Monthly Archives: January 2010

Remind me again why we do this?

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Can’t you just picture this bench in the middle of spring or summer? With the warm sun and gentle, refreshing breeze?

Instead, today, we had gusts of wind and negative temperatures.

It was back to sidewalks and streets today as we tried, again, to find our walking groove. This was the first time we’ve been out lunchtime walking since this past weekend’s ice storms. We quickly learned to try to avoid the pretty, shiny parts of the sidewalks after both of us had a few close calls with cement.

At one point, I think we were at Beltrami Avenue and Third Street, we both stepped on ice at the same time and had an "oh no" moment.

Me: "Hey, look at us. We simultaneously slipped and slid all over the place."

Our one victory was that neither of us actually fell.

Which brought up a somewhat interesting question, from Laurie: Have we ever fallen while walking?

At first, it seemed, no. We didn’t think so. But something is still nagging me about Irvine Avenue and winter last year, so I’m pretty sure I must have fallen along there sometime last year. And, we know, Laurie once fell on the trail this past summer. So did Jada. But she wasn’t wearing shoes, so we excused her for that one. And, well, for her being a kid. Us adults should be able to stay upright.

We also saw this guy, who was out shoveling his sidewalks, and for that, he is one of our most favorite Bemidjians today. (There are still quite a few un-shoveled sidewalks throughout our walk and it’s a source of frequent grumbling.)

***

This is a bit off-topic, and we didn’t take any pictures (thank goodness), but I thought I should at least acknowledge that we did attend our first class through Bemidji’s Passport to Fitness program last night. It was Zumba, a dance class.

It was very nice to be back in a group fitness class again — I used to do all sorts of kickboxing programs in the Cities — but I have to admit that Zumba is not really a great fit for me. Too much choreography. I can handle the steps and the arms, but the spinning and whirling this way and that was just too much for this first-timer.

Laurie, on the other hand, loved it.

I am liking the Passport program, though. I like the idea of having a mix of classes. Our only complaint is that a  bulk of the classes are on Monday nights, when we both work. I can’t really get out of city council meetings and Laurie really needs to be here to layout our newspaper pages.

But, hey, if that’s our only complaint, then it must be a good program!  :)

***

Onto the fun stuff!

Today’s Puzzler is …

And here’s a hint: It is part of a slogan.

Have a great evening!

- Bethany

 

Wiiercise

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No boots, hats and gloves today! Bethany brought over her EA Sports Active game for the Wii; the equipment required is pictured above, along with curious cats. The spray bottle is for Little Kitty, who kept trying to attack Bethany’s legs for some reason.

But first, she walked up to me and gave me that look that says "I am going to jump up on you now and you are going to catch me and hold me." Which I did. It saves on scratches.

And no, that is not my natural hair color. It’s a bit much. And don’t ask about the eyebrows. (They are currently brown-penciled, as I write this.)

Today, I had fleece pants and a short tank top and Bethany wore a T-shirt and shorts. We declined to take pictures; maybe next time!

Above is an explanatory video that was part of the game, which comes with a strap in which you put the Wii’s nunchuck, which monitors your steps. You hold the Wii remote in your other hand. (For some activities, you hold both the nunchuck and the Wii.

I’m not very good at following along with things like this, so the game’s "trainer" scolded me a lot.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I grumbled early on.

Later, it was "Shut up." I would do horribly with a trainer.

There was one arm and shoulder exercise that had a pretty good burn to it.

"Ooh, this hurts," Bethany said. "Cool!"

She is obviously more dedicated than I am. She also would do much better with a trainer than I would.

Bethany and I both own Wii Fit, but she likes EA Active Sports much better. I was tempted to buy it, too, but I’m not so sure now. I’m not very disciplined, and I have a hard time doing these things just right. On my own, I tend to exercise by just dancing, bouncing and moving around to music. I don’t suppose that type of freestyle activity can be incorporated into a video game.

As for the headline "Wiiercise," I was trying to be witty ("wiitty?"). I tried "Wii stayed indoors" but that sounded lame. So I thought of "Wiiercise." It was perhaps silly to wonder if I was being original. Not only is it a term that is used by others, I also discovered there is a *dictionary* for Wii-related terms. It is called, I cringe to say, a Wiitionary. (Check it out at www.wiitionary.com.)

