Karaoke

 I love karaoke I recently met a man who does it professionally and met with my friend Rick and I to show us his program.  It looks so much better than what we're using and I was overjoyed when I learned that he lived near me in Minnesota and could work with me over the summer months.

So the arrangement was made to come to the bar where he works on a Sunday to see how he operates this program. 

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I don't generally have much of a night life.  I tend to turn into a pumpkin shortly after the 5:00 news and crash early.  So to accomplish this meeting I needed to take a long nap in the afternoon and then go the the bar at 8:00...at night. 

I can't believe I'm really doing this!

I arrived early and had some incredible Rueben rolls while I waited for him to show up.

I met some interesting people there.  First was Vera and her daughter who were the loudest cheerers and made every singer feel like a rock star.

Then there was Steve Chuck-Norris, who apparently dresses all the time like this and had a name change in honor of Chuck Norris.

I met Gallagher, who is actually a good singer and published an album that I listened to on You-Tube on the way home.  It had a Seals & Croft vibe that I enjoyed.  He's talking to Neil in the photo below.

That's Neil, the kind man who is willing to train me on this program. He's so patient and might help me set up a karaoke night in my park when I feel ready so I can practice running it.

We stopped karaoke and all stood outside to watch the eclipse of the moon.

One of the singers naturally sang "the total eclipse of the moon" to honor the occasion.

Loved the sign in the bathroom.  

It was a pretty magical evening.  There might be something to this nightlife after all.

Long Live the Bar Hopping Karaoke Singing Queen

Water Water Everywhere

 

I guess when you live on the Mississippi River you have to expect these things, but it's the first time I've ever seen it like this. Last year the river was so low everyone was wishing for more rain.  Be careful what you wish for.

Our trailer is on the higher side and we're fine, but those in the lower levels had to get moved out.  We're hoping the river will crest soon and not come up any higher.

We just had a 50th wedding celebration in this cabana two weeks ago. There was a trailer there at the time.

This one didn't get out on time and we're hoping the river bank doesn't shift or it may go sideways and float down the river.

You can see people have been trying to stack things up to protect them.

We have a group of hard working men here who haul out the trailers and here they're cutting the power to the affected areas.

As you can see, they are being supervised.  Those supervisors look younger every year.

Good thing.  I wonder if that cord is plugged in to something.

Dean and Karen Ternus live here and they haven't yet arrived.

You might want to take a few days before you arrive, since the road to your area is closed right now. You have become an island.

People here take it in stride and here's a couple out for a kayak ride and gliding past the bench that normally is on the edge of the water.

Long Live the Water Queen

Now We're Cooking!

 While at Target picking up stuff that we needed for the RV, I came across a sale on all the grilling stuff.  We haven't grilled for years and suddenly I had a desire for grilled food, so I picked up a small gas grill and a bunch of accessories and a storage box to put them in.

When I got home I rearranged the outdoor seating to make space for a table to set it on and went to work assembling the grill.  I have no idea how to do this, but I'm sure Left Brain will be able to adapt from charcoal to gas once it's set up.

I put up the ivy behind the benches and installed the white wooden door and rack to make the entry way a little more attractive.  It's always fun to dig out my pretties and set them around the yard.

Then I decided the new seating area needed a rug, so another visit to Target and voila...it's complete.

I decided I didn't care for the white trellis I had between these two trees so I removed them and installed five black wire trellis in their place. These will hold up much better to the winter snow and wind.

The cat cage got a good cleaning and I added a welcome mat at the
bottom, a rug on the second level and a drying mat on the top so their little paws are more comfortable.  It's all about their comfort. Also the landings are old and disgusting looking, so this is a little upgrade.  I purchased a tarp to put on over it when it rains to keep everything dry and will use it when we are gone over the winter to protect it.

Bit by bit things are coming together and pretty soon I can think about actually playing and finding my pickleball people. 

Long Live the Queen of the Grill

Always Have a Plan B

Left Brain wanted to go for a convertible ride today so I suggested we stop at Linda's Café first for lunch as I was craving a Rueben and fries and they make the best Rueben!  It's usually so busy there so I was pleased to see lots of parking spots. Maybe they're closed?  Nope, the sign was flashing OPEN.  However, the sign on the door said they were closing at noon today.  Bummer.

