Real Estate Snippets

For St. Paul Saints Fun Is Good

If you haven't been to the Saints game at Midway Stadium, I highly recommend it . . . unless you can't laugh at things that are politically incorrect!  Every time I go, it's a breath of fresh air.  The Saints know how to have fun and make fun.  It's all about the fans.  Playing baseball is important, but the fan experience seems even more important.  The owners, Mike Veeck, son of major league promoter Bill Veeck, and Bill Murray, the comedian, don't hesitate to make fun of the latest events and of themselves!  One game had bathroom stall bobblefeet given to the first 2500 fans.  Drag queens rake the field at the 7th inning stretch.  A REAL nun gives massages in the stands for a fee.   Every inning has an interlude with some kind of entertainment, but the game still progresses quickly.  A pig (this year's pig has the last name Ohama . . . ) brings the new balls to the umpire every inning.  Mudonna, a large pink pig, is one team mascot that roams the stands.  Beer . . . , yep, the beer guys are there . . . and the hot dogs . . . and the snow cones . . . and don't forget the popcorn and peanuts.  Super Fan goads the audience to scream and shout, and this year is often accompanied by a mini-super fan (maybe his son?).  Seigo Masubuchi in a green sequin lapelled white tuxedo coat and leather cowboy hat lead karoake.  The dirtiest car in the parking lot is honored with a free car wash and its picture on the scoreboard!  Some years a fan was velcroed to a bulletin board hoping to catch a fly ball and win $10,000!

Last year's attendance at the Saints games was 297,000 . . . 102% of capacity.  It seems they've got a good thing going!

Thanks to Carmen's comment below I've found out who Mini Super Fan is.  You can read about Cole at Cathy Zielske's blog.

Impressive Baseball from Fresno Ball Girl

This post has absolutely nothing to do with St. Paul real estate, and everything to do with summertime and fun!  I feel bad for the batter and the poor left fielder who got shown up by the Fresno ball girl!  I checked out Snopes to see if this was real but there was nothing that matched my search so enjoy!

The ball girl says,  "I am WOMAN!   Hear me roar!"

Saint Paul's Como Park

It's the first Saturday that has been free of showing houses for several weeks so we checked out Como Park's Conservatory, the butterfly exhibit, and a very small part of the zoo.  What a tribute to St. Paul's planners that we own parkland like Como Park.  The exhibits in the conservatory change with the seasons.  In addition, there's a Japanese garden, a lake, a golf course, picnic grounds, a carousel, a lakeside pavillion, a zoo, a cafe, a gift shop (of course) and rides.  There are quiet walking paths.  The pictures below give a small sample of the day's impressions.

Some Things Don't Need to Be Perfect

My father is a perfectionist, so my perfectionism as a real estate agent comes naturally.  Dad injured his back trying to transplant a 10 foot high Colorado spruce BY HAND at 82 years of age!  As a result, I loaned my healthy and slightly younger back to the planting of his vegetable garden.  It was an interesting couple hours.  Dad carefully employed a tape measure to assure each row was exactly 30 inches apart.  I put the stake in at 29 inches and he made me move it!  Strings were attached between the measured stakes to assure the rows were straight.  For some reason, Dad keeps commenting on my crooked row of onions.  Of course, he was planting from the other end and kept lifting the string to place his sets directly under the string while I was unaware of my moving target!  I wonder if the onions from my crooked row will taste as good as those from the straight row?

Curb Appeal

This St. Paul yard needs some work on curb appeal.  The grass is about a foot tall and going to seed.  It doesn't, however, keep me from enjoying the beautiful poppies from a former garden gone wild.  Because poppies don't thrive in my gardens, I'm always appreciative of someone else's success in growing them.

Flowers vs. Nibblers

The Weekend Is Gone!

It's already Monday.  Something happened to my weekend.  As I've aged, it seems the weekends fly by.  It's all part of being "over the hill".  Two things are connected with descending the backside of the age hill:

1.  Time takes less time!  It's a proven fact in my life.  I get less done and it takes longer . . . not to mention the added time needed for recovery!  Of course, that wouldn't have anything to do with trying to pack more into a day than any self respecting day should have to hold!  (Let's see.  Showings to St. Paul home buyers, the Minneapolis St. Paul Home Tour, showing several units in a condominium, working on my current rehab project, Sunday brunch with friends, web work, preparation for today's appointments, walk the dog, and ONE row of crocheting on my afghan!   Maybe I should retract that devaluation of time statement.)

2.  The dollar is worth less, or is that worthless?  Imagine my first job paid 65¢ an hour!  That's $ .65 for those too young to know what a cent sign looks like!  Very few people pick up pennies, nickels or dimes from the ground anymore.  The labor required to bend over is more expensive than the coin is worth!  Back in the dinosaur day, at 65¢ an hour, I could actually buy something including gas!  Every penny was worth saving.  We could buy gas hog cars because gas didn't hog all of our money!  Now every trip to the gas pump slowly creeps over the $50 mark!

Since this is the first time I've been on this side of the age hill, I don't know if these observations are determined by age, unique to me, or a product of society.  It's not like one can slide down the back side of the age hill more than once to find out if these changes are "normal"! 

A Perfect Day

The sun set on my left, a golden orb announcing the end of a perfect day.  The blue gray clouds to my right formed a perfect backdrop for tiny raindrop prisms.  I reflected over the day.  Paper was pushed for hours in the morning.  Appointments were attended in the cleansing warmth of the spring rain.  Calls were completed as I traveled out of St. Paul to "Grandparents' Day" for my grandson.  Road trips are always good times for reflection.  The trip back rewarded me with a full rainbow.  Two pots of gold!  One for family.  One for a productive day.  It doesn't get any better than this.

Pregnant Lilacs

The lilacs in St. Paul are about to give birth!

Venetian Carousel at the Maplewood Mall in Minnesota

The Venetian Carousel located in the Maplewood Mall in Maplewood, Minnesota, provides entertainment and a brief respite from shopping for a nominal fee.  Children are drawn to the music and 2000 lights, as are some of us older children as well.  Lighted stairs lead to the second level.  Graceful horses with real tails spin about rising up and down in the circle.  There's even a black horse for good luck.  Murals by Venetian artists Grazia and Leno grace the revolving surfaces.  The carousel was shipped here from Venice in thousands of pieces over 100 years ago and reassembled in its permanent home in Maplewood.  It's the perfect place for fairy tales and enchantment.