Mike’s World

Well, today was the day we had to leave the cabin. It is nice getting away from things for a bit, but I also enjoy my routines, and it is nice getting back to them. This morning after waking up, we watched some home movies my grandmother had converted from film to DVD. They are from my dad’s family from back in the 1960’s and early 70’s. The DVDs had some problems, so I took a copy home to try to see if I can fix them up a bit. It is nice that she has the option to convert them off of film to a format that will last a bit longer.
We had lunch (yep, turkey again) before we had to leave at about 2:00pm or so. Traffic was not all that bad, and what I remember from the trip home was that the wind was very calm. On the way home, Mille Lacs Lake had no wind what so ever. The lake did not have a single wave, and because of this I was able to see across the lake for the first time in the 28 years I have been going past this big lake.

I got home at about 5:30pm, dropped my father off then it was off to my friends house for an evening of talking and movies. They just got a cute little kitten named Annie, and this is the first time I have been over with the cat out roaming around the house. Last time I was over this little beast was confined to one room. This little cat was just all over the house, I had forgotten how much energy these beasts have, you never know what these little kittens are going to get in to.

I am just happy that their 18 year old cat did not have a heart attack or something. I was not sure how the cat Spike was going to handle the new little kitten. My friends had a good idea of letting the new kitten hang out in a isolated room for a week or so before letting it loose on the entire house.

The movie selections for the night where eight legged freaks and Saved. The movie Saved kind of reminds me of Saint Ralph, which I may need to pop in again.

Tomorrow we will be heading back from the cabin, so today was the last full day at the cabin. As I mentioned, my grandmother cooks for an army, so we had thanksgiving dinner again for lunch, which is ok. Today we finished up our work on the cabin, and noticed that the roof is going to need to be replaced. That work will wait for another day. We got all of the fascia boards replaced, and that should help keep some animals out during the winter.

After finishing up on the cabin, I did get a walk in to Boy River. The area is all dirt roads, and about 4 miles from our cabin, which is on boy lake, is a bridge that goes over boy river which connects boy lake to leach lake. The river was about a foot lower than normal, but it was still flowing. After making it to the river, I did walk down a bit more down a driveway and found a real neat little camping/hunting area on the river. It was starting to get dark outside, so I decided to head back.

While I was on my walk, my Uncle Steve worked on piling up some wood he brought over for a bonfire. He must have spent a good 3 hours working on this wood pile, and it ended up being a classic tee-pee boy scout pile, but very large. Unfortunately Uncle Steve had to leave (work called him away) but as the sun set, me and my father with the assistance of some fuel got the fire going.

After the fire died down, we went up to visit with Grandma a bit more, and then it was bedtime.

as I mentioned yesterday I headed up to my cabin on Big Boy Lake for the thanksgiving holiday. The property contains the old 2 room (no, not two bedrooms, two rooms) plus one bath building that was built by my grandfather back in 1969 or so (the building on the left) In addition to the cabin is a house that was built around 1992, which is the building on the right.

With the cabin being so old, every so often we need to do work to keep the building up and standing. This time around, the fascia was getting old and starting to rot out, which was one more place for animals to get in. This trip up, we wanted to get the old rotten fascia boards replaced with some new fresh wood, which we did accomplish over two days.

I did make it down to the lake today, and I noticed two things. First of all, the lake was completly frozen over, but just a thin layer of ice. On top of that, the water level was quite a bit lower than I have seen in the past. I think I may walk down to the river tomorrow and see what that looks like, with the water so low.

After a day of hard work, it was time to head in for thanksgiving dinner. Grandma did her normal thing of cooking a meal for twice as many folks than we needed. Thanksgiving dinner was with me, my father, my uncle and his wife, my grandmother and her friend. It was a very nice time, and it was nice being able to visit with family for a bit.

Today the plan was to take a half day at work, get up north, and get out of the cities before traffic got to bad. The plan for the most part went as I wanted.

I got a bit of work done this morning, and headed out at about 12:30pm, just in time to get to my 1:00pm appointment with my trainer for a session before heading out for the long weekend. It was nice getting one more workout session before heading out. Got home, all set to get out, then I ended up chatting with a friend for a half our or so while I packed, then once I got all packed up, I chatted with my neighbor for about 20 minutes before getting my father and getting out of town.

