Glendalough State Park

Greetings. This picture is from a little stream that connects Battle Lake to Glendalough State Park. Nicole is currently in my kayak; we switched halfway through the day to get a feel for how different our boats actually handle. We spent roughly 4 hours on water, ranging from idle streams like this to side winds of 15-20mph on larger lakes. We also took a brief lunch break on our boats at a pond. One of our snacks was Goldfish, we felt tempted to give them to the fish that were looking at us from the boats, but figured that wouldn't be the best.

Landscaping

Well, I thought we should post a picture of our front yard so we can show the progess that we'll be making towards additional landscaping. The front yard will be more of a "prairie" styled planting. Blanket flower, coneflower, black-eyed susans, sedum, big bluestem, and more will be planted over the next few weeks. Enjoy. Also, you'll notice my work vehicle parked in the driveway, isn't it nice!

Friendly squirrels

This picture is of a gray tree squirrel that we have had at our house. It was brought to the zoo by a gal that had been raising it at home. Nicole thought it would be a neat outreach animal to use, so she accepted it and was in the process of having the squirrel getting used to human contact. But... we thought we should try to release it and see if the squirrel would like climbing trees. He didn't need much coaxing to go exploring in our backyard. The first day he spent 20 minutes, then 4 hours, then an overnight stay. After returning for milk and fodd after that, he spent one night inside and has been out ever since (5 weeks now). It is easy to tell that he's still used to Nicole, he's not to bashful if there is food involved.

Fireworks

Hello again, it has been a little while since the last post. Last night Nicole and I went over to MSUM to see the fireworks show. It lasted about 20 minutes, which was good. We went with 3 other couples, the Hjelles, Mattison's, and Kosir's. Another plus for the day was having friends of ours, John and Sara Berge, stop in for a surprise visit on their way home. They got to stop in and see the house for a few minutes, so it was a brief, but fun time.