Warren Rodning - ELS layman

Warren Clarence Rodning, 80, of rural Nicollet, passed away on Sunday, July 19, 2009, at his home surrounded by his loving family.Funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 2009 at Norseland Lutheran Church with Pastor Craig Ferkenstad officiating. Burial will be at Norseland Lutheran Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday at the church and will continue one hour prior to the service on Thursday. St. Peter Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements. In lieu of flowers memorials are preferred.Warren Clarence Rodning was born on September 3, 1928, in St. Peter, the first born child of Clarence and Cora (Knutson) Rodning. He was baptized and confirmed in the Norseland Lutheran Church where he remained a member all his life. He graduated from Gaylord High School in 1946 and attended Gustavus Adolphus College.On September 17, 1950, he was united in marriage to Marilyn Wise. He served two years in the United States Army from June 1954 to June 1956. In 1956 they moved to Marilyn's ancestral home where they have resided for the past 53 years. Warren has been an active member of his community; serving on local school boards as well as being active in Farm Bureau and the Republican Party. He was elected to the Nicollet County board in 1978, serving 16 years. He was chosen to serve on a number of statewide boards and committees and served as president of the State Association of Counties in 1991. During his lifetime, Warren served his church as a Trustee, Deacon and Cemetery board member. He leaves to mourn his beloved wife of 58 years, Marilyn; five children: Kenneth (Marcia) of Prior Lake and son Mike, a member of the US Air Force, Karen of Minneapolis, Kathy Cuthbertson of Phoenix, AZ, and daughter Angela, Daniel (Nancy) of Mahtomedi, MN, and daughter Amanda, and Janet Lindstrom (Kyle) of Hudson, WI, and children Christine and Andrew; siblings: Harold (Louise), Corinne (Robert) Johnson, Dorothy Hughes, Dennis (Janet), Roger (Barb), Elizabeth (Robert) Darwin, Robert (Mary), Thomas, and Kristie (Bob) Scott; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Kenneth and a sister Carolyn Rine.Warren was proud of his heritage. He loved God, his family, his friends, his community and his country. May he rest in peace.

Hopkins Teigens Get Caught Up in Summer Highway Mayhem

Last night TBH was driving to the lake and while she was between Pequot Lakes and Jenkins the boat being towed by the vehicle in front of her burst into flames.   It took a while but TBH finally was able to safely overtake the driver and motion him to stop.  Other drivers came along and helped the man put out the fire.   (I stayed home this weekend to get some serious writing done on my book.)

Last weekend we got caught in a huge traffic mess on 94.   The Strib wrote:   "The crash , blamed on a car driver making an illegal U-turn, was in the eastbound lanes at Albertville, but because the tanker landed partly in the median and spilled thousands of gallons of fuel, the highway was closed in both directions.  Eastbound I-94 is normally crowded on summer Sundays as the weekend getaway crowds return to the Twin Cities.

"Norman Teigen, who frequently shuttles between his home in Hopkins and the Brainerd area is familiar with alternative routes.  This time, he headed for Hwy. 55.  At a gas station in Buffalo, he met a couple from Idaho who had missed their flight from the Twin Cities.  'They were out several hundred dollars,' he said.

"Many drivers don't listen to broadcast radio.  'In our car. we've got iPods, Sirius (satellite radio), all kinds of things,' said Teigen.

"Todd Kramascz who's in charge of the state's 511 automated service, said that drivers who checked either online or by phone would have been told that 94 was closed because of a crash and instructed to follow posted detours.  (Teigen and Corey-Edstrom [another driver interviewed for the story] said they had never heard of 511.)

"Even if drivers know what's going on, the slowness can be maddening.  Teigen was among the drivers who wondered why the timing of the stoplights along the detour wasn't altered, and why no officers were brought in to direct traffic."

"Lt. Matt Langer said troopers weren't assigned to traffic duty because of safety concerns for both the officers and drivers.  Staffing is also an issue. 'It's not like there's just one route that needs to be handled,' he said.

Go to:   http://www.startribune.com/local/51063952.html?page=2&c=y

Zappenin' in Hopkins this weekend?

