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Time to put away my sunscreen and mosquito repellent (okay, maybe not the latter just yet).

Eighty eight days of fun in the sun and of course, a few clouds!

It all comes to end on Tuesday morning when my kids head back to school. But it’s been one heckuva a summer for me!

Oh sure, there’s been the usual stuff..

Dentist and ortho appointments for the kids (my daughter got braces this summer), kids playing with friends, older son when not working at a golf course, could be found playing there, my son completing his Eagle Scout project and of course, yours truly nearly running out of gas while waiting in line to dispose of unwanted household items at our city’s clean-up day in June (memo to me…always check the gas gauge)!

We enjoyed an evening of listening to music and watching fireworks during our city’s Fourth of July celebration. Our grill was used pretty heavily this past summer, plenty of brats, burgers and steaks were served up! There was also a lot of yard work that was completed!

But it was also a summer to remember for so many fun things I got to do with my family! A summer that I’ll never forget!

(Que the memory music!)

Back in May, we joined a boat club on nearby Lake Minnetonka. Although, it was sometimes difficult to find the time to get out on the water as much as we like, when we did, it was a blast! The kids enjoyed tubing and water skiing, while Mom & Dad enjoyed cruising the lake and watching the sunsets! We’re hoping to get out a few more times before “old man winter” says get back inside!

Tubing on Lake Minnetonka!

In June, my older son and I spent a week sailing in the Florida Keys at the Boy Scout camp, “Sea Base”. It was my son’s last high adventure trip as a scout and also a chance for me to spend time with him before he heads into his senior year of high school. The weather was ideal and thankfully, we saw no signs of the oil spill!

Sailing in the Keys!

In July we got our first look at Target Field, the new home of our hometown team, the Minnesota Twins. It was something we all looked forward to and the stadium didn’t disappoint! We have since been to a couple of more games, unfortunately, we haven’t seen a victory by the Twins yet, but my son did have a thrill of catching a foul ball in one of the games!

Great catch!

Later in July it was time for the boys and me to hit the trail! Of course the trail I’m talking about was located about 800 miles away in Wyoming! While my older son was with a church group and myself and other son with a group of scouts, we all spent a week backpacking and enjoying the beauty of the Big Horn Mountains. Besides the thrill of waking every morning and putting a forty-plus pound pack on your back and hiking all day uphill, a couple of highlights of the trip for me were, seeing my older son along the trail and making it to the top of Cloud Peak at 13,167 feet! Oh, I almost forgot, my first shower after the trek ranks high too!

My boys & I along the trail.

In addition to those…

In August, my wife and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary while our daughter turned eleven years old the day before.

My daughter kept busy with a couple of dance classes, attending a week long church camp and of course, playing with her friends!

I made a couple of trips to Iowa to be with my father who had two surgeries, one to install a new pacemaker and one a couple of weeks later to remove a hematoma, which developed over the new device.

And as if the high adventure trips weren’t enough of the great outdoors for me, I also spent a night camping a scout camp in the northern part of Minnesota as well as two nights camping last weekend with the scouts along the St. Croix River.

I completed a 20K race in Iowa in June and continue to run with the hopes of running the Twin Cities Marathon in October.

That was it!

A summer to remember!

Now it’s time for my kids to dig out the backpacks and head back to school!

We’ll fall back into our old routine on Tuesday morning and I’ll make my traditional first day of school breakfast of pancakes for the kids.

Hope you enjoyed your summer and have a safe holiday weekend!

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Much like “Dave”, I’ve had a busy week attempting to get our kids ready for the start of school on September 7th.

I know, it seems like we still have plenty of time left, so it shouldn’t be a big deal!

But…

This week, my oldest son finished getting his senior pictures taken, which the “outdoor” ones had been postponed due to high humidity on their originally scheduled day. Yesterday morning we awoke to cool temps and a sunny sky, which made for perfect conditions to get some hopefully, great outdoor shots. I was in charge of getting him there on time and holding a shade for the photographer when needed! All went well and needless to say, my son was happy when the whole ordeal was over!

My other son had an “Open House” at his school last night. It was a chance to pick-up his schedule of classes, find his new locker, get his supplies (oh, those supplies) in that locker, buy some last minute items at the school store, check the balance in his lunch account and finally, get his school picture taken! Despite taking a little bit of time to find his locker, we managed to complete all of the above mentioned items in about an hour.

I still have a dining room table covered with supplies for my daughter, who has her open house sometime next week!

(Memo to me…check date & time of my daughter’s open house!)

Complicating my week was an unexpected trip to Iowa to be with my father, who needed to have surgery to remove a hematoma from on top of his newly installed pacemaker & defibrillator. He had the devise installed about two weeks ago and developed the painful hematoma last week. Sunday morning, I learned that he was in the ER of my hometown hospital and they recommended he see his heart doctor the following day in Des Moines. After hearing this news, I decided to drive to Iowa to accompany him to his doctor on Monday. Following a visit to his heart clinic, it was decided he needed a second surgery to remove the hematoma.

And this wasn’t just any hematoma…

It was big! So big and painful that operating room staff were all commenting that they had never seen one so big before!

