Smile For The Camera

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to you and your family. Thank you for stopping by on the days that you do to make this photo blog what it is.

Woolly Mammoth Spotted In Cottage Grove

That's right, this life sized Woolly Mammoth made of chicken wire and wood frame, hay, some rope and a great imagination can be found along Highway 61 in Cottage Grove.

No Access

A view down one of the streets in Cottage Grove.

Natures Artwork

Snow, Wind, melting, wind, more wind....oh what fun nature has with blowing and drifting snow.

Winter Is Here To Stay

Blistering cold temps have set into the Twin Cities. The morning wake up weather should be around -7 F (-21 C), however, we are suppose to see a rise in temps throughout the day and should top +18 F (-7 C). The good news is, according to the calendar, we only have six more days until the first official day of winter!!

Impressive Tree House

I drove past this two story tree house last month where there as still a few leaves on the tree. I waited until the remainder of the leaves fell off to return here for a photo opportunity. The tree house is quite impressive and sticks out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood. I can imagine how much fun this would be in my younger days.

Passing By

Painting The Night Sky

The Green Train

A Splash Of Color

Lets start your Monday off with a colorful macro shot.

Coming Soon

This is what it's like to grill outdoors during a Minnesota winter....

Friday Reflections

Lazy Sunday

Fall Colors At The Pond

Nothing But Net

Earlier in the year, a storm rolled through town with lots of lightning.

Goose Bumps

Reflections

In between the rain showers, I managed to snap a few shots at a Cottage Grove pond. I don't believe this body of water qualifies as a lake.

Walking Path

Snowy days are almost here....

More Snow

Another capture from last weeks unusually early snow storm in October....

And I'm Back

Where did I go? I didn't go anywhere, but I did spend a lot of time sleeping. It turned out, I had 100% of the H1N1 symptoms. Yep, the 'swine flu' caught me and caught me good last week. I just didn't really have the energy to turn on my computer for a few days. I had heard late in the summer they predicted the H1N1 would peak in October, before the vaccine would be available. I believe we are pretty close to peaking. So, the good news is, now that I've had H1N1, there is no need for me to get the vaccine.

But alas, I have returned to the daily photo and will start off with a simple indoor photo and back to the Twin Cities photos tomorrow.

We Set A Record

My understanding is, the last measurable snowfall in the Twin Cities has set a record. Four inches of snow fell on Monday, this is the earliest record we've ever had that amount of snow falling in the Twin Cities. We're not alone, I'm sure you've noticed the cooler temperatures where ever you are reading this.

About 48 hours after the snowfall, all of my plants are dead, I've seen several trees where ALL of the leaves have fallen off the trees over night. Like that, winter has started.

Very Early Snowfall

I had to do it, I had to break out the camera for this season's second snowfall in Cottage Grove. A few days earlier it had snowed, but melted before I could get a fresh battery in my camera. This snowstorm produced quite a bit of snow with plenty of photo opportunities. This was very wet and heavy snowfall while many of the trees still had their leaves. This was also a very early snowstorm for us as you can tell by all of the green in the photo.

Goodnight Vehicles

Theme Day: "Contrast"

Greetings fellow CityDailyPhoto bloggers as you make your way through all of October's 'contrast' theme day. The photo I've selected with outrageous contrasting colors was taken in my flower garden over the summer. It features a macro shot of a katydid resting on my lily's. He really stood out with the bright orange background. I initially thought a leaf had blown onto the lily, but a second glance, I realized it was an insect. Ran into the house to grab my camera and hoped it would still be there for my return. Success!

To see additional theme day photos around the world, stop by the portal page for a convenient thumbnail view of all participants. As the time zone changes each hour, more photos will be added.

Pee Wee Football

Nighttime Pee Wee football in Cottage Grove is in full swing. My son is playing for the Purple Panthers this year. They are the team on the right side. He was playing in the leftside wide receiver for this game. With the action on the field and the setting sun, I had to set my ISO to a very high level. This of course caused the grainy photo, thus I lost any ability to zoom in with my point and shoot camera. If your monitor is adjusted correctly, it wont be too dark of a photo for you. The red sky made for very decent opportunity for capturing photos this evening.

Self Portrait

So tell me, which one would you guess is me?

Night Time Pine

Nighttime falls on this row of pine trees at Pine Glen Park in Cottage Grove

Almost Harvest Time

From my personal garden, it's getting close to harvest time.