Raspberry Festival

July 11 - 19, 2009
Hopkins is the proud home of the annual Raspberry Festival, which has become a Twin Cities tradition. The first festival was organized in 1934 during the Depression by a group of community business people who were concerned that the Hopkins economy and community needed a boost.

Images from the Grande Day Parade

The festival features its own royalty, a search for the Golden Raspberry, a Grande Day Parade, a Family Day and more.

The 2009 Raspberry Festival will be the 75th annual, and take place July 11 - 19.

Mike Sponberg and his sister Miriam Kagol, Bethany, the Sponbergs, Al Franken, Tom Friedman, The New York Times, The New Yorker magazine

The July 20, 2009 issue of The New Yorker contains a very well-written account by John Colapinto on Al Franken becoming the junior Senator from Minnesota.  Franken has strong ties to St. Louis Park and Blake School, well known Minnesota places.

A former Mankatoan, Miriam Kagol, is quoted in the article.  Ms. Kagol is the former Miriam Sponberg, the daughter of Florence and Ray Sponberg.   Miriam's brother is Mike Sponberg, my best man in 1973.

The Sponbergs are Gustavus people but there is a Bethany connection.  Mike was lost at Mankato High School and and so Ray sent Mike to Bethany.   My father and Ray Sponberg were close friends and business associates.   Ray was a significant contributor to Bethany and Florence taught freshman English at Bethany.

Mike went to  Gustavus where all Sponbergs go to college.  Mike and I re-connected when he took a job teaching at Redwood Falls High School and I was teaching at Marshall.  Mike did not have a car and I would swing by Redwood Falls and take him to Mankato in my Volkswagen to see Florence and Ray. 

I have lost touch with Mike Sponberg in recent years and I hope to see him again.  His sister Miriam had a distinguished teaching career at St. Louis Park High School and one of her students was the renowned Thomas Friedman, columnist for The New York Times.

'Show me the way to go home/I'm tired and I wanna go to bed/Well, I had a little drink about an hour ago/and it went right to my head'

An inebriated man who fell asleep by the side of a street in the German city of Bochum awoke to find himself wedged up to the waist in a manhole. How he got there remains a mystery.

DDP

A police handout photo shows the unfortunate man stuck in the Bochum manhole.

A slightly inebriated man awoke on Saturday morning to find himself stuck waist-deep in a manhole in the western German city of Bochum -- and was unable to tell police how he got there.

The man tried to pull himself out by holding on to the back windscreen wiper of a parked car, but it broke off.

"A witness reported seeing the man sleeping on the side of the road with his legs already dangling in the manhole. It's unclear if he slipped into the manhole when he awoke and stood up," police said in a statement on Monday.

Fortunately the local fire department was able to free the man, who was unhurt and able to walk home on his own.

Octopus

[source:  National Geographic]

Teigens enjoying themselves at Underdogs in Jenkins

TBH and I are with our nieces.  The New Yorkers are in the front row.

'Clean Them Stink'n Socks!'

The Twins did just that by taking two of three from the visitors from Chicago this weekend.   The Twins are only a half game behind the White Sox at the All Star break.  Mauer, Morneau, and Nathan are on the American League team.

I was discouraged by the Twins being SUH-WEPT by the Yankees but the Chicago series perked up my hopes.    For what?   A pennant?   I don't expect a championship but I hope for respectability.

I'm back but I am going again

I spent five days on the road going to Chicago and back to see my aunt who has a broken arm (humerus). She is mending well.

Went to U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday with my cousin. This was the night when Konerko hit three homeruns, one a grannie ('Paul-ie, Paul-ie, Paul-ie').

Went to the church on North Avenue where my father served as pastor. It's now a community arts center. The people there are very nice. I was given permission to poke around in the corners and I took a bunch of pictures which I will post sometime in the future.

Saw a couple of really bad accidents on the way home. I am thankful for a safe journey.

This afternoon we will be going to my brother's and have a family reunion there which include family members from California and New York.

The Twins were SUH-WEPT by the Yankees. And not just for this week's series. It was six games. Is this the death knell for the season for the Twins?

I observed while traveling through Wisconsin that the typical Green Bay Packer female fan weighs 200 lbs. and has a well-trimmed beard.

