Category Archives: rebuilding

by | May 24, 2012 · 10:52 pm

Lucy’s monument

It rained heavily today. My electronic rain gauge quit transmitting after 2.33″. We set a rainfall record of 2.58″ today. The rain actually started about 10:00 pm last night, so we wound up with 3.39″ total. More rain is on the way later tonight into tomorrow late morning. The rain quit in Eden Prairie about 1:30 and moved out of Bloomington by 3:00. That must have been when her monument was placed.

I hope to get back and visit my folks this weekend. It’s been awhile since I visited my brother Robert’s grave in Albert Lea. I’ll make a trip to the cemetery on my way to Luverne. With the ten hour days at work right now, it will be a short trip home. I’ll need Monday to get household chores done.

Have a dry night!

Lucy's marker

I wanted the full dates for her birth and death but that supposedly wasn’t possible with the new design.

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by | May 23, 2012 · 10:22 pm

And the forecast calls for rain

Remember when nearly all the weather folks in the Twin Cities were bemoaning the drought ad nauseam? We’re not hearing too much about that anymore. Some areas are going to get over 3″ of rain tonight. I’ve been treated to a good sound and light show (thunder and lightning). Everything is green and lush. I think I’ll be picking blackberries in two weeks and raspberries in about four weeks. Neither apple tree bloomed this year, though.

I met my cousin Julie at Jake’s City Grille in Eden Prairie after work. It was nice catching up a bit. I needed the decompression time. The garlic burger was very good. As we were leaving because of the impending deluge, “Second Chance” started playing as the background music. The rain even held off until I got home.

Apparently the bronze vases at the local cemeteries are being stolen in large numbers. Just a couple of years ago, many bronze grave markers for veterans were stolen for scrap. One must be a particularly vile low life to steal from the dead.

Remember to give your special someone a hug tonight.

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Filed under family, gardening, rebuilding, weather

by | May 22, 2012 · 8:45 pm

Garden photos finally

I finally have some May garden photos uploaded. The link should open a new window. Comcast is playing with bandwidth throttling, so it will be a touch on the slow side.

I can’t find any hail damage from a couple of nights ago. The tree rats are doing more damage to the planters than the hail did; so much for my bluebonnets. It may rain the next couple of days so the surviving planters will be happy.

The cemetery has annuals planted in the garden across the driveway from Lucy. The petunias are cheery.

Have a great evening and let your loved ones know they are special.

The annuals garden at Dawn Valley

The annuals garden at Dawn Valley

There may not have been much hail, but it was backed with some strong wind.

The hail with it!

The hail with it!

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by | May 18, 2012 · 10:24 pm

May seems to be popular for weddings

In addition to Mike and Sarah’s wedding tonight, I found out a friend of mine got married last week. Belated congratulations to Kelly and Brad! Tonight’s wedding was huge. I thought Mike was kidding when he said about 400 guests were invited. There were closer to 450 people there.

Today was not a fun day to drive from Eden Prairie to St. Paul. What should be about a 25-minute drive turned into close to two hours. The weather was warm, the Twin Cities set a record high of 93°F today, but there should not have been THAT many cars stalled out. Maybe the 10-15% ethanol we’re required to have in our gasoline is causing vapor lock. In addition, St. Paul decided to close just about anything that was paved. I-94 was closed, and there was a lane closure in I-35E. The main thing is I made it.

Work is going OK. I’m figuring out how things go together in Silverlight and C#.NET hasn’t been too onerous yet. I’m already working on a live project and moving forward on it.

With all the love in the air, please take time to let your loved ones know you love them.

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by | May 17, 2012 · 8:59 pm

Congratulations Mike & Sarah

I will be attending their wedding tomorrow night in St. Paul if (a) I’m not stuck at work really late and (b) the dreaded orange barrel season hasn’t choked the thoroughfares down to hiking paths. There is some irony in attending someone’s wedding so soon after losing my spouse. Life keeps moving with or without us. Lucy and I were softies for newlyweds. We hoped they would have as much joy in their marriage as we had in ours.

Tomorrow might be our first 90°F day of the season here in Bloomington. Today’s rain fizzled out after a few drops. Our next chance of rain is the whole weekend.

Since I work in Eden Prairie now, my commute takes me within a mile of Lucy’s resting place. It’s nice that I get chances to visit her.

The bald eagles are out in force today. I saw one in Eden Prairie and three in Bloomington. We also have about a dozen turkey buzzards soaring along the Minnesota River south of me.

I hope to get some pictures of Lucy’s gardens this weekend. Perhaps the weekend won’t be a total washout.

Thank you for thinking of me and for keeping Lucy’s memory alive by reading this. It really does mean a lot to me.

 

 

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