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Yawn….  Yet another drab beginning to the day.  Never saw the snow here but it is raining.

Not a whole lot going on.  Impeachment hearings going on in the House.  Getting ready for Thanksgiving. Getting in the food I (we) will be preparing. Looking forward to getting the tree up, it always looks so pretty and, I think, warms up the atmosphere of the new house here…though we have lived here over a  year now, it is still considered new for us.

Working on some Christmas gifts, also getting some of the shopping out of the way.

Last weekend attended two hockey games and my Grandson’s team won both.

A good start considering last year, only winning one game all season.  Finger crossed it keeps going well for them. We always enjoy going to these games and seeing our kiddos.

And that’s about it.

Lemme: Not much content but I, for one, am glad you are done. Now put the computer away, I need to use your lap.

Happy Thursday!

A few days ago we got this sunrise but lately it always looks like the below photo:

Fidget: Has anyone seen the sun lately?

The farmer has finished with his field and we are getting ready for Thanksgiving.

The photo below was taken a couple of weeks ago but I want to share it:

A lovely beginning to the day on November 2, 2019.  Colder than it should have been this time of year but at least we were allowed to see the sun.  Now it is warming up some for the next few days. However, it has been foggy in the morning and cloudy during the day, so it is kind of a trade off I guess.

Fidget: Kind of missing my sunny friend.

Happy Wednesday

A beautiful sunrise today!

Yesterday’s sunrise (Thursday October 17th) below:

It was kind of a different sunrise as it was very misty and cool outside.

Reminded me of a pastel painting.

I also received a nice photo from my Son-in-law who is camping with my daughter and grandson up by Two Harbors this weekend.

Wow gorgeous!  Thanks Lyle! Wish we could have gone with you.

Lemme: Are you done now?  I need to get on your lap so put the computer away!

Fidget: Yeah, I got tired of waiting so….

Happy Friday!

I know the sun must be out there somewhere, but not here.  Rainy and gray here today.

So…more on our Fall vacation I guess…

One of the places we stopped while in the Ozarks was:

An interesting place, beautifully kept up.

Some photos follow:

 

The parking spots were divided by Fish (on a hook). Weird choice,  just the Fish would have be better in my book. 🙂

Below is the main building. You had to pay a pretty penny to just get in.  Then there was a whole list of activities you could do but the prices were ‘huge’. So we just walked all over where we were allowed without further payment.

Beautiful place.

Inside:

 

They also had a nice restaurant, so we had lunch. They actually did a pretty good job in the Gluten Free area.

After lunch we went out and walked all around the place. BTW it was HOT there, in the 90s with a heat index in the high 90s and low 100s the 5 days we were there the first part of September.

 

If you ever have watched the show where a company builds dream tree houses for folks.  I think a lot of them are built by Treehouse Masters.

This was a multi-level tree house that was built up in their trees.  In we went.  I actually took more photos, but they don’t do the place justice, so I will post one to give an idea.

We were up in the trees a lot on a rope bridge shown above.  It bounced a lot which made me uncomfortable, but it was really pretty.

The shot above was taken from one of the little balconies of the tree house.

Nice water fall and rock formation. Very pretty there.

After walking all around, we took off to see other things of interest and ended up on a lot of:

Yes, very hilly, windy roads.  Went through a National Forest and though it was a nice area, we were not overly impressed.  Guess we have been through enough beautiful places that we just weren’t overly struck by this area.

This is a pretty spot though.  This is Table Rock Lake. There was supposed to be a nice place to eat up around this lake, so we ‘kind of’ looked for it. Didn’t find it but we did find this Vineyard and Winery.

Lindwedel Winery.  A nice, quaint little place. Seems to be very popular, so we stopped and hung out later that afternoon.  Bought some wine and a platter of nibbles.

They had their Blackberry wine just out – it was pretty nummy!

This place was way up on a hill and provided some breathtaking views!

You could pretty much see all of Branson and then some.

They had a great musical duo there. They played all sorts of music, really great guys.

Again, super hot, but up high there was a bit of a breeze which was nice, and they had the most beautiful wall of flowers on one side of the deck we were sitting on.

One of my favorite stops in the Branson area.  Nice folks there too.

And I will stop there for now.  Plenty more to add in future posts.

Lemme: Yes, please stop! Your typing is disturbing my beauty sleep.

Fidget: Well now, if it is bothering Lemme, I think you should keep going.

Uh huh…, Fidge, you just want him to jump down so you can have the spot!

Happy Tuesday!

Such a beautiful sunrise this morning, I couldn’t stop at just one photo.

Below was the look of the morning on Saturday:

Yes, the first snow of the season which has since melted…thank goodness.  More Fall please!

We also were in Maple Grove again this weekend and hit Nadia’s Cakes once again.

There were 4 in the plastic carrier, but you can see one had already pretty much hit the road before I thought to photograph them.  Then I realized I didn’t take any photos of the inside…well it is pretty cutely decorated, but not sure when I will get back there. Normally I don’t go by the place.  And you can see why – there are still calories in cupcakes that are gluten free. 😉

The one I was eating was the Chi cake and it was really very good.  The other one with the orange sprinkles are the candy corn cup cake.  Then I think one …ack, can’t remember. I think the one in the back with the white frosting is the gf cookie dough cupcake and not sure what the chocolate one is anymore. Might be the Birthday cake cupcake.

They are all good so whatever you try, you will like, if you go.

Lemme: Wait, were you gone….?

Fidget: You were gone?  When?

Well it is always good to know you been missed. 🙂

Happy Monday!

Yesterday’s Sunrise…. today – no photo as it is just grey and rainy.

A progression of the sun rise looked like this:

 

 

Look closely! Yes, even Fidget kitty enjoys a beautiful sunrise.

The Day before yesterday – Tuesday, October 8, 2019 the sunrise looked like this:

 

And last but not least, Monday, October 7, 2019 is below.

Hummm, sometimes the mornings look remarkably the same. 😉  Except for the clouds in the sky, they are always different…or not there.