I am going on a trip

On Juy 4th I will drive the Milan to Chicago to see my aunt who is in recovery from a fall. I will return on Thursday.

My cousin Steve has tickets for the White Sox-Cleveland game on Tuesday.

I will stay at my sister's place. She is away for ten days or so.

I would like to see the new lookout on top of the Sears tower. There may be big crowds since it is so well publicized.

I will go to Chicago again in August with my brother Dave.

Our son Sam comes from New York on Wednesday. Sam has tickets for the Twins-Yankees game on Wednesday. Nick will take my seat.

I will return on Thursday and the BTH and I will go to the lake for a family gathering.

'My Heart Always Wanders Where Jesus Once Was Born' - Brorson hymn

I can't leave out Paul Gerhardt

Don't forget about Melanchthon

How about some Martin Luther?

How about some Buxtehude?

'Wenn wir in hochsten Notein sein'

'Holy God, We Praise Thy Name' - Grosser Gott, wir loben dich

First it was Governor Ventura and now it is Senator Franken

BB, one of the Teigen cats

BB and I go out to garage sales on a Saturday morning. She didn't mind riding in a shoulder bag but here she seems to want to head out on her own.
BB is the Lord of the Jungle.

Marian and Bruno Wilinski

Good morning to two of my favorite people.

Mill City Market

People love to come to Mill City Museum on Saturday's for the Market.
The Market is held in a railroad shed where railroad cars were loaded and unloaded back in the day when flour was milled at the Washburn Crosby 'A' Mill.
The Guthrie Theater is across the street. Here a singer entertains a group of people who are enjoying the day.

Hospital scenes

This figure of Lucy greets visitors at a Metro area hospital.
Birds soar in the atrium of this hospital for children.
This old Swedish church is across Chicago Avenue from a metro area hospital. The Metrodome is only a block away.
This St. Paul hospital is only a few blocks away from the Fitzgerald Theater the home of 'Prairie Home Companion.'

President Kieschnick of the LC-MS said this:

"...we in the LCMS are not in agreement, citing four of them:

"The administration of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, mainly the question of who should be invited or allowed to commune at the altar of our Lord in LCMS congregations.
"The service of women, mainly the question of in what roles and capacities Scripture allows or commends the participation and involvement of women in the church.
"Questions about proper forms of worship, mainly how much uniformity is necessary in the worship life of LCMS congregations, how much and what kind of diversity in forms of worship is acceptable.
"Inter-Christian relationships, mainly the question of how to remain a biblical, confessional, evangelical, Christian, Lutheran church body boldly confessing the truth in love, relating to other Christians and Christian churches while honoring our covenants of love to avoid unionism and syncretism."
Finally, I note, "In the years ahead our Synod will need to continue to work under Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions to achieve similar solidarity in these matters. Where Scripture speaks plainly and clearly to the question at hand, the matter is resolved. Where Scripture does not speak plainly, clearly, or at all to the question at hand, it behooves us as a group of rational, reasonable, Christian people to come to a godly and common-sense conclusion regarding how to proceed with mutual respect and non-offensive conduct."

[this seems like a very open and honest thing to say: NT]

new University stadium (the TCF) making news

New I-35 bridge

This picture was taken on June 27, 2009 from the west (south) side. The new bridge is actually two bridges.

What ever happened to the broken pieces of the i-35 bridge?

These pictures were taken on June 27, 2009 on the west (south) side of the Mississippi River. The bridge pieces were hauled downstream to Bohemian Flats. There is pending litigation and so these resting pieces of steel will probably stay here for a long time. The State of Minnesota has settled its claims. Now, as I understand it, the company that was working on the bridge when it collapsed wants to file suit against the original designers of the bridge. The original designers are no longer in business but this contractor wants to go after the company that bought out the original designers. That's a stretch, I think. Furthermore, this company probably overloaded the bridge with equipment and materials and may have caused the bridge to collapse. Was it the design of the bridge or the overloading of the bridge that caused the collapse?

I voted for McCain, but I think this is good

For one night this summer, the Brooklyn Cyclones will be transformed into the Baracklyn Cyclones, honoring the 44th President of the United States with a night of patriotic partying at the ballpark.

