Happy Birthday Dorene

 

It’s Dorene’s Birthday today!  We’ll look forward to celebrating the big day soon!

Where are the BWs?

We're somewhere in this photo from Friday night's Minnesota Orchestra concert.  Can you find us? 

Three Quarters of a Century

 

Happy Birthday to Mike Berg yesterday—he turned 75 years old!  Here he is pictured with his wife of almost 50 years and his favorite host grand daughter.  Mike has joined Facebook and is being encouraged by his family to post the top 75 things about being 75 years old.  He should post one per day starting with number 75.  Incidentally, Johanna is now in Argentina attempting to say things in Español.

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that we had snow on the ground.  In a few weeks we’ll be having a small party for Mike and Judy’s 50th Wedding Anniversary here at Schultz’s Country Barn in Eleva.

First there was POST and now there is TOWER.  I picked up a new piece of cat furniture for the cats to scratch on, leap on, leap off, knock over, and generally shred.

After snorting all of the cat nip that I spread all over the TOWER, they each took turns . . .

sitting up there and looking gargoyle-like as if he was a lion statue next to the steps of the Chicago Art Museum.  They only knocked it over twice last evening.  I just hope it doesn’t fall on a brother when it crashes down.  POST has been moved to the upstairs  stairway landing for optimal pre-breakfast morning scratching.

Feed My Starving Children

 

Tonight, the Lay Internship Committee, the intern Daniel,  and some family/friends volunteered at Feed My Starving Children where we packed up meals to be sent to, in the case, Nicaragua.  It was fun but my right shoulder is sore from scooping soy and then running the bag sealer.

Wishing Sue Was Here

 

Sue is still in Texas and these cats had a lonely weekend with me at work.  My side of the bed is obviously unmade but look at which side Mr Nigel prefers to nap on.

Do you think he misses Sue?

Here’s the best I can do to show you Mr Ravel missing Sue.

I don’t know where he is—he’s probably in that mysterious daytime hiding place that only he and possibly Nigel know about.  This morning Nigel snuck out when I was watering the flowers.  I grabbed him with wet hands and brought him in and then when I opened the bathroom door he bounded up on to the sink rather clumsily, slipped, and landed in the water fountain with a splash.  I’m guessing  he went somewhere to dry off after his crash landing.  Sue said the Bergs and her were headed to the beach today. . .

Texas: Day 1–Austin

 

We had a fun day in Austin.  First stop, Buc-ee’s which is the World’s Largest Gas Station.  There were at least 120 pumps and every item imaginable.  Everyone picked out a snack.  Most were of the “Gummy” variety. 

Stop 2: Stubb’s BBQ.  We drove past the famous Franklin’s BBQ and decided that waiting in that long of a line did not look fun.  We realized that people should probably come with a) a full stomach, b) a chair, c) a cooler & assorted beverages for the long wait.  Not a problem – lunch at Stubb’s in downtown Austin was fabulous!   We all had lunch and the girls even made an appearance on one of the stages. 

Stop 3: Zilker Park.  We checked out the Science & Nature Center where we tried out some science experiments

saw some animals

dug for dinosaur fossils

successfully avoided the resident snake

and took a rest on a bench as it got very hot!

Bella checked out the ‘exchange desk’ and exchanged her possible dinosaur tooth for this super cool rock. 

After a train ride, these 4 took a quick walk in Barton Springs.  Liz & I decided to watch from the shore as the temperature is promised as “68 degrees year-round”.

Today:  Birthday Party and some local attractions!

Day in Austin: 1st stop Buc-cees - the world's largest gas station

Sounds, Smells, and Squirrels

We’ve been giving the cats some supervised outdoor time in small doses. They are very skittish about sounds and smells and squirrels.  We like that they are learning to run to the door when they get freaked out.

They really like smelling the air vents that push air from the basement outside.  They probably think “this smells like home”. 

Ravel seems bolder about sniffing things far afield in the yard. . .

. . .including under the hostas where eventually he will stir up a den of rabbits.

He really looks like his grand uncle, Mr. Mahler VI, doesn’t he?

Naturally, either side of the door is the wrong side to be on.

Here’s the worrisome routine of Nigel.  He springs up the chestnut tree before I can even think of shouting “Bad Cat, No!”

The city is doing some road resurfacing in the neighborhood.  This is Congress Street between 15th and 23rd Avenues.  In a few short days they can strip off the top layer of asphalt, repair some of the curbs, and lay down a fresh coat of asphalt.  Voila!  It is a like a brand new road.  I wish I could persuade St. Paul or the county to redo several other roads that are perpetually bad.  The off ramp from westbound 94 to East 7th Street comes to mind--a true potholed disaster.

We heard form The Wonderchild Johanna today on Facebook.  This Sunday she leaves for her two month journey to Argentina for some Spanish immersion and volunteering opportunities. 

Johanna, reminds us again who won the World Cup.

Best of luck, Johanna!  Your family (except for maybe Christoph) will miss you!

Tomorrow Susan will take another vacation from her summer vacation when she flies off to South Texas to see the Bergs.  Maybe she’ll post some blog entries . . .

Will the Vacation Photo Supply Never Dwindle?

 

Well, considering that Sue is on vacation all summer, no, the photos will never run out!  These are my new progressive lenses and frames.  I can read the small print again.  The frames have a bluish tint to them just like my last pair that I wore for four years.  More evidence of vacation is my unshaven face.

Back in Acadia National Park, this is the location of “The Thunder Hole” where the national park service has thoughtfully built railings, steps, a parking lot, and limited wheelchair access.  When the waves and tide are just right, there is a pocket of hollowed out rock that creates a thunder clap sound or a sonic boom, if you will.  We only heard a small boom on one wave while we were there.

 

This must be on top of Cadillac Mountain.

Sue the hiker

Bar Harbor had a nice village green near the Episcopal church where we attended 65% of a service on Sunday morning.

What vacation is complete without Sue trying to push me off of a mountain ledge?

View from the hike

on the shores of the sound

 

Queen of the World!

Thai As We Might

 

Sue staged a mini photo shoot of the house to include some photos in a letter to our new exchange student from Thailand.  This is the living room.

And this is the Exchange Student Room.  Her name is going to be difficult to learn and pronounce:

Bantita Tetsaengtham. 

Fortunately she has a nickname:

Fahsai

We are insure of pronunciation at this point.  She’ll arrive in early September, go to St. Paul Prep like most of our other students and if all goes well, she’ll be with us for the whole school year.

Here I am stepping up to the ball with my 2000 cubic centimeter (or so) driver.  We golfed yesterday at Eagle Valley Golf Course in Woodbury with the deal of the day: $42 for two people playing 18 and riding a cart.  And here is the best part: there was no one in front of us so we finished in about three hours.

In the spirit of Babe Ruth and the All Star Game tonight, I took the opportunity to point where my homerun would be landing.  The course was in beautiful shape.

We’re having the cold weather here.  When we golfed it was about 65 degrees and windy.  Later it rained for the homerun derby over at The Target Field.

By the way, Sue beat me by one stroke on paper and by many more if you count the handful of golf balls that I lost in lakes, rivers, woods, and into thin air.

In this picture, am I saying:

a) Do you like my new haircut?

b) Do you like my new glasses?

c) Do you want a hug?

No matter what I was saying, Sue’s response was “settle down.”