Anyway, moving on to last weekend.

Saturday met with the kiddos for some dinner at Willy McCoys

MN Gophers foot ball was on and had the attention of just about everyone.

 

Food was pretty good. We usually like what we are having and they are good with the Gluten Free options so I am always glad to go someplace that knows what I am in need of and does a good job of it.

Above is my gluten free flatbread pizza.  Hawaiian style, first time I have had it. Really very good.  However, normally it comes with cheese curds on it and those are fried and breaded, so they were left off.  They brought them in a small dish for my Grandson or whom ever wanted one. To be honest I couldn’t even imagine those being on this pizza, how would that taste. I think it would have ruined it.  We are talking large chunks of ham, pineapple, tomato…I mean the thing was loaded.  I will be getting THAT again! So good.  I had to bring half of it home though, just a lot for one person to eat.

It was VERY loud there so hard to hear those on the other end of the table. I think some of that was because the Gophers were winning.

After that they kids went their way and Bruce and I went to Maple Grove to return something. We also play Pokemon with them (and without them). So we did a little of that and found ourselves going to a place that makes the most wonderful gluten free cupcakes.  Nadia’s is the name of the place and they have won the Food Channel’s Cup Cake Wars with their Gluten Free Cup Cakes.

They also do wonderful cakes and other baked items, both gluten free and regular.  I believe they also do some nut and dairy free ones. Never had those though.

I should have taken photos of the cup cakes – very impressive both in decoration and taste. I had the apple cinnamon one – red one.

I got a 4 pack, cheaper when you purchase more. I also got the peanut butter one that is the back 2nd to from the right. The Triple chocolate with is the back 3rd from the right. Then also the salted caramel one which I THINK looked like the first on the right – middle row. (wish I’d taken some photos!). I took some another time we were there and I could only find one of from back then of the Nightmare Before Christmas cake (photo below) they had made. But the rest of the photos you can find on their website, Nadiacakes.com  along with  a LOT more.

If you are near her shop there in Maple Grove, stop in. They also have hot and cold beverages. Very nice staff there as well.

Sunday I got a photo of the sunrise:

We ran a lot of errands on Sunday and also dropped by the 101 Market where they are currently having their Fall Festival complete with Corn Maze, corn pit, games and all sorts of things to do.  I think it is happening each weekend through October.  Here – I will throw in the website for that too. 101 Market Corn Maze and Fall Festival.

Didn’t get there until the end of the day and the weather was pretty cool, drizzly and windy.  So not a lot of folks still there. Didn’t take a lot of photos because the kids were not along and we’d been there before. But the ‘display’ below caught my eye.

Not sure what they had been doing there, but ‘Glamping’, funny.  That is what some folks call what we do with our 38 ft. coach.  I can’t deny it. I am long passed those tent and sleeping on the ground or cot days.  Pretty cute and it would have been interesting to get there earlier and see what this was about.

And that about sums up this past week.  Nothing on the vacation here today, but I will get to more of that eventually.

Fidget: You’re putting me to sleep, Mom. Call it a day please!

Okay Fidge….

Happy Thursday!

First things first!

Sunrise!  This is as much as we are going to see this morning.  After the photo the clouds finished their work in keeping the sky nice and grey.  This week has been pretty much the same.

Last Saturday –

September 28th, 2019 saw the a pretty beginning.

It has been on the cooler side here, except for Monday when it went up over 80 degrees for just one day.  But the rest have been rainy and in the 50’s – 60’s range.

That said I will continue on with our September vacation.

To continue from my previous post, we arrived at Branson then went into a campground called ‘Musicland Kampground’.  A place saying they were ‘big rig’ friendly which wasn’t so big rig friendly.  It was… okay, no photos, should have, but there was nothing there worth noting except that we had to take the car off before winding through to park. We were a little concerned that the camper stuck out too close to the road as we filled the entire spot with little room to spare.  It was not even, so we had to put the driver’s side of the camper up on blocks due to the fact that the uneven-ness was so bad that the lifters alone wouldn’t handle it.  Then leaving we had to wait to put the car on at the exit due to the tight turns trying to get out.  All in all we won’t be returning to that campground. Also, we have no plans to return to Branson as it just wasn’t our ‘jam’.  However, we are glad we went.

As soon as we got situated into our spot we left to go to Dolly Parton’s Stampede.  Had to hurry as they were last minute tickets.  (We were not real happy at the time due to everything happening on the trip and not being very happy with the campground.) So we got ready and hustled over there. The folks there were not real organized, which you would think strange because they’d been doing this for SO long.  But we finally ‘did’ get in and seated.

It is a dinner and show. Fortunately they were able to accommodate the Celiac in me with a gluten free items.  First course was Dolly’s homemade vegetable (think it was) soup.  I got some raw carrots and broccoli in a cup.  Then there was roast chicken and ham, along with corn on the cob – both Gluten Free. Seems like there was something else…potato?  Can’t recall. And I think there was also dinner rolls. I didn’t have one, so my memory might be off on that.

During this time the show was going on:

Riders and riding contests – you can also see the folks in front of us with their drinks – coffee, Lemon-aid, Coke or water, and food.  Dessert was this luscious looking apple turnover. (I got a little GF sugar cookie in the wrapper). I will mention that the ham and chicken were very yummy.

They did a whole thing historical ‘thing’.  Buffalo, Indians, Settlers….

And worked in ‘gimmicks’ to liven things up. Of course lots of music and some pretty ‘campy humor’.

Lights on dresses and horses.

Very patriotic.

This is a photo of the way out which leads to a HUGE gift shop, at which we got nothing, it was really crowed.

I personally enjoyed seeing all of the show horses on the way out most of all, as interacting a little with them made my mood lighten.

 

This little plot of flowers in a butterfly design is right outside, didn’t get time to take a photo of it on the way in, so it was getting dark when I finally got a chance to snap it.

It was another ‘meh’ for me on the experience, but still glad I got to see what it was.

Not much else going on that evening so we roamed the ‘strip’ a little before going back to the camper.

