Route 8
D.W.Q.M.: Romana 2: "Oh, how I love the spring...the leaves, the colors."
The Fourth Doctor: "It's October."
Romana 2: "I thought you said we were coming for May Week."
Fourth Doctor: "I did. May Week's in June."
Romana 2: "I'm confused."
Fourth Doctor: "So was the TARDIS."
Earlier this week I was told that because of my latest Doctor Who and Stargate SG-1 watching trend, this was probably the third or fourth holiday season that has gone by with out the usual viewing of the entire Star Wars Trilogy. D'oh!! Can't have that!!!! So tonight I sat down and decided to watch the first, original, 1977 version of Star Wars on one of those ancient machines we call Video Cassette Recorders. ;) No new special effects added, no THX, no new scenes, no CGI characters-nothing, nada, zip, zero. Heck, this version wasn't even in widescreen, and although it is no longer reflected as such on the tape, on the box 'Star Wars' was written the original way, not in the format we have grown to love. (Oringinally 'Star Wars' was written to follow the same format as the scrolling text in the beginning of the movie-the first video releases kept it the same, but by 1990, the year of my tape, they switched it to match Empire and Jedi.) my tape has been watched so many times the audio is starting to get fuzzy and there is a little interference at the top of the screen. Yes, I do have the THX (released in 1995) and the Special Edition versions of the films, there is just something about the older one that keeps me watching it. This is how it was I first saw Star Wars on tv and fell in love with it. To this day, even with all the Harry Potters and Lord of the Rings, it is still my favorite movie of all time. Ahhh....Star Wars....
But, I digress....
-------------------------------------
Shafer, MN
On December 22nd, I got to see my sister's new house for the very first time since it had been completed. Early that morning Shan and her two girls(SumSum and Maddy) drove up to my Mom's from Minneapolis, and Al, with the rest of the kiddies (Kyle and T-Boo was still with us) drove down from Shafer so we could follow her back up. First car, Al, my mom, and all the girls, minus Maddy, who rode with Shan, Kyle and me in the other car.)
My sister truly lives out in the boonies...I'm not quite sure if it qualifies as Buttf@&*, but it's pretty far out there. By the time you get to her place, no one, I mean absolutely no one can get a strong cell phone signal out there-not Sprint, not AT&T, not even 'can you here me now?'Verison. My sister once said her town is so small that if you sneezed, you'd miss it. As we were driving along Route 8, Shan said that she could never stand to live out this far from civilization. Even though it seemed like a long drive, I loved it-Route 8 takes you right through several small towns/cities: Chisago City, Lindstrom, Taylors Falls are the bigger ones with populations of more than 1,000 (but less than 5,000...although Chisago City might actually be more than 6) and each one of these towns/cities is a sister city to one in Sweden. I love driving through the small towns-the streets and storefronts were all decorated for Christmas-Lindstrom even had lighted garland signs that said 'Göd Jul' (Merry Christmas in Swedish), which were hung over the streets. As we were driving, Al called me on my cell (still had the signal) and said, 'Look for the buffalo.' I said, 'Buffalo?' 'Yeah, when we drive by them I'll stick my arm out and point to it.' About 5 minutes later she was waving her arm frantically out the window-we turned and saw a buffalo farm-whoa, my sister lives out past the buffalo! ;) The farm also had a small store, so there was a statue of a huge buffalo next to a giant mouse with a freakin' huge piece of cheese. I wish I had had my camera out then. Maybe next time I'm there...
We decided to stop at the Cub in Taylors Falls to grab some pizzas for lunch-I was elected to go in and get them, and T, Boo, and SumSum all wanted to tag along. Since I wanted to be a cool Auntie, I said 'Sure,' not quite realizing what I was getting myself into...
