Cathole

The cat doesn't hesitate a bit when she shoots thru her hole in the door. 

 

Fuzzy Loon in St. Cloud

We took the new car for a spin up to St. Cloud to hit the Fuzzy Loon gift shop to pick up some of their Minnesota loon gear. Found a cozy place for some tasty nachos & tacos for lunch.

 

Tug o War

We dogsat CK for a few days. As soon as he realizes that he's staying with us for more than a few minutes, he switches into resident mode and settles to be one of us.

 

Outdoor Show

The Gs came up for a fast weekend visit. It was crappy weather outside, so we hit the Outdoor Show downtown and then went over to Brit's for some fried cod.

 

Morning Fog

The fog off the lake has made for some great photographic lighting.

 

False Spring

We had a week of temps in the 50s for our false spring. The forecast for the end of the week is highs in the 20s.

 

Frozen Lake Fog

The ice is melting fast and giving up its moisture as fog.

100 Year Roofing

The big Spanish house on the corner by the lake is getting its original old tile roof replaced after 100 years. 

 

Ice Falls

We took the new car over to the falls to see what the ice looked like. There's still a lot there!

 

End of the Line

Last Thursday when we got how from running errands, the Mazda was making some sick sounds from under one of the valve covers. We've been putting off replacing it because it runs great and we like its comfort and lack of a monthly car payment. 

The sounds were menacing enough that we went car shopping Friday morning. We went to the Toyota dealer; they had one car on-site, and it had been sold already. If we wanted a Toyota, it would be three or four weeks to get one and there were none to test drive.

Then we went to the Subaru dealer and test drove a new Outback. It drove well, but the new 2026 model is UGLY, and it was $10k more than we wanted to spend. While we were test driving it, the dealer test drove the Mazda and broke it. He said that it died on him twice and overheated. When we got to it, the coolant overflow tank was empty and the engine oil looked like chocolate milk! Oh no!! It blew a head gasket!!! We were right about the noise not being good.

JP was more than a bit upset about the death of her pride & joy. We left the Subaru dealer on foot and crossed over 494 and walked to the Honda dealer. Six hours later, we drove home in a new CR-V hybrid. It's quite a bit smaller than the Mazda, but it will get better milage and it's not making any weird sounds.

 

Snow Fort Rebuild

It took a half day of shoveling and all the snow from the driveway to build the snowfort back up. 

 

Forecast: 1-3"

We were forecast to get 1-3" of light snow. Instead, it snowed all day and we got 7".

The preceding week was well above freezing, and it destroyed the snow fort..

We took advantage of it and skied out on the lake.

 

Coat Hooks

When we refloored the kitchen and moved the built-in desk, we lost the coat hooks by the slider. Now that we have a pantry, it was time to put them back up so that there is a place other than chairs for the two or three sweatshirts that are always in the kitchen.

Woodworking in the cold isn't too bad, but wood finishing is a pain. I used the camping heater to warm the stain and wood to a workable temp. 

 

Valentine's Day

We hit the Edina Theatre for a special showing of Pretty in Pink. Hard to believe it's 40 years old!!

 

Sidewalk Ice

There is a lot of talk lately of ice in Minneapolis. No one wants ice here, but sometimes it makes cool crystals that are amazing to catch in the morning.

 

Drinking Fountain

The cat is becoming diabetic and she drinks two or three gallons of water a day now. Every time I turn around, she's in the kitchen sink wanting a drink. We finally broke down and got her a drinking fountain of her own. 

 

St. Paul Cathedral

The St. Paul Cathedral is across the street from the Hill House, so we popped in to check it out. Wow!!! It's stunning!

 

Hill House

We've been wanting to see the Hill House since we moved here. JP finally pulled the trigger and got some tickets. 

 

Oh Deer

On our walk around the lake, we spotted six deer on the north side in the bird sanctuary. I've seen some of their tracks on the ice.

 

Chilly Open

An ex-Toro friend invited me to join his team for the Chilly Open, an ice-golf tournament on Lake Minnetonka. The theme of the event was Saturday Night Live. We had the Weekend Update news desk on skis an pushed it from hole to hole. 

Instead of golf balls, we used tennis balls and hockey sticks.

I was glad to have the landshark outfit on; the wind picked up and it got chilly on the ice.

 

Wooden Ship

I met up with a friend at Wooden Ship, a local brewery in Linden Hills. The last time I was here, the average age of the crowd was 50+. Since then, they knocked out a wall and doubled the size and started karaoke night. The place was packed and the average age is now 20-30 years younger. 

 

Art Chanty Project 2026

The Art Shanty Project on Lake Harriet this year was the best we've been to. The shanties were done up really well and the weather cooperated on the third weekend. The first two weekends were -10 °F with wind and snow.

A crowd gathered round some witches that were casting spells to drive out evil and bring peace to Minneapolis. 

The ice bike races were exciting. This guy had it nailed.

The disco shanty is always popular.

 

Rush!

Months ago, tickets went on sale for The Rush Tribute Project concert. Rush is one of my favorite bands, but the cheapest tickets were more than I'm willing to pay. I've been keeping tabs on the resale ticket sites and finally, a day before the show, some cheap tickets popped up! $17 each, including fees!!

JP took one for the team and accompanied me. We hit Gluek's and split a rueben for our tailgating.

The show was absolutely fantastic. We had great seats on the main floor and the crowd there was OK remaining seated for the entire three hour show. There was no opening act; just three hours of Rush music, including the full 2112 and the entire Moving Pictures album. 

 

World Snow Sculpting

We hit Stillwater on a weekday for lunch and to check out this year's World Snow Sculpting winners. It was a brisk day with a high of +10 °F.

This is Mongolia's entry - it was our favorite and it took 2nd place.

 

State of Hockey

We watched the Wild take on and defeat the Chicago Blackhawks in a post-overtime shootout. What started out a a 3-0 loss turned around in the third period and made for an exciting finish.

The cat is saying "I could not care less about your flag. Just turn on the water!"

 

Winter Festival

On our way to the hockey game, we had dinner at Burger Moe's on 7th Street and wandered over to Rice Park to see the ice sculptures. It was dark enough that they were all lit up with cool LED lights.