First Snow

It was snowing all morning. Not much. It hardly amounted to "light snow." Sometimes it was more like rain than snow.

The afternoon was more of the same, drizzle with snowish aspirations.

I think I can bring the hummingbird feeder in.


You can't see it, but tiny flakes of snow were in the air. October 29, 2011.



Another October morning in central Minnesota, with snow on the hummingbird feeder. October 29, 2011.

Related posts:

• "May, and No Snow!"
  (May 5, 2013)
• "Spring: Finally!"
  (April 28, 2013)
• "First Snow"
  (October 28, 2012)
• "First Winter Weather; 50-Vehicle Pile-Up on I-94; Nobody Hurt"
  (November 20, 2011)
• "Not Much Snow, Charlie Company, and Grilling"
  (November 13, 2011)

Flowers, Sign Work, an Anniversary, and a Sunset

Sunday, June 8, 2012. Another week, with the usual bright blue skies, leaden overcast, sweltering heat, and chilly evenings. I like Minnesota: the weather isn't boring.

I noticed a sign being set up - or possibly repaired - at the Central Minnesota Credit Union on south Main Street. 'Set up' is more likely, since the framework is where the CMU's sign-on-a-pole used to be.


Looks like Central Minnesota Credit Union's going for a lower-profile sign. June 8, 2012.

Yards and gardens in town are looking good: we've had a pretty good mix of sunshine and rain. My webcam, "Small Town America: Central Minnesota," shows mostly lawns, streets, and sidewalks. On the other hand, I nudged it over a little and fixed the focus: so the view of the hummingbird feeder is a little better.

Now that I've got that shameless self-promotion out of the way, a couple more photos.


Flowers. Sign. Bright colors. June 8, 2012.


Sunset Friday's sunset, south and west of Sauk Centre. June 8, 2012.

Finally, Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas has been a deacon for 25 years, as of this weekend. He's attached to Our Lady of Angels and St. Paul here in Sauk Centre; and St. Alexius in West Union. He spent another 25 before that, serving around the altar in one capacity or another.

Rapist Pleads Guilty, Swine Flu's in Town: Not Exactly Mayberry, RFD, But I Love it Here

Wednesday, September 23, 2009. The headlines at the top of this week's Sauk Centre Herald are "Trail rapist pleads guilty" and "H1N1 is here / What to do to protect yourself" - and after that, a feature about Kevin Kerffeld's dealing with lung cancer.

The sky was as somber as the lead stories yesterday.


Ever have days like this? September 22, 2009.


Some trees were turning: but what I mostly noticed was the unsunny sky. September 22, 2009.

The "Trail rapist" pled guilty, with no plea bargaining. Turns out he's probably in the country illegally, and came here from Guatemala. Given the minimum sentence, 144 months (12 years), he probably won't be back in circulation for a while. Which is a bit of a relief.

Our Lady of the Angels' priest, Fr. James Statz, was the first person the victim met after the attack: my family is in that parish, which brings this incident a bit closer to home.

The paper gives some good, common-sense advice about not getting H1N1/Swine flu this year: Basically, wash you hands, don't get sneezed on, and don't sneeze on others.

I walked down to Coborn's this afternoon to get my annual flu shot. Which doesn't cover H1N1. Well, can't have everything. I'll just have to be a bit more careful than usual. (I've been keeping track of H1N1/Swine flu in one of my blogs, and collected a fair amount of information about the bug, and what's being done about it.)


Flu shots inside: I got the point. September 23, 2009.

There's something new inside Coborn's: a hand/handle sanitizer pole. The idea is to take one of the wipes, wipe it across the handle of the cart you take, and do your hands while you're at it.

By far not the worst idea I've run into.


Swab the handle and your hands? Yeah, it takes a few seconds: but I think it makes sense. So, apparently, did the folks who'd used the pole just before I took this photo. September 23, 2009.

The sky's cleared up today, I'm hoping to attract chickadees - plus a whole lot of sparrows - at the birdfeeder this winter.