The June 23rd festivities will feature:

* Alternate red, white, and blue jerseys adorned with the team’s new name
* FREE Barack Obama bobbleheads to the first 2,500 fans in attendance, featuring the President in a Baracklyn Cyclones Jersey
* The Economic Stimulus Package: From 10am on January 20th – Inauguration Day – to midnight on January 23rd, ticket prices for the June 23rd game will be “rolled back” to the Cyclones’ inaugural 2001 season rates: $10 Field Box Seats, $8 Box Seats, $5 Bleacher Seats. Beginning January 24th, tickets will be priced at the regular 2009 rates ($15, $12, $8)
* Universal Health Care: Free Band-Aids to the first 1,000 fans
* Naming Rights: Anyone named Barack gets in for free (Bring your ID on the night of the game)
* Joe the Plumber special: any plumber named Joe gets two free tickets – one for himself, and one to “spread the wealth” with a friend (Bring your ID and a business card or proof of employment on the night of the game)
* Bi-Partisan Consolation Prize: anyone named McCain or Palin will get a free Bleacher Seat (Bring your ID on the night of the game)
* A clear-cut Exit Strategy: fans will receive American Flags and discount coupons as they leave the ballpark

The landmark game will take place on Tuesday, June 23rd – the “Inaugural Tuesday” of the 2009 NYPL season - when the Cyclones host the Hudson Valley Renegades at 7pm at KeySpan Park.

Wisdom from Proverbs

Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die;
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, "Who is the Lord?"
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30: 7-9 [Treasury of Daily Prayer]

'Did you say that you had tattoed your anatomy?'

On Friday morning I was in the green room at the Mill City Museum waiting for the supervisor to come in and brief us on the day's activities. As we were waiting for him to come in, one of my associates asked what I had been doing this week. I said that on Tuesday I had gone out to Chaska for a Habitat for Humanity project.

The supervisor came in while I was speaking. He said that he hadn't heard exactly what I had said but that it sounded as though I had tattoed my anatomy.

Norman and two preacher's daughters

Marilyn (Lee) Larson and Connie (Theiste) Schilling were kind enough to pose with me for this picture after church services today at King of Grace. Marilyn's father, the late Sophus Lee, served as pastor of Emmaus. Connie's father, the late Hans Theiste, served as pastor of Fairview. Fairview and Emmaus become one congregation as King of Grace in the 1960s.

Bret Favre looks as old as Clint Eastwood

I bought a book on Twitter at Barnes and Noble today. The whole world is Twitting and I am being left behind. TBH says I don't know anything that isn't in a book or a newspaper. I think she is right.

On Monday I picked up trash on 169 and on Tuesday I worked at Thrivent Builds-Habitat for Humanity in Chaska. I don't know how to operate power tools and so I wasn't given a power tool until after lunch. I learned how to operate an automatic stapler.

I stapled some things to the bottom side of the roof so that the blown insulation won't fall out of the ceiling. Very complicated. I was on a ladder and the little tabs on the form told me where to staple. I didn't have to think. I did not hurt myself.

On Tuesday I went to the Mill for a thank-you reception for the Volunteers. I made an appointment for July 2nd with Jean Nierenhausen from the St. Paul office of Minnesota Historical Society. She has an interesting volunteer job for me. It has something to do with an editing project.

Don't know how many times I'll go to Thrivent Builds. There isn't much for an unskilled clod like me.

Tomorrow is the Mill and on Saturday I am taking Orla Petersen to Mankato for the ELS Historical Society meeting.

I will be writing for the next two weeks.

In July I will be going to Illinois to see my favorite aunt in Chicago. My cousin Steve has tickets for Sox-Cleveland game.

I have plenty of pix on my Nikon Cool Pix camera. I should download them one of these days.

It got very hot today all of a sudden. A pair of tornadoes tore up Mower County last night. A TV guy pronounced it 'Mo-wer' County. It is 'Mauer' County, as in Joe Mauer.

Twins have taken two of three from Pittsburgh and Chicago in recent inter-league play.

