Arboretum

JP took Nana to the arboretum for a few hours on a perfect fall afternoon.

 

Trimmed Ribs

The kitty helped me run the smoker for a batch of ribs. She is a good helper.

We got the meat from Kowalski's. At first I was a little put off with the price, but that all changed as soon as I went to trim them up. There was nothing to trim! They were trimmed perfectly and even had the membrane pulled off. All I had to do was season them and throw them in the smoker for a few hours. From now on, we are only buying our ribs from there.

The long day at the smoker tired out the cat.

 

Nana Visits MN

We brought Nana up for a week to see our new place and the sights of Minnapolis.

She got to experience a little bit of color.

We had beautiful sunny weather for the whole week. We hit the Bread & Pickle for lunch one day and it was packed. Everyone was getting out to enjoy the last of the perfect weather.

 

Workbench

Finally picked up a workbench from Menards and now have a clean flat place to work in the garage. Tore apart the lawnmower robot and repaired some stage lights.

 

Naptime

Being a fluffy pet is such hard work. Gotta nap when you can.

With the boys both gone, S has his own bedroom back.

 

Butterfly Hunter

One of our favorite places to go with S is the Bloomington off-leash dog park. It's a huge open prairie with sections of tall grass that make for great butterfly hunting.

 

Princess Bride

The original cast of The Princess Bride did a fundraiser for the Wisconsin Democratic Party. They read the entire script of the movie live from their homes. They did a great job and it was so fun to listen & watch.

 

Steamy Lake

The lake is still warm, but the air has turned chilly. JP caught a loon out in the mist on her morning walk. The guys in the boat caught a 4-foot muskie!

 

Brrrr

We went from hot to not-hot in a day. S really likes the fireplace. I'm sure he'll figure out that he can curl up to the radiators, too, once they get going.

 

Fall R&R Time

Finally!! It has cooled off to the point that we can work outside on the house. The windows on the south side all need some TLC: sand/scrape, primer, paint, paint again. JP matched the brown trim color perfectly, so we won't have to repaint all the trim.

 

MN Corn

We've been getting sweet corn from the farmer's stand down the street. We cook it in the husk on the grill and it comes out perfect every time. Except for this poor ear

 

Thom the Elf

Across the trail from the dog beach lives Thom the Elf. Every day there are new items added to his collection. We never thought much about him, until we heard the Viking legends of the Huldufólk and álfar and noticed that there are similar elf houses all over the neighborhood.

What's notable about Thom's place is that it's an official place that shows up on Google Maps.

 

One Step Closer

JP got her window blinds for the living room. Now, the only remaining task is to find some artwork for the sofa wall. 

...and a larger mantel mirror.

...and getting the radiators refinished.

...and the light switches and outlets swapped out for white ones.

The mantel clock is in the shop getting a new pendulum suspension spring installed. We can't wait to get it back and have it ticking and ringing.

 

Local Fish Stories

Next year, I'm going to get a fishing license. Between Lake Harriet and Minnehaha Creek, there is way too much good fishing within walking distance.

The video below is from last summer when a kid lassoed a 6-foot sturgeon in the creek.

This week, the kid below pulled a 41-inch northern pike out of Lake Harriet. The same Lake Harriet that is right up the street that S swims in every day.

Beautiful Day

The weather has finally turned the corner past summer. The lake is just as pretty from the north side at the Bread & Pickle. We're used to seeing it from the south side.

 

Minnehaha Falls

S loves all the adventure hikes. This one was around Minnehaha Falls and the surrounding park. He was bummed that we wouldn't let him swim.

 

Smokin

JP picked up some ribs from Costco and we smoked them. It's a nice thing to do when you've got nothing else going on on a Saturday morning. I figured out the flame and vent settings so it's pretty much fire & forget.

 

Totally Tubular

I thought my amp was acting up, so I pulled the chassis out to take a look. I will never tire of seeing all these pretty tubes. I think one of them wasn't seated properly - the amp sounds like a beast again.

 

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.