The house plans are still being developed, I am trying not to go too big, to keep costs down, but working with those constraints are causing some problems with the MB walk-in closet. On the current blueprint the closet is a tight squeeze, so the plans are being redone.

The house will be a ranch with 3 bedrooms. I have been spending all the available free time I have cutting down and removing the trees that need to be moved so the excavating can begin. currently, my chain and bar are stuck in a tree because they got pinched. tomorrow I will free those items up and continue the unending task. I didn't think the tree part would be this difficult.

Ellen and Sarah and I, along with Deb and her son, Corey went to the onalaska fireworks on june 29. the display was good and it was cute watching ellen lay next to marley on their backs watching the display. it was also very refreshing to see (and hear sarah) with her screams of delight as a bigger and better fireworks burst entertained her. that night the girls went to bed after 11 pm, and of course the next day we slept in, I was late for work, etc.

recently Jane took the girls on an amtrack train ride from winona, mn to la crosse, wi. apparently the had a very good time.

tonight, the girls are sleeping, and I thought I would take the time to update the blog and then look up a race this saturday that ellen may participate in.

have a good day,

ron.

Another trip I took was on the cycle. It consisted of a drive starting on friday after work until about 10pm, when it started raining. I stopped at a hotel and recovered until about 10 am. I travelled another 7 hrs. until I arrived at Tom and Judy's cabin home in estes park, CO at 6 pm that saturday. We ate good food, drank some beer, and visited, and shopped a little for the next several days. It was very relaxing. We then connected our motorcylces to a trailer and drove to billings, MT on that thursday. We stayed at a ramada limited and visited with additional relatives. Then on Saturday, June 14, 2003, we attended the event that everything led up to....Tim and Kiely Roska's wedding. It was a wonderful event and it even made some people cry, ....but not me of course.

the wedding reception followed and everyone had a good time. some wisecracker even set off a fireworks display right in front of the reception doorway just after Deb and I left. We still don't know who did that.

Oh, also, I was able to find some very cool fireworks in MT at a nice indian reservation about 30 minutes out of billings, mt. I found $75 worth of good fireworks.

Then, on monday morning, about 9am, I headed for la crosse, wi on my bike. I arrived at home at 12:45am the next morning. I drove all the way through, about 1000 miles, 9 or 10 stops for gas, with only 1 or 2 pee breaks. Most of the time my speed was 95 mph, but sometimes, .....mostly through SD, it peaked out at 120 or so. Those speed bursts were mostly short lived because I just sucked up the gas. At 65 mph, I get about 44 mpg, at 95, I get about 31 mpg.

after sleeping for several hours, i then went to work. I was so tired for the next few days that I didn't know if I would ever catch up on sleep.

anyway, this is a shortened version of the trip and if anyone has any ???s, please ask.

Per Karen's request, I am writing a little more about Las Vegas. I was down there for some a credit union seminar and pretty much had the late afternoons and evenings free. It was good to see the casinos on the strip. It was also cool to see the content of many books that are written with the strip as a topic in their stories. I thought the city was quite a bit more liberal than I am used to. There was strip bars, operating in mid afternoon.... people on street corners handing out business cards for escort services, etc.

I pretty much stayed at the caesars palace since it had shopping, dining, and the hotel itself. I also visited another hotel and casino-the ballagio since I personally handled a claim with the hotel and someone we insure. the ballagio is a very nice place. I really enjoyed the floral courtyard. It was entirely indoors but with a glass roof, it had millions of flowers in excellent arrangements along with a decorative and coreographed watersprout display. The flower area was about 3000 sf. in size. it smelled wonderful.