First Hail

So far, we've been enjoying the mild weather here; we've not had to hunker down in the basement and wait out a storm. That is, until 1:30 AM the other night when we were awakened by torrential rain and then that telltale tick, tick, ticka-tacka patter of hail on the roof. Fortunately, it got no bigger than dime-sized, but it sure woke us up.

A few days later we had another storm and this one set off the tornado sirens. In 2005, when we first moved to Nebraska, it seemed like we were in the basement every night due to tornado wanrings.

 

Chillin

JP got the last piece she's been wanting for the sunroom. Now it's time to relax.

 

Tennis Courts

Yesterday, we had some old crumbling tennis courts here. Now it's a graded lot of recycled tennis court asphalt. New courts? Fingers crossed.

 

Nightlights

We installed some lights in the front yard to match all the other landscape lighting in the back yard. It's only four lights, but it really made a difference.

 

Minneopa Falls

With the boys gone, we've been feeling the need to get out and explore our surroundings.

Minneopa falls is an hour+ southwest of here. S felt right at home wading in the creek.

 

Getting Close

This is one of my favorite views: entering the metro area from the south on 35W. The road pops over a hill as it descends into the Minnesota River valley and you get your first view of downtown and know that home is only 15 minutes away.

 

Wild Dog

We tried out the big dog park in Bloomington. S loved it!  

Squirrels

 We have more than a few squirrels in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people put out poison for the mice, which also takes out owls and birds of prey. The squirrels & chipmunks don't eat the poison, so they have free reign in their niche.

So far, they are all staying out of the house and garage...

Curtains

 This weekend we installed JP's curtains for the living room. It's coming together one piece at a time. She ordered some blinds that should be here this week.

Fish in a Tree

 The other day while letting S swim with the next door dog at the dog beach, we watched an eagle snag a fish. He carried it to a tree right above the walking path. After you've watched an eagle dismember his dinner high up in a tree, it starts to make sense when you run across various small animal parts under the trees.

Back to School

 The boys took off back to school last weekend. JP wanted us to go with them and spend the weekend at the G's, but with the Coronavirus taking off again, it didn't make sense. They have each done some long road trips with their frats, but this was their first road trip together. They made it safe and sound and are now each moved into their new places.

CP is in the same apartment building, but in a new apartment with three new roommates. One of them was his roommate freshman year. GP has a room to himself in his frat house. 

We are missing them, but it's really nice to have food in the fridge. They were going through three large pizzas a day!

Root Canal

 We had a root from the maple tree push up a half-dozen bricks next to the birdbath. We dug it out and surgically removed a 4" diameter root. It took 15 minutes and two blades with the Sawzall! We can't believe how much better the walk looks now - we didn't realize how bad it had looked before. Now if we could just get the maple to stop raining down helicopters and the robins from digging in the mulch...

Once we got this done, we put in some outdoor lighting that came out very nice. We need to take some photos.

Naptime

 Nothing better than catching a nap in the afternoon sun.

Morning Dog Walks

 Every morning I take the dog for his morning walk. Usually he wants to go along the creek, which is nice - there are no people. If we hit the sidewalk before 6:15, the trail on the lake is usually pretty empty, so we go that way. I will never tire of sunrises on the lake.