Back again

Well, two weeks have passed since I've been back in the States. I am now renting my brother's home since he lives in California and it just sets empty otherwise.

I won't be looking for a job until Stefan goes back to Austria in two weeks. It's gonna be really hard to let him go again for three months, but there's nothing more that we can do about it, and we both have to get jobs and start earning income again. Until the dreaded day comes, I will continue to show him around the area. We still haven't gone to downtown Chicago, nor to Milwaukee. It will happen, but the weather seems to be disagreeable on the days that work for us. Tomorrow it is going to snow again, and then it will become colder and windy, with a high of about 21 F and not accounting for the wind chill. Not a good day to visit the shores of Lake Michigan.

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I have visited Bennie twice since I've been back. I'd like to see him every day, but that is an impossibility at this point. Anyhow, the first time I went to see him, Bennie poked his head out immediately from his nest box (which is now inside the house) when he heard me say, "BBen, where are you, little squirrel?" I put my hand down to his face and he responded by grabbing my hand with his paws, and then climbing up my right arm. Next, he flopped himself across my left arm just like he would lay down on a tree limb, with his hind legs dangling over each side of my arm and his furry little paws hugging it. Just like always. Squirrel hugs. He snuggled in closer to my belly and then fell asleep. Later, I gave him some bags of pecans, hazelnuts, and Engligh walnuts. He growled at my feet intermittently, in passing, while finding places to store his new treasures. I cleaned his ears and scratched his chest. It was an awesome day.

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I have also begun to keep my annual bird feeder count, as of yesterday. My brother's place is in the woods, so the bird watching opportunities are neverending. There are suet and sunflower seeds for consumption, and so far I have seen:

6 Black-capped Chickadees
2 Tufted Titmice
1 Blue Jay
2 Downy Woodpeckers
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
4 White-breasted Nuthatches

I hope to see some pileated or red-headed woodpeckers before too long. No squirrels yet. Keeping my fingers crossed for squirrels, too.

Getting ripped off at Stephansdom

And Time ticked away

All possibilities have been exhausted, and my stay here without a visa has run its course. I won't be back until the middle of March. I asked S to come back with me and I bought him a ticket. He said that he will stay for a month, until the new winter season begins.

We will arrive in Madison late Tuesday evening and then stay in a hotel that night. I want to take Stefan to Dotty's for the best burgers and beer in town, and then we will walk around State Street and maybe have a couple more drinks at various watering holes. The next morning I am having a car rental agency pick us up from the hotel, and then I will show him a little more of Madison before we drive into the hills, to my parent's home. Mom and Dad are excited, of course, and my sister was home from Montana when I called them today. She was in Madison this week, giving a lecture at the Monona Terrace about her fresh water lake research to a group of international scientists. She wants us to visit her in Montana, and for me to live there during the time I am sort of in limbo. She says that my weavings would sell really well in Bozeman. I will think about it. My brother Steve is also going to be home for Thanksgiving and, actually, I am not sure where we will be staying while visiting my family. Of course, we can stay at Mom and Dad's, but I am not sure that we really want to do that. Steve might have room for us at his place. Enid wants us to stay in Madison with her, also, so it is all up in the air for the moment. I was thinking about renting an apartment in Madison right away, because I like Madison so well and because it's still close to my main roots, but Sue's idea is intriguing. She says there are many other opportunities for jobs in Bozeman, too. Anyhow, it is very difficult to know what to do.

Tonight we are going to the Grüner Anger with Robert and Monica for the monthly Eislgasse party. We are having a traditional type of goose dinner. And tomorrow we are meeting friends at the Ruth for 'going away drinks.' Wolfgang is also flying off soon. He is spending the winter months in Thailand and Vietnam.