered there was not much to see or do in Rusk or Burnett counties. They are mainly rural "up north counties" where hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities are a big deal. After a bunch of Google searches, I found that Ladysmith had a small train museum which was right up the hubby's alley.

Inside the Rusk County Visitor's Center is a small collection of railroad memorabilia. The collection includes a telegraph station and several telegraphs along with pictures of the the Soo Line trains.

Outside are several train cars you can enter.

There is the caboose which actually went through the Fox Cities during its tenure.

A diesel engine you can actually sit in

A mail car complete with a dead body.. possibly part of a haunted train at Halloween.

And a couple passenger cars.

It was a nice little museum and a great spot to stretch out legs. If you are headed up to the northwoods in Western Wisconsin and you like trains this is definitely a place to stop.