Monthly Archives: April 2010

the windy city

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We had a bit of wind accompanying us on our (shorter) walk today through downtown. I would have loved to get back to our trail, but I didn’t have a ton of time for ‘lunch" so we just went around downtown.

First, though, we trekked across the street to the Post Office and back. Laurie had gotten a package notice and wanted to see what she had ordered from ebay. We then returned to her house so she could open said package.

Turns out she had ordered a book, "The Modern Family Cookbook." Laurie saw someone else reading the book at the Beltrami County Historical Society’s Antique, Art and Craft Fair while working one Saturday. The edition Laurie received was printed back in 1943. It’s not a first edition, but it’s close.

Anyhow, today, we walked our traditional winter route, along America and Minnesota avenues.

And we weren’t alone.

Look closely. In the center of the roadway is (I think) a Mountain Dew can. The wind was pushing the can all over the place, which made a strange, eerie clacking sound directly behind us.

Laurie, after I glanced back for the second time: "Do you feel followed?"

I did.

Due, presumably, to the warm weather, we’ve come across multiple items laying around different yards:

The above pillow (I think) was part of the remnants of a garage sale.

I actually visited this garage sale last week and was thrilled to find a plush Barney. My daughter adores Barney, which is fine, but he’s not exactly in the "cool crowd" these days (like, for instance, SpongeBob or Disney princesses) so finding Barney anything is difficult. (I know, I know, I should go on eBay, but I’ve never been a n eBay-er.)

… We also came across an item up in the sky:

Laurie called this a Charlie Brown kite – and just to prove that we spend way too much time together, I was thinking the exact same thing when she said it. That happens with us a lot.

In addition to green grass and trees, spring has also brought a wave of beautiful flowers! (Notice how I don’t even attempt to name these…)

All in all, another wonderful springtime walk.

Today’s Puzzler is…

The answer from yesterday, as a few guessed on our Trail Mix Facebook pages, is that that the sign was part of a Fastbank ATM machine sign.

(This one is located at the former First National Bank building downtown.)

Have a great day!

- Bethany

Stepping up the pace

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After a week off, we hit the trail again today.

We hadn’t officially walked since last Monday, the day before Bethany closed on her house (we blogged on Tuesday, since when I went over there for a couple of hours to help them move, we got plenty of walking in).

But now Bethany and Ray and little Lola are settled in and we’re trying to get back to our regular schedule.

"At least we walked today," Bethany said as we hit the home stretch.

She pointed out that we finished the route faster than we were doing last summer. I figured it’s because she’s thinner and faster, because I find myself having to keep up with her. Which I don’t mind at all.

 

It’s hard to tell from this picture, but she’s probably 20 yards ahead of me.

We saw a pretty view of Lake Bemidji on the trail …

and another on the sidewalk up above on the way back …

Now that’s a serene view. It’s so nice to see sights like this while we walk.

I keep posting pictures of buds and little sprouting leaves, but with a week off, everything has greened up a ton.

I tried Bethany’s sneaky method of taking a photo without making it obvious.

We really need to get some business cards so we can snap photos of people and hand them a card rather than try to explain what we’re doing and where they can find their picture.

Here’s today’s mystery photo. We took this downtown, but there may be other versions of this elsewhere.

It’s good to be back walking the trail. See you tomorrow!

– Laurie

A very moving Trail Mix day

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Today was not an official Trail Mix walking day, but we did plenty of walking.

Bethany and her husband, Ray, FINALLY closed on their house today after a three-week delay. I love to help people move (I’m kind of a freak about helping people; I would probably follow little old ladies home from the store and help them bring in their groceries, but they’d probably think I was trying to rob them), so I jumped at the chance to pitch in.

I figured I should be at work around 2:30, which gave me about two hours after they closed. In that time, we filled my car — which was almost completely empty, since I’ve only had it for two weeks, so I got a LOT of stuff in there. The car was parked behind the moving truck and Bethany’s car, so I walked and walked and walked with all those trips I made. So I figured that qualified us for a Trail Mix column!

