Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Beer!


I spent the evening bottling a batch of Irish Stout tonight. Bottling always takes a whole lot longer than I think it should. But it's all ready to go now and everything's cleaned up.

Apparently I was getting a little punchy toward the end when it came time to label the bottles. Or mark them, really. I don't generally make labels. Too much work to make and apply, and then have to peel them off the bottles for the next batch.

It's a shamrock. Obviously I'm not artistically gifted.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Continuing

Somehow I hit a wrong key...& then the blog wouldn't let me go back & edit, so...

The warmer oceanic waters predict that the hurricane season will be busier & more problematic.

Here is the link: nbc-2.com

Aaron & New Orleans

Aaron is in New Orleans at the National Hurricane Convention today and tomorrow. He spent Sunday traveling (about 13 hours) from Ft.Myers and spent Monday in Buloxi, Mississippi, & then headed to New Orleans to film the continuing devestation there. He told us that it is unbelievable to still see how much is left to be done to clean up the areas.

I've included his link just in case anyone is interested in more information or to watch any "shots" that Aaron filmed. Probably some of his filming will hit the national media because it usually does.

According to the national hurricane expert this year is going to be an extremely busy year with hurricanes due to the oceanic water temperature

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Could you say "No" to a face like this?

I couldn't. So now we have another dog. Meet Bailey, a portly little 6-year-old beagle / basset cross.

Could you say "No" to a face like this?

We brought her home from the Humane Society yesterday. She likes big and little people, is getting along very nicely with Theo, and loves to cuddle. She's also taken over the furniture.

She's claimed the sofa as hers

Her former owners surrendered her to the Humane Society almost a week ago; she's had a pretty rough time of it. I think she's missing her old family something fierce. She was very well-behaved and quiet last night but didn't sleep much, if at all. This afternoon she finally relaxed enough to collapse for several hours.

All wore out

We like her lots. We hope she'll like us too. :-)

X-posted to my blog.

Master Gardener's Garden Party

Yesterday Dale & I spent the day at a Master Gardener's Workshop here in Bemidji. It was wonderful! They had enthusiastic, knowledgeable speakers, great exhibitors and a nice luncheon. The place was packed! Dale was one of many lucky door prize winners & brought home a new book entitled, "Making the Most of Shade." It was the kind of day you came away f feeling, man, I can't wait to get started! First, I'll move all those rocks, trim all those unsightly branches and suckers, get the hoe and shovels sharpened & oiled...& in the afternoon I'll accomplish the rest of the chores!

Whoa...whoa...whoa! Since yesterday, I've re-evaluated my list of chores & it now goes like this:
If it takes me all summer to move that pile of rocks, than I've accomplished a lot, & trimming trees, well, one tree at a time, & why sharpen my hoe or oiled it for that matter...I' d rather buy a new one!

Sometimes reality can be so disappointing! However, I am looking forward to getting out in the yard & garden & getting my hands dirty.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Tax Time

Well its that time of year again to get started working on my taxes. I always delay because I always have to pay. And as I was sitting reading Thursday's paper this morning there was a article with this headline
DFL eyes taxes. Senate likely to ok income tax hikes...

How long have they been in power? 3-4 months and already our taxes are already rising? I can't pay the ones I own now! I wonder what happening at the National level?

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Hey, Beer Lovers

This is a great little article to get you thinking about beer:


http://men.msn.com/articlemh.aspx?cp-documentid=3872767&GT1=9212

Saturday, March 17, 2007

The Wedding Gift

Roger was in trouble. He forgot his wedding Anniversary.

Patti was really angry.
She told him, "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway
that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE."

The next morning Roger got up early and left for work.
When Patti woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box
gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway. Confused, she put on her robe, ran out to
the driveway and brought the box back in the house.
She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.
Funeral services for Roger have been scheduled for Friday.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Deep in the heart of Texas *clap clap clap clap clap*

Deep in the heart of Texas

The girls and I are here for a week, visiting family and roaming around Texas (today was Mpls to Dallas/Forth Worth to Abilene; tomorrow is Abilene to San Antonio).

Pete wasn't able to take the time away from work -- we started missing him before we even got on the plane! The girls are great little travelers and, other than a car sickness incident (ick), have been handling sleep deprivation, a 6 a.m. flight, and one long, boring drive quite well.