Of course Branson is a Huge tourist area with all sorts of STUFF… we didn’t go into them except for Dolly’s Stampede. We were more interested in the Ozarks and things not quite so gimmicky.

 

A Car museum.  We didn’t go in, but there were some on the outside.

Who ya’ gonna’ call? 😉 Just seemed like a place where you could drop a lot of bucks on hokey stuff if you wanted to.

A cool mural.

Somewhere along the way with going around this area we picked up a nail in our car’s tire, and spent Labor Day looking for someone who could repair our tire so we could leave the next day to go down to visit my Dad in Florida.  Also, during this time, Hurricane Irma was giving the Bahamas a good thrashing and threatening the area we were supposed to be traveling to.  So we were trying to keep an eye on that to see if we could get down there – but that comes later in the story.

Next post will be other things we did while in the Branson /Ozarks area. Not crazy about Branson, though I know some folks are. But someday we may revisit different parts of the Ozarks.

Happy Thursday!

First things first…

Sunrise this morning!

The moon was still high in the sky when I took the morning photos.

Yesterday it looked like this:

Tuesday – September 24, 2019 Sunrise.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Lovely sunrises.

Vacation:

AND the trip to Branson, MO sort of began with a sunSET.  We were going to leave early on Saturday, but then had the opportunity to leave that Friday afternoon so we took it.

Sunset some place in Iowa.  We stopped in Iowa that evening and then went on to Branson, MO for the first part of our vacation the following day.

Stopped for fuel and did this:

to our beautiful rig. Most distressing.  Never messed up one of our rigs before and we have been using them for many many years.  Kind of put a damper on the spirit, but… it did not keep us from continuing on so I called around to send a new tail light lens to my Dad’s place, we were going there after Branson, so we could fix that at least.  Contacted the insurance company..and did the things necessary to get it fixed when we got back home.

But on with the trip:

Some beautiful scenes in the Ozarks area.

Lots of hills.

Lots of interesting rock formations.

Branson has a lot of Tourist Attractions both man made and natural.

Silver Dollar City is an amusement park.

 

 

Our first look at the place.

But then we went to locate the campsite and get settled.  After that we really didn’t do anything until the evening as we didn’t get there until late afternoon.

So more about the stay in Branson next post.

Just got a new pot of Mums to sit in front of the house. Huge bunch of fall color!

Have a great Wednesday!

So much for a lovely sunrise photo, it was super foggy out this morning.

However yesterday…

A gorgeous sunrise.

Also, when I went out I saw a Bald Eagle snacking on something.

I pulled over the car and got a shot of him, not the greatest, but I am always so impressed with them I have to watch them.

So from August 30th thru September 10th we were traveling in our RV. A little vacation which , during the Labor Day holiday, always leads us down to visit my Dad.

Usually we go to Chicago to visit my youngest daughter and her family then down to my Dad in Florida, but since the kids were just here so we went to the Ozarks, Bransen, MO, then worked our way down to my Dad’s house.

I will cover those in future posts soon!

But I will go back even a little bit further to the weekend before we left, August 24th weekend. We ended up meeting the kids in Stillwater, MN to walk around and catch Pokemon.

I love the murals.

Just a few shots of our stroll around the city.

And there is the lift bridge below.

 

 

Didn’t get to go into the Warden’s house as it was just closing as we arrived.  Maybe next time.

Had dinner at the Brick & Bourbon there in Stillwater, sat up on the roof.

 

 

It turned into a nice day and we all enjoyed it.

Then our Grandson decided he wanted to spend the rest of the weekend with us so he came over and we played some games and watched a movie.

Sunday on the way to take him home we stopped places to collect some Pokemon along the way.

We stopped at the Rum River Dam and Anoka.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These next photos were painted on the walls of a walking tunnel we went through while walking. Pretty neat!

 

It was a nice day with our Grandson.

Happy Friday!

 

Sunrise today. Sky is pretty cloudy now.

Catching up – been a while since I posted so I will go back a few days.

Sunrise yesterday, Monday Sept. 16th, 2019. Sky looked like it was on fire. Beauty.

Sunrise Sunday, Sept. 15th, 2019.  A bit on the foggy side.

Friday, Sept. 13th, 2019 we stepped out for a pint and dinner at The Burning Brothers tap room.

We do this fairly often on Friday night. It is a gluten free facility and they brew a variety of Gluten Free Beers.

 

 

They have variety of food trucks serving gluten free items, so depending on the food truck showing up that evening we go and try new things to eat.

This last time it was Crazy Puppy food truck. They have the best gluten free onion rings I have ever had…however, breaded things in a gluten free world are just not something I have very often, nor are they normally offered, but they were great!

 

Okay – not very healthy, but I get to have something like this so rarely that it is very hard to resist. Chicken tenders came along with it, they were okay, but paled in comparison to the onion rings.

More scenes at Burning Brothers:

Place generally has a pretty good crowd on a Friday night.  A lot of game playing goes on there as well as just community chatting and enjoying a brew with some friends.  Crowd is pretty friendly.

The popcorn is always on the house, they pop it right there. You can also have your own personal mug.

Our furry friends are invited to join us and do quite often.  They are usually open to  some handouts, if allowed by their people.

This is a working brewery, and tables are available in the back – again lots of game playing – in areas where the staff are not currently working.  Occasionally we have gotten to watch them can their items, very interesting to watch them work.

Friday night there was a full moon, unusual because it was also Friday the 13th. A full moon on Friday the 13th is an extremely rare occurrence, according to the Farmers’ Almanac. It reports that this was the first full moon visible across the U.S. on Friday the 13th since Oct. 13, 2000. The next one isn’t expected to happen again for another 30 years—on Aug. 13, 2049.

The photo is taken out the car window on the way home.

Cheers!

Happy Tuesday!

She must be having a wonderful time running with the wind.

Love you sweet girl.

Watch out Sun, here comes the clouds!

Storms just to the north of us. Looks like they may miss us today.

This weekend was a busy one.

The wedding of a niece.  Brought family to visit.

