Under the Stars

So it's the 4th of July evening.  Johnny C, youngest, and I take our folding chairs downtown, and find a nice dark spot on a concrete playground.  As we wait for not one but TWO firework displays, Cupcake and I gaze at the emerging stars.  At the same time she's jumping in pain from mosquitoes biting her through the canvas of her chair and her denim jeans.  Have you heard about the man-eating mosquitoes in Minnesota?  Well we aren't exaggerating.  These things can carry away small dogs.

Later that evening her pain and discomfort grow to alarming proportions.  I have her drop trou only to discover it's not mosquitoes - it's chiggers!  Chigger bites under the stars.

The ZOO!

Mnmom again.
So the Minnesota Zoo is shutdown - more's the pity.  So instead we headed out with picnic basket in hand for the Como Zoo in St. Paul, which we actually like better in many ways. 

First, the entrance has been moved to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory.  There you pay a suggested donation of $5 for adults and $2 for kids.  The conservatory is amazing! And the grounds contain a Japanese garden, a butterfly garden, etc.  Inside is a new rainforest exhibit and the infamous corpse flower.  It wasn't in bloom that day so we couldn't "enjoy" it's aroma.

Then into the zoo itself.  This old relic has undergone some great transformations.  New buildings, better exhibits, etc.  First we stopped at the orangutans. 


This bad boy lazed around until the power of love overcame him and he chased down a female and leisurely mated while the rest of us primates watched. I should have gotten him a cigarette after that display.


The polar bear exhibit is new - you can get a very close view of these enormous creatures.  How can something so cute rip your head off?

I for Ingalls

Actually Mnmom, the Mom, here.
Been a great couple of summer weeks!  In between work and chores we fit in Z, B, U an I!

First is I for Ingalls Wilder.  During her famous childhood, Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family lived a brief time in Burr Oak Iowa.  After the horrid grasshopper plague wiped them out in Minnesota, they traveled flat broke to Iowa to help some friends run a hotel.  During their journey there they lost a baby boy Charles.  Youngest sister Grace was born in Burr Oak.  These years didn't fit into her "moving west" saga so she didn't write about them.

During MY childhood this story resurfaced and in the 1970's my Mom, Jean Jenkins, and a group of teachers tracked down the building which was miraculously still standing.  They bought it, and founded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum.  On June 25th, they dedicated an engraved granite stone to the Founders in the park behind the museum.  My Mom sadly did not live to enjoy this day, but all her kids were there in her place.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Days in Burr Oak was the most charming thing ever.  The whole town of about 150 people put on a parade, pie auction, old-time craft booths for rope making, log sawing, wool spinning, etc., a picnic, and stagecoach rides.  Our good friends Leif and his Mom Laura, also big Laura fans, came with us.  Now we're excited to travel to Lake Pepin WI and DeSmet SD for more Laura lore.

W is for... Water Buffaloing

W is for...

Water Buffaloing!
Today my mom and I went water buffaloing which is where you sit in shallow water on a hot day.

We went to the pool at 6:30 and stayed there until 8:00 and while we were sitting in the water we played 20 questions.

While we were there we noticed that when little kids run in to the pool they have to splash the people around them as much as possible before they start swimming!

W is for...

Water Buffaloing!