Category Archives: Travel

2026, animals, Automotive, Family, pets, Travel

Kitty Craze

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Our initial plan for heading to St. Louis after Nonny’s passing was to take the dog and leave the cat at home with our fabulous neighbors coming over to feed her and take care of her box.  Then the dog passed and I knew immediately that I simply could not leave the cat at home.  I have a very bad history of pets passing while I’m gone (it’s happened twice).  We did think about boarding Nimue but even that was giving me anxiety. 

I bought a brand-new kitty carrier – bigger than the one we use for the block-and-a-half transport to the vet – and a new harness.  The plan was to let her out every 100 miles or so and I even brought an aluminum cake pan for a litter box and put some litter in it for traveling.  All of this turned out to be pointless.  Nimue had no interest in how comfortable we were trying to make her.  She didn’t make any noise, but the getting out of the carrier on a harness was not on her list of things to get done that day.  The first time we took her out, she sniffed around a bit, but more puffed up than we’ve ever seen her.  She wouldn’t eat a treat, wouldn’t drink any water, certainly didn’t do any business.  Crickets. 

We tried two more times with the same result.  After that we quit trying.  When we arrived at Nonny’s condo, she headed straight underneath Nonny’s bed.  I was pretty sure it would be time to go home before she came out.  For the next three days, we had to keep Nimue in her carrier for most of the day – with people coming in and out, boxing up stuff, tossing stuff – there was no way to keep her safe except in her carrier.  And when we were gone from the condo, we also kept her in the carrier.  Both my sisters, my niece and nephew all had keys and I didn’t want to run the risk that they might stop by for some reason and accidently let her out. 

All of this made me feel terribly guilty – after all, we were torturing her because of my anxiety.  She would probably have been happier at The Cat’s Meow than with us.  So, it was with a bit of joy that I came into Nonny’s bathroom late on Wednesday afternoon to find Nimue ensconced in the sink looking like butter would melt in her mouth.

On Friday, when we headed home, we put Nimue in the kitty carrier with a few treats, put her on the backseat and drove off.  We talked to her quite a bit during the day but never attempted to take her out – 9+ hours.   Within minutes of getting home, she had eaten, done some business and settled down on her kitty bed in my room.  Like nothing had ever happened.  Apparently no kitty ptsd here!

What do cats call mice on a skateboard?

2026, Automotive, Business, Food, Mysteries, Travel

Backwards

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On the way home from St. Louis, YA were debating about what we should pick up for lunch and she told me that she had noticed a sign (when we were still in St. Louis) that Steak `n Shake was offering an Orange Dreamsicle Freeze.  I don’t know if I’ve whined about S`nS dumping their original Orange Freeze – but they let go of it at the same time they dropped the grilled cheese.  I haven’t been there since then – about 6 years.

But the new offering sounded good so we decided that fries and a freeze would be an ok lunch.  YA found the closest S`nS and we let GPS get us there.  As we were waiting in the drive-thru line, we noticed several posters in the windows of the eatery touting their all new beef-tallow.  These are their exact words “return to tallow is part of a broader trend to revive traditional cooking methods and highlight authentic flavors.”  Snort.  I asked the person taking the order if it were true that the fries were now being fried in beef tallow.  When he said yes, we cancelled the fries and just got the Freezes. 

When I became a vegetarian in the early 70s, it was the end of French fries for me as all the fast-food places used animal fats for frying.  Burger King was the first to switch over; for many years I got a whooper with no meat (yes, that’s just a glorified cheese sandwich) and fries.  Then Wendys switched, then S`nS, and eventually even McDonalds gave it up and moved to vegetable oils.  So this move back to beef tallow doesn’t make much sense to me.  I don’t know the science about the health benefits (although RFK touting beef tallow makes me wonder…) but from a planetary point of view, I don’t think we need more cows eating way more grains than it takes to feed humans.  My cynical side says S`nS is grasping at straws trying to deal with their currently financial struggles and think this might be a way to differentiate themselves from the pack.

