Musings

Major Storm

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I’m not sure why you’re spending the time to read this. It’s coming. Can’t you see?  It’s not far away now. Last night, it wasn’t even close. No one cared … Read more

Cool White

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( A rerun from 2017)   The problem with this tradition is that it’s based, at least somewhat, on emotion. On feelings.  Which is why I told my daughter on … Read more

In Between

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I’m sitting here again. Like Groundhog Day, without the square. Just me and this computer, this desk. This street. A few snow flurries outside, just a dusting I’m guessing. It’s … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

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There’s nothing more to write. It’s just Thanksgiving. We should be thankful. I am thankful.  We should also be aware that on our list of things that matter, real estate … Read more

Cold And Frosty

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What a mundane life it would be if we missed mornings like these. Mornings like this. The cold morning where you’re not really cold. The foggy morning where nothing is … Read more

Decisions

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On a day last week, in the afternoon of that day, there was a choice to be made. The sky opened after a period of rain and a period of … Read more

Wish

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I used to wish for things. Lots of things. In the third grade, I wished that a girl I liked wouldn’t move away. She did. Later, I wished that the … Read more

Seasons

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In the northern reaches of this state, where monuments to large men and larger fish draw worshippers and summer starts and ends in the span of barely more than a … Read more

One Last Summer

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Somewhere, sometime, there was a decision made. It was a decision based on indecision, really. This would be it. A lifetime here, in this place, but the times had changed. … Read more

Glenwood Springs Fontana

Gone

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This week wasn’t like the other weeks. It wasn’t like the one before it, or the two before that one. It’s been a week unlike any since this week last … Read more

Not The Same

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I don’t really know exactly how Hamburger Helper works. I assume it’s just a powder mix, with some starch to bind and some salt to flavor. Maybe a dash of … Read more

Today

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It’s another nice day here. The sky is calm and the birds are chirping.  Some water from the sky would be nice, but that’s an opinion only shared by the … Read more

Scarred

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It’s still not clear to me whether or not the air conditioning worked. I remember a serviceman arriving in his rusted Suburban, the smell of his cigarettes, the sound of … Read more

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Municipal Musings

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Last weekend, it was hot. You know that. I know that. It was super hot. Smoking hot. Summer hot. If you were here, then you were less hot than the … Read more

Lilacs

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There was an old Lilac outside my childhood bedroom window. It wasn’t a great bush, or tree. Whichever it was, it wasn’t the finest specimen. It was just a bush … Read more

Forty

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This weekend, I’ll turn 40. It’s no big deal, really. No feat, nothing particularly impressive about passively allowing time to be measured. I’m probably an old 40, if there’s such … Read more

Along The Way

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I love my kids. I really do. Of the few things in this life of which I’m certain, that condition is firmly assured. But I can’t stand driving anywhere with … Read more

Walk This Way

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Somehow,  someway, someone once decided that walking was a nice thing to do.  Let’s go for a walk, someone once said. Others joined in. Those weary of walking likely declined, … Read more

Selling Season!

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It’s here. The time of year Any Lake, Wisconsin has been waiting for. This is their time. It’s all Any Lake, all the time. At least it is for now. … Read more

Winter

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I entered February with a heavy heart. Things were happening that were beyond my control. These things were beyond your control.   They weren’t even things, really. It was just … Read more

Glenwood Springs Fontana

2018 State Of The Market

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(Lake Geneva lovers to the left of the podium, smiling and clapping, standing. Michigan lovers to the right of my podium, scowling, sitting, glaring. Me, walking, shaking, waving. My hair … Read more

Happy New Year

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If you’re reading this, we made it. You made it. I made it. We’re the lucky ones. It’s freezing cold today at the lake, temperatures below zero today just like … Read more

Merry Christmas

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While watching a movie, I think it’s common to live vicariously through the lead character.  This probably isn’t true for some movies, as there’s no dedicated star to wish to … Read more

Gifts

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A man in a sweater.  He’s sitting on the couch. The sweater isn’t very nice, implying it’s not his dinner-sweater. It’s his Christmas morning sweater. He fumbles with batteries. The … Read more

Fire

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The living room was too hot.  The outside temperature barely registered 19 degrees, and the windows were open with the thermostat set at 68, but the living room was hot. … Read more

Preparations

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I have so many hoses. They’re the best hoses. Except the ones that have been cut by lawn mower blades. And the ones that had their metal bits crushed to … Read more

Cool White

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It takes a while for a tradition to become a tradition. An act, repeated once or twice on an annual or bi-annnual basis, does not constitute a tradition. In the … Read more

Thanksgiving

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Halloween is a stupid, fake holiday. There, I said it. It’s absolutely the worst fake holiday there is. I’ll take Sweetest Day over it, and I don’t even know when … Read more

Wreath Sale

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I should have started a cooking blog.  My first post would have been about chocolate chip cookies. That’s SEO gold. I’d sprinkle in mentions of famous chefs’ names, and then, … Read more

The Fall Of It All

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I already know the sort of fall you like. I know the sort of fall everyone likes. It’s the fall we had last Saturday. Sunshine, 70 degrees, bright leaves and … Read more

