Weekend Recap

In celebration of our anniversary we spent Sunday morning weeding and cutting up brush. Very romantic.

Then we headed off to one of our favorite spots, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It's disney land for gardeners It's a giant lab for the U of M. How can we take the beautiful plants around the world and make them Minnesota hardy? The arboretum has all types of gardens, wildflower, rose, dye, herb, vegetable, fruit, formal, english, shade, hosta, woodland, bog. You name it, they know how to grow it. Which is wonderful for gardeners. No matter what your soil or landscape the arboretum will help you make the most of your gardens. And there are miles of trails to walk and explore.

Hubster suggested we go to the arboretum because we love to go there, we can get ideas for our back yard, and because I was itching to use the new camera more.

We even had a picnic lunch. We brought the fixings for chicken cole slaw salad. Which was marvelous.

Recipe:

1 bag of coleslaw

1/2 cup of sunflower seeds

1 cup shredded chicken

1 package ramen noodles crushed up (the seasoning packet will go into the dressing)

Mix these ingredients well so they are evenly dispersed amongst one another.

Dressing:

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup oil

I packet seasoning from Ramen noodles

Combine the dressing ingredients - we use a small plastic container with a really good sealing lid. And shake the ingredients till well blended.

Pour over the cole slaw mixture.

Mix well and enjoy.

This is a fast and easy meal.

It serves 4.

And now for the slide show of our trip:

Mike's Visit Recap

Friday:

Mike arrived.
Drove him around St. Paul
Ordered Wongs Chinese take-out
Watched Dr. Who and Graham Norton

Saturday:

Went to the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis
It is the site of the former Gold Medal Flour Factory
The Pillsbury factory is right across the river
The Mill blew up once, was rebuilt, closed, and then burned down
Surprisingly a flour museum is a very cool way to spend an afternoon
Even got to see an explosion – what happens when you mix flour, air, and a spark.
Damn – who’d have thunk

Stopped at Surdyks to get some wine
Porky’s for really good burger, onion rings, and shakes
Then on to Como Conservatory and Zoo
Beautiful, green, and warm
Lasagna for dinner
Then we watched Beowulf

Sunday

Mall of America with Girl J

A grad party
Then a night of chatty craftiness
That ended up being pretty much devoted to watching Eureka

Monday

I had to go into work
So Mike watched more Eureka (he’s addicted)
Then I got off work early, picked him up and off we went
First stop: Mickey’s diner.

Dad wanted me to take him there for the experience
It's quite common for a state senator to be sitting next to a homeless person at Mickey's
In other words, the whole world goes there
And the people watching, the interaction, and the "life" is totally awesome
Very yummy lunch
On the way out we got stopped by a woman in the street
It went something like this

Woman: Are you going to the west side?
Newt: No
Woman: Can you go to the west side?
(note: it’s about 40 degrees and she is in a thin cotton dress and flip flops)
Newt: Sure
Woman: Thanks

She gets in – she smells of pot

Woman:
I need to go see my counselor
I have to get meds for my schizophrenia
You guys must be vampires
Cause you are nice
I am going to start a website about vampires
And I’m going to make lots of money
And I’m going to fast for 70 days
Like Jesus
And I’m going to take a picture of myself every day
I don’t know why meds have to have side effects
I mean, they might cure what you have but then they make you sick
You know, like cancer
Your hair falls out and stuff
They could cure everything with herbs
And if I could only take two medicines at once I could get better
But my doctor says no
He’s lying
Ok, maybe he’s not lying but I really want this other medication
But herbs are just as good
And there are Mexican werewolves
They are moving into the area
Which is good
Because they are going to take care of the black werewolves
And the white and Asian ones
It’s good that we are getting more Mexican werewolves
We need them to take care of the bad black werewolves
And the Asian and white ones
But you guys are vampires
And I’m going to start a website really soon about vampires.