Tomorrow we’re going to try Zumba class at Fusion Dance & Fitness Center through our Passports for Fitness. The Web site says we can burn up to 1,000 calories.

I think that just might not apply to us, as beginners, but even if it did, our reaction doesn’t bode well for weight loss.

"We can eat twice as much!"

Bethany said it, but I was thinking it already.

Well, that and, how much am I going to hate this halfway through when I am ready to fall over and die?

I took this picture after we were done. I have no idea why Zelda is staring at Bethany so intently. Maybe she is bewildered by us jumping all around the living room.

Or maybe she was about to pounce on her.

We didn’t get around to taking a mystery photo today, but we’ll get one tomorrow as we get back to walking.

Our last puzzler was, as Jeff correctly guessed, the sash around Chief Bemidji’s (Shay-now-ish-Kung) waist.

I thought we had a pretty clever pick, but that Jeff is hard to stump.

Have a great evening and a great Wednesday! It sounds like it will be cold still, so be sure to bundle up. I talked to a cashier at Target last week who said she never wears a hat, that it messes her hair up, so she puts up with frozen ears.

Maybe I’m just a wimp, but I’ll take the messy hair.

– Laurie

Lily has cubs, Laurie goes shopping

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It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do this – but we walked all five days this week! Yay for us!

Today was rather chilly, not temperature-wise, but the wind was quite strong. I made the mistake, though, of wearing a coat and, of course, got warm.

Laurie and I didn’t walk too far today, just down to Bemidji State University and then back downtown.

Where she did some shopping:

Laurie’s granddaughter forgot her glasses at Laurie’s place, so Laurie has to mail them back.

Speaking of Miss Jada, we saw this boot along the road:

No, it’s not Jada’s boot (at least, not to my knowledge), but she and Laurie apparently saw this boot’s mate while walking last weekend on the Freedom Walk.

I was a bit late to get to Laurie’s today because I was completely captivated by lily the Black Bear, who gave birth today to two bear cubs. I saw/heard the first cub just moments before I was supposed to leave for Laurie’s. It was amazing.

So, today’s quote, from me and Laurie: "Congratulations Lily!"

OK, we didn’t exactly say that while walking, but none of our statements today was all that quotable. We were discussing plans for an upcoming trip.

We saw this closed sign in a window at a Bemidji business. I just found it a bit odd. It is really closed!

Yesterday’s Puzzler answer, as "no red pants" correctly guessed is Paul Bunyan’s gun (shotgun? I’m not a gun person, so forgive me. I can’t tell them apart).

As Laurie said yesterday: "I guess it is Paul Bunyan’s gun, so it makes sense I can’t get the whole thing in the frame."

Today’s Puzzler is…

Have a great weekend!

- Bethany

 

A little bit of everything

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I’m starting from the back today, just because I felt so sorry for this poor dog.

His name is Buck, and he was obviously not having a good day.

Buck and his owner, Josh, of Cass Lake, came into Animal Care Clinic while Little Kitty and I were waiting for our appointment, which was right after today’s walk.

Pet owners and clinic staff expressed sympathies for the poor dog, who seemed to be taking it pretty well.

"Looks like he kissed him," Josh quipped about the placement of the porcupine quills, which were imbedded both around and inside the dog’s mouth, as well as on his front paws.

My camera batteries were dead, so I whipped out my Nintento DSi, which has a built-in camera. It doesn’t take the greatest pictures, but it did OK in a pinch for this.

Doesn’t your heart just go out to the poor guy?

As for Little Kitty, she was a bit ruffled over having three dogs (besides Buck) playing around near her, but at least she didn’t have to get her belly shaved this time. The last time I took my cats to the vet, she had a fungal infection on her tummy and they took her away and shaved her.

That was last May, and ever since, if she gets the idea that I might be taking her somewhere, she gets this look in her eyes and runs away. So today, I was super casual and gave them some kitty treats in the kitchen before scooping her up.

All she needed was a shot today, so it went pretty well once we got in there. We’ll see how she reacts from now on.

Now, back to walking.

We did a little bit of everything today, as the headline says.

