Many people go over board with their hobbies. I know for I am one of them. Take Fishing.  I have enough gear in the boat for 8 people to fish even though I fish alone most of the time.   Others it is their gardens.  Here are a few signs of overdoing the garden... TOP 10 SIGNS YOU HAVE GONE OVER THE GARDEN EDGE... 10) Your favorite poem is "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue." 9) Your kids names are Rose, Violet, Daisy and Zucchini. 8) You have 8X10 pictures of your tomato's and peppers on your office shelf. 7) Your idea of a Saturday Night Date is going out in the garden and hand pollination the plants. (Sounds kinky to me) 6) You think that a Cocktail is a liquid fertilizer. 5) You rush home and go straight to your garden and hug your hoses.   then you go into the house and great your fam... 07/21/2012

My son works in a restaurant and he told me this diddy that the owner/cook told a patron... Waitress...how are you chickens prepared?" "I will ask the cook." she replied. The cook comes out to talk with the guest... How do you prepare your chickens? He asked the cook.  To which the cook says. "Well, just before it happens, we tell them they are going to die." Some people just tell it like it is. 05/26/2012

I have long ago listened to the complaining that office meetings do NO good. I do believe that attitude plays a part in them.  But in the computer age, we can reach out to all the agents VIA a video clip to be watched from their home computers. This way, everyone gets the information every time a meeting is scheduled. It isn't the perfect system, but some kind of incentive could be built in. At any rate...it beats calling a meeting just because you feel you need to. 05/15/2012

My local Snap Fitness in Cambridge, MN is having their "Dash For Cash" competition from May 7th to June 29th.  I signed up today. I dont know all the rules but I paid $10, and the goal is that everyone who logs 100 miles on the treadmill by the 29th of June is in the drawing for the money. I think there is a prize for the first 25 miles and a couple other prizes along the way. My goal is to get to 100 miles.  If I win a prize drawing great, but I am not a big treadmill (or running) type. I know to get there I will burn extra calories and probably lose 10-15 lbs.  So that is the main push.  Today I went 5.18 miles on the treadmill. It took me an hour.  I normally at most go 20 minutes which gets me just short of 2 miles.  Thus, I need to step it up to get to 100 miles and I got of to a g... 05/08/2012

I hear the complaining already but I am just not buying it. Minnesota is looking to raise the Fee for Fishing license.  This year, a family license will cost $26.  That is just a bit over 7 cents a day. What else can you do for that kind of money. Most likely your kids spend more than that texting all day. You spend more than that on coffee. You spend more than that on...well, just about everything you do.  Now, granted the DNR has some issue like most Government entities, BUT...look what they have to try and control.  Some 10,000 lakes that have fish and some don't.  Campgrounds, Hiking trails, Parks, water quality, invasive species including plants that can make swimming dangerous or impossible in some lakes. I took my family to the Science Museum.  This is also a State Funded operati... 03/21/2012

I decided a gift built with my hands would be a precious gift. My wife has a snowman collection, and I thought i would add to it. I actually did this last year, but i thought I would share it now being this is the season for giving. Here is the photo... To say the least, my dog and I got to be great friends.  He just hogs the blankets! 12/18/2011

Looking for a home in Cambridge, MN?  Have you heard of the HUD Good Neighbor Next Door Program?   The Hud Good Neighbor Next Door Program works for: Law enforcement officers, pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers and firefighters/emergency medical technicians can contribute to community revitalization while becoming homeowners through HUD's Good Neighbor Next Door Sales Program. HUD offers a substantial incentive in the form of a discount of 50% from the list price of the home. In return you must commit to live in the property for 36 months as your sole residence. Read all the details HERE! There is currently one home available for $49,900 in Cambridge until December 15th! These don't come up often.  Has far has I know its been a long long time since there has been on available ... 12/09/2011