Red Sky Delight

I am enjoying the red sky sunsets here at the end of summer. No doubt they are due to the unfortunate California wild fires.

Fantasy Football Draft

Live from my garage, is the Fantasy Football auction draft headquarters for the league that I run. The evening temperatures were very cooperative and cool this year compared to last years high temps and high humidity. The new edition for this years football draft was the television set to watch the Vikings football game. As you can see, only one is actually watching the game, the rest were intensely debating their next player selection. Good luck to all who play fantasy football this year....well, except for the guys in my league.

Cottage Grove Football

Football season is just starting up. Today's photo is from the Cottage Grove Football Pee Wee division. It is for the boys heading into 5th and 6th grade. This scrimmage between the purple and blue teams was held this week. It's the final scrimmage before the first real game takes place on Saturday morning. In case you are wondering, my son is on the Purple Panthers team.

Quite The Sunset Tonight

What an amazing color the sky was tonight. I was at my son's football scrimmage for about two hours, with the sunset during the evening. Thankfully I had a clearing to get a photo or two of it. This photo, aside from cropping, is not color tweaked from a graphic program.

Wild Weather

The Twin Cities has seen some substantial thunderstorms roll through this area the past couple of nights. A combination of humid weather from the Gulf combined with a cool front from the north have made for a couple of interesting evenings. Friday evening, I had minor power outages, to the point where I powered my computer off line for the evening. Saturday night, I didn't see any rain around my part of town, but 20 miles north of me say a nasty storm pass through with reports of tornado touchdowns and 65+ miles per hour winds. Sunday we'll get the reports of any storm damage that occurred.

Blooming Day

Every year I wait for my Stargazer Lily's to bloom....this was the week! Naturally I had to photograph them in full bloom. I really need to find more of this type to plant or figure out if these can be split or how to grow more stems.

Not Yet, But Soon

Currently it's for planting corn, but one day, the corn will be gone and a road with houses will be in it's place....

Still Of The Night

At the end of the day, all that remains is the outlines of the trees.

The Show

Captured during the July 4 fireworks show in Cottage Grove at Kingston Park.

Sparkling Effects

It's time for some fun with sparklers....plus my kids like it when I put photos they were a part of on this photo blog.

 

Firework Show

Captured on the 4th of July during the fireworks show in Cottage Grove. The event is held each year at Kingston Park.

Garden Tour 2009

From my garden, to my camera, to the blog. Fresh flowers on the rise.

Keeping Dry

One thing I discovered while taking photos of lightning last Wednesday was be prepared for the rain. Thank goodness I was within 15 feet of my garage when the rain started falling from the sky or my camera would have gotten soaked. I'm making a mental note, if I'm out taking photos of lightning, have a plastic bag to throw over the camera handy to keep the rain drops out.

While I was watching the rain fall, I snapped a couple of photos between my vehicles parked in the driveway. I really like the effect the rain had on the street lights.

More From The Roof

The view down my neighborhood from my rooftop. This fall, after the leaves drop, I need to return up here for a sunset photo or two. Currently there are too many leaves to see the sun set, but come winter, this may be a good location.

Roof Project - Day 3

Final day of the roof replacement project on my home. A big thank you goes out to my friends that helped me, I couldn't have done it without your help. Finally the end of the project is here. Very tiring work and I certainly wont be quitting my day job to do this kind of work. Very taxing on your body.

Roof Project - Day 2

We've completed day number two of the roof project. It's coming along very well so far. The front side of my home is completely shingled, the backside of my home, plus my porch will be finished up tomorrow afternoon. I'm dead tired, no surprise there.

Roof Project - Day 1

Today I'm posting a "before" photo of the roof of my home. It was in dire need of replacement. Sadly, the shingles are only 15 years old, but they were a "organic" shingle and didn't really last like they claimed. These shingles were on when I purchased my home, so it was out of my hands what was up there. Needless to say, the roof is being replace prematurely.

Today was all about demolition. I took the day off from work to remove the shingles, by myself. I'm sore, I ache, I am tired and my body hurts. I needed to have the shingles removed before all of my help arrives Saturday morning. Everything is coming along fairly well. I have the main part of the house completely removed. All that is left are the shingles on the porch, which is around 280 square feet.

El Camino

I spotting this El Camino in Cottage Grove. It'd been a while since I had seen one, or at least one that wasn't in a car show. So to see it sitting in a parking lot after a local sporting event was surprising.

