Blubber Run Highlights

Two devils, an angel ...

... um, Jesus ...

... and Sam. :)

Samoflauge

Two More from Last Weekend

Blues at the Barn and St. James Hotel, Red Wing

Thanks for a lovely time, D & D! :)

Fourth of July at D&D's New Home

Post-Puppies, Sam and Pat Visit

Zoo Trip with the Little Cowboy

He's grown up a bit since the last time!

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. :)

Happy Birds

When I’m missing my garden during the long Minnesota winters, it’s not just the plants, soil and sun I’m longing for, but also the company. In summertime, bees, birds and butterflies stop by for the pollen, for a bath or a sip of water, or maybe to sun themselves on the warm bricks. When a cat or rabbit stops by, that’s even better. (Squirrels, as previously documented, are far less welcome, but I digress.)

Snow reminds me that some of these animals are still around (there were kitty-sized paw prints on the front steps this morning), but I rarely get to see their visits for myself. That’s why I was so intrigued when Pat extolled the joys of a heated birdbath during one of our conversations last winter. Given how difficult it is for birds to find open water this time of year, he explained, they find a birdbath with standing water even more attractive than food.

Onto the Amazon wishlist went a birdbath heater, which Dad gave me for Christmas this year.

I got excited and picked up some suet, as well. (I’d never heard of suet until I moved up North, but it’s easy to see why the high fat content makes it a preferred food source for birds in these cold days.)

I set them both up on the snow-covered patio, right outside the TV room window.

Lo and behold: birds! Even a robin – in January!!

Carpool Updates

For a while now, M and I have been carpooling to work with next-door Tim. (Our carpool used to include Seza, too, but her office moved to downtown St. Paul -- we miss you, Seza!) Starting last week, we’ll be joined three days a week by a new commuter, pictured here on the ride home from daycare last Friday.




Without going into all the details, one result of our new companion’s schedule is that two days a week, we take Tim and Seza’s car; on the other three days, we take our car. This has introduced some minor variables into our previously static commuting process. Nothing major -- we just have to remember whose car we’re taking, who’s got the parking pass, what time we leave, etc. Should be no problem, except that remembering things is made complicated by the very nature of reality at 6:55 a.m. in January in Minnesota: it’s dark, it’s cold, and we’re usually running late or under-caffeinated or both.

All of those things were true this morning when we encountered a little bump in our departure. Back story: When I worked from home last Friday, M needed the car key to drive, but I needed the remote access fob attached to my key ring to get online. So I took off the car key and gave it to M, but forgot to ask for it back. M put it in the cubby in the driver’s side armrest so he’d know where it was when it was time for him to give it back.

But then a weekend goes by, a new week begins and this morning, M gets ready to go warm up the car (temps are in the single digits again today).

“Got your keys?” he asks.

I peer into my purse and see the corner of my keychain. “Yep!”

M starts the car with his key and leaves it (locked) to warm up. Five minutes later, we’re all ready to head to work, except -- I don’t need to tell you where my car key was, right?

Thank goodness for AAA (Dad, once again, that membership makes a terrific Christmas gift -- thank you!). They had someone there within 15 minutes. The best part: he arrived with a Boston terrier in the passenger seat of his tow truck. Forget the car; I had to know all about the dog!

Evidently, the terrier (named Frankie Sinatra -- how awesome is that?!?) hated being left alone and routinely tore apart his owner’s home, so the driver starting bringing him along on his service calls. “These days, he’s the calmest terrier I’ve ever met, he loves people and he never barks,” the driver told me. Frankie’s been coming to work with him for several months now and the two of them are having a ball.

A happy puppy story almost makes being locked out worth it.

Belated Post: New Year's Eve Pics

On New Year's Eve, Pat and Sam had us up to their place for a wonderful meal.

Heavenly desserts!

Snowy puppy thinks that her disc-retrieving skills should be rewarded with ice cream.

Patient puppy waits for ice cream.

Flirty puppy attempts to use charm to obtain ice cream.

Desperate puppy pulls out her best tricks to earn ice cream.

Happy puppy!

Sleepy puppy.