Spring Activities

 

Bruce, April (front desk) and I spent a long last weekend in Minneapolis at the gift show.  Hopefully we bought enough enticing things to tempt you to make a purchase or two.  It was two days of looking and two days of buying.  I don’t even want to try to total how much we spent.  It adds up quickly.

The trip had fun highlights too.  On Saturday night we went out to dinner with Grant and Mae who graciously brought along their parents.  We all laughed at the chef who cooked on a hot plate right in front of all 8 of us.  When the oil got hot and sprang into flames, the kids could feel the heat from the flames.  It was so much better than having to sit still while waiting for dinner to come.

Another highlight for Bruce and I was Penzey’s Spice store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.  I had made a list but it was really long because we had not been there for a long time.  Then I left the list at home.  So we had to walk through everything.  It all fit into a little basket but the price wasn’t little.  We will use every grain of the spices.

There was one place that was recommended to us and we didn’t get there.  In St. Paul on University & Hennepin is Surdyks.  It is a wine and cheese store.  I am told that they specialize in the stinkiest cheese there is.  I looked them up on the internet and they are on my list for the next trip.

We got home on Monday to snow banks that had shrunk to nothing while we were gone.  The side road from the Gunflint Trail into our house was down to gravel and dry.  It was really nice and we both felt that spring was coming.  Little did we know that by Thursday morning we would have 13 inches of new snow.  I had an early appointment in town but could not go because the mile out to the main trail was not plowed until the middle of the morning.  Bruce could not get out either so he cleaned the snow up in our yard.  The banks there are up to five feet now.  It would be really pretty if this was November.

Of course, the birds are really starting to come with all the snow.  All day I seem to have a great number of purple finches attacking the bird feeders.  When I am done with this, it will be time to go fill all the feeders.

Also we appear to have one pregnant pine martin.  I have not seen her but that is Bruce’s opinion.  Between birds and pine martins we seem to be feeding the whole neighborhood.