Morning walk

One of the good things about winter is that the snowy woods path is bright enough to follow on my pre-dawn walk. That's what I did this morning. I really wanted to pause for a while and just take in the frozen lake, the peaceful woods, the call of the owl and the hint of aqua-and-pink at the horizon without the crunch of my boots on the snow. However, I was too cold to stay still for long it was 13F this morning, and I haven't quite worked out the layers under my new, highly visible but not very warm walking jacket. My torso, head and feet were warm enough, and my legs only slightly chilly, but my arms were frozen...

Gifts for pets

Watching Your Pet Wants This on Animal Planet.

1. Sha-Poopie - telescopic poop catcher invented by Tony Shaloub's brother Dan. And it made it on to a Monk episode

2. Hamster car and race track





3. Go Dog Go - automatic fetch machine

4. Pet Cell Phone with GPS










5. Snuggie for dogs Actually not much different from a dog sweater.


6. Fling-a-ma-string for cats











7. Bird Diaper













8. Automatic cat laser toy.










9. Humunga Tongue - ball with attached tongue - for laughs











10. And of course, Pet Airways. So your dog doesn't have to fly as
baggage.







But the best? A prosthetic leg for three-legged dog Cassidy. Here's the youtube video.

Book ad

This is a first for me. I just saw an ad on TV for a BOOK! James Patterson's I Alex Cross. It's kind of a cute ad, too - you can see it on the author's website.

Interesting marketing ploy...

I don't think I've read any James Patterson. Are his books overly violent? Any advice for me?

Wildlife

Walking along the border of Bush Lake Park this morning I heard an owl call several times. Then just as we turned into the park, a deer darted across and paused at the edge of Bush Lake Rd. I froze and signaled Bravo to stop as well - I certainly didn't want to spook the doe into darting out in front of a car. But as car after car went by, I started to try to figure out when would be a good time to move so she would run into a safe gap. My timing's not great, so I was worried. Turned out her timing wasn't tons better, but fortunately the driver saw her and slowed while she crossed safely.

The lake itself was beautiful - smooth mirror surface with a little mist rising. A bit more frost on the trees and it would have been perfect. Maybe I'll get a good picture soon.

It's not exactly wildlife, but Bravo and I did meet a basset hound yesterday at the dog park. He stood there looking at me until I leaned down and then he lalloped over to be petted. When he shook his head, the lower half of those huge ears got covered in drool. He was just so adorable to watch. His name was Chumley - isn't that perfect for a basset?

Timing

Several times recently I have walked by the lake near sunrise and thought of photos. But it's never been quite right. I was a little early, or late. Or not enough clouds to get much color. But oh well, I didn't have my camera anyway.

Today it all came together. The perfect time, right amount of clouds. And the camera.

Human on a Stick

Today I saw a Smart Car that was a mobile advertisement for Segway Tours. Their website is http://HumanOnAStick.com/ and their logo is


It made me smile. And also, it reminded me of the Segway Tour we took with the McFarlands at Segs in the City in DC:


It was a lot of fun, but harder than I thought it would be. There's a constant vibration that bothered me a bit. Still, great way to see the sites around the Mall. At the end of the tour, we got cards saying we had "Segsy Legs" (so we can come back and just rent a segway on our own if we want).

Poor Bravo...

While at the kennel (just a few days!) he licked all the fur off 3 of his toes on a rear paw. Took him to the vet on Monday, and he's on steroids and antibiotics. But he also has to wear one of those cone collars.

He's actually gotten pretty used to it now. The first 24 hours, he had a lot of trouble with stairs - he'd catch the cone on every other step - and even just the step up to the house from the back yard was difficult. But this morning, he got up the stairs in one smooth ascent. And maybe he likes not sleeping in his crate (I figured the cone wouldn't really fit).

And he is so good about everything! Giving him medicine is the easiest thing in the world - just put the pill in a bit of butter or peanut butter, and he swallows it with no problem. I take the collar off at meal times. To put it back on, all I have to do is hold a treat on the other side, and he sticks his head right in. What a sweetheart.

Travel tales

Just got back from the trip to DC for my nephew's wedding. The time in DC was great - got to see almost all the family - just missed one nephew on Russ' side. Great to see everyone, and we really had good visits. We also accomplished the 2 main goals of introducing new members of the family, since Gaea hadn't met any of them except my nephew and his (now) wife. Needless to say, everyone loved her.

