You'll Not See Nothin' Like the Mighty Quinn

He's no Eskimo, but this Mighty Quinn was mighty chilly after finishing his first marathon in St. Paul this morning. He and 11,000 other runners took to the streets at 8:00am to tackle the 26.2 miles that makes up the Twin Cities Marathon course, navigating the streets around the lakes and rivers that make up the most beautiful urban marathon in the US.

Yours truly, still nursing his roofing injury, was on the sidelines, viewing the race from the curb, zooming from point to point with my wife and his to catch Todd as he came past, racking up the miles, each one getting a little tougher. It's clear from the photos here that the marathon takes a lot out of a guy, but MQ hung in there and got the job done. Way to go, Todd!

DSU and SD Higher-Ed Numbers Climb

Dakota State University numbers continue to grow. We've got a record headcount (2861) and FTE (1631) enrollments for this fall. Numbers statewide have grown quite a little since 1996, my first year in the system, 7,279 more students in that time, a 27% increase. Not bad.

1996 26,508
1997 25,719 -2.98%
1998 26,560 +3.27%
1999 26,616 +0.21%
2000 27,134 +1.95%
2001 28,446 +4.84%
2002 29,533 +3.82%
2003 29,716 +0.62%
2004 29,844 +0.43%
2005 30,720 +2.94%
2006 30,901 +0.59%
2007 32,148 +4.04%
2008 32,943 +2.47%
2009 33,779 +2.54%

Taking a Knee

It's probably a good idea that I'm not running the Twin Cities Marathon this weekend. I was out in back, running the chain saw, cutting up some small chunks of wood, and one caught on the chain and jumped up and bit me in the knee-bone. Here it is just getting a good start on the swelling. This on the same leg that sports the damaged foot at the end of it.

My brother called as I was sitting on the couch with an ice pack (thanks, Todd!) on my bulging knee, and he asked what I was doing.

"Sitting here watching the knob on my knee grow," I said.
"It's African-Americans!" he said, "and they're not yours!"

He's a witty fellow.

I think my knee has grown since then (and since I had the wife shoot this profile shot). Tomorrow it will probably be back to normal, but it's good I'm just using my legs Sunday to stand and watch the marathoners go by, not covering 13.1 miles with this bumpy fellow (leg #2 is just fine, thanks).

Working Women at DSU

I love this picture of all these women at DSU displaying what position our university has in the recent rankings among public universities in the midwest, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Two Small Pieces of Pie

Okay, so you're wandering in the aisles of Sunshine Foods, the pleasant treasure of a spinach quiche riding in your midsection, just along for the ride since your spouse has asked you pleasantly to go along for company, and you've got it in mind to ferret out a little dessert item, something to top off the quiche, tamp it down with a lump of sweetness, passing by the Oreos, the "home-made" O'Henry bars, the four-dollar brownies in the bakery section, and then the thought of a little pie takes hold of you like a mental lasso, towing you down the frozen foods aisle, where Mrs. Smith and her ilk linger to lure the appetite with real pies--apple, peach, French silk--but you resist, one hand clutching the cold chrome handle of the case, and your eye lingers on the smaller boxes, Mrs. Smith's sidekick Edwards, an unassuming product offering of two pieces of pie--Key Lime--and you waver, your hand reaching in to bring it in, bring it home, where, on a plate, it's not to be denied, small as it may be, fresh from its yellow cardboard wedge, a serious, albeit small, piece of pie indeed, and the first taste is golden, the next better, the rest delicious, creamy, lime lime lime, a very fine pie indeed, worth the trip, worth eating slowly, slowly, every bite a miracle.

Trojans Win

The wife and I enjoyed a great volleyball match last night between the Lady Trojans and the Mount Marty College Lancers. It was a back and forth battle, but in game five the T's were rolling and put away those visitors. Read more about it here.

Meanwhile, I'm liking the new Trojan warrior logo, although not the one with the thick legs.

Will Ferrell and the Race to Save Health Care Execs

I enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek version of an appeal on the effort to improve health care coverage.

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Making the Desktop Smaller Yet

ACU Mobile Learning from ACU Videos on Vimeo.

