September 2007 Minnesota Monthly

Google for city, Yahoo for Rural still rules:

Click on the image for a enlarge snapshot, orclick here to navigate the Map

The Mitre Box, 213 Washington Ave N. Minneapolis is a good address to get in the vicinity of the North Loop featured in the Minnesota Monthly. The Hennepin Avenue Bridge is a good center point for planning a bicycle ride along the Grand Round Scenic Byway. Check out the city maps.

Play, Spirit, and Character [Speaking of Faith� from American Public Media]

Play, Spirit, and Character [Speaking of Faith� from American Public Media]:

"Stuart Brown, a physician and director of the National Institute for Play, says that pleasurable, purposeless activity prevents violence and promotes trust, empathy, and adaptability to life's complication. He promotes cutting-edge science on human play, and draws on a rich universe of study of intelligent social animals."

I am a huge fan of this show. I have been critical at times, but this is a podcast that everyone must listen too.

2000-Year-Old Meteors to Rain Down on August 31, 2007 - Yahoo! News

2000-Year-Old Meteors to Rain Down on August 31, 2007 - Yahoo! News

Humming birds and Monarchs

The pair of hummingbirds that showed up yesterday have been around the feeder all day.

At 4:30pm Monarchs are beginning to roost in a large Maple tree in our back yard.

Monarch Watch : Dedicated to Education, Conservation and Research

Monarch Watch : Dedicated to Education, Conservation and Research


Butterflies of South Dakota

Begin watching the migration sites now
Journey South Interactive Map of Monarch Roost Sites

A trip to the zoo - video

More pics and slide show click here

First hummingbird this season

They come to our backyard deck.

Gramma and the GKids at the Zoo

Watch the Webshots slide show

VoipCheap - FREE CALLS to regular phones over the internet!

VoipCheap - FREE CALLS to regular phones over the internet!:

"FREE CALLS* to regular phones over the internet. Just install the free VoipCheap application, plug a headset in your PC and start calling instantly! "

Bonnie Jones Text

Bonnie Jones Text:

The following is a series of 5 poems based on the book Lost Baltimore: A Portfolio of Vanished Buildings by Carleton Jones. All the poems were written immediately after reading a short building description from the book, and while blindfolded.

I found the introductory note on this page most fascinating. The things you don't find when trying to find a word definition, in this case "perogatory"

Readers Read(TM) -- Book Blog, Book Reviews and Book Resources

Readers Read(TM) -- Book Blog, Book Reviews and Book Resources

Sometimes this is worth a look.

Perseid 2007 does Bush act - sputters out

In an example of the perversity of nature, we were disappointed when we went out in the country to watch the Perseid meteor shower last night. Between midnight and 2:00 and and check at 3-3:30 we saw less than 20 among the 3 of us. The best was a long low streak with popping red on the end in the northeast about 11:00pm before we left home.

Just as they say about the Bush presidency, maybe next year. Who said Dubya isn't changing things, even the skies have gone bad. Maybe he better have a few more talks with God.

South DaCola - South Dakota Editorial Cartoonist Scott L. Ehrisman

South DaCola - South Dakota Editorial Cartoonist Scott L. Ehrisman

Big Rain - Birds & more wild flowers

The rainfall over the weekend was welcome around here. Water is back in the ditches along our local birding route. We had an excellent viewing and song serenade from a sedge wren this morning, we have been hearing them for a few days but this morning was special. We reported to the Yahoo SD-Birds Group. Nice site for current information about bird sightings and birding activities by SD Birders.

Hello Alina

A friend of ours from Germany arrived at our house today. She lives in Ruschberg Germany and will be spending 2 months in the USA and will be calling our house home during that time. We have many things planned and we will be introducing her around to friends young and old.

I hope you all get a chance to meet her. She is a most delightful and pleasant young woman--anyone would benefit from her acquaintance and friendship.

Stay tuned for a picture. Alina's brother set a website for her and we will be linking that so all of you can keep up with her adventures.

A closeup of Ruschberg


Google map of Germany. Zoom in and look in the SW and find Luxemberg first then Idar-Oberstein. Keep zooming in that area until you see the intersection of L169 and L176 near Ruschberg.

Yahoo Map centered on Landstuhl where Alina plans to go to school

Put in Ruschberg, de and get the route to orient you.