Travel was a different story. For Russ and Karis and me, the trip out wasn't bad - delayed flight in the morning, but we still made the connection in Chicago and got in on time. Jason and Gaea had a harder time - their outbound flight was delayed longer, and missed a couple of connections, so they got in 4 hours late.

Then there was driving in DC area traffic. It was raining all weekend, and of course, traffic there is usually horrible. Everything took quite a bit longer than expected.

But the trip back was the worst. It sounded pretty good at first - Jason and Gaea got on our outbound flight as standby. But then, they got taken off again and put back on their original flight. Then we were told our flight might be cancelled and we should all line up to re-book flights in case it was. Next they told us they were cancelling the flight because a toilet and backed up and they were worried about unsanitary conditions. So we started working on rebooking. They told us they could get all 3 of us (Russ, Karis and me) on a flight to Chicago out of BWI, but couldn't get Russ and me back to Chicago. And the flights tomorrow were booked, too. So we got a taxi voucher, gave Jason the keys to my car that was in the airport lot, and started to leave.

Jason came after us and told us they had fixed our plane, and now it would just leave late. So we got back on the original flight, which now left about 1 1/2 hours late. Worked well for Karis - she caught her bus at 2:30 and got back to Beloit at a decent time. Russ and I raced from B terminal to C to try to catch our flight home, but they had already filled all the seats and closed the doors.

They had already told us all flights were booked solid, and the lines at all the Customer Service counters were very long. We thought about putting our names on stand-by list after stand-by list, but then decided it would be less frustrating to just rent a car one-way to Minneapolis and drive. So we left Chicago at 2:30, stopped at Jason's to pick up my car, and got home about 10:30. Just 14 hours after we left DC.... No, 15 - I forgot about the time change.

I'm tired and think I'll go to bed now... Wish I could take tomorrow off!

Stilting at RenFest

Last weekend, we discovered that Gaea poses for pictures quite readily when she's on stilts.


Here's a height comparison with Russ:


I think the guy on the left is one of her spotters. Jason says the spotters' main job is to move people out of the way if she starts to fall.

Yes, we went to the Renaissance Festival again - this time without the dog. Mostly we browsed in shops (Russ was very patient). We did see two I Arroganti plays (the second time for Two Weddings), but unfortunately they had moved the improv show from afternoon to morning, so we didn't get to see that. Jason has a mask, now:


I have to say, my favorite part of the play is Jason's line: "Wuv, twue wuv..."

Another eagle?

On our recent trip, we stayed with some friends at Lake Anna. There's an eagle sanctuary there, and we did manage to spot one of the birds. Doesn't look like the eagle I saw in Wisconsin, but maybe it's a juvenile? I was on a boat, so some of the pictures are a little fuzzy. Click any of them to view larger size.





We found this one later. Russ swears it had a white head, so maybe it was the same bird.

Adventures with wine

It all started back in June, when Russ and I stopped on the way to a lake house in Wisconsin to buy some wine as a host gift. We bought a bottle from the Coppola vineyards, and got to taste it while we were visiting. I really liked it, and it was a variety I had never heard of, so I did some research on the internet. I found it online and 2 weeks ago, I ordered some. Coppola Winery, Diamond Collection, Alicante Bouschet.

When I got the email with the UPS tracking number, I realized it would arrive while we were out of town, and someone over 21 needed to sign for it. And the information I had from UPS said we couldn't change anything until after the first delivery attempt. So we told a neighbor about it, and left a note on the door asking UPS to deliver to the neighbor. Then I checked on it from Virginia. UPS procedures did not allow me to redirect the shipment. So I called them from Virginia and asked them to hold it for me.

So far so good. But when I got back, I forgot about it for a couple of days. Last night I remembered, and printed out a map to the UPS location. I went out there at lunch today. I was almost there when I realized I had nothing with me that contained the tracking number. I was positive they needed this, so I drove towards Eagan looking for a FedEx Kinko's. I finally found it through 411 on my cell phone. Went in, got on a computer, signed into my email and printed out one of the notices. Paying for the privilege, of course.

When I finally got to the UPS building and gave them my printed email, they barely looked at it. Just asked for the street name, then went back and brought out my box.

Moral: Don't order stuff just before you go on a trip. If you do, have it delivered to work where someone can sign for it. And don't make assumptions about what will be required...


