ShorelinerJanuary/February 2020

From the editor Welcome to 2020 and a new decade. Winter is here, and, so far, the long-term forecasters who said it was going to be warmer and less snowy have been more accurate than those who said it was going to be colder and snowier. Although I don’t mind playing in the snow, I’m okay without it and extreme cold. And by the time the next newsletter comes out, it’ll almost be spring.The local newspapers usually print annual lists of 100 things to do in Milwaukee or in the state during winter. Some of the activities are fun, some are weird, some are interesting, and some are just there to get to 100. It would probably take me all winter to come up with 100 things to do in Franklin and the surrounding areas. But I did come up with 10 things to do.In this newsletter, you’ll meet neighbor Al Remmel, woodcarver extraordinaire.There’s also a Hot tip on cleaning your bathroom’s showerhead.It’s also not too late to connect with other owners interested in playing bridge, cribbage, or sheepshead. If you are interested, send me an email at rrehberg01@gmail.com, and I’ll make a contact list. You can also email me if you have any items for sale (those unwanted Christmas presents) or would like to recommend a contractor for the Marketplace.

10 things to do in Franklin (and around the area) in winter

1 Do outdoor stuffIf it’s cold enough, you can ski, tube, or snowboard at The Rock since they make their own snow. You can cross-country ski an easy loop on the Whitnall Park golf course, and the clubhouse is open for ski rentals on weekends. Lapham Peak in Delafield makes it’s own snow and offers cross-country trails of varied difficulty, from novice to advanced, and is lit for night skiing. Bong Recreation Area in Kenosha County has gentle trails. (You can also walk the dog there.)Whitnall Park also has a sledding hill, and if you want to try for a new amateur recreational saucer sled land-speed record, don’t spray any kitchen lubricants on the bottom.

2 Visit a museumMilwaukee County attractions offer free admission for residents one day a month. On the first Wednesday, the Charles Allis Art Museum and Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum are free. On the first Thursday, the Mitchell Park Domes, Milwaukee Public Museum, and Milwaukee Art Museum are free. On the first Saturday, the Milwaukee County Zoo is free. Since admission is free, it’s a good way to check out new exhibits. You don’t have to feel obligated to stay all day. You can just zoom in and out.

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3 Attend a festivalThere are a bunch of interesting winter festivals across the state, and the good thing is that chili cook-offs are usually involved. Not to say that these activities were created by Wisconsinites with cabin fever or that drinking was involved, but you can toss toilet seats or throw bicycles at the Fish Creek Winter Festival (Feb. 1), race beds in costume (you, not the bed) at Cedarburg’s Winter Festival (Feb. 15), or race on a bar stool with skis on it in Drummond (Feb. 15).

The Lake Geneva Winterfest, Jan. 29–Feb. 2, features the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship.

And although the sponsored Bald Eagle Watching Days have passed, you can still take a bus tour or watch the eagles on your own during weekends through Feb. 15 in Prairie du Sac. Seeing eagles congregate in one place is an awesome sight.And there’s no reason, you can’t have a beer or two and think up a winter festival for Franklin.

4 Take a classThe Franklin Community Ed & Rec Department (franklin.k12.wi.us/community-education-recreation-department) offers a variety of classes for all ages. They include cooking, crafts, fitness, and wellness, and range from one session to 4 or 5 weeks long.Milwaukee Public Schools Department of Recreation & Community Services (milwaukeerecreation.net) also conducts classes located in the area. The fees are reasonable ($20–$50), so they’re definitely worth trying, and with cooking classes, you always get samples.

5 Play gamesPlaying games is good way to keep the brain active, and there has been a surge in popularity of playing board games. No longer are you limited to Monopoly, Life, and Risk (which usually ended with a board flip when I played with my brothers). There are now hundreds and hundreds of board games to choose from, and I think my nerdy children have played most of them. One of the most popular is Settlers of Catan, a civilization-building game that came out in 1996 and has spun off several expansion games (Okay, I have 3). In other popular games, you can do anything from evolve dinosaurs, solve mysteries, save the world from pandemics, and build trains across the world.And you can easily check them out, as we are close to 2 game stores: Game Universe on Hwy. 100 across from Menards, and Board Game Barrister at 60th and Layton. The stores also have game-playing events where you can play games in the store.And if you can’t play nice with others, you can always set up a chess board, buy a book of chess problems, pretend you’re a hard-boiled detective from the 1940s, and try to solve them.

