Occupied

I've been at rehearsals every week night and several weekends the past month for the Eagan Community Theatre's production of

The show opens tonight and continues with evening (7:30 PM) performances July 15-16, 20-23, 27-30 plus 4 matinees (2 PM) July 17, 23, 24 and 30. The box office (651-683-6964) is open Monday-Friday-1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.


I have been the vocal director/rehearsal pianist for the production. I'm proud of these people. I am also very happy be done with rehearsals!!! It's time to think of other things.


Yesterday was Paul's last day of summer school. This morning, we made reservations for August at several campgrounds. Yes!

Inspired, Encouraged, Challenged and Proud

Paul, Suzanne and I were at Lake Nokomis for the Life Time Minneapolis Triathlon by 5:45 a.m. yesterday. Paul and Suzanne participated in the event.

I was their cheerleader.

Our friend and fellow dinner group member, Joe, competed in the event last year. When he told us his intentions to give it a go again this summer, Paul was inspired to start training for it himself. Here we are with Joe and Char before the event started yesterday.

When Paul shared with Suzanne his plans to enter the triathlon, she said, "I'll do it with you, Dad." So, they both registered for the Sprint Race. Her encouragement helped him immensely. He researched training schedules, met with a trainer a few times to get advice and pointers, and day by day faced the challenge to get into condition.

The Sprint Triathlon started with a .4 mile swim in Lake Nokomis, a 15 mile bike ride around the parkway and a 3 mile foot race around the lake.

Watching all of those people swimming around that lake yesterday morning was quite the sight.

Paul and Suzanne entered the Friends and Family section so they could experience as much of the event as possible together. Their segment wore yellow swim caps. Here's Suzanne in line waiting to enter the lake. She's the one with the turquoise waistband. Paul was already in the water at this point.

And here she leaves the lake.

I waved and cheered for Paul as he went past me, but the picture didn't turn out.

Nick and Ellen joined me along the parkway and we watched them go past us on their bikes.

As you can see, Paul went by us in a blur! The weather cooperated, with a light breeze and a good cloud cover.

Josh joined us at the finish line. So did our friends, Pam and Dave. We all cheered them as they went by.

I am so proud you, Paul and Suzanne.

What a great bonding experience for father and daughter.

We are truly blessed.

If Mom Ain't Happy...

When I call Paul after rehearsal each evening to tell him I am on my way home,  I always ask him, "Anything new?" He always says, "No, nothing." It's just that routine people fall into, I guess. Except last Thursday when I asked, he said, "There is a bit of a problem with the water. It's real rusty." When I got home I discovered his statement was no exaggeration.  Our water looked like Lipton Tea. Gritty tea.

Great. Just great. Paul, of course, had done considerable research as to why this sudden change and started running the water outside onto the lawn. If there was a solution, he said, that would be the answer.

My course of action?

We had a service guy out the next afternoon. He could talk the leg off a mule. 

Let's just say he got off subject quite often. Whenever we could steer him back to the subject,  he assured us our water was safe to drink but there obviously is rust down there in the aquifer and the orange tea colored water would be back. Paul was having success with his method of running water onto the lawn. I fixated on the fact it would return and said, "What filter system works best for our house?"

Mr. Talkative happened to have the perfect solution to the problem. We just had to listen to him tell about the conversations he and his wife had on their first AND second dates before we talked about the filter system.

We agreed to have a filtration system installed. Me, because I wanted the water problem to go away, and Paul, because he wanted this guy out of our house.

The water was clear by that evening. The install was set for Wednesday morning. Tuesday night, just as we were going to sleep, Paul softly whispered into my ear,

"You know, we can call and cancel that appointment tomorrow morning. We can just take our chances on the well."

My reaction?

Mark Dayton has had more success with the Republicans than Paul had in negotiations with me on the subject.

Being the intelligent man that he is, he knew when to say,

Yesterday the system was installed. I'll admit our basement furnace room looks a bit like a chemistry lab.

And, I just kissed my summer paycheck goodbye.

 But, I slept well last night.  So did Paul. Because it's not over. He always will get in the

He's already told me how many flat screen TV's we could have bought with that money as we walked through Sam's Club yesterday. I'm sure I'll be reminded often. For many years. With clean water.

Inside the New Cabin-On-Wheels

The camper is back in our yard after being back at the dealer for two weeks for some warranty work.

It's rather sad that she just sits out there, waiting for us to take her someplace. Unfortunately, our schedules dictate we stay home. Oh, well, the state parks are all closed due to our stupid state government. Politicians. 

Stop. No more on that subject. 

I have had requests for an inside picture tour. My personal photographer, Paul, obliged and took some interior shots of our aluminum asylum. 

We love all of the windows. Both by the booth

and in the bedroom.

A separate bedroom is one of the main reasons we traded up. That, and facing our 60th birthdays.

Oops, that's also another subject.

There are different design options with Airstreams. We wanted the aluminum interior.

We have so much storage space which will come in handy when we are snowbirds each winter.

Paul calls our kitchen sink the baptismal font.

My brother, Al, and our friend, Randy, who are both ordained ministers, could find this useful.

  

The internet is a wonderful thing. Oops, off subject again.

This next shot is my favorite. For some reason, Paul loves to shoot pictures which include his feet. If you can look beyond them, you might notice that nice little television mounted on the wall. We have sold out as campers.

He also likes to take a "this is our route out of here" picture.

We are so anxious to get out of town.

Speaking of feet, I have new hiking boots and I am just as excited as a kid with a new pair of school shoes!

I can hardly wait for our trip to the North Shore in September. I'll be ready for those rocky trails!!!!

Happy 4th of July!

George is with us now until Suzanne's move is completed. Staying out here at the ranch is like summer camp for this urban cat. The turkeys have been keeping him occupied.

Paul and I have gotten so used to them, we don't pay much attention. But, they will come right up to the window and "cluck" at George. He's used to the little songbirds in the tree branches outside Suzanne's living room window. These guys are much more interesting!

We also had Sophie, the warm hearted labradoodle, as our houseguest this weekend. Although she was quite interested in George, he really was not a very gracious host to the pooch.

We haven't had a chance to get the cabin on wheels out of the yard. We've been busy with the show and summer school. We are a bit anxious to hit the road again.

It's been nice to have the weekend off for the holiday. Due to my rehearsal schedule, we don't eat many meals together in the evening. We've made up for it the past few nights. Friday, we grilled stuffed mushrooms (no recipe, just stuff from the refrigerator). They were mighty fine. Also, we made Guy Fieri's Grilled Romaine with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette.  Excellent!!!

Saturday, we celebrated Tom's retirement with Jayne and him at Porter Creek in Burnsville. That was fun! Good food.

Yesterday, we brought out the smoker and cooked up some pork butt using nephew Kevin's recipe for dry rub and this site for direction and served pulled pork last night to Nick, Ellen, Suzanne, Josh and a group of their friends. We'll be doing this again!!! The pork had great "bark" and the meat was tender and moist.

How fun to have a houseful of "kids" again.

Now, it's back to just George and the turkeys. I'll talk to you soon.