Weekend at the Lake

 Sauk was nice to do one last weekend at the lake. It felt like fall with all the willow leaves down and less leaves on the tree for coverage. 

I floated Saturday in the green water. Most of the weeds close to shore were at least dead. Which I had cleared other weekends. Farther out was super weedy. 

Steve and I cut down that huge tree stump by the big tree that was in the way of getting the boat turned out of the driveway. That's gone. The one project we wanted to do. Didn't cut any other trees, but figured out we need a ladder next time we are up in the spring to take down more tree limbs. Especially on the beach, so the branch isn't over hanging our tents! 

View from the kayaks. 

I didn't fish, but Steve did and got one bite and that was it. Hardly any fish in the lake! Its not like it used to be with all the big northerns!!

Great 80+ weather, with zero wind. Super calm and just nice! 

Did a little ham mocking too. We cooked steaks on the grill and had crepes for breakfast. Yum!

Sunday, we wanted to leave early to watch the Viking game at Back Water Brewery in Shoreview. Very crowded, but we got a great spot inside /shaded and still was outdoors with the windows/doors all open. Vikings won 4 - 0 now and then drove home to see part of the Chiefs game where they also won and are 4-0 too. Maybe we will go to the Super Bowl against the Chiefs? They are down a good player Rice, with an injury. 

A nice over all weekend with a few more 80*F degree days left this week too! 

80 degrees!, Zero!!!

 Zero new polyps for my colonoscopy! That was good news to hear. I've had a total of 5 in the past 8 years. So it was nice to get a clean scan! I still have to go every 5 years. I was hoping it would be 10, but I guess with my father's history of dying of colon cancer, its best to keep on top of it and not have issues! The worst part is drinking that stuff, which wasn't too bad this time. As for the procedure itself, the IV was hurting/stinging a bit for my liking. I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the back yard hammock since it was 80*F. Beautiful day! 

It's back to work today, but this afternoon, I'm going for a bike ride to enjoy the 80 temps and also going to hammock. Maybe I'll actually load up the bike and go somewhere to bike? They are almost done with the new bike trail that connects to the trail behind our house. They put tar down and I think all they need to do is sod or seed the grass and it will be open? Will it be done this weekend? I'd love to bike down it today! I'm ready for a new route to take my ebike! Which reminds me, I need to charge up my bike!! 

Zoey relaxing in the fall sun

Fall bike ride in Hastings. 

off to the races!

 We were off to the horse races last night with old neighbor friends along with Celina and Don. We stopped at a roof top bar, had a drink or two along with some really good shrimp meal. We got to the races a little late and missed the first two horse races, but still had 6 other's to bet on with $2 min to Place, show or win. I mainly choose place, but did win $7.40 total for the night. 

Steve was the fun lucky winner for the MN Lottery horse race, as his #3 horse came in first. It won us $50 in scratch offs and Jon along with Steve got a MN Lottery swag bag with a mug, T-shirt and blanket. Nice! The $5 scratch-offs only amounted to $15 total. Celina won the most $10 and Jon/Mollie got the $5 dollar winner. I think we all won some and lost some. We also saved on admission that was $10 each, getting in free! Made for a fun night with great weather too! 

I curled my hair and did a little cutting to chop off the ends! 

My hair was getting far too long and the ends were sooo dry! I probably cut at least 3"! 

My hair actually stays curled now that its all been colored at some point. My hair was always too healthy before to hold curls! Glad that's not the issue anymore. I also touched up my hair color roots around my face. 

Tried a new St. Paul Bakery, So Yen. Sooo delicious!! They were cream filled and very light. Just wish the strawberry one would have had cut up strawberries or a whipped cream flavored strawberry. They were a bit spendy at $5 and $7 for the chocolate one. 

Such a cute shop next to the Farmers Market

We also stopped in at the farmer market and grabbed some big tomatoes for stuffing and some acorn squash. 

Friday_ Fun Day!

 Steve and I had a fun afternoon of Kayaking on Lake Marion in Lakeville. Steve did a little fishing while I paddled so he could troll. I wanted to check out the bridge that goes under the highway. It was a bit of a paddle against the current, but in all an easy trip there and back. 

I got to enjoy the ride on the way back! 

It was a nice 83*F fall /late September day. This might be our last out on the water? 

Last of the season!!

 We went boating on the St. Croix river yesterday afternoon for the last time of the season. It was a nice 84*F day, kind of cloudy. The water was pretty chilly, but we still floated in the water. 

Kind of sad to see us move into fall/winter! We have a few more days of 80 degree temps left this September! 

 

The moon was really big on Tuesday night. We drove down the road to get a better look and take some photos. Of course my cell camera isn't the best. 

Weekend in Lanseboro!

 We had a nice weekend in Lanesboro. Our main reason to go was to Kayak on Saturday down the root river. 

I'll have to post photos later. 

We Set up camp at Eagle cliff campground. Which was new to us. We don't rally like campgrounds but wanted to try somewhere new. They also offered transportation to drop us off and we could get out with our kayaks right at the campground, kayaking past our tent! 

We tried out the new cots with the single layer air mattress on top. It was smaller than our regular queen air mattress. Plus, between the plastic of the cot mattress and the full size mattress it would rub every time you moved and made a crunching noise. We figured out that putting a thin blanket between the two eliminated that noise, but not until after night two and we were ready to pack up! I'll get a bigger mattress for the top too and have more room to move! Let's just say, it was not the restful sleep I wanted! Didn't really save much time either since we had to still blow up one mattress, but up higher off the ground which was a plus! I do like the extra storage for stuff under the bed like putting shoes there. 

