Lost and Found

Because I have been diabetic since I was a child, I have worn a medical alert bracelet for many, many years.  Several years ago, I wanted something a little more stylish and petite than the standard, clunky bracelets offered through most drug stores.  I found an online organization called Lauren's Hope who sold bead bracelets to match various outfits; the bracelets attached to a slim medical alert tag that did not overwhelm my small wrist.

The bracelet from Lauren's Hope had two drawbacks: the bracelet itself was 14K gold (which was good) and thus cost $80.00 (which was bad).  The medical alert tag that went with the bracelet, sadly, was the standard silver color.  I have never worn silver jewelry, so although I could get the bracelet in yellow gold, the tag itself did not match.

I solved that problem by going to the jewelry teacher at the college where I taught.  She ordered a petite gold medical alert tag and engraved it with "Diabetic" and "No Sulfa," the two things that I would want ER people to know about me in an emergency.  Throughout the years, I found a need for a "back up" second tag after I lost (and then found) the original tag.

The original Lauren's Hope bracelet with
14K gold beads still works fine.

This seems to be my year for temporarily misplacing the medical alert bracelets and tags.  While Stephanie was moving from her old house this spring, I lost one of the bracelets at her house while helping her pack.  OK.  Sad, but I had a back up.  Two weeks later I was at her house helping her pack more, and I lost the second bracelet.  Dang! I was five hours from home with no back-up medical alert identification!

I should mention that during the years since my initial purchase of the gold bracelet from Lauren's Hope, I discovered that I could make my own beaded bracelets to go along with the tags.  I now have 45 additional bracelets in numerous colors to match a variety of outfits. I also have a smaller collection of bracelets in Florida.

My collection of alternate bracelets keeps
my options open.

As the movers came to Stephanie's house to load her possessions onto the trucks, Rick found the first bracelet I lost buried in Stephanie's basement carpet.  The clasp that held the bracelet together came undone, and the bracelet slipped off my wrist as I was moving boxes around.  That same day, Stephanie found my second lost bracelet that had slipped from my wrist due to a faulty mechanism and had landed in a bathroom drawer.  OK, I was back in business.

This past Sunday, I mowed the front yard of our house.  Unknown to me, the crimping bead that holds the bracelet together broke and the bracelet fell into the grass.  After I had finished mowing the lawn, we ate dinner and then went for a walk through the neighborhood.  Only as we settled to watch TV for the evening did I notice that the bracelet was missing.  I had no idea if I had lost it earlier shopping at Kohl's or if it was in the yard or in the streets of the neighborhood.

Rick and I took a second walk around the neighborhood looking for the bracelet.  Why spend all of that time for a bracelet that costs only a few dollars in materials?  Because the engraved tag would cost me anywhere from $200 - $400.  I could think of many, many other things I could buy for that money.  Sadly, retracing our steps yielded nothing but a bit more exercise for us.

On Monday we both walked through the front yard but found nothing.  Rick decided that he would rent a metal detector since he also wanted to locate our northern property lot stake.  As he was backing out of the driveway, he saw our neighbor Gary who collects and sells minerals and rocks to jewelry manufacturers.  Rick asked Gary if a metal detector would locate a 14K gold bracelet.  He assured Rick that it would, and then he offered to let us use his metal detector to search the yard.

I was convinced that the bracelet was probably lost at Kohl's or in the house somewhere, but for a few new batteries, Gary's metal detector was worth a try.  Rick had no problem finding the large metal property line stake on the northern perimeter of the property.  His search of the front yard, however, found little but the assurance that we have metal pipes connecting our house to the utilities in the street.

Rick asked what route I had taken to bring the lawnmower from the backyard shed into the front yard.  I told him, and he left to search the back yard.  I had little hope that he would find anything.

I was wrong.  Within a couple of minutes, he came back with my medical alert tag and the wire that used to hold gold and purple beads.  He said that he could not find any of the tiny beads (some of which were just seed beads), but he found the most important and most expensive part.  I was amazed.

The missing tag that Rick found in the back yard.

So we thank our neighbor Gary for allowing us to use his metal detector.  I thank my husband for being persistent (or perhaps just cheap) for continuing to hunt until he found my lost bracelet.  And as for the missing beads?  I hope that some bird has found them buried int he grass and has a new, beautifully decorated nest.

