alexandriacardinals

[On March 22, 2012 (i.e., exactly one year ago), the Alexandria Golf Club opened for play, undoubtedly led by a bunch of old men in funny shorts and extremely white legs.  It didn’t quite happen today.]

[The sign provides a reasonable explanation of the status of play.]

[We noshed after golf – on the deck – right here – last year!]

[I would estimate the average depth of snow on the patio to be about 4 feet!]

[Can’t help myself, it’s pretty.  Just a winter romantic.]

[The temperature at the time of this photo was 3 degrees below zero – but there was no wind!  Felt balmy in the sunshine.]

[Tee times are available.]

[Fore!]

[Beautiful Lake Darling, above, and ginormous Lake Carlos, below.  Gives new meaning to the term “white caps.”

[You may all now re-join “Crazy” Dave . . .]

[For the continuation of March Madness (Rodney Williams, Mpls StarTribune photo.]

[A quintessential winter sky.  I don’t know what “quintessential” means.  I just wanted to use it in a sentence.  (Oh, I’m sorry.  That was “vicissitudes.”)]

So, what’s the deal here?  The coldest first day of spring in 48 years!  17 below zero wind chill again this morning – we’ve been stuck on that number for several days.  So, let’s take a road trip to the gym with the cub reporter, likely the video of the year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LetpizFdSxA

[Can you find beautiful Lake Darling behind the snow drift?]

This has been our worst winter – for ice and snow – in our 12 years here!  And winter has just been February and March.  We get a 3-5″ snowfall about every 3rd day.  Just about every morning I amble out in my bathrobe, jacket, and sockless boots to shovel the slab, the snowplow ridge at the end of the driveway, and the mail and newspaper boxes, that now have about 6″ of ice at their bases I can’t move.  We’ve been 20 degrees below normal temps most of this month – and they’re saying we won’t hit 50 degrees in March (how ’bout 40?).  They say Minneapolis could hit 41 by next Tuesday – still below normal, but Scandinavians will be running naked in the streets!

But we have had enough days around freezing that occasional freezing drizzles lay down further layers of ice – and with the height of the sun at this time of year, we get melt on sunny days even if it’s in the teens (and it just refreezes again at night).  Parking lots are extremely hazardous for walking.  We were out all day last Thursday, as we are wont to be, and when we got home that night (late-ish), the winter’s-long snow on the garage roof had released and splatted all over our slab.  Talk about your heart attack snow!  With ice bergs too big for the shovel to lift or break up that I had to hand lift and hammer-toss to the side!  And this was shoveling at about midnight because we were s’pose to get snow all night and the next day (and we did).

[The blizzard this past weekend left these odd markings on our deck.  Apparently the winds were strong enough to suck snow through openings between the boards?]

[Out the backyard after the most recent “event.”  Where’s our fire pit?]

[Do not venture out the back door without a family of St. Bernards.]

[Of course, looking out the front door wasn’t any more exciting.]

[Tuesday, 2:00 pm, the Mounties came to rescue us!  We had been housebound since Saturday night.  The Fat Boys Walking Club at the ‘Y’ was operating at minimum capacity – it couldn’t produce a quorum.]

[The weekend blizzard allegedly only produced 5 inches of snow in Alex.  But a couple days of high winds stacked drifts across our driveway in sizes to large for the supervisor and me to tackle with our shovels.  This was only the fourth time (2nd this year) we have had to be plowed out!]

[Yay, Brad!]

[Whatta guy!]

[The supervisor would say to heck with diamond jewelry – I want one of those things!!]

[We haven’t been able to figure this one out . . .]

[We have had a large number of crows . . . some might say a “murder” . . . in the back yard all winter?]

[We were rescued in time for the Empty Bowls Fundraiser at the high school last night.  If you go back one year in the blog, you’ll notice we went to this same event last year in shirt sleeves.]

[The supervisor shopped, we had a little chili dinner, we had a little entertainment, and the supervisor walked off with thousands of dollars worth of stuff from the silent auction again.]

[She was suppose to be the model for the empty bowl display this morning.  She begged off.  Something about her hair.  So, here I am – unfresh after the Fat Boys Walking Club.]

[And we’ll wrap this up with snow pile shots on the way home.]

[I have shoveled out the mail and newspaper boxes so many times at 5:00 am this winter that we’re all on a first name basis.]

[Loonnnnngggggggg way.]

[The cut of the snowblower reveals the drift height across the driveway.]