I have to admit that I am not an experienced black Friday shopper. Never before have I waited in line to get in a store to get the 'EARLY BIRD ' deals. I have gone in the mornings before and gotten some of the deals, but last night was the first time I waited in line to get into a store. (Oh what a wait it was). At about 10pm my wife, her daughter and I headed to Wal- Mart only to turn around and drop them off as the craziness was spilling over to all the other area business parking lots.  My wife being 37 weeks pregnant was not up for it.  I thought it would be a new adventure for me, so after dropping them off I went back and headed into Wal Mart to see what things were like in theres. All the DOOR BUSTER deals had lines waiting way too deep for me.  I was going to buy a couple small ... 11/25/2011

Everyone hears about how many foreclosures are out there for sale.  Buyers new to the market salivate over the deals they are going to get when buying a bank owned home.  The only problem is right now there are really not that many bank owned homes available.     Here is a list of some of the area cities in Minnesota that I typically help buyers find great values on bank owned properties: Cambridge MN has 11 ACTIVE bank owned property listings that don't have an offer on them. Isanti has 10 bank owned properties available. Elk River has 16 bank owned homes for sale. Princeton also has 16 bank owned listings for sale.  Zimmerman has 13 bank owned listings ready for purchase. What happens is that the good ones sell fast because many of them come on the market and are priced well. Some of ... 11/23/2011

Ever feel like you are in a fish bowl. I feel that way up in my deer stand.  Today, I am sitting just minding my own business when this little guy stared me down. He started looking at me as if to say..."What you lookin at?  He sat in the same place just feet from me almost daring me to make a move. I was starting to feel intimidated. I have been stared down by deer, turkeys a chick-a-dee that sat on the end of my gun barrel for several minutes.  (He even looked inside of it...fool) I know some people who have pets that will stare them down when they want something. Here we are, the superior beings and we are the ones that end up backing down.   What has this animal kingdom come to. 11/08/2011

Well after 3 houses are Trick or Treating was done tonight.  My kids are at their moms but Samantha was all dressed and ready to go get me some candy.  I drop her and mom at one end of the block in the happening Halloween neighborhood on Marigold Street in Cambridge and go park on the other end. I walk down the block to find Samantha crying and wanting to go home. My wife was sort of happy as she is 6 weeks from having a baby so now she is home and can watch TV.  I am sort of sad because there goes a month supply of candy.  Oh well... We did not buy any candy so now we are laying low.  We do live at the end of a low traffic street so we wont hurt too many feelings.   Last year we hit this street toward the end of the night and one of the home owners say they served 600 Trick or Treaters... 10/31/2011

The offer came in at 40% of list price.  I Laughed and called my seller.  He DIDN'T laugh.  He said he would not even counter.  10 days later, we get an upgraded offer from the same person...51% of list.  Now my seller is furious..."I don't care if the buyer comes back at 10% above list...He can go to,"  well let's leave that part out. The funny part is that the buyer wanted the seller to hold the note and also didn't want to put down any money. We have others that are serious about purchasing the property.  My seller isn't stupid, he understands that he may have to drop some.  But, if you think that you can throw out a ridiculous offer and not pee anyone off and still try and purchase the property...you may have a big surprise ahead of you. 10/21/2011

If you LOVE to go garage saling then you better hurry to Cambridge, MN today!  Its the big city wide garage sale event.  With 82 advertised garages and every street corner clouded with garage sale signs!   The weather is slightly cool and the sun is not out and it seems to be keeping traffic down slightly today.  Don't get me wrong there is plenty of traffic out and about, but not as crazy as I have seen it in the past.  Most sales run to 4pm today and some later so if your in the Cambridge area check it out! 09/17/2011

It happened in the Cambridge Minnesota Walmart store. A six year old girl was bitten by a BAT.  TWICE! The bat was not caught and the little girl has to endure the Rabbi shots. The family asked Walmart to pay for the Medical bills.   They said....NO! The boycott has started.  The problem is that people will continue to let Walmart mis-treat their employees and treat customers like in this case and the people will continue to shop there. I myself have not shopped there in over two years, for many reasons!  Now, what would you do if this was your child, grandchild, or other relative.  Try putting yourself in this families shoes. 08/31/2011