The move toward the laptop as a device for having students be online all the time has been growing, and there is evidence that students and faculty are getting used to the new teaching and learning methods that the devices allow. Now Abilene Christian University is suggesting that they can take the mobility one step further, not just netbooks, but Apple's iTouch or iPhone, which they're distributing to students and faculty. The move is described in "The Mobile Campus," on Inside Higher Ed. Are we ready for that? One of my consistent concerns is that the course materials and actions occur in the same stream as all the other things that vie for students' attention, coming through the same channels as Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and all the other cool stuff that students do online.

DJ and the Bear

Dr. Dan had a companion in his most recent journey between home in MN and work in SD. Hand-made by Ms. Montgomery as a fund-raiser, the bear laid in wait at our for someone to claim it, and Dr. D recongnized the furry fellow as a potential charmer for his offspring. No word yet on the chemistry between the two. Stay tuned!

My Better Half-Marathoner

The wife climbed out of bed this morning with running on her mind, just like about a thousand other people in the Sioux Falls area, and she showed that 13.1 mile course what she was made of--lots more spice than sugar. I stayed on the sidelines today, resting that sore leg, cheering on my girl in the crowd. She did great, a bit slower than the Deadwood race, but only by a few minutes, and on a lot less training.

An additional treat was seeing some former students--Chris Heezen, from Miller, SD, who ended up in second place over all; Laura Carrow, of Pipestone, MN, who ended up fourth female finisher after a duel at the finish, and Mike Vetter, who was running his first ever half-marathon.

My colleague Rick Puetz and his daughter were also proud finishers.

Check out the photo slideshow here. Some folks keep smiling through the pain, all the way to the glory of the finish line.

Ratbikes Galore

I appreciate simplicity. Complex systems have more opportunities to crash than simple ones, and you might think that an evening of battling internal combustion engines might deter me in appreciating that four-stroke invention, it's interesting to see how ingenious folks have simplified what were once much more complex motorcycles. Hail to the Rat Bike.

Hanging Out in the Wrong Neighborhood

As school starts, one of the things a faculty member has to do is prepare his or her office for working in. Sometimes that means simply dusting things off, watering plants, and tidying up one's desk. Sometimes, however, one must send summer visitors packing, as the wife had to do with this little fellow who wandered in to the wrong place.

Burritos, Lawn Chairs, and a Quiet Back Yard

Getting ready for a semester of teaching several college courses is a lot of work, and in the midst of it all getting together with people in the same boat--madly planning, writing, hoping--is a good thing. Here's a little video of some folks enjoying some food, drink, and conversation on the last Saturday of the summer. Thanks, DW, for taking the video (and risking the wrath of those being filmed).

The Start of a New Beginning

Here's the scene when I walked in to my first class this fall, a group of freshmen on a Tuesday afternoon, some of them in their first college class. They're ready to go, some of them full of sass, some of trepidation.

Some appear to be paying more attention to what's on the computer screen than what's going on around them. We'll see what happens. So far, we're all hopeful!

A Note Taped to My Windshield

Sometimes a parking space is just too good to be true. You cruise up, every other spot is taken, and there's this one juicy parking spot right where you want to be. Why might that be? Best not to look.

Until, later, you return to find your ownly warning taped emphatically to your motorcycle windshield.

As the wife points out, being RD is no piece of cake, and the parking spot is one of the few perks. I got a name and wrote the poor guy an apology.

Caravan to the West

Each year a caravan of horses, riders, wagons, and miscellaneous contraptions come by the house on their way to Prairie Village Days. I enjoy seeing them come on by.

When Cars (and Trucks) Go Bad

Looking into some of the offerings by Zoho.com and the kinds of software (all of it free) that they offer, I ran into this photo stream of some extravagant wrecks, from cars in holes to holes in cars and everything in between. Take a look at the photos, but then stop to take a look at what Zoho offers. They're not Microsoft, and they're not Google.

