Full moon stroll in the Arb

Friday we took a late night walk through the arboretum.

Admiring the amazing full moon, we required no additional lighting.

Labor Day

Fall is here.  

The high temp reached 67° today, after being in the 90°s last week.

We had our third annual Labor Day "If Mama ain't going' anywhere for the holiday weekend, we're ALL gonna go for a run" 5K.

I had some good-natured resistance on the part of the seventeen year old, but we all made a go of it.

I'm quite slow, as I'm rehabbing a torn meniscus, so I ran the opposite direction of the loop.  That way I managed to get a picture of the two of them headed my direction.

School starts tomorrow.

Let the fall truly begin.

Arboretum in July

The Carleton Arboretum restoration is still in process.

Recent storms took down a few of the remaining trees.  Arboretum staff also applied herbicide to this hillside a few days ago.  

Still a work in process.

Worth getting up early

Last shot of sunshine on my early morning run, just before the rain started.

Blooming

I managed to get a run in today between the intermittent rain showers.

The wild phlox are blooming like crazy.

I don't need to plant flowers in my yard.  I just go visit them in the Carleton Arboretum.  The best part?  No weeding necessary.

The Arb is greening up

Slightly over a month ago, the Carleton Arboretum looked like this:

It's getting greener now, but I'm waiting to see how the open hillside develops:

The way it looked before they cleaned out the old non-native growth:

Flower shower

Running through the Carleton Arboretum,

 I came across a spot where it was snowing flowers.

Real spring Finally

The only other people I saw this evening while out for a run in the arb were two college age guys.  

It was a beautiful evening.  

I really expected to see more people.

But I did see one real harbinger of spring.

Trout lilies are starting to bloom.

Changes

Now that's finally clear of ice and snow, I've been able to run in the Carleton College Arboretum for the past two days.  

(Woot!  Two days of exercise in a row!)

Carleton is gradually restoring the arboretum to a natural landscape.  This past winter they did some clearing out of an old pine plantation.

This was one of my most favorite spots on the trail, photographed early this past January.

Today it looked like this.

I'm sure it will look beautiful when it's completely restored.

Change is always difficult.

Outdoorsy

It was a bluebird day on Saturday.  Perfect for skiing at Welch Village.

We're not going to discuss how, for the first time in my life, I fell off the ski lift.  Right? 

Good.

We took a long hike in the Carleton Arboretum today, doing some geocache maintenance.

Another amazing bluebird day.

Big pointy teeth!

We went walking in the Carleton arboretum this past sunny November Sunday,

We found fresh evidence of snacking beavers.

I like the artistic teeth work on this tree trunk.

The beavers chewed off this tree, then went to gnawing off the branches.

 

 

And dragging them toward the river.

 

 It was a good day for sitting on the deck and giving that newly dyed alpaca a spin.  

64° - warmer than Atlanta!

(I wanted to call this post "BEAVERS", but I was afraid of what the search engines would bring...)

Take a deep breath

We've been soccer parenting like crazy.

Six games in seven days.


Tonight we didn't have ANY soccer. Ahhh, take a break.




After a leisurely grilled supper, Paul and I took a walk in the arb with the dogs.



There are more new prairie flowers and even some berries. It's good to step back once in awhile.

Family Sunday

We had Sunday dinner with most of Paul's family today.

We got to play with little E - our grand-nephew. He'll be one year old in early March, and he's cute as a bug!







After dinner, Paul and I headed out to the arboretum for a walk.

A quick stop at the river, looking for eagles, but no luck.






Looks like a frozen creek, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, it's the trail. Most of the trails in the arb looked just like this.

We shortened our walk to only 2.5 miles.

We were afraid we'd fall and break some sort of important bone. Getting out of there with a broken body part could be extremely difficult!


Paul's been practicing with the camera.

He got these great shots of cardinals at one of our feeders.







Looks like we might be wrestling for the camera!

Saturday in the sun

This morning while Paul was out chopping wood, I met some friends for a walk in the Carleton Arboretum.






The sun's shining, and temps are in the upper 20s.