Water, Water Everywhere

The theme of the past two days seems to be water.

Rick and I have made a habit of taking at least one if not two walks a day around our neighborhood to get a little exercise.  Yesterday as we headed south from our house, we were looking at the new curb and gutters that had been installed that day.  (Hopefully we will have a completely new street within in the next couple of weeks.)  We looked at the new gutter at the south border of our property, and I noticed what appeared to be a small hole in the mini-storm sewer pipe that was uncovered when the construction company removed the old curb and asphalt.  "Look," I said to Rick, "They hit the drain pipe."

We both were surprised that the top of the drain pipe (which is probably the air chamber for the pipe) was so near the surface of the ground.  Rick examined the pipe further by pulling away the dirt by the hole that I saw.  What he uncovered really shocked us.  The contractor did not just "ding" the pipe a little, resulting in the approximately 1" high by 2" long hole that I originally saw.  Instead, with the piled dirt in front of it removed, we found a 1" by about 6 - 7" gash through most of the pipe! "This is a problem," Rick said.

While the pipe actually carries the sump pump water away from the neighbor's house rather than our house, we still were not happy with what we saw.  First, the neighbor is a recently widowed woman who is renting the house.  She does not need flood water in her basement if dirt is allowed to fall into the pipe and plug the drainage system.  Secondly, she is downstream from us, so if her section of the pipe gets plugged, our section will soon follow.  We ALSO do not need a flooded basement this winter.

The gaping hole in the pipe just above the dirt
was not a welcome sight!

We called the City to report the problem and then went on our walk.  About 45 minutes later, someone was at the pipe, talking on a phone, taking pictures.  Since we reported the problem to the City, we hope that the pipe will have to be repaired, inspected, and approved before the contractor can just come back in a backfill the hole.

That was our first encounter with a (potential) water problem.

This morning I awoke at the usual time, ate breakfast, used the bathroom, and then stepped into the shower.  When I stepped out of the shower, I noticed that I still could hear water running. Oh-oh.  Running water in our house is NEVER a good sign.  As I dried off, I discovered that the running water was coming from the toilet that was continually trying to fill the bowl as the water drained away.

I called Rick up from the exercise room where he was working out on the stationary bike, and he found that a plastic piece of the internal mechanism had broken off. He called Kohler to see if they could send us a free replacement part, but they told us that the toilet only had a one-year warranty.  They gave us the part number, and Rick was able to locate it online as available at our neighborhood Home Depot.  Great! I wasn't even dressed yet and already was rushed to get to my favorite store...

Thankfully, my wonderful husband is good with plumbing, so in a short time, he had replaced the broken part and the toilet stopped draining water (and my money) from its bowl.  We discovered, however, that the shut-off valve to this toilet was probably original to the house.  That part, while doing its job right now, also will need our attention.

That was our second encounter with a water problem.

Tonight after dinner we ventured out for our usual evening walk.  We kept an eye on the sky as showers were predicted for later this evening.  One dark cloud loomed overhead, but we could see blue skies in the distance beyond that dark cloud.  We were approximately eight blocks from our house when the cloud decided that it would dump its rain before it moved onward.  The few sprinkles quickly morphed into a pretty steady rain which then transformed into a fairly hard downpour.

By the time we aerobically walked home, we both were more than damp.  That was our third encounter with a water problem.  This problem, however, had a bonus.  The blue sky behind the cloud was still blasting the earth with sunlight, so as we reached our front yard, we were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow.  At least this problem was both short-lived and colorful in the end.

Bushed

Our day started at 7:00 am when we thought that we heard construction trucks on our street.  We are waiting for crews to come in to replace curb and gutters that were cut last week.  Then the crews will grind up the old, broken, split concrete and will blacktop our street.  We had expected the work to start yesterday, but so far nothing has happened.  Whatever woke us up this morning was not construction crews in our neighborhood.

We ate a quick breakfast and headed back to Lindsay's house with the intension of just cutting down the remaining two bushes in front and hauling the debris to the curb.  She gets her garbage collected today, so when the sanitation crews go around, they note who has yard debris that needs collecting.  We wanted to get the branches from the bushes out to the curb so when the village picks up branches, they will get all of the bushes.