Hello Duluth, and Goodbye

The wife and I took a brief mini-vacation last week, squeezing it in between the end of the roofing project and the beginning of the school year, leaving Wednesday and returning Saturday. The two full days in Duluth were just what the doctor ordered, although the dosage was not what we'd hoped.

Despite the short time spent there, we managed to check out the following:

• Split Rock Lighthouse, out north of Duluth on Lake Superior--see the wife pictured here, enjoying the lake breezes and the view of the lighthouse
• Gooseberry Falls Park, where we picked (yes, I know it's probably not legal) a few gooseberries as we hiked along the trails. It's a beautiful park.
• Skyline Drive, a ridge-running street above and through Duluth that gives a great look at the city and Hawk Ridge. I still wish we'd picked that chokecherry bush clean!
• Aerial Lift Bridge, where we got to see it lift a couple of times for small private and tourist boats.
• Sweeney Todd, a great creepy play put on at the Play House, a small, 80-seat venue that puts you up close and personal to the cast, who also play all the instruments. The whole operation takes place right on stage, no exits or entries. This was probably the highlight of the trip.
• Fitger's Brewhouse, an old-timey brewery that sits right on the lake. Good brew!
• Hell's Kitchen, an off-beat eatery that serves up gigantic ribs and other heavenly fare.
• Rustic Inn, up near Two Harbors, where we had some great food and fantastic pie. Our source told us to forget Betty's Pies and go to this place. We've got no problem with that!
• Grandma's, a must-stop, not only for the great brew, but also for the fact that they're the sponsors of Duluth's great marathon.

We had been planning to go to Winnipeg, but at the last minute we headed the car northeast instead of straight north. We got to travel through some country we hadn't seen. Excellent!

Sweet Wyoming Home, by Bill Staines

I heard this song every once in a while on an NPR program called Iron Rails, I think it was. I was looking around for stuff on Dan O'Brien and his book on the buffalo, and for some reason this song crossed my mind. Thanks to Youtube, I now have a source where I can play it whenever I get the urge.

Kawasaki Back on the Asphalti

Last summer brother Jess and I rode our bikes out to Idaho and back again, quite a journey for a guy who used to rarely put 1000 miles total on a bike before I sent it down the road (some of them rarely ran). But that trip saw a little spill up in the mountains in northern Wyoming, and my Concours took a beating from that, just not enough to stop the trip. So I gathered parts and planned over the winter to get it all back together, but that didn't happen. Spring came, and the bike still was not fully assembled. Then roofing came. Then a bad foot. But over the past few days I took some time and finished the painting and got the bike all back together. Here's a pic just after I've cleaned off the accumulated dust and readied the bike for its first ride in almost a year. It's working good!

Beemer Takes its Beating

JB and family ran into a wicked hailstorm outside of Sturgis on their way home from out west, and the result was a stop alongside the interstate while hail battered their classy Beemer into a big, black dimpled German vehicle. With the kids in their car seats in the back, the hail hammered the rear window completely out of the car, but all was well with the family once the hail stopped and they found the kindness of strangers alive and well. Although it may look as though JB riled up some bikers enough to attack his car with tiny ballpeen hammers, I'll buy his story about the hail. It meshes with the weather reports out there. I'm sure he's glad he and the little ladies weren't cruising through on a Harley chopper.

What's that Bare Spot Behind the Garage?

It's the spot vacated by Casey's short-lived first car, one that took him down the road for about 60 miles and crapped out after giving full warning by clattering and clunking until the clunks turned into chunks.

It's like I just bought another 90 sqare feet of lot, but got paid for it!

Clunks became ice chunks for friend JB and the other B's as they took the South Dakota Adventure Slide (otherwise known as Interstate 90) from Sturgis to Rapid City in August. All are well. If I get a picture from them, I'll post it here. Their Black Beauty looks like Tiger's been using her for a driving range target. Bummer. I hope the State Farm people treat them well.

Watch the Bikers Go By

The Sturgis rally is winding down, just this weekend left, and a wicked hail storm ran many of them out of town the other day, so there will be a stream of bikes rumbling through towns across the area. Meanwhile, if you like looking at the bikes and not hearing all the racket, and maybe prefer thinking of simpler times, check out this flickr photostream of a motorcycle lover, who has photos from the early 70's through the years, including many he took while riding down the highway. Thanks, rr250roadracer!

