And....The Winds Blew

Lots of activity the last few days here in Minnesota. Nearly 40 tornadoes touched down this past Thursday afternoon and evening destroying ove 100 homes and damaging hundreds of others.
Since I work for the American Red Cross, weekend camping plans were put on hold while we served the needs of thousands of victems and volunteers.
Here is a link to what happened:
American Red Cross
We will be working one-on-one with the clients now to help speed their recovery so they can get back to semi-normal real soon.

He Survived....So Far...

The firearms deer hunting season is on it's last leg as it ends Tuesday. Each day at about sunrise and sunset you can hear shots ringing out from the woods surrounding us here at Coyote Ridge. Last Sunday morning shortly before 7:00 I heard 32 shots.
Anyway, I could go on about people shooting carelessly trying to bring down a deer, but I will save that for another time.
I checked the trail camera Friday after work to see what critters may have wandered into it's path and was happy to see a nice buck that has so far survived.
As always, feel free to click on the picture for a larger image.


There will still be deer hunting after Tuesday. The bow hunters and muzzle loaders will still have their shot a the whitetails for a few weeks.

Mountain Lake,MN

We had the day off on Wednesday and decided that a road trip was in order. We piled into the truck and off we went. As usual, we had no idea where we were going. We got to the end of our country lane here at Coyote Ridge and literally had to stop and decide....turn right or left. Left it was and we we were off to who knows where.
We took all back roads, mostly gravel, and saw lots of new areas, or new to us anyway.
For years we have passed by a town called Mountain Lake, MN and never pulled off the highway to check it out. To say the least, we were impressed.
Mountain Lake website
We discovered a very nice city campground that has water, sewer and electric hookups for only $20 per night. It was very clean, well maintained and priced right. Looks like we will be adding that campground to next season's must do list.
We stopped and had a late lunch at the Parkside Depot Restaurant in Mountain Lake. The owner, Ron is a swell guy and a real train nut.

Do yourself a favor, next time you are anywhere near Mountain Lake, stop in. The train atmosphere is great and the service and food outstanding.

Fall Colors At Coyote Ridge

Today was a beautiful sunny day, the kind of weather that makes Fall such a nice time here in Minnesota. I spend about two hours on the tractor this morning chopping the leaves that had fallen the past week. By the end of the day today I am sure the ground will be covered again with leaves.

In the meantime, I have a few Fall pictures for you. As always, you can click on the pics for a larger view.

Our country lane leading back to Coyoter Ridge:


We are back in the woods completly out of sight of any gawkers that may be traveling the back country roads.














Highs in the low 60's and sunny....gotta love the Minnesota Fall!

This One Likes The Camera!

You never know what is sneaking around outside when we are not looking, case and point would be this deer that is not camera shy!

Click on pic for an even better shot>

With deer opener right abound the corner, they had better find their hiding places.....and fast.

More Pictures and Weird Grave

Recently we camped in Western Minnesota near the South Dakota border.
We went geocaching near Cottonwood,Mn and found this beautiful lake, right in the middle of town.


Sometimes a person just needs a few more arms and hands. I was trying to control two dogs who wanted to go opposite directions while I was trying to follow the directions on my handheld GPS unit.

Shortly after that picture was taken, I had to be cut free from the tangled lines from the crazy dogs!

Now for the part out the weird graves.

One of the geocaches we were hunting for said the location was near a lake and was located at the private site where they buried their beloved dog. That seemed normal enough. With a little looking in the woods near the waters edge, we found the dog's grave.


Now the weird begins. Just a few feet from the dog's grave we found another grave site, or what appeared to be a grave site. This one was for a child.


I sure hope it was a memorial as opposed to an actual grave. I always thought humans had to be buried in approved graveyards.

In reality, it was a very peaceful site, so why not?

Tune in again for another edition of "Now What Are They Doing?"

What A Great Time With The Young Folks

Saturday night Sue's folks (The Harv and Molly),Sue and this humble writer ventured out to St. Peter to Patrick's On Third to watch "Useful Jenkins" a five member band that included our nephew Josh and our nieces husband, Travis.
Of course we had to get some pictures...you may recognize some of the suspects...Josh, Brooke, Harv and Sue.




The band started playing shortly after 10:00 (my bedtime) and it didn't take long for the dance floor to get some action.



Before the night was done, the dance floor was packed with people clutching their drinks for dear life. I also saw some people clutching each other, but that will be a different story for a different time.

Here is a picture of Brook's husband, Travis. He is on the far right.


And a few more shots....



Sue's brother Bob and his wife Molly were also there. They are nice people and fun to be around.

If you ever get the opportunity to see this band, please do. Here is a link to their site. You can listen to their material and even order their new CD if you wish. Useful Jenkins Site

There was an older couple on the dance floor the entire night...(the guy with the white beard and wife in long dress) who had a healthy attitude. While talking to Sue...He said..."Growing old is inevitable....Growing up is optional". In the words of our niece, Brooke... Yup....that saying belongs on a t-shirt or bumper sticker.

Tune in again for another edition of "Now What Are They Doing?"