Steven Helmer Publications

I saw her perched in the tree in front of my house earlier this morning. I saw the male cardinal a little later hanging out in the back yard. I do enjoy listening to them sing.

Synopsis: When Nick and his girlfriend, Annji, agree to have Christmas dinner with his estranged family, things predictably turn awkward as his family's racism and his father's controlling habits quickly rise to the surface. When they try to sneak away first thing in the morning, they discover the house is completely encased in metal. Believing there has been a terrorist attack, the family must rely on the emergency messages being broadcast on their television. However, as the messages become increasingly suspicious, Nick begins to suspect something else is going on. You can read my review here:  https://wizzley.com/movie-review-await-further-instructions-2018/

I decided to turn in my work-a-holic card and take a day off to spend with the family. After considering a couple other possibilities, we decided to stay close to home and take a family walk at Horicon Marsh. Here are some of the photos:

Either it's a new product, none of our local stores have carried it or I just wasn't paying attention, but I wasn't aware Bellatoria even offered a pan crust variety of pizza until discovering it a couple days ago. I was somewhat intrigued and, since it was on sale, picked up one for dinner. After having it, I have to say I was very impressed. There were a couple things that really stood out about this pizza with the main one being the crust. My wife and I both loved it. It came out of our oven crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside. This made the entire pizza much more enjoyable and, as a result, I found I wasn't throwing out part of the crust for the squirrels (something that is kind of rare for me). I also thought this pizza brand was fairly generous with the toppings, at least when compared to other frozen pizzas I've had. This is especially true of the cheese. I've had way too many frozen pizzas that had almost no cheese on them so this w...

It took me a moment to figure out what these were. They were on the far side of the pond and all I saw was white. I counted a dozen of them scattered around total.

Some people think it is the first robin spotting. I, however, don't consider it to really be spring until it is warm enough for the turtles to pop out. I saw this one sunning itself while on my walk today.

Other than maybe getting about half of my 10,000 daily steps in, my lunchtime walk was mostly a bust. I saw a few critters but nothing was really cooperating with me, including a beautiful woodpecker that was perfectly posed for me until I got my camera up. However, as I was leaving the park, I did spot this pair of doves and, since they didn't fly off the second they saw me (which was the case yesterday), I was able to get some photos.

One of my pet peeves about this time of year in Wisconsin is I just never know what coat to wear. This morning, for example, it was only about 20 out so I wore my heavier coat. By the time lunch came around, it was still too cool to be without a coat but the heavier coat was too heavy. And, as a result of that, I was kind of uncomfortable when I went for my walk. However, I toughed it out and managed to get a few photos:

I decided to slip in a walk before coming to the office this morning. I didn't see a whole lot, mostly because the park is still ice covered in some spots and I couldn't get across to one side of it. But, I did see the moon still peaking out and grabbed a photo of it.

Synopsis: Still reeling from his promotion to sergeant and the addition of an obsessive but ineffective constable to his police station, Hamish Macbeth must contend with a self-proclaimed "gypsy," Sean and his girlfriend, who have parked their van in Lochdubh and may or may not be behind a series of thefts around town and a growing feeling of negativity that has even affected the local minister. When Sean is found murdered, Hamish must reluctantly investigate his friends and makes a discovery that may require him to put his job on the line to protect them. Review: I'm not sure if it is because I overdid it the day before or if it was the somewhat gloomy weather, but I just didn't seem to have a lot of energy yesterday. So, after going to church and getting the garbage out, I pretty much just crashed on the couch all day and, while watching Rocky out of the corner of my eye, finished this book. As I read more and more M. C. Beaton books, I can't help but...

After a couple days of temperatures that were nice enough to be outside grilling (and taking family walks), I woke up to a bit of a rude awakening with winter-like temps once again. I decided to tough them out though and went for a short walk along the lake. There wasn't much to see, other than some geese and one or two very shy killdeer. But, I still managed to get a few photos.

Synopsis: Maria Worth has worked her tail off to make her exclusive dating service, Checkmate, a success. However, her gluttonous business partner, Petra Gore, has been more of a hindrance than a help, scaring away clients both with her disgusting eating habits and her habit of flirting with the men. Maria hoped to avoid this by secretly booking a romantic getaway for her clients at Tommel Castle. However, when Petra shows up anyway, her plans are, once again, ruined. And, when Petra is found murdered, just about everyone, including herself, is a suspect. Fortunately, Hamish Macbeth is on the case. Review: Thanks to a number of distractions, it took me a bit longer to get through this book than it normally does and, for a while, I was beginning to wonder if I would have to renew it from the library. However, I was able to finally get through this murder mystery a couple days ago and, after doing so, have to say I enjoyed every minute of it. This book was similar to many of...

I came across this particular product while doing some grocery shopping a couple days ago. It looked intriguing but, at the time, I was on a tight budget and ultimately just left it in the store freezer. I was at the store again yesterday evening, however, and, since I knew my morning would be hectic and I would likely need to pick up something for breakfast anyway, I decided to purchase one of these for me and another one for my wife. After having it this morning, my opinion is a bit mixed. As far as convenience is concerned, I really had no complaints. All I had to do was remove the bowl from the box and pop it in the microwave for about 4 minutes. There were no other steps. In fact, I wasn't even required to remove or vent the bowl's cover. I will also say the bowl proved to be more filling than I was expecting. Since it was from the Healthy Choice brand, I wasn't really sure if that would be the case or if I would wind up needing to eat something else to get th...

I could hear all kinds of life when I was at the park today but, other than a couple red-winged blackbirds and geese, there wasn't much to be seen. As a result, I decided to avoid the ice-covered trails and, other than a quick stop at the top of the observation tower, wound up walking along the shoreline. I did, however, still manage to get a few photos:

I didn't have a lot of time for a walk this morning but did get a quick one in by the lake before heading into the office. While walking I saw this pair of geese standing on the ice. At first, I thought maybe they were decoys because they didn't move. But, once I got close enough for the photo, they were moving and making all sorts of noise.

When I decided to resume my lunchtime walks today, I was concerned the park would prove to be too muddy. As it turns out, I was partially right. It was somewhat muddy. But, there is still quite a bit more ice than mud and, because of that, I did have to edit my route quite a bit. Other than geese and a few smaller birds, the park was somewhat quiet as far as wildlife goes. But, I did still manage to get some photos. I decided NOT to cross this bridge when I got there.

It's warming up enough for me to at least attempt to take a lunchtime walk today (depending on how much mud there is). As a preview to that, I did go out before coming into the office and took a couple photos of some geese resting on our still-frozen lake. They were quite a distance away and I wasn't brave/stupid enough to try to walk on the ice. But, I did manage to get these.