Bret Favre may play for the Vikings. I saw him on the TV news today. He looks as old as Clint Eastwood does in the movie 'Gran Torino.'

An organ piece to shake out the cobwebs in one's brain

Norman and TBH observe 36th anniversary on June 16th

this is a joke from The Onion - President Obama a changed person after visiting Denny's

Dog stuff

Have been busy working and studying

I have been too busy to blog. Maybe things will slow down.

The weather is nice today. The sunshine and warmer temps are a welcome change.

Twins have taken two of the first three from Oakland.

Wilbur Lieske - ELS layman

Mankato —Wilbur G. Lieske, age 69, died Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at his home. Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m. Sunday, June 7, 2009 at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Mankato. Visitation will be 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Saturday, June 6, 2009 at Woodland Hills Funeral Home and will continue one hour before services at the church. Interment will be in Woodland Hills Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers memorials are preferred to Gift of Life Transplant House in Rochester, MN, Mount Olive Lutheran Church and School or Immanuel St.. Joseph's Hospice.Wilbur was born June 20, 1939, in Henderson Twp, Sibley Co, MN, to George and Mae (Lavrence) Lieske. He graduated from Henderson High School in 1957 and then Mankato Business College in 1962. On August 21, 1960, Wilbur married his high school sweetheart, Jacqueline Rose Busby, at St. John's Lutheran Church in Arlington Twp. Wilbur worked at a number of places including, American State Bank, Dotson Company, St. Peter and Mankato Co-op, Greenway Co-op in Rochester and was a CPA in his own business. He loved square dancing and was member of the Circle 8 Square Dancing Club and the Spinning Wheels Square Dancing Club, where he served as treasurer. He was on the ELS Board of Trustees for 27 years, treasurer of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church for over 30 years, chairman of MN Association of Public Accountants and Square Dance Federation of MN, clerk of Skyline and was a member of the Skyline Fire Dept. In his leisure time he enjoyed square dancing camping, collecting teapots, computers, playing cards, softball and umpiring.Wilbur is survived by his wife, Jacie of Skyline; daughter, Connie (Jim) Kohn of Inver Grove Heights; sons, Jody Lieske of Savage, Greg Lieske of Mankato, Brian (Michelle) Lieske of Minneapolis; grandchildren, Sarah, Amanda, Nathan, and Jesse Kohn, Anna, Emma, Clara, Jenna and Erica Lieske; sisters, Shirley (Kenneth) Bode of Nicollet, Janice (Dean) Rudolff of Medford; brother-in-law, Ervin Seefeldt of Lester Prairie; sisters-in-law Avis (Doug) Baumann, Iva (Ray) Engel, Valerie (Don) Easterlund, Pat (Satch) Sigler; brothers-in-law Jeff (Shelly) Busby, Stan (Judy) Bielejeski, Dean Dwyer; 18 nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, in-laws, sister, Harriet, brother-in-law, Donald Trost, sister-in-law, Paulette Dwyer, 1 niece and 2 nephews.

Norman tries to sort things out on a controversial issue

A church usher was shot down in a Kansas church a few days ago. The killing of the usher occurred because he was a medical doctor who had performed abortions. The shooter was a known anti-abortionist.

There is always a hue and cry when some headline grabbing event like this occurs. Keith Olbermann takes one line and Rush Limbaugh another. The Lutheran bloggers jump in and so I will do the same. Should the answer come from the discussion of Natural Law vs. Positive Law?

Rather than engage in an emotional denunciation of commonly held opinions on the subject (as an institute leader in a highly regarded Lutheran seminary has done) I will present some information from my personal resources with a view of giving readers of the blog something to think about on their own. A well-educated person wants to know and I hope to contribute something to the reader's understanding.

I will start with a summary of an entry on Natural Law from The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford, 1997). "Natural Law is an expression used with a wide variety of meanings, but in a theological context the law implanted in nature by the Creator which rational creatures can discern by the light of natural reason. It has been contrasted with the revealed law, though it was commonly held that the Commandments revealed in the Decalogue were also precepts of the Natural Law. St.Paul refers to the Natural Law in Romans 2;14 . . .

