Smudge on the Sky

My morning dog walk to the lake (3 hr later than normal) was marred by a smudge of smoke across the sky. It was a long night here in the city. I went to bed at 1 or 2, and JP was up till 4:30, watching the news and listening to the choppers and post-curfew traffic. Our backyard security camera went off at 12:30 and, for the first time, it really spooked us. It was only a moth that set it off. Then a bit later it went off again - the neighborhood cat cutting through the yard.

We are a few miles from it all, but there's a general feeling of tension in the air (and smoky smell, too). Neighbors strolled around before the 8:00 curfew, checking out the group gathered at 50th & Penn, wondering what they could/should do to further the cause. We are all engaged in this and want to help, but what does a lot of shouting and destruction do?

Fortunately, our little corner of restaurants and shops was spared. There's some graffiti on one of the buildings, but no broken windows. We love our community corner; they have been struggling to survive through the pandemic, and they certainly don't need any vandalism piled onto their burdens.

One of the city/county D.A.s lives down the street from us and there was a group protesting outside his home. Why?? To terrorize his wife & kids?? The violence has taken over any message of hope that the peaceful protests were sending. Outsiders have descended on the city with the sole purpose of stoking the fires and fueling the already bad scene. Apparently, everyone that has been arrested is from out of town. They are not Minneapolis. They are not even Minnesotans. Please leave. Now.

Minneapolis Riots

There is some ugly stuff going on in this beautiful city. Sounds like a lot of out of towners are inciting trouble. We spent the evening here at home, appreciating how good we have it and wishing that all this heals quickly. What's happening now is not Minneapolis; it's not that kind of place, and it makes us sad.

Masked Bandits

Got the coolest Coronavirus-stopping masks ever from Sue Brain, the finest seamstress, EVER! Thanks Sue!!!

I love that they tie behind my neck rather than slice my ears off with elastic.

Potted Plants

JP finally got her pots stuffed with some colorful plants. Starting to feel like it's not winter.

Pink Carpet

Our fruit tree (plum??) dropped its petals and carpeted the front garden in pink.

The pictures can't convey the glow that shone up from the ground. It was magical.

Rhododendron in Bloom

While we were in IL, JP's rhododendron finally bloomed. It has been taunting us with large buds for the last month. We weren't sure if it would ever bloom.

Green Grass

Nana's backyard has been transformed from the back 40 to a beautiful green oasis. She has been working hard on making it beautiful.

After living for the past few months without grass, it was nice to walk barefoot in the soft turf. S loved it! He couldn't get enough.

Fresh Paint

It had been 14 days since we picked up CP from UNL; he made it through quarantine. Time to pack up and go see Nana for a long weekend.

The paint was peeling on the house and garage. She picked up seven gallons of paint, brushes, scrapers, and some brats. We brought the boys and an ample supply of elbow grease. This was the boys' first painting project - they did great and possibly had fun, too.

We didn't get the whole house done before the rain set in, but we got the garage and west face of the house looking good.

Sunrise, Sunset

Two of the things that we are totally enjoying about our new neighborhood are sunrises and sunsets. There aren't as many joggers, walkers, cyclists on the lake paths, and it's really pretty.

Film Scanner

Since we're locked in for the immediate future, we picked up a sweet film scanner. The plan is to go thru all our old negatives, slides, and photos and scan them all. Well, maybe at least some.

I'm excited, because it's a lot faster to scan than it was to print in the darkroom. 

Click here for more pics.

Spring is Here

What was once bare rocks and mulch sprouted up tall and green all over our yard.

The back yard is a Japanese garden with an diverse bunch of multicolored plants.

More pics HERE.

Flat Tire

We dusted off the bikes and aired up the tires. One didn't hold overnight.

TV Stand

We finally found a TV stand. No more TV on the floor!

Virtual Happy Hour

Tinto Kitchen is our go-to comfort food restaurant. They are selling their homemade margarita mix to go. JP picked up some tequila and orange liqueur and we did our weekly virtual happy hour with our old neighbors in style. It was fun! (but we learned a lesson and won't do it again)

Road Trip!

I took off last Friday and we went and picked up CP.

When we left Nebraska, we thought we were downsizing. Because we did downsize! Two less bedrooms, one less bathroom, and 1,000 fewer square feet. Nonetheless, it's good to have the boys with us. They have been exploring their new neighborhood and taking in the limited sights.