About a mile later we dropped her off at her clinic. She said Thank you and went inside.
We drove for a bit before we cracked up
I swear the poor woman never took a breath from the moment she sat down
And I barely got a word in edgewise while trying to get directions from her

And all Mike and I could think was Blog Fodder Blog Fodder
And I know Dad will be proud because we have one more story for "Adventures at Mickey's"

After that we went to the Cathedral of St. Paul

Then some shopping on Grand Ave
Then dinner with The Mutt Princess and Grasshopper
Which was totally awesome
Best three and a half hour dinner I have had in YEARS!

authors note: Please don't send hatemail about making fun of the mentally ill and homeless. If I was an ass I wouldn't have picked her up in the first place. It was obvious she was staying at the shelter across the street. I gave her a ride because she was cold and it is a pretty long walk. So get off your high horse and just enjoy the humor in the situation. It's not every day I get called a vampire.

Sucks to live here

So, apparently we are getting snow today thru Saturday. We have storm warnings and blizzard warnings for the state. Um, so, it's April?

My tulips are just starting to come out. I have like, three tiny little leaves beginning to peak out of the dirt.

And now this???????

So so very very wrong. I'm going to go sulk now. If you didn't catch it, my post yesterday was dedicated to Tink and Jo.

Weekend Recap and a Welcome

Our very good friends from Milwaukee came to visit us on Wednesday. It was WONDERFUL to see them all again. D&K and their four girls ranging in age from 16-6.

The two oldest girls Mo and Mal stayed with us. And they are wonderful!

Mo and Mal accompanied me on my lunch with Nettie. And then we walked around downtown St. Paul for a while. Which was followed by a trip to the Mall of America. And boy did we have a great time.

We had a big get together for dinner Friday night and then Saturday everyone came to our house for breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, and coffee cake. It was simply fabulous.

We have also discovered that Lily and Caleb have come a LONG LONG way. And they were SO good about having all the people in the house, and they were SO good with the little one that we know that D&K can stay with us the next time they visit. We only limited the number of people because we weren't sure how the puppies would do with a crowd and with a little one. But they were fantastic. So, good to know, we can have company!

And the BIG BIG news for my family: I am an Aunt! Ava Marlene was born on Friday. Isn't she beautiful????? I will have better pictures tomorrow. It was one of the funnier phone calls. My dad called in tears and all he choked out was "She's perfect" I think he also managed to tell me E was ok and he hung up. Only to call back about 10 minutes later: "Ok, let's try this again but with less emotion"

I love my dad. He's the proudest Grandpa ever.

Today it is snowing! We drove in to work in blizzard conditions. Oh goodie. What the heck happened to spring. This is SO wrong. So very very wrong. Sigh........................

Spring is here - NOT

So, I'm working from home today because we have snow. Blowing, gusting, falling snow. I tought I saw on the calendar that yesterday was the first day of spring. But someone forgot to mention that to Ol' Mother Nature.

So, needless to say my shoes are slippers and my company is dogs not co-workers.

If the weather gets better I'll be meeting Girl J later on today. But until then, I'll be working on some training materials and watching Dresden Files on DVD.

So first, the cute pictures, and then we'll follow it with some snow.

Before she flipped belly up they looked like a mirror image

Sleeping Beauty
Sophie being too cute
Awww mom, no more pictures.........
The snow is sticking to the screen

The front yard and houses across the street
Our backyard - snow is sticking to the power lines
Snow is sticking to the telephone pole out back in the alley
And snow is sticking to the neighbors fence - kinda pretty eh?

WWC

Happy WWC!

So, the shoes are Foreign. I bought them when I was in Germany. It is a brand not available in the US and more importantly they are Italian made. So they are truly foreign. Bought in a foreign country and made in a foreign country.

Now, I would guess 99% of my shoes are foreign made but so is way too much of everything we buy. These shoes though are my one true pair of completely and totally foreign.

And you get a cute gratuitous picture of a Domestic mutt. Ha ha, got them both in in one picture.

And here are a few more. You know perfectly well I can't stick to just one or two. Actually, you would be amazed, I only have three WWC's this week.