Rick tackles cutting into the first of the two remaining bushes.
Note how huge these bushes were.

Temperatures in the 80s were expected today; that is another reason we were at her house by 8:00 this morning.  Today is September 1, so it is Christopher's first day back at teaching and Owen's first day back at his school/daycare.  Since we did not have to worry about his safety while we worked, we were able to move at a rapid pace without keeping an eye out for him.

The second bush proved to be even a
greater challenge.

The first bush we took apart today revealed to us just how tangled and dense these last two bushes were going to be.  They were huge, so even though at one time they were planted within the two-foot wide "garden" area in front of the house, the bushes themselves had grown at least four feet into the yard. Rick did the cutting and pulling apart while I carried all of the branches to the curb where I could add them to the pile. I logged in almost 3.5 miles just walking back and forth!

The last bush proved to be even more of a challenge than the previous one.  The branches were so deeply entangled that when one was cut, three more had to be cut just to extract the whole section from the bush.  Since that bush also was at the corner, through the years it had been trimmed to wrap around that section of the house.

I had to extend the brush pile at the curb until it went around the other side of the tree and pretty much covered the entire front of the property.  I am glad that we do not have to feed all of that tangled mess into a wood chipper. we will leave that to the experts.

Yesterday the brush pile was just to the right of the tree,
but today I had to add more to cover most of the front
of their property.  This pile is at least five feet high.

I thought that we were going to quit once the bushes were down, but I knew that was not going to be the case once Rick said, "Let me put the strap around this first stump and see how hard it will be to get it out." Oka-a-a-y. I knew we were in for the long haul.   Actually, the time was just 9:30, so the temperature had climbed only from the mid-60s when we started into the higher 70s at that point.  Working outside was still tolerable.

When the house originally was landscaped,
both bushes were planted within the two-
foot wide flower garden.

The first stump took a couple of tries and a bit of digging to get it to budge, but it finally broke free of the dirt.  The second stump turned out to be the real trouble-maker.  That stump had a deep root and several smaller roots that wrapped around the house and dove deeply underground.  We did a lot of digging before Rick got out the SawsAll with a pruning blade.  Even cutting down under the stump took more than one attempt.

The second stump fought us to the end.

Meanwhile, of course, the temperatures continued to rise to the point that we were beginning to notice both the heat and the humidity.  We gave extracting the root one last try, and this time the truck was able to drag it out of the ground.  Success!

The yard still looks fine because of the tree in the front yard.

Carrying the stumps to the curb, cleaning up the yard, smoothing out the defined flower beds, and picking up all of the tools took the last of our energy. We are both bushed!  In the end, though, we both agreed that the house looks a lot better at 10:18 am than it did at 8:00 this morning.

Next spring Lindsay and Chris can plan new shrubs
and flowers for their yard.

Yes, the gardens need redefining, the house needs paint, and new shrubbery and flowers need to find homes in the yard, but for the rest of this growing season, just getting the grass to grow where bushes covered the yard and getting the debris hauled away will be enough.  In the spring, Lindsay and Chris can decide what they want to plant to make their house truly their own.

Pottery and Bushes

Stephanie knows that she needs some artwork for her new home, but where does one find something unique?  Some people visit consignment shops to find treasures that are either so old that no one else has them anymore (thus making them unique once again), or they find goods that can be repurposed into new artwork.  Others do as we did yesterday by attending craft fairs.

ArtStreet is a yearly festival in downtown Green Bay that attracts juried artists from across the nation.  We went there yesterday both to have some fun looking at the various art media and to see if we saw anything for Stephanie.  A couple of times I wanted to Facetime Steph with possibilities, but art is such an individual thing that being there is still the best way to select something.  While we were at ArtStreet, however, we did find some treasures for which we really had not been shopping.

A couple of years ago, a potter at ArtStreet produced a large pot whose purpose was to hold kitchen utensils (spatulas, wooden spoons, etc.) next to the stove.  The artist had painted a palm tree on the pot, and since that was the "theme" of our newly-purchased house in Florida, I bought it.  I also picked up a much smaller pot with a palm tree that I use to hold pens and scissors in the corner of the kitchen.

