Easter, Spring, Summer: Hail, Sleet, Snow

Monday, April 6, 2015. I'm feeling better: finally. Whatever it was, I'm pretty sure it wasn't strep. Someone else in the household had that. My guess is that quite a few folks in town are feeling better. Regular visiting hours are back in effect at the nursing home.

Let's see, what's happened? Spring is here, or maybe summer. Either way, snow is finally off the ground: and I figure the grass will get around to turning green when there's some rain.


Happy -- April Fools day? (April 1, 2015)


That's more like it. A tip of the hat to neighbors, for a bit of seasonal humor. (April 4, 2015)


Easter Sunday at Our Lady of Angels, Sauk Centre. (April 5, 2015)

It's about 6:00 in the evening, it started as light hail, and now — it's snowing. Or maybe it's sleet. Oh, well: this is Minnesota, after all.

Happy (Snow-Free) Easter!

Sunday, April 20, 2014. Easter Sunday. Some folks from Kenya are visiting our parish. I've wondered what they think of springtime in Minnesota.


Wednesday around 6:00 p.m., after more than a foot of snow fell. April 16, 2014.


A more reasonable facsimile of spring weather this afternoon. April 20, 2014.

That's about all I've got for this week. Happy Easter!

Palm Sunday: With Easter and Snow Coming

Sunday, April 13, 2014. Palm Sunday. That's embarrassing: I'd put "2013" as the year for every photo in March, and several in February. The good news is that it was an easy fix.

I saw my first two robins this week; some of the grass is not only visible: but turning green; and temperatures were above freezing today. Not much above freezing, but above nevertheless.

I don't want to start any wild rumors: but Spring may finally be here.

Our new granddaughter, Elizabeth, was baptized yesterday. ("Baptism: Elizabeth Grace," Through One Dad's Eye (April 12, 2014))


Elizabeth Grace, waiting: fairly patiently. April 12, 2014.

The house was anything but quiet yesterday afternoon, since we had some folks over to celebrate.


Palm Sunday at Our Lady of the Angels. April 13, 2014.


A sign of Spring: the street sweeper making its rounds. April 9, 2014.

I checked the forecast, which has no winter storms: so far. We do, however, expect snow and a bit of wind on Wednesday.

Springtime in Minnesota: Palm Sunday

Sunday, March 24, 2013. Palm Sunday. Looks like Easter will look a lot like Christmas this year. On the other hand, maybe not. This is Minnesota, after all.



Springtime in Minnesota. March 21, 2013.

I've been sharing a cold with my family. Doing things together is supposed be good for family bonding. Somehow, though, this doesn't feel much like "quality time."

Easter Sunday, 2012

Sunday, April 8, 2012. Easter Sunday. Ducks have returned to SaukLake, flowers are blooming, and bugs are in the air.


Sauk Lake, near St. Michael's. April 4, 2012.


Ducks in Sauk Lake. April 4, 2012.


Not a big bush: but lots of flowers. April 7, 2012.


The Easter Express? I like that yard decoration. April 8, 2012.


Easter Sunday, Our Lady of Angels church. April 8, 2012.

I'm looking forward to consistently warm weather: which shouldn't be too far ahead.

Palm Sunday, 2012

Sunday, April 1, 2012. Palm Sunday. We didn't get that high around 80 today: which was fine by me.


Palm fronds at Our Lady of Angels church. April 1, 2012.


Palm Sunday, Our Lady of Angels church. April 1, 2012.

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week: which tends to be a little hectic for this household. As we usually do, we wove four palm fronds into a sort of St. Andrew's cross:

That, and noting that Summer is definitely here, is about all I've got for this week.

A Warm, Cold, Sunny, Overcast Week

Sunday, March 25, 2012. Next week is Palm Sunday. This week was warm, cold, sunny, overcast, and clear with occasional rain and a noisy thundershower on Monday. All of which is about par for the course this time of year, here in central Minnesota.

