Saturday AM, we made our way up to 8th Crow Wing Lake to help my Mom and Dad settle into their new place. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, their location at the resort was flip flopped and required a number of tasks to complete. Things had improved nicely since two weeks ago including the moving of their shed, phone hook up, Internet service and overall general organization. My Mom had things under control in their new park model trailer which made everything seem better. Still no satellite TV which is killing my Dad, but he said he was coping.

With the move of the shed, Dad requested that a trench be dug for the under ground cable powering the shed. Please note that this is trench number two for the weekend, more later.....anyway, the ground made for tough digging. The new location is on what was a horse pasture 6 months ago which was very apparent by the smell, glad it was windy.

The trench dug, cable strung and the dirt replaced - done deal. Matt and Ben moved rocks for Grandma, Kriston help organize the shed and we were able to get all of the flower pots in the right location. Overall good days work which Mom and Dad appreciated. As you can see in the photo, my Dad is giving his approval. Dad is doing well - it is good to see him up and around.

My Mom and Dad's place is 11 miles from the Martineau Trail Head in Paul Bunyan State Forest. Matt and I brought our bikes and when the work was done clicked in for an hour and a half ride on some of the sweetest single track in MN. In the photo above, Matt is in a small opening that the DNR built for deer habitat. Two summers ago Matt and I saw a bobcat running up this same trail right in front of us. The area is in need of some moisture - very dry.

Other then a bit dry, conditions were perfect. The motorcycle guys have cleared the trail nicely which made for very fast conditions. I was giving Matt a bad time about his camouflage kit, blends in quit nicely.

Second self portrait in the last two posts. Thought this was a good photo with Matt sticking his head into the shot.

A long day in the sun and wind made for some sleepy dudes on the ride home. Ben looks like he is suffocating. Definitely worth a photo.

This is trench number one. Friday evening I attempted to fire up my lawn irrigation system. Everything seemed to be working fine other then the sprinkler heads were not popping up....in walking around the front of the house, squish, squish..bummer.

I ended up having to replace 25 feet of PVC main line. Long story short, I changed things up a bit last fall that did not completely shut the water system off. I blew the lines empty as I always have, but the main line had some water that froze and literally splintered the pipe.

The finished results of having my yard dug up. I was able to save the sod that I cut out which made things virtually invisible when complete.

All of the trench work did not allow for the trip to Afton for #2 of the MNSCS series. Too early to check the results, but I am sure it was a ripping good time. I have a tough time missing a race, but know that there is a lot of racing on the calendar this summer and I made it through the day without too much race withdrawal. The ride in Paul Bunyan with Matt helped greatly.Kriston's handy work looking perfect. Kriston has done tons of planting the last couple of weeks, more photos as things perk up a bit.