Regardless, YA and I ended up at Subway for our lunch to go with our Orange Dreamsicle Freezes, which unfortunately weren’t all that great.  I can’t imagine I’ll ever go back to a Steak `n Shake again.

Fries?  Shoestring, curly, seasoned, sweet potato?  Or just pass the tater tots?

2026, Automotive, Kids, Travel, Uncategorized

My Way

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Sometimes I think maybe I should have gone back to school to get a PhD in family manipulation.  I got my Masters training from the master – my mother.  Even when I could feel her working her magic on me, I succumbed time and time again. 

The inheritance of this talent is a two-edged sword.  It certainly works wonders sometimes but then I occasionally feel guilty.  I should probably feel badly that I don’t feel THAT guilty.  Some things are a slam dunk… if I ask YA to clean in the bathroom directly, she might or might not.  But if I leave a wet wash cloth on the edge of the tub or some hair from my brush on the counter – voila!  Bathroom cleaned in no time.  In the dining room (where she works from home on Mondays and Fridays), if I spread all her stuff (bills, junk mail, computer mouse, keys, etc) all over the table, then she cleans it up lickety split.  If I just organize it into a pile myself, the pile will sit there forever.  I never ask her to come help me with yardwork but if I ask for one thing – like moving a bag of mulch from the back to the front, she almost always stays to work.  My latest discovery is that if I just rinse out the kitty fountain and mention that I’ve done it, she will take the fountain apart and do an extremely thorough cleaning.  The funniest thing about all this is that if you saw her room or the sink after she’s been working in the kitchen, you couldn’t imagine she would have any cleanliness streaks in her.

We had two weeks between my mom’s passing and when we went down to St. Louis to clean the condo and have her service.  During that time, YA had two trips, one long work trip to Cancun and another for-fun trip to Washington DC to see the cherry blossoms.  She had planned it a couple of months back and was scheduled to get home on Sunday night and we were leaving very early on Monday morning for St. Louis.

A few days before she left for Washington DC, she told me that I should get the car washed and vacuumed before our trip.  Luckily I was on my game at that moment so I said “well, I’ll try but I have a lot to do for the service and getting ready for the trip.”  Three hours later, I looked out the back window and found her vacuuming my car – see the header photo.  Heaven forbid she should have to travel to Missouri and back in what she considers to be a health hazard.  (Brekke is NOT a health hazard unless you compare her to YA’s car, which is clean enough that you could eat off the seats!)  After she was done, I volunteered to run the car through the little car wash down on 54th while she was in DC. 

Win/win, right?  What chores do you prefer to outsource?

2026, Business, Family, Food, Travel

Grasso Plaza

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Oft times I feel as if my world is fairly small.  494 to the south, Highway 100 to the west, 35W to the east and Franklin to the north.  Obviously I do travel outside of my “zone” but overwhelmingly, my life and errands are within.  So it isn’t odd to me that my mother also had a fairly constricted range.  It was brought home to me last week when YA and I were in St. Louis that Grasso Plaza is basically a catch-all for just about everything.

Grasso Plaza is about 5 minutes from my mom’s house, up on Gravois Road, which is a major thoroughfare in the southwestern suburbs.  It’s basically just two strip malls across Gravois from each other with five lanes of traffic in between.  (One of these lanes is what St. Louisans call the “suicide lane”, in which you can basically go either direction – insanity.)  The parking lots on both sides were clearly designed by an idiot who had been drinking heavily.  I can’t believe that the insurance companies haven’t banded together to force the Plaza to have them both re-done; I’ve witnessed two accidents myself in my visits to Nonny.

