Say What?

I ventured beyond the barriers of closed Blackdog Road the other day to see how much work remained before the road was open to traffic again. The Minnesota river is well within its banks now but the flooding has left behind tons of silty sand that is still being gathered up and taken away. As I negotiated the tricky surface on my bike, I noticed several nesting pairs of Canadian Geese just off the road's edge. They're fine for now as there's no traffic to speak of but once the road is reopened I'm not sure how they'll adapt. I got a phone call from my mother last week and listened as she excitedly told me about her plans to buy a trike for riding around her neighborhood. She's been having increasing difficulty doing her daily half hour walks (she'll be 82 in November) and thought that a trike would be a good way for her to be able to get some exercise. I too thought it was a great idea and one that I'd never considered. Without telling our mom, all s...

I went to Tires Plus in Lakeville last Friday morning to have the oil changed in my truck. While paying for it, the guy behind the counter mentioned that all four shocks were leaking and in need of replacement. He said that for a truck with as many miles as mine (97,000) it's not uncommon. I thought for a moment and told him that I was quite sure I'd had them replaced maybe two years ago. He said that can't be so because they looked to be original. Two thoughts were running through my head: the work I paid for two years earlier was never done or he's trying to sell me something I didn't need. I explained to Jimmy that I was sure I'd had the work done at his shop but he said he had already looked and there's no record of them having done it. My next thought was that I'd had the work done someplace else. Regardless, two years doesn't seem very long for shocks. I asked him if it was possible that I didn't get what I paid for. He assured me that an...

I'm too over-scheduled. I find relief in knowing that life should return to something resembling a more normal routine in another month. Until that time I'll focus on my unscheduled weekends. We're both excited about our glass blowing class. In our first lesson, we went over the different tools used in manipulating the glass and the proper way to move about the work area to minimize the risk of burns. We also learned some fundamental considerations when working with the molten glass. Something that became apparent once we sat at the bench and began to shape the glass was that nothing was as easy as our instructors made it look. There's a knack to everything. More to follow as we progress. I've been struggling with Hosanna's (our church) decision to leave the ELCA . Whether we remain a part of the ELCA is unimportant to me but what does concern me is why we're leaving. The ELCA recently voted to allow gay persons in a committed relationship to serve in l...

Happy Easter! I'm finished complaining about the winter of 2009/10. We got through the month of March with zero snow to account for it which left me with not such a bad taste in my mouth after all. Tammy and I are once again making trips to the dog park a regular part of our routine. We were dividing our time between Ritter Farms and Three Rivers/Cleary Lake but it appears Ritter has one big disadvantage working against it. Ticks. We took the pups there Thursday and later that night found that they were loaded with them. We're at 22 ticks and counting. I took a trip to the vet the next day and stocked up on Frontline. Frontline isn't a repellent nor does it get into your pet's bloodstream. The following is taken from their website: "FRONTLINE Top Spot and Plus spread over the pet's body by a process called translocation. When applied, these products are gradually dispersed by the pet's natural oils, collecting in the oil glands in the skin. It is the...

28 years ago today I reported to the FAA academy in Oklahoma City to begin my career as an Air Traffic Controller. Of those I reported with to Minneapolis Center (ZMP), only one other remains: Mike Deml. Mike will be forced to retire in July because that's when he turns 56 years old—the maximum age for working traffic. I'll be sure and catch the lights on my way out. I got some sad news last week. I had two cockatiels back in the '80s and '90s named Coocoo and Coconut—they had one offspring named Cocoa. My niece Melody has cared for Cocoa for the last ten years and she wrote to me to say that he passed away in her hands last Sunday night just shy of his 24th birthday. Odd because I had just been thinking about him a couple days before he died and wondering how he was doing. He was a real sweetheart and will be missed. The three of us headed down to Rochester on Friday for an open-house at UMR . It was a chance for students to mingle with future classmates as well as...

I'm an animal lover—always have been, going back to 4th grade when I was one of two students chosen at year's end to give a new home to one of two lab rats that resided in an aquarium on the back counter of our classroom. My parents were always good about indulging in this part of me. On more than one occasion my mom would find snakes or skinks or whatever else had gotten loose in our home and yell for me to come to catch them. One autumn when I was maybe ten or eleven, I collected two garbage bags full of acorns from our yard and stored them in my bedroom closet intent on feeding squirrels during the winter. My mom went into my room one day before the snows ever came to find maggots everywhere on the floor coming from the bags of acorns. How was I to know? Our doorbell rang last Saturday and it was a young guy inquiring if we wanted any of our trees trimmed along the side of our house. I'd last had it done seven or eight years ago and I was unimpressed with the job they...

I went around our home early Saturday afternoon moving our clocks forward so as to make the loss of an hour less of a shock to my internal clock. I had the following text conversation with Rachel Saturday night while she was at her dad's house. Me: clocks get moved ahead tonight Rachel: what time? Me: you have to get up at 2 am and move them Me: set your alarm Rachel: so wait, if i set my alarm on my phone for 8 so i can leave at 9...will it still be the same time? Me: no...it won't be Rachel: why not? Rachel: ahh so confusing Me: because it has to be done at 2 am or it doesn't count Me: plus its the law Rachel: :( urajerk Me: hahaha I spent most of my weekend down in the shop working on the 4th of 6 stained glass panels for our entertainment center . It was a rainy weekend for the most part so I wasn't feeling the tug of my bikes all that much. I got called in Friday night for an all-night overtime shift so any motivation I may have had for a Saturday ri...