Have sledgehammer, will demolish!

We are currently back in Wisconsin, and have been very busy with a new work camping opportunity. As such, we will not be working at Amazon this fall. We will miss seeing all of our friends that we have worked with for the past three years, but we will be back there next fall. And even though the broken bone in my foot has healed, I was hesitant to walk 13 plus miles each day on concrete. For those interested in learning more about Amazon, just put ‘Amazon’ in the search box on our website, and you will see dozens of our prior blogs.

We are staying at State Fair RV Park, in West Allis, which is surprisingly busy for this time of the year. The manager said in 20 years, they have never had this many RV’s here this late in the year (it is open year round). It is nothing more than a very expensive parking lot with full hook-ups. At first we were told our water would be shut off on November 1, but with the large number of people, and the unseasonably warm weather, we should have water until at least November 25th. They do have one section with heated water pipes, but that is full until December.

We dropped Makena off at Dan’s parents, so she is not home alone all day and she gets to chase her football around in a big yard. This gives us more flexibility in our work schedule. Makena hinted that she is working on a blog, so stay tuned for her post!

WORK

This summer our friends Mike and Karlyn contacted us to see if we could help them out with some remodeling work.

Karlyn, Mike, Jonell & Dan

They currently run a successful bar and grill in New Berlin, The Varsity Club, and found a space to lease in Menomonee Falls to open a second tavern and eatery. Dan helped out with the remodeling for their first place, and they wanted us to help out again. We arrived back in WI on October 4th, and started work right away in the 5th. With the exception of going up to visit Makena and Dan’s parents, and seeing two Packer games, we have been working every day.

The building is old, but has great potential, so there is a lot of work to do. The local building inspector is excited with the changes. We are still in the deconstruction phase. Give me a sledgehammer and I’m a happy camper! Mike has two young guys that have been helping out, and they had done a lot of work before we arrived. So I do not have any ‘before’ photos. This is what the place currently looks like. Dan and I have started building the bar, which is shown in some of the photos.

That bar stool was left over from the prior occupant. There will be a full kitchen, and it will be walled back in. The guys had to open up the wall to get all the old equipment out.

When they were taking off the drywall, an old air conditioner was discovered (the wiring was still “live”). There are also old windows, that have been covered up and bricked over on the outside of the building. The guys spent a lot of time working on busting out the old air conditioner, which was quite heavy. And yes, the old ceiling was painted blue, yellow, red and green in various parts!

There is also a basement that we are fixing up as well, for party rentals. the guys spent 3 days breaking up the concrete and hauling it out. This will allow the plumbers to bring all the plumbing up to code, and we will be adding a bathroom in the basement. It was a lot of hard work, but the prior tenants had pipes running all over the place.

This is a better shot of the basement, and the area we are building for a bathroom. We will drywall the ceiling, and use knotty pine on the walls. The tile floor is in good shape, one of the few things in this old building.

As of right now, we are planning on staying here until December 6th. They are planning on opening up the bar, called The Alumni Club Tavern and Eatery in late January. Mike and Karlyn want us to stay longer, and our fifth wheel is designed for ‘four season’ living, but we are hesitant stay in the snow. So far, temperatures have been above normal. So we will see how things go. Our Florida reservations start 12/28.

For the time being, it is just eat, sleep, work! Similar to Amazon! Hopefully we will be able to have some time to see some of our friends, relatives and former co-workers before we leave the state.

PACKER GAMES

We have been Green Bay Packer season ticket holders for many years, and try to get to at least one game each season. This year, we made it to two, both in the same week. The Dallas Cowboys game was not a good game for the Packers. Prior to the game, we attended the Jack Link’s Protein Snacks party. Good food, great people, and perfect weather all combined to make for a good time, despite the poor performance of the Packers.