We got out early enough to avoid most of the traffic, the only traffic we ran in to was just on the north side of the cities, which is much better then past years. The only exciting thing about the drive up north was that the wind turbine in elk river, mn was just booking. It was going faster than I have ever seen it go before. We got up to the cabin at about 7:30pm or so, and was able to chat with family for a bit before bed.

Ok, so I try to not write about political stuff, we have enough political stuff, but I can not believe what I just read.  I am reading <a href=http://slashdot.org>slashdot</a> this morning, and I run across this: <a href=http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/05/1415207>Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Death</a>
Reading this, I could not belive what I saw. Saddam is going to be hung!?! I had thought this was a joke, as I had thought hanging stopped like 50 years ago. I had to go off to CNN, and yep, it is true.

Today was my 3rd and final day at the state fair. Today I wanted to go because it was rodeo day. Several years ago when we went to the fair as a family, we went to the rodeo, and I thought it was quite fun. Ever since, I try to make it to the rodeo during the fair when I can. Today I headed out a bit later than normal, I got to the fair at about 1:00pm. I got out late enough, where the u of m park and ride lot was full, so I ended up driving around roseville until I found one. I did not do to much specific things at the fair today, just went around and watched people. The day went real fast, before I knew it, it was time for the 2:00pm pet surgery, 5:00pm news cast, then 7:00pm rodeo then at 9:00pm it was time for the night time stuff. I did some sky rides, and some midway rides until about 11:00pm. It was then one last ride up the space needle at 11:30pm and back to the park and ride lot. This year the state fair was quite fun, and I think the best day by far was the day I had Tuesday. It was just a blast. So goes another year of the great Minnesota get-together.

For some reason, today felt like a real good day.

I sleped in a bit this morning, so I got started off very well rested. At work I got a somewhat complex project completed today, a customer request to consolidate several systems, and I put together a solution that will do quite a bit more than they asked for, which was nice to get taken care of. It was nice getting that finished up before the long weekend. Today was a day that was somewhat relaxed, but still productive.

Today the weather was just perfect. We went out for a walk for lunch, and you could not have asked for a better afternoon for a walk. Perfectly clear Sky’s, nice breeze, not humid at all. After work, I went with a friend to pick up her Son from daycare, which is a walk we have not done in what feels like forever. I can not believe how big her son gets every time I see him, every time he has more personality than before. It is kind of cool seeing someone develop from a infant, to a baby, to now a toddler, just how much a human can adapt and learn is just simply amazing. After we got back with her son, we hung out with her neighbors for a bit, and again a very nice family.

After hanging out with my friend from work, it was off for our normal Thursday night with friends. Tonight was quite a bit of fun. We grilled, hung out and chatted on the patio until about 9:00 or so, which was real nice. We then went inside and watched some tv, and then a movie, serenity.

Icing on the cake, my sister called me this evening, which was real nice, as I had not talked to her in like 2 weeks it seems. I enjoy days like today when I get to spend a good chunk of the day with good friends, it is nice to have the opportunity present its self every so often, and I had forgotten how much I missed it. With being so busy, and vacations, it seems like I had not had the opportunity in quite some time.

Well , today was day two for the state fair for me. Today is the day I was planning on going with a good friend and getting the full fair experience. Today I got to the fair at about 8:30am. First of all, the weather today was perfect for the fair. Sunny, dry and not to hot. We started off by finding the various food items and buildings. In the morning We made it through the creative activities building, and made it down to the bazaar and the midway. Man, I must say the midway was fun, I liked the scrambler the most, I was not up to any real intense rides. In the afternoon we made it to a pet surgery, skyride, and the fine arts building. One thing I did like as a panting called “out of the blue” which was an oil collage type panting. If I would have had $2300 laying around, I would have gotten it.

In the evening we did the space neadle, and a newer skyride type thing. We ended up leaving around 8:30pm or so, over 12 hours. I must say, this was another great state fair day.