Youngest daughter with her two little ones from Chicago.  Oldest daughter with her son and husband.

At reception with Mother in law.

While at the house:

 

 

 

 

Never a dull moment!

We did go to the Oliver Kelly Farm to see what was happening there:

Summer garden was in full swing.  It was Pickling weekend there.

Beautiful August wildflowers.

Maple the cow.

 

Fixing things out in the shed by the barn.

Roosters just hangin’ out.

A little dinner – first french fry EVER… 😉  Nummy!

Then in the backyard for a little play time.

Hummm….

Looks like trouble:

Maybe double trouble…

Yep!

And it looks like I was wrong about the storm missing us:

It is getting darker by the second.

Just went out to move in the lawn chairs.  The wind has greatly picked up and is cool. Also smells strongly of rain.  So what time is it?

Jordie says – time to get going!

Happy Tuesday!

Mandy a few days ago – our senior girl.

Hot Stuff Amanda when she first came to live with us.

Our precious girl has gone on to meet ALL of her brothers and sisters who came before her at the bridge.

Though she has left us feeling pretty sad, she will have SO much company at the bridge I know she will be very happy.

It was actually last Wednesday that she said her final goodbye as she made her way into the sky to become the brightest star in the night, sending her love down to everyone each night.

This was the sky at sunset that evening…beautiful just like she was.

Before Mandy left she did have one request:

Mandy: Please tell that cat the pink fuzzy bone is all his now.

Her request was honored.

We love you Miss Pants.  We will miss you terribly.

Mandy January 1, 2008 – August 14, 2019.

Run Free Sweet Girl!

You will always be with us in our hearts.

Sunrise!!

There it is!

This last weekend we camped at a KOA near Duluth.

The following are photos from that trip.

First time we have eaten here.  Great with the Gluten Free items…NO complaints about this place. Staff was friendly and knowledgeable. Food was very good. A large selection for those with Celiac’s Disease!  Had a nice time there.

 

 

It’s in Carlton.  However, it is not Carton that is crooked, it is my photo…as I was crossing the street.  AKA a quick snap. 🙂

Carlton is a pretty small town but is know as the:

(Gateway to Jay Cooke –  a great state park)

They also had a park there that was for big and little kids both.

This netted climbing area with a ‘crow’s nest’ led to a totally covered slide.

A ‘zip line’ which we all rode it I believe, sometimes together.

Then Saturday we went into Duluth with a stop or two on the way.

One of the stops was at:

A Japanese Peace Bell Garden – so beautiful there. Lots of flowers so well kept.  And of course the rock garden.

You can ‘bong’ the Japanese Peace Bell

Go up the tower for more spectacular views.

 

Hummm…who ARE those people? 😉

Over looking Duluth and the lake from the hill in the park.

Then on into Duluth:

Some fog was pushing in to the city, so you could feel the temps drop about 10 degrees. Was a hot day, so it felt pretty good. Above is the Lift Bridge in the mist of the fog that was moving in.

We walked down the boardwalk, but it is gone…due to severe weather that tore up the wooden planks, you now walk down a dirt and gravel path.

Still a nice walk…that took us to:

You know it!

But me being a Celiac…I have problems at most Breweries. Except here at the Canal Park Brewing Company they have:

Yep, a Gluten Free Beer – just happens to be one of my favorites for the moment.  We go down to the Burning Brothers tap room on Friday nights from time to time …here in the cities.  They have food trucks that come and feed us gluten free food while they are there.  Ya gotta’ love that.  But this really isn’t about them – this is about the place we were having lunch/dinner at.

They also do really well with the Gluten Free food. Lots to choose from. Nice atmosphere. We always try to go there when in Duluth. Usually a wait to get a table.

 

We also walk through the shops there in Canal Park:

As we were in one of our favorite places to browse, this happened:

I was confronted by a very large cat!

Okay, ya got me THIS time…. now put that back. 😉 My entire family – clowns…all of them.

Then driving through Cloquet we saw this, interesting because:

It is the only Gas Station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The famed architect designed this gas station of the future with a lookout tower. In 1927,  he designed this gas station as part of a Utopian city plan that he championed throughout his professional life. This little piece of Wright’s utopia was intended for Buffalo, New York. The Buffalo station was never built, but 30 years later, the master architect got his gas station – this one in Cloquet, Minnesota and it’s still in business today.

Weird and cool at the same time.

And that about sums it all up.

Happy Wednesday!

Some great ‘sky’ photos as we have been having some dramatic weather around here.

But first today’s sunrise.

Yep it is peaking out. Supposed to be a nice one today.  About time because we have had some ugly weather going through the area lately.

But let’s look back a little first:

Sunrise last Wednesday, July 24th.

The misty farmer’s field with the sun in the process of peaking out.

Sun is still working on waking up the world.

There it is!

Now Sunrise Thursday, July 25th:

Very dramatic!

Beauty.

Then the weekend brought some awful ‘stuff’ our way.

Friday, July 26th…whoa..

We had gone to the Burning Brothers Tap room – gluten free beer and food after work.  There for maybe an hour or two. Left to come home around 7 pm and wished we’d left a half an hour sooner.

Of course we were in the car, so you see reflections in the photos.

The skies were decked out with some pretty impressive clouds.

Then the rain began and quickly we were in a pocket of very severe weather:

And hail – the sky where it looks ‘yellowish’ well should look more green.

Traffic STOPPED and we hid under a bridge, nothing was going by us as it was raining and hailing SO hard, not only could you not see, but you were concerned for your car.

Photo taken under bridge as we waited for it to slow down a little. Something that hasn’t happened to us very often, bad enough to ‘hide out’ from the storm while on the road.

Then it slowed down and we decided to make a break for it.  Thought it had passed but about 10 minutes from home we saw this again.

Yep, about 5 minutes from home we were hunting for someplace to hide again…we found a person’s driveway under some trees (maybe not the safest place to park in a storm) it provided some shelter from the hail. We seemed to escape damage as far as we were concerned.  And at this point it was not so windy, but just slamming rain and hail.