"Stoics believed in the Law of Nature, and in the Middle Ages and in more recent times there have been philosophical doctrines that maintained the idea in some form. It has, however, often seemed that there was little agreement about the content of Natural Law other than that good is to be done and evil avoided, which would mean that Natural Law underwrites morality as such, rather than any particular moral code."

Dogs, cats cont'd

One of my favorite hymns. . .

Dog mischief

Teigen brothers agree on value of Sunday morning hymns

Norman was David's guest again at Mission of the Cross Lutheran Church in Crosslake MN. The brothers agreed that Pastor Uhrinak had picked out some good hymns for the Pentecost Day service.

David asked that I especially recognize one of the Communion hymns (Ich komm zu deinem Abendmahle) for it's rich theology.

I come, O Savior to Thy table,
For weak and weary is my soul;
Thou, Bread of Life, alone art able
To satisfy and make me whole.
Refrain: Lord may Thy body and Thy blood
Be for my soul the highest good!

I consulted Stulken on my return to Hopkins. She writes that "little is known about Friedrich Christian Heyder (1677-1754). From 1699 he served as deacon in Merseburg, Germany, the city of his birth, and for thirty-five years beginning in 1706 he was pastor in Zorbig near Halle, where de died as pastor emeritus.

ICH STERBE TAGLICH is the hymn tune. "It was included in the Emskirchner Choral-Buch 1756, a manuscript collection from the municipal library in Leipzig, containing 295 melodies with four-part settings. It contains, in addition to some of the well-known melodies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many tunes from Johann Freylinghausen's Gesangbuch and some from the Bayreuth Melodienbuchlein of 1733. The tune originally was the setting for Benjamin Schmolck's burial hymn , 'Ich sterbe taglich.' "

While the brothers Teigen were in accord on the church service a later disagreement arose about the weather. David said that it would rain in the afternoon and Norman said that the rain would hold off until evening. David won as the rain fell around 3:30 in the afternoon.

A new way to enjoy Bach

Cat matters

Teigen brothers differ on value of a hymn

The discussion originated at Mission of the Cross Lutheran Church in Crosslake MN on Sunday. David thought that the final hymn 'The Church's One Foundations' was a fine hymn.

Norman said that he didn't particularly care for it. It wasn't a Lutheran hymn. It sounds like a late 18th century hymn and a bit on the corny side: "Though with a scornful wonder/Men see her sore oppressed/By schisms rent asunder/By heresies distressed/Yet saints their watch are keeping/ Their cry goes up 'How long?'/And soon the night of weeping/Shall be the morn of song."

I had to come home a day early so I immediately checked out the background of the hymn from my copy of Stulken. The hymn was written by an Englishman, one Samuel Stone, to counter Bishop Colenso's challenge of the historicity of many of the Old Testament accounts. Stone composed a set of hymns on the Apostles' Creed.

'The Church's One Foundation' is based on the ninth article, 'The Holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints.'

There is a parody of this hymn from the English Army of World War I. Fred Karnow was a well-known comic figure among the British of the day, something like Barney Fyfe.

We are Fred Karnow's Army,
the ragtime infantry.
We cannot fight, we cannot shoot,
No earthly good are we.
And when we get to Berlin,
the Kaiser he will say:
'Hoch, hoch, mein Gott
what a very fine lot.
The ragtime infantry.'

Twins lose 6-5 to Red Sox who knock out 16 hits

It was a boring game. For a long time the only excitement for local fans was the attempt by a fan to throw a baseball into a giant Wells Blue Bunny ice cream cup from the second deck. The attempt failed. Liriano failed.

Cuddyer hit a homer. Mauer faced off against the great Papelbon in the bottom of the ninth and hit a two-run homer. It was too little and too late.

The Red Sox have a very strong batting line-up. Youkilis is the best of the bunch.

The bloom is off the rose

I go for a walk in the neighborhood and snap a few pictures

A tree has grown around an auger. A flower farm was formerly on this land which is now a part of Valley Park


Here is pretty spiffy John Deere parked in front of a residence. One doesn't expect to see that on a city street.

The lady of the house said that her husband hasn't had this boat out for ten years. I wonder what the City of Hopkins thinks about this.