Off to Plan B.  There's a little hole in the wall bar in Dayton that is said to have excellent burgers that we've wanted to try so we headed out in that direction. It was just a little greasy spoon with a very limited menu and we both got the burger & fries basket.  OMG! These are wonderful burgers!  Half a pound of hamburger hand patted from the Osseo Meat Market, a local market nearby.

It was a perfect day for a drive through the countryside and we were amazed at all the construction. Lots of single family homes at just under a cool million going up. It seems ridiculous to me to have these huge houses for a single family, unless they have a dozen kids but most families have only one or two.  Who can afford these?  Course, this from an old woman who lives in a shoe, er...trailer.  We've gotten so used to having small digs that I wouldn't know what to do with all that space.

Even with a tiny space it's amazing how much stuff a person collects. When the rain hits my plan is to take things out of the closet & cupboards and see what's in there, 'cause I can't remember.

Long Live the Queen of Plan B...and sometimes C

Stormy Weather

 We woke this morning to the gentle sound of rain pattering against the windows. Such a peaceful sound...for a while.

Then the winds came up, the sky turned dark and the tree tops were whipping back and forth.  Did I mention we have five trees on our property?

I was concerned about our awning so Left Brain brought it in for a while and then things started to settle down.  Nope.  Not over yet, now we have rain with a mixture of hail. I was starting to get a bit worried and wondering where does one go for safety in a trailer?

This is the inside view of the damage

Then the wind abated, the rain stopped and the sky got lighter again.  We fared very well, but this home owner didn't do as well.  The tree that fell pushed in their slide.

Here are some shots of the other tree that came down, luckily it landed right between two sheds.

This one landed right between the two sheds with no damage at all

They tied the tree to the truck to pull it off the trailer.
You can see how it pushed in the slide. Ouch.

This shows the back of the tree that landed between the two sheds

Long Live the Queen of Breaking Wind

It's For the Birds

 

The lady in red stands guard near the kitty condo

After a couple days of raking leaves the yard is cleaned up and
plants are starting to poke through the soil. The weather is still cool but perfect for outdoor work.

One of the first things I did was hang up all my bird feeders only to have a neighbor tell me we're not supposed to do that because of the Avian Flu.  Darn it!  I love feeding the birds and it's one of the best parts of coming to Minnesota.

But before I could get them taken down we had a visit from the pileated woodpecker.  I've never had one so close before. They are so big!

So all the bird feeders have been washed, cleaned with a bleach/water solution and stored away. Hopefully we can set them up again in June.  It's embarrassing when the bird feeders are cleaner than my house right now, but I can work on the inside when the rain comes.

There's one bright spot in the garden, one of the heuchera is up. It seems the yellow ones pop up first.  It's not much but sure is good to see a sign of spring.

Someone in the campground snapped a shot of this coyote going through the park. I guess we'll have them where ever we go.

We're enjoying nice weather right now and the rain is coming sometime tonight. Then it should get much warmer, but nothing like

Okay, it's actually a groundcover 
growing between two rocks.
Like I'd show you my bodacious
booty in a thong...get real.

my friends who are still in Arizona. Once the weather gets really warm I can rock my new thong!

Long Live the Queen of Birds

The Mice Won

 After washing every kitchen utensil I own I set it on the stove to dry overnight.  I took a much needed shower and went to park my tired tookus in my recliner to relax.  As I was bringing my soft fleece blanket up to surround my aching body a bunch of stuff shook out of it.  OMG!  It was white rice and little brown mouse turds.  Ewwh.  After shaking it out outside I dumped it into the laundry and took Left Brain's blanket, since he's always too warm anyway.

One more vacuuming job to get rid of that mess and then settled in to read until bedtime.

Now for the best part of the day, climbing into a nice bed with clean sheets and WTF!  There's something in here.  Kitty litter?  No, we just got here.  Wood ticks?  No, I'm sure that's not it.  Yech!  Mouse turds?  While silently screaming in my head I swiped the unknown particles from my bed and went back out to the recliner to read until my heart started to beat normally again.

The bed felt smooth and clean and in the morning I could see that it was more rice and while I couldn't see any little mouse turds, I'm sure they were in there.  The mice had the last laugh that day.  Left Brain later found a nest (thankfully not occupied) in the glove box of his car.  I haven't had the courage to look in mine yet.