We kayaked from 11 to 3pm, the other trip would have been 5 hours. Maybe next time?  We brought a small cooler and then a bag of snacks. We really didn't eat all that much. 

Friday we went to a brewery after setting up our tent. We just had the food truck pizza that was pretty raw and small. Then picked up pie from the pizza place that was just okay. 

We did have a nice fire that night and the neighbors sprayed a fogger, so no bugs for us! We actually stayed out pretty late at the fire. Still had 2 leftover sticks of purchased wood. 

We went out to dinner to get Prime rib Saturday night after a stop in the afternoon at a brewery in Lanesboro. Ate and then came back and went into the tent. It had rained a little on and off and everything was wet/dew covered.  Our neighbors were up and playing weird loud music till quiet time, 10pm. Only downside of campgrounds! It still wasn't bad listening to others. Entertainment! 

Packed up and came home by noon. Just in time to watch the Vikings and Chiefs win! I should have enjoyed the 85 degree weather, but when you're not at the lake, it felt HOT! Probably should have taken the boat to the river. 

This week till Thursday will be nice in the 80's and then rain, but still 80 until the weekend and it will rain every darn day. Guess that's our plan is to be home!

Perfect tent spot!!

Jodi

 My good childhood friend passed away on Tuesday, September 10th. Addiction is a terrible thing and took her far too soon. While I didn't have much or really any contact with her since high school I thought of her often.  8 years ago in the fall, we were messaging of FB and then we ended up talking on the phone for about 2 hours catching up. It was good to hear her voice. I came across a few photos from HS and sent them to her via FB in 2022, so we had a small amount of contact and then that was it. While she said to stop by in Albertville where she was working at the outlet mall and lived, I never wanted to stop. I had known since age 20 that she was more interested in drinking than just about anything else. Not what I wanted to do or hang out with. I feel bad for saying that, but we had different lives. We had a H.S reunion where she looked so good and healthy finally. She had gained a lot of weight right after H.S from all the drinking, but had surgery about 10 years ago to lose the weight. She looked like she was getting her life on track via photos. Always so pretty, happy to see you and a wonderful happy personality.

 It was such a shock when I noticed her sister's post yesterday afternoon that she had died. I saw her mom's post a few days ago and wasn't sure what was going on. I would have never thought the posts were cryptic message about her in the hospital fighting for her life. I'm guessing from posts I've read from others it was liver failure. She had to kids a boy and girl. I think they are in H.S or one might have graduated. Still young to lose their mom. I'm pretty sure she was divorced, but looked like living maybe with a boyfriend from photos. 

Jodi you weren't supposed to die so young my friend, 56 forever now. 

This is how I'll always remember you. Back in 1986 forever young... 

I met Jodi when I was in 5th grade going into 6th.  She and her brother would be waiting for their mom to pick them up from summer school. We were both their late because I had to either walk or roller skate home, but instead I would go to our family friend house down the road from the elementary school to play with Jennifer their 4/5 year old daughter instead of going home. We had the same teacher in 6th grade and she quickly became friends with me and my other friends. Jodi made lots of good friends over the years. She was just that friendly person that had a big group of friends. We moved down the street from her when I was in 8th grade. Rode the bus together and hung out all the time, mostly at her house. We'd swim all day long in the summer at Schultz lake walking back and forth to each other's houses before we could drive. We worked together at Holiday for a year and then came graduation and we drifted away. 

First Ken/Stephen my first BF died a few years ago at age 52, now Jodi at 56. I'm losing good friends. Another 2nd grade childhood friend died in her 40's. All too young... Never would I have thought they would be one of the firsts in our graduating class to die. We've had 2 others, but that's it. Also another girl down the road that was a grade older and taught me baton died really young. All these people I used to know gone sooo early. We are all supposed to live to 80 or beyond.  I always think after a death, who will be next? I would have never imagined any of it being my good friends. 

56 is the number!

 I hate getting older now. My body is feeling it! Or is it still the injury from July? Yep that too! 

I had a wonderful long weekend with Steve Celina and Logan  and of course Don too. We drove out to Milwaukee on Thursday after working in the morning with just Logan and the car packed with camping stuff and all his clothes. What we couldn't fit in our car Celina and Don took with them. It all worked out as we got all his stuff and things he forgot to his apartment. Senior year in college with graduation in May!! 

Steve and I stayed the night in Logan's apartment on an air mattress in his living room. It's pretty quiet there. We cleaned it since it had gotten pretty dusty over the summer. Purchased some supplies he needed for the year, but saved the food buying till yesterday. We also sprayed peppermint oil and got some raid to get rid of spiders and crawling bugs. There wasn't that many thankfully, but any bug is too many. Steve also sealed up all the cracks with white caulking in the bathroom and his bedroom. We purchased an under the door strip for his bedroom and installed that. Got him a new shoe rack and another bar for hanging up clothes in his closet and hung up a few pictures and posters. 

The next day, we headed to Door county and meet Celina and Don at the Winery before heading to the campground. We mostly cooked our own food, but did eat a few meals out on my Birthday BBQ and then a few drinks at Breweries/ Wineries then a dinner out in Milwaukee last night followed by more drinks. 

Door county was nice and the weather perfect! We couldn't have asked for a better family vacation other then to have Kendra, Paul, Evan and Madelyn with us. 

Here are a few photos, which I'll have to add later. Internet is not connecting!! grrr..