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Yesterday, with a big snowstorm promised, I rushed to get through some errands. It was starting to snow, the gritty sort that stings your face. When the temperature hovers around freezing, we get the gritty kind. This is sometimes preceded by freezing rain then sloppy snow as the temperature drops. As the temperature continues to… Continue reading An Incoming Snowstorm

I had left the bright sunshine and blue sky that often follows a Minnesota snowstorm and entered the shadow of a corporate building. I walked past a snow shovel propped up at the entrance to a park in front of the corporate building. A worker had shoveled the entire path through the park. This was… Continue reading Walking With Attitude Through Cancer Survivors Park

There are things I have had to do that I’ve only done because my nephews are part of my life. Changing diapers, geocaching, and metal detecting quickly come to mind. Changing diapers is what it is. The little one does what he has to do, then I do what I have to do. Both jobs… Continue reading Seven Metal Detectors

It’s 1906. A man looks down from his perch high above a rail yard and the flour mills it serves. The caption for the stereograph simply reads “Huge flour mills where grain crops are made into food for the world, Minneapolis, Minnesota.” From our temporary Minneapolis Mill District home, a rented condominium, I love to… Continue reading Perches Above a Rail Yard

On a freezing February day in Minnesota, it feels good to think about upcoming travels to warmer places. Today, I’ve been assembling digital and print maps. As usual, my winter trip has several phases, each with its own mapping requirements. The trip starts in the Florida Keys and culminates in a walk from one side… Continue reading Mapping My Next Travels

Two blocks from our home in the Minneapolis Mill District, on a dead-end side-street, there’s a single-family home that is decidedly different. Some people call it the Hogwarts House; others call it the Arundel House. I love to stand outside the house and spot fantastical architectural elements, including the wizardly dormer in the photo at… Continue reading Beyond the Hogwarts House

December 26, 2017, United Airlines 5637, MSP–SAN. The two women in the AB seats in our row had two dogs on their laps for the entire flight. They stowed two collapsible kennels in an overhead bin. United Airlines charges $125 per pet brought on board, and it has to be stowed under a seat in… Continue reading Freakin’ Cheap: How to Fly with a Pet Without Paying Fees

Today, a jet boat brought us back to a world with Internet and roads. Three days earlier I maneuvered our rental car along a narrow, winding road, avoiding recent rockfalls. At Pipiriki, New Zealand, a jet boat came to take us up the Whanganui River, through a vertiginous gorge, to the Bridge to Nowhere Lodge. Thursday… Continue reading Snapshots: Whanganui National Park