Sum-Sum-Summertime!

Postponed the zoo again and went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. This well maintained arboretum is owned by the U of MN and is free to students. I was feeling a bit stir crazy since I had not left the cities since my trip to Stillwater over spring break, so I opted for the 40 minute drive out into the countryside.

It was a beautiful day and the fresh air was refreshing. There are several gardens available to walk through as well as numerous nature trails. There are also sections which specialize in specific trees, so for example, there are sections of only "Ash" or even areas dedicated to different types of hedges. I didn't walk out to these, but I drove through them on my way out and definitely plan to visit these on my next trip.

Not many of the flowers were in bloom yet, only a few flowering bushes or trees. The gardens would be quite lovely I imagine once everything has come to life for the season. Some of the specialty gardens include a multi-terraced rose garden, a medicinal garden, and a large herb garden.

I walked through the Shade Tree exhibit and the wildflower gardens which were both part of some of the trails. These were well maintained and had a pleasant and varied landscape. There were few bugs, mostly non bothersome types.


The arboretum was not far from a decent sized lake. I passed one on my drive in, but I believe the one in the photo is yet another lake.





Had another adventure previous Sunday. I went to a friend's party that previous Saturday and a friend was telling me that she had given her cat a bath. I laughed and said I could never do that with Mea because I would fear for my life! She absolutely hates water. When she gets in her mood to try to pounce/attack me, I grab a water bottle and spray her for her misconduct. The following day (Sunday) I was feeling inspired by my friend and decided to try it out with Mea anyway.

I suited up with leather gloves and a thick work shirt in the anticipation there would be much scratching and biting. I ran some warm water in the tub, got an old yogurt container to use for pouring water, added a bit of soap, then locked the kitty in the bathroom with me. I quickly picked her up, set her in the tub, and poured water down her back and did it again. She hardly moved. I believe she was in shock that she was all of the sudden soaking and did not feel the need to fight it because the damage was done. I got all the way through the bath, extra soap and all, without any trouble from her.

Her abundance of fur held a lot of water and she dripped for a long time. She wouldn't let me too near to her to help her dry off, so she had to stay locked in the bathroom for a while. I did manage to snap a photo of her all wet, which you can see posted on the blog wall. I think its pretty funny.

It is late now, so I will finish part two of this post tomorrow and inform you of my other activities of the week. Sweet dreams all!