Nikki's dog, Katie, was happy for the run.








There'll be portobellos to eat this weekend. Yum.









I've made more knitting progress on my Kauni cardigan.

I've decided to keep the dark section. We'll see how that turns out.














This is definitely my corner of the kitchen counter.

Crockpot full of merino roving, the camera bag, and my work PC.




Ain't life grand?

Redemption?

Little dog has been trying to redeem himself.

He's been overly snuggly and cute. He insisted on sitting on my lap while I was spinning.

It's a bit awkward.






I finished the new etsy roving.

I want to navajo ply it, but I want someone to take pictures for me while I ply.

So I can demonstrate navajo plying, you know?




We hit REI's big fall sale yesterday, along with about 8,000 similarly minded shoppers. (Only a slight exaggeration, mind you.)

Honestly, the line to pay was way back into the merchandise area.

Recession? What recession?

Girl of the House got her new winter jacket. She insists on growing. Not fair! I've been wearing my winter jacket since 2000.

Maybe I need to grow, too?

Maybe not.

Anyway, let's move on to the real point of the jacket picture.

Notice it matches the blue in the roving? The inside trim of the jacket is chocolately brown.

It seems she is doomed to receive handspun accessories.

Details are in place for the delivery of more roving in the near future. Four ounces only goes so far, you know.


Paul and I took the dogs out for a hike in the Carleton Arboretum this afternoon.

The sun broke through from time to time, and there was no wind. It was a good day for a hike. We went 4.75 miles. (We're GPS junkies. I could tell you our average speed, too, if you like?)

Beavers are at work. These stumps appeared to be freshly beaver chewed.

They're working on bigger trees across the river.



Even beavers have big dreams.

Seaman's scarf blocked

Housecleaning on Saturday...

One of the perils of a full time job - the cleaning needs to take place on the weekends!





My reward - blocking out the handspun Alpaca Seaman's scarf that has been knitted for so long!









This morning, Paul and I walked in the Carleton Arboretum with the dogs.











There are still a few shots of color on the prairie.














Girl of the House stayed home relaxing, and had the TV to herself with no parental nagging. (Not many bad things on broadcast TV on Sunday mornings, are there?!)

This afternoon she has the second day of soccer tryouts, for summer '09 traveling soccer. These tryouts will determine team placement.

Yes, we're overly organized here in Northfield...

Sunday

Paul and I took a walk in the Carleton Arboretum this morning, checking on the geocaches we have planted there.

One cache is missing - possibly a casuality of the June flooding. We'll have to replace it.

While we were hiking, we placed a new cache.









The arb is full of beautiful wildflowers.

Everywhere you turn, you see a different flower.




We ended up hiking 4.6 miles. Then, home for a fabulous Sunday brunch of Eggs Benedict and Bloody Marys.

Girl of the House went to the public pool, and we did chores around the house and yard.

Now, we're on the deck listening to Acoustic Sunset on Cities97 and enjoying the fruits of our labors, cool drink in hand.

Please come to Boston in the springtime...

(Extra points to anyone who remembers that Loggins & Messina song.)

I'm off to Boston tomorrow for training. It's the first work travel I've ever done. There are three of us going.

I'm excited. I don't know the other gals very well. They work in other departments and we're only acquaintances. I am looking forward to getting to know them better.

Luckily, we each have our own hotel room. :0)

I'll return home on Friday evening.

So, what do you pack when you'll be gone most of a week?

A sweater, socks, the beginnings of a lace scarf, and a spindle, of course!!






Oh, and some clothing and my computer...



Out in the arb today for a run.

The greenery is beginning to spring from the burned area.












The wooded areas are full of wildflowers.









Friday movie night pic of the frecklegirl and her little dog. (So I can look at it when I'm away.)

Friday night movie - "The Golden Compass".

Excellent flick. We saw it in the theater with Ben. Of course, he let us know that the movie ending is NOT the book ending. Good flick, nonetheless.



Best song on the iPod while running - 'Real Good Looking Boy" by the Who.
5.4 miles today/ 12.3 this month.