These pottery items will fit in well with our Florida decor.

Yesterday, we came upon the booth of the same artist who continues to paint palms on various items.  We ended up buying a mug, a chip 'n dip plate, a spoon rest, and a small wall vase all in the same palm tree motif.  I have the perfect spot on the wall between the kitchen and dining room on which to hang the wall vase, and the other items will come in handy as we continue to cook and to live in Florida each winter.  Getting pottery shipped down there may be a challenge, so we may see how much we can actually take in our carry-on luggage when we fly down in October.

We had dinner with Lindsay and Chris last night, and they mentioned that they wanted to remove the overgrown bushes growing in front of their house.  They wanted to do the work next weekend.  This morning dawned foggy and cool with a promise of rising temperatures and humidity all week.  I suggested to Rick that perhaps we could go over and start the work this morning while the weather was still cool enough to work outside.

While Chris and Owen were at the store,
we trimmed away the branches of the
first bush.

Today is Chris' last day before school starts tomorrow, so he and Owen were home.  Chris said that he had to go to the grocery store, so we let Owen and him leave before we ventured over to their house.  While they were gone, we took our large pruning shears and had most of the first bush down before they ever came home.

Their bushes are terrible.  The limbs are all twisted and entwined, sometimes going back into the soil to root themselves all over again.  Although only two bushes were planted next to their porch, those bushes covered at least eight feet of territory.

Once the main branches were cut out, we put a towing strap around the roots and tried to pull out the stump.  Ha!  No go.  Rick and Chris had to do quite a bit of digging and snipping before the truck was able to extract the huge first root out of the ground.  The second root was smaller, but it still took more effort than we had originally thought.

Even cut up, the brush made a large pile
at the curb.

The stump of the first bush shows just
how tangled the roots were.  The stump itself
stands much taller than Owen.

Since Chris said to just pile the brush and roots at the curb for the village to haul away, that saved us a lot of time.  We actually were home before 11:00 a.m. which was well before the temperatures really started to rise.

Rick and Chris work on digging around the
roots of the second bush.

We'll try to tackle the third bush tomorrow.  If we can do one bush a day, then this weekend we might have only the two stumps to pull out.

Rick smoothes out the soil where the first two bushes
once grew.  The third bush awaits our attention tomorrow
with the fourth needing attention the following day.

Getting the stumps out and a few of their other trees trimmed should put them in a good position to greet the fall and the winter.  Then they will have the winter to decide what they want to plant in the spring.

Out of Chaos Comes Order

Almost 20 days have passed since my last blog, and we continue to move forward getting our house back to a semblance of organization.  Since I last posted, we cleaned out the basement, held a rummage sale, cleaned out the workroom, and made several charitable contributions.  Oh, yes, we also made a sizable contribution to the city dump!

Stephanie had given us an entire truckload of items that she did not want to move into her new house, so those items have been residing in our garage since early June.  I finally cleaned out our basement and added my own pile of items that were headed for a rummage sale.

A pile of unwanted items awaits its trip to the garage for
the rummage sale.

We were blessed with two beautiful summer days for the sale this past Friday and Saturday, but I must admit that I had the worst sale I have every held.  I do not know if the construction in the neighborhood scared people away, or if holding a sale in August is just too late for people.  Perhaps my ad on Craig's List was just not appealing.  At any rate, I never had a crowd the entire two days... just a slow trickle of people coming to browse and occasionally to buy. In the end, I was happy that I made the money that I did for items that I no longer wanted, but I am not sure that it was worth the two days of organizing the sale and marking the items, and then the two days of the actual sale itself.  To add to the misery, both Rick and I are down with summer colds, so neither of us has been a ball of energy.  Stephanie made a little money that she can use to decorate her new house, so I guess that was worth the effort.

For the last two days, Rick and I have concentrated on the one room we did not sort through before the sale: his workroom.  As he started to pull things off the shelves and to sort through 25 years of accumulations, the room seemed to get worse!  (I attach the following picture to prove it!)

We had so much in the workroom that even Rick
did not know what some of the items were.

However, as the hours passed by, we started to make some progress.  As the pictures show, out of chaos can come order.

