Ice Lake Sunrise

The neighborhood hockey rink has been shoveled and the nets are in. There's a bench on the ice for putting on skates that has a nice view of the sunrise and city skyline. 

 

Long Way Home

On snowy days, I take the long way home through Theodore Wirth park, around Cedar Lake, Bde Maka Ska, and Lake Harriet. It's 10 miles of the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway.

 

Winter Birds

The creek flowing out of the lake is ice free, but you can walk across it on the backs of all the ducks. At work we've been spotting a snowy owl hunting in the field across the street. At dusk he sits on the lamppost and surveys the field.

 

Breakfast Pizza

We lost The Sparrow coffee shop last Valentine's Day due to the water main break. They and the bookstore and Terzo are not coming back. The dentist next door to Broder's deli retired and the Broder family expanded into the space. We now have an amazing breakfast spot!! The boys have hit the deli for pasta & subs at least once a month, and now they can go grab some breakfast pizza.

 

Season of Darkness

We still have another month of darkness. It's dark in the morning going to work and dark coming home. At first it's disorienting, but then it becomes normal. The dark presents its own showcase of scenes with artificial lighting.

In addition to being dark, it's cold, too.

 

Snowy Day

So far, all the significant snowfalls we've had fell on weekends. Not this time. It started around 1 PM and didn't stop until 10. I took the parkway home and had to stop at the chalet to clean the snow that had packed under the wipers.

My usual 25 minute drive stretched into an hour and 45 minutes. Some of the guys at work had drives of 2-1/2 hours.

Needless to say, the dog didn't mind at all.

 

Winter Switch has been Flipped

We went from a beautiful long fall directly into winter. One day it was nice. The next, it showed and hasn't stopped since. 

We took the dog for his evening walk; we didn't think it was snowing, but it was coming down enough to block out the downtown skyline and hide the incoming planes.

 

Sea Smoke

We don't get a 200-foot wall of sea smoke like Duluth, but there's enough to be noticeable. The wind pushed the edge of the ice back towards shore overnight as it circulated the warm water. It won't be long before we can walk across.

 

Cat Blanket

We stopped in at Pottery Barn while we were at the mall. They had their super-soft sofa blankets on sale for $30. JP had PB Points, so we ended up getting the ultimate cat blanket for $6. She loves it!

 

Trashy Little Christmas

We went with the Ks to see Trailer Trash play their Trashy Little Christmas show at the Parkway Theatre. We didn't know what to expect other than it was supposed to be a phenomenal show so we sat in the 4th row.

The 6-man band was top notch. They played Christmas versions of classic songs that everyone knows. Radar Love was transformed into Reindeer Love. Johnny Cash's I've Been Everywhere became I've Shopped Everywhere. 

The crowd really got into it, and by the end we were all dancing in the aisles. 

 

Cold Dark Mornings

The best part of winter weekend morning dog walks is that you don't have to be down to the lake by 5:30 to catch the sunrise. In the winter, there's time to brew a coffee and collect your thoughts before heading out. The lake is starting to freeze along the edges.

 

Duck Creek

The lake has been full of geese and swans. The ducks flock to the lake outlet creek to get out of the waves and wind.

 

Snow Bass

With the cold temps outside and the dewpoint below zero, the humidity indoors is like the Kalahari Desert. All the good instruments have been put away and the winter guitar and white-on-white Snow Bass are out. Last year I picked up a hose for the heater to connect a 20 lb propane tank. Between it, some warm tubes, and warm boots, the garage is tolerable for an hour or two of playing.

 

Window Seat

This is the view out my office window. Yes, it's a parking lot, but there's an empty prairie grass lot across the street and the natural light is great.

 

Frozen Robots

We are adding heaters to our warehouse scanning robot so that it can run autonomously in a cold storage warehouse. This picture is the robot after being in the -30 °C (-20 °F) freezer for an hour. The glowing spots are the critical lidar sensors and a camera. The idea is to maintain their temps above the dewpoint of the normal air so that when the robot exits the freezer, its sensors won't fog/frost over.

 

Cold Nose

I brought an IR camera home from work for a trip. It's pretty cool; it plugs into the bottom of a phone and it captures images of heat. White is hot, purple and black are cold. 

 

X-Mas Tree

We hit the garden store and snagged a great tree the morning after Thanksgiving. This year we dug out the three totes of Thomas the Tank Engine and CP setup a little track.

Big Red

Meet Big Red. He is replacing the 40+ year-old one that Gramma Porter gave us that is now making awful noises from a worn out bearing. Can't wait to make some pizza dough!

 

Fall Pots

JP installed the decorations we picked up from Sunnyside Gardens.

It wasn't too difficult, and they came in at less than half of what we had been paying in previous years.

She had enough leftover pieces to create a third pot on the back patio.

 

New Gas Lines

Our block received a new gas main and gas lines to each house. Everyone has a sidewalk panel that was torn out and filled in with asphalt now. In the spring we will get fresh concrete.

 

Northern Lights

We were treated to some very bright northern lights that overpowered the city glow. I stepped out into the backyard and my eyes didn't even have to adjust; the sky was glowing red.

This is looking north towards downtown, half a block from the lake.

 

Sunnyside Gardens

We hit Sunnyside Gardens in Linden Hills to see what they have for fall decor. JP was in heaven with all the X-Mas decorations.

 

Gourd Snackbar

One of our Halloween gourds was singled out by the squirrels as the place to go for a snack.

 

New Dog Beach Sidewalk

A couple summers ago, we had a heatwave that buckled the curb along the walk above the dog beach. It fell away and allowed for more stuff to also fall away. This fall it was repaired and a new concrete section of walking path was installed. 

 

Halloween Clearance

JP hit the post-Halloween sales and scored some cute Halloween pillows for next year. It used to not make sense, but with the way time is speeding up, a year away is not that distant anymore.

 

Naval Strategery

CP is all into board games. Not Parcheesi or Monopoly, but more strategic thinking-cap games with endless rules. He brought over a naval warfare game that GP & I refused to play. Mom did her mom thing and played it with him for three hours. They had protractors, rulers, and compasses out as part of it. 

CP hand-painted all the little ships. 

 

Long Fall

We have had a spectacular fall that has gone on and on. Weekend mornings are my favorite. The dog and I wander around the area and stop at a park bench for some cheese and coffee.

The leaves continue to fall and change color. The gold and orange maple leaves on the patio have been succeeded by the darker reds of the K's maple.

 

Sushi Dog

JP found a sushi costume for a cat and stretched it out to wrap around the dog. He likes sushi, but he does not like wearing a costume.