Only one complaint!

When, as often happens, we're asked how we like living in our down town condo my typical response is "we should have done it ten years ago." That must mean we like it and I wonder if it's changing my attitude toward winter.
Hot weather is my favorite. However, I'm finding that I mind the cold less this year and am impatient about getting rain instead of snow in late December. Could that change of attitude have to do with living in a condo attached to the Skyway? I do know that I very glad not to have to shovel that heavy wet snow we got a few weeks ago. Trygve, the wonder dog, does get me outdoors.
Thailand and teaching are in my plans for January so I can get my fix of tropical weather.

Skywalk community!

Today on my noon stroll through the Skywalk I saw two acquaintances both of whom are working in bank building across the street from my condo. D is an employee of the bank and G is working there on an eighteen month contract. This answered the question in the back of my mind, "how long will I walk the Skyway before I see someone I know?"

What a difficult life!

The Skyway is full of eateries most of which are open only mid-day. My plan is to try as many as I can so plan not to eat at the same place twice. However, this creates a dilemma. What if, as happened today when I ate at Bamboo Shoot, I find a place I really like? There are so many places from which to choose I won't live long enough to get back to the Bamboo Shoot. The fact that I don't eat in Skyway exacerbates the problem.
You can see from this dilemma that I indeed have a difficult life.

Buddies!

Eight year old Kjell and one year old Trygve are becoming buddies. There were a few altercations at first but now it is fun to see Trygve inspire Kjell to participate in some play. With his long legs and youthful vigor Trygve is much faster than Kjell. They give the impression of enjoying each other's company. Kjell seems to have adjusted to condo life as well as Trygve did. Trygve has learned much from hunting with Kjell. It is fun to dog sit Kjell...he's such a good dog.

The big buck.

Last year I saw an exceptionally large buck with impressive antlers on my land. It's the land with the native grasses some of which are seven feet tall and the corn I raise as a food plot for wildlife. This fall I saw him again, or I should say, I saw his antlers because that was all I could see above the grass. It made me glad that he was still there.
I am an avid hunter but have my reservations about trophy hunting. The natural order is that the predators prey on the weak and vulnerable. When hunters go after only the trophy buck they violate that order. Trophy hunting is about the ego of the hunter and I don't find that attractive.
While I was hunting pheasants yesterday and today I deliberately avoided the fields where I have seen this large buck. Deer season opens Saturday and I'm hoping that he'll just stay in that wonderful cover and live another year. There is sufficient food, water and cover so he'll not need to leave. However, it is the rutting season and deer do move around allot during that time.
Today I spotted him in a field about two miles away from the fields I left undisturbed. I do hope he is back in the safety of that cover when deer season opens on Saturday.

First Snow of the Season

Guess where my snow boots are? They're in our storage locker in the garage and the garage is off limits until Monday due to renovations. Ya then...and it looks like we have about of heavy wet snow.
The snow looks particularly nice from the the 15th floor. At times the street wasn't visible. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....
The U of MN Gopher Women played their first game today beating U of Northern IL by 21 points. I went to watch, parked free in the church lot and was handed a free ticket as the door so to keep up my free spending ways I bought a hot dog for $3.50.

A dog in the elevator.

Some back into the corner and try to avoid eye contact acting as if Trygve will disappear if they become invisible. Others acknowledge me but studiously avoid Trygve. Still others engage me in conversation about Trygve while giving him a pat or petting him a bit. But the ones who really amuse me are those who carry on a whole conversation with Trygve while totally ignoring me.
These seem to be the four different reactions I observe from people with whom we share elevator rides. And...Trygve's response? he's simply amused by them all.

From our latest trip to Chicago.

More Slow Reading.

I just finished rereading INFIDEL by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I first read it over a year ago and now our book club is going to discuss it. It was even better on second reading and I think a very important book.
There are a couple of observations I'd make about the book. First, it is a very interesting story of her life including her time in the Dutch Parliament. Second, I think she's right about the necessity of immigrant communities living by the laws of the western societies in which they settle. She makes a powerful argument that Dutch toleration of fundamentalist Muslim practices violated the very values of Dutch society. The effect of that toleration was the continued isolation of those Muslim communities and the oppression of Muslim women.

Life Downtown #4

Frequently little things happen that remind me why I'm glad we moved downtown. Case in point #1, the grocery store/deli two Skyway blocks away. Case in point #2, our polling place is in neighboring condo tower three blocks away.

Life Downtown #3

Re: The Skyway. People walk fast. I set a comfortable pace of about 3 miles per hour. Seldom do I pass anyone and almost everyone passes me.
Observation: It appears to me that fashion boots are in. I have many pairs of boots but they don't pass muster as fashion boots except when I'm hunting.

Life Downtown #2

Minneapolis has a network of second story walkways called the 'Skyway'. The Skyway runs through our condo building on the 2nd floor. It is one of the features that attracted us to this place.
I like to pick a place, e.g., for example Barnes & Noble Bookstore which about 9 blocks from the condo and navigate my way to it. Sometime the Skyway is nothing more than an enclosed, elevated sidewalk. Other places it is filled with shops and eating places. Some of the Skyway runs through stores; Macy's and Sak's Fifth Ave for example. At other places it runs through banks, office buildings like the IDS Tower and government buildings.

Life Downtown #1

All visitors to our 15th floor condo gravitate to the sliding glass doors to our deck and the view NW to the horizon. We too, sitting at our table, find ourselves turning to gaze out that door. Both day and night the vista attracts.
On the horizon we can see North Memorial Hospital, where I made countless visits over years. The hospital is in Robbinsdale, a first ring suburb on the NW border of Minneapolis. It was built there because the founding doctor didn't like the deal offered by Minneapolis.
There is a water tower by the hospital. At night it is guarded by a red light that blinks on and off. When I look off to the horizon and see that blinking light a palpable sense of calm comes over me. I wonder why? Why is that blinking light so comforting? I don't know but I observe...