Madison Area Arts Council Goes Online

Chris Francis and others have been working hard to bring the Madison Area Arts Council back from the doldrums. They met last night, and things seem to be rolling along. One of the things they've done is get a new website that looks very good and has a lot of information about arts activities in the area. Check it out here, and join in on the fun there and at the events listed. If you're an artist in the area, get signed up!

Ready to Text and Drive?

Check out this test of your ability to text and drive at the same time, courtesy of The New York Times.

O'Brien's Wild Idea

I just finished Dan O'Brien's book Buffalo for the Broken Heart, which has been selected for the One Book South Dakota discussion series. I'm leading the discussion here in Madison on the 18th. The book is a good read, a compelling story filled with the ideal of returning the high plains to a more natural state, bringing back buffalo to play their prominent role in the ecology here. To make that plan work, O'Brien has established an internet presence to distribute the grass-fed, organic buffalo meat that funds his efforts.

It looks tasty. Expensive, but tasty. I'm trying to figure out what to buy. Check out the offerings at Wild Idea Buffalo Company.

Rudimentary Transportation

You don't think about your feet as much as you should most of the time. Take one out of commission, and you have an entirely new perspective on the importance of having both feet available for transporting yourself across a room or up and down a flight of stairs. Another note you too might recognize is that armpits are not meant to play a major role in getting from here to there. They don't like it.

Just Short of Getting There

Throughout our roofing project, we kept saying how good it was that nobody had gotten hurt. We could have had a sign up that said "Days Without Injuries--All of Them!" But that's not the case now.

See that peak on the front porch? Where the stairs come up? Okay, to the right of that is where I had the ladder leaned up so any marks on the drip edge would not show.

Yesterday morning, just getting started, I climbed the ladder with a half dozen shingles over my shoulder, stepped onto the roof, and promptly slid off and down to the ground. I landed mostly on my right foot, which now counts as the first injury. No broken bones, according to x-rays. But sore? Yes. I'll cool it for a few days and hope to be back to finish the couple of hours of roofing that remain.

The Year I Became a Teenager

Much is being said about 1969, with the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, and a multimedia offering on the NY Times focusing on the culture from that year was a reminder for me that although I spent most of that year being 12, it was also the year I became a teen.

The moon landing was much on my mind that summer, as I had followed the earlier Apollo launches and built models of the Mercury and Apollo vehicles. My aunt Jan and her husband were in Florida working for NASA, and they sent me, just another kid far from the action, posters, articles, and even a NASA pocketknife. I had a poster of the Saturn rocket on my wall; my friend Randy Schumacher wanted it badly. He too was an avid fan of the space missions.

It's a long time ago now, but 1969 was a big year.

Gustav Marzion's Signature

I'm still thinking that the signature on the board found in our old porch is Gustav Marzion (or Murzion, perhaps more likely). I found a reference to Emma Marzion in our own Smith-Zimmerman Museum site; she's buried in Graceland Cemetary here in Lake County, SD. She died in 1910. No Gustav, though; perhaps he moved on. A search for his name exactly, however, turns up nothing but this humble blogger's reference to him.

The name Marzion is common; Murzion, not so much. JB wants to know more about the signed S-L-K crossways on the board. Who's SLK? Gustav's more reticent partner? Every carpenter needs a partner.

Winless to Wanless

I enjoyed this song, sent by LB, about the triumph of the Wanless guy from Winner who won the big lottery prize.

Climbing Down

JB says most accidents happen on Mt. Everest when climbers are coming down rather than going up. I can see how that could happen, oxygen deprived, tired, anxious, dragging their nail guns. But the big boom boom boom truck left today and so far nobody's taken the quick route off the roof. There's still some shingling to be done--the front porch is ready for new shingles and the back entry and the widow's walk (I'm gonna keep calling it that though the wife says that's not what it is) still await.

