Cathedrals & Crows

We just returned from a four-day trip to Minneapolis. I attended a tax conference sponsored by the Minnesota Society of CPAs. This was our first venture into downtown Minneapolis. We were amazed by the beauty of the downtown area. Here is a picture we we took from the window of our sixth floor room in the Hilton. On the left is an incredible Lutheran cathedral. Beyond it is the city conference center. More about that later.

This is another picture from our room. The black spots are crows - thousands of them. Downtown Minneapolis is clogged with crows. We were stumped trying to understand what they found to eat. The downtown area was very clean, no McDonald's bags laying around to attract a crow.

The conference center is impressive. It covers approximately three city blocks and has six levels. It is beautiful and huge. There are elevated walkways covering several blocks and leading to and through several hotels, parking garages and other facilities.

As we were leaving Hannaford, we discovered a water leak in our cellar. It was in the pipe coming in from the city. We told Ed Everson, who handles the water system. He had the leak fixed by the time we came home.

There were approximatly 1,700 participants in the tax conference. The speakers were high profile CPAs, lawyers and political characters.

We returned home mid-afternoon Wednesday to a sunny, balmy 19 degrees and strong winds. There was an inch of snow on the ground as well.

The lakes and ponds around us are nearly frozen over and ice is forming along the banks of the creek. Winter seems to be here. Although the prediction for tomorrow's high is 46 degrees.

It's good to be back to our "little house on the prairie". We are all ready for winter.