We got home okay, but you could see neighbor’s planters rolling around all tipped over. We have 3 colorful metal flower ornaments in the front of our house, the biggest one was tipped over, busted…oh well. Considering, not much really was hurt in our neighborhood (that I am aware of).

But then around 9:30 pm…it all fired up again.

 Yep…those are some large storm clouds, but the most of it stayed just North of us.  I took some video of the sky later as the thunder and lightening continued to be *very* present. It looked like the trees were having a strobe light show.  Was pretty cool to watch, but I am betting not so fun for the folks who were in the storm zone.

Saturday we met with the kids and had some Mexican food, then on to their house for some gaming and visiting.  Home for the evening after that.

Then Sunday – – no photos, but some very bad storms passed through in the afternoon into the evening.  We ran out for errands and ended up in a rain storm again, not as bad as on Friday.  When we got home from everything, about an hour later another storm just pounded us. We didn’t have a tornado in our neighborhood, but there were several around where we live. Not really close, but in the vicinity.

Lemme: It’s all behind us now, everyone should just chill. Besides, not a drop of rain of ever touched me.

Mandy: And *I* just want to mention…*I* have the fuzzy pink bone! (Get your own, Fidge-cat).

Happy Monday!

This morning’s sunrise.

So yesterday was our wedding anniversary, so after work we went out to dinner. That was nice. 44 years!!!

And for some reason Mandy disappeared from all her usual snoozing places. I was all…Mandy where are you?? Then I saw this:

What ya’ doing there Mandy?

Are you okay?

 

Mandy: Just chillin’!

Okay, well she has never laid there before, but whatever makes her happy!

Happy Friday!

Sunrise this morning.

Moisture on the outside shows the high humidity this morning. By the look of our security cameras over night, we had some sort of a shower, some driving rain. Missed it though I was awake.  No lightening or thunder though.

It’s been a few days since I last posted as we were up by the North Shore in Two Harbors over the 4th of July holiday and the weekend.

Gonna’ be a long post – lots of photos to catch up.

Let’s start with some sunrise photos of the last few days.

Monday’s sunrise:

Tuesday’s sunrise:

And now we are going back to our 4th of July Camping trip up in Two Harbors, MN.

We generally camp at Burlington Bay campgrounds, but don’t stick around the campground much. Normally we spend a day in Duluth, but didn’t this time because of looking for land the kids wanted to buy to keep their camper on.  Spent all day, one day, going from one piece of undeveloped land to another.  What they decided is not to go that route.

While at the campground, there was some wood chopping for the fire.

The kids decided to cook their lunch over the fire:

We also stopped by Black Sand Beach:

Hiked at Tettegouche State Park. Had dinner at the Rustic Inn, which is one of our favorite places to go.

Also stopped at Betty’s Pies, a first for me. Probably the last time as well.

We go out to the beach to collect sea glass right off of the Burlington Bay campground. It was pretty foggy most mornings.

So beautiful.

One of the strangest things we saw at the campground was:

Yes, that is a beautifully restored hearse. Filled with folks, dog and all, camping???

We also went further up north, love this place, to Grand Marais. We looked at a new possible place to park our RVs while up that way, it has a 6 year waiting list.  They also have some first come – first serve, spots that you cannot reserve. Not sure we want to drive that far only to find out none of those are left.  Thinking about it. 😉

While in Grand Marais ate at a nice little place we enjoy eating at when we are up there called:

They do pretty well with the Gluten Free food items. Food is pretty good, prices not awful and there is generally a decent line for the restrooms – as you can see.

Normally, we sit outside, but today we sat inside for the first time.

 

Pretty good service, folks there were nice. They are generally a very busy place.

Casual.

Waiting for food. Eating with the kids of course.

This is a fresh catch grilled white fish sandwich with coleslaw…and oh yes…just a couple of chips. (No I did NOT eat all those chips, just a few, but they were good so I had to get the wait person to take my plate away before I ate them all).  Fish is on a gluten free bun.

I also had their Angry Palmer…which is like their version of an Arnold Palmer….a mix of lemonade and Iced Tea.  Not so good, I ended up adding some sweetener, it kind of tasted peppery.

But I think the food there is pretty good and I have Celiac Disease so it is important to do the Gluten Free thing properly. I had no problem with their food.

While we were in Grand Marais were lots of boats. But two in particular stood out to me.

A schooner sailing around, had maroon color sails. Not a great photo of it, sorry about that.

Then also,

Okay, Robin (Robyn) is spelled wrong, but pretty close. For those who know me well enough you should get why we took this photo.

Now to cover July 4th, we did fire works and Floating Lanterns while waiting for the big show put on my Two Harbors.

Boy Howdy, we had a few things to launch, but everyone enjoys it.

It had been a little rainy but broke up in time for the fireworks fun to begin.  First fireworks was a lovely Rainbow. You can see in the background a lighthouse.

People waiting for the BIG display put on by the city sitting by the water as the fog begins to roll in.

A ship leaving port to go out to sea coasting through the fog sounding its fog horn to help keep it on the right path.

We did enjoy the fireworks show and at the end…the fog seemed to be setting in again as we left the area.  Remember that lighthouse I mentioned before in the photo with the rainbow?

It had its lights on and you could see the fog as the light cut through it.

That’s really all I have to report on the last few days.

Oh yes, and the fuzzy pink bone battle still rages on at home…

At the moment it is cat domination, much to Mandy’s dismay.

Fidget: MINE!

Happy Wednesday!

A misty morn hides the sun. The farmer’s field across the road is starting to show progress.

This weekend was fairly low key. Got the RV out of storage, weighed it along with the car to determine correct tire pressure and check the tires. Then met the kids for dinner at Biaggi’s. Ran some errands after that.  Also, my mother-in-law was ill so we spent some time at the hospital.  She is doing okay, is still pretty uncomfortable.  Feel Better!!!!