Today I found something I hoped might appear--a signed board by a person I'll take to be the original carpenter. But who is it? My guess is Gustav Marzion, though I could well be wrong. It's dated--2 August 1901. I found it under the roof boards (I was replacing the first rotten boards I've found) and hope to get a good pic of it to post here. Wherever you are, Gustav, here's to you and the house you built!

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

Seemed like it was time for a new post on ole' Horseshoe Seven, so the wife has hijacked the site to offer a little dedication to her hardworking roof cowboy.

Roofin’, Roofin’, Roofin’

Keep roofin', roofin', roofin',
Though Mother Nature’s disapprovin',
Keep them shingles movin', Rawhide!
Don't try to understand 'em,
Just nail and throw and grab 'em,
Soon we'll be living warm and dry.
Boy my heart's calculatin'
My true love will be waitin', be waiting at the end of my ride.
Tear 'em off, nail 'em up,
Nail 'em up, goop 'em down,
Tear 'em off, nail 'em down, Rawhide!

John is tearing off the last of the old stuff as I type, so with some luck (and a couple dry days), John should be back soon.

The Old Girl's Makeup

My sister indicated that I had not yet put up a photo that shows some of the color we're adding to the house, so here's one. Sorry, it's a photo with my phone, not so great. Note that I'm about ready to shingle the roof to the right of the dormer pictured here.

Top, fish-scales, are a dark grey, along with the brackets below the eaves and the panels above the upstairs windows. Diamond shapes on each side of the window are a lighter grey, and the window crowns and inner grooves on the brackets are a kind of orange. It's going to look good!

Rain, Yes, But Also Progress

Help yesterday from JB and TR got the roofing project moved along well enough to actually move the lift, so there are signs of progress. Here is a pic of me and TR tearing off the shingles on the "eyebrow" of the dormer so we can put the first new shingles ever on it. The other is of the wife adding some makeup to the old girl, putting a little dash back into her look, showing off some of her best features. I'll add later a picture of what she's done to the dormer--a look that adds some subtle touches that will change the look of the house entirely.

Today's forcast is for hot and humid, so I guess I'll get back up on the roof.

One Good Day, More Rain Delays

It was supposed to be hot today, but with some isolated showers. So far it's been rainy, delaying the completion of this one section. Right now the wife is painting--touching up the paint on some repairs and trying out some accents on the windows and the fancy little brackets under the eaves. We'll see how that looks and post a picture.

Yesterday got a fair amount done. I fixed the eaves and the fascia boards on this section after having removed the gutters, which we're going to dispense with. There's no water problems and the gutters don't seem to do anything anyway.

Adam arrived late in the morning and we got started on putting shingles up, getting this much up before night came on. No more shingles yet today, though I did get paper up and over most of the roof. The very peak is still naked.

Mitch Hansen and Eric Nigg Make Funny

My kids' former classmate from Browns Valley, MN, Mitch Hansen and his partner Eric Nigg are apparently making waves with a comedy routine and some short humorous films he's put on the Youtube. Check them out here: "8 Glasses of Water" and "Heaven is a Rainbow".

Day Three on the Roofing Project

We got through two days of our roofing project without too much of an incident. The big thing today is the rain, which we weren't as prepared for as we would have liked. Things are buttoned up well enough now to allow us to relax a bit as the rain comes down.

Day one saw the wife and I on the roof as the father in law ran the forklift. We got some shingle-stripping done and put the show on the road.

Day two put the sripping in high gear, as Joe and Adam appeared from one area and TQ appeared from another. We got one whole section stripped by about 3:00, but then identified some real problems with the eaves, which stopped us, since the lumber yard in town had just closed. A trip to Menards in SF got the supplies needed. Thanks, Joe! Thanks, Adam! Thanks, Todd!

For day three, this morning we scrambled to put on as much underlayment as we could, got some tarps to cover the rest, and watched in the attic for significant leaks. This afternoon should let us get back on track, fix the eaves and start putting shingles on.

In the meantime, we've had a chance to visit with the B's for supper, with TQ and LB who stayed overnight, and with the Ryans, who had us and the Moose couple out for supper last night, where the sunset shone and the lake was pleasant. Life is good.

