Minnesota’s transition from winter to spring is always tricky. Temperatures fluctuate wildly. There might be a string of several days that only require a light jacket. And then the mercury plunges into the single digits. Still, there’s no reason for … Continue reading
Sometimes it takes an outsider’s perspective to better understand a situation. What do you see here? This is a city home that most likely had one 30-something female occupant. What stands out to you about this scene? What grabs your … Continue reading
Robert Frost posited that “good fences make good neighbors,” and while that may be true in the balmy summer months of barbeques and ballgames, winters in the Midwest keep most people far from their fences. In the winter, clean sidewalks … Continue reading
It doesn’t have to be this way. Unfortunately, though, we find jettisoned household rubbish deposited on the vacant properties we service, time and again. This is generally the work of people in the neighborhood looking for an easy way to … Continue reading
I. The lamp caught my eye. It’s tentacles remained rigid, but the ends of this Medusa-like creature were broken, burned out, or missing. At one time, I’m sure this lamp provided many happy hours of nocturnal illumination. Now, it rests … Continue reading
Our spring lawn season is officially underway. The wonderfully mild winter (note: I am biased against the freezing cold) has stepped aside, and the trees are budding in celebration. Because we’re starting our lawn-care season so early this year, we … Continue reading
We find computers in just about every home we service. It’s always interesting (at least to me) to see what role they play in a house. Here we have a messy bedroom with an old computer nestled amid mounds of … Continue reading
I look at this photograph and think about all the time I spent wandering the streets of Granada, Nicaragua. That city, Nicaragua’s second largest and the country’s undisputed tourism hub, is a collection of Spanish-colonial architecture set amid a torpid … Continue reading
Southern Minnesota still showcases smatterings of the bucolic rural ideal: a rushing stream amid snow-laden trees; brick storefronts on a small-town Main Street; German- and Norwegian-built homes that have withstood over a century of punishing weather, still proudly spewing smoke … Continue reading
It has been a slow, agonizing, steady decline for many a small, windswept prairie town. The smattering of buildings where this house is located has seen its population dwindle annually for the past sixty years. There are only a couple … Continue reading
