Hard Drive Lesson

We went to bed on Friday night and woke up to a crashed hard drive-we had not backed up anything-no pictures, e-mail addresses-nothing! Hard lesson-back up your stuff!

Tme Off

We are taking a Thursday and Friday off and with Monday being a holiday we will have five total days off. (Yahoo) This little mini vacation is hard earned and this is what we have planned.

Thursday-Drive to Grand Forks to get Nancy's ID card updated at the Air Base-Go to the commissary to get some good deals on groceries, check out the PX, etc
Friday-Get our Rental House cleaned and ready for the next renters. Repair leaks under sink, fix the screen door, tighten all loose door knobs and hinges, check and clean the furnace and other appliances. Sweep out the cob webs and the floor in the basement, Paint the entry way floor, spot paint as needed. Clean all the light fixtures, replace battery in all seven smoke detecters. Have the furnace inspected etc
Saturday-More of Friday (shampoo carpets-wash and wax floors, cut and trim the grass, add new landscape blocks and haul in some fill dirt, plant new flowers)
Sunday-Continued from Saturday- Paint the fence, clean the garage,paint the window trim etc.
Monday-Turn over Rental to new collage kids (if we are done)

Tuesday-Back to work-Refreshed and ready to take on the world!

Signs of Spring

Isn't Spring beautiful?

It's official

I'm officially pinned and graduated. And I'm all moved into my new apartment in Marshfield complete with cable and internet. Now I'm just waiting to start working. I start hospital orientation stuff on Friday and have that again next week. Just thought I'd share some pictures from the festivities! The top two pictures are from the pinning ceremony where I recieved my nursing pin (pins have replaced the caps that nurses used to get when they graduated) and the bottom pictures are from graduation.

Happy belated Cinco de Mayo

So, I'm a few days off. Better late than never, right?

On Saturday, Mandy, her sisters (one with a husband in tow), her parents and I headed down to West St. Paul for the annual Cinco de Mayo fiesta. I'd never done this before, and I must say that I'm glad I went. We arrived mid-way through what turned out to be an extraordinarily long and uninspiring parade. Next came navigating the foot traffic down Cesar Chavez Blvd. The street was packed with folks from one side to the other as far as the eye could see and bookmarking all of the action were two equally long lines of food vendors. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more Mexican food vendors, being that it is my favorite. There was an occasional taco or quesadilla booth, but the majority of the stands were for mini-donuts, cheeseburgers, etc.
Now you're probably wondering why I said earlier that I was glad I went. Well, we happened upon the salsa tasting competition in the parking lot of Boca Chica (great Mexican restaurant), and we were treated to some pretty darn good salsas. Of course, by the time I got to the last couple, my taste buds were pretty much shot. Anyway, the salsa tasting was enough to make the trip worth the time.
I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as I did!

Sorry Bemidji

From a blog I follow:

The WCHA has decided not to expand their conference, meaning Bemidji State will likely soon find themselves without a conference to play in once the CHA collapses, and could force BSU to drop their hockey program.There have been critics that said Bemidji's program would be in dire financial straits with or without the WCHA, but my question is, why not at least give them the opportunity to fail? Maybe they wouldn't be able to make it in the WCHA, but they're almost guaranteed to die without any conference to play in.And what's the argument for not letting them into the league? It ruins the 8 years of tradition built up by having the same 10 teams in the league? It makes an already unbalanced league schedule slightly less balanced? The real answer is most likely that the other teams in the league don't want to split the revenue from the Final Five another way.The Beavers have more than proven themselves as a capable team. They've competed extremely well against the WCHA over the past couple years, despite having CHA-level resources. Playing in the WCHA would make the program even stronger. Yes, Bemidji still has issues, like the lack of a WCHA-level arena, but that could be solved by making their league membership, and cut of the league revenue conditional until they get a new arena.It's really a disappointing decision from the WCHA. Having an extra 18 scholarships/26 roster spots for D-I college hockey players is never a bad thing, and this decision puts that severly in jeopardy.

Lounge About Tee Shirts

Scott (of Nick and Scott) has left his job working in a silk screening business to go out on his own. He has purchased the required Silk Screening equipment-got into a storefront space and is well on his way to becoming a entrepreneur and business owner! Congrats to Scott! anyway now for the point of the Post.
Last night he suggested that we make special T-shirts for the Lamon Lounge About. He has offered to design them and to make them and maybe even deliver them (I added the last one). I think this would be a great way to support Scott and Nick on their new adventure,
Is there anyone interested in buying a T-Shirt?

Lamon Lounge-A-Bout

Think Summer! Think Camping! Think Relaxing! Think Reconnecting! Think Fun!

The Lounge dates are: June 22-24, 2007 at Cross Lake. :)

Lounge Dates?

Hi, Family!

We were trying to figure out the Lounge-a-bout dates...can anyone provide those?

Thanks, Lois

The Zimmers

I think that a person could, without trying very hard, read at least one article every single day about how the Boomers are going to change retirement. Heck, my company is doing some major advertising to the group based on this concept. But maybe the Boomers aren't the pioneers they think they are. Check out this video of folks who look to be in the WWII generation showing how it's really done. And turn it up to 11, no matter what generation you're a part of.

Can you believe it?

Anna
This is the start of your grand adventure-Congrats Anna

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.

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

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.



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.



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.



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.

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?

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

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.

Spring Break in Minnesota