Spring Clean Up Day

Once per year in the spring, Cottage Grove has it's annual Spring Clean Up Day. You are welcome to bring your unwanted items, have it unloaded from your vehicle by the Public Works Employees and be on your way. There is usually a very long line on this day to drop off your junk as I've seen from experience. It's well worth the wait to get rid of items you cannot throw into your regular garbage. There is of course a small fee for most items, but nothing that wont set you back too much.

From Bad To Worser

Yesterday, I showed you the half eaten semi. Today's redneck photo is a trailer on blocks and wood. Yes, it is from the same location and equally of it's own photo. Pay close attention to the skill used to put this trailer above ground. What else can be said?

Don't Ask Me, I Don't Know

Ummm, yeah....this is photogenic right? A half eaten semi cab. It was just screaming at me to take it's picture. I had to oblige with at least one photo for you. I found this creative semi cab on a very unbeaten path in Cottage Grove. The road was so untraveled, there was no tar, only gravel. Finding a gravel road in Cottage Grove is fairly tough these days.

Easter Sunday

Freshly decorated eggs. Happy Easter to all.

Welcome To Cottage Grove

Since my last photo was the Welcome To St Paul Park sign, I felt it was fitting to post it's neighboring town of Cottage Grove and their welcome sign.

Into The Great Unknown

Fields Of Green

I've been looking through my archived photos from the past couple of years. I've been finding a few that I liked, but had never posted for one reason or another. This is one of them. I did post a similar view, but I really liked the vantage point taken on this one today.

Pink Sky At Night

The sun had set on this warm summer night, the sky was oh so pink that evening....

Theme Day: Paths And Passages

The first day of the month, myself and fellow daily photo bloggers select a theme ahead of time, we prepare a photo for the theme day and we all post our theme photo where we can then see how each photo blogger choose to interpret the theme. For the month of February, "Paths and Passages" was the selected theme. My photo was taken in the City of Cottage Grove at Hamlet Park along a straight stretch of a walking path. It had snowed about six to eight inches of snow overnight and into the morning, but by the late afternoon, it had warmed above the freezing temperature and the snow began to melt away.

Stop by the other Daily Photo Blogs participating in the 'paths and passages' theme to see how they interpreted the theme at the theme day photo portal.

Hockey Day Minnesota 2009

Today is officially Minnesota Hockey Day. There is a massive hockey push for the entire day to bring out the hockey fan in all Minnesotan's. The day has been declared Minnesota Hockey Day by the mayor of St Paul. The activity schedule is quite large:

9:00-10:00 AM 148th Fighter Wing (Duluth) vs. 834th Aviation Support Battalion (St. Paul) Floor Hockey from Iraq
10:00 AM-12:00 PM Rochester John Marshall vs. St. Paul Johnson Phalen Park
12:00-1:00 PM FSN Live Postgame - - -
1:00-1:15 PM FSN Live Pregame - - -
1:15-3:15 PM White Bear Lake vs. Duluth East Xcel Energy Center
3:15-3:45 PM Live conclusion of Minnetonka vs. Stillwater (girls) Phalen Park
3:45-4:30 PM Hockey Day Minnesota - - -
4:30-5:00 PM Gopher Live Pregame - - -
5:00-7:30 PM University of Minnesota vs. St. Cloud State National Hockey Center, St. Cloud
7:30-8:00 PM Wild Live Pregame - - -
8:00-10:30 PM Minnesota Wild vs. Anaheim Ducks Xcel Energy Center
10:30-11:00 PM Wild Live Postgame - - -
11:00-11:15 PM FSN Live Pregame - - -
11:15 PM-1:15 AM Minnetonka vs. Stillwater (girls) Phalen Park*
1:15-1:30 AM FSN Live Postgame - - -
1:30-3:00 AM Toronto Marlies vs. Houston Aeros Houston, Texas

Frozen Parking Lot

Current temperature for this photo was around 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Freshly fallen snow covers the parking lot half filled with cars on a Sunday evening in Cottage Grove. The sun had recently set and the sky was oh so colorful tonight. The frozen cars, waiting for their owners to finish up their Christmas shopping so they can return home. Was I out Christmas shopping this evening you may be thinking. Nope, not a chance, I had to pick up some fish food from the pet supply store.

Government Of The People, By The People, And For The People

Twin Cities Daily Photo has exercised the right to vote....