Oh the joys of living in a campground.

Mouse?  What mouse?

Migrating to the North

 We took care of last minute details, packed up and then Paul Stack gave us a ride to Mesa Gateway for our flight to Minnesota. Everything went pretty well until it was time to take Gracie out of the carrier to be walked through the human scanner.  They need to run the carrier through the scanner for the other belongings and that would kill her.  She exited the carrier like a bronco coming out of the gate and it was quickly decided that she was too wild and they would do a private screening for her.  George, or course, being the gentlemen he is was no problem.  Once he was back in his carrier I got to go into the private room with Gracie. They took the carrier to be scanned and she walked around on top of the metal table, thinking it looked like the vets exam table and where was her good kitty treat?

We were assisted up the outdoor ramp to the plane with the assistance of nice young men who push everybody in a wheelchair up the steps. They allowed me to use the walker to get George and two other bags up the steep slope.  The attendants were awesome and grabbed the cat carrier as well as the heavy bag with the electronics for me.  I guess being old has its perks.

The lady doing the announcements was a hoot.  She took what is normally a boring reminder of all the safety rules and made it fun.  She stressed that all the bags must be on the floor.  "I know you all want to show off that nice Gucci bag, but we know it's fake...cause you're flying Allegiant"  "Be sure to kick your bag firmly under the seat, unless it contains a child or an animal.  "Please don't put gum on the tray tables...your neighbor's hair will work very nicely".  "We have a first time flyer today....and he's 98 years old!"  Much applause and then "let's hear it for our pilot!"  " If there's anything you can do that will make our flight more comfortable, please let us know"  "If you have any special requests, please write them on a $100 bill and hand it to the attendant".

The flight went smoothly and we landed in St Cloud about 9:30PM.  Stephanie & Ted had delivered the car earlier to the airport, complete with the requested litter box and litter.  We loaded up and headed to the motel in Big Lake for the night, which is about halfway to our trailer.  The cats examined every square inch of the room and I was pleased to see the bed had complete barriers so they couldn't hide underneath it. Makes it much easier to catch them when it's time to get back in the carrier.

In the morning we backtracked a couple miles to get a McDonald's breakfast to prepare us for the "set up".  There was a house key with the car key, so that made it easier to get in. Pete grabbed the key to the shed and we started dragging out the electric cords and water hoses.  Once we had electricity I went to work inside opening the slides. We were greeted with a puddle in the living room and the carpet on that slide was soaking wet. No water damage visible on the roof or walls, so not sure what happened there. We had to push the steps over just a tad to get the other slide to open and now it was time to bring the cats inside.

Pete worked on getting the water hooked up and had to deal with a leaky connection while I worked inside.  My first thing was to look for evidence of mice, even though I had all kinds of rodent repellant out everywhere.  It didn't take long to find signs they were partying in our absence.  I removed all the silverware the kitchen implements to be washed and cleaned out the drawers. 

Now it was time for the dreaded shopping trip.  I took off to Cub to avoid all the construction the other direction and filled up my cart with $380 worth of food.  Yikes. But when you are setting up you're basically starting from scratch.  Got this hauled in and put away and jumped into the shower for a much needed cleaning and put on my nice warm jammies. 

My last action was to set up the area around my chair, get everything plugged in and ready.  I'm in the home stretch now!  Then I picked up the blanket on my chair only to have a lot of rice and mouse poop scatter all over my nice clean floor.  I can't repeat the words that spewed out of my mouth...words a lady shouldn't say.  Course, I ain't no lady.

After vacuuming up the mess and shaking out the blanket to be put into the laundry.

Some things worked well.  Our new Verizon 5G internet box works lovely and all is good.

I thought that I had a mouse and mouse pad up here, so I didn't bring mine from home.  Ironically, now after getting rid of mouse droppings I need to go buy a mouse.

Tomorrow is another day and the weather is good working weather, so I'll start to tackle the yard and removing a lot of leaves, washing outdoor furniture and setting up bird feeders.  It's one way to get my steps in.  My focus is to get everything done this week so I can start in playing pickleball next week.

We're all pretty tired but happy to be in our Minnesota home.