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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Annual Halloween Hayride

Today's the day Van and Tim hold the hayride through their yard to scare and entertain their high school nieces and all their friends. I've agreed to help out and told them I'd be over around 2p, which will be problematic as they live 1h5min away (thank you new hwy 212) and it's currently 1:30-ish.

I'm dressed in two layers of black clothes and have a piece of black velvet to drape around me. Word has it that I might be the corpse lying in a grave, reaching my arm out at the appropriate time. There will be THREE chainsaw wielding lunatics this year, but I don't think I've been upgrade to that choice role. Last year I hung out by the fire with the kids who, at 2 and 4 yrs old did not need much convincing that the ride would be too scary.

I guess last night Vanessa had her mom invite over all her church lady friends for dinner, and not to mention that they were going to be the dress rehearsal hayride riders.

Friday, October 24, 2008

What has Diane been reading/listening to?

"Me Against My Brother": I can't find my original blog on this book, but I think during my first review I couldn't remember the title. Well, the title came to me. This is a book I really enjoyed that I read in Wyoming last summer (2007). It tells about a journalist's experience in war torn areas in Africa.

"Into the Wild"
: Listed to it on audiobook. I loved "Into Thin Air" and this was written by the same author and tells the story of a 20-something year old who walked into the wilderness to live off the land. He wasn't successful, dying within 5 months or something. Not as good as "Into Thin Air" but worth my time. My favorite part of the book was when the author Jon Krakauer was telling the story about one of his close calls on the side of a mountain. I guess the book is a movie now. Have not seen it.

"The Innocent Man": LOVED this book by John Grisham. Listened to it on audiobook. The whole book was read in such a way that I guessed it was nonfiction and found out for sure during the epilogue at the end. I'd definitely recommend this book, about two men who were wrongly convicted for a rape/murder and spent years in prison/death row before DNA evidence exonerated them.

"The World Without Us"
: I had considered purchasing this book to take to Wyoming with me last year, so was pleased to find it at the library on audio book. Well, I just couldn't handle listening to it; my mind continually wandered off before I got through the first CD. I'll have to check out the actual book to read, as I still find the book's premise interesting.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

One last trip

I'm heading up north for one last fall trip. Not camping, but staying in the same cabins we were at over Memorial Day. I'll definitely update this blog when I get back to town!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Wild Home Opener

Tonight is the Wild's home/season opener and I'm taking my dad to the game for his b-day as I have each of the last 7 years or so (every season except the first when I didn't have tickets and the year of the lock-out when we didn't play). We're going to eat at Matty B's, otherwise known as the restaurant that is right next door to the parking ramp.

Book review: Last night while working I listened to "Into the Wild" on audiobook. My review? It was so-so. My favorite part of the book was when Jon Krakauer was talking about his own life and the story about one of his climbs in Alaska. I was expecting to enjoy it as much as I did "Into Thin Air", but I didn't. I think its grade suffered a bit in comparison.

I have a new job I'm working part-time to make a little bit of money. It's data entry and super easy. The best part about it is I can listen to my ipod or CD's. I've listened to a pile of podcasts I've downloaded and went to the library yesterday to grab some audiobooks.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Camping Trip--Aborted

I'm still alive. I just haven't been doing too much that's interesting and worth blogging (not that that has stopped me before). I started a new part time job that keeps me entertained some evenings during the week.

Last weekend we had big plans for our end of the year camping trip up to Jay Cook State Park. In a couple weeks RR and V will be leaving for WY to go mule deer hunting and will come back to 5 solid weeks of MN hunting. Me, being a freeze baby, have already started curling up inside my house, avoiding the winter.

Back to Jay Cook: we drove past it on the way up north purposely choosing to head to Two Harbors to set up deer stands first. We knew that it was possible that the campground might be full when we returned, but we weren't worried; we'd just camp at Banning or Moose Lake State Parks.

Sure enough, arriving at 8:30p we found the campground jam packed. We got to Moose Lake about half an hour later to find the campground empty except an odd 50-something year old man. He asked us a random question as we stood outside the deserted ranger station, filling out the campground self-registration. He pulled up next to us again when we reached our campsite, asking another random question/statement.

We set up camp (tents, sleeping bags, the whole works) and attempted to get a fire going. We'd had to drive in to town to buy wood that was ended up being green, making it tough to get the fire going on a night that really needed a fire to warm it up.

Meanwhile... the odd 50-something started acting... freaky and odd.

The campground was empty except for him and us. There are 2-3 different loops containing a total of about 30 sites, none that were in use.

Between 9p and 11:30p this man performed the following loop: Drive slowly around the loop we were in, pass our site, stop, back up slowly, sit for 30 seconds, start driving, and disappear. 15 minutes later he'd repeat it. 15 minutes later AGAIN, he repeated it. But he started stopping longer and longer near us. Finally, at 11:30p he stopped, backed up, turned his lights off, on, off, on, and then pulled into the site right next to us where he apparently decided to set up camp.

The Fab 4 had a meeting and decided this guy was WAY too strange for us to camp next to in an empty campground. We had not seen a ranger all night, and decided it wasn't worth it. We packed up and left by midnight, arriving home just after 2am. It was a 14hour trip: our shortest, most expedited trip ever.