Bethany and I did our regular walking down the sidewalks, some clear, some snowy, some icy, as usual. We ran across our regular friendly black dog.

Then we stopped at City Hall to get our Passports for Fitness, which is a program sponsored by the Bemidji Parks and Recreation and the Acting Living Partnership. It lets you try out a bunch of different physical fitness activities, such as yoga, kick boxing, stretching, rock climbing and a variety of others. We like the idea because, for $30 for the two of us (the passports are $20 each singly), we can try out a lot of different classes and explore what we might like to focus more specifically on. The enthusiastic Samantha Parker is behind this program.

Unfortunately, though, the passports are not available at City Hall. Somehow, even though we have ourselves written about the passport program, we forgot the passports are at the Public Works Facility.

We were done walking by that point, so we went back to my house and took Bethany’s car there. After we drove up, I got out and took a photo of the lonely guy above, who is probably not too often on the list of people who stroll through downtown looking for the pieces in the Bemidji Sculpture Walk.

We bought our passports, then drove over to the Tourist Information Center to buy my ticket to the Taste of Northern Minnesota — at which I consumed far more calories tonight than I burned walking, that’s for sure. (This is one of my favorite events in Bemidji and I have gone every year, usually as a reporter, but this year reporter Anne Williams covered it, so I went with her, and just enjoyed myself while she worked.)

While we were at the Tourist Information Center, I took some photos of the Fireplace of States, which I love. It’s so neat that all these places sent bricks to make this beautiful piece of history.

We also took a look at the guestbook, which we discovered that Anne and her husband, Ben, had signed last weekend.

However, they did not write a comment, so unfortunately, they cannot be part of the Quotes of the Day:

Today, someone from Talhina, Okla., wrote, “Nice people. Lovely town but cold.”

Cold? It was around 20 degrees today. Above zero, even.

Yesterday, another person –- a Bemidjiian, even! –- wrote, on a day in which the high temperature was 27, “Could it get any colder?”

Um, yes. A lot colder.

There were quite a few entries Saturday during the height of the Polar Daze celebration.

Another visitor from a warmer climate (Harrison, Ark.) wrote, simply: “COLD.”

Someone from Bemidji apparently agreed: “COLDNESS.”

But a hardier Bemidji resi-dent had a different perspective: “Warm!”

Another person from Bemidji wrote that Polar Daze rocks, but hockey also drew some love:

From Pequot Lakes: “Hockey is amazing!”

And from McGregor, Minn.:

“Hockey + horses = life.”

I love that one. I assume these are separate passions and that polo ponies aren’t taking to the ice.

Bethany said she didn’t think she had ever had her picture taken with Paul and Babe.

I had to remedy that!

Here is today’s mystery photo:

Yesterday’s puzzler was feathers on Wanda Reise Odegard’s "Niimi," the dancing Indian statue in Library Park.

 We now look ahead to Friday, and hope for the best with the stormy weather that is expected.

Stay safe and warm!

– Laurie

 

movie quotes

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I took a picture of this only because I saw the butterfly flag and found myself wishing it was a "real" butterfly – and the snow would instantly melt away.

Not that I have much to complain abut at all; this winter hasn’t been bad at all … so far.

Today, Laurie and I walked along Lake Avenue and through the Bemidji State University campus. It was a pleasant day, weather-wise, but the wind had a bit of a bite to it. We were definitely warmer on the walk back to town than away from it.

We chit-chatted about upcoming plans, some work stuff and then, somehow, we found ourselves quoting "Field of Dreams."

Me: "They will come, Ray."

OK, I actually know where that came from: We were trying to remember the first name of Kevin Costner’s character, and for some reason, I remember the above line. Mystery solved.

… But I still don’t know how we got on the topic of "Field of Dreams" in the first place.

This was the first time in a while that we walked by BSU, so I had to snap a picture of the vehicles parking on Lake Bemidji.

I just don’t understand the ice parking. I mean, I do remember how frustrating it was to walk 2-3 blocks to school because you can’t get a close parking spot. But it’s just a few blocks. Granted, I have a small fear of driving on ice to begin with, but I just can’t imagine that it’s good for the lake – or safe for the vehicles for that matter.

But, again, I’m not a "true" Bemidjian, so maybe it’s just a learned acceptance.