Anyway, here are all the places in Grasso Plaza that we went to in our three full days:

  • Schnucks.  This is one of the grocery store chains in St. Louis; I am not making this up.  We got a few snacks and some beverages to keep in the condo while we were there.
  • St. Louis Bread Company. SLBC was bought by AuBon Pain in 1993 and everywhere else except St. Louis, the name was changed to Panera.  I assume some lawsuit or contractual thing was involved.  On the outside the sign says St. Louis Bread Company, on the inside, everything says Panera, including how your receipt prints out.  We had two meals there.
  • Walgreens.  Of all the things that Nonny didn’t have in her condo was lotion!
  • Southern Bank. Nonny’s bank – we had to deposit a check of hers.
  • Post Office. We had to send the equipment back to MobileHelp (Nonny’s “help I’ve fallen and can’t get up” service).  Very very friendly and chatty clerks – good thing no one was waiting behind me.
  • Cotton’s Ace Hardware. I’ve been here many times over the years but this trip it was to drop off the last of Nonny’s canned goods/cereals.  Cotton’s has a collection barrel for the Affton Christian Food Pantry.
  • Dollar Tree. Just a quick stop for some plastic drinking cups for the condo since there were so many folks working on the cleaning out.
  • H&R Block. Stopped by to ask one tax question concerning Nonny’s taxes.  They weren’t helpful.  I should have just texted Linda.  Ended up getting better info from AARP.

These weren’t the only errands we ran, but it was most of them and I was happy to put Grasso Plaza behind us.  Even though it was handy, I don’t want to mess with those parking lots and that suicide lane ever again!

Do you have any favorite/usual shopping spots?

2026, home, Travel, Uncategorized

Palm To Pine

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Highway 75 runs north and south through Luverne. It is a major highway in the region. Many years of my life were spent along this road. My first house as an infant and young child was right along the road. My parents built a house along 75 south of town when I was17. My undergrad college in Moorhead was along 75. The University of Manitoba was right along 75, as was my first Winnipeg apartment, although it was called Pembina Highway north of the border. It was called the Palm to Pine Highway, as I think it started in Texas.

On April 15, Highway 75 through the center of Luverne will be closed for several months for resurfacing and new sewer pipes. This is described as progress. They culled 100 year old trees for the project. The MN road department has assured residents that homes and businesses along the route will not be hemmed in. We shall see. It will be huge problem for the marching band festival in September. Much of the diverted traffic will go on the Blue Mound Avenue, just off our street. I know this needs to be done, but what a huge pain to live through.

Any annoying road conconstruction by you this summer? What are your most sentimental highways?

2026, animals, chickens, crops, Farming Update, History, Nature, pets, Science, Theatre, Travel, Uncategorized

HONK HONK

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This weeks Farming Update from Ben

It’s angry goose season at the College again. Caution tape and cones have been put up and emails have been sent out warning us of the danger. The first day as I passed the pair in the parking lot, the male goose just opened his mouth at me. Didn’t even hiss, but he was warning me off in no uncertain terms.



Last Friday Kelly and daughter and I drove to Alexandria. I went to pick up the Track Wacker for use this spring. We took Highway 14, stopped in Mankato for a bathroom break and filled the truck with diesel fuel. $132 later we headed for New Ulm where we stopped to see Hermann the German. I’m pretty sure I was there with my parents when I was a kid. Really didn’t remember anything about it, and on Friday it was 30° and windy and we didn’t linger very long. He’s closed for renovation anyway.


Two lane roads the rest of the way to Alexandria and a very nice drive. We got adjoining rooms at the hotel so daughter could have one room and Kelly and I could have the other. It was a pretty slick way to do it, and I would sure try it again in the future.
I got up early the next morning, had a mediocre breakfast at the hotel with French toast sticks so tough I couldn’t chew through the crust on the bottom, but the sausage patties were good and I headed half an hour northwest to Millerville to pick up the Track Wacker. I knew it would fit in the back of the pickup. Then for good measure, I bought a fire ring as well.


I got back to the hotel just as the other two finished breakfast and we packed up and were back on the road. Drove to see Theater L’Homme Dieu where I spent a few days with a show back in 2010. Again, quiet two lane roads home, probably didn’t have any traffic for 20 or 30 miles. Saw some really long trains. I couldn’t get over how long some of them were.
Being a sucker for a historic roadside marker I had looked up a few before leaving. A few miles outside of Grove City we stopped at the Acton State Monument. The battle of Acton, the Acton incident, and the Ness Cemetery. They mark the beginning of the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862. You know, it’s one thing to read about it in the books, it’s another to stand there and realize it happen RIGHT HERE.