6 Go to the farmers marketThere are still fresh veggies, fruit, meat, dairy products, pies, and other local food products to be had. The Milwaukee Winter Farmers Market runs Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through March 28 in the greenhouse annex of the Mitchell Park Domes. You can view the vendors and their products at mcwfm.org.

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7 Use the libraryBeside books, the Franklin Public Library has a good selection of DVDs and CDs. And if you’re looking for a specific book or movie, and it’s not at Franklin, it can be borrowed from another library and sent to Franklin for pickup. The library also offers movies, seminars, and tax help for adults, and numerous programs for children. You can even attend a Tuckaway Shores Board meeting.Online, you can use the library website to search through newspapers, find ancestors, take a course, download e-books, and read Consumer Reports.

8 Grab a paczkiFebruary 25 is Fat Tuesday, the day when Milwaukeeans line up at bakeries to gobble up paczkis, a traditional Polish pastry. Besides the local grocery stores, you can get the cream- or jelly-filled paczkis at the Polish Center of Wisconsin (6941 S. 68th St.) and National Bakery & Deli in Greendale. And if you can’t wait until the 25th, the Polish Center of Wisconsin is hosting a paczki preview party on Feb. 9. For $15, you can sample paczki from 4 different bakeries to the sounds of live polka music (universe.com/events/paczki-party-tickets-7JCKLS).

10 Play triviaIf you’re tired of shouting out the same answers over and over during Jeopardy, you can show your smarts almost every night at a local pub. It’s a fun night out and you can win prizes. America’s Pub Quiz provides the questions and the hosts at many locations around the area. You answer 30 questions plus a half-time question and a harder final question, betting points based on the confidence of your answers, and the top 3 teams win a gift certificate. You even get one free answer by going to americaspubquiz.com. Half the fun is coming up with a team name. Some of the local teams you’d compete against are Big Mike and the Acoustic Mayhem, Oh, My Liver, and William Shatner’s Toupee. You can play with 2 or more people, and more isn’t necessarily better,

9 Have a movie marathonI’m waiting for the next big snowstorm or arctic blast, so I can burrow in for a few days and pop in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the extended editions. With the extra footage and credits, the total runtime is 726 minutes, or a little over 12 hours. And if you watch the 6 appendices, that adds another 6 hours. Bad weather is always a good excuse for watching favorite films. And many films, good or bad, have sequels or are turned into a series (hopefully, no more Cats), so it’s easy to plan a day around a franchise. Or you can watch several grouped by a favorite actor, movie type, or Oscar winners. You can also throw in a few bad films and add your own running commentary, ala Mystery Science Theater 3000 and similar shows.

especially if you have too many “experts.” It is good to have people knowledgeable in various subjects and players of different generations. You can play Mondays and Thursdays at 7 at the Brass Tap (78th and Layton), Mondays at 7:30 at Hale House (10539 W. Forest Home), Wednesdays at 7 at the Explorium (Southridge Mall), and Sundays at 7 at Fox’s Pub (4395 S. 76th St.). In addition, Mulligans on 27th Street hosts it own trivia events on Wednesdays at 6:30.

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Meet your neighbor

Al Remmel Career man

Al Remmel has enjoyed a varied assortment of careers in his lifetime.After 30 years as a tool and die maker for Evinrude, he “retired” to manage a conveyor system factory in Hartland.On the side, he also served as a big game hunting guide in Colorado (both archery and gun) for 7 years. “It was one of those things on my bucket list,” he said. “I like the outdoors and had a knack for finding the animals.” His love of the outdoors, and of history, led to his next career. For 13 years, Al and his wife, Karen, ran Pioneer Village, a collection of 24 restored buildings dating from the 1840s. “It’s part of the Ozaukee County Historical Society. We were the only employees,” Al said. “We held Civil War reenactments, hosted school field trips, that sort of thing. It was nice being the only people living in the middle of a park.”Their daughter, a local teacher, found their Tuckaway Shores home for them when Al and Karen decided to move closer to their grandchildren. Now retired once more, Al busies himself with woodcarving. His basement looks like a museum, filled with original wood carvings and paintings. There are totems and ducks, and a full-size circus horse. “It keeps me out of trouble, ” he said. “My father and I first took it up as a hobby years ago. Together, we carved the largest totem pole in Wisconsin. It sat on a property near the Ernie Von Schledorn car dealership for years, but the company that owned it didn’t maintain it, so it’s gone now.”