Anyhow, that was our walk. We had a nice time.

The answer from yesterday’s Puzzler is…

And today’s is…

(Hint it is not a sign for a business!)

Have a great evening!

- Bethany

 

A berry nice walk …

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I was so pleased to find this photo today that it caused Bethany to comment:

"We’re obsessed with berries."

She’s right! We’ve been talking all winter, off and on, about how the berries keep hanging, but lately we’ve noticed many of them are losing their bright red sheen and darkening to almost black.

But in downtown Bemidji, there’s still some red left, highighted by a lovely frost that’s all over the trees and bushes.

This tree, discarded shortly after Christmas near my apartment building, is still looking sharp nearly a month later, especially with a new coat of frost.

Today’s puzzler is another word-within-a-word …

Yesterday’s mystery photo was of the sign in front of the Beltrami County Courthouse:

Until tomorrow …

– Laurie

Babe the Blue Fish

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My parents and I took my daughter to the Children’s Museum in St. Paul this past weekend, which I’m sure isn’t of much interest to you. Except for this: The main art when you walk into the museum is a display of very large flying fish (pictured above). I snapped a picture just because Lola thought they were fantastic.

It wasn’t until alter, as we were getting ready to leave that I noticed the sign for the artwork. The artist (I didn’t get the name, bad reporter) gave each of the fish individual names.

The blue fish was named "Babe the Blue Fish" (it is pictured second from left).

Who knew?

- Bethany

Three’s Company

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Hi, remember us?! Yeah, we supposedly have a daily walking blog that chronicles our adventures while traversing the trails and roads in the Bemidji area. But we kind of disappeared in mid-January.

Well, we’re back. We think. We didn’t really lose motivation (I don’t know if we’re ever really all that motivated in the first place – but we know the other is patiently waiting). We were just buried under piles of reporter’s notebooks, agendas and e-mails these past two weeks. But now that our editor has returned from vacation, Laurie and I decided it was time to get back at it.

And we came back with a bang!

Jada, Laurie’s beautiful 8-year-old granddaughter, was in town for the weekend, so she decided it would be buckets of fun to come walk with us! OK, maybe not, but she did put on the snow pants and came along.

Of course, as many of you probably know, 8-year-olds don’t take to sidewalk walking too greatly. Jada was much more interested in exploring sculptures, jumping in snowdrifts and looking through binoculars.

She was adorable though!

We came up with a compromise: Jada could play and explore the playground outside of Central Elementary School while Laurie and I walked laps around the play structure. It wasn’t the most exciting walk of our lives, but the child was happy, so therefore, we were happy.

We also walked down a few more blocks before turning around and coming back downtown.

Also during our walk, we tried out our new educational program for children:  Trail Mix-ing 101.

Cutline: Trail Mix co-founder Laurie Swenson shows 8-year-old Jada Rose the art of spelling out "Trail Mix" in the snow while walking Monday afternoon in Bemidji.

Today’s quotes:

Laurie: "Jada, you shouldn’t walk in other people’s yards."

Laurie: "Jada, get your arm out of that person’s car!"

Fun times with kids! I love them. Too darned cute!

(A little background: Jada saw a snowman that she was to examine, so she did. But to do so, she had to encroach a bit into a resident’s front yard. The second one was too perfect. There is a vehicle parked near Laurie’s place that doesn’t have a window. It apparently broke sometime a long time ago. Jada was quite taken with the idea of a window-less backseat.)

Today’s Puzzler is…

The answer to the How Well Do You Know Bemidji? quiz from, I don’t know when, is that the letters were taken from a Wells Fargo Bench along Third Street in downtown Bemidji:

Thanks for sticking with us!

- Bethany

Freedom Walking …

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We have been absent a lot lately, but I did manage to get in a good walk Sunday during the Freedom Walk from the Paul and Babe statues to Bemidji State University.

Yes, I managed to walk without Bethany! Of course, it took my granddaughter and a bunch of other people to get me to do so. :)

The weather was awesome for the walk. Very un-January! The program was very interesting; I enjoy listening to Anton Treuer (assistant professor of Ojibwe languages at BSU) speak. His stories are always fascinating. He presents American Indian history, culture and experiences in ways that touch, inspire and motivate. He has a new book coming out in the next week: "Ojibwe in America."