Just getting the cobwebs off the wall and the
dirt and sawdust off the floors helped to make
the room habitable again.

Naturally, that order resulted in one truckload of goods to the Habitat for Humanity Resale Store and the afore-mentioned load to the city dump.  We still have to take a final load to the city hazardous waste facility, but that has to wait for their drop-off day on Thursday.

Look!  A floor and room in which to work!

Bins and tool chests and labeled storage boxes
add to the organization.

Highlights of the newly organized workroom: Rick took down all of the fluorescent "shop light" fixtures and replaced them with between-the-rafters cans.  Now the lights are more evenly distributed and we no longer have to worry about fluorescent tubes disposals (after Thursday!) Another highlight is that I took a box, some file folders, and the massive pile of sandpaper and organized it into an easily searchable system.

Even the sandpaper is easily accessible now.

This room was a lot of work, and we still have some "fine tune" organization to do in the tool chest and in some of the storage bins, but overall the improvement is incredible.

We both are tired, but we both feel so good looking at a basement that is now clean, organized, and actually inviting to use.  We have neglected this northern home for the past few years, so I find our efforts rewarding as we get it back into order.

Missions Accomplished

As we were taking our traditional evening walk today, Rick commented, "You know, this has been a very productive week."  I hadn't thought about what we really accomplished this week, but he is very correct.

On Monday he made the second of two stands for our rigid shuttle loom.  We wanted to make the looms easy to use, and getting back into weaving has been one of our goals this summer.  His efforts will make having two working looms easy for us now.  He put a finish of Danish Oil on both stands so the wood is protected and the looms are ready to use. We'll take the smaller 20" loom down to Florida and leave the larger 25" loom here in Green Bay.  Now I cannot wait to get a warp on one so I can weave again.

On Tuesday we traveled south to Brookfield to a shop called the Dent Clinic.  This shop was recommended to us by Steve after he saw the "ding" in the rear passenger door of our new truck.  Apparently someone opened a car door into our truck door while we were stopped in LaCrosse getting the license plate for our truck.  The poor thing was dented before we ever had a chance to drive it into our driveway!  The workmen at the shop did an excellent job; within half an hour they had our truck repaired so well that we cannot find the location of the dent.  The paint is intact, and the truck looks new again.

We also wanted to travel south to visit Steve and Chris to give them back the tools that they lent us and to give them a few other diesel truck accessories that we no longer needed. We had a very enjoyable lunch and visit with them.

Yesterday we decided that we did not want the City workers to add dirt to the sawdust pile that they left in our front yard after cutting our tree and then to try to plant grass.  Their handiwork in other yards in the neighborhood resulted in uneven ground with more weeds than lawn growing in the affected patches.  Instead, we spent the day digging out the area, removing over eight wheelbarrow loads of dirt and wood chips, and leveling what was left in preparation for sod.  We were told by an area nursery that for approximately $50 we could have enough sod to cover the area, but they would not receive a shipment of sod until Friday.  Since the weather forecasters predict badly needed rain tomorrow, we decided that would not be a wise move.

Our day started today with Rick going in for his yearly eye exam.  After he came out, we ran some errands, and then he called the Sod Farm to see if they would sell to private individuals.  They would, so we ordered 15 rolls of sod for pick-up in early afternoon.

After lunch we made a not-so-quick stop at the Hazardous Waste disposal site to get rid of old paint, stain, and chemicals, and then were on our way to Black Creek to get some sod.  For $28, we -- or rather Rick since I could not lift a roll of sod -- loaded 15 rolls of sod and were on our way.  I cannot believe how weak I have become; I get really frustrated when I can no longer lift or carry what I used to in the past.

Just one more roll of sod will complete the once bare 12 x 12
foot area in our lawn.

Once home, the sod went down very quickly.  What was once an unevenly outlined patch of mud and wood chips is now transformed into a beautifully lush area of grass.  A good watering in late afternoon hopefully got it off to a good start.

Water will both keep the lawn lush and will
allow it to take root.  A good watering also
will help the rest of the lawn change from brown
to green.

Rick is right; this has been a good week full of accomplishments, and we have not even made it to Friday yet!