After convincing the girls that we really didn't need a shopping cart with a car attatched to it just for pizza, we picked up a basket and all three of them wanted to hold it. T took one handle, and SumSum and Boo, the other. Because it was rather akward to move around like that, I ended up 'steering' them through the store. Of course, the first area we passed was the bakery section-they were immediately drawn to the brownies. Once again the 'Cool Auntie Syndrome', CAS, took over, and we had a pakage of brownies with little Christmas trees, stockings, and snowmen on them in our basket. Next they came across a woman giving away free samples-little donut holes and a small glass of milk. They immediately made a beeline to her. 'Ok, you can all have some milk, but Mom will have to pour it for you' (Yikes! Mom?!? *heehee* I didn't mind, though) Turns out they were demonstrated a new gallon jug for milk that was easier to pour. I was a little skepticle until I tried it-it really was easier to pour!! It's designed to distribute the weight differently, and I hope that Ohio dairy companies will soon follow suit... While the girls were munching happily on their doughnut holes the woman commented, 'aw, they are just darling!' Yeah, they were a handful, but they were pretty cute. :) We finally got to the pizza, and just as we were about to get in line, my sister called me and asked where the heck we were. My mom even came in looking for us! As we left the store, I asked Al where she had parked-she jumped out of the car and started jumping up and down so we could see her. LOL. Back on the road we go...
As we drove through Shafer, I started pointing out buildings to Shan. "Here's the city hall (small building), here's their jail, there's the local bar,oooh, don't miss the water tower and school house...and here's the fire department (indicating a small blue building with the white lettering,'Shafer Fire Department.')" Shan was like, "Where? Shouldn't it be a little bigger?" Ah, small towns. :) The development that Al lives in is still building new houses, but there were quite a few completed homes that were already occupied and decorated nicely. There are also a few families with children the kiddies ages, so they have made new friends. My sister loves the fact that they are out this far. The other day she said she went outside at night and could hear wolves howling-not dogs, wolves. My sister loves wolves, and she can tell the difference between dog howling and wolf howling. ;)
I love my sister's new house-it's a split-entry house. She has a bay window in the living room, and sliding glass doors in the dining area (eventually they are going to build a deck there) and in the basement. The girls have their own rooms on the main floor, and they built a room for Kyle in the basement. They also live right next to some wetlands, so there is a small pond behind their house. It's only about 5 feet deep, so this time of year it is frozen solid so the kids can play on the ice. We started the 'kiddie pizzas' first (pepperoni and cheese) then the 'grownups pizza' (supreme) and had fun chatting and making sure the kids stayed out of trouble. Maddy loved my Krismutt-she kept carrying him around and saying, "Puppy!" She even tried to feed him her bottle-I tried to get a picture of it, but I don't know if I was fast enough. ;) We had a great time!! :) :)
The Fourth Doctor: "It's October."
Romana 2: "I thought you said we were coming for May Week."
Fourth Doctor: "I did. May Week's in June."
Romana 2: "I'm confused."
Fourth Doctor: "So was the TARDIS."
Earlier this week I was told that because of my latest Doctor Who and Stargate SG-1 watching trend, this was probably the third or fourth holiday season that has gone by with out the usual viewing of the entire Star Wars Trilogy. D'oh!! Can't have that!!!! So tonight I sat down and decided to watch the first, original, 1977 version of Star Wars on one of those ancient machines we call Video Cassette Recorders. ;) No new special effects added, no THX, no new scenes, no CGI characters-nothing, nada, zip, zero. Heck, this version wasn't even in widescreen, and although it is no longer reflected as such on the tape, on the box 'Star Wars' was written the original way, not in the format we have grown to love. (Oringinally 'Star Wars' was written to follow the same format as the scrolling text in the beginning of the movie-the first video releases kept it the same, but by 1990, the year of my tape, they switched it to match Empire and Jedi.) my tape has been watched so many times the audio is starting to get fuzzy and there is a little interference at the top of the screen. Yes, I do have the THX (released in 1995) and the Special Edition versions of the films, there is just something about the older one that keeps me watching it. This is how it was I first saw Star Wars on tv and fell in love with it. To this day, even with all the Harry Potters and Lord of the Rings, it is still my favorite movie of all time. Ahhh....Star Wars....
But, I digress....
-------------------------------------
Shafer, MN
On December 22nd, I got to see my sister's new house for the very first time since it had been completed. Early that morning Shan and her two girls(SumSum and Maddy) drove up to my Mom's from Minneapolis, and Al, with the rest of the kiddies (Kyle and T-Boo was still with us) drove down from Shafer so we could follow her back up. First car, Al, my mom, and all the girls, minus Maddy, who rode with Shan, Kyle and me in the other car.)
