Back In Minnesota

We are back in Minnesota after a fantastic weekend with family in Des Moines, Iowa.
We arrived Friday afternoon in time to visit with my parents for a few hours before supper. Seeing how it was Lent and Friday, Mom made a tuna hotdish as to stay in good graces with those who monitor those kinds of things. After dinner it was more chatting before finally hitting the sheets after midnight.
We were up-and-atum Saturday eating a late large breakfast. Staying with Iowa tradition, we of course ate again at 12 noon. More chatting until it was cocktail time then off to the Club to celebrate Dad's 88th birthday. We all ordered drinks and chatted until it was time to order our meals. Now that was something. First off it was so dark I could hardly read the menu. It has to be that lack of light mood thing going on. We ordered our delicious dinners and another round of drinks.
As always, the food was delicious. We ordered 16 ounce New York steaks and walleye. Needless to say we darn near had to be rolled out of there on carts.
Once we returned to the folks residence and did the picture taking thing, sang happy birthday and chatted for a while longer.
It was real nice to see my brother Paul again and his wife Margaret. They are a lot of fun to be around. We hope to go camping with them this summer.
Both of our sons called grandpa on his birthday. he sure enjoyed that and is very proud of his grand kids.
I will have more news and pictures about the weekend in a future post.
Thanks for looking in.

Getting Ready To Take Off

We have the day off today to prepare for our trip to Des Moines. I guess we really don't need the day off to prepare, we just need the day off! That is what vacation days are for.
In another hour or so we will drop the dogs off at Ben and Anna's house then head south. It is sunny outside and -3 degrees with no wind. That should make for nice driving.
If you have never seen the Iowa capitol building, now you have. That is the building in the above picture with all the gold leaf.
The other picture is where my parents live. It is beautiful with about every feature you would want from heated underground parking to an indoor swimming pool.
Saturday night we will be celebrating dad's 88th birthday. We are all going to the Des Moines Golf & Country Club for dinner. My folks have belonged there since I was in high school and we all enjoy going out there. A few years ago all us men folk went to the US Men's PGA Senior Open. That was really fun.
Time to get packing. Thanks for stopping in.

Good Time Had By All

We had a great time at Culver's last evening. We took the staff out to supper last night seeing how Culver's was donating 10% of their receipts to us. We are very thankful to have them in Mankato and North Mankato.
We received youngest son Andy's new cd in the mail yesterday. His band did a very fine job on this. It sounded great. Andy sure has a talent for producing and recording in the studio.
We are very lucky to have two very talented sons. They are also very polite and all round good people. Their partners, Anna and Sarah, are the same way. We are very blessed.
We had some snow and blowing snow yesterday so I was up before 6:00 this morning so I could clear the drifts from our lane. The tractor started just fine but when I would try to engage the blower the lever would just flop around. I will have to see if the cable became un-hooked. To get rid of the snow I got my walking in behind the self propelled snow blower. It is a lot more effort...but it works.
Thanks for checking in.

FOOD

Greetings everyone! We sure appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to check in and see what we are up to.
This evening we are going out for supper to Culver's. Ten per cent of their revenues today are going to the American Red Cross. It is for a good cause. We are thankful that there are companies like Culver's who support the Red Cross year'round. They are always doing good things in the community.
We just found out that Sara and Andy will be in Minnesota in about a week. They are flying into Minneapolis then traveling to Wisconsin to see her family. I know we will be going up to the cities to have supper with them.
Have you ever noticed how everything social seems to revolve around food?
Anyway....it will be great to see the kids again. We miss them but know that they are where they are supposed to be. For that we are very happy.
We are counting down the days now till we head for Des Moines to see my parents. That will be a GREAT weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