The procedure took place late Monday afternoon and lasted about an hour. My father spent Monday night in the hospital and was able to come home Tuesday afternoon. Still sore, but to a much lesser degree. I returned to the Twin Cities later that evening.

So it’s been a busy week!

Time for a nice quiet weekend!

Almost!

In a few hours I’m heading out on a weekend campout with my son’s Boy Scout Troop. The outing is called, “Wilderness Survival” and basically, the boys will spend tomorrow building shelters with materials they find at our campsite. If all goes as planned, they will then sleep in said shelter on Saturday evening.

Yours truly will stay in confines of his sturdy tent!

Happy Weekend!

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It was from my neighbor and friend who works for large garbage and recycling company. No, he doesn’t drive one of their trucks, instead, he handles major accounts in the upper midwest.

If you are a business and are in need of a dumpster or two, Vince is your guy!

Well it just so happens that one of his biggest clients is the Minnesota Twins. And they just opened a brand new ballpark this season, which they hope will be one of the greenest stadiums in all of sports.

So, back to the phone call…

“I’ve got a heckuva deal for you”, Vince said.

“How would you like to go to the Twins- White Sox game on Thursday night, with a couple of other guys?”

“Sounds great”, I said.

Then he spoke those words…

“Here’s the deal!”

Vince went on to tell me stuff about garbage and recycling and the habits of people attending Twins games, but he mixed in us getting access to all of the clubs, having dinner and drinks and getting to watch the game!

Hmmm!

“Okay, I’m in”, I said.

Me and a couple of other neighbors were now part of Vince’s “team” according to his e-mail yesterday morning.

Team?

It still wasn’t clear what we would be doing, details would follow. Be prepared to leave for Target Field at 5:50 and we would need to stay a little longer past the conclusion of the game.

Stay past the end of the game?

A garbage company?

I started to think I would be pushing a broom and cleaning the stadium!

I also began to wonder if a neon colored vest was in my future!

No, none of the above!

On the ride to the game Vince explained the whole operation. We would be conducting an “audit” of the recycling and garbage containers throughout Target Field.

Every couple of innings we would each take a different level of the stadium and checkout the pairs of containers that were spaced about ten feet apart all along the concourses.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the best part…

We had passes that would gain us access to any part of the stadium, with the exception of the Twin’s clubhouse and dugout!

That meant…

Suites, we’re in!

Pressbox, yup!

Twin’s offices, you betcha!

Champions, Metropolitan and Legend’s clubs, come on in!

Anywhere there was a trash or recycling container, we were there!

It felt like we were on an undercover mission!

We met at the Legend’s Club to go over our plan of attack over dinner. We were armed with a clipboard and pen to make our observations.

And at the end of the third inning, it was time to go and observe!

My first assignment was the upper “Terrace” level. I have to admit, with all of the games I’ve gone to over the years, I’ve never paid much attention to the garbage cans!

Those days are now over!

The first thing I noticed was how many containers were there! A pair of containers, one for garbage and for recycling were never more than ten to fifteen feet from the next. They were well labeled and for the most part people were doing an excellent job of putting things in their proper place!

But I needed to get the whole story.

I needed to get the “trash” on the trash!

Here was my big observation that I hope Vince addresses with the Twins organization during the off season…

Those big, white souvenir cups…people want to recycle them, but they are made from a plastic that basically nobody wants, so therefore, they’re trash! But people still tried to put them into the recyling bins, which had opennings too small for the cup!

Those cups were clogging up the whole operation!

Forget about getting another quality pitcher, you’ve got to do something about those cups!

We completed our rounds and met on top of the Budweiser Party Deck in left field to compare notes and enjoy a beverage.

That’s when we were spotted!

A young woman approached us and inquired as to why four guys were walking around with clipboards and looking into garbage cans!

“We’re undercover”, we explained.

We then explained the whole story and suddenly we were “Trash Stars”!

Not a bad idea for a reality show!

A group of guys with unlimited access, going around the country looking in people’s garbage cans!

“Tonight on Trash Stars…the boys look into the garbage cans of Mel Gibson!”

Hmmm! Stardom would have to wait! It was now time to move on and check more places!

We hit the Twin’s offices, more clubs and suites and even a few restrooms!

The game was a blowout (Twins lost 11-0) and it went pretty quickly, so we needed to move fast to cover our ground.

We met for the final inning in the “Champions Club”. It is located behind home plate, with all of those nice padded, high-backed seats. We had a final beverage, compared notes again and let the crowd clear out so we could do our final obseravtions.

We then got a behind the scenes tour of the inner portions of Target Field.

We saw the outside of the Twins clubhouse, saw a few players coming out, saw the White Sox getting on their team buses. We saw where the grounds crew keeps the extra dirt for the infield (there’s actually different dirt for the infield and the base paths). We saw all of the equipment they use to maintain the field and we even got to go onto the warning track in the outfield!

Aside from the cleaning crew, who were busy with their job of getting the stadium ready for the next game, tha place was pretty empty by the time we left. It was a fasinating night at the ballpark and all of us had the same conclusion…

We can’t wait for the next trash audit!

Vince explaining the plan!

The target!

In the Twin's offices.

Cup stuck!

Comparing notes!

Where it all goes!

One last check!