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Joe Helfert, my dad wrote a column in the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen for many years under the title? Open Eye Club? Column. Many people have told me over the years how much they enjoyed reading his column and following his adventures around the state of Wisconsin. His main theme was always on Safety, especially children’s safety. He would add articles about his travels around the state and this seem to have the greatest interest for many of his readers. I loved the format he used and will try a little of my own in the internet version of his column. I don’t have any illusions that I will be half as good as he was but would like to have you join me in the many adventures I will make around the state.
Wisconsin Up North is based out of Beaver Dam Wisconsin but will mainly be about my wife JoAnn and my travels to our Mobile home in Woodruff Wisconsin. We are in the Hiawatha Travel Trailer Park just outside Woodruff on Old Highway 51. We spend May through Mid October in this wonderful place which is truly Up North to us. I hope you will enjoy my site and welcome comments to the staff. We will be adding e commerce business’s to the site sometime in the future and ask you to patronize them so we can continue to bring you the site.
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 18 October 2008
This is the first Saturday morning I have spent at home in forever. We finished off our "Up North" for this year last weekend. Lots to catch up on in the northern prospectives section.
My photography career continues to grow. My work was selected for one of the eight rooms at the Beaver Dam Area Arts Associaton "Rooms With New Views" that was featured at the Seippel Homestead & Center for the Arts. My works ended up in the formal living room at the Center. The exhibit is currently runing from August 24th through October 26th. This is the first time that I have been able to have a good selection of my work in an exhibit. I do have six of my matted and framed photos at he Conney Safety Products building. Nice to see them every time I go to work. I did have my sisters, Mary Jo and Jean both over to see the exhibit along with many friends.
Back to up north. JoAnn spend every other week up at our mobile home from June through mid September. I took many long weekends and the time spent was wonderful. Such a nice place to relax. JoAnn got more into her making cards and loves the challenge of making really good ones. Look out Hallmark. Our new dog Timmy who was featured in a previous article is making great strides. We didn't know how he would adapt but is getting better by the day. Even sat on my lap in my chair for the first time. Just can't imagine someone wanting to kill him because he wasn't producing the right color puppies.
We did have bad news coming out of the summer. Our good friend Bruce Jensen died after a short illness. Bruce was our next door neighbor and we had many great evening together around the campfire. He had a quaint up north cottage near Hazelhurst and I was fortunate enough to have had a chance to take photos of it for him. Many stories of deer camp and other fishing and hunting events at that cabin were told over the last five years that we knew Bruce. He loved to go to Canada fishing and will miss hearing those stories. He was a hard working salesmen in his earlier years and on the County Fair board for many years in Wausau. He was also a ginseng farmer and I learned a lot about how to grow it and his trips to the far east selling it.
I have been really taking lots of pictures since JoAnn got me a new camera for Christmas. The Canon Rebel is a digital camera that really lets me take great photos. It lets me do the same things with a camera that I did with my old film 35mm.. I have also joined a photo club that works out of the Arboretum in Madison and meets monthly. I have learned a lot about phothgraphy there and have had one of my photos selected to be judged by the other 13 photo groups in the state. I will hear more about how my photo stacked up against the rest later this year.
I will continue to work on making this web site the best it can be. Please feel free to send me an e mail if you have suggestions on things you would like to see on this site. I continue to thank my son-in-law John Vatne for the work on the site. He has been very helpful in taking care of the site. More stories next year when we start heading back "Up North" in early May. Have a great rest of 2008 and a wonderful Holiday season coming up. |
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 February 2008
The ninth of February was an interesting day for the Helfert family. Over the past three years we went from four dogs to two dogs with the passing of Annie and Tootsie. The week before the 9th, JoAnn took our remaining two dogs Bailey and Molly to the groomer. She found out that a Yorkshire rescue lady in Beaver Dam had snatched a dog away from a puppy mill and needed a new home.
JoAnn has always said that she could not work for the Humane Society because we would have 50 dogs if she did. After debating what to do for several days she called on Saturday. We found out that the rescue lady had driven three and one half hours to the Puppy mill. Another rescue lady told her of the small dog she thought was a Yorky. Turns out to be a Pomeranian-Maltese mix. The two year old dog was not producing the right color puppies so it was to be put to sleep on Sunday. She rescued the dog and began the long hard work of training him. She called him Timmy because he is so small. Four pounds. His first two years of life were as a number and kept in a cage in the barn. She said he was just wild when she first let him down.
After the first week as a Helfert, he is adapting well., He loves Bailey and is usally found following behind her. He sleeps on the bed with his masters and the other dogs and lets us pet him when he is there. Otherwise he is impossible to catch when he is on foot.
I guess I need to get on my soap box and ask why we allow puppy mills to florish in our state. Seems we should be able to have some minimum guidelines on what is humane for the animals. Thanks heaven there are puppy rescue people to save the Timmys' of the world. We lost our last two dogs at 19 and 16. We hope Timmy will have a long fun life now that he is away from the puppy mill.
We have had record snows in Southern Wisconsin this year and we can't wait for spring and our return to our up north trailer. I made the rungs of the fence around the deck both here and up north so the dogs could not get through it. Didn't consider a four pound dog. He went right thought the rungs the first day we had him. Thank goodness there was a lot of snow that stopped him. Had to put netting all around the deck to keep him in. The deck up north is twice as big and will be twice as much fun putting netting up. That will be the first item of business when we get up there in ten weeks. Hope your winter is going well. |
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 October 2007
Back to making sauerkraut. Mickey and Bonnie got us involved for a second straight year for making Sauerkraut. This year we were treated to some real professional kraut makers. We gathered on a week night in the garage of Carl and Noreen Kircher. You can see the Orchard sign in the back of the picture. Don and Judy have helped the Orchard street gang make their kraut for many of the 25 years they have been gatheriing for this event. Past year have netted up to 2500 pounds in a night
These are professional people at kraut making having made between 400 and 500 pounds in under three hours this October evening. The half empty cart in the picture was nearly full when it arrrived. Everything was sanitized before starting. Chopping and weighting the 25 pound batches was first. Three Hovel stations were available for shredding the cabbage into the bags like the one you see in the picture. A wheelbarrow with plastic liner was where the shredded cabbage was "Fluffed" by several ladies including my wife JoAnn. She could feel the activity the next day in her back. Next the fluffed cabbage was sent to the "bruiser" Jim Phillips who pounded the cabbage into submission and kraut for the entire time we worked.
It seemed like everybody in the neighborhood showed up at one time or another to either help or give support to the workers. Most everybody brought along a crock and all were filled at the end of the evening. Ours is down in the basement awaiting fermenting until it is just right in late December or early January. I am sure JoAnn will take a few samples over the next month to see how it is doing. Carl's crock was so big, it took two gentlemen to carry it down in his basement.
Of course a good German evening could not be without a few bottles of brew. We also had a variety of great food to keep our strength up. So while many people sat and watched their television for the evening, The Orchard street gang made Kraut to good old German music. Great fun for everyone there and great kraut awaits us in the months to come. Thank you to Mickey, Bonnie, Don and Judy for inviting us. Thanks to Carl and Noreen for putting the show together. |
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