Is winter just a day away?

Water Towers are always a great subject for photography, they are usually full of character and show landmarks and many times a little about the history of the town.

Drive In's in the metro area seem to making a come back. Galaxy in St Louis Park opened this spring, it sits in the location of the old Wagner drive in along the south side of HWY 7 between Texas Avenue and Louisiana, they did a wonderful job with the decor and I am waiting patiently to view this on a snowy night to so the illumination in the clouds with snowy foreground or back drop. The Minnetonka Drive In has been around for many years it is in Spring park on Shoreline Drive and is a beautiful drive any time of year specially in the fall with the colors and if you are a trail biker, walker, hiker or skater, this drivein is with in walking distance of the Dakota Rail Trail, and it is recomended along with Scotti B's in Mound for for a pit stop along your treck








The crane shot originated in Brooklyn park with the carnes and construction at 81 and 169 I thought adding the drive in to the scene added interest to the photo.










Click on image to view large Wagners Brooklyn Park always seems to busy.

Walking the Dakota Rail Regional Trail Dakota Rail Map was a breath of fresh air for my wife and I, we are accustomed to walking the inner suburbian trails, they are also very nice just the ones we usually walk are short in distance, the Dakota rail trail paved path is 13.5 miles, we started in St, Bonnie and walked to Mound 4.5 miles this took us a little under two hours, we walked about two blocks from the trail into town and ate lunch at Scotty B's restaurant, we both had the Black and Blue salad and were we happy with it. Thinly sliced steak over a bed of Romain with french onions and blue cheese sprinkled over the top. we then had to decide if we wanted to walk further torwards Navarre or or walk the 4.5 back to our car in St, Bonnie. We decided to head back to the car and the next time to park in Mound at the parking ramp and the walk torwards Navarre up to Brown Rd I think it is listed under Wayzata address.

I am always hesitant to ask if I can take some ones photograph. This Bag pipe player was waiting for a service at Fort Snelling when I drove by, I came back and asked if it would be OK if I took his picture and he said sure you can, he asked if I was a photographer and I said mostly by hobby. I then went to the east hill to get photos of planes landing and taking off, I could hear him playing in the background, very somber.

One folder in my computer contains many images from this centuries changing business climate, unfortunately most are not good changes. some of the changes will make the surviving companies stronger and many changes have eliminated competition and this is not good for us the consumer. documenting these changes in photographs is a hobby of mine and every so often I will donate my images with descriptions to the local Historical Societies.

Denny Hecker went down with a splash, the faltering economy could not support a dealership built on credit, even though this empire's business was selling credit for cars and houses.


Circuit City closed leaving the door wide open for Best Buy and even Best Buy is having problems of same type, Walmart announced they were revamping all stores to compete in the electronics area.





Snyders, now only the franchise stores are left open, I will miss Snyders and the Union will too, they are the only Union Pharmacy store in the Twin Cities and if you are from this area, this is most likely where your prescriptions were filled over the years.



All that is left to say is wow, Tom Petters in prison really the company closed, after they bought fingerhut, Sun Country airlines they opened these wharehouse stores all on a imaginary business front sold to defrauded investors, every one lost in this deal.

I entered a photo contest and took 1st or 2nd place not the grand prize http://heavytable.com/spring-bounty-photo-contest-winners/#comments None the less it was great to actually receive something for a photo contest, Most photo contest are just that, you win and and that is all, Honorable mention and that is nice also, competition is usually pretty tough and the winners are deserving. So this was nice to get a gift certificate that my wife and I will put to use very soon. Thank you heavytable and Grecco's on the St Croix

A five alarm fire broke out at Hopkins Retail outlet store Treasures 'N Treats May 26, Fire departments that were present were Hopkins, Eden Prairie, Edina, St Louis Park, Minnetonka

Shanty Shack Photo's Click on them to enlarge, they will crack you up, I hope! They are great people out there on the lake, I will post more of them as time is allowed.

USS Walter Mondale
So impressed by this, I'm thinking of building my own Shanty for this event next year.
Ice Art Shanty Shack Medicine Lake Plymouth MN, Sponsor: Soap Box Factory.

Made of old steel file cabinets this shanty must weigh several tons, and must have taken engineers from several trades to construct. I give it two thumbs up.

I immediately thought of the Jolly Crank when I saw this Ice Shanty on Medicine Lake in Plymouth MN.

Some of these I do for awards or retirements, so I have to make a new book that looks old, J.A. Price book I made and Kens Barber Shop book I made.

One of my favorites, I call it day at the chapel. View large

Another thing I started was collecting matchbooks, My collection I try to keep local or at least by industry, I’ve been making posters of them, they are very colorful and interesting in a nostalgic kind of way, I will probably post a few of my favorites here. It has just been a long winter and even with the warmer weather it feels like the dog days are here, Maybe just a bad case of cabin fever.