The Unger Furniture stock liquidation sale is still going on. The radio commercials are saying that it's almost over. That's the impression I got, anyway.

Knights of Columbus have been bringing an Our Lady of Guadalupe image through this area for a few years now. It was at the church I go to today.


An Our Lady of Guadalupe image at Our Lady of Angels church. Knights of Columbus arranged for it to be here. March 25, 2012.

Apart from that, and my household almost having a working garage again, I haven't noticed all that much out of the ordinary. I'll admit to having been a bit distracted, though.

Snow that Melts in the Spring, Tra-La

Sunday, March 18, 2012. Spring is here. Not the sort of 'flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la' thing you read about. Springtime, Minnesota style. It's warm: in the '70s. The snow is gone. Most of it, anyway. Here's a quick review of the month so far:


Snow: It'll make even a construction site look good. March 1, 2012.


Yep. No question about it. It snowed this week. March 1, 2012.


Next stop on the holiday line: St. Patrick's Day. March 4, 2012.


Kids know what snow's for. March 11, 2012.


Snow, and dirt, and mud. Snirt? Smud? Not entirely pleasant, although the clean snow looks nice. March 11, 2012.

That was then. This is now:


Springtime, Minnesota style. March 18, 2012.

One of my kids saw a gnat the other day, so the other invertebrate critters will be adding to the ambiance soon. I've been hearing - and enjoying - birdsongs for several days now. I've seen the usual sparrows, and a junco or two. At least, I think they were juncos. A little smaller and trimmer than sparrows, and gray. I'm no bird expert.

Grass is turning green in the damper and warmer spots: by the time we get something that looks like the sort of 'blooming meadow' version of spring, it'll be summer. And I'll probably be getting nostalgic about winter.


Before Mass at Our Lady of Angels. March 18, 2012.

St. Patrick's day went by this week, so the next holiday is Palm Sunday (two weeks), or Easter Sunday (three weeks), or National Jelly Bean Day (5 weeks).

Easter, 2011; and School Budget Decisions

Sunday, April 24, 2011. Easter Sunday. It's been one of those spring days that live up to the season's 'flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la' reputation: clear blue sky, not all that cool, and enough breeze to keep smoke out of my eyes when I grilled burgers this noon.


Palm Sunday in Our Lady of the Angels church. With - what else? - palms. April 17, 2011.

There's been more greenery in Our Lady of the Angels church, where I go, than any other season - except for Christmas. Palm Sunday's the most spectacular, in its own way, with those palm - leaves? fronds? whatever you call those shrub-size things.


Easter Sunday in Our Lady of the Angels Church: Not so much green, but a whole lot of lilies. April 24, 2011.

This week's Sauk Centre Herald's front page story was "Sauk Centre school board hears more public input on budget cut proposals." I gather that, one way or another, there isn't going to be as much money available for the public school: and none of the options are particularly fun. Aside from state and national economics, I gather that there just aren't as many students in the schools as there were a few years ago.

One of the cost-cutting ideas is to cut some administrative positions. My opinion is that I'm glad I'm not the one having to make the hard decisions. One set of folks or another is going to be displeased, no matter what, I suspect.

Also in the online Herald is a short piece about Main Street Gallery - a new business. I haven't been out for, well, a few weeks: so that's news to me.

Now that it's warming up, I gotta get out more.

Burning Last Easter's Palms

Sunday, March 6, 2011. Ash Wednesday comes next week, the beginning of Lent. We get ashes for that day from last year's Easter palms: and today was the day the palms were burned. Our Lady of the Angels church has been using a wire-mesh burner for a few years now: a big improvement over what we had before.

This year the weather cooperated, with just enough breeze to blow smoke - reliably - in one direction. Last year's 35-mile-an-hour winds, I'm told, made burning the palms something of a track-and-field event: what with chasing down wind-blown palm bits.


Some of last year's palms reduced to ash, loading more in. March 6, 2011.


Those bits on the ground got gathered and burned a few minutes after I took this picture. March 6, 2011.