Construction Sadness

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I’ve decided, in the wake of the Cubs miserable, awful, embarrassing performance this week, to make every post a sad one. Monday, Multiple Offer Sadness. Today, Construction Sadness. Friday, likely, … Read more

Ban

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It’s late and I’m here and I should be wondering why. But I’m not wondering at all. I know why. It’s because I was meant to be here.  Something prompted … Read more

Bored

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The West is burning. It’s been burning for quite some time. From Los Angeles to British Columbia, it’s all ablaze.  Their smoke bothered our Labor Day Weekend skies, casting a … Read more

Home

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My wife has adopted a particular driving habit. No, not the way her car crowds mine in the garage. They just want to be together, she says.  And not the … Read more

My Son’s First Job

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My first job was a job that I now think I’d rather not have had. I mowed lawns. Lots of them. Every week I mowed. Twenty weeks, sometimes more. If … Read more

Patterns

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There’s a pattern to these roads. Not the roads down here, but the roads over there. The roads that lead to the places where people need to be. The road … Read more

Lake Geneva Real Estate Market Update

Worms

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Egg crates, that’s what you want. But not the egg crate itself, just the material. Whatever they make egg crates out of, that’s what the worm factory wanted.  They searched … Read more

Mayfly

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It’s that season again, and with that season, we’ll require a reminder that Mayflies cannot kill you. They can’t give you Zika. They can’t do anything but annoy, and that’s … Read more

Guest Post

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My son had a school writing assignment due this week. I read it and thought it was entertaining. He shares some characteristics with his father. Also, I don’t feel like … Read more

Colors

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By now, we all know that things haven’t been going our way. We started out with that winter, so intent on enjoying it and skiing it and sledding it, scraping … Read more

Tired

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Well, today it happened. I’ve officially ran out of things to say. Specifically, of things to write. There’s nothing left. After nine years of doing this, the well has run … Read more

All Time

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I’m hearing that this warm up is an all-time high. It’s the highest it’s ever been, so high, so early.  The men said they’ve never seen this before, this early … Read more

Gray Again

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What, exactly, are we supposed to do with this?  We wake to the dim light, not because it beckons us but because we must, we sleep with the pitter and … Read more

Eagles

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The Eagles don’t belong to us. They fly here, they fly around, and then they fly away. They don’t visit while we boat, and they don’t visit while we swim. … Read more

Christmas Trees

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In the 1980s, Christmas trees were not especially easy to find. They had trees at the wood boat shop on Highway 50, and then some more trees a ways down … Read more

To Farm

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The tractor is more important than everything else. The barn matters some, but not so much that you’d particularly miss it if you didn’t have it. The gravel driveway needs tending … Read more

Rain

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There’s a front to the north and it’s high and it’s deep and it’s dark and it’s nearly here. I can see it from this window, and I saw it … Read more

Eternal Summer

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In the middle of my living room is a large fireplace. It’s made of bricks and stone, mortar and sweat. Next to the fireplace there’s a basket of sorts, a … Read more

The Ash

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The oldest man with some knowledge of trees died 11 years ago. Other men lived longer, but those men didn’t know anything about trees when they were younger and for … Read more

Rabbit

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My dog eats rabbits. He hears them in the grass. He smells them on the air. He sleeps at night and dreams of rabbits and then he wakes up and he … Read more

Spring

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Spring started a couple of months ago. I guess it was in March. March is when spring starts, the calendar says. Before that, it’s winter. And when spring ends, it’ll … Read more

Just A Dusting

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It’s snowing again. And the coffee tasted the same. The man at the corner with the portable Stop sign waved, but he didn’t want to. The FREE AIR at the … Read more

Deadlines

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I think about the days when I won’t write on this blog. I think about how admitting that is to somehow run afoul of the unwritten rules of a real … Read more

Lake Geneva Real Estate

Spring

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The trees in my front yard are budding. The trees in my back yard are budding. The trees at my office are budding. I’d be willing to bet most of … Read more

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Gray Sky Rising

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It’s gray again. It was gray yesterday, too. The same gray as this gray. There is no different variety of gray now. The only change comes later, when the gray … Read more

The Future

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Twenty years ago today was a normal day. Nothing much happened. I woke up and I drove myself to the gas station across from Daddy Maxwell’s, and I walked over … Read more

Real Estate 201

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I fear this job of real estate is a no-win proposition. There is very little left to do here, little left to prove, little that can be done to change … Read more

Road Work

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The signs made it known in July that the men would come to work on the road in August.  There was a sign taped to the door of this office, and one … Read more

Oh Henry

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I can’t quite read the name of the boat. ENRY is all I can see, the rest blocked by the odd inboard/outboard engine protruding from the stern. Maybe it’s HENRY, … Read more

The American Club

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I do not believe in putting off until tomorrow what you can do today. Unless tomorrow is pretty open, and today is pretty busy. Then I whole heartedly endorse putting … Read more

Jackets and Coats

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I own many coats. I don’t tell you this by way of bragging. I’m not especially proud that I own so many coats, it’s just that I own many of … Read more

The Cubs

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In 1998 I was just a kid. But I was a kid selling real estate, and as a result I was in a strange place. My friends were all still … Read more

Street Signs

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My oldest friend had a birthday yesterday. He’s not old, he’s my age, but it was his birthday and he is the person who has been my friend longer than … Read more