[And usually after a snowstorm, you get nice weather perfect for shoveling.  This time, as nice as this looks – and today was a carbon copy – it was still well below zero wind chills!]

Next up:  The cub reporter (with photos by the staff photographer) wraps-up the basketball season . . . well, the girls’ basketball season.

[Monday mornings are for garbage pick-up.  For at least the last four, they have followed weekend weather events that have created logistical difficulties in reaching the end of the driveway.  At times, the supervisor has had to call the fire and rescue squad to find out what happened to me.  This morning she was to “capture” me hauling “the can” (as opposed to “my can”) down to the end of the driveway.  Technical difficulties apparently were responsible for the lack of such photo.  But here I am on the return trip, knowing we would have to be plowed out for the 2nd time this year, and for only the 4th time in 12 winters here!  Yesterday, on St. Paddy’s Day, it was minus 2 degrees (17 below wind chill) – last year it was 80 on St. Paddy’s Day!  As a trained (well, educated) geographer, this is the perfect example of a continental climate.  We will be approaching record low temperatures for each of the next 3 days, with below zero temperatures each day.  Nothing above 30 degrees listed for the next week.  This is late March – we’re putting the Christmas decorations back up.]

[Here it is!  The debut the 4-county area has been waiting for.  Barb Grover had her book signing for Alexandria at the Runestone Museum on Thursday.  The book can be ordered through the museum . . . or Cherry Street Books, where there will be a book signing on Saturday, March 23, from noon – 2:00 pm .]

[Later on Thursday was the annual Student Showcase at Discovery Middle School.  The students display all variety of interesting stuff – from music, to the arts, to science . . .  And the supervisor and I (well, me) messed up.  As a past board member of the Education Foundation, I should have known we couldn’t give the showcase adequate coverage in one hour.  We could have spent the whole afternoon there, but this was a prelude to the Salty Dogs at SAWA.]

[Hey, and don’t forget your donations to the Foundation!  🙂  ]

[Contrary to public opinion, I was term-limited off the board – and not dismissed for cause!  (Well, that I know of?)]

[Student art work in the entry area.  I’m ashamed to think I’m a photographer.]

[Then we had to go check the displays on projects for which the Foundation gave grants this past year.  The young man showed us an example of differential gearing (at least that’s what I thought he said) using the Lego models they created.  The young lady did the same for “worm” gearing.  I had no idea what they were talking about.]

[Blocked by the Bensons, but I’m sure they’d be delighted to tell you all about e-books.]

[Blocked by Pat!  The displays were too popular.]

[“Seeds of Change.”  A biggie with the supervisor – included in-kitchen composting.]

[“Click – You Got It!”  Sounds like something this “correspondent” should be looking into!]

[Lots of stuff.]

[The supervisor checks into more stuff.]

[Even more stuff.  I’m not sure what was going on here, but every so often high-pitched shrieks would emerge from the group?]

[Back out in the hall.]

[The supervisor admires the “Handscapes”!  😉 ]

[As you’ll recall, our gymnasts did great at state!]

Oh, we have no photographic evidence of this, but Minnesota’s-own, Fred de Sam Lazaro of PBS fame, addressed the opening session of senior college on Tuesday.  He gave a terrific presentation on his specialty, underreported news of the world.  And on Wednesday, the Citizens Climate Lobby sponsored a morning-long Farm & Soil Conference at the ATCC.  As one who is loathe to get either hot or dirty (why I prefer winter), I have to admit to really enjoying the science of the presentations.  Thanks again to Jeanne Johnson for organizing the event and getting an interesting group of speakers.

[On Saturday, Harper’s Chord made their winery debut.  Again, the weather was iffy – particularly for Jill coming from Little Falls (who admitted to getting lost) and Roger and Paul coming from St. Cloud.  But maybe because of pent up cabin fever, the place was SRO for at least the first couple hours of their performance.  “Weakie” Annen, with Viv and Angie in tow, was there for the 1st hour as he wanted to visit with Jill, a fellow New Ulmer . . . New Ulmite? . . . New Ulmian?  The group will be back at the winery on May 25th – do you think they’ll be able to perform outside by then?]