My sister truly lives out in the boonies...I'm not quite sure if it qualifies as Buttf@&*, but it's pretty far out there. By the time you get to her place, no one, I mean absolutely no one can get a strong cell phone signal out there-not Sprint, not AT&T, not even 'can you here me now?'Verison. My sister once said her town is so small that if you sneezed, you'd miss it. As we were driving along Route 8, Shan said that she could never stand to live out this far from civilization. Even though it seemed like a long drive, I loved it-Route 8 takes you right through several small towns/cities: Chisago City, Lindstrom, Taylors Falls are the bigger ones with populations of more than 1,000 (but less than 5,000...although Chisago City might actually be more than 6) and each one of these towns/cities is a sister city to one in Sweden. I love driving through the small towns-the streets and storefronts were all decorated for Christmas-Lindstrom even had lighted garland signs that said 'Göd Jul' (Merry Christmas in Swedish), which were hung over the streets. As we were driving, Al called me on my cell (still had the signal) and said, 'Look for the buffalo.' I said, 'Buffalo?' 'Yeah, when we drive by them I'll stick my arm out and point to it.' About 5 minutes later she was waving her arm frantically out the window-we turned and saw a buffalo farm-whoa, my sister lives out past the buffalo! ;) The farm also had a small store, so there was a statue of a huge buffalo next to a giant mouse with a freakin' huge piece of cheese. I wish I had had my camera out then. Maybe next time I'm there...
We decided to stop at the Cub in Taylors Falls to grab some pizzas for lunch-I was elected to go in and get them, and T, Boo, and SumSum all wanted to tag along. Since I wanted to be a cool Auntie, I said 'Sure,' not quite realizing what I was getting myself into...
After convincing the girls that we really didn't need a shopping cart with a car attatched to it just for pizza, we picked up a basket and all three of them wanted to hold it. T took one handle, and SumSum and Boo, the other. Because it was rather akward to move around like that, I ended up 'steering' them through the store. Of course, the first area we passed was the bakery section-they were immediately drawn to the brownies. Once again the 'Cool Auntie Syndrome', CAS, took over, and we had a pakage of brownies with little Christmas trees, stockings, and snowmen on them in our basket. Next they came across a woman giving away free samples-little donut holes and a small glass of milk. They immediately made a beeline to her. 'Ok, you can all have some milk, but Mom will have to pour it for you' (Yikes! Mom?!? *heehee* I didn't mind, though) Turns out they were demonstrated a new gallon jug for milk that was easier to pour. I was a little skepticle until I tried it-it really was easier to pour!! It's designed to distribute the weight differently, and I hope that Ohio dairy companies will soon follow suit... While the girls were munching happily on their doughnut holes the woman commented, 'aw, they are just darling!' Yeah, they were a handful, but they were pretty cute. :) We finally got to the pizza, and just as we were about to get in line, my sister called me and asked where the heck we were. My mom even came in looking for us! As we left the store, I asked Al where she had parked-she jumped out of the car and started jumping up and down so we could see her. LOL. Back on the road we go...
As we drove through Shafer, I started pointing out buildings to Shan. "Here's the city hall (small building), here's their jail, there's the local bar,oooh, don't miss the water tower and school house...and here's the fire department (indicating a small blue building with the white lettering,'Shafer Fire Department.')" Shan was like, "Where? Shouldn't it be a little bigger?" Ah, small towns. :) The development that Al lives in is still building new houses, but there were quite a few completed homes that were already occupied and decorated nicely. There are also a few families with children the kiddies ages, so they have made new friends. My sister loves the fact that they are out this far. The other day she said she went outside at night and could hear wolves howling-not dogs, wolves. My sister loves wolves, and she can tell the difference between dog howling and wolf howling. ;)
I love my sister's new house-it's a split-entry house. She has a bay window in the living room, and sliding glass doors in the dining area (eventually they are going to build a deck there) and in the basement. The girls have their own rooms on the main floor, and they built a room for Kyle in the basement. They also live right next to some wetlands, so there is a small pond behind their house. It's only about 5 feet deep, so this time of year it is frozen solid so the kids can play on the ice. We started the 'kiddie pizzas' first (pepperoni and cheese) then the 'grownups pizza' (supreme) and had fun chatting and making sure the kids stayed out of trouble. Maddy loved my Krismutt-she kept carrying him around and saying, "Puppy!" She even tried to feed him her bottle-I tried to get a picture of it, but I don't know if I was fast enough. ;) We had a great time!! :) :)
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