I'll be posting more over on my blog once I get some sleep and recharge my brain (and have more to post about than large skies, cactus and tumbleweeed, and extraordinarily nice strangers who say "y'all" a lot, which are my main impressions of Texas at the moment).

Saturday, March 10, 2007

My Doctor Visit


I was a Carol and Scott's most of this past week. Carol was not feeling well and was gone from work much of the last week. It turned out she had strep...On the way home I started feeling a bit out of sorts...my ear had been hurting so I went to the walk in clinic...to get my ear checked and do a strep test(just in case). As it turned out my strep test was negative and I had some drainage problems in my ear so we are getting that fixed. But my blood pressure was very high and the doctor was most worried about that so now I have to get my blood pressure checked for a week or so then back to the clinic. She said I problably would need to be on Blood Pressure Meds...I hate being on any meds long term.
I would guess my health problems are related to my weight so Nancy and I are going to try something new...Carol has this book called "you on a diet" and it explains the effects that foods have on you and the "why" they affect you the way they do so we ordered it on the web for under $10 and we will try to get a bit more educated and a bit lighter and maybe healthier. Wish us luck!

Spring Thaw

What a difference from two weeks ago! Yesterday everythng was melting and water running all over. This whole week its going to be warmer...into the 40s. I can't wait for the first fire...Maybe tonight!

Friday, March 2, 2007

Heaps of Snow!

The snow last night was really something here in Duluth. They are reporting we got 20 inches. Mix that with 60mph winds, and it's most certainly the worst storm I've ever seen. If we get 2 more inches it will be a normal snow year for us. We got all our snow in one week!


Here's the pile of snow in front of our house we've made after the past 2 storms.




Here's Scott using our new snow shovel we got just in time!

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Marketing 101

I was watching the Tour of California tonight when a commercial for Wendy's came on. There was music in the background as the voice-over announced how wonderful Wendy's food is. And the song they had in the background was Blister in the Sun by The Violent Femmes. Now, maybe it's me, but even though they didn't use any of the vocals for the song, I still don't think it's a wise choice.

Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun Lyrics

When I'm out walkin' I strut my stuff
Man,I'm so strung out
I'm high as a kite and I just might stop to check you out

Let me go on like I blister in the sun
Let me go on big hands I know you're the one

Body and heat I stain my sheets
I don't even know why
My girlfriend she's at the end and she is starting to cry

Let me go on like I blister in the sun
Let me go on big hands I know you're the one

Monday, February 19, 2007

Warmer & Nicer

Even though we don't have much snow & we haven't done any cross country skiing...the weather is a nice, welcome change. It has even prompted ideas in my head that involve yardwork, gardening, and walking outside with a lighter jacket on...! I'm wondering if I have some symptoms of cabin fever...do you think!?!!!

Our six more weeks of winter are now down to four!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Looking Good

World Weather > North America Weather > USA Weather > Minnesota > Bemidji > 56601
Your 7-Day Forecast
For Bemidji, MN 56601

Saturday

Hi: 14°
Lo: -3°
Partly Sunny
Hourly
More
Sunday

Hi: 21°
Lo: 9°
Mostly Cloudy
More
Monday

Hi: 30°
Lo: 13°
Chance of Light Snow
More
Tuesday

Hi: 29°
Lo: 11°
Partly Sunny
More
Wednesday

Hi: 31°
Lo: 12°
Mostly Sunny
More
Thursday

Hi: 32°
Lo: 10°
Mostly Sunny

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

All the snow is in Colorado

Mandy and I went to Greeley, Colorado last weekend to visit some friends who just had their first baby. Man, do they have some snow. I'm a little jealous.





Sunday, February 4, 2007

Cold Enough For Ya?

60 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Minnesota plant gardens.

50 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in
Duluth sunbathe.

40 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.

32 above zero:
Distilled water freezes.
The water in Bemidji gets thicker.

20 above zero:
Floridians don! coats, thermal
underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the
heat.
People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it
gets cold.

Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Minnesotans close the windows.

10 below zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico
People in Minnesota get out their winter coats.

25 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door
to door. (True!)

40 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Minnesota let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Minnesotans get upset because they can't start the
Mini-Van.

460 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero
on the Kelvin scale.)
People in Minnesota start
saying..."Cold 'nuff fer ya?"

500 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late.

18 below in Bemidji

Nancy snpped thes pics!