Extremes

Yesterday we were looking at snow pictures and today we are looking at pictures from our motorcycle trip last summer.
It was HOT everyday..90's with humidity to match. We had a great time though...except for one day.
Sue had not been feeling that well late in the day so we knocked off early and checked into the Super 8 in Denison,Iowa. That evening she was having chest pains that would no go away so I called for an ambulance to take her to the hospital. We thought an ambulance was a better idea than riding our motorcycles. Sue rode in the ambulance and I hitched a ride with a police officer.
After about 2.5 hours of tests the Dr. decided that she should see a cardiologist at the heart hospital in Sioux City, Iowa. So Sue was put into another ambulance for a 1.5 hour ride to the next hospital.
I rode my bike over early the next morning because there were so many deer in the area.
To make a long story short, after waiting all day for an angiogram, her turn finally happened at about 7:00 that night. After the procedure the Dr. told me that it must have been gas as she has the heart of a 16 year old. To this day we think she may have had a case of heat stroke. Anyway...the Dr. told us to hang around the hospital for a bit then check out. So at about 11pm we checked into the adjacent motel for the night. First thing in the morning we jumped on my bike and rode back to Denison to pick up our luggage and Sue's bike.
We rode most of the day and ended up in Algona,Iowa getting caught in a thunderstorm. That was pretty exciting! We spent the night there and the headed on home the next morning.
All in all...it was a good trip. We traveled in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Another life adventure for sure! Thanks for stopping in.

We Must Be ILL

You know when you have lived in a cold climate for a long time. You know the drill....It is 40 degrees outside and people are in short sleeves and shorts. "Warm enough for yuh today?" How sad is that?
We are in the process of updating a bathroom in the house. It is the first floor bathroom that had two entry doors. Those that have used it before would agree, it was a silly design. We sheet rocked in one of the entry ways. That should work a whole lot better.
The shower in that bathroom is a harvest gold. Now how out of style is that? I called a company that refinishes tubs and showers and asked them how much it would cost to make it white. Their answer? $500.00. No way....thank you very much. We will just have to make sure the shower curtain is closed at all times.
We are traveling to Des Moines this weekend for my dad's 88th birthday. We are VERY excited to see mom and dad and spend some time with them. We just don't do that enough!
Ben and Anna will watch the dogs for us. That should be interesting with their two cats. I think everyone gets along just fine. The cats go into hiding and don't come out till the "girls" are gone.
That is all for now. Thanks for looking.

Great Day Had By All!

Saturday was a wonderful day spent with family. In an earlier post you may have read that Sue had lined up a day out with her parents Molly and Harv.
Our day started with a trip to Nicollet to deposit our garbage into a truck that parks there every Saturday morning. Then it was on to breakfast a real quaint mom and pop cafe. You talk about good cooking....and large servings.
On the way into town we washed Sue's truck and filled it with gas before picking up her folks.
We hit the road shortly before 11:00 really looking forward to a day of adventure. We were not disappointed. We headed towards Owatonna, about 45 miles from Mankato. Our first stop there would be Noble RV. Very friendly staff and a HUGE selection.
All four of us fell in love with a 5th wheel that had everything. King bed, walk in closet,ceiling fans,fireplace, home theatre, stainless appliances, granite counter tops.......
Yup....roughing it at it's best!
I think we were rushing the season a bit...it was COLD looking at the rigs. The wind was very strong and biting.
Our next stop was a country craft type store that Harv and I did not enjoy at all. We lasted about ten minutes in there and found an excuse to go sit in the truck. We were perfectly content to sit and watch the snow slide off the steel roof of the store in huge sheets. I guess we are easily entertained!
By now it was time for lunch...after all we had not eaten for a few hours. We stopped at the Holiday Inn near Cabela's. A couple of years ago they had a Green Mill restaurant inside. It was gone now and replaced with something else. That was fine. The food was good and hot and the service just fine.
Now we were off to the outlet mall in Medford. You really have to watch the prices at those places. Some places had amazing prices and others were selling their wares at what seemed like higher prices than retail. Go figure!
We did our part to boost the economy and then decided to head towards home. By now I am sure the dogs were about ready to go out and we had just about enough shopping for one day. I really get a kick out of store names sometimes. One of my favs.......The Dress Barn. Now who came up with that ....and why?
Oh well, who am I to question?
We all had a great day. Sue's folks really enjoyed themselves and we enjoyed being with them as well.
Today's projects include laundry and sheet rocking. Maybe I will get some pictures. Of the sheet rocking, not the laundry.
Thanks for looking.