The Great Minnesota Get-Together

Once again it was time for the Great Minnesota Get-Together State Fair. We planned on going twice again this year, opening day and then four days later. Both days were cooler than normal but opening day was sunny so lots of people came; Day two was cloudy with a chance of rain and people stayed away. I had a list of several foods that I needed to buy this year. Usually I just buy what is in front of me until I am full. This year I was more careful. It took two days to complete my list. Now there are several things that I don't need to ever buy again (nothing was bad, but bad for you - too sweet or fattening). But also several things that I will continue to buy. We took the bus to the fair and walked right to the grandstands. In the grandstand courtyard were tent after tent of educational science stuff from weather to robots. This is a home-made hovercraft that you can ride, made out of plywood, plastic bags and your dad's leaf blower. Works great. Might make one - they are supposed to email me the plans.

In the grandstands is the place to buy too much junk. For example, this is a bank. There were several kinds but all had a long neck that coins follow and drop into a plastic sphere. Only way to get your money out is to take it all apart.

This was taken just before noon on our second day. Look! The streets are virtually empty.

This is the all you can drink milk booth on the second day. Again no waiting. Usually the lines are 20 deep and there are at lease ten lines.

This is the most frivolous thing I waisted money on. This is a fire fishing pole for fire fishing, or roasting hot dogs or marshmallows. Demonstration demo video at the end. I also got some tile cutting tools, since I have one bathroom and two kitchens to tile.

We always try to take in the free entertainment while we rest. These guys play some mean guitar and mandolin.

This guy was entertaining the kids but was still fun to watch. Parents, you don't need to spend a lot of money on musical instruments for school. Just look in the kitchen. You can be spoonman or fork man, or butter knife man or even a pie server man.

These South Americans from Ecuador have been at the fair every year for as long as I can remember. We had lunch (Giant Juicy Turkey Sandwich) while listening to them.

In the educational area by the grandstands (only there for a day) were several robots, showing what they can do. Schools build these every year for competition at the fair and every year the rules change so the robots are built to do those tasks, like pick up and stack inflatable tubes or kick a soccer ball or to pick up a big ball and drop it into a basket.

This was my favorite robot - a talking robot driving a car. Notice the girl in the background - she is operating the robot and speaking for it.

You already know that I have an accordion. I have learned several months ago that at noon on channel 6 they had a locally produced program called Polka Time, or something like that. They would have a polka band come and play while the geriatric department from town danced. Honestly some of the dancers could hardly move and then there were this couple. They always wear identical clothing, which are always T-shirt, zubas, and suspenders. There was an accordion playing at Heritage Sq and then all of a sudden the Zuba dancers (that is what I call them) got up and started to dance. They might be in sync with each other but they dance like two dead fish - expressionless.

Here is how to fire fish. Load your lure with hot dogs or marshmallows and hold it over the fire. As with all fishing you need to jig your line to attract your fish. Here you jig it to turn over your hot fogs or marshmallows so that the other side gets done. We really went over the top on these. Maybe the grand kids will enjoy them, but they better not wreck them. But I will need to try them first.

Bike ride with Joseph

We have had Lorelei and Gigi on one-on-ones and now it was time for Joseph to have some one time with us, or me in this case. It was the long awaited 12 mike bike ride. We followed the regular Brooklyn Park 4th of July bike ride that Shingle Creek has each year. I picked up Joseph at 9:00 and drove up to the church and parked (it is right on the bike path). We got all suited up and left to begin our journey. I forgot that I had a camera so we were all the way to the Northern Corridor Trail before the first picture.

Next stop was the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park. It was early in the day plus being a weekday so there were only a few people there. The river was still quite high as it spilled over the dam.

We made our way across the dam and looked at the north side, which has glass smooth water, and then we looked at the south side as the water came crashing down into a churning mess. Don't get stuck in that stuff because there is no getting out of it!

We successfully forded the dam and made it to the other side. This is looking up-river at the dam.

There were several rest stops along the way to fill up on snacks and water. This is one of our stops on the east side of the river. There are several picnic areas/playgrounds along our route.

We made our way up to HWY 610 and crossed the 610 bridge over the river again. We noticed a couple of state workers under the bridge photographing graffiti and getting ready to clean it. There were very few spots that were not tagged by hooligans.

Wouldn't you know it! There was a McD's on our way so we needed another break. 2 Cones Please. Then brain freeze.

Almost back to the starting point. This is part of Edenbrook golf course. The machine in the background, over Joseph's head was blowing all the dirt off the sidewalk. Goodness, we wouldn't want any dirt to get on the golfer's shoes or on the tires of the golf carts.

We made it back to our car about 2.5 hours after we started and neither one of us died. Thank goodness.

The end of Dayton's, Marchall Fields, Macy's at Brookdale

Brookdale Shopping Center is dying a slow death and is being torn down for the new Walmart Super Store. The former Dayton's department store, wait, I mean Marchall Field's; no wait again, I mean Macy's is almost gone. Only a skeleton remains.

Bye bye. Welcome Walmart people. It will be fun; so I think I will people watch there after it opens (I'm retired, ya know).

Gretchen visits the place where dead people live

This past Memorial Day, Judy and I took Joseph and Lorelei to the four cemeteries in which my sister, parents, grandparents and relatives are buried. When they got back they told Gretchen about it. Gigi asked us to take her to the "place where dead people live". So we did.We visited my sister Sharon's grave. She died at age one month due to spina bifida. We were just there just 2.5 months ago and it was completely grown over. It took us awhile to discover the headstone. We cleaned it up but Gigi didn't want me to take her picture and walked away. When she makes up her mind, she sticks to it. We made our way to the Civil War memorial with the cannon for pictures.

Gramma

Grampa.

She likes to pose!

Business end.

Gigi's shoes were soaking wet from the dew so she took them off while walking around other tombstones. She found this column stone and needed to walk around it.

The Minneapolis skyline from the Hillside cemetery.

Bookcase project finally finished

Three years ago I purchased all the wood to build two real oak bookcases to replace the bookcases made out of pine wood stacked on bricks. But one thing after another delayed this project until now. I built two of these, one on either side of the entertainment console. I loaded them with most of the books I have had in storage.

This is the detail of the crown molding I made. I made it detachable for ease of moving, since it sticks out an inch and a half and adds 1.5 inches to the height. It is made of thee pieces of wood using three different router bits. I am pleased with how the bookcases turned out, square and true. So if you want one, fork over between $600-$700 apiece, depending on todays costs for red oak, other materials and a little bit of profit for my time.

Brookdale is coming down

After being empty for the past couple of years, Brookdale Shopping Center is being torn down to make way for a Walmart Superstore and a few other shops. This once was a bustling shopping center that had every store front filled. Brooklyn Center will again be able to collect taxes from Walmart, unlike all the other properties they forced out of business and tore down the buildings - Brookdale Ford, Hmong Shopping center over two years ago and Jerry's Supermarket over 20 years ago. Non of these areas are being developed. There are several other underutilized strip malls in the area that will most likely see the same fate. Taxes too high? So we decided to get some photos before it was gone. This is where the JC Penney store was. Just as I stopped the car, a 30 foot section of roof came tumbling down. The dust cloud is the end result.

Most of the center will be torn down, except for the newest part after the last remodel- probably food court and the Barns & Noble bookstore.

Sears is independently owned by Sears and will not be touched. Kohl's is also part of the property but that will not be touched either.

Piles of rubble line the parking lot.

We will be very honored when the People of Walmart start showing up. Can't wait.

Video of pulling the rest of the roof down.