And then to the Ness Cemetery and see the monument: one of Minnesota’s oldest monuments (Dedicated September 13, 1878) marking the burial of those first victims. It was a very deeply moving experience for us.

Twelve hours of driving and about 600 miles. We got home about six in the evening. A couple neighbors had come over to feed the dogs and collect eggs. They call the dogs their “dog grandchildren” and gave Bailey extra food “because we love her“. Sure is nice to have neighbors like that.

Sunday I unloaded the truck, took the rear blade off the tractor, hauled the snowblower out, I even got the lawnmower out and mowed down some grass and weeds before I put the snowblower in its summer parking spot. Daughter and I picked up driveway markers, (but I haven’t taken the snow fence down yet, I don’t wanna jump the gun too fast), and I got the four wheeler running and drove that around a while. Drove down in the pasture to check things out after winter.

I also picked up branches along the road and  Kelly picked up branches in the yard. I think the spring mud is pretty much done. The fields are really drying out, or at least they were before it rained all day Thursday. It could be an early spring here doing fieldwork. If I was a little more prepared I might’ve been able to get out and do a little fieldwork in March. I remember one year doing some on March 31. That doesn’t happen very often.

I spent a few hours in the Shop one night putting a couple new LED lights on the back of the 8200 tractor. Took me an hour to do the first one and five minutes to do the second. Standing on a work platform and reaching over the outside dual tire was another instant of wishing I was 6 inches taller or my arms were 6 inches longer. But I managed. The 6410 tractor that I use for the majority of the work, I’ve replaced a bunch of lights with LED and I have four more to replace and two more to add on the back. It only has two rear work lights at the moment and really could use two additional. It was on my to-do list but apparently will be a summertime project.

Baby chicks arrived on Wednesday morning. I had gotten their pen ready so once they were delivered and we did the usual pictures and videos of them in the box, I could take them right down and dip their beaks in the water and get them all settled in. I ordered 50 this year for $260. Last year I ordered 40 and it was $170. Twenty of the Easter egg blue and green layers, 10 of the Silver Laced Wyandotte,, 10 Lavender Orpington, those gray ones like Mabel from a few weeks ago, and 10 of Hatchery choice. Could be anything.

So far so good on them.

Screenshot


My summer Padawan came to the college a couple of days and helped me paint the set. He tries to educate me on what’s hip these days. When I took him back home he showed me all the different kinds of cologne he has and told me in the winter you wear something warm and spicy and for example he wouldn’t wear this certain cologne at this time of year. I stared at him quizzically. Why not?  And he stared back at me. Like, because everybody knows that. Well, you have to learn that somewhere I said. I mean did he read that in GQ magazine? (He doesn’t read magazines.) Well, just everybody knows that he said. I laughed. Well, I don’t.

HAVE YOU EVER ATTACKED A GOOSE?

WHAT IS THE PROPER NUMBER OF CONES TO PLACE AROUND SOME GEESE?

2026, Automotive, books, Family, Mysteries, Travel

Road Trip Reading

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I’m rarely without a book at hand.  I always have a CD in the car, CD player also in my studio.  Libby on my laptop.  Libby on my phone.  STACKS of books in my bedroom (library books in one place, my unread titles in another).  Even when traveling, books come with me; my packing list on the computer has books as a box to tick.

Even though I didn’t think I’d have any time for reading on this trip, I brought books.  No books on CD in the car with YA but I had my laptop with Libby, had my phone.  STILL brought books with me. I did make a conscious effort to bring things on the lighter side…

