THE CROWLEY'S - WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DOING SINCE WE SOLD THE OLD LUMBERYARD RESTAURANT

 WE'VE RENOVATED 10+ PROPERTIES/HOUSES/OUT BUILDINGS

 RAISED 100's OF ANIMALS & EXOTIC BIRDS 

 MADE AND SOLD LOTS & LOTS OF CRAFTS 

PLANTED & TENDED MANY LARGE VEGETABLE/HERB & FLOWER GARDENS

TAKEN 1,OOO's OF PICTURES OF BIRDS/SQUIRRELS & SEASONAL OUTDOOR SCENES

 COLLECTED (sometimes sold) ALL KINDS OF THINGS THAT WE COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT

STARTED BLOGING & WRITING BOOKS & ONE PUBLISHED SO FAR (many in the works)

NOW HAVE THREE BEAUTIFUL GRANDSONS (who are extraordinary - according to G & G)

SO, THIS BLOG WILL BE MOSTLY PICTURES SHOWING THE ABOVE....

**ENJOY**

These pictures are not in any particular order - sorry that they are in single file - The Blog site will not let me double up with them - or put them side to side....

Not going to show houses that we've renovated - because other people currently own them

AND

My daughter and daughter in law don't really want their babies' pictures out there on the web - so I respect that (but I assure you, they are the best looking, sweetest, smartest humans in the world - I'm just a bit in love with these 3 wonderful guys)

Mort had his construction business until 2020  -  that is what he still does - now with me as the helper or he occasionally hires helpers with difficult jobs - roofing, standing walls up, etc.  But basically, still does everything.  He is currently putting in all new windows in our Victorian home.

Laura retired from Iowa County in 2016 and went on to working in the field of Nursing for an additional few years - also worked at Lands' End for awhile.  Once we moved to the UP - she worked at a high end grocery store in the Deli (just like the restaurant business) preparing special orders for customers.  All along, crafting magical characters and selling to three business in WI - even shipping UPS back to WI once we lived in the UP.  Currently I am still crafting, but mostly working with Mort to get this Victorian home ready to rent so that we can move out to our newly purchased lake home.  

We stay busier than most - but we still take our days and walk the beaches of the Bay, eat our lunch watching battleships being constructed at the Marinette Marina and just generally enjoy being retired.  Since we sold the log cabin that we restored and rehomed our farm animals, living in town has really been easy for us - that has just been for the last (almost) year.  When we lived in the log cabin - we had to do everything - plow driveways and roads (we were out in the middle of 1,000's of acres of State land) - our animals had to be cared for and fed every day.  We had big gardens and a lot of chickens - so, lots of good veggies, apples from our 4 trees and a lot of baking with all of the eggs our girls gave us.  We brought the remaining three hens to town with us.  

We really miss all of the animals that we have had over the last 30 years - but we don't miss the hard work that it entails.  So, we have two dogs, a parrot and three hens.  We put out a buffet for the local birds and squirrels and enjoy them too.  We have amazing zoos within a 50-mile radius and go there when our souls need to be around exotic animals.  

We've raised llamas, peacocks, exotic pheasants, chickens, sheep, mini donkeys, mini horses, Draft horses, goats, many caged birds (parrots/canary's), horses, deer, raccoons, two monkeys, squirrels, rabbits, dogs, cats, and anything else that needed a home.....we've rescued many animals from bad situations...nursed them back to health and gave them the best lives that we could.  

Laura crafts...a lot...sold to three stores for a few years - now, thinking about selling again - but mostly love to make things for family - no pressures - just pleasure.

Laura is currently in the process of writing about 7 books - flip back and forth as the mood moves - blogging fills the need and also something called Junk Journaling - compiling a story without 50,000 words - using all kinds of scraps, etc. - examples shown.

We don't think we are collecting things anymore - but we are....and we have a large amount that we need to go through and make decisions about - we are moving to our lake house and renting out our big Victorian - so less space.

We have had gardens at every house and property - looking forward to a large garden on the lake - and a promised greenhouse made primarily out of the old windows from our Victorian (we are in the process of replacing all of the old windows - 23 double hung) and a few larger and smaller ornate (leaded glass) windows that we will repair/not replace.

We still have three sweet hens (in the city) - that give us three wonderful brown eggs each and every day.  Hildy-Tildy & Darlene.

RECIPES & MEMORIES FROM THE OLD LUMBERYARD RESTAURANT (Part 10) Mineral Point, WI

OLD LUMBERYARD

SELF STORAGE UNITS

That the Crowley's built.....

When we purchased the Old Lumberyard Complex, there was some vacant property included in the sale.  We had a survey done and found out that we owed land up on the bluff and also across the street - Commerce - on the curve.  So, we settled those situations (just because the street seemed to separate the properties - does not mean that when it was platted that there even was a road/street there).  We needed to clean up the property - some abandoned appliances, rebar and assorted junk.  We cleaned it all up and were thinking about what we could do with it.  We decided to build the Old Lumberyard Restaurant and then also 24 storage units (2 buildings) down on the end.  We of course loved our Restaurant and enjoyed it the whole time we owned and operated it.  Also, the storage units were fun - accommodating individuals with more stuff than space.  We ended up selling everything separately - the main building complex, the restaurant and the storage units all were sold to different buyers.  

I HAVE A MILLION MORE RECIPES BUT I'M JUST GOING TO LIST THE

POPULAR SANDWICHES - kind of Chicago Style (we are from Chicago Area)

HOT ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICHES (Italians say Sangwitch)

 We purchased an Italian thinly sliced beef with all of the delicious juices.

We would serve this hot, tender beef on a crusty Italian Bread sliced lengthwise. We would top the meat with grilled green bell peppers with some of two options, melted mozzarella cheese and a condiment called giardiniera.  Or, we would put the options on the side for the customer to try.  Then we would dip the bottom of the sandwich into hot gravy/juices - wrap it up in deli paper and serve. Hot, juicy, crusty, delicious Chicago Style Sandwich.

ANOTHER SPECIAL - CHICAGO STYLE HOTDOGS

We would make up the hotdog with all of the fixings of a real Chicago Style Hotdog - or vary the toppings per the customer.  

But, an authentic Chicago Style Hotdog was a Beef Hotdog served on a poppyseed bun.  The toppings were:  yellow mustard, bright green relish, fresh chopped onions, tomato wedges, a kosher pickle spear, Sport peppers and a dash of Celery Salt.

YUMMY  - a meal all in one.  

ALSO 

A REUBEN SANDWICH

Slices of rye bread with caraway seeds

Butter one side of the bread/ put Thousand Island Dressing on the other side of the bread.

Lay sliced corned beef on the dressing spread side, spread sauerkraut over the corned beef, layer with a few slices of Swiss Cheese. Top with another piece of rye bread (prepared).  Put the whole sandwich - butter side down on the grill - lightly brown on both sides until the cheese melts and the corned beef/sauerkraut is nice and deliciously hot.  

All of our Sandwiches were served with either chips or fresh hand cut French fries.