Charlie’s Haus

Today was a shocker.  It went from like 40* yesterday to like -7* this morning.  Thats a pretty big swing and made for a shock to the system when I walked out of the door this morning. 

Last week Monday I went fishing with Cory.  We had a great day of fishing.  Hardly anyone else was out since it was during the week.  Also it helped that it snowed bad Im sure.  I ended up taking home 12 or so really nice 8″ or larger bluegills.  We had a good day and actually threw a bunch of keepers back at the end.  I got to try out my new led lighstrip I picked up at Gander Mountain and it worked surprisingly well.  It made it much easier to see the bobers around dusk. 

Friday Mandi, Lisa and I went to Mandi’s coworker Rocky’s house.  We had some appetizers and wine.  It was fun.  Saturday was the big hockey game against Minnesota.  We had pizza at our house before the game.  It was good to see everyone.  The hockey team ended up with a tie Saturday night, but they did win on Friday night.  It was a good game and a lot of fun.

I have a pretty good start on the basement remodel.  I have the hallway walls up, and have started framing out the bar.  I have run into a few problems with the plans I drew out, so I had to rethink a few things.  It actually turned out better the way it will be anyways, so no worries.  Im pretty excited to get at least the bar part done though.  I know it will be a couple of months Im sure, but I want to see whats in my mind in the basement!

So far nothing is on tap for this weekend, and as long as it stays that way, I will be out one day doing some fishing.  Its nice having like every other weekend busy then free instead of having every weekend busy with something.

Well, its been cold out, but I have managed to get a bunch of projects finished up.  The truck is 95% done….done enough to say its done (the rest is waiting till warmer weather).  I have to do things like bleed the brakes, they are soft but work for now, fix the parking brake, and finish the exhaust (I have it to the mufflers right now, I need to get it from there to wherever its gonna go). 

Since I have managed to finish the truck, I have been able to do some other things.  I finished up trimming the windows after a year.  They look much nicer with trim.  Also, I started work on remodeling the basement.  I got the bar almost all the way taken down, and I started ripping the walls down.  I put up one package of the wood we are using for the walls up (pine carsiding, think northwoods cabin) and its going to look awesome.  The new bar is going to be a little longer and a bit further out from the wall.  Against the wall will be some type of shelves that match the bar and hold things like mugs and liquer bottles.  I will eventually pick up a new chest freezer that will be converted into a fridge to hold my kegs (for the homebrewing I am going to start doing).  I need to also finish setting up my soda gun (I need a new carbonator, the one I bought doesnt work).    It is going to be a pretty sweet setup really. 

I have gotten out fishing twice finally.  I went last weekend after I finished the truck, then yesterday.  Last weekend I went to Lake Waubesa off of Lake Farm.  I never even saw a fish down the hole.  Pretty sad showing.  Yesterday I went to the triangle by Monona bay.  I ended up taking 7 home, 5 bluegills and 2 crappies.  They were all decent size, about 8-9″.  I probably caught 2oo fish though.  I actually couldnt keep two rods in the water and gave up and only fished with one.  I plan on going out tomorrow too since I have the day off.  Not sure where I will end up yet though.

Mandi and I decided to keep a low key New Years this year.  We were sick of driving all over the state.  We normally go to her parents house on New Years Day for supper, but their neighbors were having a party on new years that we were also invited to.  So we switched things around and did New Years Eve dinner and the party “in the hood”.  It was fun and pretty relaxing….I played a bunch of Guitar Hero 3 with the neighbor kids.  I also learned what speed cups are (besides too difficult when you have been drinking). 

We now have pretty much decided on our European vacation this summer.  We plan on using our tax return to go.  Mandi has been doing a ton of research and has found a lot of cool things.  I gave her some ideas of stuff I wanted to do (such as going to Normandy) and she found some really cool tours ( http://www.battlebus.fr ).  We are thinking of doing the 1 day American and band of brothers tour.  So far we are looking at starting off in Ireland, than to France (Bayeux and Paris probably), then finally to Germany (Berlin).  We are cramming a lot of stuff in, but its going to be really fun.  We are still looking for ideas though if anyone has anything specific.  We have pretty much settled on a 3 week trip.  Thats a lot of time gone.  It will be kind of weird.

Yesterday I spent way too much money at Gander Mountain.  They are liquidating all of their stuff because they are closing the stores and opening a monster store on the north side of Madison.  They have some amazing deals right now.  30% off of all lures, 20% off all rods and reels, etc.  I picked up a bunch of Musky stuff and a new winter jacket.  I needed a new winter jacket anyways, and they just happened to have a really nice Columbia (its red and black and kind of looks like a badgers jacket) for 30% off.  Good deals.  Only problem is there was too many things there!  Overall though I saved a lot of money on stuff that I would have eventually bought in the next year or two anyways. 

This saturday is the first hockey game of the new year.  I cant wait…it seems like its been so long since the last one.  Hope everyone has a good weekend!