    • The Mysterious Affair at Styles (CD) by Agatha Christie. I’ve read this before but all my BritBox the past two months stirred up a desire to read a few of her early works again.  I’m actually almost done with this.  Maybe I can do an errand by myself today to finish it up!
    • Serial Killer Support Group (Book) by Saratoga Schaefer. I haven’t started this yet but it’s called a “dark, witty debut” about a young woman trying to solve the mystery of her younger sister’s murder.  Hopefully the “witty” is true.
    • Family of Spies (Libby) by Christine Kuehn. This is non-fiction; written by the author when she discovered her dark family roots. I’m about half way through this one; although it’s not a feel-good subject (spies during WWII), it’s written pretty much as a straight-forward history.  I think the author was putting some emotional distance between herself and the story.
    • Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective (Book) by Leslie Thomas. I also haven’t started this one yet but I have seen the first three episode of the TV series thanks to BritBox.  The TV series was a little on the lighter side so I suppose the book could swing either way.
    • A History of the World in 12 Shipwrecks (Book) by David Gibbins. This is the last of the “listicles” books that I picked up for Blevins Book Club.  I was trying to cram it in two weeks ago and then the snowstorm happened, so I haven’t picked it up since.  I’m about 1/3 of the way through.  It’s not nearly as good as I was hoping.  Writing is a bit dry and I was hoping for much more interesting photographs.

Of course, the chances I’ll finish any of these (well, maybe the Christie) is pretty slim, but where reading is concerned, hope springs eternal.  A bit like the cat and the grocery bag from Duck’s Breath Mystery Theater!

What do you like to read when you’re traveling?

2026, animals, home, Travel, Uncategorized

Road Tripping

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The chances are pretty good that while you are reading this, YA and I are in my car, headed to my mom’s service and to get her condo cleaned up.  I am in charge of the service and also the cleaning up/organizing/donating.  My middle sister has taken over most of the paperwork and financial stuff. 

Initially we had planned to take the dog with us.  With her anxiety/lashing out, there weren’t any boarding places that would take her.  YA had purchased a new collapsible kennel for the trip and we were acclimatizing Guinevere to it.  The neighbors were going to watch the house and come over a couple of times a day to feed the kitty and take down the garbage – all that good neighbor stuff.

After a couple of days of ruminating on it, both YA and I have decided we want to take the cat with us.  She’s a little discombobulated by the dog not being here so leaving her in an empty house seems cruel.  In addition, after both my mom and the dog going so very quickly, we’re just not emotionally ready to not have the cat with us.

So… purchased a new cat carrier as her old one is pretty small (only used for the 2-block trip to the vet every year).  Found a harness that fits her in the “pet drawer” (we have everything from every pet ever in that drawer).  All the travel-with-cats websites say make sure she’s micro-chipped.  Check.  When I was at Petsmart getting a top-off of cat food, I decided to get her a new kitty bed.  She has two on the radiator in my bedroom but one is so horribly scruffy and dirty – it would be too awful to take that with us.  Yes, I know I could probably toss it in the washer but I think the shed kitty fur is the only thing holding it together. 

The list now includes new carrier, new bed, littler box w/ litter, little litter bags, harness, kitty dish & kitty food, kitty treats.  Hopefully we haven’t forgotten anything! 

Wish us luck!

Any good animal road trip stories?

2026, animals, Art, Business, crops, Family, Farming Update, Gatherings, Government, Theatre, Travel, Uncategorized

SOMETHING SOMETHING*

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*A working title that was as good as anything else.

This week’s farming update from BEN

Spring is coming. The female cardinal is fighting with her reflection in our car mirrors. She did that last year too. (Remember when having that right side mirror was a big deal? They were not standard.)

The maple trees are getting buds on them. Crocuses are coming up. The chives are coming up. And the snow fence is falling over, so it must be time to be done with that. Fingers crossed. I saw a turkey vulture Friday morning and Kelly heard a killdeer.

Last weekend Kelly traveled to San Antonio for a work thing. Spent 12 hours in airports on Saturday. Had two layovers, three flights, and every flight was late for one reason or another. Left RST at noon, got to SAN at midnight. And then couldn’t get to the gate because there was some sort of medical emergency inside.

At least her luggage showed up! She had time to walk around Sunday afternoon. Saw the Alamo and did the river walk downtown.

Did her work thing, had supper with a co-worker, went back to the airport at 3AM, no trouble getting through TSA at that point, and was back in Rochester with no issues at 11AM Monday. She slept the rest of the day.

Man, air travel… I’m gonna ask you about that at the end so give it some thought.

