The Old Frontenac place: Nov. 14, 2012

After catching this impressive batch of crappies at Old Frontenac pond...

... our intrepid anonymous spy-reporter, who can be spotted in shadow in this photo, took a couple snapshots of foundation-laying at the Old Frontenac home project site. Looking north toward Mom and Dad's former place ... 

... and looking south toward Gardners' home and treehouse.

In memory of our good ol' cat

Noah and I recently said a sad and very reluctant farewell to our second old cat, Turtle. Miss her lots, as we continue to miss Cat No. 1 Lucy, who died last year. Very different animals, both very beloved. Both are buried deep in the peony patch in our Robbinsdale back yard, the place they loved most on Earth. In honor of Turtle-icious, three photos:

Turtle on the last day of her life, Oct. 4, 2012. She was faded and matted, but I'd been determinedly brushing and grooming her, as if that would save her, which is why she looks so clean and shiny in this photo.  Like Lucy, who died last year at almost-16, she'd been diagnosed with a terminal condition (kidney disease in her case), and rather than let her waste away and die in our loving but medically bumbling home hospice as we did Lucy, we opted to have her euthanized before it got too terrible. Everyone who's ever had to say goodbye to a beloved pet knows what that was like. :(

A photo from Noah and Turtle's wild youth, around 1998. Turtle was 1, Noah about 8. I believe Noah was in time-out for some transgression (maybe wearing Green Bay Packers garb??!!) when this photo was taken. Nothing more comforting during a time-out than a sweet pet and Winnie-the-Pooh!

Taken in summer 1997. Turtle the then-kitten was trying to get Noah to play with her rather than reading about his hero, Superman.

The Old Frontenac place: Nov. 13, 2012

A few snapshots of my home project in Old Frontenac, Minn., taken on Nov. 13, 2012:

Looking west toward the field, up the driveway into the garage area.

Some pipes (water? natural gas?) are going in. Looking southwest.

This will be the sliding-glass door leading from the great room to the screened porch. Looking southwest.

Mike Willers' folks are making it happen.

Happy, happy birthday to a wonderful aunt

Our dear Aunt Mavis has a birthday today, Happy, happy day to her! Here she is with her longtime groom, Uncle Joe, and roses.

Diggin' in that good black dirt

More photos from the Old Frontenac home project, courtesy of Uncle Joe and cousin Cindi. The first looks toward the east, the first toward the west. Check out that good Hiawatha Valley black dirt (as opposed to frac sand) -- as Aunt Annette Sprick Kulseth used to say, "You could put a dead stick in the ground there and it would grow."

Hiking with an old friend

What a kind, beautiful, wise friend I have in Karen Swanson, whom I met at Lake City High School back in the 1970s and am in contact with to this day, though she lives far away now, in California, where she is an Episcopal priest. She is in town visiting her mom this month, and we hooked up last week for our favorite activity, a nature hike. This one was out to Sandy Point on Lake Pepin, on land owned by Frontenac State Park. It's an ever-changing landscape.

Swanie near the trail's end.

Beavers have been busy changing the landscape in the area where one loop of the trail opens up along the sandy beach. The water is low after this summer of drought, and the beach is wide.

A beaver's handiwork, or rather, toothy-work.

At last, the dream is unfolding

Your scrapblog editor is beyond thrilled to report that finally, after a summer of loan- and permit-gathering, construction has begun on my small, modest, wonderful little dream home on my land in Old Frontenac, Minn., where I hope to enjoy late middle age and grow old after retirement. As the cousins know, it is right next to Mom and Dad's former home in Old Frontenac and on the land I inherited in 2002 from Aunt Annette Sprick Kulseth, lucky me. A few photos from last week's groundbreaking...

Goodbye to the old outhouse and shed...they served us well. And, as Mom (Alverna Sprick Miller) used to say, "There's 50 years of history in that place!"

Builder Mike Willers after ground was broken. You can see Mom and Dad's old place, now home to good neighbors Nathan and Jeananne, in the background.

Ground is broken! Photo by old friend Karen Swanson, who is in Minnesota visiting family, and lucky for me, me.

My dirt! My dream!

Fishy business

It's been a while since we've published any family fishing photos. Herewith, a couple...

Moriah Miller! What a catch!

What can we say about this one? It speaks for itself...and it speaks for Uncle Joe! :)

Congrats to cousin Ashley and new husband Steven!

Happy, happy congrats to beautiful cousin Ashley Sprick, married recently to Steven Hensley. Here they are with Ashley's sisters and proud parents Sarah and Dave. The best of everything to you, Ashley and Steven!

Lavone Broberg revisits her longtime family home

Lavone Broberg, paternal aunt to Dan, Sam and Sarah and a friend of our side of the family, too, recently came to lunch at my place, and on our way back to her home at 7500 York we drove by her old family home in Edina. The house has a distinctive modern look -- that's because it was designed by her brother and our late uncle, architect Wallace Broberg. Lavone lived there with her late sisters until moving after their deaths to 7500 York, where she has a very beautiful apartment that reflects her personality, history and travels.