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
— Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1870)

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
— Nineteenth Amendment (1920)

The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election . . . shall not be denied or abridged . . . by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
— Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964)

The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age.
— Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971)

Pumpkins

Our Halloween pumpkin carving creations for 2008. Created by my two kids, my wife and myself.

Happy Halloween to all.

Be safe, have fun, enjoy.

Double Rainbow Reflection

Captured on Highway 61 in Cottage Grove shortly after a storm passed through. I was glad the road co-operated enough to get the reflection on the road. If you look close enough, you can see two rainbows with a slight reflection for the second. Or at least that's how I see it.

Entrance To Cottage View Drive-In

This is the metal fence entrance to the Cottage View Drive-In. It's obviously closed during the day time hours. Perhaps this is the final season for the drive in, only time will tell.

Twin Cities Garden Tour Wrap Up

You see, in my yard, next to the driveway is this triangular shaped patch of dirt. We've tried growing grass, we've had a vegetable garden here. Each has done okay, but this odd shaped patch of our yard was really useless. Mowing the grass with a lawn mower in this area was awkward, the vegetable garden didn't have enough room to grow. So now we've come to flowers for this patch of land. Ahhh, this works great for this tiny area. We've transplanted a couple things in the spring, but need to fill in the bare spots yet. If you walk around to the back yard, I built about a 25 foot flower box that wraps around the back porch. You can see a bit of it in the smaller photos below with the white lattice fence.

  

Cottage Grove Garden Tour - Day 3

This is our third year with the Lily's. The year we first planted them, it produced zero flowers. The second year the Lily produced four flowers. This year, we had 18 to 22 flowers bloom. After a slow start, I would like to get more of these for next year as the aroma it gives off is amazing, not to mention the looks of the flowers. The stem on these Lily's is about 4 foot tall. We lost the tag of the exact kind of Lily, I've done a bit of Google searching and the best I could come up with was these are "Stargazer Lily's". Though the images I'm finding don't quite look exactly like my photos. Perhaps someone out there can identify what type of Lily it really is.

Garden Tour 2008 - Day 2

I'm not sure which of my plants leaves this is from, but the drops of rain caught my eye.

Twin Cities Garden Tour 2008

It's the 2nd annual, summer time, Twin Cities Garden Tour 2008! Of course it's held in the summer as the other half of the year in the Twin Cities is covered with a blanket of snow. The flowers on this garden tour do come from the garden located in my very own yard.

Storm Reflection

My son took the first photo of the evening, his vision he saw after a thunderstorm had passed through the Twin Cities. I saw a puddle in the street and snapped a reflection photo of the enormous cloud.

Dad, Grab You Camera

My son walked into the house and started yelling for me, "Dad Dad" he said, "You should grab your camera because there is a cool looking cloud to take a photo of". Hearing him say that gave me a surprised and curious look to my face. I certainly had to take a look at what he was talking about. So I grabbed the camera and we headed out side. He walked over to the our drive way and sure enough, the view in today's photo was the photo opportunity he was talking about. He then said, "I bet if you put this photo on your web site it will get lots of comments". I handed him the camera so he could take the photo for today. I must admit, the way the passing thunderstorm cloud looked as the sun was setting and framed between the neighborhood trees, it was a great vision at only the age of 9.

My sons only question now is, how many comments will his photo bring?

Wild Fire Smoke Filled Sky

I do believe, the redish glow from this sunset capture the other evening was partly contributed by the annual California wild fires. Seriously, this has become a yearly over hyped media event from the West Coast. Why do these wild fires get more TV coverage than the levy that broke in Iowa and flooded the entire town? Where is the media coverage? Where are the celebrities asking for help to relocate the folks of Iowa? Even George Bush isn't getting blamed for the recent flooding.

Interesting Read Of The Day: California Wildfires “business as usual” for nature

Woooo, Ahhhh, Woooo,

This is my third 4th of July celebration since I've started the Twin Cities Daily Photo. This is the first time I've captured photos during the fireworks display. One year, I simply forgot to bring my camera to Kingston Park in Cottage Grove where the community gathers for the local event. Last year, I intentionally didn't bring my camera as I had unfortunately cracked my LCD screen and couldn't set up my camera to take any nighttime photos. The camera was pretty worthless at the time, but I've since repaired it. Third times a charm. I was finally set, working camera, working batteries and I brought the camera to the park. All in all, I took around 50 photos, my favorite being the sparkler photo [scroll down to yesterday to see it]. The wind was a bit tough on some of the photos, the fireworks were drifting into a smear on many of the photos. I did manage to get a few good captures on the night.
  

