Ready to Rock and to Roll

 This building, Union Depot, was St. Paul's train station from about 1920-1970. Last year it reopened and soon the Empire Builder Amtrak train will stop here daily on its way from Chicago to Seattle. Also, the Green Line light rail will end right hear in front of the station. They have turned a few of the train platforms into intercity and Metro transit bus stops.

 Work on the highway 52 bridge continues. Since I rode downtown with Christoph, I was able to walk around and explore the job site. If I'd gotten any closer they would have required me to wear a hard hat. The bridge and road basically connect interstate 94 just east of downtown St. Paul with the west side of St. Paul across the Mississippi River. Highway 52 is known to some as the Berg-Williams Turnpike.

 Under the bridge is where old highway signs go to die.

 After Christoph's first day of orientation, we walked around downtown a little to get a lay of the land. This is from the viewing platform next to the Science Museum of Minnesota. Makiko and Jojo will remember that their prom dances took place just across the river at Harriett Island Park. Actually, they took river boats for the dance--this is where they left from.

Christoph has the bus figured out and is ready to rock and roll!

Another One Eats The Bug

First day of orientation! We also met Neighbor Thahn who was heading off to work.

Here we are at the bus stop on Thompson

After I dropped off a smiling Christoph in the foyer of his building I chatted with Carol North and Dr. Briscoe, the principal. I don't really know what Carol's job is at SPP but she seems to be vital to the operation of this school.

This photo is from the Ecolab plaza on Wabasha. I did some reading at the outdoor tables of Dunn Bros Coffee when I looked up and saw Andrew Zimmern from the Travel Channel TV show called Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern walking down 5th Street looking like he wanted to be recognized. There were two tables of St. Paul ambulance crews enjoying a coffee who didn't pay any attention to him. Either they did not want to invade his privacy or they don't watch Travel Channel programs about a portly guy who likes to eat bugs.

This guy has an unmistakable face. He lives in the Twin Cities so it is not so strange that he'd be walking down 5th Street looking for some bugs to eats.

Here is one of Christoph's first views of Cray Plaza, the building where his school is housed. St. Paul Prep is in part of the first three floor of the taller tower. I'm happy that Christoph seems to like to look at and talk about sky scrapers.

I strolled through Mears Park for another good view of Cray Plaza. Cray makes supercomputers or the 21st century form of supercomputers.

This is a sideways view of Christoph's first A+ that he earned on my neighborhood walking tour quiz. It was mostly fill in the blank with some multiple choice questions. The tour was designed to orient Christoph to his South St. Paul neighborhood.

Christoph Abroad

 On Monday afternoon we had record heat while we waited for Christoph's flight to arrive from Chicago. On the arrivals board I was fooled by "Frankfurt arriving at 445pm". I wondered why Christoph wouldn't have taken this flight. . .It took me a few minutes to realize this was probably Frankfurt, Kentucky.

We positioned ourselves be the number 11 baggage claim area--the only one of the 14 used by United Airlines. And there he was!

 Yes, we made a sign.

Sue drew the picture while I added the German text. I hope it means what I think it does:

From Germany!

Ravel and Nigel's older brother!

Football player!

Trumpeter!

The King!

Chess Player!

Christoph was very talkative and he claimed to not be so tired from his incredibly long day.

After a dinner of hot beef sandwiches, Serrano pepper mashed potatoes, salad, and bubbly water, we took a walk down to the river just to have a quick view of the Mississippi River, America's Rhine River.

In 10 minutes, Christoph and I will take the bus downtown for his day of orientation and tests at St. Paul Prep.

Here!

Waiting for Christoph

The Day Christoph Discovers America

Today is a big day on several fronts. Sue is back to school for four in service days before the kid's return the day after Labor Day. Today is the first day of my next on-line class and I don't know what to expect. I'll probably try to log on today to see if there is any information about anything. At 10am I'm meeting Daniel, our new pastor intern, for a cup of coffee. And of course, a certain German teenager will arrive this evening.

Naturally, I've started learning German again. I've done this many times in the last 20 years but it still hasn't stuck very well. Don't worry, Christoph, we'll speak mostly English! 

This is me "finishing" the woodwork in the kitchen. Aunt Mary, Uncle Duke, Mike and Judy came over for some lunch yesterday and offered some advice on how to finish this job. We'll get it done eventually. 

Ravel impressed the guests yesterday with his leaping abilities.

Nigel is looking more full grown all the time--he's getting wider and portlier.

 This is a ball that lights up when the cat touches it. 

We hope Christoph gets through Chicago OK. He has three hours there to get through customs and immigration and go from terminal 5 to terminal 1 to catch his Minneapolis flight.

Tonight for his first meal here we will have crock pot beef sandwiches, Serrano pepper red skin mashed potatoes, and a civilized salad. More photos to follow. . .

Bruder Geburtstag Spielzeug

The cats got a new wand for their first birthday

It's frilly with a feather on the end

Ravel is the leaper

Look at Nigel following Ravel in the air

Awesome jumper!

The capture

The Landing

Birthday Brothers (with a PS for a German boy)

 

“The boys” will celebrate their 1st birthday on Monday, August 26.  By celebrate, I mean they will probably chase their shadow, drink out of the toilet if someone leaves the lid up, and destroy a box of Kleenex.  When we adopted them from Last Hope in March, they came with their “surrender papers” from the shelter in Marshall, MN which listed their original owner’s name and their birthdate as “8/26/12”. 