This duck was swimming around in a little water hole by the Super Valu warehouse. My walk today took me through a park, a residential neighborhood, and Super Valu. At one time all of this property was occupied by a tractor factory and the Hennepin County Poor Farm.

I meet and greet visiting students at Fort Snelling

I meet teachers and students in the parking lot.

The students sometimes grab a lunch before heading to the Visitor Center.

The groups go to the Visitor Center for a movie and a tour.

The Mississippi is below the walls of the Fort. I've just missed a boat as it goes around a bend.

King of Grace 6th grade cleans up for Grandma Tooley

Millie Tooley is the all-time volunteer leader at King of Grace School. Sixth-grade teacher Jon Matzke takes his pupils to Grandma Tooley's place in Mound for yard clean-up.
After the students have finished their work, Grandma Tooley serves her homemade cookies with a dish of ice cream. Sixth grade parent, Mrs. Nelson, was one of the chaperones.

Christus, der ist mein Leben

St. Louis Blues

I drive for the Memorial Blood Center two Saturdays per month

Rob Kiihn turns fifty

Theresa threw a perfectly executed surprise birthday party for Rob this past Saturday. Theresa and Rob are good church friends. Theresa is a well-known blogger.

Norseland Lutheran Church parsonage

A view from the Mill City Museum

A boat is going through the lock. The Stone Arch Bridge is the second oldest bridge to cross the Mississippi (the Eads Bridge in St. Louis is the oldest). The view is from the 9th floor of the Museum. The Mississippi River passes over the man-made apron at St. Anthony Falls. There is only one natural waterfall on the entire Mississippi and it is right here in downtown Minneapolis.

Two of my Caribou friends

Al drove his Miata and Bob came on his bicycle.

Breaking news

Preacher's Kids

Norman with Leslie (Anderson) Nelson. Leslie's father was the late Julian Anderson.

Wha zappenin at 1106 - Syttende Mai 2009

TBH will be seeing relatives, some near and some distant, as a part of the Syttende Mai festivities. I will do Memorial Blood Center tomorrow. I did Mill City Museum today.

On Wednesday and Thursday we made a quick trip to Hay Lake to visit an out-of-state friend. The trees and shrubs have not leafed out yet in that part of the state. I field tested my sharpened ax and my machete. Both work well.

TBH's garden is taking shape. You can take the woman out of the farm but you can't take the farm out of the woman.

I have been following the very interesting NBA playoffs. With Kevin Garnett out, I am not following the Celtics as close as I did last year.

How about those Twins? They SUH-WEPT the Tigers this week. Crede hit a walk-off grand slammer in the 12th on Wednesday and he hit a run producing hit on Thursday. On Thursday Verlander led 5-0 and had struck out 13 Minnesotans when he was replaced. The Twins came back rack up six runs and win the game 6-5.

I don't care if Bret Favre comes to the Vikings or not. I don't want Al Franken to be my Senator.

Guilmant's Handel March

Today's dog joke

Benedictus

Office matters

Excitement at 1106

BTH heard the crash. I woke a bit later. Someone lost control and hit one of the trees in the front yard. The yard was filled with debris. Presumably the driver was hauled away to the slammer. The tree was removed.

Recess Dude

Recently I went to the Mill City Museum with the 6th graders from King of Grace School. I wore my official uniform for the occasion. The painting on the wall depicts what St. Anthony Falls originally looked like.

Modern banking

Been busy and so haven't done much blogging

The weather in Minnesota is just great. TBH is working on her garden. I've been busy with volunteer activities.

The early trash picking work is almost completed. It should be done in a week or less. Recess Dude will end the week after next. We are going to make a quick trip to Hay Lake next week. Visited with Norma Tostenson on Tuesday

Took a 350 mile, 13 hour trip with three Minnesota History guys on a tour of the Dakota Conflict sites. It was a lot of fun and we all learned a lot. On Wednesday the Ft. Snelling parking lot was full of school buses. I think that one thousand kids attended for the day.

Went to the Twins-KC game last Saturday with Pete Harstad. It was a four hour game with extra innings. The Twins lost when the bullpen walked four straight batters. Yikes!