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After 6 years of building and operating the library in downtown Lake Elmo, the city and the library board decided to accept the contract negotiated with the county — the main element is a guarantee to keep our library open for at least 40 hours for four years, after that they have no plans to close it, but hours may be reduced in line with other branch’s hours based on circulation and patron visit numbers.

I was part of it from the beginning, and I am supportive of re-entering the county system so all the Lake Elmo residents may have access to the larger system in the metro area and, indeed, the state. The Friends of Lake Elmo Library, a 501c3 charitable non-profit organization will continue with their mission. It was this group that was behind the establishment of the municipal library when the county kept closing our branch.

It was that exciting first year that I remember so well, and have pictures and documentation. Here is the video.

Here are some photos of the amazing remodeling and improvements created since that first year.

First big renovation – computer business out and new expanded children’s library in. (Bob worked on this – removing walls and turned taller shelves into shorter ones for children – Megan  Schmidt – David’s daughter painted the tree)

Summer reading programs attracted big crowds of kids to the Lake Elmo Public Library.

The next major renovation – removing a wall and expanding the meeting room complete with first class audio/visual system. Movies with free popcorn are shown most Thursdays at 6pm

Expanded meeting room used for programs

Community involvement and support is high — the benches in the front were an Eagle Scout project.

The most recent and largest renovation included an expanded back lobby and gender neutral private restrooms –(this is my favorite upgrade)  ShaneCon Company — locally owned and operated – got the contracts for all the renovations not done by volunteers.

We have a new dog, known in the foster dog world as a “foster fail” which only means that for us, we had her a week and wanted to keep her. The failure to get a foster adopted is somewhat frowned upon, but people do it all the time.

She is a real sweetheart who came from a bad situation, was rescued by a “GS” good samaritan, then given over to RAGOM. She has only part of a tail and her bottom incisors were so cracked that the vet pulled them.. lots of other health issues, but now she is fine. She wags that truncated tail all the time, and looks right into your eyes — she loves food (like she did not have enough at some point).

Sadie waiting for a treat

Jonesy and Sadie like to play….

Sadie and Jonesy after a run with my daughter Cully.

Sadie lookin’ good after her groom

We did the DNA — she is Golden Retriever, Collie, Chow and American Bulldog – with a few others. I can see the Golden in her personality and color and feathers, and the Chow with her size and short nose.

I support this cartoon artist by pledging $ through Patreon. A little bit every month for a freelance artist. I love his stuff.

Our library has agreed to rejoin the county system. Being part of the regional system was  always a goal as we worked to create a library from scratch when the county closed our library. I have inserted a link to an article that does a nice job of summing up the whole thing…although leaving out the blood, sweat and tears (literally) of the 60 – 80 volunteers who cleaned, painted, connected to software, purchased computers for the public, magazine and newspaper subscriptions, coffee, tea and hot chocolate service, hired professional staff, ran numerous programs — and many other things I am not remembering right now.The county will hire our staff and guarantee 40 open hours per week for four years, after that the hours will be dependent on the usage – circulation and visits. The library building, land and all the contents will be owned by the county — which bodes well for longevity I believe.

Startribune photo of the library — I like this one — the warm comfort of a library in our downtown

Click on the link below to read the news story.

http://www.startribune.com/lake-elmo-rejoins-washington-county-library-system/429791783/

So as of Dec. 31,  I will no longer be on the library board or one of the people responsible for the library’s operation. We did a great job, and I am glad to let it go.

I miss my Dad every day. I had the privilege of living with him for the last 5 years of his life – it was such a gift. We became real friends. This picture was taken down by the pond on the land in Wisconsin for a little book of his stories. Grandpa always told bedtime stories about Slippery and Slider, two river otters who lived and played in a place much like where we lived. His Grandson, Christopher Landt, had him record the stories and then published them in a book. When I was there with him we were working on a second edition that would be published by a local publisher and could be distributed more widely. I still have a couple of those books – contact me if you would like one. Unfortunately he died before he could see the finished book, but he did see the galleys. I was able to give a copy of his book to every fourth grader in Wisconsin Dells after his death.

Eugene Landt

Dad’s stories

Although we did not plan it this way, we had three crews working on our “outside” all in one day.