Really haven’t done much on the farm this week. I’ve seen several posts from the Oat Mafia group on FB of guys out planting oats. One guy did it before the blizzard. Another guy remarked when he got to the field at 2:00AM it was 31degrees and a little wet. By 3:30AM and 27 degrees it was perfect. I read that and I think to myself, honestly, I am just playing at this farming thing… Yeah, they got 1400 acres total, and 300 acres oats, while I got 25 acres of oats, So, it doesn’t compare, but still… it’s hard not to compete. My equipment doesn’t do what their equipment does. I have to do tillage before I can plant. They’re doing no-till. I looked up some no-till drills. A brand new one, six feet wide, lists for $17,000. My current drill is 15’ wide. Ok, here’s a used no-till 15’ drill, 1996 model. $35,900. Whistle. That’s a lot of oats to make that pay. Plus having the field ready to plant last fall in order to plant this spring.

Last week I mentioned jumping through hoops at the local Farm Service Agency. Somehow, after 10 years, they decided the Hain Trust and me were not the same people. I had to get a lawyer to draw up some paperwork to show I am indeed part of the Hain Trust. And that made FSA happy and this week I got a nice deposit from them. Evidently, it’s tied into that Big … Bill the orange president created. Yeah, more bail out money since he screwed up all the markets. And this is how we’re saving money, right?

And the check from the corn I sold so I had a really nice bank balance.

Then I paid the first half of rent on two fields, $2000. And paid the diesel fuel and gasoline bill. $2300. And Farm insurance $1200 quarterly. And the monthly electric bill, and, and, and… easy come easy go! But hey, at least I could make those payments.

Working on a show at the college. We open in about 3 weeks and I am busy building stuff. I clean up as I’m working because I hate walking through sawdust and tracking it all over the rest of the shop. And that’s why I vacuumed up the remote for the dust collector on the table saw. And because I have a bag in the shop vac, I had to sift it to the top and fish it back out the hole. I knew it was in there because I turned it on while fishing it out, haha. I’m gonna add a board to it so I don’t do that again. This was the second or third time I’ve done that.

I took a walk along our creek last Sunday. Me and the dogs.

Bailey…
Silver Creek

I heard some sandhill cranes calling. A flock/siege/construction/swoop of 12 or 14 of them made a loop and head off south. I hope a few spend more time in our area. I thought of our Steve.

I had a lot of township business this week. Lots of phone calls and fact-finding. Relinquished my chair of the town board and don’t have to chair that board again for 4 years. And Thursday night was the annual meeting of the People’s Electric Cooperative. Supper was provided and it was… food. I wore sleeves and a jacket.  

As chair of the nominating committee I presented the election results and read the oath to the winners. And that’s over for another year. Shedding projects left and right!

WHERE WAS YOUR FIRST FLIGHT?

RIDDEN IN ANY KIND OF VINTAGE PLANE?

MILE HIGH CLUB ANYONE??

2026, Automotive, dreams, Travel, Weather

Hawaii Bound?

26 Comments

It was cloudy here a couple of weeks back for the latest lunar eclipse.  I knew it was cloudy but I set my alarm for 3 a.m., just in case.  Crickets.  I re-set the alarm again for 4:30. Hope springs eternal.

Before that alarm went off my dream world went a little crazy.  For some reason in my dream the alarm had gone off and when I got up, instead of looking out the window to the southwest, I put on my slippers, got into my car and set my GPS for the Big Island of Hawaii.  Unlike reality, in which my GPS says there are no directions available between my house and Honolulu, in my dream the directions were going right there.  If you figure not stopping to eat or sleep, I could get to San Fran in about 30 hours.  If I could drive from San Fran to Honolulu (snort), it would take me another 60 hours; guessing the eclipse would be over by then.

If there was a reason that I was driving to Honolulu, other than to see the eclipse, it wasn’t clear upon waking up.  Why I couldn’t just look out my window, I don’t know.  And it certainly wasn’t clear why I thought I could drive my little Honda Insight across the Pacific Ocean. 

The capper was, of course, that when the alarm went off at 4:30, it was still completely overcast.  Guess Hawaii was second best?

What’s the longest distance you’ve driven?  Any good ferry stories?