They have grown quite a bit since they arrived here but haven’t lost any of their playfulness.  In fact, their new found agility and strength has brought about all kinds of new games.  

They enjoy “cat bowling” (chasing toys down the wood floor hallway) and wait impatiently for their soft food twice a day despite the full bowl of dry food about a foot from where they wait.  Although they won’t get a birthday cake or ice cream, they have some new toys to play with. 

Good brothers!  Happy Birthday!

PS – for any Germans getting on a plane headed for Minnesota tomorrow (or family members sending him off), Monday’s temperature is supposed to be 36 Celsius!

Mastered!

I am happy to report that I have completed my master’s degree!  I finished writing my paper this summer – about 50 pages – and have my Comprehensive Oral Examinations on Wednesday.  It’s not quite as impressive as it sounds.  Three professors (including my advisor) read my paper prior to Wednesday.  I gave a presentation about my project and they asked me questions about it.  Thankfully they didn’t stump me on anything.  In true graduate school form, they had a few corrections they wanted me to make.  All the corrections were word choice and nothing on content or research.  I was very pleased to finish it.  Several of my master’s degree friends and the Budde clan came over in the afternoon to help celebrate.  We are going to Pazzaluna in St. Paul tonight for a celebratory dinner.   
The next morning I printed the revised copy with the help of Nigel (see above) and drove it to the Graduate Office in River Falls.  I hope all the paperwork is finished and my degree comes through in a timely manner.    

Ravel assisted by "hiding" in a black chair.  A black cat's natural habitat.


The flower bed next to the garage has really started to take off.  Although I didn’t plan the overly tall sunflowers this year, I think one of them survived from last year.  The sunflowers I planted this year have many small flowers where the guy on the left has just one. 

The “wildflower” mix that I planted has had mixed results.  It’s hard to tell what is a flower and what is a weed sometimes.  Maybe they are the same?

Summer Has Ended

Here is proof that summer has ended: Northview Pool has "shut 'er down!" This week we're in the middle of a stretch of 90+ degree days but never mind, fall is here. There may be snow in the weather forecast. . . 

Lifting My Lamp Beside the Golden Door

 

 

I discovered the Statue of Liberty right here in Minnesota at our only “sea port” Duluth. Remember geography buffs, Lake Superior connecting with the other Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River leads Minnesotans to the Atlantic Ocean. I could easily get in a boat here in Duluth and motor through Lake Superior and into Lake Michigan and arrive one mile from my parent’s house in Milwaukee. It would take forever but it could be done. The Mississippi River which is less than a mile from our house, gives us direct access to the Gulf of Mexico which is also the Atlantic Ocean.

Naturally, this is a tiny version of Lady Liberty. The original model of the Statue of Liberty sits on an island in the River Seine in Paris but somehow we did not come across it on our trip in 2011.

This is part of an old dock maybe used for gravel loading/unloading in Duluth. Last year when we were in Duluth we saw a group of kids climbing on top of this relic to leap into the icy waters of Lake Superior. It reminded me of a scene in the German author Gunter Grass’s novel Cat and Mouse in which some teenagers swim out to an old half sunken WW II ship out in the harbor and use it as their diving platform. The novel, as well as several of Grass’s books are set in post WW II Danzig, or Gdansk Poland, a region of Europe that has been alternatingly Polish or German throughout the last couple hundred years.

When we were talking about German culture in Esslingen with Wolfram, Baerbl, and Jojo, I brought up Grass as an author I’ve read recently. Wolfram had nothing good to say about Grass. Apparently he’s an extreme left wing nut and very outspoken about it. He appears on talk shows in Germany promoting anti capitalistic ideas and a return to Soviet style socialism. Note to self: avoid mentioning Gunter Grass at nice dinner parties in Germany.

This is looking out west over the St Louis River Valley near Duluth.

Yesterday we said goodbye to our pastor intern Ali with a Culver’s Ice Cream party in the fellowship hall. She has completed her year at Augustana and now will return for her final year at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. She’s been a great addition to our pastor staff and will be missed. This photo is from the outdoor service at Sibley High School in West St. Paul. Next week our next intern Daniel will start and just in time for Pastor Torgerson to have her baby. Mark and Daniel will be carrying the pastoral load while Megan is out on maternity. This year I’ll be the chairperson of the Internship Committee.

How about one last “Sunday before the last free Monday” drink in the back yard? Sue is ramping up for school again with her Web training days and inservice days. And this Wednesday she will defend her Master’s paper in River Falls. She said she’s ready.

Today we’ll pick up a #68 bus schedule for Christoph who will arrive here in Minnesota in exactly one week. We pick him up next Monday evening in time for dinner. He’s connecting from Frankfurt to Chicago to here so he’ll arrive at a regular gate and not through the international arrivals area like most of our other students have arrived. Christoph, well meet you at the baggage claim. Having met the Grunaus and Christoph in das Mutterland, we are really looking forward to his stay here in our home.

The latest playtime fun involves putting the scrunchy balls or any toy really between the slats of the stair railing. The cats go crazy and ruthlessly pummel them until all toys are on the ground. We’re a little worried that one of them will get his head stuck between the slats or that he’ll fall though.

Good boy, Nigel!

Last night I started re-attaching the trim in the bathroom and kitchen. The road goes on forever and the flooring project never ends.