Happy Birthday Emily!

You're right, they're not ALL kindergarteners. That's Aunt Jennifer
seated at the head of this birthday party table.

Emily's six years old and had a birthday party Sunday afternoon at a park in Hopkins. Below is the slide show, a minute and half of five and six-year-olds opening presents and eating birthday cake. Besides classmates, there were Moms and Dads, friends, Aunts and a Grandma and Grandpa.

For maximum excitement, play the slide show in full screen mode and crank the volume!

No, no. A smaller piece for the bride to be, please

Our dear family friend, Niven, departs soon for The Netherlands, there to wed Nuri, the man of her dreams. Niven immigrated here from Turkey 22 years ago, but we've never known her to look better than she does today, glowing in anticipation of her big event. So it was understandable this afternoon that she objected to the size of the piece of birthday cake being pushed at her. She'll be a beautiful bride and we wish her all the best in her new life in a new country.

Gone

For many years, this dear old Linden shaded golfers on the No. Fourteen tee box. Last night's storm took it out. Hail and lots of rain was reported, but little other wind damage in the immediate area. This tree was vulnerable, passersby speculated, because the adjacent staircase and retaining walls may have weakened its root system. We're not so sure about that, but know we'll miss this sweet landmark at the turn in the road.

Kathleen's big outing

Kathleen made it all around Cub Foods yesterday in her first grocery shopping trip since her knee replacement nineteen days ago.
She was greeted warmly by the many familiar faces there. (They didn't seem to recognize her substitute buyer, who has bravely ventured in to gather essential supplies during her brief absence.) Her pal, assistant floor manager Jer, will now be calling her The Bionic Woman.

Kathleen didn't bring her walker. The original plan was to rely on the shopping cart for balance. She soon left it behind, walking unaided from the bakery to the deli to frozen foods -- her escort trailing along, pushing the cart, keeping up, submitting the occasional suggestion for consideration.

He's fixin' a hole. . .

A Stonebrooke greenskeeper demonstrated the little claw dig and squeeze device that closes up ball marks left on greens by irresponsible golfers who don't clean up after themselves. The handy dandy device makes quick work of the problem. The greensman says it works great and likes to use it, he just wishes he had invented it.
Golfers were active in between showers and thunderstorms. More volatile weather systems promised today.
Daughter Jennifer came over yesterday to hang with her rehabbing mother, so Stan and his partner, Dick, got in a round for the first time in three weeks. Rust was noted.

Attn MN Twins: Help is on the way!

We received this text photo from Emily's Mom this morning.
Emily turned six on May 1; this is her first practice of the season.

Click here to let Emily get you in the mood for baseball. (Turn your sound up.)

Staples

Bud, Paula, Katie, Mina, Joe

Kathleen's doctor visit went very well today. Her busy orthopedist, who arguably has replaced more knees than anyone in the state, looked at today's x-rays and pronounced her knee "perfect." We don't know if he was just admiring his own work, but that was certainly exactly what we wanted to hear. Further, he said, get rid of the walker, stop taking warfarin -- take an aspirin instead, drive whenever you're ready and only wear the hated support hosiery on the right leg during the day. No night stockings. Yippee! On Day 15!
Kathleen will continue formal physical therapy for another month, but to celebrate the removal of the staples, we enjoyed dinner with our very supportive neighbors at the clubhouse tonight. Kathleen walked in and seated herself, thank you.
There was more news at the table tonight than just Kathleen's knee job, of course. Mina reported, somewhat breathlessly, that she spotted a cow running loose on the fifteenth fairway this morning. There are no farms near us, so a lost cow provided a buzz for the diners. Mina said that it was a brownish cow for sure, not a deer or big dog. Well yes, it could of been a horny bull on the make, but Mina didn't have the time or inclination to sex the beast.

It's a good year for Black Hills Spruce

 Please click to enlarge detail.

Last year late snows lashed the Black Hills Spruce guarding the Abbey Point pond. It took a season to recover from damage caused by snow piled high against them. This year's mild winter and spring has resulted in bigger fresh growth than ever seen during their twelve years. (New growth shows up in the photo as a lighter shade of green, which then turns darker in a month's time, resulting in a bushier, fuller specimen.)
May Day storms blew through Minnesota, some tornadoes were reported, but we just got a steady stream of welcome rain. . . and a close-by crashing bolt of lightning that readjusted our satellite clock back three time zones.

New view of Hoover Dam

Colorado River at the Hoover Dam

It's been Forty Years since Tom Story had a look at the Hoover Dam. He never got this view. Yesterday our neighbors departed Shakopee for a quick trip from Las Vegas for a tour of Palm Springs, Lake Havasu and back. Stan encouraged Tom to take another look at the iconic Hoover Dam, this time from the new bridge that affords a spectacular new view of the 1930s construction project.

Photo credit: Google Images

Stan got some pictures of the dam last winter, but wasn't able to get a picture of the new bridge... because he was standing on it and didn't have time to go further. He did, however, get a shot of the shadows cast by the massive bridge piers on the roadway below.
We hope Tom and Sandy get a chance to see this on this trip -- and improve the photography.
We copied a helicopter picture of the bridge from Google Images. We suggest Tom and Sandy take the same flight, for maximum enjoyment and the best camera angles. Live it up you two! Tax preparation season is over!