Bethany and Ray (shown above moving their box spring) got plenty of walking in, too, and carried most of the heavy things themselves while I filled my car (which I dubbed the Lolamobile, because it mostly held their toddler’s things). The only big thing I helped them with was their couch.

We left around 2 for the house, leaving Ray behind to finish loading the truck.

I followed Bethany, since I can never get to or from their apartment in the boonies without getting lost. Once, I turned the wrong way and I think I ended up on the Red Lake Reservation. That was a long ride home!

Here is their new, beautiful living room. Elmo appears to approve, too!

Bethany said she had decided to plant some tulips beside the house, but then noticed that what appears to be tulips had already popped throught dirt.

We try to be careful to leave ourselves plenty of room for error, since we are far from outdoors/nature experts. In fact, even the bird I called a "seagull" in a previous blog post was pointed out to technically be a more specific term by co-workers Anne Williams, education reporter and outdoors maniac, and Pat Miller, new sports/outdoors writer at the Pioneer. I don’t know yet if he’s also a maniac.

I think we burned a lot of calories today. We were exhausted, as much from heat as from hauling. We’re still amazed at the unseasonably warm temperatures. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an April this awesome.

We are tentatively scheduled not to walk for the rest of the week. Bethany has taken the time off from work to move and get settled in. But we might find some time to hit the sidewalk, if not the trail, at some point.

It’s awesome to have Bethany living closer. We can mix it up and walk in her area sometimes. I suppose we’ll mostly go for the dirt trail along Lake Bemidji, but it’s fun to have a change now and then. Plus, on a day when she’s home with a sick kid, we can do Wii Fit or EA Sports Active or something at her house.

Above is a small part of their nice big back yard.

 

We were curious what kinds of bushes these were. I was hoping lilacs, but I went home and looked at the lilac bushes on my street and they’re already green, so it’s doubtful.

This looks like this hole was filled with sand and used for a tiny sandbox, along with a couple of measuring spoons and a little toy car. It seems sweetly pathetic, or pathetically sweet. ;)

No mystery photo today, but here’s yesterday’s answer:

Backyard BBQ on Third Street, formerly the home of the Hard Times Saloon.

We got a few guesses on the Pioneer’s Facebook page, but none on the Trail Mix Facebook page, which hasn’t gotten many fans yet.

If you want to join us, visit the website www.facebook.com/bemidjitrailmix. Feel free to introduce yourselves!

The Pioneer’s Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/bemidjipioneer.

Have a great rest of the week if we don’t see you!

– Laurie

Hello sunshine!

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We hit "our" trail again today, and it was beautiful!

Beautiful in terms of the trail itself and the weather. I mean, Bemidji has really been on a great stretch of gorgeous weather — I was even a little pink yesterday evening after spending all weekend outdoors. And when was the last time any of us said that in mid-April?!

I mean, just look at how green everything is getting already!

Of course, we were far from the only ones outside today. I lost count of the walkers, joggers and pet-walkers. But even beyond them, there were a bunch of people just sitting outside of Bemidji State eating and lying on the grass.

You can’t see the people who were lying down, but we walked by them and caught this intriguing snippet of a conversation:

Unknown female student: "I mean, it’s not like I’m going to learn anything there."

Laurie picked up that she was referencing a math course of some kind. So maybe she had skipped class? I know if I was in college, I wouldn’t have gone to class today either. (Then again, I was pretty infamous for not attending my classes very often…)

Speaking of BSU, construction on the campus is continuing this summer:

(OK, I admit I don’t really know what building this is. I had one tour of BSU, but I rarely am on campus and I’m not familiar with the layout of the university very well. But I think this might be Deputy Hall. Someone who knows better, please let me/us know.)

Right across the trail from this view were these little guys: They were so close to us!

