Sunday, July 11, 2010

Suckers from Pizza Pub

Such a nice surprise! I had company at the cabin this weekend. Amy was planning to go to a grad party with the girls, but Hailey came down with a huge, unexplainable rash on Friday. The doctor can't explain it, and it isn't contagious, but she was a mess, so Amy figured it was best not to take her. The best part was she decided to come to the cabin instead! Yeah!! Her friend, Karrie, and her daughter, Courtney, also, came. Then, Jennie and Kristin decided to join the group. Tom came up early and helped me with the mower deck, so it is working again. He used his grinder to help the door fit a bit better. Bob and Mom and Benji came up for the day right after Tom.



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We went to the playground around 6 and then ate supper at our favorite, Pizza Pub. Jennie was craving it! Great food. I loved the first for Hailey....her first sucker!! She figured it out immediately and would take the stick out and look at it, and it would get shoved right back in. She didn't even seem to mind that the flavor was coconut! Jennie and Hannah had blue raspberry and I got a great shot of their tongues. Yummy, huh?

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Black Cloud Over Pine City?


This weekend at the lake was almost one disaster after another. Not funny at the time, but now as I look back, it was one of those "What can happen next?!" type weekends. It all turned out okay, but was pretty exasperating at times.
To recap....Friday night: I found a flood under the kitchen sink. Hardware stores were closed, so I bought a soldering kit at Walmart and enlisted Mike's help next door. He and his brother-in-law, Jim, helped me saw off the defective piece of pipe....and first thing Saturday morning I hit Ace Hardware. John, at Ace, is my troubleshooter, and he sent me home with the right parts and told me what to do and I fixed it all by myself!! By mid-morning, the hot water was back on and no more leak!!
Saturday: Bobby and Kristin came up and Bobby brought his Dad's boat. When Kim and Travis joined them to take a ride in it, it started filling up with water, and it almost sank! If the guys hadn't enlisted some help at the nearest boat landing, it would've been gone. Four guys cranking and pushing and bailing for all they were worth, and after about a half hour, they got it out and emptied the water that had collected inside. Whew!! Close call. (At one point, Travis jumped out of the boat, and his legs were caught in a life jacket strap and he couldn't kick to swim. The kids were laughing cuz they thought he was joking, but he seriously thought he was going to drown!)
I was mowing and hit the side of a ditch with too much speed and force and may have bent my mower deck. At any rate, something was shooting out great sparks when I tried to stop the mower and whenever my deck was up without the blades. (which is the only way it will start or stop). The guys checked it out and a pulley is rubbing against the mower deck....metal against metal....but Tom thinks he will be able to fix it.
It was hot, hot, hot, and sticky. All that mugginess made me decide to turn on our little air conditioner, but it wasn't doing a great job. We decided to play cards in front of it, with fans going and tried to stay cool. When the kids heard fireworks on the lake, they grabbed my two flashlights and headed down to watch.....I turned on the deck twinkle lights and the big floods, and when they turned around and looked at the cabin, it was totally dark!! I heard the big fizzle and stood there shocked while the lights and fans, etc.........all went off. We have a circuit breaker, so I went in and flipped the switch that was over, but nothing, nada, no way. It was limp and doing nothing. I tried the main switch, but it didn't work.....so for about five minutes we sat there wondering what to do. Finally, Bobby got it to work and we were back in business....but not before we learned the lesson that every light, the frig, the air conditioner, and all the fans in the house probably shouldn't all be used at the same time.
Sunday: When the kids were getting ready to leave, they turned to close the door and it wouldn't close! WHAT!! We pushed and shoved and lifted and prodded, but it was not fitting into the opening and was NOT going to shut. I noticed that the screws in the bottom hinge were coming out, so Travis saved the day and we put some longer ones in and tightened them good. It worked enough to get the door closed so I could lock it when I left. Whew, again!
Kristin called me after they had been gone a good while to tell me that they had had a flat tire on the boat trailer in Forest Lake. Bobby didn't know how to jack up the trailer and had to call his brother for help. The spare tire they had was too inflated so they had to let out air and then pump it up at the next gas station. It was a worry being on the busy highway. Kim stopped and picked up Kristin on her way home when she passed by them about a half hour or so later, and Bobby's brother came and helped save the day. I thnk Bobby is done with the boat for awhile.
So that was our weekend at the lake......oh, and we did have some fun, too! (screwball bridge)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010


After going to White Bear beach, we went around Bald Eagle Lake, and saw that it wasn't low at all. There are some really gorgeous homes on Bald Eagle and it is fun to look at them and daydream about the lives of their occupants. The weather has been so humid and the sky so full of clouds that I was not expecting to see the beautiful sunset that we noticed as dusk arrived. I had my little camera in my purse, of course, so I grabbed this pic of purples and pinks in the sky. It was ten times prettier in person. (Tom is so patient with me. As soon as he notices that I am interested, he will pull the car over and find a spot where we can sit while I shoot to my heart's content.....nice guy!!)




Where has all the water gone?

Looking for a place to sit and observe some water and scenery tonight, we ended up at White Bear Lake at the public beach. I remember going there as a kid where you could walk way out in the water and only be up to your chest. What a shock to see the water so low! We've heard about it, but it is amazing to see it for yourself and to see that the beach is not safe and is closed due to water levels and drop offs!

Fourth of July


I came home early from the cabin on the Fourth of July. Tom and I went to Mounds Park and found a spot along the road near 94 to view the city and the Taste of Minnesota fireworks. There were several families near us and they had a little fireworks display of their own. We were a little surprised that they decided to light these on the street right by all the cars. I took this picture from our front windshield. As you can tell, they weren't very far from us. It was fun, though, and the smoke kept the bugs down. It seems weird how many people seemed to have tons of fireworks, and how short the display time was once they were lit, but no one seemed to care about that. There were lots of little kids around. The Taste of Minnesota didn't have that great of a display, but we could see about ten major places where there were fireworks shows. They were all pretty far away, but one that was in the direction of the fairgrounds, or Roseville (Central Park?) looked exceptionally good. There were explosions in the sky everywhere!

Going, going, gone......




The other night, Tom and I went to the parking ramp at the Mall of America to watch the gorgeous sunset we saw coming on the horizon. I had my camera and caught these shots to add to my collection. It fascinates me how each one I see can be so awesome and colorful, and how fast the sun seems to sink once you fixate on it. No one else was on that level of the ramp. It was eerie in a way, but it was the best spot for a cool view!