University of Minnesota Marching Band

The Drumline. Probably that is what you hear first. And yes they are good at what they do and yes they also have fun. Every once in a while I drum along with a song. It goes okay for a while and then by beat gets off and my hands trip over each other.

University of Minnesota Marching Band

Another proud symbol of the Band are the Cymbals. You notice the bright bandanas they are wearing? Do you wonder why they are wearing them? The answer --- Because. A few years back I remember them wearing goggles. And why were they wearing goggles? Again, they were wearing them Because. It's fun, it's what they do.

University of Minnesota Marching Band

We were at the Minnesota State Fair on Sunday for a few hours. We always try to go when the University of Minnesota (Pride of Minnesota) Marching Band is in the Daily Parade. And we always try to plan it so that we can watch the Marching Band at the beginning of the parade and then run to the end of the parade route and catch them again.

This photo shows the clarinets, my favorite section if you must know. Within 10 seconds of when this photo was taken all band members were in their straight line formation with horns up and playing yet another wonderful song.

Pepin, Wisconsin

We went to Winona, Minnesota today for a meeting, and then headed to Pepin, Wisconsin to eat at the Harbor View Cafe. We had never eaten there before, but finally made time to go there. It was as good as people had told us. We had pork tenderloin with red potatoes, broccoli, and red cabbage. The bread was excellent, the salad with peppercorn dressing was nice and peppery, and the desserts were delicious. We walked down by the harbor after eating and enjoyed the view. Most sailboats were in the harbor since it was a blustery day, not suitable for leisurely sailing.

We will go back there again soon when we are in that neck of the woods. The drive was very scenic and the food was delicious.

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I missed the big celebration. Twice on Wednesday, shortly after midnight and shortly after noon, we had a number event! The time and date could be written as:
12:34:56 7/8/9

I don't know what I would have done for those two seconds during the day, but it would have been nice to acknowledge that it was happening. If someone reads this the next time it occurs, please write a short comment to this post. Thanks!

Good News

Wrens.

We have a few wren houses in the yard. Luckily, we also have some wrens that make their homes in the wren houses. I have tried a few times to get a photo of a wren feeding babies. Typically I can't get close enough to get a good picture. The wren keeps scolding until I finally leave. Only then will the wren fly into the wren house with a treat for the babies.

But this time I was able to snap a few photos of the wren getting ready to go in with baby food for the baby wrens. I was so happy when I saw this photo. Look what is on the menu for tonight! An earwig. Yea! The baby wrens are happy to eat them. I'm happy that there is one less earwig in the yard. And the parent is one bug closer to not having to feed babies all day.

So, I am going on record as saying I am a big fan of wrens.

Bad News

Earwigs.

Three years ago we never saw any. Yes, we would see centipedes and sow bugs in the basement. And of course lots of different bugs outside in the garden. But never earwigs.

Now they are everywhere. I pushed aside a board on the compost pile last year and about 100 earwigs dropped to the ground. Last night I found 10 in the house around 2:00 a.m., mostly in the basement laundry room and bathroom. And they leave "stuff" where they have been.

So, I am going on record as saying I am not a big fan of earwigs.

How Cold is Too Cold?

I do like my pop to be cold and I don't always remember to put a can in the refrigerator before I get thirsty for a Dr. Pepper. When that happens, I put a can of pop in the freezer for about 30 minutes to get it cold quickly.

Unfortunately, sometimes I forget that I have a Dr. Pepper in the freezer. You can see what happens to a can of pop left in the freezer for too many minutes. Luckily, it expanded but it did not spring a leak, so I did not get pop spraying all over the inside of the freezer.

From now on I either have to remember to put a can in the day before or else remember not to forget that I have a can in the freezer.

Abraham Lincoln

I watched Saturday Night Live tonight*. It was a repeat, an episode with Justin Timberlake hosting. In the opening sequence, Justin wandered through the halls of the SNL studio and talked to people along the way. As he passed one doorway, an Abraham Lincoln look-alike came out and walked away from the camera. It dawned on me that it seems like any time someone is wandering the halls of SNL, an Abraham Lincoln look-alike is also there, wandering the halls.

At least, I assume it is a look-alike. Mighty curious.

* Not actually tonight, since it is now early Sunday morning. Let's just say a few hours ago. Yeh, that's fine.

Sit and Read a Little Bit

This will be the last garden photo for a few days. But don't worry, I have lots more that I will put up. This shows a bit more of the layout of part of the garden area, including some ponds. There are many benches in the gardens, all different kinds. I always think it looks so inviting to just sit there for an hour and read a good book. When I was growing up I loved going to school, but I also couldn't wait for summer. Why? So that I could go to the Library, get as many books as I wanted and read all day. A place like this would have been just wonderful, especially with just a gentle breeze blowing and a few birds singing in the trees.

