Horse Manure Park

If you snooze, ya lose.  I was taking a nap (working the night shift has many drawbacks) when a new friend came to visit us late this afternoon. Beth took this picture.  The owl was just outside our house, perched very high in a jack pine.  Part of the soffit of the house is in the picture because he was up so high, but you can still see him clearly.  Beth said he was absolutely enormous.  Sorry I missed it. This is not a Barred Owl like our previous visitor.  The Barred Owl had a round head and dark, soft eyes.  This guy is undoubtedly a Great Horned Owl.  Notice the huge tufts ("horns") on either side of his head and the intimidating, pissed-off look on his face. We've lived here for 10 years and we've never seen owls before.  This winter, we've seen two different species (only three species live in Minnesota!).  Why the influx?  I don't know, but it sure is cool! Okay, Mr. Great Horned Owl, go get that bastard Pomeranian that lives next door.  He

Haven't updated in a while.  But here I am. My brothers and sisters-in-law were here over the weekend.  We had lots of good food and drink and had a good visit.  We were able to put Farm Fest 8 on the calendar, even though it didn't quite work out for everyone.  The weekend went fast and now it is Monday again.  Today I booked a couple of camping weekends this summer (without consulting the Mrs. first, so I'm living on the edge).  We only went camping a couple of times last year.  We now have no less than four camping weekends planned.  That's 1/3 of the summer devoted to camping.  Sounds fun to me! We narrowly avoided a big snow storm yesterday (a good old fashioned blizzard, actually).  We ended up with a few inches of snow, but nothing compared to what southern Minnesota got.  We've really gotten lucky this winter at avoiding the big stuff - at least this area has. My sister-in-law shared this on Facebook and I thought it was too good not to post on my bl

Every now and then I stumble across a song that sounds like it was custom written for Farm Fest. This is one of them.  I'm not saying we are going to learn this song for this summer's shindig, but it sure is tempting.  What do you think?  Play the song and then follow the lyrics below... Is 10 o'clock in the morning Too early to drink beer? I don't know and I don't care... When a girl walks by in a two-piece Is it impolite to stare? I don't know and I don't care ... I don't know what beach [farm!] this is I don't know what day this is I don't know if I packed enough clothes to wear And I don't care! Do you think those are real or fake? You mean those, right there? I don't know and I don't care... Do you want the blonde or the brunette Or the one with the long, red hair? I don't know and I don't care... I don't know what her name is I don't know where she learned to kiss I don't know if tha

We had a little birthday party for Ava last weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's and then another one tonight for her "official" 5th birthday.  I can't believe how fast five years can go by.  She really liked her presents and the cake was great too! Grandma lighting the candles... Makin' a wish and blowing 'em out (Ava decorated the cake!) Look at all the smoke! She was excited to get the Disney Princess doll collection! Mom and Grandma having coffee (Ava's picture) A picture of cousin Nora on the computer screen (Ava's picture) Her cake on her "official" birthday, including chocolate on the lip! Neil enjoys parties too, he doesn't care whose birthday it is... Ava got a music box - look at that concentration trying to figure out how it works... On a related note, five years ago tonight I was driving home after being awake for about 32 hours.  My first child had just been born, my wife was okay, baby was okay a

It's Super Bowl Sunday!  Some of you are probably thinking "big deal."  This blog is for you! Many of you have probably already seen this, but I thought it was pretty interesting.  Besides, I thought it was rather appropriate with my new "coffee bean" themed blog design. The trick is to find the man in the coffee beans . If you find him within three seconds, the right half of your brain is better developed than most people. If you find him between three seconds and one minute, the right half of your brain is developed normally. If you find him between one and three minutes you need to eat more protein because the right half of your brain is functioning slowly. At least, that's what the experts say. It took me forever to find the man.  It took my wife just a few seconds. And yes, there really is a man in the coffee beans.  If you're like me, once you find him, you'll ask yourself, "Why didn't I see him right away?!"

There's really nothing interesting to say, but I'll post anyway.  Everyone in the house was asleep by 7:55 PM.  That makes for a very long evening to sit here alone, so I might as well write a little something.  Just sitting here enjoying a Liberty Ale (by the San Francisco Brewing Company) and trying to stay entertained by college basketball, although it fails to do a whole lot for me unless it is March Madness.  I've decided that it must be a requirement to have no less than 22 tattoos in order to play college basketball.  I guess it is a form of self expression, but there a lot of things I felt strongly about when I was 19 or 20 -- things I would have gotten a tattoo for -- that do not seem the least bit important anymore. The owls were back late this afternoon, both perched in a tree in our backyard and hooting like crazy, although it was too dark to take pictures this time.  They didn't stay long before flying off through the trees.  I don't see how they ca