Snow Attitude

One of my favorite aspects of Minnesota is how everyone embraces winter weather. As the saying goes, "There is no bad weather, just bad clothes." It doesn't take much of a snowfall to get everyone excited and outside enjoying the peace & quiet of a snowfall.

 

Scythe Dog

We tried to get M to play Scythe with us, but she was only interested in sitting in JP's lap.

 

St. Patrick's Day Run

Each month the parkway around the lake is closed off for a run of some sort. It's fun to stand at the top of a hill and give out words of encouragement as the runners pass.

 

Cleaning the Grill

Every night around 9:00, the Mexican restaurant behind us cleans their grill and launches a massive cloud of steam. It's the signal that there won't be any more mouth watering smells until the next day.

 

Dogsitting

We dogsat M from across the alley for 10 days. She latched onto JP and would not leave her side, especially when the cat was near.

Every night she burrowed into the covers and stayed until JP got up. She had no interest in being out the door before sunrise.

The cat & dog tolerated her, and were very relieved when she went home and they got JP's sole attention again.

 

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.