Today I went to the state fair, for the first time out of a total of 3 or 4 times I plan to go this year. This time I got the junk food cravings out of the way, and did a good job at controlling myself, I would like to think. The weather was not all that bad (well, it did not rain, but it was cloudy and a bit humid). I went for my 2nd day straight of weight training, then it was off to a park and ride location, I went for one of the U of M lots. I ended up getting to the fair at about 9:30am to 10:00am. The main things I went to where a pet surgery, a concert and a car extraction.

Every year the MVMA has a surgery suite, and being the brother of a vet, I think its a good thing to have. Shelley Cravens, CVT is the main person behind the whole operation. She works the suite every day of the fair, every year I remember them having the suite. In addition to her, students and vet’s rotate in and out. One or two students assist with the procedure, one doctor does the surgery, and one doctor moderates the procedure. They generally do a ovarian hysterectomy of a dog, and I do find it interesting. The one I attended today had vets from the u of m both doing the procedure and doing the moderation. They did a good job at bringing it down to the level that the general public to understand. In addition to that, the surgeon did a bit of exploration of the other internal organs, which was the first time I had seen that done during one of these surgeries.

After the surgery I went off to the bandshell. When I looked at the schedule, I saw the a cappella group tonic sol-fa. Several years ago me and my sister had gone to a concert, and tonic sol-fa opened for the main act. I had forgotten how good this group is, and in fact I have now purchased three of there CDs in mp3 format. They do a good job of making real good pop music in true a cappella fashion.

Every day at the fair has a theme, and today was fire prevention day. They had fire engines and fire equiptment from several cities on display. In addition to that, they did a staged car crash and victum rescue. It was interesting in seeing the process from when the police and rescue folks role, to extraction and treatment. It gave junior firefighters the opportunity to do training, and gave us a chance to see what the process is, and see the tools such as the jaws of life in use.

Later that evening I went off to acme comedy company. On the radio I had heard that Emo Philip’s was in town, and every time I hear him on the radio, I find him quite funny. I did not have any other plans this evening so I called up and reserved a seat. Both Emo and the warm up act where quite funny. I just wish I could remember who did the opening act :-)

today was another great day at the cabin. This morning I did some cleanup around the cabin, which was much needed. Me and my sister are about the only ones that stay in here (everyone else stays in the house), and on top of that it tends to become storage area #6 for everything that gets collected around here. Because of these reasons, it can be a challenge to keep clean at times, in fact last time me and my sister stayed up here, I do not think we even bothered to vacuum. This morning I moved some carpet and carpet pad that was being stored in here from the main living room to the bathroom. Did come vacuuming and moved the furniture around. I will finish cleaning up around here tomorrow before I leave. With luck, it will stay a bit cleaner for next time I come up to visit.

Since I was cleaning, I decided to take care of some brush down by the lake as well. There is a small “bridge” connecting the two docks down by the lake, and trees started to overgrow that bridge. I grabbed a saw, and trimmed back the trees a bit, it is now much better to go across that bridge without being smacked in the face by limbs.

The afternoon started off with a short nap then another row boat trip. This time I made it off to the rice fields between big boy and swift lakes. I did not want to stay out to late so I turned back before I made it in to swift lake, but I made it further than I did yesterday. Some day I will need to leave a bit earlier in the afternoon and try to make it in to swift lake. Quite a bit of weaving needs to be done to make it through the rice, so it does take quite a bit of time.

One last evening at the cabin included one last steak dinner on the dock. Last two nights I had new york strip steaks, this evening it was a tenderloin steak. Man was it tender! Timed it just perfect again, dinner getting done just as the sun was going down. Unfortunately I did bump my toe on the way down, and wouldn’t you know it, the steak went falling in to the grass. I think for a $16 hunk of beef, the 5 second rule applies, so in true rustic fashion I picked it up off of the grass, brushed it off, and put it back on the plate :-)

It was a great evening down on the dock. there was no wind what so ever, so the lake was like a looking in to a mirror. The reflection of the trees and sun across the lake reflected perfectly on to the lake, just a wonderful scene. It was a nice way to top off a wonderful day at the cabin.

As I sit here at 11:30pm, I hear thunder and see some interesting lightning across the lake, so I think the quiet evening is going to be followed by an active night. It should be interesting, as I never know what to expect with the storms up here.