We got re-introduced to Scrip today, again at Our Lady of the Angels. I've written about it before. (February 17, 2008) Quite a few businesses in town have agreed to pay a percentage of what's bought with a Scrip card to Holy Family School. Sounds like a good idea.


Really brightly-colored poster, illustrating how Scrip works: at Our Lady of the Angels church. The kids at far right had been singing. March 6, 2011.

We've had quite a bit of snow this winter: more came down today. It's picturesque, and easier on the lungs than open winters where wind-blown dust turns the sky a tannish brown.

On the other hand, all that snow can be an inconvenience. Or worse. The roof of Wagner Hardware, over in Glenwood, collapsed back on February 1, if I'm getting the date right. 4:00 p.m., according to the Pope County Press. They've got an article about the collapse that starts with:

"It's a miracle of God that Dave (Guindon) and Sam (Martin) weren't skewered by broken wood timbers," said Garrett Wagner, who owns and operates Wagner Hardware in Glenwood.

"There were five Wagner Hardware employees in the building when the west side of the store's roof came crashing down at about 4 p.m. last Tuesday...."
(Tim Douglass, pctribune.com (February
7, 2011))

The Wagner Hardware roof collapse reminded me of when the Pamida store roof caved in, quite a few years ago now. Nobody hurt then, either. I've heard that Wagner plans to rebuild, starting this summer.

Like I said, we got more snow today: a nice, gentle, steady snowfall throughout most of the day. Nice to look at, from inside: and enough to keep me away from the grill. I've been out grilling burgers in much worse: but I'm getting over some sort of bug, and decided to be smart. Actually, my wife pointed out the prudent choice.

Finally, Our Lady of the Angels' Lenten Parish Mission with Steve Ray: starts a week from today, March 13th. The Sunday thing starts 6:45 p.m. at the Sauk Centre High School auditorium, I understand - then there's another session Monday at Our Lady of the Angels Church. I wrote about the mission and Steve Ray last week. Well, I mentioned it anyway.

Easter Sunday 2010

Sunday, April 4, 2010. Easter Sunday. I hope yours was blessed. Easter - Holy Week generally - is a pretty big deal for many families in Sauk Centre. Including mine. Just about the only places I've been since Wednesday have been church, the back yard grilling burgers, and Coborn's to get groceries.


That stone, with the names of folks who
contributed to the Marian Garden by Our Lady of the Angels church, may be the
'final touch.' April 1, 2010.


Holy Thursday at Our Lady of the Angels church. April 1, 2010.

Aside from Our Lady of the Angels church getting two new 'blessing angels,' I'm pretty much clueless about what's been going on around town. I'll start catching up tomorrow, though.

Melting Snow and a Crazy Weekend.

Sunday, March 21, 2010. April 15 is coming up, and I've been scrambling to collect and organize the tax information that I'm responsible for. On Friday, I thought I still had nine days. That afternoon my wife reminded me that I had to have everything ready. By the morning of the 22nd.

Well, I was only off by one week. It's been a crazy weekend: but I'm pretty sure I'll have everything ready by sunrise.

Normally, I'd write about a thing or three that I'd noticed in or around Sauk Centre since the last entry. I hope you'll settle for some photos. That's about all I've got. I should have my ducks in a row by Wednesday. (Famous last words?)


I figured I'd see snow: I didn't realize how much. It's the storage service at the west end of Sinclair Lewis Avenue. March 18, 2010.


More snow: that building makes a pretty good sunshade. March 18, 2010.


I've seen folks shovel snow onto sunnier parts of the lawn. This year, that might more sense than usual. March 18, 2010.


Not exactly scenic, is it? I figure that after the snow's melted, a good raking or two, rain, and growing grass should take care of the dirt left behind. March 18, 2010.


A delightfully funny - and strange - lawn decoration. March 18, 2010.


Civic Arena playground. March 20, 2010.


Yes: Those are eggs in the smoke. March 20, 2010.

I'm really looking forward to Monday this week. For once, it'll be the day I can relax.