Again with the weather

13 Monday May 2013

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Neighborhood flowers

There are enough blooms I might be convinced Spring is here to stay. I might be EXCEPT Saturday was frickin’ blustery; it sleeted and flurried briefly. We had a frost advisory overnight. Oh, and Tuesday the high may get to the mid 90s. Because, Minnesota. Gotta love climate change, right? ;)

There’s 3 days left of the Spring semester. I will be glad for the short reprieve before summer session starts. When the weather has cooperated I’ve been taking study breaks to hit nature haunts. Migratory birds are coming through. The pup and I are taking longer walks more frequently. We met an 8 week old French bulldog last week. SO cute.

I saw Iron Man 3 in 3D at the zoo’s Imax theatre with Eric yesterday. I hadn’t seen the other 2 or The Avengers. I don’t typically seek out action flicks. It was pretty good.  I snapped this sunset pic on the way home. It was lovely.

Sunset at cedar ave bridge

Cedar Ave Bridge (Hwy 77)

 

Spring?

03 Friday May 2013

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mourning cloak

Mourning cloak butterfly at the wildflower garden

The wildflower garden opened last Monday at Wirth Park. We had a winter storm warning for Wednesday and Thursday. In the metro we got some snow that didn’t stick for a bit on Wednesday and then, nothing. But to the south and east of us some people awoke on May 2nd to a foot of snow. I was kind of hoping for a good snow storm here. Now I’ve seen May flurries in ’08 and a light bit in ’13 but nothing like the locals who all have a story from ages ago and snow in May.

But back to the garden.  It was supposed to open on April 1st. There was no way that could happen due to all the snow already on the ground and the storms that added to it every week of the month. Last weekend it got up to 80 (!!) and everyone reveled in the warm temps for a few days. The last of the snow melted off the trails and the garden reopened. I went there opening day and saw just a few flowers and several birds. I hope to get back again this weekend after I make a good dent in homework.

Eric and I went to Ft Snelling and the old Cedar Ave bridge last Sunday and hardly any birds were around. Quite a change from the weekend before.

There’s 2 weeks left of the semester. I have a brief respite before summer classes start. After those end, there’s 4 weeks until fall semester starts. I’m so grateful to have this year to finish my degree and focus solely on school. I have other personal goals for this year and those are slowly progressing as well. The future beyond 2013 is unknown and that’s a little scary but I know everything will work out.

Cautiously…

26 Friday Apr 2013

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Could Spring finally be here? Since my last post we had two more winter storms go through. I think the total in Mpls for snow this month topped off around 17″, making it the 3rd snowiest April on record. Even the seasoned Minnesotans were getting frustrated with the winter dragging on.  The nice thing was the snow of the last few storms melted fairly quickly. There’s some piles where it was plowed that’ll be here for a couple weeks, reminding us of what was a crazy month. But today, today is great. It got up to 51. My class tonight was canceled and the pupper and I had a lengthy walk through the sculpture garden and park. Good times. It is supposed to get up to the 70s for a few days which has everyone giddy. After that it’ll drop to the 50s and maybe we’ll have an actual Spring before Summer arrives.

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A blue heron and gull in the shadow of downtown. Loring Park

Eric and I saw Johnny Marr in concert at the Varsity on Tuesday. He played some solo songs as well as some from The Smiths and Electronic. It was a bit surreal how many “old” people were there. And by old I mean middle aged. It’s weird to think that includes us!

Johnny Marr at the Varsity

Johnny Marr at the Varsity Theatre

There’s 3 weeks left of this semester. I have 1 or 2 classes over the summer, pending the result of an appeal to waive one of the classes. I’m very much looking forward to being done with this semester.

 

The Winter That Wouldn’t End

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

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The average high for mid-April is the upper 50s. We’ll be lucky to break 40 today. It snowed/rained/sleeted off and on multiple days over the last week and there’s more in the forecast this week. It is certainly an unusual April. Will the extreme weather continue if and when Spring shows up, leading to hail and tornadoes?

Snowy Loring Park

Ahhh, Springtime in Loring Park

My biking was derailed by the snow for a few days. Other days have been very short rides due to the cold and rain and just plain exhaustion. My sleeping patterns have been disrupted and it is taking awhile to get back on track to sleep through the night. I’m hopeful as the weather improves, if the weather improves, I can get outdoors and exercise more which should help with sleep and general disposition. :)

Tonight is caucus night. I’ll seek to be a delegate for the city convention. I’m supporting Gary Schiff for mayor.

