What Was I THINKing?!!!

I suppose it was back in 1993 when the movie first came out that I remember going to Jurassic Park with at least some of the boys. Tony would only have been eight.

We went to the 3D version today and, though the 3D wasn't that great, the movie scared me more than I remember and if I was an eight year old kid I wouldn't sleep for a week! I see there's a fourth movie in the series coming out in 2014 so I suppose the industry is just trying to generate interest again.

On another movie note, I can cross off another resolution for 2013. I successfully checked out a DVD from the library from those locked cases they have. It really wasn't as hard as I'd made it out to be in my head. The catch is, I only have it for two days!

Stick A Fork In Her. She's Done!

Jill's got about an hour and ten minutes left in her career at Mayo. She made the decision to retire a couple months ago and since then this day hasn't come soon enough. I went into her work last night with some historical (and hysterical!) pictures to share with her work buddies. They had a cake and treats and balloons...and her supervisor even worked her first three hours of the shift so she could celebrate a little bit on her last night.

Today she wanted to go in for her last transport meetings and should be done around 7:00. Good luck in your retirement, Jill! I can think of lots of things that haven't gotten done in my retirement that would be good projects for you to help me with! Oh, and I suppose we'll have to plan to work in a little more golf this summer...if it ever comes!

(Now, I know I'm behind on other things I want to blog about but I just had to get this announcement out there because I'm pretty happy about the whole thing!)

Going To The Theatre

Never let it be said that we don't have culture! This afternoon we attended the theatre...

Well, it was just at Cinemagic and it was an animated film but we totally enjoyed it with Mindy and the kids.

We saw "The Croods". I had to check during some parts of it to see if either Natalie or Harvey were cringing at the scary creatures or all the fire and smoke and explosions. I have to admit to having a bit of a topsy turvy tummy when the characters were way high up above a deep gorge or something. It was a cute show and we saw previews for three more animated ones that are now on our wish list!

Out With The Old, In With The New

Saturday we went to shop for a new electronic device. Not sure "shop" is the right term since we knew we'd come home with an iPad! But before we bought we thought we should recycle. So this is just one component from our first computer over 10 years ago...

...and now, here's the whole thing!

How far we've come!!!

Escape!

Someone must know we're having another blizzard. This came in the mail today.

Sold!

Today was the first of two auctions Jill and her sisters are having in the course of settling their folks' estate. I'm still trying to figure out if the guy is saying something real in between the bids or if he's just blathering on!

The sale turned out very well but it's a little bittersweet for them selling the family farm where their mom and dad lived for so many years. They're very happy with the buyers though. A young couple with two kids will be growing their own family in the house and the guys that are already farming the land bought the rest. So April 13th there'll be the second auction of household goods and furniture. Not doing anything? Come on down! 

Closer To Home But Not Gonna Get Here

The grand plan was to pick up Jill at MSP tonight at 11:00 after her week in Texas. Well, she's on her way...

...but because of this ill-timed storm she'll be spending the night at the airport. Driving at night for me is bad enough say nothing about in the middle of a snowstorm! She's booked on the 5:25 shuttle back to town and hopefully, it's on time because she's got an all day class that starts at 7:30!

Our Moat

Yesterday morning while I was reading the paper I started to hear a roar. Our sump pump never ran last year so the noise was not immediately familiar. Upon checking it out there was also a small stream of water coming in the basement near the furnace underneath which our water control system couldn't be installed. When I checked outside I discovered a couple inches of water pooled around that side of the foundation and more just about everywhere else. So after three hours of redirecting water our house is now protected by a moat! When you look east from the deck you see this...

...when you look west you see this.

And the path is cleared all the way down to the ditch and through two culverts west of here. You should have seen the water roar through when the plug came out of those culverts! I must admit to looking forward to warmer weather but I hate this part of spring in Minnesota!

Day 2

Yesterday was "skin time" for Charlie and Tricia when I was there so I didn't get to hold him. I went back today for a second chance and...bingo!...he was mine!

Of course, I had to give him back to his dad.

I think I just beat the rush. I met Mindy and the kids in the hall and I know there were more visitors after that. Charlie's a popular boy!

Announcing....

Usually when I post for someone's birthday (in this case, Cher's) I like to leave my blog so that's the post at the very top. Today is a little different. Now when we celebrate on March 6th we will also celebrate my newest great-nephew!

Little Charlie (Charles Fredrick) was born this morning at 3:52 AM and we're so proud to have him as part of our family! Welcome!

It's A Big Day!

