My Week that Was - May 2

Mayapples in the forest. 4/25/2026 dwm

 Saturday was busy. While my wife was busy with work stuff, I checked the air in my bike's tires and took the longest ride of the season so far. You can read about Ride 3 which was posted Tuesday, April 28.

 Sunday was quieter. After church, we had a few errands to run but most of the day was perfect for relaxing as a cool breeze aired out the house.

 At work Monday, it felt like deadline day. There were several projects that needed to be resolved quickly and some projects that I weren't started. Compounding things, I was taking Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning off work to get some flexibility around going to the Milwaukee Brewers game Tuesday evening. 

American Family Field 4/28/26 dwm

I drove to our son's house mid-afternoon so we could drive to the game together. Road construction on the highway to the stadium made going early advisable. We had extra time, so we stopped at a fish store, which was 100 times nicer than the place I bought fish when I had fish tanks in my room. The prices are breath-taking; some of the salt water fish were nearly $500. 

One of the things I remember most about buying tropical fish is that the expensive (back then that was $5 or more per fish) ones always seemed to be the fish that died quickest. The displays are impressive, but not for me anymore.

The first brat of the season. 4/28/26 dwm

   Once at the stadium we ate at the Barrel Yard which is the park's sit down restaurant. We had a nice view of batting practice and players shagging balls in the outfield while waiting for our meal. 

 

 I was happy with my brat topped with brown mustard on a toasted brat bun. Mid-way through the game, we split a soft-pretzel that was quite tasty. For some reason, the pretzel in the frozen food aisle doesn't compare with a ball-park pretzel. 

 

 While browsing through the team store, I looked at some of the new ball caps, but walked away. I did find a new collectible pin, this one is a miniature Wisconsin license plate with the vanity plate reading, "Brew Crew." Milwaukee beat Arizona 13 - 2.

 

We got back to Madison around 11 pm and I was home 30 minutes later. I was glad to be using four hours of time off Wednesday morning. I managed to get almost an hour more sleep than usual and eased my way into the morning. After breakfast, I worked through the photos from the night before and wrote Thursday's baseball-focused blog.

 

Thursday I was part of a group attending a session that is part of the One Oakwood Leadership Development Institute. It was about better communication in the workplace by working on the messages we convey so we find a positive resolution. 

 

Norske Nook in DeForest. 5/1/26 dwm

Friday I had an appointment for a blood draw in advance of my annual physical. It wasn't until 9:50 a.m., which means I was pretty hungry by the time it happened. 

 

Before the draw, I stopped at Kwik Trip on the way to the clinic so I had food ready to eat when I was done.

 

After that, we crossed town to visit the Trash & Treasure Sale on Oakwood's Prairie Ridge campus. It's a 'name your price' sale. We came home with four folding chairs, some bowls, a book, and five confetti cup cakes from the annual baked sale.

 

Given the price of gas we took a short drive in the country, ending up in DeForest for lunch at Norske Nook. If you're a long-time reader, or family, you may know that while we lived in Augusta, Wisconsin (1993 - 2005) we were ten miles from the original Norske Nook and ate there a LOT!

 

In addition to the DeForest Location, there is another in Rice Lake, north of Chippewa Falls. The place brings back good memories and the food is consistently good. I enjoyed my BLT sandwich and we both took home slices of pie, I had my strawberry-rhubarb pie that evening warmed up with a scoop of ice cream. It's the only way to eat one!

 

There was good news, I received the results of the blood test and the results were all in the normal range, for which I am thankful. 

 

It was a nice day to hang out, then relax the afternoon away at home to wrap up the week; I hope your week was a nice balance of busy, productive, and relaxing. Thanks for reading!