Blog Archives

Hibbing, Minnesota

4/29/2013

Here I am in Porketta Heaven, Hibbing, Minnesota. I fell in love with a local bed and breakfast by reading about it online, so called from home this morning to make a reservation - all booked up. I asked the lady on the phone where else I might try and she recommended a motel in a town eight miles away. When I explained I wanted someplace within walking distance of downtown Hibbing she seemed a bit brusque and said she couldn't recommend anyplace else in town. I was disappointed with her attitude, so just drove on down and found a nice little place five blocks from Zimmy's Restaurant, a Bob Dylan themed bar/restaurant right downtown, and checked in. The picture shows me in Zimmy's where I had a great porketta sandwich and a couple bottles of Grain Belt beer.
I got a huge laugh at customs while crossing the border. The officer asked the usual questions, then came to have a close look at my truck. When she went around to the back and asked what was in the bag I was confused. I just cleaned out my truck yesterday in preparation for the trip and wasn't carrying anything at all, including a bag, in the back. As I sat dumbstruck, trying to figure out WTF, she asked, "Is it garbage?" I immediately started howling with laughter as I remembered I had taken a bag of garbage to put in the dumpster on my way to work at 5 a.m. and promptly totally forgot all about it. I tried to explain, through my hysterics, why I was smuggling a bag of garbage into the States.
Very, very funny, I thought. She didn't, so pulled me over for a closer inspection. Everything turned out fine. Customs let me continue after running me through their computer and I even got to keep the bag of garbage.
Forgot to pick up scotch today, so am sitting in my motel room drinking tap water. Don't know how long it's been since I just had tap water. Long time! I don't recommend it as top choice.
Minneapolis tomorrow. My friend will be happy to see me and my bag of garbage.

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Gulls

4/26/2013

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Seagulls are seagulls, right? During all the years I've seen them around, I've always thought these birds were just seagulls. But, I have found out they are not...
This morning I took binoculars to get a closer look at the hundreds of gulls on the lake (ice) in front of the house. I saw both Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls. At first glance they all seem to be the same, but three characteristics, in particular, distinguish them. The Herring Gull is noticeable larger, its legs are pink and its bill is a fairly uniform yellow color. The Ring-billed Gull has a black ring around its beak, near the tip, and its legs are yellowish/green. I was able to see both, side by side, for comparison this morning. This picture shows two Ring-billed Gulls (when I went back with my camera the only close-by gulls at the time were these).

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Pickled snacks

4/21/2013

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Pickled eggs and pickled kielbasa. There's enough magic and mystique here to create a spiritual experience about six weeks down the road.

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Thankful to live in this little corner of the world

4/20/2013

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What a beautiful April morning! The sun was stunning and the air was as fresh as a baby bird. The dogs and I headed out for a walk with Latin jazz streaming through my hearing aids and the kaleidoscope signs of spring dancing in my head. How very, very pleasant.

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Knucklehead world

4/19/2013

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I think I have officially crossed the line into the knucklehead world.
I'm not saying that a deaf friend I ran into at the bank this morning has anything to do with it - but he did hug me and slap me multiple times on the back, then multiple times on my chest as we shared a friendly, heartfelt greeting. Unknown to him, I wear my hearing aid control dangling from a necklace and each of his hugs and slaps sent the volume and intensity of the probes through my ears into my brain reaching for the sky.
When I got home a bit later, around noon, I came inside and have been involved here without going back out.
Mary came in from work at 6 p.m. and asked, "Why is your truck running?"
Duh!
Guess I parked in my driveway spot and forgot to turn it off when I got out. It was a cold day, so the heater running full blast for about six hours made the ignition key almost too hot to handle.
In preparation for involuntary placement in "a home" I am going to go drink a nice glass of warm milk and crawl into bed, where I plan to read, secretly, under the covers, with a flashlight.
la, la, la, la, la....
G'night.

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My new, portable carving tool

4/19/2013

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A couple weeks ago I was lamenting to the friend who taught last year's carving course, at which I developed some enthusiasm, that I often wished I could do some carving while visiting somewhere without having to plan ahead and carry along my bag of knives, chisels, and various other items.
"Well," he smiled, "Lee Valley may have just what you need..."
So, have a look at this baby. Now I can visit friends on a Sunday afternoon, break a branch off a tree in their yard, and sit on their couch carving a little spoon in the living room as we talk.
Pretty much like those who take a ball of yarn and a couple needles to knit a sweater as they visit friends, I'm thinking.

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Stuck in town for a month

4/19/2013

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We have begun the semi-annual freeze-up/break-up cycle, during which we cannot travel back and forth to camp by either boat or snowmobile. I think we will be shore bound until about the second week of May.

Last weekend at camp I trained our pet mouse Hank to roll over. Here he is, midway through one of his rolls. He's such a smart boy!

It's tough not being able to get to camp.

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