Sunday, May 05, 2024

Science Museum


CP suggested that we check out the Minnesota Science Museum in St. Paul. 


Since it was May the 4th, they had a Star Wars thing going on. CP had a great day: dinosaurs and Star Wars.


 

Sunrise Walks


We're at that point in the calendar where morning walks coincide with the sunrise. 


It looks like the Lake Harriet eagles might be back.


 

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Feline Literacy

The cat loves nothing more than a captive audience trying to read.

 

MS Flowers


We took in all the flowers in bloom in MS. The MSU rose garden smelled wonderful. We were a few days early for seeing the magnolias bloom.


The nice lady at St. Paul's in Columbus gave us a quick tour of her amazing 1830's church.


 

Pork Rind Nachos


JP's favorite BBQ place was not open, so we tried somewhere else in Starkville. I like pork rinds and I like nachos, but surpisingly, I do not like pork rind nachos. The crispy pork rinds soak up the pulled pork juice and turn back into little scraps of pigskin leather. ¡No bueno!


 

MSU


We had a lovely long-weekend trip to see everyone in Mississippi. Everything there is green and full of life.


We had a nice walk around on campus. The landscaping there is really pretty.


 

Lyndale Ave. Turkey

This turkey roams around the neighborhood at work.


There used to be a whole herd, but it looks like we're down to just one this year.


 

Rare Photo

My friend took this incredibly rare photo of Saturn transiting the sun at sunset. It's something no one has seen before.


 

Sunday, April 14, 2024

Bandshell Paint Job


The bandshell restoration is nearly complete, and The Bread & Pickle is open again. With our first 80 degree day, the path around the lake was like a New York City sidewalk. 

 

Bench Leveling


We had our first hot day of the year - it officially hit 85°. It has been 190 days since we were in the 80s. JP had a full day planned for yard cleanup. We leveled both of the stone benches and trimmed up some trees. 


It's amazing how heavy rock is. We rigged up some rails for the bench to slide on and it worked fairly well. The vertical supports were leaning at 20° downslope. We were afriad that the whole thing was going to tip over, but once we dug down 8" we realized that the supports were still solidly stuck in the ground.


 

Tornado Sirens


We had a lovely rain, complete with dark skies, a rainbow, and tornado sirens. Having lived in Nebraska for 15 years, we appreciate what it means when the sirens start going off during a storm. However, it was a false alarm - the city was testing them as part of "Severe Weather Awareness Week".

 

Catnap




The cat is loving being outside. She is usually pretty good about staying on the patio, but now and then we catch her out of bounds.

 

Nico's


We are still sad that Tinto Kitchen left us, but we are learning to cope with the new Nico's Tacos. They are packed every day of the week. It was a perfect afternoon to enjoy their patio for $5 nachos happy hour.


 

Lake Views


We still have not grown weary of the lake. The morning dog walk is peacful and quiet.


The afternoon walk home from the bus stop is bustling.

 

Ducks Are Back


Our ducks have returned to roost in the backyard. We put in some baby duck steps so that they will stick around once the little ones hatch.


 

Destroy All Monsters


Our local theater is AMAZING. They show some really good movies. We hit the Saturday matinee for a showing of the 1968 classic, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters


They have a full bar and the best buttered popcorn in the Twin Cities.


It wasn't a sell out, but every single person there was a hardcore Godzilla fan. 




 

Play Ball!


DK & I hit Target Field for the Twins home opener. It's blacked out for our ticket package, so we had to get some cheap seats in the upper deck. It was chilly in the shade, but it was a lot warmer than last year. There was barely any snow remaining.


Even the cheap seats have a great view of the action.




 

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Dog Babysitting



We babysat C for a few days. He & S are the same size and temperment and they get along well.


C takes toy destruction to a whole new level. He picked up where S left off and showed all the toys who is the boss.


He feels relaxed enough that he's OK taking naps in the sun, even with the cat nearby watching him.



 

Snow!!

Finally!! We got some snow!! After record heat all winter, we finally got a nice dumping of white stuff.

The forecast was all over; no one knew how much we would get other than it was certain we would get something. We got 8" the first day and then another 4" two days later with the back end of the storm. It was wet & heavy and we went thru a full tank of gas in the snowblower.


We have really missed our walks in our winter wonderland this year. The dog was VERY excited to be out and about.


 

Adam Ant


CP took my ticket to go with JP to see Adam Ant and the English Beat at Uptown Theatre. Adam Ant is one of JP's favorite bands from the 80s. CP likes them a lot more than I, and he really enjoyed the show.


Both of them came home with Adam Ant t-shirts with the design that JP always wanted to have as a tattoo when she 13.