PS: We opened a bottle tonight, and I just went back and ordered more.

Obama's House

Here's my picture-postcard view of the White House (south side), taken on Sunday morning:


About 5 hours later, we walked back by, and there was more security. We had to stay across the road from the fence this time.


My story is that I saw the Obamas walking towards the trees on the left, and heard kids calling out from the grounds. (Really, I was too far away to tell who the couple was, and I wasn't positive the call I heard came from the White House grounds. But I like my story, and the enhanced security backs it up).

On the north side, there was a mounted patrolman. He was alert, but his horse looked fairly relaxed.

Hotel Helix

Seems I'm only getting around to blogging when I go on a trip. Just got back from a trip to Virginia and DC. Our hotel in DC was very different. I really liked it - inventive, but functional. And they had free champagne or red wine every evening!


More trip photos later...

Sky with palms

One last picture from California, in honor of Skywatch Friday.

Anniversary 32

Today is our anniversary. We basically spent it travelling home, but we celebrated early with a dinner in Anaheim a few days ago. I liked the little shiny stuff they scattered on our table, though it's hard to read the "Happy Anniversary" in the picture above. It was a very nice dinner.


As for the traveling, if you ever have to go through LAX, leave LOTS of time. First you get your boarding pass at the little kiosk. Then you get in the long line to go up to the counter to drop off your bags - and when you get to the counter, you have to wait while the staff person goes to the other end of the line to get your luggage tags. After that, you get in line for security - which goes all the way outside. When you get to the front of that line, they let you into the maze that takes you to the people who check your boarding pass and id. And then you get to go up the stairs to get in the maze for the security screening. Including the long wait for the rental car bus to take us to the airport, I think it took over an hour and a half from getting out of the rental car to clearing security. We're really spoiled at MSP.

Beach adventures

Today, Russ and I had planned to go whale-watching. The concierge told us about this cool tour where they pick you up at the hotel, take you to Newport Beach, you go out on a morning boat tour for 2 1/2 hours, then they bring you back. Sounded great, and we signed up. When the bus comes, it's the "OC Cruiser" and it has this surfing theme (Beach Boy music, old surfing photos, etc.). After the last hotel stop, they tell us what's going on. It's a 3-hour circuit tour of 3 beach towns (Huntington, Newport, and Laguna) with the ability to get off, spend a few hours at one of the beaches, then get back on the next loop. For the whale-watching, we can take a noon tour instead of the morning one, and get back around 5.

Well, Russ had plans for the afternoon, so he decided to go back to the hotel. I went ahead with the trip, even though it was far from what we'd planned. The first stop was Huntington Beach - Surf City. The US Open of surfing had just finished there, and we had about a half-hour stop. So I took some photos.


Then on to Newport Beach. The driver showed me where to check in for the whale-watching and gave me his cell phone number to call when I was done, so we could figure out when he would meet me. The whale-watching people wanted some kind of card from the tour people. So I hurried back to the bus, which was on a 10-minute stop. The driver had no idea what they wanted, but filled in the slip I had gotten from the concierge and gave me a phone number to pass on if the whale-watching people had any trouble. They looked at the numbers he'd filled in and told me I was way over-charged, and lent me binoculars instead of making me rent them. I was almost 2 hours early for the noon trip. We didn't see any whales, but did see the expected pods of dolphins:


The surprise was the sea lions. They were laying in a pile on someone's boat dock on the way out, and then we saw this pile on the buoy on the way back into the harbor.


Anyway, I thought I might have to wait another 2 hours to get back on the bus. But when I called, the driver said he was headed back, so if I would spend $1 to take the ferry across, he'd pick me up on the way instead. I was glad to get back earlier. And then I could have taken the ferry for free - apparently the crew thought I was part of a different group.

So it ended up being an ok day for me. I did stop to let the concierge know about the problems, though.

