Update from Minnesota

The blog has been quiet! Though so has life in the Dutke household. Here is an update on what has been happening.

We've been enjoying the early spring/summer weather this year and have been spending every weekend possible at the cabin. The plants and grass are finally growing so my mom is happy. The battle against the deer and rabbits continues to be on-going, though at the moment she appears to be winning. However, we don't think she'll continue to win for long as once the blueberry and raspberry bushes produce fruit the bears are likely to join the wildlife team which will force her to forfeit.

Other news relating to the cabin: The last major part of the re-modeling project is complete! Carpet for the basement was picked out and installed this month, so other than a few minor things here and there, the place can finally be called done. I'll take a picture and post it soon.

John continues to work as a security guard and on the police reserves. I'm waiting for the day when he picks up Joe and/or my dad for speeding...

Mary and Joe have both tried out SCUBA diving up at our cabin. Joe is cheating when it comes to fishing though as he uses his diving to locate where the fish are. Rumor has it that he caught a "HUGE" northern, however the actual size of the fish keeps changing. I think it is safe to say I still hold the record for the largest fish, but unfortunately there isn't a picture to prove it either...

My summer consists of polar bears, chickens, tortoises, and rabbits. I do shows at the amphitheater with the chicken, tortoise and rabbit and then daily talks about the polar bears. The chicken is by far the most popular winning the votes of hundreds of people a day. But then again, people also cheer for the rabbit who literally does nothing but sleep on the stage, so I can't really trust the voting process...

Everyone has made it to a Twins game in the new stadium and loved it. It's definitely worth the trip to the cities for a game!

I'll post more pictures soon, but here are the ones I have on hand at the moment. Hopefully everyone is doing well and enjoying summer - We look forward to more blog posts with updates & pictures!!!

During one of our first practices. The chickens are trained to come when called, jump, target, jump up onto our knee, and weave through our legs as we walk.

The tortoises are trained to move to and touch the target (orange ball on the end of the stick)

The rabbits could care less... This is a rare day when the rabbit wasn't sleeping.

Here the bears are enjoying their new exhibit.

--Posted by Anna