Symphony Of Light

My kids performed the sparkler symphony while we were waiting on the nights fireworks display in Cottage Grove. I'm not sure who enjoyed this performance the most, my kids with the sparklers or me with the camera....

Focal Point

From the boards that surround the hockey rink located in my neighborhood.

Indiana Jones Movie At The Drive In

Well, we made our first trip to the Cottage View Drive-In theater in Cottage Grove off of Highway 61. We saw the new 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skulls' movie as the feature movie. This was followed up by 'Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian'. Having seen the previous three Indiana Jones movies when I was much younger, I was looking forward to the latest release. Well, while it did keep up with the action from the previous movies, I was a bit taken back by the story line. I won't give the plot away, but it was easy to figure out where the story was going. Some of the other Indiana Jones movies, sure, there is a lot to believe for the viewer. This was a bit over the top for me. My kids enjoyed the movie and want to see the first three movies now. I can easily sit through them. As for the second Chronicles Of Narnia movie....having not seen the previous movie, I was unsure of any of the characters or what had taken place previously. I was able to follow the story line and if you have not seen the first movie, this one is has a decent enough story line for the viewer.

Something Different For Today

I was taking a few macro shots with my camera over the weekend and really like how this one turned out. I'm making this a short post today as I'm feeling a bit under the weather. I thought it was my spring time allergies, but I believe I actually have a cold.

Which Is More Frightening?

When I first read this sign in my Cottage Grove neighborhood I did a double take. Was it because of gas being at $3.65 per gallon? Or was it $2000.00 dollars for a car wash! All right, it does read "unlimited" car washes for $2000 dollars, but still! Perhaps are they forgetting that silly little decimal point and the price is really $19.99? I personally read it as $2000 dollars for a car wash, there has to be others that have thought the same....right?

My Daily Photo Favorites: Brookeville, Ohio | Nottingham, United Kingdom | Portland, Maine

No Sticks Allowed

Happy Birthday Dad!

I've been having this tug-of-war in my mind with this sign in my neighborhood. As the sign reads, it's very self explanatory. Hockey sticks are not allowed on the general hockey rink. It appears to be an easy rule to follow. You can see the hockey rink in the background clearly marked with a 'red line' and two 'blue lines' on the boards around the rink. Now the problem I have with this sign and it's rule....if you walk around the park, looking in every direction, you could even get on satellite map site and view the park from the air. The rink that you see in the background is the ONLY rink in this park. You see, there is no general rink that one could ice skate on. The rink is clearly set up as a hockey rink, yet this sign says you're not allowed to bring hockey sticks onto it, if it was indeed the general rink. Perhaps I need to alert my city council about this confusing matter.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Rabaul, Papua New Guinea | New Orleans, Louisiana | Montreal, Canada

Not Sure Which Is Worse

This sign I found along the walking trail, we have vandals spray painting, a good sized dent, a missing bolt, one very sun aged sign, plus we have the apparent "danger trains" warning it is giving us. It's a sign with a lot of character.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Terrell, Texas | Seattle, Washington | Springfield, Illinois [****HUMOR ALERT****]

Interesting Links Of the Day:
Macro Photography - It's the little things that count
Looking Around You Pays Off
Make Money With Your Camera

Taking A Rest

The humorous thing about this photo was, during my walk on Sunday with my wife and kids, we were sitting on a bench along the walking path taking a quick break from walking. The distant sounds of a locomotive was approaching, interrupting the peace and quietness of our nature walk. The roar of the engine sped past our view and right there from the very park bench I was sitting on gave me this great reflective view of the passing train. How often do you not have to move from your location to get a bonus photo for your blog? How cool is that?

Toady's Interesting Links
How To Shoot Light Trails

The Last Of Winter

Well, after a bit of a fight with winter trying to make a come back in the Twin Cities the past few weeks, the seasonal warmth finally took it's toll. This little patch of snow nestled along the hockey rink boards, the part that receives minimal amount of direct sunlight, was all I could find.

Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche Update Series: Avs lead 3-2
Game 6: Saturday, April 19 @ 9:00 [CT]

My Daily Photo Favorites: New Orleans, Louisiana | St Paul, Minnesota | Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cottage View Drive In - Opening Soon

I reported in the fall of 2007 that the Cottage View Drive-In, one of two drive-in theaters in the Twin Cities area, would be closing and selling it's land to the highest bidder. Due to overwhelming support, much praise, and a bit of a backlash by the community on the sale of the land, I'm happy to report the Cottage View Drive-In will be open in 2008 for business. My circle of friends in the Cottage Grove area have been talking quite a bit about the drive in being open once again. We brought six or seven car loads of families several times last year and have plans already in the works for this summer.

See what's playing at Cottage View Drive-In

The first showing is this Friday, April 18th. The theater will only be open on weekends until school is just about done for the year.

Minnesota Taxes

Yesterday was tax day in the United States. Minnesota's personal income tax system consists of three separate brackets. Here is the breakdown for the 2008 tax year for a married couple filing jointly:

5.35% $0 to $31,860
7.05% $31,861 to $126,580
7.85% $126,580 and greater

Among states levying personal income taxes, Minnesota's top rate ranks 10th highest nationally. Minnesota's 2005 individual income tax collections were $1,237 per person, which ranked 6th highest nationally.

Interesting Links Of the Day: Minnesota Income Tax Rates

Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche Update Series: The series is tied 2-2
Game 5: Thursday, April 17 @ 8:00 [CT]
Game 6: Saturday, April 19 @ TBA [CT]

One More From Hamlet Park

Another shot of the walking path in Hamlet Park. I was trying to get both sides of the path in this shot.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Sunshine Coast, Australia | Nashville, Tennessee | Montego Bay, Jamaica

Frozen Seats

Dear Blogger....

Please let my entry post today.

Thank You!

Twice As Nice

Tomorrow is my Theme Day photo in the Daily Photo Community. Water is the theme for the month of April. While this is not my selection for tomorrow's theme, this would be my second choice. I went out a little over a week ago with this shot in mind to use for the theme day. I found the location I wanted and I'm very happy with the results of the photo. I used a photo technique that Chris from Minneapolis Daily Photo often used in his shots.

So if this is my second choice for the theme day of 'Water', what is my first choice? Well, you'll have to stop back tomorrow and find out. It was a bit more of a challenging photo to take than today's photo is.

My Daily Photo Favorites: London, United Kingdom | Torino, Italy | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Grenoble, France | Minneapolis, Minnesota

Ice Lake

This is the south end of the lake at Hamlet Park. This is the smaller inlet, there is a much bigger area of water the more north you walk. By looking at the water, I believe this part of the lake had warmed enough to melt. I could be wrong, perhaps just the top layer melted away. The reason I say that is the ice is clean, flat, and appears undisturbed. Plus it currently is partly frozen, I wouldn't dare walk on a small on the surface. Oh I wish I would have charged my batteries before this snow storm fell. There was so much to photograph that day.

Walk The Line

There is a great little park in Cottage Grove called Hamlet Park. There is a natural lake with an excellent walking path around the lake. The walking path starts in Hamlet Park, around the lake and back. This particular path starts from Hamlet Park.

If you've been view the photos this week, you've noticed the snow collecting on one side of objects. Today's photo is another great example of how the snow was falling. This was one great storm for photo taking.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Quincy, Massachusetts | Riga, Latvia | Port Townsend, Washington | Grenoble, France | Chicago, Illinois | Uptown, Minneapolis |

Kicked To The Curb

Believe it or not, I took this photo from the bottom of my driveway. This was a day after last weeks snow storm rolled through the Twin Cities. The streets were very clear by that time with plenty of melting of the snow. What stands out to me is the amount of sand one can see at this low angle. But it's vital for driving on icy roads during the colder winter months.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Las Vegas, Nevada | Flagstaff, Arizona | Athens, Greece | Mazatlan, Mexico

Pinewood Derby Cars

A closeup of all of the 2008 Pinewood Derby cars entered by the Cub Scouts, Tiger Scouts and the 'open division' for family members. We entered two cars this year and both faired very well. My son's car placed second in the Cub Division, while my car, I mean the car I entered under my daughters name also placed second on the Open Division.

  

My Daily Photo Favorites: Sharon, Connecticut | Cleveland, Ohio | Torun, Poland | Székesfehérvár, Hungary | Detroit, Michigan

Made In The Twin Cities

This freshly made snowman was created in the Twin Cities area of Cottage Grove on a snowy weekend in March. Wet, very heavy snowfall covered a good portion of the state of Minnesota on Friday and Saturday. We were left with snow that was a perfect blend to make snowmen. This one was made by my two kids, with a little help from dad. I post this photo to make you warm weather climate areas jealous. We can do something that you cannot do.