1. Kay Carlson (Taking Care of Business http://www.tcbtwincities.com  ) and her helper were here early to tackle the ornamental garden. This is the second summer and she does a beautiful job that I am no longer able to do — on the knees in the garden 😐    Kay’s helper — to see a photo of Kay and read her bio (veteran, ordained minister) click on her website
2. Then five guys (so polite and respectful) from Prairie Restoration  http://www.prairieresto.com showed up to do our prairie burn that needs to be done every three years or so.  Some little saplings wouldn’t burn so we are having them come back to remove those by hand. Obviously the burn and the follow up are completely out of our area of expertise and physical capabilities.

Fortunately the wind was blowing northeast –so the smoke did not bother any of the other groups or the neighbors.

Next day it rained — the ash goes back into the soil to nourish it — this is what happened on the prairies – sometimes started by a lightning strike, or sometimes by Indians who wanted the land refreshed.

3. The third group from Northern Arborists http://northernarborists.com  came to trim the big tree that was removed today. Gary Wemeier, our neighbor, is clearing and then planting a grouping of trees and shrubs on the west side of the house. It will include a large Linden tree, chokecherry (in honor of my Lakota friends), and a short row of Dad’s favorite – White Pine. Gary said he has had a vision for this space in his head every time he drives by on his way home.

Tree climber Doug Law

Doug, Dan Wemeier and Ben Gergen are re-positioning a small oak that will be mighty some day

ALL IN ONE DAY!! 

We are so fortunate to find such dedicated and talented professionals to do what we can no longer do ourselves.

Oh, and we are counting the days that Bob can give up his cane for a bionic knee — that happens May 17  😉   😎  🙂

This year we were able to make it down to Petit Lafitte — missed it last year because of Bob’s hospitalization .. he is good now, although walking for both of us is getting harder. Our friends the Parlows and Pollinas from Wisconsin have joined us. I think they are glad they came — first time for Steve and Jeanne Pollina. There is nothing like the sun and sand and green here in January for us!! So  blessed.

From left; Bob, Steve Pollina, Lee Parlow, Joanne Parlow and Jeanne Pollina.

Towel bunny

Just when we thought we might have ducked out on winter — we went into a deep freeze and had several storms of many inches of snow… I am too depressed about it to even take pictures — you can refer to previous winter posts — it all looks about the same.

Amber is our new foster dog. This is a Golden Retriever rescue program, but you can see Amber does not look like a Golden. Here is our advertisement for her on the web page — not posted yet.

Amber 12- 240 is a 6 year old female who moved into our house and made herself at home – charming us immediately. She bonds with people quickly. In fact, she looked longingly out the door as the transporter couple drove away – it seemed they liked her and she liked them.

Her ancestry is a mystery, although she has some Husky like qualities as well as a typical Golden personality. Her story is a heart breaker – she was in a shelter in Kentucky with her sister and their time had “run out” when she was rescued and brought to RAGOM.

She is returning to RAGOM after living happily in a family for several years, but lately she was escaping when a door was left open and would bark at people. Her family had several growing children and making sure she was on leash, in the fenced yard or in the house was becoming a problem. She is sweet, affectionate, allows you to examine her, does not resource guard, made friends with our Resident (RD) hound dog, will do anything for a treat, sits, comes, shakes, shakes other hand and high fives!  She bonded with both of us and, although she came with her dog bed, she prefers sleeping with an adult – which we don’t mind, but she would be easily directed otherwise.

One thing is clear – Amber does not like the mail carrier. She will begin barking when she sees the mail truck just turning the corner into our street. For this reason she needs a secure fence and to be on a leash at all times when out of the house or not in the fenced yard. But, given this is really her only issue, she is a gem.

She is a petite 40+ pounds and checked out all OK at her first vet visit. She is UTD with her vaccines. No health issues and no medications except heartworm and tick and flea preventative. She fit into our house with our RD who is about the same size. So if you are not picky about breed, but want a sweet girl who will love you forever, Amber would be the one.

She does not tear things apart — the cotton stuffing is courtesy of Jonesy,

Loves the outside, loves the snow

Quite vigilant

Jonesy — so glad to have someone to play with.