From left to right (and then with videos interspersed):

[Roger Fink]

[Jill Moore]

[Paul Drinkwine]

Video:  “Godspeed” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmnIIzRwRA0

“Amie”: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD18Ft7IZXo

“My Love Will Keep”: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmlbfLBmlUI

“Come on Up to the House”: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-rcYLwFwc

“Natural Bridge”: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2sjaJBJByk

[Fellow music Super Fans, Nancy and Tom Keene.  They didn’t know at the time, they were about to become famous!  😉  But I’d just found out Nancy grew up on Lake Victoria, adjacent to the Heights, and was a classmate of youngest brother Cam.]

[Sunday was the 8th annual St. Paddy’s Day stop-and-chat-and sing with Skilly & Duff, and Annie.  And we were reminded we have literally watched Sami Steidl (20 now?), on the left, and Lily Satterlee (now a seasoned 14!), on the right, grow up with this event as they have performed every year to the delight of those who, like myself, drove all over Alex trying to find that one parking spot that didn’t involve stepping out on to glaze ice!]

[They got to perform on the set of Lucky Stiff, the next play in mid-April.]

[The instruments – awaiting the arrival of their keepers.]

[From the left:  I’m sorry, I don’t recall the fiddler from Willmar, then Annie, Bruce, and Mikko.]

[The youngsters (which would now exclude Sami in the back):  Lily, singer, from Sauk Centre; and the Swelstads, dancers from Battle Lake, Mary, Anna, Jack, and Christina.]

[From the Echo.]

[The impresario.]

[Sami’s able to play again but will have surgery on her wrist in the fall.  She plans to learn the mandolin while she heals so she won’t go crazy!  😉  ]

Readers respond to “Winter”:

Oops…sent the send button too soon.  I understand this is the worst March ever due to the ice and snow.  Hang in there.  A few minutes ago I was watching Good Morning America in bed and wouldn’t ya’ know the weatherman shows a TV clip of the blizzard in Alex.  I hope my friends in Alex have their fridge full of food. I understand the ice and snow.  ~ Crazy Dave

Left for FL today, and although we had some snow flurries thru NY/NJ are now in via where it’s 67 [Sarasota].  ~  Rosie

Wow!  Do I love Florida!!!!!!!! ~ Mary

Had a long talk with [name deleted for reasons of national security] last night.  She is marooned in her home. Scared of the ice too since she has taken some bad falls over the years. Is really sick of the cold, snow and ice. Do you guys have those cleat-like attachments to wear over your boots? I wouldn’t leave home without them. ~ Gretch

You’ve convinced me!!  ‘Tis good to be in the mountains of Arizona!!  Today it’s 71 at noon.  Played golf Wed and Fri with temps in the mid 70’s.  Don’t own a snow shovel.  The only ice I’m currently dealing with is in my Vodka Tonic and the only problem that presents is ensuring I don’t run out (of either ice, vodka or tonic)…. Life is good.   ~ Larry

Tom, this is the Bumpster in AZ . I’m glad to be missing that sh– it is very warm, here 85 is about average. Getting close to the end 2 wks left.  Keep up your good work.  See ya at the Y. ~ Mike

Dad is here for a few weeks.  He’s enjoying temps in the 70’s and 80’s. You know you guys COULD come and visit any time you wanted!  ~ Professor Doctor Colonel

Beautiful snow scenes, and Tom you really look like a real dyed in the wool Arctic snow shovel man.  What a terrific way to exercise.  See you in the summer.  Enjoy the beauty.  ~ Jo

Well, well, well.  I noticed in your latest that you refer to the supervisor as RUTHIE!!  At first I thought it was probably just a typo but upon further consideration I figured that the cold feet and warm body might have been a factor after walking on ice in 4 feet of snow.  ~ Harry

How to deal with all this snow . . . DRINK MORE WINE!!!! ~  Carlos Creek Winery

[Apologies to beautiful Lake Darling.  After schlepping the garbage can to the end of the driveway, I was delighted to see that the Tribune had been delivered.  Unfortunately, probably because of white-out conditions, the Trib was placed in the wrong box – the one for junk advertising.  I didn’t realize there was junk mail in the bottom.  When I pulled out the Trib, advertising crap started blowing all over the neighborhood – and therefore out onto the lake (?).  The supevisor thought it funny as I struggled through the over-ice snow drifts in 40 mph winds trying to hold on to my dignity and whatever was left of the paper.  Hey, Alex made Good Morning America today with “film” of the blizzard!]

[In daylight, the lonely vigil of the garbage can.]

This survey was made possible (in part) by grants from the Aloe Vera and Cocoa Butter Associations of the United States and Mesopotamia. 

Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.