When Pucks Fly

Watch for flying pucks? I didn't know pucks could fly....hahaha! Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week.

A little bit different type of photo today. I took this one while sitting at a Park of Cottage Grove Wolfpack hockey game versus Mounds View. From my seat, I kept looking at the warning, but saw the flag in the background. While looking at it through my cameras viewfinder, I really liked the looks of the shot.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Bellefonte, Pennsylvania | Malé, Maldives | Las Vegas, Nevada | Mckinney, Texas | Wroclaw, Poland | Denver, Colorado | Saint, Louis, Missouri | New York, New York

I'm Ready For Spring

Reading the comments from yesterday's photo, J. Andrew Lockhart from Van Buren, Arkansas said it best "Oh, I'm ready for spring!!". Honestly, I couldn't have said it better myself. On a positive note, today temperatures was 32 F degrees! The sun was shining and I found myself and my father agreeing that today was a warm day out. Which makes me laugh when 32 degrees above zero is considered a "warm" day. Keep in mind, we've had temperatures around -15F degrees. That's 47 degrees warmer this afternoon than -15F from a few weeks ago. Sadly, spring is still a couple months away....

My Daily Photo Favorites: Susanville, California | Nashville, Tennessee | Riga, Latvia | Barton, Vermont | Portland, Oregon | Sharon, Connecticut | Joplin, Missouri | Katonah, New York | Guelph, Canada

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Oh the weather outside is frightful, But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

It doesn't show signs of Pauseping, And I've bought some corn for popping,
The lights are turned way down low, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

When we finally kiss goodnight, How I'll hate going out in the storm!
But if you'll really hold me tight, All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dying, And, my dear, we're still good-bying,
But as long as you love me so, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Almost A Snow Day

While we are known for our snowy winters here in Minnesota, we've actually been spared from many snow storms this winter season. I took this photo back in mid to late December. It was the last time we've really had a snow storm to brag about. Since then however, we've had some of the coldest temperatures and wind chills since the early 1970's. The weather folk predicted -35 to -40 F for wind chills with an air temperatures of around -15 F. Back about five years ago, they changed the formula for wind chill. Now according to what I heard on the radio yesterday, if we were under the old formula, they would have said the wind chill was -60 to -70 F. They hadn't predicted temperatures that cold since the early 1970's.

Let me tell you this, I did make my way out into the brutally cold and windy night. If you read yesterday's post about the Wolfpack hockey game. When I left the stadium and made my way to my car , I thought my face was going to freeze! The wind, oh my the wind was bone chilling cold last night. Now the funny part was, I started my car and the DJ on the radio was saying that the people who believe in global warming must live in warm climate areas and have not lived through a Minnesota winter like tonight. I couldn't disagree with his line of thinking.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Quincy, Massachusetts | Budapest, Hungary | Larchmont, New York | Glasgow, Scotland | Torun, Poland | Sitka, Alaska

Minnesota Hockey Day 2008

Yesterday, March 9, 2008 was the first annual Minnesota Hockey Day. The entire state celebrates the sport of hockey from the pee wee leagues all the way to the professionals. The biggest game of the day in my opinion was held in Baudette, Minnesota, which is very far away from me. What was special about this game was it was an official high school hockey game played outdoors. This is the second year of the outdoor game and it's probably what sparked the Minnesota Hockey Day idea. While I didn't attend the game in Baudette, me and my family did attend a high school hockey game held in my city of Cottage Grove. The Park Wolfpack matched up against Mounds View Mustangs. One special thing about the game was I have a cousin that plays for the Varsity team for Mounds View. Unfortunately he was scratched from the game or he has an injury, I really was unsure why he didn't play. He was in street cloths for this game. The Mustangs did look sharp tonight as they crushed the Wolfpack by a score of 7-0.

  

Live From The Graveyard

Keeping with yesterday's theme of 'sort of a repost'. I'm posting a photo from the Atkinson graveyard. My first post from here was on the October theme day of 2007. My original shot can be found here. Today's photo is a slightly different view. If you're new to the blog, you'll have to read the archived October 2007 posts and find out why McDonald is located right next to a cemetery.

