Fred's Minnesota Blog

An orchid, a gift from Fritz and Patricia

Another of Kathleen's orchids

The Deck before:

While Kathleen’s foot is better, we still did not feel comfortable going on an adventure this Friday. So we stayed home and worked around the house. Fred worked on the deck, cutting back the plants and stripping it before straining it.

Fred at work,




Fred's helpers,


Any excuse to use the power washer,


All done but before putting the grill and chair back,

Kathleen supervised. We worked in the garden and did a multitude of small jobs around the yard.

Invasion of the Zuchinni

Gerardo’s Zucchini and cucumbers are growing very well. We have enough to eat and more than enough to give to friends, neighbors and anyone else who wants them. We have nice tomatoes but they are all still green.

Our adventures for Friday, July 22nd were cancelled. Kathleen had an accident and broke the small toe on her right foot Thursday afternoon. She will not be walking much for the next few weeks. We really do experience bad things in threes, we should never have tried to pawn off a store closing as a major happening in our lives.

Our weekend was very busy even without a Friday adventure. Fritz came to St. Paul with Patricia for a Secretary of State’s conference.




They were able to visit most evenings while they were in Minnesota. Kate and Gerardo took Fritz and Patricia to picturesque Stillwater on Sunday to see Cesare’s restaurant. Sharon, they took the picture for you.


Kathleen’s Battle Creek friend, Delores and her sons, Bob and Patrick, stopped in to visit on Sunday.

The stars have finally aligned in Minnesota. For the people who knew us in Michigan, from time to time Kathleen and I would seem to have a series of three disasters one after another. We would grit our teeth and work through them. We have not had the same experience here in Minnesota, so we have become quite complacent. This week we have been making up for lost time. Oh, where to start.

This Friday adventure was to be chosen by Kathleen. The plan was to take in the sights at Maple Grove days, which had been widely publicized. Getting dressed up to walk in the heat we arrived just after noon on Friday. Not many cars Fred said. While Maple Grove days run from July 14th to the 17th, Kathleen had not read the very small print that there were no activities on the 15th except indoor ones for teenagers.
We quickly changed plans and headed off towards Tuesday Mornings, one of Alicia’s favorite haunts. We were unhappy to find that it was closed for restocking. We ended up at the Ridgedale Mall doing Christmas shopping only to find that Eddie Bauer Home Store is closing. We then headed home to dinner out with Kate and Gerardo. Gerardo wanted to go Timberlodge, which was not all that great, the food was barely passable, and the air conditioning was not working very well.

Saturday morning we found that our air conditioner would not run. This was the hottest day of the summer in the middle of the third longest heat wave in Minnesota history. Saturdays are of course ‘big clean’ days and this upset our schedule something terrible. We were done by noon with the clean and the temperature inside the house had risen from 75 degrees to 82 degrees while the outside temperature was up to 96 degrees. Fred’s friend, Pete Jensen, stopped over with some tools and it became apparent quite quickly that the motor starting capacitors had burned out. Of course it was afternoon by this time so most places were closed. Fred finally found some capacitors at a surplus junk store (The Ax Man) in the cities and wired them up. By this time the temperature in the house was a brutal 85 degrees. Here are pictures of the air conditioner compressor with Fred’s ‘work around’. It may not be pretty but it will keep us cool till the service people come on Monday.

Summer Hours continue. This was our seventh Friday of summer adventures. We started out at Bauer Brother's Salvage to look at the architectural items. Shown are some of the bath tubs, stoves and other junk. four floors of wonderful items. The radiator shown came from the Mary Tyler Moore house here in Minneapolis.




We then proceeded to the Anoka Library and from there to Taylor
Falls.








Along the way we found some interesting places to see. We stopped to see a tranquil lake and admire the Lily Pads.



This was a small Winery we found. We bought a couple bottles of moderately priced wines. One a light semi-sweet mead made from Minnesota produced honey.



In Taylor Falls Kathleen found what she had been craving....Faygo Red pop.

They call it 'Strawberry' soda up here and charge two bucks a bottle.





This is one of the reasons we go to Taylor Falls. There is an artist colony which makes interesting sculptures. Fred always likes to see what they are building. It is the Franconia Sculpure Garden.

We had a busy day around the house (doing a variety of jobs) then Brats, Hamburger, and Potato Salad for the holiday dinner. Kate made Elonet's Potato Salad.


YiYu taking a nap.


Kathleen's flower garden.

This Friday we visited Lakeview Cemetary in Minneapolis and saw the grave sites of Paul Wellstone,

Hubert Humphrey,


and Governor Rudy Perpich.


We then drove to 'Cooks" of Crocus Hill to see what is new in cooking.

Fritz was coming back from Washington DC and was able to stay with us a couple of days. Fred went on a business trip to Beloit. We enjoyed the visit except Fred and Fritz didn't get to spend much time together. Fritz will be coming back in July so it will be better.
Fritz's visit June 27, 28, and 29th.

This week we went on the Grand Rounds of Minneapolis. It is a loop of parkways around the city. We stopped along the way to see various sights.

Fred and Kathleen at Minnehaha Park. The Minnehaha falls in the background and statue of Minnehaha and Hiawatha.


The Steven's House, the replica of Longfellow's House, and the Minnesota Veterens Home which is still in operation.