Summer favorite

Our lilies are in bloom! Our stargazers are popping open right now.  They are my favorite flower and they only last about 10 days so I started snapping pictures yesterday while they look good.  We have a flower bed full of them in our yard.  Some of them are at least 2 1/2 ft tall!

A creative solution

After the storm ripped through Dayton we were left with some rough looking sweet corn in our garden.

In this mess there are about 50 corn stalks and only a handful were left standing.  None of them were ripped out of the ground though so Jason and I came up with a creative solution.

We put stakes on both ends of each row and ran clothesline around the base of the plants to hold them upright.  It doesn't look too appealing, but they're standing! 

Now they had better produce corn, or else!

Mother nature's after party

We were lucky Saturday afternoon, the storms seemed to go around us while we were all hanging out at the park.  That wasn't the case for the ride home.  As we were driving back to Dayton we turn on the radio and hear another round of storms is moving in.  All of the sudden the rain came pouring down while we were on the highway.  The sky turns a weird shade of yellow.  Jason could barely see so we got off the highway and planned to wait it out in the car...until the car started shaking!  So we booked into a nearby liquor store...only to hear there was a possible tornado in Dayton! So now we have no idea what condition our house is in...

Don't get too worried, I took these pictures after the rain had calmed down and we were back in the car.

I got some pretty crazy pictures from the passenger side window.  The sky was constantly changing color because it was all happening around sunset.  We even saw a double red rainbow.

So we finally get to our road and see this...part of a tree snapped and was in the road.  This is our neighbors tree, so we're thinking the worst.  We get to the house and to our surprise - no damage.  A mess of branches and leaves in our yard, our sweet corn was knocked down, but other than that - nothing.  We lucked out.  Later we found out winds were whipping through Dayton at 65mph, but there was no confirmed tornado. 

Then it all cleared up, just like that.

A true MN celebration

Our wedding celebration continues!  Jason and I are fortunate enough to have great friends who threw us a party in the park to celebrate our marriage.  It was a true Minnesota day spent at Medicine Lake with friends that couldn't make it to our wedding in Upstate NY.

And it wouldn't be a true MN party without a ton of tasty food and severe weather warnings lol.  First the food - all sorts of treats and goodies were hauled in.  The crowd of two dozen could have easily survived a week out of all the stuff packed into coolers and grilled up.  From the usual burgers and brats to the unusual peanut butter bacon rice krispie treats - we had it all.

As for the weather, well, just about every other day we get some sort of severe weather warning around here.  Saturday was no different.  Everyone had their iphones out playing meteorologist to see where the storm was headed, fortunately it went around us with just a few drops of rain.

Perfect weather for a volleyball game.  Part of the group knocked around a volleyball for a bit before heading home.

All in all, it was a great day! Our thanks to Shannon and Dave for everything!

Craigslist entertainment

While Jason was surfing around the other day he came across some interesting Craigslists ads, you have to check these out, they're hilarious.

Mr. Ducky

This posting is about "MR. DUCKY." He is a horrible monster of a duck.  Anything moving in the yard that is non-duck, he attacks. He attacks raccoons. He attacks dogs. He attacks cats. Now he even attacks full grown humans, galloping around the yard with clipped wings like some sort of maniac.  So this is my ad. If you want a duck that will scare/maim/fight any animal that might be threatening your flock, MR. DUCKY is the craziest damn duck I have ever seen in my entire life.  He is a great guard duck. I have a newborn son that I want to have ten fingers growing up. $40 OBO, MR.DUCKY. Upon pickup, feel free to observe his behavior. He is one-of-a-kind.

Orange popsicles

Okay, it's Craigslist. One day you can have free fill dirt (you haul), the next day it's tons of moving boxes all in good shape.  Well, today it's orange popsicles (all in good shape, you haul).

A regular box of popsicles includes cherry (my favorite), grape (so-so) and orange. I don't like the orange ones. I'm a grown-up and I don't have to eat them if I don't want to. On the other hand I can't bring myself to throw them away.  I currently have a bunch of orange popsicles in my freezer. If you want them,, let me know.

If you are paranoid about them, you probably shouldn't be looking for free things on Craigslist in the first place. However, keep in mind they are all "factory sealed" and whoever takes them probably isn't going to end up on the 6:00 news because they were poisoned to death by orange popsicles.

Ah, the things you can find on craigslist....

Inspired by Wimbledon?

Recently Jason and I have taken up tennis.  I don't know if we are inspired by the people grunting away at Wimbledon or what, but we went out and bought some cheap tennis rackets and have been playing semi-regularly at a court near our house. 

For months we'd pass the court and say, 'we should really try tennis sometime.'  The thought usually fades as fast as we say it, but for some reason when Jason said it again a few weeks ago we really did something about it. 

Now, I've never played a game of tennis in my life - not for fun or even in a gym class - never.  Jason, who seems to know how to play every sport well, is attempting to teach me.  Aside from the screwy scoring system where zero points is called 'love' -  I'm getting the hang of it.  Now let's see how long we stick with it....

Place your bets

This weekend we went to bet on the ponies!  We went down to Canterbury park, about an hour from our house.  We picked up a friend of ours on the way and spent the afternoon watching the horses race.  Fortunately you can bet as little as a dollar on a horse, and that's about what we do lol.  Basically we bet on names we like, that's our high tech system.   It seems to work for me, I left with $25 more than I brought so I consider that successful.  It made for a great day trip.

Grow veggies grow

I'm happy to report the garden survived our two and half week absence.  Jason had set up an elaborate watering system to make sure the garden didn't dry out while we were gone...well, it turns out it rained 16 out of the 19 days we were gone.  It was the most rain we've ever had in June, which figures.  Some of the plants were a little waterlogged but everything survived and is growing like crazy.

We've picked peas and strawberries so far. It's our first year with strawberries and apparently the bunnies felt entitled to help themselves.  We had to put up some rabbit fence to keep them out.  On top of the berries we got out of our garden, I went to a local farm and picked a few more.  Well, a lot more.  I wound up making a ton of jam.

Outdoor concert

The other night a few of us went to see an outdoor concert.  It was actually the same outdoor concert that we did a live newscast for.  The event is called Music in Plymouth, it brings in four local bands and the MN orchestra to play at the city's outdoor amphitheater.  After our newscast some of us decided to stick around and check it out.  The event has been around for 38 years and it has certainly grown.  What started as a small get-together has turned into 'the event' with more than 15,000 people coming out each year.

We stuffed ourselves full of greasy food and listened to the bands, but I have to say it is a little too popular for me.  There are people EVERYWHERE.  You can tell I took this picture of the food stands early on!  A busy place, but all in all, a good night.

Newscast on wheels

Watch out, 12 News is on tour!  We're doing live newscasts in several different cities this summer, and when we come to town you know it.  We roll in with a fleet of vehicles.  Our most recent stop took us to Plymouth, known for its annual summer concert.  The anchors, Jen and Mike (seen below) kick off the show.

It takes quite a team of people to put on a live show.  We're only on the air for 25 minutes, but there are at least a dozen people working behind the scenes to make sure everything goes according to plan.  The fleet of vehicles supply power for all our electronics - and believe me we have a ton of electronic gadgets.

John and Shannon are 'roving' around the event.  John is doing sports and Shannon did a live trivia game.  

Think of it as state fair coverage, where the reporters have a little fun.  We'll do six of these live newscasts this summer, we've got three more to go!

We're ready to go back!

We really liked Hawaii, we liked it so much we thought about looking at housing prices lol.  It was a gorgeous place to visit.  The weather is always sunny and 85 degrees, and the scenery is perfect.  We had a wonderful trip and can't wait to go back ... but there is nothing like the comforts of home either.  

Here's just a few more odds and ends of pictures from the honeymoon....