Sledding

There's a big hill at the park by the creek that is perfect for sledding. We picked up some snow tubes from Ace and trudged down to the hill. It was packed with kids - everyone else had the same idea. I took S down with me, and I'm not sure he knows what to think. It was a crazy fast ride, and my boot came off by the time we made it to the hay bales at the bottom.

We dodged the storm that gave Iowa a foot of snow. We only got 5" of it, but it was a beautiful fluffy snow that came down all day. It was super sparkly at night.

 

Ice, Ice, Baby

We picked up an ice-ball kit from the hardware store down the street. IT'S AWESOME!! It makes hollow ice balls that we can light with candles. They are really beautiful.

JP scored some tickets to the MN Landscape Arboretum's holiday light festival. Due to the pandemic, it was turned into a drive-thru event. What a spectacular place! I cannot wait to explore it on foot someday.

 

X-Mas 2020

Despite it being 2020, Santa made his rounds without mishap and delivered goodies for the family.

 

Cold Snap

The day of the big snow, it was 45° when I got up. By 6 PM it was down to 18°, and by morning it was down to -2° F. The lake was at 32° and steaming like it was warm.

One of the mindsets up here is that there is no bad weather; there are only bad choices in clothing. If you dress for it, it's enjoyable and pleasant. Especially when the sun comes out!

 

Ice in Your Beard

We finally got some snow a couple of days before Christmas!! It was a beautiful all-day snowfall that took us from dry ground to 8" of white stuff.

The boys shoveled a bit and walked the dog. The wind was blowing pretty good down at the lake and they ended up with icicles in their beards. Nothing that a big bowl of J's wild rice soup cannot fix.

 

White Squirrel

JP & S spied a white squirrel on their walk a couple blocks away. 

 

Bald Eagles

More days than not, we see bald eagles. There's a pair that own Lake Harriet. Today we saw a pair over the dog park down in Bloomington. It's so awesome to see them; when we were kids, they were nearly extinct. 

 

Outdoor Holiday Decor

The same company that does our twice-a-year yard cleanup does decorative works for everyone on the street's planters and window boxes.

 

Swag

JP has the house decorated to the 9's for Christmas. 

 

Another Teardown

 

This house four blocks away sold this summer for $825k. It was a mid-century modern split level. The house to the right of it is a beautiful 1909 Arts & Crafts monster on Lake Harriet Parkway. Hopefully the new house will fit in to the neighborhood. 

Sunroom Print

Our favorite room in the house is the sunroom. It's cozy and bright and inviting.

JP found a beautiful print by a local artist of Minnehaha Creek in winter. She took it down the street to the local frame shop and 90 days later, we got it back. It's perfect for this room!

Minnehaha Creek is where I take S on his daily dark-thirty morning dog walk.

 

Falls in Fall

We had another pretty fall day. No snow (until the evening), sunshine, and above freezing. We took the boys to see Minnehaha Falls. Technically, we could walk or bike to it directly from the house along the Minnehaha Creek trail, but we drove the five miles.

Kids can grow up, but they will always be kids. Here is CP tempting fate by standing on a slippery, wobbly rock in the creek.

 

Snuggle Time

With the cooler temps, the animals are starting to snuggle on the sofa.

 

Dog Walk X-Mas Tree

A funny thing happened on our dog walk...

We were walking the dog and passed our neighbors on their way home carrying a Christmas Tree. The Boy Scouts have their tree lot a few blocks up the street, so we went to see what they had. Ended up getting a beautiful little tree. We could have carried it home, but I didn't want to end up all covered in sap, so we called CP to bring the truck.

 

Thanksgiving 2020

This year, JP made a fancy turkey breast roulade. Inside were prosciutto, herbs, and butter. Needless to say, it was Yummy!

It was so fun having the boys home! Everyone is healthy and doing well. That's a lot to be thankful for in 2020.

 

Home for the Holidays

The boys drove home on Thanksgiving. Their semester ended early and they aren't due back until late January. They quarantined before coming home and took a lot of flak for it from their friends in NE.

 

Weekend Walks

S & I go for walks every morning. During the week, it's pitch black and we take a headlamp with us. On the weekends, we sleep in and enjoy some daylight and go down by the creek. 

 

Migration Station

There's ice starting to form at the edges of the lake in the shallows. It's full of the normal varieties of ducks and Canada geese, plus as a bonus the trumpeter swans are migrating through. They stay out in the middle of the lake, but buzz the shoreline as they arrive and depart.

S would like to chase the birds, but the water is getting chilly.

 

Weather Patterns

We've had a couple of snowstorms so far. It's a pattern: nice weather, 40° temperature drop, rain then snow. Each time it gets a little bit colder and the nice weather isn't quite as nice as the previous cycle.

 

Mask Up!

I don't enjoy wearing masks - they fog up my sunglasses and they usually hurt a bit because they are all too small. Except for the awesome masks we received from SB. They are awesome and they fit my fat face. Thanks SB!!

Here in MN, we continue to hit new highs every week. This weekend we crossed 5,000 new cases in a single day. Wisconsin and the Dakotas are in worse shape. It's time to mask up, people! Do your part to help others around you. Hopefully the new administration will be able to bring us back from the edge and get us through the pandemic before it does to us what we did to the Native Americans when we stepped foot on North America.

 

Office Help

V has a thing for pillows. She is to the point that she will only sleep on a pillow. I put one on top of the amp in the office and she quickly made it her new spot. She helps me during the day in the work-from-home office.

 

Pikachu

JP went as Pikachu for our neighbor's Halloween campfire. Stuffed into the fuzzy yellow suit is a few pair of long underwear, sweaters, and a down coat. It was a balmy 35°, but we had 35 mph Nebraska winds that kept the sparks flying and the Coronavirus germs away.

 

Halloween Hike

Our spooky Halloween hike was on the Hell's Gate trail at Banning SP.

The spookiest part was having to walk under this huge ledge.

The coolest part is that there's a pothole in the ledge that was drilled in from the top and it is exposed from the bottom where the bottom of the ledge broke off. It's probably four feet in diameter. There are potholes everywhere in the sandstone, from the top of the cliffs all the way down to the river. 

 

Banning State Park

We hit Banning State Park for a beautiful day of walking the dog in the woods. It's an easy hour and a half north of us. We didn't know what to expect other than usually state parks usually have something special. We were not disappointed.

The Kettle River has carved out a beautiful canyon through the sandstone. We can't wait to come back in the summer and canoe the rapids. 

S is a real trooper when it comes to hiking. He had fun scrambling on the rocks and ledges.

 

Sunroom

Our favorite room in the house is the sunroom. With the leaves gone from the maple, it gets south and west sun.

 

Feline Dominance

The kitty exerts her dominance over the dog in funny ways. This time it was taking over his bed. The pillows, no less!

In the end, they worked out a compromise.