Weaving Wishes

Long before we retired, Rick and I acquired two rigid heddle weaving looms. These looms are not terribly sophisticated, but we were way too busy while we worked to really even try them.  We have owned a large, eight-harness Schacht floor loom for many years; sadly, that loom, too, has sat idle for many years.

At last, though, we can start to get back into some of the hobbies that we enjoy.  A few years ago we bought a table loom at an estate sale in Door Coounty.  Rick refurbished it, built a stand for it, and we took it to Florida.  In the course of all of our remodeling, I only found time to put one project on the loom.  The tension on the warp (the threads on the loom itself) was uneven, so the whole project was not a great success.  I would like to try a new project when we return to Florida this fall.  With two looms, we both can weave if we both want to create something at the same time.

As we have been cleaning out our basement, I came across the two rigid heddle looms once again.  One is a full loom, and one is a loom that folds for easier transportation.  I mentioned to Rick that it would be good to have a rigid heddle loom in both states, but we really have no table on which to rest a loom when we return to Gladys.  Our dining room table is small, round, and glass-topped, so that is out of the question.  My desk in Gladys is new, large, and also topped with glass. It would work, but I really do not want to give up the space for a loom.  The solution?  Buy a stand for the second loom.

We looked in the catalogs and discovered that Schacht wanted over $200 for a stand for their rigid heddle loom.  "I can probably make the whole thing for less than $50.00,"  Rick said, "And I can make it out of maple to match the loom."  That notion sounded good to me.  I know that he is talented enough to make a loom stand because he already did so for the table loom that sits in the Florida room at Gladys.

For the last two days, we have been shopping for parts not only at the big box stores but also at Woodworkers Depot, Woodcrafters, and various hardware stores.  Once we had the raw materials gathered, Rick was set to begin.

The router table is heavier than it looks, so
we both had to carry it up from the basement workshop.

The bottom supports for the stand await drilling,
sanding, and securing to the rest of the stand.

We hauled the router table out of the basement, setting it up temporarily in the garage.  Rick wanted to work there because using the router creates lots of sawdust, and cleaning the garage is much easier than cleaning sawdust out of a workroom full of tools.  He started the task mid-morning, and by mid-afternoon he was finished.

The completed stand looks simple, but it took
both design skills and woodworking skills
to make it functional, collapsable, and adjustable.

I am delighted with the results.  I now have an adjustable loom stand that will allow me to work comfortably, to tilt the loom to make weaving fun, and to fold neatly when I want to store it out of the way.  We visited a yarn shop in Neenah where I was able to buy a skein of variegated yarn in shades of blue, navy, and purple.  I cannot wait to warp the loom and to weave a small scarf as my first project with a rigid heddle loom.  It should be fun, and the best part is that I can weave in the living room, in the den, or even on the back porch since the loom and new stand are so portable.

Making the adjustable slides by routing a
track through solid maple took time and
patience, but it works great!

I enjoy being retired and having enough time to finally pursue some of my hobbies. This stand will make weavinf on this loom easy and fun.

Wright and Wingspread

Much has happened since my last post.

We spent a successful week in Minnesota at the beginning of July helping Stephanie move into her new house. The only mishap was that on the day that the movers came, I broke the baby toe on my left foot when I hooked it around the bedpost of the bed frame I was trying to help put together.  Three hours in the emergency room was not part of my game plan for that day.  However, the toe has healed well and only hurts when I have done too much walking in any particular day.

Back here at home I have slowly been trying to gather items for our rummage sale.  Originally, I thought I might hold the sale at Lindsay's house, but since neither she nor Chris seems thrilled with the idea, I have decided to hold it here.  In the end, that is a good decision because I seem to find more and more items that I want to eliminate from this household.  I am amazed at the junk one can accumulate in forty years!  Actually, that is not fair.  Rick and I moved six times in the first five years we were married, so we purged the household with each move.  We also moved here 25 years ago, so I guess most of this "accumulation" occurred within that time period.  Regardless of the time, the fact remains that we have WAY too many items that we no longer use in this house.  Out it goes!