Foxy Loxy

We installed a Ring camera on the alley side of the house. Guess who we saw?

This morning we turned the corner and he was sitting in someone's yard, just hanging out. Luckily for us, S didn't notice him.

The other night, GP was awoken from a dream by weird sounds. He thought it was a nightmare, so he went downstairs to get a drink and when he looked out the window, Foxy was there making his weird fox-bark sounds. No nightmare - just the fox fox-barking in the front yard. I'm glad S sleeps through that!

Northern Lights Azeleas

The U of M has bred some amazing Azeleas that are adapted to northern life. Check it out here: https://mnhardy.umn.edu/varieties/woody-ornamentals/azaleas. Here, where the wind doesn't howl 24/7 like Nebraska, the blossoms have lasted for weeks. Totally beautiful!

Duck, Duck, Grey Duck

One of the monstrous benefits of this Work From Home thing is that I get sleep in an hour and walk the dog every morning along Lake Harriet. 

S likes baby geese. Mother Goose doesn't like S. Same goes for Momma Duck.

Weak Sunshine

We were so sad to leave our Nebraska deck behind, but our new house has a deck that is almost as good. It faces west, and there's an hour or two of solid sunlight between the trees in the afternoon. The sun isn't as strong (we're 300 miles north), but it's strong enough to lift the spirits, and our blood is thickening up minute by minute. 

Masked Marauder

We found a lady on Nextdoor that sews fashionable facemasks. We stocked up - not because they are cool looking, but because this was the only place we could find them.

They are very cool looking.

Exotic Wildlife

Squirrellie likes to drink out of the birdbath. We have a crow that likes to wash his pizza, hot dogs, and whatever else he stole in the front birdbath. Last weekend we installed a Ring camera for the back alley entrance (because we really like the one we got for our doorbell!) and so far every night it goes off between two and three with either a squirrel, raccoon, or bunny in the driveway.

We have a pair of cardinals nesting in the little pine tree in the back yard. Their babies are loud, but not as loud as all the sparrows.

This is the most exotic creature in our back yard. He is rarely seen in daylight, much less outside.

Qaurantine Games

We are trying to help out our neighborhood restaurants by getting takeout once a week. Tinto Kitchen handed out some Quarantingo cards with our last order. We didn't think much of it, but looked into it a bit. Quarantingo is our new favorite game: it's a live bingo draw via a video feed over facebook. It took an hour and a half to get through three bingo cards. A local woman hosted it with her sister and daughter and it was a ton of fun! 

A quarantine wouldn't be complete without some video games in the basement.

GP hasn't played in months, yet his muscles still remember Rio.

We need to work out a better audio recording method so that we can shoot our own videos.

Loving the Lake

Being a block and a half from Lake Harriet is better than we ever imagined, especially with the dog and working from home. We catch the sunrise and sunset every day - it's beautiful.

One thing we have noticed is that the weather on the lake is completely different than at our house. It can be calm and pleasant at home, but 20 mph and cold at the lake.

We saw some kids swimming the other day. The lake was fully covered with ice one month ago. Minnesota kids are tough.

Spring Snow

S is a true snow dog. He loves it as well as cold weather. If it's 70, he's panting and too hot.

We had a beautiful snow storm. We were supposed to just get an inch or two. We ended up with six! The true beauty of working from home is not caring about the weather or traffic. At all.

Ice Out 2020

The day before, the lake was completely iced over. This morning (3/30), it's ice-free.

The Covid 19

Being home all the time in close proximity to snacks and good home cooking is taking its toll on us. We are each packing on the Covid 19 pounds. It's kinda like the Freshman 15, but not.

We finally scored some yeast, so JP makes up a batch of bread dough every few days and we have hot fresh every day.

Back in the Nest

GP was living in the dorms @ UNL as the school kept closing more and more things on campus. He had his room to himself and was doing OK, but then the announcement came out that all the dorms were going to be consolidated into one. We did a road trip there and back in a day and brought him home. Good thing we moved into our house are weren't still in the 1-bedroom apartment! It's good to have him home & safe.

CP has his own apartment and is doing well with with his roommates, so he's going to stay there for now.