Edie

Bite your tongue!!!!!! We are known world wide for our Mosquitos. They are the size of an SST. Sound the same, also. We also have big black flies that bite the hell out of you. We have the most beautiful Monarch butterflies and around this time of year, the wasps come out - go to the Minnesota State Fair. You will learn about our wasps that cling around the trash cans. They hurt! The sound of the Cicadas this time of the year is like a mourning song, ending the summer and preparing for winter. It is a beautiful sound. The sunrises and sunsets are so pretty. Except when we are getting ready for a good old fashioned gully-washer. Then the skies are green! Minnesota is the greatest state of all. It is probably the cleanest state in the union, relatively no air pollution, the people are helpful, most are kind and giving. We have skiing, snowboarding, ice fishing, the Winter Carnival in St. Paul and summer Aquatennial in Minneapolis (we live on the east side of the river) so there is a little friendly jealousy going on back and forth. Actually, I don't like Minneapolis, there streets are alphabetical. Our streets are named after Universities, Hamline, Wellesley, Stanford, famous scientists like Pascal, streets named after the contractor of a new addition's granddaughter like Melodie Lane or something that will go down for generations "My great grandpa named this street after me". That's St. Paul. We have great fishing here, Lake Mille Lacs, where the best Walleye in the world is caught. We have Minnesota Nice and that is great. Except for thems that don't like your driving 45 miles per hour in a 45 mph speed zone - should really be going about 65 or 70. That, we call keeping up with traffic. Gotta do that - Can't call it 25 mph over the speed limit. We have the greatest neighbors in the world. We are always there to help whenever necessary or for whatever, no questions asked. Anyone say to you "Could you do me a favor?" We never say "What", we always say "Sure". We have lived in our neighborhood for the 51 years we have been married, never thought of moving out of the neighborhood. Good grief, we share everything. Except our spouses, but then our spouses are so great, who would want to. Then they could never be neighbors or friends!!!!!!!

I will also admit one more thing. We are surrounded by super neighbors, well almost surrounded, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin. Basically, they are like we are. It is a joy to visit their states for vacations which actually we do. What would surround our state then would be Canada and they serve McDonald French Fries with vinegar. We use catsup, and lots of it.

We have other sports in Minnesota - We have the Vikings, the Twins, the Wild and the Timberwolves. We have iceskating rinks and warming houses. We have snow shoveling in the winter and lawnmowing in the summer. I have learned that if you mow your own yard, you can walk close to a mile, which is 2,000 steps which equals 100 calories and that is good for an ice cream cone. We have Grand Old Days, we have the Marathon in October that is probably the most beautiful marathon in the whole United States. We have the Science Museum, the Museum of Natural History, we have a Railroad Roundhouse museum ("Head for the roundhouse, Nellie. He can't corner you there!"). We have the Mississippi River and most important, the headwaters of the Mississippi. We are the home of 3M.

One more thing, what I love the most about St. Paul is that they roll up the rugs and turn off the lights around 9:00 PM and are up again around 5:00 AM. That's my Minnesota!!!!! Edie