Look how close they looked when I used the "zoom" lens:

They weren’t afraid of us at all!  Laurie figured they were smart enough to know we couldn’t (or wouldn’t) jump the fence.

We also made our first venture to Diamond Point Park today, taking a little longer than usual for my "lunch" break. Of course, we had to rough it a bit to get from "our" trail to the bike path, but we did pretty well. It looks like other hikers have been following the same route, so it was worn in a bit more for us this season than last.

And the following photo you can file under the "dumb blonde" folder (although my hair color, admittedly, comes from a box).

I walked past the first bench, the one pictured at right, and wondered why that one had blocks on top of it and the other one didn’t. Laurie gently informed me, at the exact same time I realized it, that the bench is, obviously, upside down. Hey, it’s Monday.

All in all, we had a wonderful time outside today. It made it hard to come back to the office…

Anyhow, today’s Puzzler is…

I am thinking optimistically today, and believing that my husband and I are going to finally close on our house tomorrow. So, assuming that happens (and, trust me, without going into the full story, it would be rather surprising if it does actually happen), hopefully Laurie will update this page in the next few days and provide you with the Puzzler answer.

As it is, though, the answer from last week’s Puzzler was that the snippets were taken from a bench created by BSU ceramics students in honor of 9/11.

Again, sometimes we don’t notice things. And, apparently, we never noticed this bench before. But we loved it. We spent lots of time just reading all of the inscriptions. It was very nicely done.

Have a great week!

- Bethany

Trail Mix gets back to the trail

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Today was an uplifting day, not just because we saw lots of birds (and got pretty pictures like the one of the seagull above) but also because we got to walk on "our" dirt trail again along Lake Bemidji!

We figured the last time was sometime in November. I remembered taking my visiting friend Jean-Luc along with us on the day before Thanksgiving. So it was really nice to get back out there on the more rugged path.

We agreed that we burn the most calories when we are on the trail and in the middle of the winter when we have to hike over all the bumpy snow. But walking the trail is lots more fun. And it was a beautiful day to walk. We still can’t get over short-sleeves weather in mid-April.

This gull decided to fly away from me, but changed its mind in the middle and just settled back in the water. The gulls below just went as far as the water.

I got a decent shot of a bird taking off along the trail:

Even though it was tiring, it was wonderful to be hiking again. Walking is nice, but it’s not the same. Hiking is more of an activity, and sometimes a challenge. But challenge has its limits.

"There’s where Laurie lost her keys!" Bethany called out as we approached the spot where she likes to go up and I like to go down and struggle over a difficult spot, a spot that last year we had to go in seach of my keys in order to get back into my house.

Here’s Bethany making the jump over the wall that I tend to crawl over. Bethany’s young, I’m old. She’s also lighter. When I drop 20 pounds, I’ll try it again!

Here are a couple of examples of greening up:

 

You get a couple of mystery photo images today, from the same (beautiful) structure. The first one is rotated:

 

Yesterday’s puzzler was the Ann from Anntiques downtown.

Take care!

– Laurie

Did Harvey get attacked by a Christmas tree?!

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My family has been stopping by Lake Bemidji State Park a lot recently. We’ve learned that if we let our daughter run around for an hour or so before dinnertime that she actually sleeps through the night.

Anyhow, we stumbled upon this guy Tuesday evening. I didn’t have my camera so Lola and I popped back over there yesterday.

Pioneer photographer Monte Draper was unsurprised by my little find – he nicely informed me yesterday that a group of students put him together a while back. So either I’m very oblivious (which is very possible) or he’s just recently come out of hiding.

Either way, I love him.

My favorite movie is "Harvey" (well, either that or "Secondhand Lions" – hard to pick just one) so I’ve named him Harvey. It appears that he’s made of branches from artificial Christmas trees. But I could be completely wrong – if someone knows anything more about this fella’ I would really love the info!

