A stream ran though it

Yesterday I was bored so I decided to explore the ravine behind my house, which I haven't done since high school. The ravine begins about twenty feet from my back door, so that my back yard abruptly stops and a gradual 50 foot decent begins. These pictures are from what I discovered walking in the ravine.



Sometimes there is a stream here, but obviously not on this day.




My neighbors and I used to make a make-shift dam and go wading in this water, until one day we found crayfish in it. It looks pretty nasty now.




Not really sure what this cement is left over from. There aren't any building in the ravine, except for a couple of old red barns somewhere.



The ravine is heavily wooded and it is easy to get lost. The homes along the ridge are not visible from the ravine, so it is easy to lose ones whereabouts.



I figured out where I was again. The sand hill in the distance to the right is where we used to go sledding. I decided to turn around and go back the way I came because I didn't want to go crawling up the hill into my parent's friend's yard.

This mini-hike made me miss adventures with some of you.

"Applicant No. 145.... Next...146...Next"

My slacker days are quickly coming to an end. I found out today that I got the waitressing job at the theater, which I train for next week. That is also when my internship starts. I am nervous about the overlap in start times, but hopefully it will work seamlessly or close to it.

In my free time I have been looking for things to do after the summer ends, since I will soon need to worry about adult things such as health insurance and a semi-regular paycheck. I applied for a few year long volunteer programs with Uncle Sam. There were actually several programs that I applied for, some are in Minneapolis and some are in gasp, Duluth. The application deadline is next week, so please keep your fingers crossed for me.

For those of you keeping up with my green thumbs initiative, it rained on my garden today. smiley emoticon guy

I am thinking it is time again for a good 5k race, so if anyone is interested in doing one let me know. I'm not that fast, so I like to enter ones with few participants so I win. Like the time I won the Dairy race in Wisconsin while I was on vacation and they handed me a half gallon of chocolate milk at the finish line. That was nasty, especially because I drink soy.

Its Like a Sunburn

This was from my second day of gardening

I pull this garden weed and in its place a flower will grow

I drove back from Duluth this morning. It was a pretty dull 3.5 hrs on the road. I made my usual one stop in Hinkley at the gas station with the White Castle. I did not get any sliders this time. I will miss Tony and the Duluth gang. I will visit and the invitation will always be open to you, as well.

When I got home it was really sunny and warm, so I laid on my blanket in my backyard, soaking up the rays and enjoying the lovely view of the luscious ravine.

I also planted my garden, which is going to be another winner. I planted onions, green peppers, jalopenos, chili peppers and sunflowers. There will be more to come once I till the other little garden patch.

This is quite an expansion from last year when I only planted acorn squash. There were some doubters in my family who said I planted too many and that the summer was too dry. Ha, to them. There were 20 squash that came out of my 6'X6' garden. I can never eat acorn squash again. Emoticon of your choice.

Tomorrow I am going to begin my job search in Minneapolis. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'll need to find a paying job, since my internship is volunteer.

There's another lift-bridge in Stillwater

My parents came up last night and helped me pack 99% of my stuff. I was left with a giant carboard box full of kitchen supplies, weighing in at 2 tons, that made me throw out my back when I lifted it into my car. I am glad to not have to live in that house anymore because it was loud and creaky.

I found out that two of my future roommates broke up. So we'll have an extra spot to live. If anyone needs a place in Dinkytown for $211, which includes utilities, let me know. It's clean and that is the lowest price you'll find for rent there.

Since I am leaving Duluth shortly I thought I would try to compile a list of the fun things to do here for a college student.

Go to the radio towers and races old tires down the hill
Eat a Coney Dog at Coney Island
Go to the Fon Du Luth Casino
Swim in Lake Superior
Go to the Karples Manuscript Museum
Go to the Tweed as much as you can
Have Yam fries at the Chester Creek Cafe
Buy a Halloween Costume at the Dollar Store
Visit Goosebury and actually walk around, don't just look at the falls
Go rollerskating in Superior at the roller dome on Tower Ave
Laugh at tourist
Laugh at people touring UMD
Go to the Third Street bakery whenever you are feeling like a smile and a cookie
Try being a vegetarian
Collect beach glass
Watch a sunrise with your wonderful friends
Volunteer somewhere
Work for the paper, they are in need of good writers, photographers, artists, business people
Befriend someone you never would have in high school

Tic-tock and other appropriate Onamatopoeias

My last final of my academic career at UMD is quickly approaching. I have wasted the last four hours pretending to read over some Power Points.

In other great news I am moving out of my house this weekend. My mom's co-worker picked up my mattress set because her daughter goes to school here and she had room in her truck. Well, I am pretty sure that she moved it. Two hours ago the mattress and box spring were in my garage and now it is not. With all the freaking hammer pounding across the street I haven't heard anyone stop by. They are residing the house across the street. In compliance with Duluth construction standards, they are on pace to be finished by the first snowfall.

Along with this wonderful time of year I am officially sick of organic peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread and all I want is American Mexican food. No my darlings, Taco Tuesday at Luce only made me hungry for more.

My favorite part of the end of the semester is how I grow to dislike humans. Its stress, but I don't want to deal with annoying people in my classes anymore.

I also haven't showered in awhile, which is another trait associated with collegiates during finals week.

I will be around Duluth for a few more days, possibly until Monday or Tuesday and I would love to see your smiling shiny face. That's assuming that the people who read this are people who I know.

Booze for Books Exchange

Today I got ripped off by the bookstore. Not that it is surprising, but think of it this way. I paid $85 for my book used. I got $16 for it today. If they resell it for $85 that is a $69 profit that is 431% profit margin. If they were a publicly traded company, their stock would rival the big guys. Move over search engine stock, I'm investing my Roth money in UMD stores this year.

Also, has anyone noticed how they put the ugly/crabby girls and old men in charge of buying back the books. All of the normal looking bookstore workers are in the backroom stocking. My theory is that ugly girls and old men are used to taking attitude and dishing it. I wonder if it says that on their resumes.


* Spell Check tip of the day. Backroom wants to be substituted with buckhorn. I'm not sure if backroom is 1 word, or 2, or if it should be hyphenated. Either way, backroom being one word makes more sense than buckhorn.

Canned Fruits Do Not Go Bad

It appears right now that I am studying on my laptop, when as you know I am not. All I can think of is how happy I will be at 6:00 on Thursday after my stint at UMD is over.

I went to The President's of the United States of America on Friday with Tony and Sheena. When I was in six grade on the way to a basketball tournament in the back of my friend's maroon mini-van listening to "Peaches" on repeat, which considering how long most of our tournaments were away from BP was heard many times, I never thought that I would see the band live. Well I did and it was a solid "alright."

I am currently looking for a part-time job in Minneapolis, hopefully a waitressing job. So if you know of any puh-lease let me know.

Thanks.

Head-achy

I got the internship at a non-profit in Mpls. It is going to be my job to improve a donor program for young folks my age and older. I get to help plan some of the get togethers at local bars and fun locales for this market.

I will be living in Dinkytown starting at least by June 1. So let me know if you want to use my couch this summer because I like to entertain.

I saw Thank You for Smoking last week and I would recommend. I laughed a lot. I haven't seen an even slightly decent movie in the theater in awhile, so that could have had a slight influence on my enjoyment.

On Friday, The Presidents of the United States of America are playing at UMD. I don't think my life could be complete without hearing "Peaches" live once.

*Spell check wanted to replace "Dinkytown" with "Dingdong" and I think that's funny.