We were up there again last night. But once home again, had a late dinner and I glanced out the window at some point during dinner and saw this

Not sure why the photos are so yellowish – but the sky was a weird color anyway. You can see it is a double rainbow, even more interesting is that it was pretty vivid and solid all the way to the other end….right down to the ground.  I was standing out in a light rain taking these photos.  There is also an interesting coloring between the two rainbows.

Seriously, I cannot recall ever seeing a rainbow(s) quite like this one. (or these two)

Here is one the camera took that the sky looked more normal.

The one above is most natural and agrees more with what my eye was seeing.  I have to say, it was pretty fantastic to witness.

AND the battle for the pink bone fuzzy still continues.

Mandy: Let’s see if that cat can get it now!

Happy Tuesday!

 

Sunrise with a few raindrops on the window. Not raining when I took the photo but had been a little earlier.

Supposed to be a off and on rainy day.

I haven’t posted for a few weeks, so will catch you up, though there is not much to update on.

However, let’s start with this last weekend.

Friday we went to the Burning Brothers Tap room. Place of great gluten free beer and a food truck also serving gluten free food.  Had a pint there and some Cuban GF food. It was fun to do as the weekend was the back to 50s car weekend at the State Fair Grounds.  The tap room is in that area so we get to see quite a few beautiful old cars while driving to get there.

Saturday was a fairly nice morning so we decided to go to a wine festival in Chisago, MN.

We had never been to that vineyard before. It was very nice. For 10.00 we did the wine tasting.  Some tasty wines made there! We also did a little tour of the fields and so on, got to hear the history and ask questions. Some great live music out there along with different vendors. Lots of places to sit, sip, and enjoy. Also a food truck out there and they serve a few things as well. But a very relaxed, pleasant environment.

At the last minute, we decided, since it was fairly close to the kids, to ask if they wanted to join us. We like spending time with them as well!

They did join us, didn’t do the wine tasting but went on the little walking tour.

And these are the faces of people doing something that was my idea. (one of the reasons I don’t say much in the ‘what do we want to do’ department).  Yes, that is my 40 year old son in law sticking his tongue out at me.  It is actually pretty hard to get a decent photo when he is involved. He has managed to ruin quite a few wonderful photo ops with his desire to annoy. Frankly, I am pretty over caring about it and will just post them regardless from here on out. Not funny but his choice.  However, he is a very nice, intelligent guy and I enjoy being with him regardless. He is a real sweetheart. There is not a thing I would change about him.  Just sayin’…. 🙂

Oldest daughter and grandson. Are we having fun yet?

While on the walking part of the tour we spied this:

A beautiful carriage giving carriage rides.

This is the gorgeous guy pulling it, he actually looked like he was enjoying himself!

Such a beautiful carriage!

On the way to the vineyard we came across the Patriots Ride that was taking place this weekend, lots of motorcycles.

Police were directing traffic and people had chairs by the side of the road, waving as they went by. Very inspiring.

After the Winery tour we went to Wisconsin (since we were close to the border) to pick up some fireworks for the 4th of July and to dinner.

The Dalles House…never been there before, it has an old Supper Club type of feeling. When we walked in, we didn’t hold much hope, BUT it turned out very nicely.

They did the Gluten Free food well, it was good.  I was going to take photos of the food, but tend to put my phone away and just converse with folks, so I forgot to photograph the food.  Yes, an old fashioned idea I guess, but it’s generally like, what, a 45 minute span in a 24 hour day. Still, I will try harder to remember to take a photo of the food.

I WILL say, that though the food was pretty good, it took quite a while to get it. So service was slow, but the wait person was really pretty good.  But then again, we were like one of three tables that had people at them, it was early for dinner. So I don’t know what took them so long to make the food. But all in all, it was pretty pleasant. You know, good company. 🙂

Fidget: Okay, you are boring me.

Lemme: Yep, move on, I have.

Mandy: Wait, Mom, don’t forget those other photos you wanted to post to ‘catch up’. Yawn.

Okay, thanks Mandy, try not to over excite yourself. 😉

June 20th – Last Thursday.

 

A little stormy in the distance but the clouds were fantastic.

June 19th – Last Wednesday

It was a little humid…moisture on the outside of the window.

Lovely sunrise that day though.

June 12th.

June 11th.

A cloudy day.

June 10th.

Clear skies! Bad photo.

And that about catches us up on the sunrises.

Mandy: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Okay then, if there is nothing more from the peanut gallery….

Happy Monday!

Sunrise! Humid this morning, you can see a layer of mist close to the ground.

Day before yesterday the sky looked like this:

Today skies have cleared and it is warming up.

Seems such a short time ago we were awaiting a warm up, Spring being cooler than normal.  Now, it seems, all of the sudden:

Personally, I am not a huge fan of temps over 75 degrees.  Perhaps that is part of why I live in Minnesota. 🙂

Mandy has something she wants to share.

Mandy:  Look everyone, I got my pink bone stuffy back.

Mandy: It was just like ‘BAM’ I grabbed it and ran!

Mandy: I’ll teach this stuffy not to let a cat carry it around!

Mandy:  And take that….

Mandy: Whoa…maybe it tossed it a little too hard that time. Uh-oh.

Mandy: The cats can get it if they want it.

Fidget: What do you think, Lemme?

Fidget: sigh…me too.

Happy Thursday!

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise!  It’s going to be in the 80’s today.

Mandy: So…it’s like this.

Mandy: I got this pink bone stuffy for being such a good girl at my vet appointment. I really like it.

Mandy: Then this started happening…

Fidget: Yes, I like to talk with my mouth full, so this bone stuffy comes in real handy. However, pink isn’t really my color so I always drop it right before Mom snaps a photo.

Lemme: Fidget, I think you have a problem and need help. So get off Mom’s lap and play with the cat toys!

Fidget: But Lemme, I like that bone stuffy! Mandy can play with something else.

Mandy: When Fidget wants something, there is no getting it back, besides…cat slobber is yucky.

Mandy: Back to my old green stuffy bone, besides it is well broken in.

Happy Monday!

Sunrise was a bright orange sun in a gray sky.  Unfortunately the camera would not pick up the red of the sun this morning.