Domestic

Domestic tabby

Foreign and Domestic

Ok, I wish you all could have been there for this one. I was heading toward a shopping center in Northridge, CA to get some See's candy for a friend here in Minnesota. This car pulls in front of me and I started to hyper ventilate with excitement. I'm talking to myself in the car "Oh my god, oh my god, look at that, a cowboy in a Honda. That is SO perfect for WWC. A domestic cowboy in a foreign car." So then I dug out my camera and followed this guy no longer going in the direction of the shopping center. Yes, I became a WWC stalker. I had to follow him till we hit a red light or a stop sign or something so I could get a clear shot. Well, I failed on the clear shot, his head wasn't cooperating, but you can see the cowboy hat and the Honda symbol!

And last but not least some gratuitous shots of last nights snow storm. Well, actually the end result of the storm. Not really a storm. But I have to shovel it all none the less. As with every time the Hubster goes on a trip we get a lot of snow.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve

So, first, I'm a dork. Apparently the Winter Solstice moves around. I did not know that. I always thought it was the 21st. But this year it was the 22nd. No biggie. I mean, I spent yesterday equally worshipping the winter gods. Pajamas, movies, finishing a book, starting and getting through a chunk of another one. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and a big glass of milk. You know, a perfect day.

We watched Hot Fuzz. Brought to you by the same folks that did Shaun of the Dead. It was fabulously funny and British. We loved it. The hubster and I never got around to going to the theater. All the reviews I saw for it basically said that if you loved Shaun you would love Fuzz. So, I bought it for him for Christmas. It was under the tree, but he couldn't wait.

For us, it's a DVD sort of Christmas. We got: Hot Fuzz, Domino, 300, Simpsons season 3 and 5, Stargate Seasons 1-10, Futurama 1-4, and a few more that I can't remember. Our entire tree has nothing but DVD's under it. It's almost sad. And my brother will be sending us a DVD. We decided last night that we need another rack for our movies. And the only reason the hubster and I went for that many DVD's was because a website was having buy one get one free. So basically we got everything for half price.

Today we got a snow storm. I only knew about the one we were supposed to get Saturday. But Nettie and I had made a date to get together today. For a completely selfish girls day. And it was fun. Totally worth taking our life in our own hands:

And DSW is practically giving shoes away. So many things are 80% off it's insane. And while we were leaving they told us that they were starting their after Christmas sale early. So even more was getting marked down. It was unbelievable. So of course we went back after we finished the rest of our shopping just to check.

If you need shoes girls, go hit up DSW. I'm telling you, the shoes are dirt cheap. And when we went back a lot of the boots were being marked down 30-50%. And lots of flats and pumps are 70 and 80% off.

So, the drive home was interesting. The roads weren't that bad. It's the 40 mile an hour winds and the drifting snow that makes the driving interesting. And the places that the snow is actually collecting is very slippery. So it was a slow and careful drive home but totally worth it.

Oh, and Nettie gave me a wonderful, present. On a trip her and Lil Al took some fantastic pictures.. I fell in love with some pictures Lil Al took of a deserted old farm house. They were developed in black and white. I think by accident but they were amazing. So they printed them and put them in a frame for me. Signed by Lil Al and everything. I LOVE it! And I know they will look fantastic hanging up in the house.

I look outside and the snow is blowing like crazy. It's going to be one hell of a shoveling job when the snow stops. Sheesh. They said 2-4 inches but judging from what I already shoveled I think we far exceeded that.

It's definitely going to be a white Christmas.

Love and Hugs

Happy Winter Solstice!

This is my favorite day of the year. I think the symbolism behind it is beautiful. And the bonus: after today, the days get longer. We've gotten over the proverbial hump so to speak. It might be the first day of winter but to me, it is the beginning of the end of the long nights and cold weather.

Winter Solstice is celebrated as a time of rebirth, it is a celebration of light:

"Worldwide, interpretation of the event varies from culture to culture, but most hold a recognition of rebirth, involving festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations. Many cultures celebrate or celebrated a holiday near the winter solstice; examples of these include Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Pongal, Yalda and many other festivals of light."

