the remaking of a kitchen

it remains cold here, but we are doing well. i guess we just get accustomed to it, but i still have to complain when it really happens each year!
tomorrow in lieu of having thanksgiving guests we are driving south and will have leftovers and dessert with dick and judy. we will drive on after that to go to see the red do their thing on friday. we believe!

Labels: cold, red, south

no pictures today. just a report of more cold cold weather and a bit of snow on the ground this morning. i cleared the driveway, but it was not necessary. since we do not like to drive on the snow and have it turn into ice....so, that won't happen today! it isn't just me, the newspaper says that this november is running 10 - 15 degrees below the norm. not hard to believe that!!
my book club met again on thursday evening, and i am going to enjoy getting to know these women. it was a tough book...."those who save us". two of the women members had family history they shared that related to the story and it was very emotional. we won't meet again until january, and the book is not chosen at this time. it's such an interesting group since the majority of the women have children in high school or college and they work full time, and most of them travel with their work. one other woman and i are retired and of course not working.

Labels: book club, cold, snow

i looked out the back windows a few minutes ago and saw a city truck and then noticed a workman at the bottom of the ramp over highway 100. i soon realized he was adding fencing to block access to what was once the sidewalk area behind our houses. this should put a stop to bike riders skidding along on top of the newly planted grass.
the grass is coming up....and it looks healthy! it should be great next spring!
i think this is the final step to finishing our end of the pathway!

Labels: asphalt path, bike riders, grass, sidewalk

it rained off and on yesterday, anything from a mist to a torrent. it must have continued through the night and when i got up this morning....NOT at the crack of dawn, i found this. it's quite beautiful and not enough to cause any problems for drivers. i took the photos before the white stuff disappeared. it won't last long. i found out from gary that this isn't really our first snow.....there was similar amount on the sunday we were driving to colorado. so i guess this goes down as the first snow of the season that we have enjoyed!
as it cools this evening, and if there is still moisture coming down we may see a similar sight tomorrow morning.

Labels: first snow

i am still recovering and trying to catch up on the news from tuesday. i ended up working an 18 hour day. that is really too many hours for me. our precinct was terrific.....very organized and calm. we had a long line of voters waiting when we opened the polls at 7, but we handled it well and everyone seemed happy. the line moved along nicely, and we diverted the unregistered voters and got them to the right table so they could register and get on with voting. we made sure that the others were in the right precinct and if they weren't sent them in the right direction.
for some reason we had two men from st louis park try to vote with us. the one knew the number of his precinct and the building where it was located. i drew him a map of its location and really hope he found it. i confess to being severely directionally challenged. don just looked at me and laughed when i told him i drew a map.
everything went smoothly....a few extra things made a slight slowdown toward the closing time. we had 245 absentee ballots, and one had an issue so that was a problem. 4 of us, i and the other co-chair and the two absentee judges worked together to open and straighten the ballots and count them, sort and count the envelopes them arrived in and just get them organized. they were put through the computer/counter, but not until the polls closed. due to this at the end of the evening it took longer to get everything packed and put back together.
we got to city hall, then had to talk to the staff and check everything in and have a clear count. by the time paul and i left it was 11:45, and that meant we had worked an 18 hour day! way too long!!

these are my pins that signify what i see as the answer to many of the problems our country is facing. i wore two of them today along with my obama t-shirt. i would love to wear them tomorrow also, but instead i'm working at our local precinct and i cannot show my colors there. all the election judges are neutral that day.....half of us are republicans and the other half democrats, but we can't let anyone know that tomorrow. we don't talk politics among ourselves either. as soon as i get home after the polls close and we get the information to city hall (that may be 10 or 11) i'm putting on that shirt again, and sharing some champagne with the neighbors! it will be a glorious celebration!!

Labels: election judge, obama shirt, pins

we had a nice trip.....we left later in the day than we hoped as i had a ticket to attend a pen pals event. by coincidence the author of our edina reads project, alexandra fuller was speaking. we rode to the hopkins center for the arts in a school bus and sat with members of the high school book club who had also read the book. it was fun to visit with the students, and the speaker was amazing. think growing up in africa, marrying a cowboy and living in wyoming and being a blazing liberal. what a hoot.
we drove off to nebraska and arrived just after 10 pm. we fell into bed and got up early enough to get to a parking lot at 9 to ride another bus to the stadium. it was a beautiful day, and we won which helped matters immensely. we were able to sell our tickets to another game we can't attend. we rode the bus back to the lot after the game and were amazed at how easily we got on the freeway going west. we arrived at kari's and brian's in time to eat with them. had a DELICIOUS chili followed by a great mixed berry pie ala mode.
the kids entertained us, and we did some reading and game playing with them. don even earned the appellation of grandpa from bennet!
the picture of brennan is fun, but i wish i'd gotten the one of the red kool-aid going through the straw and glasses. pretty funny. kelsey is sharing her musical talent with us playing a cello that is just her size. ben showed me his room and the picture of bo nose on the wall. the reason bennet is not pictured is that he was taking a nap during the photo ops. grandpa gary has them well supplied with various posters and photos.
it was fun to see their house and meet jerry and winston....and for breakfast we were able to eat the overnight french toast dripping in fattening, yummy goodies.
then we were off to colorado to spend a night with patrick. had dinner at the morrison inn that night, and had a good visit. the next morning it was uphill to jewlee's and sam's. the house is even nicer than shown in the photos. very victorian and sweet. the colors are just right. we had two nights there in the ice palace inn, then back to patrick's for another night before heading home. we were able to get home in time to greet our few trick or treaters. the good news was that we had a few neighbors who came over for conversation and wine. that may happen again on tuesday night with a bit of champagne!! think positive!

Labels: colorado, football, football tickets, kari

several weeks ago we had a meeting with two of the city engineers, the head of parks and rec and the city forester. we were talking about our noise concerns as the path caused the removal of a large portion of the berm outside our fence. various solutions were mentioned, and the decision was to plant at least one tree, possibly three, and several shrubs to the former to fill in the area and the latter to delineate the path and to keep traffic off the former sidewalk area. we did serve donuts and coffee, but surely that was not an influence! :) they mentioned the possibility of bringing a catalog to us so we could choose what we wanted planted, but i thought that would not happen.
they re-shaped the berm so that the former sidewalk area was not as appealing as a walkway, and came down at a lesser angle toward our trees and fence. they also put in a rock retaining wall and an "eyebrow" to shape the area where a tree would go. AND they brought us a bachman's catalog from which to choose the shrubs. amazing. they had suggested burning bushes and i liked the idea til i realized they would grow to be 8X8! i called the company to see if they had smaller ones and they checked various locations to find 3 of them for us that will grow to 3X3. we also chose other shrubs that will turn color in the fall, but a gold/orange instead of the brilliant red. there is a grass planted between them.
they came and planted the tree and shrubs for us just prior to our leaving for the baylor game and colorado, so we weren't able to water them until today. don reconnected the hose and turned on the water and i stood outside and watered them all for 3 - 5 minutes so they got a good soaking. hopefully we will get some rain one of these days too!
oops, the picture on top to the far right is actually my little green japanese maple in her fall colors. (she lives inside the fence)

Labels: asphalt path, city engineers, city of e, shrubs, trees