T-Day Weekend Video Clips

And, the best for last:

Zoo Visit = Three Kinds of Otters!

Last Saturday, it actually got up into the 40s (!!), so we took advantage of the comparatively warm weather with a trip to the Minnesota Zoo.

We hadn’t been about a year and a half (cough*conversion*cough) -- our last time was with the Little Cowboy -- so it was great to re-up our membership and check out everything new! In particular, we were looking forward to seeing the Russia’s Grizzly Coast exhibit, home to Capers. :)

Even on a “warm” winter day like last Saturday, it’s still heavenly to walk into the humidity of the Tropics Trail -- check out those orchids!


The Tropics Trail is also home to the zoo’s Asian small-clawed otters, the smallest species in the otter family.

Around the corner on the recently refurbished Minnesota Trail, Emmet and a friend woke up long enough to say hi …

… and then went back to sleep.
The northern gray wolves came right up to the windows of their new Minnesota Trail habitat.

On Russia’s Grizzly Coast, the Amur leopards and the grizzly bears were snoozing in easy viewing range, too.

And of course, something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time: getting to meet the zoo’s new sea otters! As you can see from the pics below, they were completely rambunctious -- terrific to watch, a little challenging to photograph.

I mean, seriously: don't those underwater shots look like the famous pic of the Loch Ness Monster's flipper? Maybe Nessie is a giant otter. :)

Just Sayin'

The actual temp at the moment is 19 below. The wind chill? Hovering around 40 below.

I'm just sayin'.

Highs Below Zero

Posted this afternoon to the Strib's site:

The temperature was in the low teens at 2 p.m. at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, but will tumble well below zero by nightfall and stay there for at least the next few days. Highs might not make it above zero on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and lows will sink to minus 19 degrees on Wednesday night, which would be the coldest night since the mercury sank to minus 24 degrees on Jan. 30, 2004.

Slightly warmer air will arrive on Saturday with a high of 13 degrees expected and by Sunday sunny skies and highs in the 20s are expected, the Weather Service said.

Mary Anne Stops By

Mom was in for a five-night visit amid brisk Minnesota fall weather, perfect for solving crossword puzzles by the fire with the next-door neighbors.

A Visit from Guitar Man

Two weeks ago, Dad was in town for a conference and tacked on some extra days to hang out with M and me. I got half a day off from work and we had a really nice time -- a great mix of going out and just hanging out.

• We played a little Guitar Hero and got the best BBQ take-out in the state.
• We had a great meal at Chino, did a little MOA shopping, and attempted to go to the MN Zoo to visit Emmet. Too bad I didn't realize how early the zoo was closing in April (we pulled into the parking lot at 3:57 only to see the sign announcing the off-season closing time of 4:00).
• On the one sunny but slightly cool day Dad was here, he was a great sport about sitting outside. M and I were craving some patio time after a long winter and, although I could tell he was shivering a little, Dad hung in there for a good hour.

So, two fun stories to share:

First, a week before he was here (so this was early April), we were chatting on the phone about logistics.

"Bunny [blogger's note: she's a GREAT gardener] said I HAVE to bring the camera and take tons of photos of your garden," Dad said. "She's really excited to see how it looks this year."

I started laughing.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, um, you know we still have snow on the ground, right? Minneapolis got eight inches on Monday."

I could almost hear him slapping his forehead. "That's right!"

"So, you know. Everything's pretty much dead."

He then proceeded to tell me that Bunny had planned a big gardening project for the weekend and I got very, very jealous.

The other funny story is this: When he was here, we (of course) ended up talking about Addie. Mom had recently visited Seattle and told me that Addie knows where all of us live. Evidently, you ask her, "Where's Uncle Phil?" and she'll say, "Alana" (Atlanta). You ask about Uncle Mason and Auntie Laura, and Addie says, "Baby soda." You ask about Aunt Donna (my aunt in Texas), and -- this cracks me up -- Addie responds, "Obama in Hooston."

So I was relating this to my dad and we laughed about the Obama part. I then mentioned that when I saw Addie over Christmas, we had a great time and I could tell that she loved me, but it was clear that she didn’t know my name. (At one point during the holidays, my awesome sister-in-law LSB asked Addie, "Who do you want to go to?" And Addie gave me a huge smile, pointed at me and said, "That lady!") I know that she's little and that she loves me anyway, but given how often she asks about "Unca Masin," I felt a little sad.