In the meantime, he has brought much joy to my kid’s life – she runs around now asking to go see the bunny…

- Bethany

No, we’re not teachers…

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While walking past J.W. Smith Elementary this afternoon, we were stopped by these friendly kids. They asked us, nicely, "Are you teachers?" and we shook our heads, saying, no, we’re not. But then, noticing the camera, they very quickly posed for us. And I couldn’t resist a quick shot — kids are so cute!

Their question made me smile, though. I was – twice – an education major in college (English and elementary) before I realized that I just don’t have enough patience for children, young or older. (Apparently, I think less patience is required for covering local politics. Go figure.)

Anyhow, we walked downtown again today, which, by the way, marked our third consecutive day of walking! We’re definitely loving this spring weather!

Laurie: "I’m hot. I think it’s time to ditch the sweatshirt and get my zipper sweatshirt jacket. I can at least open it when I get warm."

The sun was warm today. In fact, we even ditched our sweatshirts about one-third of the way into our walk.

We weren’t alone outside today; we ran into lots of people!

When we first moved to the area in summer 2007, one things my husband and I noticed about the community was that nobody seemed to ask us about our favorite sports teams, such as the Twins or the Vikings, but rather asked: "Do you fish a lot? Do you hunt?" And we very quickly learned that Bemidji is more of a get-out-of-the-house-and-actually-do-something kind of town rather than a sit-at-home-watching-TV community, like those we left in the Twin Cities. We love that about this city.

Anyhow, back to Laurie and I. Here’s just some of the people we saw today:

This is a funny shot. I don’t like to whip out the camera and take pictures of people too closely because then you get the, "Uh, what are you taking my picture for?" questions. And, quite frankly, explaining this Trail Mix blog is kind of a lot of work.

So I saw these cyclists approaching and I just tried to angle the camera, while hanging from my neck, in such a way that I would, hopefully, get a shot. And I did, but it was at a very strange angle.

This was our first guitarist. I think.

In addition to the people we saw, we also ran into some interesting items:

This was a toy/action figure we stumbled upon near 15th Street. He had "life" written on one pair of brass knuckles and "word" on the other. He looked like a wrestler to me, maybe, but I couldn’t figure out who he was supposed to be.

I love these "whirlies" – they always make me smile!

***

I was kind of hoping to break in "our" lakeside trail today, but I had to pick up my fire and police reports, so this was convenient. Plus, hiking along our trail might be a nice way to end our walking week tomorrow. So hopefully that happens … we will see.

Today’s Puzzler is…

Yesterday’s Puzzler was a tough one! It took me a few minutes to figure it out – and I was the one who took the photo! The answer comes from the Kirby Photography sign in downtown Bemidji:

Have a great day!

- Bethany

P.S. If all goes according to plan, I’m going to post a "bonus" blog entry tonight or tomorrow morning on a very strange find yesterday near town. Check back.

More signs of spring

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Spring is moving along, bud by bud.

I have had a nasty, brain-fuzzying headache all afternoon, and the text editor just ate my nearly-finished blog (yes, I know, I should save now and then or type it in Word ahead of time), so I’m fresh out of creative writing. This will, therefore, be more of a photo blog. :)

We can’t complain about the weather this month. This has been an awesome April. It’s been a joy to have temperatures 10-20 degrees above what we would normally expect. But today was a wee bit windy — not that we were complaining, just noticing!

The first thing I said today when I stepped outside was:

"It’s windy!"

The second thing: "Whoa. It’s really windy."

Half an hour later, Bethany spoke up: "It’s really windy."

Snarky me: "Yeah, we covered that already."

Here’s someone bundling up a bit for a bike ride. I don’t remember which way the wind was blowing, but the rider looks to be pushing it, so maybe the bike was going into the wind.

After we saw our first dog standing in a window yesterday, we were surprised to see another pooch surveying the neighborhood from a window perch. And this one even has pillows!

Pet peeve time

OK, I have finally decided to say something about this: THIS APOSTROPHE DOES NOT BELONG THERE.