Anton Treuer listens to Stacy Keenan, master of ceremonies, talk about the diversity she found when she moved to Bemidji.

Singers from Bemidji’s Central Elementary School Choir performed four songs during the program. They were awesome! The mix of ethnicity of the singers mirrored that of the people in the audience. What a joy to hear children singing songs about important elements of history that they only know if others teach them. I have a video up on the Pioneer Web site that goes with the story I wrote on the Freedom Walk: www.bemidjipioneer.com.

Here’s another view of the walk, just after it started. If you look WAYYYYY back on the left, you’ll see my granddaughter, Jada, in her black jacket and dark pink snow pants, dragging her feet. Trying to get ahead of the group to take photos while also trying to keep an eye on a pokey 8-year-old was a bit of a challenge!

– Laurie

A nice day to get back to walking

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Looks like it was a good day for football in the street!

It was also a good day to get back to walking, since we have been remiss in the new year, primarily because we are short-handed at work.

The temperature was mild, although there was a bit of wind. I switched from the big furry hat to a new knit hat, and used the "magic gloves" instead of the furry mittens, but I stuck with the regular scarf and the nylon wind pants or whatever they’re called.

Monday would have been a little better, because that was a beautiful day, in comparison to the bitter cold we’ve had. Over the weekend, I broke down and made a quick trip Saturday night to Target, where I spent 50 bucks on a nice oscillating ceramic heater just before closing. I wish I had bought it a long time ago. For whole-room heating, it far outperforms the $30 oil-filled heater and $15 little ceramic heater I already had (and the milkhouse-type heater that is going in the garbage because it seems to be having overheating problems and I am wary of space heaters to begin with). The temp in my living room was 66 degrees when I plugged it in, and it inched its way upward to a toasty 72.

I was almost disappointed that it wasn’t as cold Sunday. I only used the heater a little here and there. And Monday, I didn’t even turn it on. I don’t work until 5 on Mondays, so I could have easily walked by myself, but apparently I just can’t walk without Bethany guiding my way. :)

I am only partly kidding! Today, for whatever reason, I paid zero attention to where we were walking. At some point, I realized I had no idea where we were.

"Is that Irvine?" I asked, pointing a couple of blocks ahead.

"We’re nowhere near Irvine!" Bethany replied, laughing. (Irvine was about four blocks behind us, so I was totally turned around.)

I still had no clue. We got to Jeanette Avenue.

"I’ve never heard of Jeanette Avenue!"

I noticed we were walking down 11th Street. Then we got to Rice Avenue, another street I’m not familiar with, although I’m sure I’ve driven on both streets or at least in the vicinity.

I mean no disrespect to Jeanette or Rice avenues. I’m sure they are fine streets, tucked against the woods on the edge of town.

It feels a little weird to think how close we are to being out of town when we’re in that area. The city starts narrowing on the west when you hit Rice Avenue (which is just south of Norton), then narrows again with Jeanette and Maurice and levels out with Park, which is interrupted for a couple of blocks and then meanders a bit.

So the narrowest part of the city is six blocks, from Bemidji Avenue to Park Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets.

No, I’m not getting any of that from memory. It’s from Google maps, where I clicked on the satellite view. I love looking at cities with the satellite view. For me it’s easier to get a sense of the city.

Anyway, we had a good walk, including a visit with a pair of friendly dogs on a walk with their owner, who tried valiently to keep one of them from jumping on Bethany. Then there was the barking dog that ran after us, but its owner yelled that he was harmless, so no worries. :) We enjoy our visits with animals. So far, it’s been all dogs and cats — the squirrels and chipmunks just aren’t interested!

I love this clever home construction:

It’s so cool how the birdhouse matches the house! I didn’t even notice until I was done taking pictures. Even the snow on the roof matches.

Red does not mean "go," but "go" is part of something larger. Can you guess it?

Our previous mystery photo from the sale signs in the windows at Dewey Furniture in downtown Bemidji also pulled words from words ("yoga" from "your" and "gain"). That was much wittier than today’s!

We will probably not walk Wednesday, but things will be back to normal at work Thursday, so we shoudl be back at it.

– Laurie