 

Greetings from still frozen Mpls

06 Saturday Apr 2013

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Bikes at Lake of the Isles

My Tern bike and Eric’s Cannondale at Lake of the Isles

30 Days of Biking in going on this month and I am participating. The weather is presenting challenges. This is not atypical for Minnesota but last year winter was mild and spring arrived quickly. It lulled us into a false sense of expectation for more of the same. Instead, we’re still getting bouts of snow and chilly temps. The lakes are still mostly frozen. I am woefully out of shape which is also not atypical. :) I’m working on that. Doing the 30 days thing helps. Persistence, discipline, all that jazz.

Front of Snowwoman by Gary Hume

Front of Snowwoman by Gary Hume

Stuff I’ve been seeing… There’s a new item at the Mpls Sculpture Garden. Eric and I stopped there last weekend after stalking wildlife. We managed to see some mergansers, a heron, and new-to-me lesser scaups and ruddy ducks. We ventured out to the Coon Rapids Dam and Schaper Park (in Golden Valley). It was windy and cold but worth it. We also saw the new Studio Ghibli movie From Up On Poppy Hill at the Uptown Theatre. Fun times. I did one of my bike rides this week at Ft Snelling State Park and saw swans, mergansers, and gulls.

This morning I did 5 loads of laundry, took a quiz, and dealt with a stressed out pupper (calming spray seems to be helping, thankfully). I’m about to get today’s bike ride in. Tonight is Artcrank. That’s a bike themed poster show which will be at the old Grain Belt Brewery. Eric and I are going then picking up Psycho Suzi’s pizza and watching Kiki’s Delivery Service. A good day.

Spring breaked

27 Wednesday Mar 2013

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Last week was Spring break. Wild and crazy student I am, I spent it in Nebraska seeing family and migrating birds. This was my fourth year seeing the sandhill cranes on the Platte River. I brought along E, who hadn’t seen them before. We had a good time. We were also treated to tens of thousands of snow geese at Mormon Island SRA. I’ve never seen so many before. They are usually gone by mid-March. In 3 prior years, I’ve only seen one.

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Mind blowing

I also saw northern shovelers, gulls, and eagles at Dodge Park in Omaha. The weather was rather miserable – windy and cold – so I didn’t get out much beyond the central Nebraska jaunt.

I came down with sinusitis which isn’t surprising. There were pollen alerts in Nebraska and the winds… combine that with dust (my #1 allergy) and dry air and this is why I’ll never fully prevent these infections. Fortunately, I get them less often these days. I’m still getting over this bout and I’ve spent the last couple days in bed since I got back home.  I owe a debt of gratitude to cough syrup w/ codeine. I will have a lot of homework to get done in the couple days. Here’s hoping there’s less hacking tonight.

Franken, Wellstone, Limbaugh, and Dar Williams

14 Thursday Mar 2013

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Last weekend I went to the “Women for Franken” campaign kickoff for Al Franken’s 2014 Senate re-election.  Dar Williams played. Here’s a pic of Al and Dar after her set.

Al Franken & Dar Williams

In 2008, the recount spent months tied up in court with Franken eventually being declared the winner by less than 400 votes. If you ever thought your vote doesn’t matter, believe me it does. I have one acquaintance who had to testify in court when his absentee ballot was called into question.

I’ve asked people how the margin could have been so close. Apparently it goes back to what happened with the seat in the aftermath of Paul Wellstone’s untimely death.

That was before my Minnesota time. However, I remember listening to Rush Limbaugh kvetch about the memorial service. Yes, I’m a former dittohead. Over time I became uncomfortable with his diatribes. I moved to the left and he either moved more to the right or got more hateful or both. Of course it was all under the guise of being a “harmless, loveable, little fuzzball” as he was fond of saying. Eventually, it didn’t seem so funny anymore to be so mean. It’s interesting that this coincided with his prescription drug addiction. I know from personal experience when people don’t like something about themselves that often manifests in judgment of others. Was that the case for him? I don’t know. At a minimum, it may have exacerbated an existing judgmental attitude. We never fully let go of judging others. That’s for dang sure. However, we can soften our critical voices when we focus on resolving our own issues.

