In the outward sprawling expansion of the Twin Cities, farmsteads like this one are being gobbled up. Instead of growing corn and raising livestock, this land will see clusters of McMansions and strip malls. While it’s still here, though, this … Continue reading
Randy Ivesdale embodies the DuAll spirit. Not only is a multifaceted master of all things construction (and a heckuva Bobcat driver), Randy also takes great pride in his work. The other day, as I entered the office, he came up … Continue reading
I have lived near two bodies of water in my life. One is this small take, which I photographed yesterday after the snow, in a quintessentially Minnesota scene. The other is this ocean, the essence of the tropics. One certainly … Continue reading
Because I spend half of my time in the office, and because we have several crews fanning across the state every day, I don’t get to check out all the properties we services. I wish I could. Pangs of jealousy … Continue reading
Exactly one year ago, on my thrty-second birthday, I departed a snowy St. Paul landscape for my home in Costa Rica. It was less a homecoming than a chance to close up shop and start over again. Maybe it was … Continue reading
It’s been a wonderful fall: high temperatures, sunny days and a prolonged burst of color in the canopy. Now it’s time to get back to the Minnesota reality. It gets dark early. You have to scrape frost off your windshield … Continue reading
Here are a few pics from a house I checked out last week. It’s on a lonely block in a hardscrabble neighborhood, surrounded by a handful of failed urban-planning initiatives. The view of the garage speaks to me of a … Continue reading
The stoplights over I-94 on West Broadway in Minneapolis is my favorite intersection in the Twin Cities. From the vantage point of this photograph, you’re sitting directly over the freeway, that deep vehicular gash that has cut through the cities … Continue reading
Dirty Dave and I went out to check out a new job that came in this morning. It’s another once-lovely home in a particularly distressed part of North Minneapolis. This particular residence has been thoroughly trashed. Once we ushered out … Continue reading
Dens of vice are always interesting properties to service. At this residence, some enterprising young men had decided to eschew the world of the corporate cog in favor of an entrepreneurial endeavor involving the clandestine sale of narcotics. The authorities … Continue reading
