Blog closed for the season

Blogmaster
Enjoying Minnesota,
Land of 10,000 blue lakes
and green, grassy golf courses

Virgil shares the fun

We received a report from Virgil in Tucson today. He's there with wife, Becky and his sons, Aaron and Alex. He's been busy, but has found time to fill us in on activities since his arrival.

Virgil writes: Found water softener empty of salt pellets. Put three bags in. Could use more. I think I set it on a lower setting for softening, but not certain.

Found the filter on the spa broken. Plastic doohicky that aids in removing filter cover was broken and pieces were set aside. Water was at half level, apparently because the filter cap was not replaced snugly and the water slops over the side of the spa when turned on. When filter cover was put on snugly the water flowed just fine again, but a message of "fl c" comes up which requests a service technician to fix whatever is wrong. The manual says there is a pressure switch that goes off and causes the error message to come on. There is no heating going on with this condition. Aaron will seek to find the switch, but it doesn't look like it is functional without a pro.

There is another filter on the "water feature" that I did not realize was there until I went to clean out the other one. You open the plastic cover, grab a metal loop, turn the little container a quarter turn to the left and pull the little bucket out. It was really, really full of leaves. After cleaning it out, the water appeared to flow twice as much as before. I have run it more and emptied out the result again. Regular clearing of that bucket should keep the pond cleaner. Right now we are getting vigorous growth and flower droppings from the plant right above the pond.

Aaron programmed the keypad on the garage. The code is his birthday, 1184. If you lazy bums had done it, you could have had YOUR birthday. But no, now you have to remember your nephew's birthday. It will come in handy when arriving on a dark, dark night.

Barb Rempel has been contacted and will once again check the house out every two weeks until October.

Doing some weed and other cleanup around the yard. Gardener has not been around this winter, so that saves us some money. I think calling him to clean up in May will be good enough.

Well, time for the obligatory steak grilling.

Virgil

Virgil sent some photos along. Top two pictures show the green beginning to show up on the fairway. Next photo shows Alex, Becky (obscured by newspaper) and Aaron helping Dad on the back deck. In the photo below, the boys have discovered a swimming hole in Sabino Canyon. Apparently there is water in Arizona after all.

Special to Sue Krueger

Steve says: The more trees of any kind there are in the front yards the better. Acacia and palm appear to be the two most common. But the best source is Carolyn Masolini who truly is the neighborhood arborist.

Stan says: Hoover was actually born on St. Patrick's Day, but she isn't green. Adjust your monitor for best results.

Virgil apparently is in transit. We haven't heard from him lately. He's bringing the family to Tucson for spring break. He'd be happy to suggest tree species.

We get a note from the neighbors

Hi All,
This is coming from 37154 Rock Crest (your next door neighbors).

I hope it's okay that we read your blog occasionally - otherwise we wouldn't be able to keep track of all your new plants.

The dreaded teddy bear cholla
We are dealing with a teddy bear cholla in our front yard that is taking over the world.
In your opinion, with what should we replace it? It is a vicious plant - tongs are needed to even pick up one of the "pups" when it falls. Dick found this out when he tried to pick one up with heavy leather gloves and found that the needles will go through anything.

Anyway, I especially loved your section about Arizona critters with the stuffed animals. Just one question though: Is your little dog really green or was that just for St. Patrick's Day? We are here until April 2, and then it's back to Minnesota Spring.

Sue Krueger

Right place at the right time

Virgil, in Minnesota, emails Steve and Nancy in Tucson:

Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 7:21 AM
Subject: Right place at the right time
More confirmation of your good timing. I just got in from doing the first run of my driveway. Once it reaches 4-5 inches I have to do it or it will get too deep for my small snowthrower. There appears no end in sight as the snow area extends over a large area and will be passing over us for quite some time. At least this snow is light and easy to move, unlike the last heavy wet storm.

Enjoy the sun.

Virgil Rolfsrud

\--------

Steve responds from Tucson:

Virg, Thanks for the feel good message about our good fortune to be here rather than in snow country. Of course, given our natural anxiety, I am worried whether the heavy and ongoing snow has damaged my trees!

Off to play doubles with Leno. I sprained my ankle in the singles tournament on Monday--and I was leading 4-1 at the time--so had to withdraw from it. Hopefully, I can hold up my share of the doubles today. Leno said that he would crank it up a notch to compensate--although he acknowledged he's pretty much out of notches.

Stephen

Weather report from Tucson -- Snow and rain

Steve and Nancy filed this weather report tonight, as we Minnesotans brace for up to 10 inches of our March Madness.

Steve writes:
After 114 days of no precipitation, we had an all-night rain and snow storm which left the fairways covered with snow (picture one), and the Catalina mountains covered in snow, including 20 inches on Mt. Lemmon (which is hidden in the clouds on picture two)



















but it didn't keep Terri from heading outside (picture three),


















and an hour later full sunshine (picture four). By evening (pictures five and six), all was back to Tucson normal.

Jennifer would be skiing this week, but. . .

Jennifer is healing nicely, but slowly. She stopped by the house in Shakopee this weekend to cheer us up. You may recall that Jennifer was riding shotgun in an ambulance when she was involved in an accident. Her left foot got the worst of it.
Happy Birthday to Ford Rolfsrud today! 

And now this, from Tucson

Boys, memory test: any idea where the remotes are for the tv that is in the den and the one that was in the kitchen that was moved to the master bedroom?

Thanks.

Stephen

The Quilt has been hung in Mankato

Here's Steve and Nancy's "Mom Quilt." Beverly finished this project recently and now it graces the staircase in Steve and Nancy's Mankato home. Mother and her quilt circle have made quilts for everyone... and her diligent needlework is treasured from coast-to-coast.