As I related this story to Dad and said, "I know it's no big deal, but … you know."

He says, "She doesn't know my name either. Know what she calls me?"

I shook my head.

He gave me a big smile. "Guitar Man."

How cool is that?!? :) Thanks for an awesome visit, Dad!

Spring!

It's been wayyyy too long since I posted here, but work has been getting in the way. (It's been seven weeks since the launch and I'm exhausted, but this migration-specific chaos has to die down soon, right? Right?)

On a much happier note, I think we can finally consider it spring in the Twin Cities. I know -- the calendar says March 21 is spring, but the calendar didn't help a whole lot when we got eight (!!!) inches of snow on April 7.

The bad news is that, although I'm suffering from wannastartgardeningitis, it's much too soon to start working the soil yet. (It's just too damp, so digging or tilling will compact the soil, ruining any drainage properties I improved last year by adding compost or other amendments.)

The good news? The Greengirls (my favorite local gardning blog) say that cool-weather annuals like pansies should do just fine in containers right about now. So I forsee a trip to Bachman's in my future tonight. Which makes everything better. :)

C-c-c-cold!!

Another tidbit from the Strib:

A wind chill warning was in effect across all of Minnesota this morning. The air temperature in Minneapolis at 5 a.m. was minus 14, with a windchill of minus 36.
In St. Paul, the windchill at 5 a.m. was minus 42.

Holy fricken frostbite, Batman!

Addie [hearts] Uncle Mason

Just had to share this excerpt from an e-mail from Mike to M about our holiday time in Florida:

Man – Somehow in those final days you made some kind of lasting impression on Addie! She talks about “Unca Masin” every day. She now knows that you are in “baby-soda” but has to ask about you anyway.

So Much Snow!

Snow from the morning of the 22nd, and bunny tracks!

Blowing and drifting snow from an all-day storm caused white-out conditions across the state on the 23rd.

Another five inches on Christmas Day!

More Snow Pics ...

... because Dad seems to be getting a kick out of them. :) This is the view from my office window this morning around 8:30 a.m.

And here's what it looked like around 4:45 p.m. as I was leaving tonight.

December 4 Snow

After digging ourselves out from the ten or so inches we got over the weekend, another five inches arrived yesterday during rush hour. Our AwesomeNeighborsTM said it took them two hours to get home last night -- that's a drive that usually takes about 20 minutes. I'm convinced that the only transportation in the Cities last night was the train, which M and I took home after he worked late and I went to a Pilates session. We overheard people saying that buses were taking an hour to move six blocks. Here are some shots from this morning.


Maybe it's time to bring in the hammock, huh?

But wait, there's more! We're slated to get two more dumps of snow this week: Thursday night and Saturday night. While it will probably complicate driving to various holiday events and parties, it's also wonderful to have snow for December, which hasn't always happened here in recent years.

December 1 Snow

After a couple of "flurry events" that brought falling flakes but no accumulation, December 1 brought us the real thing. Here are a few photos from about 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning, towards the beginning of the snow that fell all day.

Now that the Twin Cities have mostly dug themselves out, we're slated to get another five or so inches today. Should be particularly interesting in that this will be the first real snow scheduled to arrive during a rush hour.

Flashback to Fall: Photos from Early October

Now that we've had our first big snow of the year, I'm realizing how delinquent I was in posting photos from the fall. It really was a lovely autumn in Minnesota.

Here's George showing his first fall colors.

Our beautiful birch tree out front.
We really should have made time to get to these leaves earlier in the season, but at least the fire keeps the patio palatable even in early October.

Not Jo, too!

“Johan, don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” read the opening sentence of a brief editorial in today’s Strib. “And the same holds true for Joe Nathan and anyone else the Twins can deal.”

I moaned. More “we’re better off without ‘em” crap, like we saw with Torii?

But no. The piece continued:

Don’t get me wrong – these guys are class acts. But the greatest pitcher of his generation and one of the best relievers in the game deserve big money and, more importantly, a shot at a World Series ring. With the Twins, they’ll get neither. Not with this owner [Carl Pohlad, aka (in my house) "Mr. WhytheHellIsn’tHeDeadYet!"].

