Iowa - Minnesota Visit (Blast from the Past Entry)

The blog below is a blast from the past, from 2009. I was reminded of this event by my Dad's admin, who is putting together a photo book for my Dad's retirement. She saw the pics of the burning bookcase and wanted to know more about the story.



May 29, 2009

The last weekend in May found us in Iowa for the wedding of our good friends Andy and Abby. The trip seemed marked for awesomeness when we found tickets for $143 each. I flew in to MN on Friday afternoon (Jamie had to go early for work) and met my Mom for lunch. I then drove my Dad’s brand new truck (only a few weeks old) loaded with Amanda and I’s old bedroom furniture down to Cedar Rapids.  It was a pretty sweet ride but slightly embarrassing as my Dad has made it a “boy” truck by hanging some truck junk off the hitch. Jamie and I delivered the furniture to our friends house for their two little girls to use. They were very excited and got to stay up really late to move it in. 

The next morning found us driving 80 mph on I-80 with Mark and Krystal to make it to the wedding on time. We did. It was a beautiful wedding and it was fun to see some old CR friends. We’re so happy for Andy and excited to get to know Abby better (I already know she’s way cool, after all she did get married barefoot). After the wedding we departed for our drive back north to my parent’s lake house in MN. We arrived just in time for bonfire with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Amanda, David, and all of the Bells (plus two friends).

And what a bonfire it was! It was a special occasion bonfire as my Dad had finally decided, after 35 years, that he no longer needed his college engineering text books.  So he decided to burn them. Yes, I know that sounds awful, burning books, but they were engineering books and not worth anything on the used book market. Moral of the story: Sell your books back! You will never need them again and if you do you will always have a work colleague you can borrow them from. (Does anyone need any chemical engineering books circa 2002, I’ll give you a deal) 

Anyway, in true Beaver form we all had to wager how long it would take for the “bookcase” to collapse into the fire. I’m not sure the final time but it was well over an hour. In the meantime Jim went down to the boat, threw out one cast and pulled in this beautiful large mouth bass.  Too bad it wasn’t in season and had to be released, good thing we have the pictures to prove it. After that the bookcase collapsed and we all went to bed. 

Now you would think that was the end of the story but no, there’s more.  The next morning was really windy and as Grandpa was cleaning up the fire pit an ember escaped and made its way into the firewood pile (the massive, 7 cord pile whose splitting still lives in Beaver family infamy). It became a 3 foot high blaze on top of the pile in no time. Thankfully Grandpa caught it, alerted Jamie and Dad and it was under control by the time we got back from our walk. Scary, but even scarier is that the forest behind it was full of dry leaves...oh and the pile sits right next to the propane tank.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful thankfully. We spent it relaxing and then going back into town for, our favorite thing, a Costco run where Mom got new pots and pans.  Then it was back home to work and the crazy Seattle June heat wave. The last weekend in May found us in Iowa for the wedding of our good friends Andy and Abby. The trip seemed marked for awesomeness when we found tickets for $143 each. I flew in to MN on Friday afternoon (Jamie had to go early for work) and met my Mom for lunch. I then drove my Dad’s brand new truck (only a few weeks old) loaded with Amanda and I’s old bedroom furniture down to Cedar Rapids.  It was a pretty sweet ride but slightly embarrassing as my Dad has made it a “boy” truck by hanging some truck junk off the hitch. Jamie and I delivered the furniture to our friends house for their two little girls to use. They were very excited and got to stay up really late to move it in. 

The next morning found us driving 80 mph on I-80 with Mark and Krystal to make it to the wedding on time. We did. It was a beautiful wedding and it was fun to see some old CR friends. We’re so happy for Andy and excited to get to know Abby better (I already know she’s way cool, after all she did get married barefoot). After the wedding we departed for our drive back north to my parent’s lake house in MN. We arrived just in time for bonfire with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Amanda, David, and all of the Bells (plus two friends).

And what a bonfire it was! It was a special occasion bonfire as my Dad had finally decided, after 35 years, that he no longer needed his college engineering text books.  So he decided to burn them. Yes, I know that sounds awful, burning books, but they were engineering books and not worth anything on the used book market. Moral of the story: Sell your books back! You will never need them again and if you do you will always have a work colleague you can borrow them from. (Does anyone need any chemical engineering books circa 2002, I’ll give you a deal) 

Anyway, in true Beaver form we all had to wager how long it would take for the “bookcase” to collapse into the fire. I’m not sure the final time but it was well over an hour. In the meantime Jim went down to the boat, threw out one cast and pulled in this beautiful large mouth bass.  Too bad it wasn’t in season and had to be released, good thing we have the pictures to prove it. After that the bookcase collapsed and we all went to bed. 

Now you would think that was the end of the story but no, there’s more.  The next morning was really windy and as Grandpa was cleaning up the fire pit an ember escaped and made its way into the firewood pile (the massive, 7 cord pile whose splitting still lives in Beaver family infamy). It became a 3 foot high blaze on top of the pile in no time. Thankfully Grandpa caught it, alerted Jamie and Dad and it was under control by the time we got back from our walk. Scary, but even scarier is that the forest behind it was full of dry leaves...oh and the pile sits right next to the propane tank.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful thankfully. We spent it relaxing and then going back into town for, our favorite thing, a Costco run where Mom got new pots and pans.  Then it was back home to work and the crazy Seattle June heat wave.