kissalostsoul

Yep, that’s what I’ve been so far this week.  My sidekick, Rachel, finished her internship last Friday, and headed back to Cincinnati.  That means there’s no more raucous drive-by grabbings for litter pick up.  I’m on my own and slowly plod down the refuge roads gathering refuse. Considering how thoughtless and uncaring many people are about our refuges, I suppose it’s job security.  No matter how many bottles, cans, and other garbage I pick up along the roadsides, there seems to be a never ending supply.  Luckily, when I get fed up with this ‘crap’, I can take a slight detour down a few roads that are gated and not open to the public at this time of the year.  It’s here that I enjoy the unspoiled nature, and find indications that summer is waning.  The goldenrod has begun to flower, and the vibrant reds of the Sumac fruits are beginning to appear.  Sumac is one of the first trees to turn color in the fall, and today I found the first red le...

After visiting Crane Meadows and Sherburne National Wildlife Refuges yesterday, I headed back to the rig with a stop in Little Falls along the way.  I had seen a sign along the roads advertising the Minnesota Fishing Museum.  I’ve heard of a lot of different kinds of museums, but a fishing museum?  I decided I had to check it out. I took their invitation to “Stop in and step back in time to experience the evolution of fresh water fishing in Minnesota.”  This small museum contains over 10,000 fishing artifacts. The lady volunteer who greeted me on my arrival was most enthusiastic about what I was about to see.  There are all kinds of lures, fishing poles, and motors dating back to 1913.  The folks working there truly have a love for what they are preserving. Among my favorite displays were the Minnesota record size fish, where they were caught, and by whom that were displayed along the walls.  These taxidermied fish and replicas covered ever...

On my trip to Rochester and back last week, I passed several places along the road that I wanted to investigate further.  I had packed a lunch last night, so I headed out early to visit a couple of them.  Only problem was, when I got up, my left ankle was giving me fits.  How in the world does a person get what feels like a sprained ankle while they’re asleep?  That painful limp persisted all day, so it put a damper on some of my plans. First up was Crane Meadows NWR down near Little Falls, MN.  It turned out that the only public access to this refuge at this time of the year is the 3.7 mile hiking trail along the Platte River. That wasn’t going to work for me today, but I did make it to the first overlook of the Platte.  This refuge doesn’t have a wildlife drive, so I was a bit disappointed considering I couldn’t walk very far.  I’d driven about 120 miles to get here, so now what to d...

It’s been kind of chilly since I returned to Tamarac.  Highs in the 60’s during the day, and I’ve used the furnace each morning.  There have been rather brisk winds as well.  Some storms moved through the day after I got back, which afforded me another chance to exercise the generator as we lost electricity for a number of hours. This morning dawned bright but cool, so I headed out for the farmer’s market in Detroit Lakes. Most of the local venders had to hang onto their canopies so they wouldn’t blow away.  Just about everyone was bundled up.  Seems a little early for such cool temperatures.  I got in line to wait for my rustic Italian loaf of bread from the Breadsmith booth.  I think it’s the most popular booth here. I got there pretty early, so I was able to snatch up a small basket of home grown tomatoes.  They were pretty small, but so delicious.  I’ve been waiting a year for that wonderful taste.  Raspberries are now in s...

I thought when I fell into my bed last night, I’d be so comfortable that I’d instantly be asleep.  That was not to happen.  I tossed and turned until after 3:00 in the morning before I finally succumbed.  By the time I woke up at 7:30, my plans to get back on the job and start mowing had flown out the window.  I just couldn’t do it.  I guess recuperation takes longer the older you get, and my birthday on Monday just added another notch to the stick. I fiddled with the new computer for a while, and came up with this collage of pictures that my daughter Robyn took on Saturday afternoon.  It was a hot day, and when one of those ice cream trucks with the incessant song ringing came by, she treated everyone to a refreshing snack.  I haven’t heard one of those trucks in a long time.  When I was a kid growing up in Chicago, a guy on a bicycle might pedal through the neighborhood ringing his bell.  The front of his bike had a big metal cooler o...

