Local owl lands in national bird magazine

The new issue of Birds & Blooms (cover date: Dec/Jan) features this image of a blue moon boreal owl shot by Duluth’s Ken Greshowak.

Stolen Bicycle: Park Point Break-ins

Hello fellow Duluthians. ‘Tis a sad day on Park Point. It appears another round of robberies has occurred. I had a bicycle stolen out of my garage last night. Pretty ballsy I must say, the thing didn’t even have flat pedals so I am surprised they were able to get off with it. Anywho, if you happen to spot a red Masi Randonneur with a leather saddle, front racks and goofy swept leather handlebars around town, please be so kind as to shoot me a message.

Cash reward for any info, and on account of being a bicycle mechanic, free tuneups for a lifetime!

Cheers,
Justin 218-310-7961

Watch Proctor Rails in Minnesota State High School Football Tourney

Proctor’s football team plays St. Croix Lutheran in the AAA semifinal game today at 2 p.m. You can watch live from the Channel 45 internet stream. Good luck Rails!

Watch Tourney Live Now – Click Here

Update: St. Croix Lutheran won the game 3-0, kicking a field goal with six seconds left.

Time Lapse Video: The Deeps

The Northshore streams are starting to ice over. The sunshine of the past few days have made them even more magical. In this short time lapse video taken Thursday afternoon, 10 minutes are reduced to 15 seconds. Enjoy some serenity on Amity Creek.

The Louie Show: Intro and Theme

Here it is, the opening theme to The Louie Show. Thanks to Waferdog for passing along this essential archival VHS treasure from 1996.

There isn’t really any Duluth footage in the opening, other than the big “Duluth” sweatshirt Louie sports.

Goodbye, Woodland Jr.

Last chance to visit Woodland Middle School this weekend. Classic junior high 1980s memories of fashion issues and general awkwardness. And lots of “going out with people” started and ended often via notes.

Duluth News Tribune: Say goodbye to Duluth’s Woodland Middle School

“Christmas City” 45 for sale on eBay to support Bentleyville Tour of Lights

Security Jewelers is auctioning off a mint condition 45 of Merv Griffin’s “Christmas City,” the song recorded 50 years ago to promote the Christmas City of the North Parade. Check it out on eBay. The proceeds are being donated to Duluth’s Bentleyville Tour of Lights — America’s largest free, walk-through Christmas lighting display.

Amy and Dave Freeman’s Big Adventure

Amy and Dave Freeman of Grand Marais are among ten finalists for National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year. The couple paddled, dogsledded, and hiked 11,647 miles across North America from April 22, 2010 to April 4, 2013.

Instead of work holiday party, seeking volunteering ideas

That awkward holiday work party — where no one really wants to go, but feels obligated. Well, we want to do something different this year and need ideas! Last year, instead of apps and drinks while milling about awkwardly, we got to do a blitz build with Habitat for Humanity. It was a blast, and it really brought us together, while helping a family in need. Do you have any ideas for this year? There would be roughly 16 of us, and we would want to be able to work together for the most part. We could take a half day to work, or even a couple hours. The tough thing would be to try to schedule this activity on a Monday-Friday, sometime around the holiday season. Any suggestions welcome!

Northern Lights Over Hawk Ridge

NL-Hawk-Ridge-Light-Painting

This past Sunday night the Northern Lights shown over Duluth. This photo was taken at about 2:30 a.m. from the Hawk Ridge Viewing Platform. Hawk Ridge is a great place for watching the Aurora Borealis as the viewing platform gives an unobstructed view of the northern and northeast skies over rolling hills with very few lights to ruin the experience.

Old Howard Mill and the (Possibly) Incendiary Howard Boys

Back in 2009, some folks on PDD wondered about the Old Howard Mill Road, where it went, and who the heck the Howards were. I just wrote an article that sheds some light on that subject, for your reading pleasure.

Above is a photo of the Howard family marker at Forest Hill, with an annoying late afternoon shadow across it.

Duluth Guitar Instructor Recommendations

My husband and I just moved to Duluth and want to start taking guitar lessons after the holidays. Our interests are rock, blues, and traditional country, both acoustic and electric. We took lessons for a little while a zillion years ago, but need to start over at the beginning. Proficiency in guitar is on our lifetime to-do lists, so we need to get going on that. Who do you recommend? Thanks.

Wanted: Urbanism blogging about Duluth

I’ve been a fan of this site, and your city, for many years. I’m also the “editor” (unpaid) of Streets.mn,  a website trying to start conversations about urban design and transportation issues in Minnesota cities. We need people from Duluth who might be willing to blog about things up there … things like new developments, freeways, Duluth skyways, bike lanes, how to cross Superior Street, the bus system, etc.

If you or anyone you know is interested, or if you have any ideas / hate mail, please e-mail me at blindeke @ gmail.com. Streets.mn is about two years old, and has grown to over 40,000 hits per month. We really want to include more of Minnesota’s urban areas, and Duluth is my personal favorite.

Thanks for your help and understanding, and may the Duluth Family Sauna always be a weird place straight out of Twin Peaks (c. 1991).

P.S. Here are some of my posts about Duluth, just to prove that I’ve been there before: Sidewalk of the Week: Canal Park, Duluth and Other City Sidewalks: Morgan Park, Duluth.

Hometown Boy Makes Good

Dylan Granted France’s Highest Award

Perfect Burger Restaurant: Anchor Bar

PDDPerfectBurgerRestaurantAwardLogoThere is no shortage of great burger joints in the Duluth area, but the undisputed king of them all for the past three decades has been the Anchor Bar. Among the other dozen nominees in Perfect Duluth Day’s poll, only the Fitger’s Brewhouse pulled a significant chunk of the vote. When the two went head to head, the Anchor took 61 percent, and the Brewhouse took 39.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!