leapinggnome.org

Hmmm, it’s once again been a while since I’ve updated this site. Classes are in full swing now with us approaching week 5 of our 15 week semester. It’s been raining a lot lately. The area received 1.93″ of rain in a short period last week friday, turning a couple of MTU’s parking lots into shallow lakes.

In my last post I also mentioned that I was going to Haydays, a big snowmobile swap meet in MN. Sure enough, it was very large. It took us over 5 hours to walk through all the aisles of the swap meet. I got some fancy new plastic skis for my sled (at an amazing price!) and some engine parts I wanted. Also some rear suspension springs ($1 a piece!). All in all we had a good time and I got some good deals.

This up and coming weekend is MTU’s homecoming celebration. We have our homecoming games in football and volleyball as well as our first hockey game of the year. And of course there are all of MTU’s ‘Hobo’ themed activities. The only one I/we plan to participate in is the cardboard boat race on friday night. Right now we don’t even have a design on paper, so we should probably get going with that. It also sounds like my grandparents will be around for homecoming weekend, so that should be a good time.

Alright so maybe August did happen, at least a little. But as far as this blog is concerned, August never happened. I don’t know why I didn’t get a post out the entire month — apparently I was quite busy. I did spend a week of it visiting Nate and we had a good time. Now school is in session!

Yes, classes are back and I’m definitely ready for a change in pace. My plan for this (last) summer (3 classes + work as much as possible) didn’t turn out quite as well as I’d hoped. I’ve cut back on my hours at work and am taking a light load this semester hoping it will result in better grades, or at least make better grades easier to obtain. We’ll see what happens.

I can’t believe how fast time is going by. This coming weekend is the weekend for Haydays, the largest snowmobile grass drag/swap meet/event in the world. It’s hosted in Forest Lake, MN — a couple of minutes north of the Minneapolis/St Paul area. Chris is going out there for the weekend so I figure I’ll go along with him, see the sites and look for a couple of random parts for my snowmobile. I hope to have a good time.

Well as I am writing this, there are only 45 minutes left in the month of July. It’s been a good one I think, though the last couple of days have been really warm (temps approaching 90+).

What can I say, I love lake Superior and its beaches. Some are forbidding and rocky, with tall waves crashing on them when it’s windy. Others are smooth and sandy, seemingly stretching out forever. The cool water offers all this and everything in between — and the water is always crystal clear. The lake keeps our summers (mostly) cool and gives us the snow we love to play in during winter. The picture I posted is from a beach at sunset somewhere between Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor. It was taken in January during a particularly warm spell this year, but I think it’s the only good picture of superior I have. I will probably get some more good ones in a couple of weeks when…

My family comes up to visit! I’m am greatly looking forward to their visit to the Copper Country for the first time in a couple of years. I really hope we have some good weather for the long weekend they will be visiting. Part of the reason they are coming all the way up here is that I offered for them to stay here in my apartment. We have 2 empty bedrooms for the summer and 2 empty beds, so it will work out as a nice cost saving measure for them to stay here. Their visit also means I need to spend some serious time cleaning up here, as the place tends to slip in terms of cleanliness when I am the only one staying here.

We’ll miss you (at least a little bit) July. I can only hope that I see you up hear when you come around again. I could definitely see myself in Hancock for another summer, enjoying it all again.