The Earwigs Aren't Helping

I've been a little stressed out this week. Nothing really terrible has happened to me, personally, but a variety of little things have added up to the development of a twitching eyelid that I'm pretty sure was brought on by the stress.

I don't want to get into any of the personal or family details, but on top of all of that stuff it has been a very busy work week! We had a full day various hearings on Monday and stayed until 6 p.m. - which is pretty much unheard of in district courts in Minnesota. The county craziness continued with a jury trial, a court trial, and many more hearings including sentencing and guilty pleas. I do love my job, it has just been far more action this week than I'm used to!

Then the weather, it's been hot in Minnesota this week and I'm variously uncomfortabley hot because it's 95 degrees outside and I'm wearing a suit or freezing my butt off under the AC at work.

And then, there are the creatures in our house. I may actually be to the point where I would take the mice over the bats and the bugs! A few weekends ago Calhoun got up in the middle of the night, he didn't say much to me but warned me that he was going to turn the light on in the bedroom. He did and looked around for a minute and I - in my 3 a.m. sleep stupor - am afraid I was not very nice when I asked what he was doing.

He thought he had seen a bat in the room.

Oh no.

But, earlier that week we had had a bat in our mud-room that he managed to get it outside and that very day we had read a story in the paper about a call to the police reporting a suspected home intruder that ended up being a bat stuck between the front and storm door of a house in town. So - we looked around and couldn't find it and both hoped it was just a figment of Calhoun's overly active imagination.

So, I jumped back into bed, turned out the lights, and pulled the covers right up under my chin.

A few minutes later a real bat swooped down right over our heads.

We were freaked the hell out! We jumped out of bed and Calhoun grabbed his fishing net and we scoured the house for this bat. We stayed up for a while, eventually crawled back into bed, fishing net in hand, and never did find that stinkin' bat.

Now I am always afraid there's a bat that's going to come swooping around our bedroom.

Then, to top it off, after a weekend in the cities I came home to dicover these little monsters all over the place.

It's called an earwig and they are ugly crunchy things that like to hide in damp, dark spaces. AHHH! I came home very late Sunday night and found myself screaming and stomping around my kitchen to kill the little things and I can't wait until our landlord comes back from vacation to help us deal with the problem. I've tried not to read too much about them because the less I know about the extent of this possible earwig infestation the better. AHH!!!

So there we are. To top off all of the normal stresses of life, every time my new short hair brushes against the back of my neck I'm afraid a bat has swooped over me or an earwig is crawling down my shirt. I'm afraid this eye twitch isn't going to go away any time soon!

Esox Lucius: Northern Pike

I like to eat fish, especially fish that is breaded and fried. This means that I like when people catch fish and cook them, because you really can't get breaded fish in a restaurant that's fresh and delicious and out of a Minnesota lake.When I was young I relied on my grandparents to provide me with fish. I remember eating the pieces of fried fish almost immediately after they came out of the pan, leaving very few to actually be had at dinner. It was wonderful. But, they're getting older and are enjoying gardening more than they enjoy hauling a boat out to the lake so I have to get my breaded fish elsewhere.

In comes Calhoun. You know by now, he is awesome and an outdoorsman and has been fishing since he could carry his pole out to the river behind his house. So, when the fishing season came around I thought I was in luck. Except I wasn't...his first three fishing trips were totally unproductive. Apparently the Minnesota DNR classifies streams as "trout streams" merely for purposes of funding allocation...Calhoun learned that one the hard way.

So I was thrilled a few days ago when I got this picture. Success! Thank you Lake Elmo!

Sadly, we had a few busy days in a row and were unable to fry the fish up right away but tonight we finally had our feast!


The beauty of fish at home is that it's not restaurant fish that is designed for presentation perfection, it's just plain old wonderful fish. And, Calhoun was educating me, apparently a Northern Pike is a tough fish to bone because of its unique skeletal structure, including something called a "Y" bone. This unique structure means that it doesn't always make a beautiful, boneless filet, but that doesn't mean it's bad for breading and frying!

We have enjoyed the rain tonight, the primary election results and the homegrown, Minnesota fish.

Powdered Sugar Goodness

Went to church this morning. We have a neighborhood Lutheran church that we love and we've been going since we got married nine months ago. The music is wonderful and the preaching is very good - but our attendance has dropped a bit this summer. We went this morning with a friend who is church shopping and felt a little less guilty when we got there and realized that we aren't the only people who find it more difficult to get up and attend during the summer. Despite the smaller attendance - we were at the early service - I left feeling wonderful and refreshed.

And then we went to A Baker's Wife (4200 28th Ave, Minneapolis) for pastries.


I love this place. One of the reasons I love it because it's a very no-nonsense kind of establishment. There are a few tables outside on the sidewalk and about six chairs inside but it's mostly the kind of place where you go to pick up a half dozen pastries for $10 and then walk around the lake and enjoy the crispy, buttery, fruity, chocolate goodness. The line usually loops around once inside the shop, and in a very non-Minnesota way you find yourself yelling across people around you to place your order.

Another reason I love it is because selection and quality of the pastries is wonderful. The pastries are large, and there's not question that all parties benefit from sharing. They have a great combination of fruity and sweet pastries. This morning I had a blueberry cream cheese turnover and Calhoun had a chocolate croissant. Not to mention they have the best donuts in the cities...doughy deep fried frosting covered goodness. And, it's an old-school bakery that rewards the early riser, their legendary ham and cheese croissants were gone by the time we arrived about 10 am.

And, they have this cow statue outside. How could you not love this place?!

Then, to work off the blueberry cream cheese turnover I went on a ride with Uptown. She's training for a triathlon and totally kicked my butt, but it was fun to get out on the trails and see all kinds of people enjoying the Minnesota weather, just like we were!

COWS!

I found myself at the Minnesota Scottish Fair this weekend (don't ask) and although I am always delighted by the caber toss and the skills of the herding dogs, my favorite this year was a one and a half year old Highland Cow named Patriot.

I love him and I want one someday. AWESOME!