Fall Pictures From God's Country

Northern Minnesota is a beautiful place, espically in the Fall> This past week we spent a few days up there enjoying the beauty of it all. Of course I have some pictures for you. Feel free to click on the pictures for a larger image.





The very next day after these pictures were taken we had some snow up there. Glad we could get some pre-snow shots for you.
More pictures soon...so stay tuned.

Snow....Looks Nice...For Now

Sunday night we had a light snow that stuck to the trees> Here are a few pics.



This is the kind of snow I like. It stuck to the ground and trees but melted right away off the roads and other hard surfaces.

Pictures From "Up North"

As promised, we have a few pictures to post from our trip to Northern Minnesota.
Our son's friend Sarah asked that we take some pictures of Andy's old stomping ground so here we go....This is a picture of the "haunted House" we lived in for two months.Believe me, it has really been fixed up since we lived there. Our home sold so fast that we had to find a rental to live in until it was time to move to Florida.
Some really strange things happened there like doors locking themselves, hot water faucets turning themselves on and the TV stand on wheels moving all by itself.

Both Ben and Andy were born in Grand Rapids at the local hospital. It is a good thing we visited when we did because they are tearing down the old place.

The hospital has been replaced with a beautiful new facility.



Both boys were baptized there. The old church is still looking pretty good.

The old church is no longer used by the congregation because a huge new facility was built several years ago in the Southwest part of town.

Ben attended school in Grand Rapids for a short time before we moved to Florida. He attended kindergarten for about a month before they bumped him up into first grade. The school is still operating and looks well taken care of.


We covered a lot of ground and were fortunate enough to catch many of the Fall colors. Tune in again soon as I will post some of them for you.

Up North.....A Short Vacation

We decided a week ago that it was time to take a short break from our usual rat race and escape to the North woods of Minnesota for a few days. Thursday morning we dropped the girls off at Ben and Anna's home and pointed the vehicle North towards Grand Rapids, a town where we lived for ten years back in the mid 70's to mid 80's.
This is a perfect time to absorb the Fall colors along the 250 mile trek. We were worried that the Fall colors might be played out already, but we soon discovered that there were more leaves down in Southern Minnesota than the far reaches of this beautiful state. I will post some pictures when we return home.
The temps have now dipped into the 20's at night and we even had some snow Friday night and early Saturday morning. It stuck around for a few hours and quickly melted by mid-day Saturday.
We stayed in Grand Rapids for two nights and used it as a home base to venture out into the surrounding areas.
Of course we visited our old neighborhood and other points of interest in the city.
On Friday we visited some of the area towns including Cohasset, Deer River, Marcel, Big Fork, Effie, Bovey, Cohasset,Pingilly, Marbel, Taconite, Calumet, Hill City and a few others. These communities have really come a long was in making sure their little towns presentable. It is obvious that they take pride in where they live.
Friday night we met our daughter in law's sister Angela for coffee. She is a charming gal and we really enjoyed the time we spent with her. She is pretty high up on the food chain in the special education department that serves several area school districts.
Saturday, after cleaning the car off of snow, we headed to Duluth to visit some friends we have not seen for twenty years. I worked with Warren and Connie at several radio stations in Minnesota, Florida and California. They looked great and we had such a fun time with them. We hope to see them again real soon!
I had better sign off for now as we want to explore a bit more before heading South towards home. Stay tuned for some pictures.

The Deer Are Active!

With Fall upon us, the deer have been even more active than usual around Coyote Ridge. The trusty trail camera has been busy both night and day catching the four legged creatures snacking on whatever is available.
Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

You may click on the pictures to enlarge them.






Now if we can just catch some shots of coyotes and cougars!

WOW...What A Great Idea!

Every once and a while I see something worth passing along and the following is a real winner. I hope you don't need to use it, but if you do.....here you go!

If you don't have a gun, here's a more humane way to wreck someones evil plans for you

Did you know this? I didn't. I never really thought of it before.

I guess I can get rid of the baseball bat ...

On the heels of a break in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self defense experts have a tip that could save your life.

Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students at Sylvania Southview High School . For decades, he's suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near your door or bed.

Glinka says, "This is better than anything I can teach them."

Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more effective than mace or pepper spray. The cans typically shoot 20 to 30 feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, Glinka says "spray the culprit in the eyes". It's a tip he's given to students for decades.

It's also one he wants everyone to hear. If you're looking for protection, Glinka says look to the spray.

"That's going to give you a chance to call the police; maybe get out."

Maybe even save a life.



Wasp Spray
A friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of wasp spray instead.

The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, they have to get too close to you and could overpower you. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. Thought this was interesting and might be of use.

Get Out the Shotgun!

We were away this past weekend on a camping trip. We had a great time at Sands Country Cove near Butterfield,MN.
When returned to Coyote Ridge Sunday, I checked the trail camera to see what kind of activity we had Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The following picture is disturbing!

Ben and Anna, always doing something crazy :), decided to activate the camera.
We did capture some other wildlife, in the form of deer.




We are still keeping our fingers crossed for catching a coyote on the trail camera. The waiting game continues.
Tune in again soon for another edition of "Now What Are They Doing?"