Check out photos of the roofing project here.

Other (Donut-Shaped) Roofing Supplies

The wife and the mother-in-law took their own trip to Sioux Falls yesterday, unloading after they arrived. How is it that this box of four donuts ended up in our car? M-I-L says that since donuts have such a short shelf-life, they should not be returned to her, but rather consumed at our house, advice that should not be ignored, in my opinion. What else to do when you're waiting for a boom truck delivery?

My Heart is Going Boom-Boom-Boom-Truck

Airlift support is on the way. I went down to United Rental in Sioux Falls yesterday and made the call, bringing this big unit to Madison to assist in the aerial support of the war on bad shingles. It's supposed to arrive this morning early. Not here yet. The peonies have been warned; civilian casualties are expected.

A Pile of Shingles, a Roof in Need

It's time to make good on the promise to shingle the roof. I've got the shingles and the roof, and now I just need to put a plan into action. Now if I could just decide on a plan. Whichever action I devise, it will have to accomodate the significant height of the roof, a height that my hunky ladder cannot attain. Extended out to its full length, my big ladder will get me up to where I can reach the gutters (full of gunk and plants as you can see in the roof photo), but I'm looking at a big boom or fork lift to put me up where I need to be. More later.

Casey Gets the Job Done

Youngest son Casey graduated from Rosemount High School Friday among 545 others, which led to celebrations by friends and family. Here's a picture of David, Casey, and April with their dad. Good deal!

Their Grandma Rosemary also was in attendance and shows her happy face here.

More photos are available online here.

Running Photos

Deadwood Mickelson Trail Half Marathon photos are available. I'm here. The wife is here. There's no blood!

Medals for Madison

We've been busy the past week or so, doing yard work, working on machinery and houses, and getting ready to run the 2009 Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Half Marathon. It's a done deal, and we brought back two medals to add a little bling to the closet.

The wife was a little fearful of this, her first big race, and first half-marathon to boot. It was her longest run ever, and she faced it with aplomb, picking up speed throughout the race, finishing with the fastest mile of the 13. She wanted to finish under 2:30, but her pace brought her in over a minute per mile faster--2:14. She's ready to try it again! She's looking at the Leading Ladies Half Marathon in Spearfish Canyon. There may be some takers, now that we've got a growing group of runners. Congratulations Wife!

I did fine, not quite what I had hoped for, but about what I expected, same as what I did two years ago, about 1:41 for the half. I'll get better as the summer goes on (I hope).

We enjoyed staying in the Ryan cabin up near Terry Peak, especially the hot tub after the race. Sunday night, though, it snowed! Brother Jess and wife Rena showed up and we enjoyed lunch with them. Saturday we visited sister Renee and her son Dillon and the bunch at her house, who all went up Crazy Horse Monument for the Volksmarch.

I wonder if they're all still as sore as we are!

Happy Anniversary to Us

First we went to Spain, then to Kansas City, then to Sioux Falls (twice? three times?).  Today we went for a short run in Lake Herman State Park, then went to Howard, where we enjoyed lunch at Higher Grounds and then off to the Bechen farm.  It was also a good day for garage sales, and we picked up a little music box (pictured here), a 1963 model Wonderland Music Company radio-type thing that plays "It's a Small World" and has a little rotary-dial and a strap.  It works great!  A search of the internet didn't show me anything similar.  I hope nobody realizes it's the holy grail of Disney memoriablila and raids our house!  We'll entertain offers.  Send me a note if you find something, will you?  

Then we ate at our favorite Madison restaraunt, El Vaquero, to include a jumbo sangria which we shared, and then went to Pixar's new movie, "Up," a big pleasant surprise to both of us.  It was a great ending to our anniversary day.  

Thanks, Pixar!  Thanks too to the wife for six good years of married life.  

Thomas Jefferson Comes to Town

Friends the B's visited Monticello this spring and brought back some of Thomas Jefferson's legacy, a packet of corn poppy seeds (papaver rhoeas) that we're planting in our new flower beds in the back yard.  Thanks, Thomas.  Thanks, B's.  

