Back to School

We took GP back to Lincoln for the start of spring semester. We checked out the new Bierhaus in the Haymarket. The beer & pretzels were tasty!

We also tried out a new place on the south side of the Haymarket on the other side of O Street: Fleetwood. It was jam packed with others doing the same. Lincoln doesn't get hot new restaurants that often, so when one opens up, it's a thing.

 

Brick & Bourbon

We needed to hit Costco, so we stopped by CP's place. Someone there did not heed the notice to move cars for snowplowing. This one will be there till spring.

We tried out the brand new Brick & Bourbon near CP's place. It was tasty and fun. Our favorite is the house-made potato chip dip.

 

Snow Fort

We are trying to keep the firepit ring dug out thru the winter. It's taking shape as a snow fort.

 

Las Vegas Wash

After two days of CES and a full day in Oak Creek Canyon, our feet needed some rest, so we did a few easy miles at Clark Country Wetlands park and the Las Vegas Wash.

I've never seen a desert wash that was so green. The country built a series of small dams (wiers) to slow the water and collect debris and trash before it gets to Lake Mead. 

 

Bloomington Dog Park

One of our favorite places to go for a dog walk is the Bloomington Off-Leash Dog Park. It's a huge park with tons of trails and places for S to run around with other dogs. No matter what time of year, it's busy.

 

Red Rock Canyon

After two long days of CES, we headed west for an afternoon at Red Rock Canyon.

It's a lot like Snow Canyon - same Jurassic pink & white sandstone with 2,000 foot cliffs.

There had been some rain/snow a couple days ago, so the creek in the canyon was flowing with cool clear water.

Check out more photos here in the album.

 

Girls' Afternoon on the Strip

While CG & I toured CES, JP & BG had fun on the Vegas strip.

JP Found two pairs of shoes and a new purse.

 

CES 2023

I hit CES again this year. Last year was maybe 25% of normal. This year it was back to 100%.

Why are the chickens crossing the road? This is a famous problem with autonomous cars: the cars' artificial intelligence (AI) is trained to recognize people: young, old, on scooter/bike/skateboards. The question is, Is the AI also trained to recognize people dressed up as chickens? It sounds silly, but it's a real thing. I'm not sure where these chickens were headed; hopefully not to test out the latest Tesla self-driving software release...

This was my favorite of the entire show: a Sterns pinball table dedicated to my favorite band Rush. They are only $7,000. Maybe once the kids are fully on their own...

Our future is bleak. We will all just sit around with VR masks and hand-wands and sit in the same room without even noticing anyone else is there while interacting virtually.

 

Snow Fort

The backyard is getting deep. Since all the snow on the driveway has to go somewhere.

We are keeping the circle around the firepit dug out and it's turning into a snow fort of sorts. Now that we have enough now, we need to start sculpting it into a smooth design.

 

China Cabinet Rearrange

JP Brought back some pretty glasses from Nana's and rearranged her china cabinet after she put away all the X-Mas decorations.

 

Winter Lover

It kept snowing for another night and day.

With zero wind, the snow stuck to everything and made a winter wonderland.

JP LOVES her Toro snowblower. It makes moving snow is fun.

Charlie Berens is our favorite Midwest Hero.

 

Snowy Start to 2023

Instead of going back to work, it was a WFH (work from home) week. We got another foot of snow.

I took S up to the lake for his mid-day walk and we were both covered by the time we got back. It was snowing 2" an hour at times.

S Loves it! He doesn't want to come in.

 

At Home New Year's

When we got back home, we did a date night at Broder's and had a fantastic romantic dinner for two.

Later we joined the K's next door to catch up on the holiday travels.

 

New Year's X-Mas

We made our Christmas pilgrimage to IL a week late and celebrated New Year's there.

Despite being snowed out the previous weekend, there was zero snow in Lanark for New Year's.

 

Movie Night

The boys had never been to the remodeled Edina Theatre, so we went and saw the new Avatar movie. The upstairs bar is modeled after the Gold Room in The Shining. 

For whatever blockbuster movie is playing, they make up a cocktail menu with movie-themed drinks. They are tasty and fun!

 

Cold = Cuddle Time

You know it's chilly in the house when these two are this close.

 

New Dishwasher

The day after Christmas instead of boxing up everything, we dug into the cause of the damp spot under the dishwasher. 

It was this thing that was leaking intermittently. It was $350 on Amazon for a knock-off part. That, and the $200 we've put into it over the last year meant it was time for a new dishwasher. We found a new one that looks just about the same as the old one, but without a leak.

 

Stay-Home Christmas

Our stay-home Christmas day was mellow with just the four of us.\

The cat got a new toy and a whole pile of tissue paper to rustle and hide in.

We took a stroll down to the south beach of Lake Harriet. No one was swimming.

 

Christmas Decor

As usual, JP made our little house look special for Christmas. The blinds are drawn because it stayed below zero for 4 days straight.

 

Christmas Basket

This was the largest Christmas basket I've ever seen! We nibbled thru it during our stay-home Christmas

 

Christmas Dogs

S loves to pose in his new X-Mas collar.

One of the guys at work had this on his X-Mas sweater.

 

Cookie Sheet Cabinet

The skinny cabinet next to the sink has had a weird divider down the middle that makes made it too narrow to fit anything other than sheets of paper. After nearly three years in the house, we corrected it. Now it fits all the cookie sheets and you can reach in easily. It took over an hour with the Dremel and a hand saw. Much better now.

 

X-Mas Canceled

The snow kept up overnight despite it being -10 °F. 

Then the next day the wind picked up and shut down the roads between us and Nana's for Christmas.