1. This is a plural. If their last name is Richards, it’s The Richards. If their last name is Richard, it’s still The Richards. (And if it’s Jones, it’s Joneses.) If you use an apostrophe, it goes after the "s".

2. Even if we put the apostrophe in the right place, it’s debatable whether it belongs. I would just go with "The Richards," meaning the people who live there. But one could look at it as "The Richards’ home." Fair enough.

BUT, the comma would NEVER go before the S.

Apostrophes in plurals is one of my pet peeves. One of the most annoying I’ve seen was a hot dog stand that had a sign that said "Hot Dog’s."

I said, "Hot Dog’s WHAT?" Is the stand owned by a hot dog? One hot dog? Is it some guy named Hot Dog?

I understand that everyone is not the spelling/grammar nut that I am (perhaps somewhere out there, there is someone who also took the AP Stylebook on vacation once). But come on, how hard is it to just put an "s" on the end of a word? It’s more work to put an apostrophe along with it.

On a lighter note

I love this frog! I love having cheerful little things around that can bring a smile to your face. At home, I have the Abominable Snowman from Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer sitting on a window sill in my sunroom that looks into the kitchen, above the sink. I always smile when I see him; it makes washing dishes less dreary. Bonus: If there’s another person around, they can push a button and have him roar and wave his arms to music.

At my desk, my smile-inducer is a little shelf-sitting lamb that is perched on my computer (a horizontal, low-profile computer rather than a tower) under my monitor, with a little smile, holding a flower.

This little guy was really busy today getting into this feeder.

And this poor reindeer got decapitated after Christmas!

In the stuff on the ground department, we have no clue where the other shoe and sock may be. They were just lying in the middle of a yard.

Yesterday’s mystery photo was of the three crosses at Calvary Chapel near downtown.

I forgot to take a puzzler photo today, but I have dug one out of a folder from last month. It’s a tough one.

Well, at least it is to me, but I’m not very observant.

This actually ended up being more wordy than I’d expected!

Have a great Tuesday night/Wednesday and beyond!

– Laurie

New art around town!

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One of my goals from last spring/summer was to take a picture of a bird. It was a long process, which, ultimately, did not result in much success. I did snap a picture of a bird at Diamond Point Park one day, but it was not a great picture by anyone’s definition. My goal for this year was to get a picture of a bird in flight (other than the ones of either myself or Laurie running at a flock of geese along the waterfront – we did that a few times last year). So I got this picture today, long ahead of my September/October deadline!

Laurie and I got back on track again today, taking a nice walk through downtown and along Irvine. The clouds were kind of disappointing after yesterday’s beautiful sunshine, but I spent all of yesterday afternoon at Lake Bemidji State Park, so I wasn’t overly crabby about the overcast today.

It felt nice to walk today! Seriously. Laurie and I (with her 8-year-old granddaughter and my 20-month-old daughter) went to the Tiny Tots Expo Saturday morning. My kid is super shy and very timid in crowds, so I spent all morning in a squatting position, down at her level. It proved to me that my catcher days are long behind me. I could barely walk Sunday! And it wasn’t much better today at all!

But walking, like always, loosens me up and gives me an extra kick – or two – of energy.

We’ve yet to get back to the lakeside trail. I was thinking it was a possibility today, but I had more house-buying stuff to get done (no, we did not close Friday — that’s a long story) so we stayed downtown.

But we saw lots of cool things!

The following, for instance, is apparently a new sculpture located outside of the Bemidji Public Library. We’re not always the most observant people in the land, so Laurie and I don’t know exactly how long it has been there. But it was new to us!

It’s called "Celestial Orbit" and was done by Suzi Rhae Ross.

***

It’s chalk time! Nothing brightens our sidewalk excursions as much as kid-drawn art. We love it!

Here’s a close-up:

I told Laurie that if the drawings were of us, she’d be the pink-haired girl on the right (‘cuz of her red hair). I’d probably be the green-haired kid with blue teeth and pink eyes.

