Sweet Rock

The parcel is very nice with woods, an orchard, meadows, rock bluffs and a few acres of corn.  The name for the land came from a particular formation that we viewed on our visit the the real estate agent.

SR Photos

The Spot
Looking East
Looking East
Looking South
Basement
Basement

The McGuires were up harvesting the fall corn.

Beth had an idea for the Christmas cards this year.  We have two options.

The Spot
Looking East
Looking East
Looking South

Exciting times this summer with the preparations for building the house are finally leading to construction!  The big rigs are on-site and digging the foundation.  That's it for the camping spot, but we've relocated just a few yards away.

The dogs were well behaved for this shot and another with Sarah.

I also managed to capture a really nice photo of the barn across from Robinson Ridge.  Here's one of Dad and chris, and a nice one of some pine trees.

The weather was perfect that weekend (Perfectly sunny and highs around 70).  If you get a chance to see southwestern Wisconsin in early October I highly recommend it!

We took pictures of the kids [1][2] with the dozer as Christmas card possibilities.  They give you a much better idea of the size of the Cat compared to the clip above.

The driveway was in full construction this trip.
Halfway up, looking up.
On the side, by the road.
From the top, looking down.

The other major chore was the start of clearing the orchard.  There are ~10³ prickly ash trees down there and we take great pleasure in cutting them down and putting them on the fire. (Caution, the fire link is a 2MB video).  Here are some frames from that movie. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six.

[Updated 8/17/99]
Here are some photos from that day. Jason and Sarah, Matt.
Also a photo of the driveway to be.
From the bottom looking up.

Dusk from Robinson Ridge
This shot looks North West from the ridge.  It is a nice panorama with the rolling hills and the Overall View farm.

Sunset
A sunset from Robinson Ridge.

A Gang
Your Webmaster
Some pics from the ridge.

Clouds
The view over the fields isn't the best in the house, but it's often good for clouds or deer.

Evil Spider
This thing looked like it was ready to take someones arm off!

From the Hammock 1
From the Hammock 2
A couple nice shots of the foliage.  Taken from the hammock in the campsite.

Keinitz 1
Keinitz 2
Keinitz 3
I went for a hike and the light was hitting the Keinitz ridge just right.  Here are some of the more colorful images from the weekend.

Little Tree
This tree has certainly choosen a difficult spot to make a living.  We'll see how it goes!

Matt in the Woods
Matt on the Ridge
Matt is the youngest and most available of the Wellners.  Any ladies interested can contact him via matt@wellner.org

Presto
Just lounging around.

Sarah
Working the camera, as usual.

Hollow Log
A more artistic shot by the webmaster.

Twin Peaks
The trees, not the show.  This was Matt's nicest shot from the weekend.

Hiking
Rich, Dad, Mick, Matt and Jason went for a hike and Matt snapped this shot.

Sarah relaxing
At the bottom of Robinson Ridge are many boulders of various sizes.  This one has a hollow in it that is the perfect size for Sarah.

My favorite tree
I have to come up with a better way to shoot this tree, but here is the only picture I have right now.  On the top of Sweet Rock is where this was taken and that tree is a really cool, knurled pine of some sort.  It's trunk actually goes horizontally from the visible tree under the boulders in the foreground to somewhere approximately where the photographer was standing.

Ken, Ruth, Dad and the kids on Robinson Ridge
Uncle Ken and Aunt Ruthie came up to check things out with Dad.  Here they are at mid-day on Robinson Ridge.

Ken, Dad and Sarah
Just south of Robinson Ridge is another bluff that has some neat formations.  On our way back to camp after a pleasant hike we stopped to take this picture.

Naked photo number one
Our dog Presto is quite the exhibitionist.... please note the appropriately placed grass for the younger viewers.

Naked photo number two
Work it, poochie, work it!!

Sunrise with Venus
Sunrise over field
Sometimes when the sun starts to come up the wildlife wakes me up.  I usually go back to sleep for several more hours, but since I knew Venus would be visible and I had the hammock hanging out, I decided to take some pictures and enjoy the view.  It was really fun.  It was a chilly summer morning, about 55F or so, and I just laid out on the hammock in my sleeping bag and bathed in the glory.  Venus is in the first picture just over the trees on the top left.

The Patriarch
Boys1
Boys2
We went over to Robinson Ridge at sunset to pop the Dom.  These pictures turned out very badly because I didn't bring a tripod, but since it was an important night here they are after digital manipulation.

Jason and the Barn
Our land ends at the edge of the forest under Robinson Ridge.  The barn in the background here belongs to our western neighbors.

Jason and Ship Rock
A nearby feature is a bluff that looks a bit like an ocean liner getting ready to set sail into the heavens.  To the best of my knowledge this is also Jason's first attempt at trick photography!

Rich working
I spend a lot of time with semi-productive labor like gathering firewood for the evenings festivities.  When we first got up there we had a medium size oak laying in the middle of the campground.  Here I am sawing it up.  The thicker part I saved and we are now using as a bench for the campfire.

Rainy day
During the first few trips up we couldn't catch a break on the weather front.  Here is the gang playing Uno in the camper one night.

Panorama1
Panorama2
Here are a couple panoramic shots.  They were taken during the spring when not everything had bloomed.

Campsite
This spot looks much different now.  The weeds have been cut back and there is a fire ring with a bench near where the log is.