Hollywood

Today I took a Grand Tour of LA. While we saw some historical sites (first street, first fire station, first mission) and some beach areas (Santa Monica Beach, Venice Beach), a lot of time was spent on things:

The above picture was taken from the Hollywood Bowl overlook off Mulholland Drive. We drove down the twisty canyon roads, and we also drove through some of the residential sections of Beverley Hills and Bel Air. We saw Aaron Spelling's 36,000 square foot, $50,000,000 house, the house where Michael Jackson died, and several others. Even in other parts of the city, we ended up talking about movies (went over the 8-layer interchange featured in Speed, saw Mel's Diner and the Rodeo Drive shop that wouldn't sell clothes to Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, etc.). We also stopped near Grauman's Chinese Theater, so I took some pictures:


Someone asked about seeing stars on the tours. The driver said that once he was stopped at a red light and the passengers started screaming. There on the sidewalk was Tom Hanks. The driver opened the door, and Tom Hanks got on the bus. He took some pictures with the passengers, then said he had to go and got off. Nothing so interesting happened on our tour - the closest I came was this:


More pictures from the tour later.

World Championships

Today we drove up to LA to watch Jason compete in the World Hwa Rang Do Championships. It's always fun to watch him, and it was nice to meet some of the people he's talked about from out here. Several people told us how much they liked him. And he did a great job, too. He won sparring, placed third in Kumdo and was part of the winning Midwest sparring team. In a couple other events, he was beaten in an earlier round by the person who went on to win the event. All in all, we were very proud.

Staying cool in LA

We spent yesterday just wandering around the area and relaxing in our room. It was quite hot in the afternoon, so we got Slurpees (sorry Jason) on our way back to the hotel. Then we saw this hotel. Should have stayed there - it's obviously cooler in the Alpine Inn than in the surrounding area.
Still, our hotel has a really great view. This is from the OTHER side, looking north (our room looks south).


Yes, that's the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and the Tower of Terror at Disneyland. Would have been nice to be on the north side - they had fireworks last night.

Livin' it up at the Hotel California

Well, actually it's the Hilton Anaheim. Got in late last night. L.A. isn't great on the street signage - we had to do a couple of U-turn maneuvers because we missed an on ramp. But all in all, it wasn't too bad. Drove right past Disneyland just before we got to the hotel. The checkin line was surprisingly long at 10:30 at night. Chatted with a couple from New Zealand about temperature conversion (70 F is about 21 C).

Nice room with 2 queen beds on the 14th floor - the Executive floor which includes some food and its own bar in the evenings. This morning we had breakfast in the room while looking out at the rather smoggy view:

Now off to check Russ in for the conference. And then? Not sure. Update later...

Milk Carton Boat Race

Today was the Milk Carton Boat Race, part of Minneapolis' annual Aquatennial festival. Jason, Gaea, Karis and Bobby all worked on a boat together. They used about 275 milk cartons. Apparently, one milk carton can support about 4 pounds, so the 200 used in the flotation portion should support 800 pounds.


The boat is "Queen of Lake Calhoun - Whey Down Yonder in New Orleans".


They had a bike frame attached to run the paddlewheel. Unfortunately, the chain kept slipping and Gaea had to try to make repairs. But they made it to the finish line!


All of us also handed out lots of beads to onlookers. For more pictures, including some of the other boats, see my web album.

Cabin with flowers

It seemed this used to be a little inn - there were a few small cabins in a semi-circle behind it. Now the wildflowers have taken over.

I believe this will be my last post from the trip to Ely. Now I'll have to make sure I take more pictures.

Wildflowers 2 - Lupines

There were drifts of lupines all along the route from Duluth to Ely. I kept looking at them on the way up and deciding not to stop. Then on the way back, I finally stopped for photos. These were taken along Highway 61. Karis took the photo above. And since I had 2 cameras with me, I also took photos - like the one below.

Lake view

This lake caught my eye on the drive between Finland and Ely. I admit I enhanced it a little - the clouds were gorgeous, but the sun wasn't fully cooperating. The result makes me think of the jigsaw puzzles I used to put together with my family.

Split Rock

The Split Rock Lighthouse from the rest area on Highway 61. The rest area was actually closed - they were doing construction there. But I parked nearby and squeezed past the barriers and climbed over the cement forms. It was worth it for this view.

Wildflowers

Taken at a lake on Route 1 north of Finland, MN.

Up North

I drove to Ely Friday and brought Karis home on Saturday. I took a lot of pictures on the way up, and will post some of the best over the next few days.


This was taken in Duluth, at Canal Park.

The crane

Here's another couple of photos from my weekend trip.



He let us get quite close in the boat. When he did fly, it was just a short distance to a dock, where he posed again (but I liked the wading photos better). This picture of him taking off is a little blurry, but I was very happy to catch the moment.