Thanks to my son, Daniel, you know that I encountered some difficulties this past week.  Tonight I’m only going to cover two parts of my time in Rochester.  After an uneventful 300 miles drive down on Thursday, it looked like the weekend was going to turn out just as planned.  Little did I know! I had made an appointment a couple of weeks ago to get my teeth cleaned and checked at the dentist I frequent when I’m in the area.  Piece of cake, right?  Well, it turns out that if you’ve had a total hip replacement, you have to take antibiotics before having anything done to your teeth.  My surgeon never mentioned this, but I vaguely remember it being mentioned in the booklet I was given about  hip replacements.  So, the dentist had me take four Amoxicillin capsules right there before the cleaning began. That went along just fine until a big truck wiped out the electrical wires crossing the road in front of the office.  Luckily, the technician ...

On Monday 22. July  the official reception on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Duke Franz of Bavaria took place at Schleißheim Castle outside of Munich. Already on Satruday 20. July there had been an mass and and a reception for relatives and Nymphenburg Castle. It was therefore a big feast. From the blue - white sky the sun seemed to the illustrious guests in the castle grounds . Besides family members and personal friends also bavarian  Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU ), several cabinet members and the Cardinals Reinhard Marx and Friedrich Wetter accepted the invitation . In the castle garden of the birthday boy took off a Ehrenzug . Hundreds of mountain troops , folk costumes , historical civil and militia took part. A highlight was probably the march past of the Bavarian Dachshund Dachshunds six clubs for the confessed dog lover too. The brass band played the Bavarian Defiliermarsch , the Bavaria anthem and a Duke F...

  Welp my mom seems like she has made the turn, (golf reference, seeing as yesterday was the British Open) but put one in the bunker.  Her laptop broke down yesterday and we should receive her new one tomorrow.  After I get that all set up she will leave my place on Wednesday and maybe that night or Thursday you will get a post from the real Travels with Emma curator.  Hope everyone is having a nice day!

Hi, My mom got some food poisoning from a restaurant she went to with my sister and her friend.  She is ok and I am giving her plenty of chicken noodle soup and water.  That is why she hasn't been posting.  Just and FYI.  Thanks for stopping by.

Since I’m done with the bird atlas work for this season, I was all about mowing this morning.  I put on jeans, my steel toed boots, safety glasses, ear plugs and climbed aboard the big John Deere.  At this point, I would like to mention that today was the hottest day of the year so far, and the deer flies seem to be at their peak.  Uff-dah!  (I can’t remember if that’s the proper spelling, but you know what I mean.) Along about 10:00, I took a little break and hung out my wash.  Yep, the new set of laundry lines got finished up yesterday afternoon.  I’m sure glad I mentioned this little improvement to the RV sites at a staff meeting last month.   I don’t think Steve will be using them, but I sure will.  I love the smell of sun dried sheets and clothing. After about four hours of mowing, and temperatures nearing 90, I was more than wilted and called it quits for the day.  I was having a little trouble with my right shoulder as well....

The Princely House of Hohenzollern House of Hohenzollern Today all present members of the Princely  Family bear the title Prince/Princess of Hohenzollern and when in accordance with the House Law with the style of Serene Highness (HSH). The Head of the House and his spouse bear the stle of Highness (HH).  The Zollern are among the oldest and most important Swabian noble families. The county Zollern was the ancestral homeland of the Hohenzollern's. The name was for many centuries Zollern. In the middle of the 14th Century, the Hohenzollern family name was first detectable written. In medieval writings spelling was Hohenzolr Hohenzolre respectively. The composite name was from 16 Century used consistently. Zollern could be derived from Söller which means as much as height and refers to the 855-meter high cone-shaped mountain castlehill near Hechingen, on which the ancestral Hohenzollern Castle is located. On a seal of 1246, the name is also written once Solre; Söller means ...