Deer Camp

The first weekend of deer hunting has come and gone and our group did not harvest a deer. We went back to our sport near Long Lake off of Cusson Road north of Orr. It was a warm weekend and it seemed that the deer were not very active. I did kick one up after getting out of the car prior to shooting time. That was the only deer that I heard or saw the whole weekend.

This weekend I am planning on hunting with my dad, brother, nephew and possible others that hunt at their deer camp. They had a successful hunt last weekend so hopefully they did not harvest all the deer in their area.

Moving back home

Well maybe you heard and maybe you didn't but our house sale fell through do to financing issues for the buyer. We didn't find out until a week before the closing date that the buyer was unable to secure the funds. This apparently was due to a a bunch of different, most related to our condo association rules, the number of owner occupied units and changes to the mortgage laws.

We have decided to stay as it would be very unlikely that a different buyer would be able to secure financing either. We had nearly everything moved into a storage unit and now we are moving things back home. As we are getting stuff out of storage we have also been selling, donating and giving away somethings. Pretty soon we hope to have all our stuff moved back home.

House Shopping

Well we sold our house in August and close on Septermber 28th, so we have been busy packing and looking for a new house. We will miss the townhouse in Maplewood after we moved as it has served us very well. Our interim plan is to move in with Sue's Mom Diana and Gordie's townhome. We put an offer for a house in house today in St. Paul and are waiting to here back about the offer. We are hoping that it all works out otherwise we will just keep looking and something will come along.

Antique tractors

This past Sunday I went with my dad to the Scott Carver Thresher's Association tractor show. My dad brought two of his tractors (Farmal Cub and his W-6) and my Simplicity garden tractor to be displayed at the show. I had been to this show one time before, but I never had my own tractor on display. We arrived on Sunday in time to have a quick lunch and then drive the tractors in the parade. I drove the Cub while he drove the W-6. His tractors were near the front of the parade and my Simplicity was near the back, so it gave me time to drive mine in the parade as well.

We spent sometime after the parade walking around looking at all of the different tractors and steam engines. We watched threshing machine thresh rye for a little bit and talked about the fire that started on a hay wagon the day before. I missed this, but apparently it added for some excitement on Saturday. While we were loading up the tractors with it being so dry a log started to smolder near the sawmill, probably starting from a steam engine that was runnning the sawmill. It was put out right away and didn't cause any damage.

It was a fun day. After the show we loaded the tractors up and brought them down to the shed in Waseca where they will sit until the next show.

The Rest of our California Trip

It has nearly a month since we got back from our trip to California, but I just have not had the time to put up any posts. It was a really nice trip spending time with family and seeing a lot of California.

After the triathlon in San Diego, Michael got us all tickets to see Chaka Khan and Adele http://www.adele.tv/ at the Hollywood Bowl. Adele was great and it was a beautiful night for music outdoors. Thanks Michael for the getting the tickets.

The following day was Dick and Evelyn's 65th wedding anniversary party at Don's house. Don, Katrina and other's put a lot of time into the party and it really showed. The house was nicely decorated the food was delicious. After eating everybody watched the video that Don and Rob made. It was obviously a lot of work and fun to see all of the old photos and the videos with everybody.

The next days were spent in Mammoth Lakes. The area was so beautiful. We spent a few days trout fishing Hot Creek. Fishing was tough at times but I did manage land some rainbows and browns, including a real nice 17 inch brown.

From Mammoth we drove through Yosemite on our way to Coulterville and then to Bob and Carrie's in Felton. In Yosemite we hiked up the Lyle Fork of the Tuolumne and fished a few of the pools. We caught a few Yosemite rainbows and browns on small dry flies.

After a quick stop at the Stanislaus River and a couple rainbows and fresh cherries we continued our drive through the valley and to the Santa Cruz mountains. We spent the Fourth with Bob, Carrie Rincon and Cienna. The dogs have so much energy and after a day they both took a liking to us. We loved the trip and had a great time. It will be fun to see everybody again sometime soon.

San Diego Triathlon

The San Diego triathlon was a lot of fun. We arrived in town on Saturday around noon and ate at the best tacos El Indio. They were everything the Guy Fieri clamed they were!

The triathlon was Sunday morning in the harbor starting at the Spanish Landing. Sue did a relay with Katrina and Linda. Sue did the swim with Linda biking and Katrina doing the run. Sue said the swim was a lot of fun and is excited for her next swim. The St. Paul Triathlon is going to come up fast, now she knows she will be ready for it.

Mike and I each did the whole sprint triathlon. I was really happy with my swim time and I liked the open water start. We are still waiting for the split results and should have them tomorrow, but I know I did what I expected for a time. It seemed that everybody did not bunch up as much as beach start. The water actually was pretty warm and swimming with the wetsuit did make it easier. My bike time I feel was a little hampered by the bike that I borrowed for the competion. It was a moutain bike that was a not a great fit, but I wasn't going to win anyway so does it really matter. The bike was fun though, it was to end of Cabrillo National Monument and had great views of the ocean and the harbor. The run went ok. I didn't push myself too hard just an easy pace as I was having fun running along the harbor. I probably should have pushed harder and shaved a couple minutes off the time.

The event was really well organized. They had a lot of volunteers and everything was so well marked. It defiantely created a little bit of a traffic headache for the locals who lived in the area. It was a lot of fun and now I need to concentrate on training for the St. Paul Triathlon.

A week to the San Diego Triathlon

The San Diego Triathlon is only a week away. We have been training pretty good, but this past week was not what I was hoping as work really got in the way. I am doing the sprint and Sue is doing the sprint as a relay. I have never swam with a wetsuit before so that will be a new experience. The course looks like a great route and it should be a lot of fun.

Last night I did get out for a short bike ride. I went out on the Gateway trail to the Bruce Vento trail north to St. John's Hospital in Maplewood before turning around. On the way back I took a lap around Lake Phalen and talked with Bob Anderson of Fly Tiers for a while. He was mowing his yard as I was going by. After that I headed home.

I have been really happy with the new (new to me) bike. I have had to do a few repairs, but that would be expected for a used bike. About a month ago I lowered the stem and yesterday I noticed the headset was a little lose, easy repair. I have also had to overhaul the front hubs, and I still need to get new cone nuts as the old ones are a little pitted. Check out the pictures of the bike, it was a great purchase for $300.