A birth-day! Happy birthday, Cher!

(Blog readers...stay tuned for another post later today!)

Little Miss M

Brian and Maya came to visit PI while Kate was on a business trip to Florida. We got to join them for supper one evening. Maya's getting to be such a big little girl. She likes to pop out of this cupboard and surprise us all!

She's such a good eater! She had pot roast and potatoes and carrots and broccoli and bread.

And she can dance!

The Derby

Never in a million years did I think we'd be going to a roller derby bout but then our friend, Kelli (aka Ally McSteel!), worked out and tried out and made one of the teams in the North Star Roller Girls League up in the Cities. So a couple Saturdays ago we packed ourselves in with her folks and headed up to the Minneapolis Convention Center. There was a sold out crowd, lots of music and noise and pre-bout hoopla. (And a $6.25 can of Pabst Blue Ribbon!)

Kelli is #52.

There's a lot of pushing and shoving that goes on...

...but she can hold her own!

You don't want to mess with this lean, mean derby machine!

Kidding, just kidding! We had a great time and the Banger Sisters won quite handily!

Faux Pas

Grandma was having a little trouble getting started on blowing out her birthday cake candles and thought she needed a little help from Grandpa. It's just a little slip of the tongue!

And She's Off!

Well, I always thought when Jill's folks weren't in Texas for the winter anymore that she wouldn't be taking a March trek down there. Wrong! There are enough of a couple generations of Northwoodians there that she's visiting for a week again this year. When we went to pick up Cher for the ride to the airport on Sunday we had the pleasant surprise of K2's being there and Mindy wanting a little "adult time". (Jon and the kids were going geocaching.)

So off we went to send Jill off. The update is that she's been sick since midday yesterday. I accused her of drinking the water in Mexico but she doesn't think that's it. Hoping another good night's rest will have her feeling better in the morning.(Warning: You may not get a postcard...not so much because she's not feeling well but that she's reliant on others for transportation and she can't always get where she wants to go.)

Sucked In!

I am a sucker for new takes on old favorites! These showed up in my shopping cart the other day. They were NOT on the list!

(Don't be fooled by the Oreo package....it's empty!)

Probably don't need to have either one of these again. Usually it turns out the original is always best but I get sucked in to trying something new or I'd always wish I had!

Bring It On!

Jill may be in Texas but I. Am. In. Heaven!! I got a new snowblower today!

You could call it an impulse purchase but I rationalized it by saying repair money put into our 20+ year old machine would be silly. And besides that, most of you know the forecast for the next day or so and I didn't want to be shoveling that! The funny thing is, I called my neighbor to see if he could help lift it out of the truck if Earl's Small Engine couldn't deliver it and after he said they were going to be leaving I ended up saying yes, I'll clear your drive while you're in sunny San Francisco! And why not? Now that I've got the tool to do it!

Happy Day!

Kind of interesting that a month known for "...in like a lion, out like a lamb" is the birthday month for a PI Lion that raises lambs. 

Happy birthday, Alan!

Delicious!

First I started to play something called Candy Crush on our computer because I didn't really want to do the Facebook game. But the version on our PC was, like, a dead end. You'd go three levels and the clock would count down. So I decided to finally try Candy Crush Saga on Facebook. 

Bad idea. It's like everyone says....addicting. Last night I played 'til I ran out of lives. Not wanting to quit I took it up on the phone....and played 'til it overheated. But I guess I could have worse vices on a Friday night!

Behind On Blogging? That's Just..."Nunsense"!

A couple weeks ago we headed off to the theatre. I've always wanted to see the play "Nunsense" and it was being performed at the Mantorville Opera House. I have to say it was one of the funniest productions I've ever seen there! It's the story of the Little Sisters of Hoboken who need to raise funds to bury the last four of their dead sisters that died as a result of a cooking disaster by Sister Julia, Child of God, and who are currently being preserved in the freezer. The nuns start out as you might expect nuns to be.

But a lot happens after that! One nun is Sister Mary Amnesia, played by a local actor, Cheryl. If any of you recognize her you know she can play some sorta goofy characters. In this case she really had suffered a case of amnesia two days before the play opened as a result of an incident at her job.  

A lot of shenanigans went on from start to finish in the nuns attempt to raise money.

In fact, it ended up that once Sister Amnesia remembered who she was she turned out to be the winner of the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes so their problem was solved. Everyone was kicking up their heels!

It was a packed house the night we went and, apparently, all the other nights too because it was held over for an extra weekend. I'm so glad it was well attended because it was really funny!