A last minute trip to Nebraska

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

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Sky strata

Windfarm in eastern IA

I made a last minute trip to Nebraska recently. My mom had knee replacement surgery and her recovery has been difficult. She had to go from the hospital to in-patient rehabilitation. She was in fairly bad shape pain-wise and that’s saying something. She has a high pain threshold. The pupper and I took advantage of a long weekend to go see her. She was glad and so were we. She’s doing better now and should be home soon. There’s still a long road of recovery ahead. While I was there, temps got into the 50s one day. It was glorious. I got out of town the day before a winter storm Q hit.

I’ll be returning again this year for the sandhill crane migration. The Crane Trust has a new video of the migration and interviewing those who have experienced it. Check it out:

Presently, life is consumed with school and personal goals. I’m truly blessed to be able to take this year off to finish school and exercise self care. The latter has been waning in recent years and I’m re-learning putting myself first and fixing old wounds so they’ll heal up properly. Life is good. It is good and complicated and sad and stressful and beautiful. Navigating a thoughtful path makes the journey bearable.

Hey, it’s February

11 Monday Feb 2013

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Winter marches on here in the twin cities. We keep getting little snow squalls that drop and inch here and there. Winter storm Orko impacted us yesterday by dropping little snow but a fair amount of “wintry-mix” which means everything looks like a freezer in need of defrosting. It is anybody’s guess how much more snow we’ll get this season. We’re still in a drought so it would be best if it would just rain a few times a week for the next couple months – and stay above freezing. :) Forecast models predict we’ll have above average temps again this spring and summer due to the drought.

The first 4 weeks of school are over. I’m struggling in my Java class and I hope it eventually clicks. This is definitely not a user friendly programming language compared to some. I’m doing alright in my other classes. I’m looking forward to Spring break next month.

Last week I went to the Brave New Workshop student union for a preview performance of You’re Making That Up. What a lineup!

Penalty Boxers

Joseph Scrimshaw, Neil Gaiman, Mike Fotis, and Sharon “Birdchick” Stiteler in the penalty box

Over the weekend I took a friend to see the swans in Monticello and he showed me where the Hindu temple is in the outskirts of Maple Grove.

Swans of Monticello Hindu temple of MN 2

I would like to go back and tour the temple. I’ve been to the one in Omaha.

This weekend I was also introduced to the wonders of Champlin’s Qfanatic bbq. That is some good eats.
Q sampler

This week I’ll be seeing The Book of Mormon musical. I paid $180 for a single ticket. That was face value plus ticketmaster fees. Good gawd. Within 2 weeks of that purchase I resigned from my job. I was certainly regretting the cost at that point. I considered selling it and probably could have at a tidy profit. But given that I spent a fair amount of my adult life as an active member of the LDS church and I have many progressive LDS friends who raved about it, I’m glad for the chance to see it.

So that’s what’s been up here.

Hot air balloons in February? Crazy talk.

03 Sunday Feb 2013

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Last night I went to the hot air balloon festival in Hudson, WI.
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It was the coldest it’s been of the years that I’ve went to the moon glow. Even with longjohns under jeans and mittens over my gloves my legs and hands were going numb by the time we were leaving about an hour later. I marvel at all the outdoor events going on in the upper Midwest all winter. Last night in addition to the hot air balloon fest, there was the Winter Carnival in St. Paul and luminary loppet in Mpls.

The Hudson event has a special significance for me. Eight years ago, I was living in Nebraska and my Wisconsin grandmother was dying. My dad and I drove to Hudson after work one evening in late January. I had some Marriott points and we got a free room at the Fairfield in Hudson. The next day we drove east to see my grandmother on the other side of the state and pick my mom up who had been staying with her all week. While we had breakfast, I noticed a flier for the Hudson Hot Air Affair. I did a double take when I looked at the dates. It was the following weekend. I expressed incredulity to the desk clerk. “A hot air balloon festival. In Wisconsin. IN FEBRUARY??!!” He said it was quite popular and highly attended. My dad and I shook our heads at the craziness.

I had no idea at the time that by the end of the year my marriage would end and I’d visit an old flame in Minneapolis. More visits led me to fall in love with the twin cities and move here 2 years later. That first year living here I wanted to go see the balloons, having remembered the flier. Unfortunately, I came down with pneumonia. I finally made it out to the moon glow in 2011 and again in 2012 and now, 2013. I’d like to see a launch but they are weather condition dependent and it hasn’t worked out yet. Someday…

So here I am. You never know what twists and turns your life may take. So glad for where I’m at now. I’ve become one of the crazy people at these winter events. And it’s great.