Another fun one:

This drawing sparked a rather interesting conversation and debate. Laurie asked me to grab a picture of the "dolphin" and I did. But once I got closer, I told her it looked like a blue whale to me. She wondered if maybe it could be a porpoise.

Laurie: "Let’s ask Anne."

Because, yeah, that’s where we end up with all of our nature questions. Because, you know, it makes perfect sense that our co-worker will be able to correctly identify the child’s intent.

***

OK, this was not faked by us at all!

But it did have us wondering: Were the rocks placed there deliberately? Or was this street creation purely an accident?

I’m going with coincidence.

***

I thought this was cute. But I always like things hanging from tree branches. It did have Laurie wondering whether a lot of the dangling decorations are stolen by passers-by, but, as we both realized, the sidewalk is not on this side of the street, so maybe that is not an issue.

***

Lastly, we’ve both heard of cats getting into window sills. But dogs?!

***

That’s about it from us. Basically, it was nice to get out walking again. We plan to do it every day this week, except Friday. Anyone want to make a prediction as to how many times I cancel in the next three days?! :)

Today’s Puzzler is…

The answer from last week was pretty obvious (sorry Laurie): It was the Honda emblem.

(Note from Laurie: But did you know that it was the emblem from a license plate: specifically, the license plate on the Honda Fit we test-drove a couple of weeks ago?)

Have a great Monday!

- Bethany

Civic-minded!

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I started today’s walk as a passenger, but ended it as a driver. Here I am in my "new" 2008 Honda Civic, ready to take off from the lot at Honda of Bemidji.

Bethany, shown with Terry, who sold me the car, stayed around for a while as the car changed hands. She has been a big help with this car-buying thing, giving me rides (even loaning me her car one day last week when I had two medical appointments) and even hanging out with me yesterday during quite a bit of the price negotiation process, which I’ve never done much with. (She said I did OK!)

Prior to my picking up the car, we walked in the area. It was chillier than we expected, but a beautiful sunny day, and I have to say I am ready to see some more green, particularly on the trees, with this nice weather we’ve had through most of the last couple of weeks.

We were happy to see that the teeny-tiny buds we noticed last week have been growing. The buds on these trees in the Herberger’s parking lot at the Paul Bunyan Mall are showing a bit of green.

In the stuff on the ground department, we ran across this thing that I initially thought was a cake doughnut, but which I think is some sort of metal (iron?) part.

 "No, I wouldn’t have eaten it if it was a doughnut," I told Bethany.

 We didn’t think about a mystery photo today, so I’m throwing one in from last week:

Our last puzzler was of the 4West building near downtown Bemidji. I did an interview in that building not too long ago for a story on Active Living, and the light that gets in from those windows made for an awesome office feeling. From *my* desk, all I see is a sliver of light from the glass door I can almost see.

We missed the first three days of walking today. On Monday, Bethany finally found time to walk around 3, but by then I was gone, test-driving the Civic. She was busy Tuesday, and on Wednesday, she had a meeting, and by the time that was over, I was closing up the car purchase so she came with me instead of walking. I spent 5.5 hours on that car Wednesday, taking it to Fugate’s Automotive so they could get a look at it (they loved the car), showing it to co-workers, then back to the dealership for negotiating and financials and a couple of cups of coffee (they have good coffee there)!

So we were really glad to be back on the road. We can tell the difference, when we’ve been off for a while, by the level of soreness in our legs! We usually don’t have any, but today, at least I was a bit sore.

Cross your fingers for Bethany to close on her house Friday! I am hoping to be able to help them move sometime this weekend (I still have my parents’ pickup, which I borrowed for the week), although Friday night I will be going to "Aladdin Jr." at the Chief Theater. The costumes alone are enough to convince me to attend. They are gorgeous!

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, neither Bethany nor I will be tangled up in anything in particular and we can, for a while, just walk and write about it here. :)

– Laurie