Not too much news from MN. We were spoiled in March with unseasonably warm weather, now in April it has seemed cold and rainy. We need the rain badly after no snow this winter, so we won't complain. Mom and I bought our bike passes for the Cannon Valley Trail. I dragged her out of the house a couple of Fridays ago and when we got to the trail it was still 38 degrees. I kept telling her it was 45 and to quit being a wimp, but it took half of the ride and some sunshine to finally get warm. So this Saturday when I tried to get her to go, she just rolled over, pulled the covers up a little tighter, and said "ITS TOO COLD". It was pretty cold again only about 35, so I guess we will just have to be patient.

We are putting a 2000 piece puzzle together. It has a bunch of water and then a rock cliff in it, and it has been hard. Mom did all the water and all the other hard parts and I did the easy colored building parts. It is of a little village on some coastal town in Italy. We have been working on it since conference weekend and I think we still have about 300 pieces to go.

Not too much major going on in the shop at this time just a few signs and a pen now and then. The signs are further developing my painting skills. I would like to try an air brush, but I wonder how much it would really get used. Have any of you ever used one? Matthew has a doll cradle project to do, but we haven't gotten together for that yet. I still like to spend time out there even if it isn't working on a big major project. Mom and I were at Rockler on Saturday and they had a steam bending box that they were demo-ing. The guy says that he has actually bent 2" thick cherry with steam. For the demo he was bending 1/4" maple and making Shaker boxes. It looks sort of fun to try, but a lot of effort and probably cost, and then how much would you really use it? Another thing I have seen is this guy figured out how to make a bowel on a table saw. That looks like it would be really fun to try -- you need a sheet of 3/4 MDF to make the jigs, but it looks like a pretty cool process. If you are interested you can check it out at AmericanWoodworker.com/WebExtras.

As you have seen on Mom's blog, we have fired up the grill a couple of times and also roasted some weenies in the fire pit. I've never been a huge fan of S'mores, but we made some a couple of weeks ago that were really good. Mom and I tried a new BBQ place up here that was better, but still a long ways from Rudy's. And we have found some better Mexican that is okay, but will never touch Pappasitos. I think the longer we live here, the more receptive we are to mediocre restaurants.

Well that is about the extent of my news -- sorry no pictures -- I'll have to work more on that.