Horse Manure Park

Today was a very busy day.  We got all new appliances this afternoon and everything seems to be installed and running correctly.  But what a difference it has made to the look of our kitchen! Look!  An oven that works and a fridge that doesn't leak! Look!  A dishwasher that works right! Look!  A washer and dryer that actually cleans and dries on the first try! Yes, it may seem like a big splurge (actually, it was), but each of our old appliances was about five years old before we moved in.  And we've lived here since January 2001.  So it was time. In other news, I've got my laptop back and it is working better than ever.  James at Brainerd Computers worked his magic yet again.  That's a relief. Lastly, we have given Ava her own camera (an old one we used to have).  We've let her go crazy with the picture taking lately and every now and then I will publish some of her better or more interesting shots.  Some of them ...

Hello friends.  My laptop has been stricken with a virus and it's been in the shop for several days.  I took it in early last week and Brainerd Computers took the virus off and got my computer back to me the same day.  Unfortunately when I went back online I had another virus within 20 minutes or so.  I called them back and they said, "No, that shouldn't happen.  You better bring it right back in." Luckily the technician who works on my computer, James, is an honest Scotsman (I've done business with him several times in the past) and he said in his thick accent, "I'll be truthful with ya Sam, I think I might have missed something the first time because this shouldn't have happened.  I'm very sorry."  He charged me for the original virus removal, which he rightly should, but he's not charging me a dime more.  Good thing, too, because he's run into problems and he's spent a lot of time repairing corrupted files, and other compl...

The Script is one of my favorite new bands.  They just released a new album on January 18th called Science and Faith .  It's a terrific collection of songs - and every now and then a song comes along that just says everything you want to say, but didn't know how. The lyrics are wonderful; it is an uplifting song of hope, love and faith. It is called "For the First Time." I am dedicating this to my beautiful wife of (nearly) 15 years - for sticking with me and putting up with me.

Yes, I'm still alive.  Limping through another work weekend, but it is almost over.  Rumor has it we are supposed to get some snow over the next couple of days.  I'm still waiting for that huge blizzard; hasn't happened yet.  At least, not here... or not what I would call a blizzard.  And it's my blog, so I can call it what I want, right? There's not a huge amount going down in this neck of the woods.  Hitting the mid-winter lull, I think.  Kids are stir crazy.  We all have cabin fever, or just a fever, depending on the day of the week.  We've all been sicker this year than any year in recent memory.  Colds, sniffles, coughs.  We all get better, then the process starts all over again.  Just think of the antibodies we're building, though!  Gotta stay positive, Sam. We are getting together with Dale, Mel, Bob and Kathy on the weekend of February 19th.  We haven't seen each other in months, so that's really going to ...

I've talked about this dude before on my blog, but on Friday he really gave us a show.  He perched himself above the bird feeders in our back yard and waited for (I imagine) an unsuspecting squirrel to come along.  He eventually flew away with an amazingly huge wingspan... but here he is, our new neighbor, "Oscar" the Barred Owl.  I originally thought he was a Great Horned Owl, but this picture I snapped out our living room window makes it very obvious that Oscar does not have tufts or "horns" on top of his head.  His head is nice and round and he has the most incredible eyes.  Beth looked it up in our handy Birds of Minnesota handbook written by my friend Stan Tekiela, and he is undoubtedly a Barred Owl. The only other choice of owl in Minnesota (after Great Horned and Barred) is the Screech Owl, but that species of owl stands only 9 inches tall.  Oscar was an easy two feet from head to toe.  The only word I can think of to describe him is "majes...

Happy New Year to one and all!  We didn't do much last night - had a little party here with homemade masks and sparkling grape juice.  It was pretty cute, although I was my typical tired and crabby self - as my wife made me acutely aware.  I was asleep by 9:00 PM.  I've logged a lot of hours at work over the past three weeks and I have to admit that it caught up with me.  I missed the big countdown to midnight, but man did it feel good to sleep!  So we say goodbye to 2010 and hello to 2011.  Without a doubt the biggest highlight for my blog in 2010 was when Brian Ray left a a comment back in May ( you can see it right here ).  He's a multi-instrumentalist in Paul McCartney's band, former musical director for Etta James' band and a terrific musician/singer/songwriter in his own right.  It was pretty damn cool of him to say a little something on my blog.  Talk about keeping it real for his fans! I don't think I reached any goals in 201...