The conclusion: “And please, don’t trade Santana to the Yankees. I want to be able to root for him.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Say It Ain't So, To

Oh, Laura sad.

But Laura's also quite mad about this whole thing. Why?

For one thing, the "fans" are simply tearing Torii apart for this, calling him "greedy" and "disloyal." WTF?!? Yes, baseball players do get paid obscene amounts, but that's griping about the game, not this player. And as anyone who's ever had a well-paying but hellacious job can tell you, money is rarely reason enough to take or keep a gig. Far more important are feeling valued and having a solid future. The Twins have clearly demonstrated that they're not prepared to give Torii either of those things.

But the Angels are. They've signed Sweetcheeks for five years (while the Twins were only willing to go to three), but even more important, they're committed to building a team that has a real shot. The Twins don't seem to be interested in that route, preferring instead to save money and skip the quest for glory.

Now, if you wanted nothing in life more than to be a Broadway actor, would you take a job in Albuquerque? Hell, no! You'd go to NYC. So if Torii wants to chase a championship, why Earth would he stay here when he can work for someone who'll put his money where his mouth is?


On that note, compare the net worths of Angels owner Art Moreno ($1.2 billion) and Twins owner Carl Pohlad ($2.6 billion). Granted, it's always easier to spend someone else's money, but Carl's got plenty of it and if he's not willing to invest in the Twins, then maybe he shouldn't own them. Maybe he should leave baseball altogether and go back to (as one of his former part-time employees explains it) making inappropriate comments to his female staffers instead.

Oh, Torii, you'll always be my first baseball boyfriend. We'll miss you.

First Snow Already?

We had a wonderful time in Seattle! I took about a million photos, which I'll try to get posted this week. In the meantime, I just had to share (especially with all my elsewhere-based family, several of whom asked me this weekend when we'd get our first snow here) that I'm looking out my 20th floor window at work right now at little tiny snowflakes. Maybe it doesn't really count, because there's no way it's going to stick, but still -- it's snow!

Recent Lapse in Posting

It's been a weird few weeks for me in terms of blog posting, and I guess by that I meant that I haven't done much of it, for two main reasons:

• My stupid wrist is acting up again. In fact, this week I got my first ever cortisone shot (yowza), as well as a new wrist brace that better immobilizes my right thumb. My doctor, who's been terrific about all this, also wants me to start some physical therapy. While all of that stuff should help, the primary treatment is not using my right hand, which gets a little complicated for someone who spends the majority of her days typing. So I'm attempting to do as little non-work typing as possible.

• While I do have some additional photos of the garden to post from September, it's been tricky to stay motivated about anything gardening-related. Although Minnesotans have been lucky with warm temperatures until this week, it's also been ridiculously wet. And since you're not supposed to work the soil when it's saturated, there hasn't been much I can do out there lately. My rain barrel is completely full of water, but the last thing my plants need is more water at this point. So it's been hard not to feel some general frustration on the gardening topic, which, let's face it, it pretty central to my blog postings.

In the short-term, I'll try to concentrate on getting some of the recent backyard photos posted (along with some T-day photos from recent years!), as that requires a little less typing.

Enjoying the Evenings

At the start of September, the Star Tribune reported that we'll lose one hour and twenty-three minutes of daylight this month. I'll be honest, that makes me a little nervous. It's really disconcerting to think about the long, dark Minnesota winter, no matter how much I love the snow. So we'll try to make the summer last as long as possible by enjoying our favorite room -- the backyard patio -- even in the dark.

The Bridge, a Month Later

A couple of weeks ago, M and I took a walk across the newly reopened 10th Avenue Bridge near downtown. This was the nearest bridge to the I-35W bridge and was closed off (then opened again, then re-closed again) to "protect the dignity of the victims." I think the veracity and wisdom of that rationale are both debatable, but about a month after the collapse, the 10th Avenue Bridge was re-opened for good, with a dedicated lane for pedestrian observers.

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to see the wreckage, but I'm glad I did. Everyone processes these kinds of events differently, of course, but it seems helpful to be able to see the reality for oneself. What a reality it is, though. So sad.