I Spy A Tree Silhouette

This is sort of a photo repost from the late summer time of 2007. I've cropped out the main focus of the original photo [a neon sign] and I'm concentrating on only the tree silhouette. I'm submitting this capture to a photo contest. The theme of the contest is "silhouette" and this is my best photo for the contest. If you've been a regular visitor of this blog, you'll most likely figure out what photo this is from.

Theme Day: Photo Of The Year

Theme day in the City Daily Photo Community. This months theme day is our second time with this theme and it's only fitting. Our photo of the year from the completed year. This one was originally posted September 10, 2007. It's of the Cottage View Drive In theater that could be in it's final year of operation. Only time will tell. Plus this photo was my first night time shot with a real tripod involved, it was planned out, the setting sun was wanted, the lights of the neon sign. It was the start of a new type of photography for me.

Visit the other participating photo blogs and see their selections for photo of the year. Their links are below and allow for the time changes, new year celebrations, and enjoy the new year!

Paris, France - London, England - Hyde, UK - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Grenoble, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Riga, Latvia - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Manila, Philippines - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - New Orleans (LA), USA - Wichita (KS), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - San Francisco (CA), USA - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Greenville (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Mainz, Germany - Melbourne, Australia - Portland (OR), USA - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Toulouse, France - Naples (FL), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Brussels, Belgium - Stayton (OR), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Baziège, France - Nashville (TN), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Prescott (AZ), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Nottingham, UK - Moscow, Russia - Philadelphia (PA), USAEvry, France - Trujillo, Peru - Arlington (VA), USA - Denpasar, Indonesia - American Fork (UT), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Coral Gables (FL), USA - Montpellier, France - Joplin (MO), USA - Pilisvörösvár, Hungary - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Boston (MA), USA - Torun, Poland - New York City (NY), USA - Dunedin (FL), USA - Quincy (MA), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Chateaubriant, France - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Budapest, Hungary - Austin (TX), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Cypress (TX), USA - Bicheno, Australia - Wrocław, Poland - Brookville (OH), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Cheltenham, UK - Wellington, New Zealand - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Mumbai (Maharashtra), India - London, UK - Haninge, Sweden - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Arradon, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Mumbai, India - Terrell (TX), USA - Bogor, Indonesia - Delta (CO), USA - Radonvilliers, France - Saigon, Vietnam - San Diego (CA), USA - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Belgrade, Serbia - Auckland, New Zealand - Seguin (TX), USA - Inverness (IL), USA - Oslo, Norway - Singapore, Singapore - Las Vegas (NV), USANew York City (NY), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Torino, Italy - Susanville (CA), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - -

This Cat's On A Hot Tin Roof

I didn't take too many Christmas themed photos this year. I was rather busy this last month of 2007. I do have one final Christmas photo to post. When we were putting lights on the Christmas tree, my cat named Ruby, felt he could use the heat of the lights to warm himself. I had plugged the lights into the socket to test them out, set them on the floor and left the room for about a minute. When I returned, the lights had a new occupancy. I even had move the cat off of the lights, but he insisted on using the lights to keep warm. I did see it as a goof photo opportunity, grabbed the camera and here is the result.

Two days left until we close the year 2007. Scary eh?

Tour Of The Cottage Grove Police Department

If you stopped by yesterday and saw the photo of the steel bars across the jail cell, here is why I was there. My son's Cub Scout den was there for a tour of the Police Department as one of the activities needed for a badge they were working on. Being as Cottage Grove is a very small city, the size of the police department is very small. They have two holding cells, but that's really all they are for. They hold the criminal until they process them and then they take them to the county jail or to the prison in Stillwater. There is a small lab for DUI and narcotic testing. One of the photos below shows a scale and a breathalyser for intoxication levels. The photo that has all of the bicycles in it, those are stolen bikes that were found and do not have a serial number ID on it. When they collect enough of them, they bring them to the county auction for selling.

  

Minneapolis, Minnesota - Chris's final post. You will be missed, but not forgotten.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Shanghai, China | Selma, North Carolina | Dallas, Texas | Barcelona, Spain | Wroclaw, Poland | Wassenaar, Netherlands

Twin Cities Daily Photo Goes To Jail

I made a visit to the Cottage Grove police department last week and was able to take this photos before I entered into the holding center behind bars. Yes, these are the cold steel bars of the jail cell and I did not scratch my initials into the green paint. The room dimension of the cell was about 7 foot by 8 foot. There was a stainless steel toilet and a mattress on a frame of concrete in the cell. Not your typical comfort of home.