One reason I have not held a sale is because we are waiting for the City to complete our street repairs.  The City has been working on installing new sewers and water lines since May, and they are finally to the point were we hope they will grind up the street this coming week and lay down new pavement.  Once all of the "Road closed to thru traffic" signs disappear, perhaps people will feel safe venturing back into the neighborhood.

Rick had been dying to go on a short vacation, so this past Thursday we drove to Racine to see the Frank Lloyd Wright designs of the Administrative Building and Research Tower at Johnson Wax, and to view the Johnson's home designed by Wright called Wingspread.

Herbert Fisk Johnson first commissioned Wright to build the new offices at Johnson Wax.  He built the famous workspace that looks like giant golf tees support a glass roof.  We had a wonderful tour guide who told us all of the good and not-so-good points of the construction.  We then went to the Research Center.  We were only allowed to go onto the first two floors since access to the Tower is only through one single, winding staircase.  The entire Tower had to be shut down due to fire codes, so it is no longer used.  The displays, however, were interesting.  Approximately 50 top scientists and chemists used to call the Tower home as they developed Raid, Off, Shout, and many other products for Johnson Wax.

After the Tower tour, we had lunch and then drove the five miles to get to Wingspread.  After Wright finished the offices, Herbert Johnson asked him to design a house for him and his second wife.  Johnson owned 30 acres of land on the outskirts of Racine, so in 1938-1939 Wright designed and built Wingspread.  Ever trying to keep in tune with the environment and nature, Wright noted that H. F. Johnson loved the wild geese and birds that populated the ponds and wetlands that he owned.  Wright used that as his inspiration to build a four-winged pinwheel of a house.  The central core was a great hall with a 30-foot, four-sided fireplace.  The hall accommodated living rooms, a dining area, and balconies from the second floor that overlooked the main floor and provided a great space from which bands to play to entertain Johnson's guests below.

The massive fireplace in he Great Hall
goes up to a three-tiered ceiling of windows.

The four wings of the house each had a specific purpose.  One wing held the kitchen and pantry (complete with a room where the dining room table could be drawn in, set, and pushed back out to the waiting diners!), four bedrooms for the servants, and a common parlor for them at the end.

The structure blends into the landscape thanks to grape vines
that drape over patios and gardens that contain sculptures
and flowers.  This view shows the guest room windows
and back of the carports.

Another wing was devoted to the children.  Johnson's second wife had two young sons, and Johnson had two children -- Karin and Samuel -- from his first marriage.  Since the boys were all under age 12, he had three bedrooms built for the boys with a large playroom at the end.  Sadly, Johnson's second wife died before they could move into Wingspread, and her two young sons moved to the East Coast to live with relatives.  They never moved into their bedrooms.  Since Samuel did not want to move from the city and away from his friends, Wright built a huge swimming pool off the children's wing so all of Samuel's friends could visit him at Wingspread.

A third wing contained the master bedroom suite and a cantilevered bedroom for 15-year-old Karin, complete with a "Juliette balcony" at the end.  A common sitting room adjoined the two bedroom suites.

The master bedroom wing shows the cantilevered bedroom
of Johnson's daughter complete with the Juliette balcony.
This picture also shows the disrepair of the house.

The final wing, which was not open to the public, contained two large guest rooms and a carport complex to park many cars.  Wright also designed all of the gardens to help the house blend into the surrounding environment.

The gardens were beautiful  Well-placed benches among the
flowers offered plenty of space to sit and view nature.

The house was interesting to view, both Rick and I were shocked to see how much in disrepair the property was.  The facia boards were black and rotting, Karin's whole room was sagging with cracked plater, peeling paint, and decidedly uneven floors, and many of the windows showed signs of water damage.  The property has been owned by the Johnson Foundation since 1959, and I think that the Foundation had better seriously think about putting some money toward its maintenance if they want to preserve this historic site.

Grassy paths invite a person to take a walk.

Since we were able to get into an earlier tour of the property, we were back in Green Bay by dinner time.  I am glad that I finally was able to see the Johnson Wax complex and Wingspread, but I also was glad that the tours were free.  Had I had to pay to see the structures, I would have been even more disturbed by their lack of upkeep.

If you want to see Wright's work, I would suggest that you go now.  All structures need maintenance, and these buildings are crying for attention.  If they are not preserved, eventually they all will have to be shut down.