"Midwinter festivals and celebrations occurring on the longest night of the year, often calling for evergreens, bright illumination, large ongoing fires, feasting, communion with close ones, and evening physical exertion by dancing and singing are examples of cultural winter therapies that have evolved as traditions since the beginnings of civilization. Such traditions can stir the wit, stave off malaise, reset the internal clock and rekindle the human spirit"
Wikipedia

So celebrate, and do a little rekindling! The world will be awakening again soon! Spring will come. The grass will get green, the leaves will bud and flourish. The flowers will open in all their splendid glory.

And if you have that right now, just keep it to yourself :-) K?

WWC and some Newt Drivel

Confession: The hubster went to Germany with the camera so I had to pull out old pictures for this week. But Orange, thanks to Nettie having her camera on Sat. is new for this week

Landscape

In Ontario California

In Las Vegas
In New York
In Minnesota
In The Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Northern most region of Minnesota

In Gettysburg, PA
In Heidelberg Germany

In Salt Lake City

In the Badlands

In Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

From Above

In the stratosphere

Orange

Today we are having a snow storm - or maybe I should just call it a snow fall. It's not supposed to drop more than 3-6 inches. So I did the smart thing and decided to work from home. There is no sense in turning my 40 minute drive home into 3 hours plus fiasco on the road.

So I am home, cozy, safe, and happy. The dogs are lov'n it. Lounging and snoozing the day away with me. We have Christmas Carols playing. Snow falling outside. It's perfect.

I also got squirrel food - a big cake of it and a holder for the cake. I hung it in the tree on Sunday. My little albino squirrel was happily munching this afternoon. He was there a good hour. None of the "normals" could come up and eat while he was there. They had to fend for themselves elsewhere.

And this morning, before the snow started I went to Target and got, what? Come on, you know. Pirates 3. So, shiver me timbers maties, tonight this girl has a date with a pirate. Do you? Come on, I'll share.

By about 10 tonight I should be in a mac-n-cheese/pirate coma. It's going to be fantastic.

Hugs to one and all.

A Day Trip South

The Hubster and I took a mini-vacation. We drove down to Wabasha Minnesota to see the National Eagle Center. We had the most wonderful day! I had to load tons of pictures because I was having a hard time eliminating them. So, I am VERY sorry for the length of time it might take to load.

National Eagle Center

Harriet, she was wounded and actually has part of her left wing amputed. Also due to lead poisoning she never fully developed an all white crest so some of her head feathers are still a little brown. She also has a few feathers on the top of her head that stick up. She was the model for the Minnesota Wild Habitat license plate.

Angel, another permanent resident of the center.

Columbia

Newt being silly

The hubster told me I should try to look more like a frog - How'd I do?

This eagle is the centerpiece of the domed roof of the center

This stretch of the river is one of the only spots along the N. stretch of Mississippi that never freezes in the winter. So from December through March they get about 200-400 Bald Eagles that winter right along this area. Judging from some of the pictures they had on display this is a sight to be seen. With dozens of eagles grouped together in trees and on floating ice in the river. We are definitely going back. The river doesn't freeze in this area because of the tremendous currents caused by the narrowing of the river just north of Wabasha. A wide section of the river actually referred to as a lake, and the Chippewa River both meet and converge into this very narrow channel.

After visiting the eagle center we walked around the little downtown portion of Wabasha

Before heading home we decided to have lunch at The Olde Triangle Pub. A fabulous Irish Pub in the center of downtown Wabasha. We had their homemade cream of tomato soup which Hubster and I rate as one of the best bowls of soup we have ever had. Then hubster had a pint and a bowl of Irish Stew. It was fantastic. I had bangers and mash. And it was also fantastic. We finished the meal off by splitting a bowl of strawberry shortcake. All in all, a new favorite place to eat.

Then we hit the road. The next set of photo's are various pictures along the Mississippi River and the beautiful bluffs that surround it.

The stretch of river just north of Wabasha is so wide that the winds were causing waves and white caps on the water. You can just barely see them in this photo.

Barge on the river

We initially went down south to see fall color. But the eagles and the town stole our focus.

Traffic jam Wisconsin style

Sun is setting and we are almost home.