My Week that Was - August 22

A Siberian crane at the Intl. Crane Fndtn. 8/15/26 dwm

When my nephew and I completed our ride on the 400 State Trail, we cleaned up as best we could and headed to nearby Baraboo.

 

It wasn't a long drive, but it was late afternoon when we pulled into the parking lot at the International Crane Foundation. 

 

We arrived too late to walk around the grounds, but a helpful clerk checked my membership and allowed us to use the last ten minutes to see the Siberian and Whooping cranes in their exhibits.

 

After that, it was time to eat after a long day on the bikes at The Log Cabin. 

 

Whooping Cranes. 8/15/2026 dwm

 Harmon enjoyed good old-fashioned comfort food for his meal while I enjoyed a bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich.  

 

 To make sure we recovered most of the calories we burned, pie, which is made fresh each morning, was on our menu. He went with the Dutch Carmel Apple while I had the Chocolate Silk pie. 

 

 It was enough I didn't need any more snacks after returning home!

 

 My wife was working over the weekend as one of her clients was in labor. 

 

A malt with cookie dough ice cream.

The baby didn't arrive until almost midnight Sunday after two long days in the hospital. Thankfully, mom and baby are doing fine.

 

During Saturday's ride I was set on getting a malted milk shake at some point. The ice cream drink wasn't available at either place we ate, leaving Sunday to get a malt.

 

Our local ice cream shop is Icki Sticki. It's a coffee and ice cream shop that serves breakfast and sells a variety of candy. 

 

It serves Chocolate Shoppe ice cream which is a high-end treat with wonderful flavors. I asked for the malt to use cookie dough ice cream. It was delicious! It was also pricey, $9.50 for a 16-ounce cup.

 

Tuesday afternoon the west campus held an hour-long sing-a-long. I was able to join residents and a few staff members for several songs that included, Que Sera, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It was fun. 

 

The Yard Dogs in concert. 8/20/26 dwm

 Every Thursday during summer, Verona, like a lot of communities, host free concerts.

 We went down to Century School Park for the show while enjoying a meal compliments of the Chamber of Commerce.

 

  It was a beautiful night. Temperatures dipped into the 70s as the sun started to dip below the horizon. We had a couple big slices of pizza and enjoyed the rock-and-roll cover band.

 

 An older gentleman sat a few feet away from us, he was getting into the spirit of the evening by making bubbles (see photo lower right).

 

Bubbles. 8/20/26 dwm

This was the last week of Oakwood's intern summer. They served in different departments, we had one helping the Foundation team who did a wonderful job. She updated our marketing collateral we use with residents and donors and finished several projects.

 

To wrap up their experience the interns did  presentations for staff and residents on both campuses describing their work and how it will leave a lasting imprint.

 

On the way home yesterday I saw something I had not seen before. It was a group of 25 bicyclists filling a lane of traffic while waiting for the light to change. A man on a motorcycle led the way.

 

I presume it was a group ride but keeping that many cyclists together seems unlikely to last for long. 

 

We had a late afternoon severe thunderstorm that escalated briefly into a tornado warning. Thankfully a few minutes later the storm lost its energy. Over the last few weeks we've had a lot of rain, hopefully alleviating the drought conditions in most of south Wisconsin.

 

Thanks for reading - enjoy your last week of August!