Say What?

I still have a vivid memory from my late morning run on October 31st, 1991—25 years ago today. I was on Nicols Rd in Eagan when the snow began to fall and in very little time, it was snowing heavily. My running journal states that we received nearly 30" (76cm) of snow before the storm ended. It's now referred to as the Great Halloween Blizzard of 1991 or some such name. The roads would remain a rutted, icy mess for what seemed like weeks afterward and it would make outdoor running extremely hazardous. Thankfully, we have no hint of that sort of weather in the offing for the foreseeable future here in the Twin Cities. I'm happy to say that my battle with fallen leaves is mostly over for the season. Here's a before and after  snapshot of what that looks like. It only lasts a day or two before more leaves find their way into our yard but they'll be easily vacuumed up by my John Deere rider and won't overflow my blue Dick's Sanitation compost bins. I put o...

I just dodged a bullet. A few days ago I upgraded my 6-year-old MacBook Pro's operating system to MacOS Sierra and found that I was no longer able to access the PC side of my Mac through my VMware Fusion. I didn't appreciate how much I use and depend on that side of my laptop for some of my computing until it was gone. I searched the net for solutions but wasn't able to find anything helpful. Fortunately for me, I had recently used the Time Machine backup feature on my Mac and was able to revert to where my laptop was as of very recently. Whew! I was somewhat doubtful that I'd be able to retrieve the PC side of my Mac. It was a 3-hour process for the revision to take place and I was sweating it a little but it's all intact. Last Sunday I rode my bike down to the Minnesota River crossing at Cedar Avenue in Burnsville to check out the new pedestrian/cycling bridge that was recently completed and opened to the public. It's in the place of the old bridge that was ...

I'm listening to Kings of Leon's new release,  Walls, as I write this. I have no doubt that Tim would've been all over this if he was still with us. Perhaps he had his own pre-screen listening from wherever he's at. I have a love-hate relationship with autumn. I love the cooler weather, fewer mosquitos and the changing colors but I hate to see the sun going down so soon when there's still so much I'd like to be doing outdoors. I cut back all of our hostas and some other perennials over the past few days and I pulled the flowers from the backyard garden today. I'll be out in the yard for much of tomorrow as I do battle with fallen leaves. I'm up to 20 bags of compost so far on my way to between 55 to 60 bags before I'm done for the season. Yes, I actually keep track. The pups also love the cooler weather. We were out a few nights ago and Toby kept wanting to run nearly the entire 2.25-mile walk. He was so happy, passing up many of his usual pee-m...

There! I did it! I finally scheduled us for some bench time at Foci next week. It's been nearly a year and a half since we stood in front of a 2300º F furnace with a dollop of molten glass on the end of a pipe working it into a form. Hopefully, our limited skills will come back before too long. I'm excited to feel the heat again. I've been getting out to the golf course more than I ever have and I'm pleased that my ribs aren't protesting. I golfed 18 holes each of the last 4 days without any issues. I played with Steve yesterday at Southern Hills in Rosemount and really enjoyed our time together. It had been more than 20 years since I'd last played the course and part of the enjoyment for me as we walked along was the nostalgic aspect of it. I remembered some of the layout but not all. I mentioned to Steve how much my life has changed in the time since I was last there. I think it's safe to say that the last time I played Southern Hills I had no idea my ...

Rachel made it safely home after a full week of camping. Their trip took them (if you're directionally challenged at all you're going to hate me for what follows) west through South Dakota and into southwestern Montana then south through Idaho and into southwestern Utah before returning home through Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa. She snuck in unnoticed early Monday morning and crashed on a couch after driving through the night. After recuperating from her drive, she spent an hour filling us in about the details of her trip. Much of the planning they'd done had to be entirely reworked on the fly because of heightened bear activity warnings in West Yellowstone where they'd planned to camp. They made the most of it and had some very memorable experiences. She also took some beautiful photos along the way. They all pushed themselves to  their limits at Upheaval Dome with not enough water or food for the 8 hours the hike required. Oh, and they stayed at a campground for s...

You know, sometimes I seriously question my religion. But then I think about it and I decide that it's more so conservative Christians that I question, until I ponder it all a little more and find myself at a place where I'm not only suspect of conservative Christians but I'm back to questioning my religion as well because of the influence a conservative agenda has had on Christianity. And today, conservatives are enjoying tremendous influence on the church. My faith is strong, in that, I believe in a higher power but the tenants of my religion are very much in doubt. I was in a Facebook discussion a couple nights ago with a friend I used to work with. He was talking about Obama and how before his term is up "He is going to declare martial law, because of an economic crisis that he orchestrated." He then went on to talk about a CNN report about a financial meltdown that was going to happen on 9/27/2016. (It was actually a bogus CNN report that's since bee...

Rachel is on a camping trip out west with friends. She takes her camping seriously as do the others she's with, and it shows in their preparation . But for all of the planning they've done, they've had to "go rogue", as they're referring to it, because of high bear activity warnings along their intended route in addition to more snow and cold than they anticipated this early in the fall season. So, they're making it up as they go. Tammy and I were never ones to want to camp. My parents used to own 40 acres of land in Webster, Wisconsin when I was in my teens and they would routinely make the 2-hour trip up there on Friday afternoons with my younger brothers Keith and Tim when the weather allowed. They would pull a trailer home behind my dad's 1971 lime green/yellow Ford F150 pickup truck and park it up on top of a hill in the middle of the forest of land they owned. I would occasionally accompany them but for the most part, I would remain behin...