Lady bird is back, I thought maybe she had the bird flu, if she did she has recovered gracefully, I have not seen her trailing Mr. bird lately so maybe they had a tiff, or spring has not yet sprung here in the Twin Cities. This photo was taken through my kitchen window facing one of the feeders in my backyard. Again the temp is dropping and the winds are picking up, so I shoot from inside and plan for another day of shooting outside. The setting I am thinking of is for a black and white of lone trees in the fog, I heard on the news that in some areas of Minnesota they are pulling the big trucks off the road because of high winds, I hope the winds diminish before I start work at 5:00 P.M. tonight. I think before I finish work tonight around 2-5 A.M. the temps will be around -6 to -15

1/15/2009 10:58 A.M. Current Temp -21

-21 It was pretty early when I got the call 0n my cell phone, I couldn’t believe it myself, and I heard the forecast -21. The caller on the phone in heavy whimsical voice almost sounded like he was singing, The weather outside is delightful, it is better than inside where the fire is frightful, I’m thinking now who is this crazy person trying to convince me the weather is delightful? It must be one of my ice fishing friends. Over here the voice said, come on out, it isn’t going to get any better than this, he said in the most excited and gleeful voice. Now I know who has that missing cell phone I lost when shoveling on a warmer day!

Norby

p.s. +30 next week, we will see who is calling who when the weather is delightful!

At one time in the Twin Cities Fritzie Fresh was probably the leader in Cigarette and candy distribution, They still distribute Candy and cigarettes, I think most companies now either self distribute or for the convenience industry they have gone with larger distributors.

I thought it was interesting that I saw this same sign on the news. Circuit City, is pulling the plug closing all stores.
Comp USA pulled out of the Midwest downsizing their company to less than half of what it once was. Cost Plus World Market is having trouble. I think and hope Michaels is doing good, at least I haven't heard otherwise, I have haerd Office Depot is having problems. Glad I'm not the land lord for Circuit City plaza.

When it gets cold it really gets cold here, I feel bad for the critters, so I put out food for them, then I can shoot photos through my window.

-15

I usually get mad because so many squirrels come to the feeder, today I kind of have a new respect for them, fighting for survival in -18 degree temps facing more snow coming, they seem to really be loading up on any thing they can find.

Cardinal

I lost track of the temp, I know it was cold not sure if we broke a record, This morning Mr. bird looked as if he had had enough, Usually the lady bird follows behind, I did not see her this morning. I hope she just slept in.

Along side Hwy169 in New Hope Mn is this sign for Al Franken that is about 40 feet up in a tree, it is pointed at the freeway, about 100' up the road from this Al Franken sign stands a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Only in Minnesota on a cold winter night I thought to my self, can the prayers of a comedian be heard.

I had to use the mono pod so this didn't come out as clear as I wanted, This is a shrine I pass almost every evening on my way back to the shop. This shrine is located along Highway 169 in New Hope MN by Medicine Lake, I've always wondered about it and now that I have looked closer I can tell it is well maintained, Down the street about 150 feet is a Franken for senate sign up in the tree about 40 feet up. that will be tomorrows photo. I wonder how long it will stay up in the tree now that he has been declared the winner. The Mary shrine was nice and peaceful, the owners have done a nice job with it.

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This was created 1st as a weekday calandar then as a poster about time and humanity, one of the Funeral homes is from Minneapolis and this is what makes it local to the Twin Cities as all my posters have a connection to the Twin Cities.

I often wonder and have often forgot what PDQ stands for, hopefully now with this post I will remember. PDQ stores were popular here in the Midwest during the 1970's I haven't seen a new PDQ built now for many years, I hope they survive the recession/Depression.

We were worried of computer glitches turning into the year 2000 we thought clocks would stop and all PC's would be disabled because they were not programed to read time after 1999 or 00 was not programed into the computer clocks or calendar. We never thought of Recession or Depression caused by - well we all have our reasons as to what has caused today's closures. Republicans blame Democrats and Democrats blame Republicans, President Bush says no not me this was here before he took office eight years ago. We look to new leadership to to give us hope to bail us out. Will it work, we can only hope.

It has taken several years for this property to transform into a useful entity again, It used to be 215 Excelsior Blvd, that address changed when Hwy 169 came through and took some of the property. At one time it housed the Hopkins post office ran by Harley Hopkins his family also lived in the house, it then was sold to Red Owl and they built there corporate offices and warehouse on the property, then SuperValu used it for several years, in the last few years Opus took over the property and has built three large office buildings, The first pictured here will house Cargill offices and there is a building to the West that is almost finished and another building to the East that they just started the iron work on, I do not know who will occupy the other two buildings. see Red Owl collection

As you know things aren't always the way the appear. Last night my daughter and grandson went to take photos with me, I like to take photos of theaters at dusk or night time. this one took three shots to make it work.

With Labor day approaching this Breadsmith store in Duluth is advertising Red White and Blueberry Bread, It sounds so good Yet so far away, seeing as vacation has ended and I’m already back in Minneapolis.

My Patriotic Grandson showing off his new hat made by volunteers at the State fair free press.

Like I said Patriotic! The nice guy's watching this display invited my grandson in to give it a try, despite the please keep off sign.

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Looking out our window from the Radisson Duluth in the morning is always a nice surprise.

Just a few of the many wonderful eateries in Grand Marais, MN




Honestly, this town has the best diners around.