Fred's Minnesota Blog: January 2006

Sunday, January 29, 2006

A Minnie-no-snow-ta Update

It is now official, this has been the warmest January in the history of Minnesota, or at least since record keeping began. Our gas bill is thankful, it is almost like living in Michigan again.

We had an interesting dinner tonight, we made 'beef pinwheels'. They were made with 'cubed' round steak, Swiss cheese, and spinach leaves, all rolled up and then sliced. It called for grilling, but we pan fried instead. They were still very good. Fred made onion and mushroom gravy to go with them.

A glass of wine, a salad, cottage cheese with strawberries, and a baked potato, what more could you want?

If you think that looks good, the other night we had a broccoli and bacon quiche.

Also very good.

# posted by Fred @ 4:14 PM 0 comments

Monday, January 23, 2006

Kate and Gerardo's Vacation

They are Home!!!

See their link to find some new pictures that Kate and Gerardo have published of their Mexico vacation.

# posted by Fred @ 3:33 PM 3 comments

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Redo of the Flower Blossoms

Anthurium

Surprising what the proper setting on the camera will do.

Clockwise from top left, Cactus, Orchid, Aeschynamthus Radicans (Red Lipstick), and Anthurium.

"Comfort" activity we have been enjoying:

Dancing with the Stars....a strangely addictive piece of fluff that airs on Thursday nights. Kathleen and Kate call each other during the commercial breaks to comment on the performers. We have been tempted to call in votes for the teams we enjoy the most. So far, we have fought down the temptation.

We have started shopping for the basement bathroom floor. Fred had an informative talk with the people who do our floor work and we have gotten some samples to compare. It will have a heating element underneath the ceramic tile to heat the floor.

Before

After???

# posted by Fred @ 1:09 PM 0 comments

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Slow time of year

This is called the 90's in Minnesota. It is the 90 days between Christmas and the next holiday, in our case the coming of spring. In the meantime we will make do with some nice blossoms Kathleen has on her houseplants. After a very cold December we have had a warm but overcast 2006 so far. Good for the heating bills but not good for the mental health.

Fred has made a small amount of progess on the bathroom in the basement. the vanity is installed and the water is hooked up and running. He is looking for a mirror to finish that area. The next step is to install the door and finish around the shower.

A nice gift of flowers that Gerardo got us to celebrate the Holidays.

Kathleen and Fred enjoying some fish soup and toasted cheese sandwiches. Gerardo made us the soup and it was very good.

# posted by Fred @ 2:23 PM 2 comments

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Christmas 2005

Here and gone in a blink of the eye. We prepared and got ready then it was over.

Gifts are bought, wrapped, and queued up for distribution.

Christmas morning breakfast, planned and prepared by Kate and Gerardo.

Making the 'Henry' coffee cake.

Dinner preparation under way, lobster tails.
Pat Aeck sent flowers which we used for our centerpiece on the table.

Aunt Phyllis sent YiYu a gift, YiYu was not impressed, it was not chewable, but everyone else was. No walking required.

Playing our usual holiday games of scrabble, dominoes, and this year we tried to teach Euchre, without a lot of success.