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.