Saints Alive!!

Alot been going on for me these past couple weeks. Received a call from Healthpartners about a possible job opening. They are opening a new clinic on 40 something Chicago and so did a phone interview with them. Then Park Nicollet called me about 2 openings at 28 to 32 hours which is doable. Did the same with them and they asked me out for a face to face. Very positive except my mouth went dry which makes it hard to talk but my answers were right on and they ended it with a nickel tour. Really hopeful even though it's in Eagan.
Then Karen called me about her summer "bucket list". She needed to go to a Saints game so we went Friday night. Had a blast and they won in the 11th inning. Tried to get a pic with the mascot (that would make 3 different ones so far) but so many kids there. The only "downer" was two kids behind Karen and myself. One was a preteen that must be a die-hard fan screaming through every hit and singing through every song in between innings and a 5 yr-old behind me occasionally kicking my backside. We took a break to get a hot dog and frozen lemonade and got back just in time for the 7th inning stretch and the preteen doing the macareena song. Unfortunately I didn't have any Ritalin with me. All in all we really had fun, parking was very easy to maneuver with all the tail-gaiters and the firewords were something beyond fantastic and that's putting it mildly. Enjoy the pics!

scoreboard in the 1st

tail-gaters

mascot pigs

Gert the Flirt

Welcome to the 21st Century

We finally had to get rid of our last car (1993 Ford CV) and head into the 21st Century. As some people do we got on Craig's List and spent about two weeks looking at Ford CV's because that is what we always have had and we liked the way they ran, etc. Then our mechanic son Daniel came over one evening and we asked his opinion since there weren't alot of Ford CV's out there and he said to look at the Honda CRV's. He said they have very low maintenance issues and they hold their value well. So we took a huge leap and branched out and found one on Craig's List after looking for 3 weeks and testing out some not so nice ones with too high a price. The one we bought is a 2003. It was owned by a retired teacher in Edina who never had kids or pets and did not smoke. She kept it in her garage in intrepid weather and it only had 71,500 miles on it. She had bought a new CRV and was selling this one. We had our mechanic look it over and he said everything was as she said. Fairly new tires and brakes and she told us she had the oil changed that morning. I felt like it was a real steal even though she wouldn't budge on the price. I didn't care because she was below the Blue Book value for it and it was immaculate inside and out except for a couple dings from car doors. The final exchange of keys brought tears to her eyes. I know I'll feel the same when I resell it someday.

Frank Sinatra Said It All

 Last weekend we took a day trip and went to Chicago. We headed downtown on the train.




Blues Bros gift shop at Chicago Airport

Downtown Marquee

skyline of Chicago

This was an apartment on top and a car
port on the bottom

tour boat on the Chicago River

We escaped the heat in this library entrance

I wasn't as impressed by those who sing songs about the city but did find that there were some good pictures to get out of the experience which is basically where I'm at with most things these days. The weather was so hot we could have fried just about anything on the sidewalk. People were everywhere including pigeons, which I abhor! Michael wants to take me back but I'm not sure about going again. Walking is not my forte and to see places and things you really need to be open to walking to most places. We also just took the day which really isn't enough to do much of anything. We headed back to the airport and took an early flight back because of the heat. Enjoy the pictures though. I thought they turned out fairly well.

Frank Sinatra Said It all

Another year of fireworks

Haven't blogged for a bit. July 4th was our usual grilling, having the family over for dinner minus David and Venessa. They always go north which considering the weather was probably a very wise choice and of course her parents live there. We added a friend of Daniel's with her little boy. He was like a busy bee buzzing all around my house but his mom was very good at watching him and I shared my pinwheel with him (I use it to scare the wildlife off of my raspberries) and happened to have some popsicles in the freezer. He also loves dogs and enjoyed Bandit. Finished out the evening at Byerlys watching the Edina firewords from the parking lot. Just enough fun for all. Always a little bittersweet with the memory of my dad who died 6 years ago on the 3rd. One pic will suffice for this story since it's not my favorite holiday.

Since July 4th was kind of a bust, I will only add a few comments. It wasn't at a cabin or a location out of town. Had dinner with the fam'. Daniel brought a friend over with her 18 month old. Cute as a button and he loved Bandit. My mom wasn't as comfortable probably because he was VERY busy. However his mother chased after him all afternoon and she had to admit it was a very controlled situation. We all had the usual ribs, hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill and watched the Edina fireworks from Byerlys parking lot as we do every year. It is a great spot and not to crowded. One pic will suffice: