War comes to Minnesota

Who says just southerners like to reenact the Civil War? People up here reenact just about anything, and this summer they got a few new recruits.

The Civil War came to Minnesota this week, courtesy the 5th Minnesota regiment and a group of campers eager to drill, march, use a bayonet, eat hardtack, and follow orders. Civil War camp has been a popular camp for the past few summers out at The Landing, and this year there were boys and girls from several different nationalities donning the Union blue.

The culmination of the week came when a band of rowdy rebels was spotted during a march. The group got to pursue, and of course capture the far-outnumbered Johnny Rebs in an exciting battle complete with gunfire and a bayonet charge.

Here they are marching away with the captured prisioners, and later during a prisioner exchange.

I got to watch the whole ordeal, and it was pretty entertaining. No wonder they got the Rebs so easily--they were from Mississippi.

Field Trip

The husband and I took advantage of a rare day off together to enjoy the Como Park Zoo and Gardens in St. Paul. It's a medium-sized zoo and you can see all exhibits comfortably in the span of an afternoon. But perhaps the best part is--it's free.

The above pictures are of the Japanese Garden, and here are a few more from the gardens. Oh, they had gorillas, big cats, bison, penguins, a seal show, and more.... but instead I opted for pictures of plants:

Congrats Lindsay!

A belated Congrats goes out to my cousin Lindsay on her transfer to Florida State. She will carry on the family tradition this fall as a 4th generation FSU Seminole, and we all wish her well as she uses her artistic talent to pursue a major there. Go 'Noles!

Here we are at a game last September!

Don't be a Tosser...

The much-anticipated Minnesota Summer is here, but sometimes the ground still looks glaringly white. The above picture was taken during a vicious hailstorm in St. Louis Park. I've never seen hail bounce so high off the ground. The hail didn't damage Dave's truck that day, but it has done major damage to communities here this summer.

Enter Cousin Ed, seen here with me in a very dark picture with some very ominious looking clouds behind us.

Ed is part of my south Alabama family, and he was called in to work the aftermath of the Hugo Tornado. The hail damage and tornado path has kept him hopping for weeks, but we finally got a chance to get together in one of the coolest bars the Metro has to offer.

We arrived at Brit's Pub and Eating Establishment on Nicollet Mall right before yet another ferocious storm hit.

The place is huge with several floors and special British-themed rooms. You can order a variety of British beer, cider, or ale. You can have scotch eggs, shepherd's pie, fish & chips, and several other very intriguing items. There's the standard red phone booth that somehow even those of us who've never been to London can link with Britain and of course, several Union Jacks.

But by far the coolest aspect of the place is the lawn bowling field on the roof. The place has lawn bowling leagues with willing participants and a big crowd of onlookers. They just opened a courtyard that along with the field will be closed a good portion of the year.

Good company, good venue, good food.... just one big, glaring question that somehow I couldn't figure out....The place is running promoted specials and celebrations in honor of Bastille Day... Why?

Notes from a former 4-Her...

Arkansas 4-H turned 100 this year, and I missed out on an important reunion. All state officers got together in May to catch up, and people came from as far away as Virginia and Colorado.... but I couldn't.

I came from a 4-H family, and I started in 4-H at 10 to 'overcome my shyness.' I was so afraid of the camera I went through a spell when I was afraid to have my picture taken. I gave my first competitive speech at age 11 in Arkansas Hall at Henderson State. I talked about the history of yeast bread, how it was made, and why it's good for you according to the now-outdated food guide pyramid. I was terrified, but I came in third... mostly because it was against the rules to talk about yeast breads until you were 14.

Over the next 10 years, I gave dozens, if not hundreds of speeches, on so many topics. Some were pretty bad. I enjoyed competitive speaking, even if it took me 3 years to win state O'Rama in breads at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. It only took me one year to win Crop Science--no speech there, just memorizing 40+ kinds of seeds. Plain and simple, I like learning and competition.... and I could do both here.

That was one goal--becoming a state officer was another. I campaigned and won a tight election over a boy from Hempstead county. In 1995-1996, I was Vice President representing the Southwest District of Arkansas. I was so proud to wear my green jacket. I won alot of awards in 4-H--the most handy being few thousand in scholarships and a trip to Nat'l 4-H Congress in Memphis. My 4-H citizenship projects helped me land the Discover Card scholarship and the Robert C Byrd scholarship in college too. 4-H isn't for everyone, but it was for me.

When I worked at a TV station in Louisiana, I hosted the Louisiana State Fair Auction of Champions. I was told by one of my superiors before the event not to tell anyone I was in 4-H. This totally peeved me, because I fully believe in the leadership, citizenship, and learning opportunities 4-H offers--it's not just for farm kids--today, you can study fitness, computer science, photography, and fashion design just to name a few.

So, I made sure the last story I did at the station was on 4-H and a new environmental initiative the kids were working on.

Here are the former Pike County Officers who attended the reunion... 5 of the 6 are from Delight. The program assistant Avonne Petty is on the right--she's one of the reasons Pike County 4-Hers do so well.

Big Fish

Here's the latest from Alaska.... brother Luke caught this King Salmon this past weekend. You are allowed one per day, and so he got his limit for each of the three days he fished the Yentna River. This one was the biggest and weighed in at 44 lbs. Happy Eating.

Down at the River

During our visit home, I got to introduce Dave to our swimming hole on the Little Missouri River. This is on my grandfather's land, and my father and his siblings swam here as kids.





Many a summer day my family and cousins wound pack up a watermelon and head to the river in the pickup. The dirt road to our hole winds through sloughs, woods, and pine tree plantations. From the many float trips on inner tubes to the rope swing to jumping off banks and logs, we have lots of memories here. I remember in particular Luke & I getting in trouble once for leaving Kala alone on the jump off bank for a long time. We didn't do that again, and it wasn't too traumatizing because she came back. Simple, cool summertime fun in the country.