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There is no good reason for spray cheese. Except it is very tasty and very convenient. I’m sure it is an affront to cheese lovers everywhere. I don’t care because it is delicious. Especially with the Chicken in-a Biskit. Another tasty thing that snobs turn their nose up at.

At Itasca, there is a spot in the campground with a great view of the lake. I set my phone on an old stump and take these shots. There are a lot of changes as the summer goes by. In late July, the weeds are near their max and the lily pads blooms are mostly…

I know, I know, the title is click-bait. Designed to get people to click and read some sort of lunatic ramblings. How could anyone not like s’mores? Well, obviously, there is no universally loved food, so clearly some don’t like it. Maybe they will click because someone also doesn’t like s’mores. The weird part is…

Today was a gorgeous day. The heat broke and there was no wind. We took a pontoon out and the lake was glass. Temps were in the low 70s so it wasn’t to hot in the sun. The heat comes back this weekend so we are enjoying the days outside as much as possible.

We’ve had hot weather the last couple of days, but today the heat broke. Mid-70s, no rain. It was glorious. Luna enjoyed laying in the sun. So did we.

Came across this article when reading 1440. Excellent news for my coffee habit. I may have to reduce to get down to the 5 cups a day, but, hey, what’s a little sacrifice? (I know, I know, I’m not kidding anyone. I’ll keep drinking coffee by the quart. If some is good, more is better,…

Went to Emmaville for breakfast this morning. Its about a 40 minute drive, but there are many breakfast places around Itasca State Park. I enjoy going out for breakfast, probably more than any other meal. But I don’t get pancakes. I’m more of an eggs and meat guy. The place we went to, called Emmaville…

We had a hawk in our backyard this morning. Just sitting on the fence, chillin’. There was a squirrel on the ground snuffling for whatever it could find to eat. Neither the hawk nor the squirrel seemed concerned or interested in the other. They got within 5 feet of each other. The clicking you hear…

The fires up north have been bad the last few days. Northern Minnesota, specifically in the Arrowhead, has been hit pretty hard. We live about 4 hours south of the fires and the smoke showed up a few days ago. Haziness and the smell of burning tires or plastic–which is weird because, for the most…

Dabble is the software I use for writing. For a variety of feature reasons, Word and Google Docs don’t work for me. Some of Dabble features that are useful to me are: They just did a massive rewrite and came out with Dabble V3. This is a major rewrite of an already awesome piece of…

As I work through starting up a book layout business, it is time to go back and layout my short story collections for print. As one does before formatting, I reread the Chalk & Memories stories, looking for typos. For those who aren’t aware, typos are self-propagating errors in your text. Sanderson’s Law (if I…

We live in a neighborhood that is filled with people who raised their kids there. We are one of the few that didn’t. People who lived in their houses for 30+ years and seen so many changes in the neighborhood and town. Things are changing. Last fall, a neighbor passed away and the house sits…

Making donuts is one of my wife’s family traditions. Her mom made them for years and today, the granddaughters are coming over to start learning. Not that they know that, they just think they are helping. These aren’t the fancy frosted donuts you buy at the store and regret about 3/4 of the way through.…

The Creative Penn is a podcast by Joanna Penn. It is about her journey as an author and has been very important in my journey to becoming a published author. It is not an exaggeration to say that my books may not have been published it if hadn’t been for her. I have learned so…

This turtle, and many others like her (presumably), were common in the campground this year. We only saw them wandering across the grass, hiking paths, and roads, so we weren’t sure where they were going. At the same time, we saw a number of turtle nests that had been dug up with all the egg…

Camping over July 4th is the perfect timing to see ladyslippers. These are pink flowers that, yes, look like slippers. Very fragile and brief, it is fun to find them. Below are a few shots from this year’s crop. Evidently, ladyslippers take years from seedling to blooming. It is very difficult to transplant them so…

We went to bingo at a local casino the other night. It was different. The game was the same: call numbers, mark the spaces, Holler if you get a bingo. I’m used to bar bingo. They walk around after every game and sell you sheets of paper with three bingo cards on each. Sometimes two…

The title of this post is a phrase I heard on a video call the other day. I’m sure it has been around for a while, but I hadn’t heard it or didn’t remember it. It refers to the ubiquity of video calls and the need to only look good from the waist up. Look…

Some of the family hosted this year’s Breakfast On The Farm. They have a herd of Black Angus and grow the hay they need. The farm itself is fun to visit. There is always stuff going on and I like learning about how it all operates. Breakfast on the Farm is a Midwest thing, primarily…

Itasca State Park is our “home” campground. My wife’s family has been coming here since before she was born. I joined the family 20ish years ago and have been up here twice a year since then. The lake is about a hundred yards from the campsites we usually are at and we walk past it…

A bunch of us were out for dinner this evening. A common question came up: What are you ordering? That, and a million versions of the same, gets asked at many restaurants and many meals. Maybe I’m with the only people that do this, but I doubt that. I know I ask that when there…

We go to this bar as it is closest place to go out to eat near where we camp. Cozy, usually busy, very northern Minnesota. A nice place. They usually have sports on the TVs in some fashion. Tonight they had the World Cup. I’ve been coming here multiple times a year for over 20…

Lasting this long with substantially the same governing system is impressive. And 250 is a pretty cool number. Sure, there are problems. But even your cranky cousin or grandpa deserves a happy birthday wish. Lasting this long is a difficult task and there are others that have lasted longer (kudos to you, San Marino!). The…

Going for ice cream is a big part of July 4th camping. A nephew introduced me to these. These are, without a doubt, the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. The shell is not just a thin film of some vaguely chocolate thing, it has a strong resemblance to the cookie. And the ice cream…