Al and Karen

Party onRemember to plan ahead for those summer events on the island. It’s easy to reserve the gazebo. Call Prospect Management at 414-540-0004 to make your reservation request at least 2 weeks prior to your date. Invite no more than 75 of your closest friends. Put down a $100 deposit and pay the $50 rental fee. You can also reserve the Pier 4 parking lot if needed. For the reservation form and complete rental policy, go to tuckawayshores.wordpress.com/documents.

No remindersShort and simple is always better. So starting in March, the page of reminders at the end of Board meeting minutes will disappear. The information found on that page will reappear on Tuckaway’s website: tuckawayshores.wordpress.com, or in the Rules and Regulations.On the website, the information will be incorporated with related material. This will eliminate duplication and make information easier to find.

Go fishin’If the lake freezes and you want to go ice fishing, you can get a flag from homeowner Gary Rand, who is listed in the Tuckaway directory.

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Tuckaway Shores contact infoProspect Management Mike Leach, property manager: direct line 414-214-8107, main office line 414-540-0004, mleach@pmcwi.com

General inquiries and repair requests: homeownerservices@pmcwi.com

Association Board of DirectorsKenlee Brill ts.kenlee@gmail.comKaren Grishaber kg@karengrishaber.comDawn Jasper djasper@rocktransfer.comCandy Pegoraro candy.pegoraro01@gmail.comRandy Rehberg rrehberg01@gmail.comJesse Reyes jrey3337@gmail.comAnn Saqr anniesaqr@gmail.com

Association information and documents: tuckawayshores.wordpress.com

Marketplace

Electrical serviceAll Points Electric provides electrical, phone, and cable installation services. Licensed and insured. Call Mike at 414-248-3083 for a free estimate. Has done work for the Association and is referred by several Tuckaway Shores owners.

House cleaningCall Amber Graf at 414-732-5117. Recommended by Rob Grede and Karen Grishaber.

HVAC serviceOak Creek Heating & Cooling. Call 414-764-6311 or view oakcreekheatingandcooling.com. Referred by Randy Rehberg.

Kitchen and bathroom remodelingDan Tutsch offers highly skilled and excellent carpentry services at reasonable rates. Call 414-405-0396. Referred by Karen Grishaber.

PaintingResident Tim Bast of Bast Painting is rated no. 1 on Angie’s List. He has completed many painting projects at Tuckaway Shores. Call Tim at 414-525-1574 or email Bast.Painting@gmail.com. Referred by Anne Blackwood.

Pest controlSafeway Pest Management. Call 262-679-4422. Referred by Melitta Moonen.

Hot tipThere’s nothing like a nice hot shower, especially in cold weather, unless your showerhead is clogged. If you didn’t pick up a new showerhead from Focus on Energy (mentioned in the last newsletter), you can clean yours if it’s looking a little grungy, shooting water in different directions, or operating at low pressure.

If your showerhead is brass, gold, nickel-coated, or another non-chrome material, check to make sure vinegar won’t damage the finish.

First, scrub the holes with an all-surface sponge or toothbrush or poke them with a toothpick to get some of the gunk out.

Then get a plastic bag, such as a 1-quart Ziploc bag, that will fit around the showerhead. Fill the bag with a vinegar mixture, put it over showerhead so the holes are covered, and fasten it with twist ties, string, or a rubberband. Let it sit for 20–60 minutes. Remove the bag and scrub the holes with a toothbrush. Then run the hot water to flush the holes.

Here are 3 different formulas, from weakest to most fun.

One: use about 1 cup of water and 1 cup of white vinegar.

Two: just use straight white vinegar.

Three: mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 4 or 5 drops of original, blue Dawn dishwashing liquid, hold the bag around the showerhead, add white vinegar to cover the holes (about 1/2 cup), watch it foam up, and secure the bag.