Another great summer of church league softball ended yesterday at Sandquist Park in Cambridge as the Dalbo Area Ministerial Softball League Championships were decided. In Division 1 play once again First Baptist Team #1 defeated Cross Pointe in a repeat title game match up.  The game went 9 innings with First Baptist coming from behind multiple times to take the title for the 3rd straight year!  Cross Pointe is the runner up for the 2nd season in a row. Cross Pointe got to the title game with a 14-13 win in extra innings against 3rd place finisher Cambridge Lutheran Team #1. In Division 2 play First Baptist Team #3 made it a title sweep for the church defeated ELIM by a handful of runs!  ELIM knocked off Fish House Team #1 to get to their second place spot, with Fish House Team #1 takin... 08/22/2011

The Dalbo Area Church Softball league tournament held at Sandquist Fields in Cambridge is underway this week with the first 4 play in games in the books.  Last night River Valley Christian Church played through the rain and beat Dale #1 15 to 2. The other three games were rained out and played tonight.  In Division 2 play New Hope #2 won by forfeit over St Stephens.  In Division 1 play the 15th seed Grace Gospel wins 13-3 over #18 seed Cambridge Lutheran Team #2.   #16 seed Cambridge Lutheran #1 (my team) wins 21-8 over #17 Seed Springvale tonight. This is a double elimination tournament with a consolation bracket.  A full tilt of evening games are schedule Thursday and Friday at Sandquist Fields, with sun up to past sun down ball on Saturday and afternoon into the evening games on Sund... 08/17/2011

With the opening round of the Dalbo Area Ministerial Softball League Tournament (DAMSL) starting on Aug. 16th it was time today for me to get the grid board heavy paper and get the brackets drawn up! Tomorrow night is the last week of the regular season and I am hoping all winning teams report their scores immediately following the game so I can fill these out and let teams know where they are playing one week in advance!   Almost every game this year will be played at Sanquist Park in Cambridge. There will be 3 games at other fields Tuesday the 16th and probably 2 games at other fields on Thursday and Friday with the balance of the tournament being played Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 18-21). Of the 38 league teams by last count all 18 teams in Division 1 planned on fielding a team for the... 08/08/2011

Finally after over five hours of steady and at times heavy rain in Cambridge, MN the rain as stopped and the sun has even made an appearance! Lately the rain we have had has come on the overnight. Today we were greeted by gray skies in the morning and then Thunderstorms throughout the morning. The benefit that I got from this is that my car needed a wash any how so I made sure to pull it out and do some driving! The other benefit is that my wife won't have to water all the plants! (Or hope that I would somehow do it -which never happens)I shot a little video of it standing in my garage. Nothing that we have not seen before. I just need to start doing some video again. I just checked the rain gauge and it said 2 inches, and it was all of that if not more. 07/15/2011

(Updated time) 12 noon to 2pm on Sunday July 17th I will hold a public open house at 275 326th Lane NW, Cambridge MN.  This home is priced at $194,000 and is located on a beautiful wooded lot on nearly 2 acres. It features a  heated 26x 48 shop to house all your toys.  The house has 4 BR with a lot of recent updates, so you can move right in and enjoy it! Check it out this Saturday!  More info at: 275 326th Lane NW, Cambridge MN     07/06/2011

Just before you head out of town for the weekend stop by my open house at 780 Marigold Drive S, Cambridge MN.  Priced at $134,900 this move in ready home is ready for buyers quick possession. (No waiting for banks).  If your looking for 4 BR, 3 garage stalls and a freshly re carpeted and painted home this could be the home for you!  Check it out today at the open house from 3-5pm: More info online for 780 Marigold Drive S, Cambridge!     07/01/2011