Arborvitae Stalagmites

Well, I'm pretty sure these are Arborvitae and they do look somewhat like stalagmites. I would like to have known more about these. Is it just four Arborvitae, or are there multiple bushes growing in a clump? Imagine seeing these on a dark night. They might look like scary creatures. I also imagine that you could have fun using these in a musical number where all of a sudden about twenty dancers pop out from behind them. Or you could do a spy thriller or horror movie with the bad guy hiding behind them. In real life though, these are most likely condominiums for the birds.

Art in the Garden

And yes, here we have something more from the Overland Park Garden - a whimsical sculpture. I could analyze it for you, tell you what it means etc. But that would spoil the fun. Just enjoy.

There are many sculptures in the gardens, some are just for fun, like this one. Some are more traditional and then there are some that are quite abstract. They add a lot of interest and obviously make for neat photos.

Weeping Redbud Tree

This is a nice specimen of Redbud. It looks to be a Weeping Redbud! Yet another photo from Overland Park Arboretum. You can see the interesting branch structure, the pink flowers and the green leaves just starting to bud out. In Spring, first the neon pink flowers grace the branches, then those disappear and the leaves take over.

We saw many Redbuds along the way on our trip, just growing along the highway. What seems to be a common tree in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas is a landscape treat in Minnesota. If you need a specimen tree for the yard, something that won't take up too much space, buy a Redbud and plant it soon.

Cute Little House

This cute little house is at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. I didn't notice it when I took the photo, but it appears that there is no back to the house. It looks like you can see the trees through the windows. But, upon closer inspection, I can tell that it is just reflections in the windows. Plus I have other photos that show the other side of the barn.

It would be fun to have this little house in the back yard. It could be a playhouse for the kids. Or an art studio. Or a garden shed.

I'll put that on my list of things to do: Make cute little house in back yard. It comes in at # 1,495 on my list. So, it won't be done this summer.

Overland Park Garden - Tulips

I'll be putting a few of my many photos from Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens near Kansas City up on the blog in the next few posts. This photo shows the tulips lining the fence just as we entered the gardens. I love the trees at this time of year (Spring) when they are just starting to bud out. You can actually see the forest through the trees now.

It may be hard to tell, but the fence has a few scattered oak leaves along the way. Behind the fence is a nice picnic shelter. We thoroughly enjoyed the gardens. There was much we didn't see, but we did spend an hour here and were impressed with the variety and natural setting.

A Horse is a Horse (of course of course)

Anyone remember that great song? Anyone? Anyone?

No matter. I spotted this horse statue while we were in Texas and snapped this photo from the car as we drove past. So if it looks a bit fuzzy, that's why. My assumption is that you can find at least a few horses living at this ranch. Probably not this big and probably not light bluish-green, but horses nonetheless.

Keep watching for more wonderful photos from our trip to Texas.

Customer Service with a Smile

On our recent trip to Texas, we stayed at Hampton Inns in Liberty, Oklahoma City and Topeka. We always had a pleasant stay with very nice accommodations and a good breakfast in the morning. These two very helpful young women agreed to be in a photo in the front lobby area on our first night traveling. They were so courteous and polite. We even got a call from them shortly after we brought our bags to the room to make sure everything in the room was just right. As you can see, customer service with a smile.

Happy National Train Day

And yet another important day is here! There are tons of great train photos, but I don't have any of those great ones. I do have a few, however, so at least I'm making the effort.

Many years ago, when we were watching trains in Oklahoma, we met a ferroequinologist. There are many of them all over the world and they often hang out together at museums. He knew a lot about the subject and we spent a few hours talking with him while waiting for an iron horse to go by.

Do Not Disturb

We recently drove down to Texas for a visit. We took lots of pictures and I will share them in the next few weeks here. Tonight I am getting tired so, it's just a quick posting for now. We stayed at Hampton Inns along the way and we found them to be quite nice. This is a photo of the "Do Not Disturb" sign for our room. Someone came up with a cute idea for a very mundane item.

Just in case you can't tell, the woman in the photo is jumping on the bed!

More Signs of Spring

The gate is open! Each spring I wait to see when the gate is open at Lake Superior by the Duluth Harbor. In the winter months and also when the weather is really windy the gates are closed.

No, I'm not up in Duluth. But I can watch on the webcam at Lake Superior Marine Museum. You can watch boats come and go, too. Go to their website http://www.lsmma.com and then click on "Visit Our Web Cam" on the left side. Then click to get a larger view.

The photo I took is of the Alpena arriving on November 7, 2005 at 1:30 in the afternoon. You can see the green gate in the photo. Soon that snow that you see on the webcam will melt and more and more people will line up to watch the boat traffic.