Laying Tree Fabric

Last Thursday Joe B. called and asked if I'd like to lay tree fabric with them, so we set out with Wayne M. at 9:00 am and just 14 hours later we were heading home, the day done and gone.  

It was a good day; here's a photo of late afternoon, just south of Madison, with the fabric laid, the newly-planted trees in place with their protective barrier ready.  A dozen years from now these trees will probably be fifteen feet high.  

It might be the fabric day, or it might be the days moving sod in the yard, but I'm still sore.  Now for a long run!  

New Back Yard

Several days of effort have resulted in a new look for the back yard.  The dedicated rose gardens are gone, though most of the rose bushes are thriving in their new spots further north in the yard.  We took up the sod from the north side, where the old willow fell, and moved it to where the angular gardent was.  We took out two of the biggest, oldest apple trees; it was sad to see them go.  We've got one struggling survivor replacement apple tree from last year still hanging in there, and one new Honey Crisp sapling to augment our apple situation.  

Several of the lilacs I planted last summer along the east side are blooming this year, an amazing thing to me.  Today the lilacs are beginning to fade, but as you can see in the slide show here, the yard is looking healthy!  

Happy Memorial Day!  

Testing Simple Viewer

I'm trying out SimpleViewer from Airtight Interactive, a tool to create interactive photo slide shows, using a variety of photo editing tools such as Picasa3, which is what I used here. Check it out!

Hmm. Why isn't it loading the full pictures?

Yay! Fixed!

I Saved My Husband's Life (and his washboard abs)

Strange juxtaposition of ads on The NY Times, with Maureen Dowd looking on.  

Middle School Slamming

Today we showed up at Madison Middle School and led students through a quick, slam-bang poetry slam in an hour and a half, with a few minutes of training and examples, some writing and revising time, and mostly time for performing.  

I wasn't sure how it would go, but it was part of "May Madness," on the second to last day of school, and they got into it, cheering and booing and having a great time.  It rocked; it slammed.  

Poems ranged from curses on family members to odes to shoes.  The champion won with one poem on a peanut and another cursing someone for not sharing their pizza.  For that performance, he got to raise the slam belt pictured here.  

Baby We Were Born to Run

After long delay I finally finish my phrase from the Bruce Springsteen gala weekend--coming home with songs in our heads and two new pair of running shoes from Marathon Sports in Minneapolis, where the treat people right and offer a 20% (!) discount for members.   We're members now!  

We had a great time playing Settlers of Catan on Sunday night with Casey, April, and Chester, and we spent Monday poking around the city, taking in a jog, getting shoes (see above), and eating.  Then it was BRUUUUUUUUCE!  We were impressed with their playing "Good Lovin,'" never having played it before in concert.  Cool!  We wanted to have signs calling for "Part Man, Part Monkey," but we didn't get them made.  We did get to see one woman's huge pink Cadillac poster when she unfolded it at the restaurant and then later at the concert, and we saw her bouncing with joy when that song hit the playlist.  

Yesterday we both gave our new pairs of shoes a good workout by going for long runs (two plus hours!) in the final big run before the Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Half Marathon, June 7.  Nothing like a long run to poop a guy out.  Sunday it was TOO WINDY!  Today it was TOO HOT! Yesterday morning it was just right.  

Tramps Like Us

Springsteen was rockin' the house last night, and we were there!  St. Paul was appreciative!  Pics here.  

Powerful Pie

The wife put her talents to work on a German chocolate pie this evening, and it tasted just as good as it looks here.  She claims it was her first pie, from crust to filling.  She got in on a pie-making jamboree on Wednesday to prepare for the Derby Party at Miss Lynn's on Saturday (where we enjoyed mint juleps, a home-stretch sprint from Mine the Bird, and good company--then went to the theatre-people party and karaoke).  The assembled team made crusts galore and the wife came home with two she'd done herself, brimming with new pie-crust skills.  One became a quiche, the other this dandy.

We also enjoyed some delicious stuffed pork chops, asparagus, and sweet potatoes, cooked on the grill and enjoyed out on the porch, a perfect topping to the first day of finals.  

Makes me feel powerful, too!