Spent a few days in Chicago with youngest daughter and family, over the Memorial Day weekend.

 

 

 

Welcomed home by my cats who were so excited to see us.

Fidget: Hey, they are back. yawn

Fidget and Lemme: Yes we ransacked the house, hair-balled the areas we thought would be the most difficult to clean and left no rug un-rumpled.  PARTY!!!

Lemme: Go away, you’re bothin’ me.

Mandy: Good to be home again.

Happy Thursday!

Sunrise. Very nice out right now.

This last weekend was Mother’s Day weekend and Fishing Opener.  I hope everyone got to do things they wanted to do and had a nice Mother’s Day.

We met my oldest daughter and her family in Stillwater and went to eat at Fellers.  They were pretty good with the Gluten Free items. Service was on the slow side, but the server was nice and the food was pretty good. Being together was the main thing.

I had a gluten free Eggs Benedict, which I used to love to have, but being diagnosed with Celiac Disease, is pretty rare that I find a place willing to serve it gluten free. Which most times means just having a gluten free bread instead of regular bread.

Daughter and husband.

There were little designs painted on the walls.

Got the Grandson to look up from his phone long enough for this photo.

 

I’d say our family is pretty glued to their phones.  I’m always taking photos, so mine was out as well.  Anyway, after eating we walked a around Stillwater a little bit. They had other things to do so we didn’t have a lot of time to hang before they had to get back. There for maybe an hour or two.  It was cloudy but never did rain.

My daughter in Chicago gave me a call.  My grandson Jordan – her oldest. Did a lot of talking, which we really enjoy.  However, he is all about his grandpa and just wanted to talk to Gpa Bruce.  I guess he calls me Gma Bruce. Oh well I try but Gpa is a very popular guy. It is what it is I guess.

Soo…

Mandy has her own bottle of wine. It has been around for a long time, but she just re-discovered it.

Squeak, squeak, squeak…

The more it squeaked, the wilder she got.

 

She has a pretty good time when she decides to play with toys she hasn’t played with for a while.

Mandy: I’m tired now but I have a lot more toys to pull out of the basket!

Photo of an annoyed cat.

Happy Tuesday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have Sun!

I just want to say that I have been in physical therapy for a knee injury and though my knee is fine and not causing pain …. I have so much pain when I move where my leg attaches to my pelvis..on the inside, I may never go back to the guy.  I didn’t start out with any pain there, and now that hurts more than my knee EVER did. It is really hard to sit and rise to stand, very painful. It is the transition from one position to another that’s the killer.  I am hoping it is just muscle pain, but I am not all that sure that’s what it is. Just wanted to vocalize.  Done now.

Okay, so not much going on here today.  Hopefully it will be a nice weekend. It is Fishing Opener here in MN and also Mother’s Day weekend as well.  According to my oldest daughter we are going to Stillwater and walk around, have a nice meal at a eating place she has chosen there. Of course the best part is just being with them, so whatever they want to do is good for me.

But I just want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful Moms.

Lemme: Yes, Happy Mother’s Day.

Lemme: Fishing opener…yum.

Lemme: Hey….

Lemme: …now there’s a butt in my picture.

Mandy: Yes, so take a hint, Lemme and butt out, you blog hog.

Lemme: MOM, Mandy is picking on me!

Fidget: NO MORE BICKERING PLEASE!! I JUST CAN’T TAKE IT ANY MORE!

Fidget: Be nice because it’s Mother’s Day weekend.  Yep, I’m the good kid.

Happy Friday!

 

No Sun this morning.

We did see some snowflakes last night but nothing stuck here. Up about two hours north, Duluth did get quite a bit of snow. Around 10 inches of snow they are reporting.

Have you ever noticed the reflections in raindrops show the world upside down?

Fidget: Look at that.  Interesting!

Mandy: Raindrop reflections, you woke me up for that? Get a life.

Happy Thursday!

Snow??? Yes it is in the forecast for this evening. We’ll see I guess.

It is gray and windy. The sun is taking an undeserved break from appearing on the landscape.

Mandy: Lemme is really bugging me.

Lemme: I am Ninja Kat!

Lemme: ATTACK!

Mandy: Take a break cat.

Lemme: Wait…

Lemme: was that a bird?

Lemme: Did you see that?  Mandy?  Mandy?

Sorry Lemme, Mandy is busy.

Not much going on around here, as you can see.

Happy Wednesday!

 

The Sun is up and at ’em today!

But let’s back up a little first:

Friday the painter did come back in and get the painting done.

 

TA DAAA finished and a pretty good job too.  Still waiting to hear from the tile guy as we were told he would give us a call this week to schedule something to fix the thresh hold piece in our shower.

Saturday:

A little bit moist out in the very early morning:

That is one of the windows in the sun room – on the outside.

So I went outside on the patio to get a shot of the morning:

Misty morning fog early Saturday.

But it cleared up and turned into quite the lovely day.

We finally got to sit out in the evening, before it got dark and enjoy our fire table, patio and some music.  (oh…and some V8 Juice) 😉  The little black ‘thing’ on the corner of the fire table is a speaker with a flickering fire like light inside it.  We wanted to play a card game, but I needed to get something to hold the discard and drawing pile, as the wind would have cards everywhere.  I have that now, so we will give it a try.

We also went to see Avengers: Engame with my oldest daughter and her family. It was a good movie. Long…. Made even longer by the film ‘breaking down’ mid-film. At first folks thought it was perhaps a restroom break, so a lot of them took off to take care of that.  But then the people in charge of the theater came in and said there were some problems.  Everyone seemed pretty cool about the whole thing and I’d say it took about 20 minutes to get back to where we were when it all broke down.

After that we went to Willy McCoy’s to eat. It was a nice enough afternoon to allow us to eat outside.

The relaxing by the fire table was just the two of us here and came after all of the above.

Sunday:

Not a bright start to the day.

A bit of a dramatic sky. These clouds are ushering in:

Got some rain!

Not much happened on Sunday, but we did get a little shopping done.  The later afternoon perked up a bit so while we were out running errands we decided to try a place to eat that we see all the time but never have gone to.  It is generally really quite crowed, but we went early to eat before the big dinner crowd came.  The name of the place is Boondox in Otsego.

It is a very casual place, a very large sports bar. They have volley ball courts in the back. As well as a second house out back for parties and so on. Lots of kids playing in sand. Many burgers to be had, marked gluten free options on their menu which makes it easy for me, having Celiacs. It was good.  Nothing really stands out about the place food wise.  Prices seem fine, not too expensive.  I didn’t take any photos, but if we go again, I will .

Monday:

I was pretty busy yesterday and never got around to posting, so I will continue playing catch up.

Lovely sunrise. However, as the clouds broke up I thought the sky was pretty interesting.

It was a bit cooler than it had been.  The Sun was out, but the temps didn’t get out of the 50s.  Still, if it isn’t really windy, that’s okay for us.

Guess I put Mandy to sleep.

Lemme: Are you done yet?

Fidget: Put the computer down, empty the lap, make room for me!

Happy Tuesday!

 

 

 

 

 

Hey…look at this!!!

Sun! Yes, we have a sunrise this morning. How great is that.  Makes me start cleaning right away because when the sun comes through the windows, I see everything. So by 7:30 this morning I had the floor cleaned, microwave, counters and other things I could see smears or dust on.

It is still in the mid 30s outside so you can see, or maybe you can’t in this photo but I was trying, frosty dew sparkling on the grass and a bit of a mist in the air.

Nice, though they are saying it may still rain off and on. Enjoy it while we can. 🙂

Hopefully, the wall will be finished today, I mentioned it yesterday, and we will be done with that.

The guy is here working on it now, he has the vacuum on as he sands so it makes it less dusty.

Mandy is not amused, she is really not big on the vacuum so this is how she was when it all began:

She was standing in the vicinity of the work, panting and yawning…she does both when you make her nervous.

But I talked her down, and also she must have figured to give up the fight because it was going to be going on for a while, and now she is like this:

Mandy: BUT if the guys moves from his current location I am watching!!!!!

Mandy: You may think I’m sleeping, but just try ANYTHING and I will know.

Mandy: Hey he just turned off the vacuum and walked out the door…very suspicious.

You might as well hit the snooze alarm, Mandy, he still needs to paint, he’ll be back soon.

Happy Friday!

 

 

 

 

 

…a chance of Clouds.

Yes, you heard me right.

This morning’s sunrise…foggy and gray.  Maybe tomorrow, sun?

Fidget: No sunny spots today.

Mandy: Sigh…well at least my bathroom is warmer.

Fidget: Mom, we know all this murkiness is your fault. Make it go away and bring back the sunny spots.

Thanks for the weather report but Mother Nature controls the weather not your human servant. You don’t fool with Mother Nature:

 

Love those old commercials. 🙂

Speaking of old, our house is now 8 months old and we are still working out a few kinks.  Especially in one of our main walls.

Before:

 

A bit on the ‘lumpy’ side.

We actually didn’t notice this on our walk-through before we settled as when you have the kitchen lights on, the counter is across from it and creates a shadow on the wall. It is when natural light is bright enough to see the wall in all its bumpiness.

Just to refresh memories, we did a quick walk through on an October afternoon, when it was cloudy and dark like today. The lights had to be on.  At that time we were having to leave for Chicago to be with our daughter that afternoon. They quickly fit us in October 4th (or 5th). Then in order to close on October 11th, we drove back to be here the afternoon of October 10th for an early morning closing the next day, then drove back to Chicago October 12th.  A crazy time but it all worked out.

We didn’t actually move into the house until October 23rd, I think it was. Then left the first of February to be with my Dad who was injured in an accident. We were gone for nearly two months due to that.  So we haven’t really lived in the house all that much yet.  November, December and January was all about moving in and the holidays.  So we are still getting around to things here.

The builder told us not to worry if we missed something, that they would be able to handle fixing things for a year. So far we haven’t found much, but they have honored their word.

They came yesterday and left with the wall looking partially repaired.  They will come again tomorrow morning to sand and repaint.  Hopefully, that will take care of it.

We also have a tile threshold in our shower/drying area that is loose. There is a ticket in for their tile guy to come, but it’s been two weeks and we haven’t heard anything back from him yet. So when they finish the wall, I will let the warranty work manager know we appreciate the wall repair, but still haven’t heard from the tile person.

Other than that, we really haven’t found a lot to complain about with the new place.

 

Mandy: To chew or not to chew.

Mandy: That is the question.

Mandy: Chew!

Happy Thursday!

HAPPY MAY DAY!

My oldest daughter, and for a while with my grandson, used to surprise me with a May Day basket on my doorstep.  She liked to do a drop, ring the bell and run.  So sweet and  was so much fun.

No sunrises to report on this week.

This morning.

I haven’t done other posts this week, so let me catch you up:

Yesterday…Tuesday.

Day before yesterday – Monday.

Yeeeeahhh – you get the drift. No sun around this week but there are high hopes for tomorrow.

The only event in the last few days is…well I will let Fidget and Lemme explain.

Fidget: Well I was just sitting around not doing anything…

Lemme: Yeah, just sitting around.

Fidget: The next thing I knew I was crated, transported and ended up in the Vet’s office. This is me in the Vet’s office, apparently hiding was not going to stop what was to come. THE  ANNUAL PHYSICAL and vaccinations.

I dug my claws into my hiding spot and they had to move it out of the corner…well let’s just say it took two people to remove me so the Vet could examine me.

Lemme: Yeah, two people…wait…

 

Lemme: I don’t mind going to the Vet’s place, I don’t even mind the car.

Lemme: Come to think of it, Fidget, you are a real pain in the tail when we go. Loud, obnoxious and a real brat about it.

Fidget: Lemme is the definition of ‘Ignorance is Bliss’. 

I am happy to report, both of the boyz are in excellent shape!

Happy Wednesday!