Later in the evening Ellen and I went to downtown Northfield for the annual Winter Walk. It was a perfect night for being downtown. The streets were blocked off and draft horse teams were giving rides in wagons. A special treat this year was a sleigh being pulled by honest to goodness reindeer. There was a giant snowman roaming around saying hello to children.

The public library had a wonderful display of trains. There were several O gauge layouts that were so popular when I was young. There were some HO layouts, and even one that was running on the small N gauge track. But the train I liked the best was the large steam engine tractor. I’m not sure what the scale is, but it was made by a local man in 1961. It burns coal to create steam and is quite powerful. In the library the operator was using compressed air to make everything turn…and to blow the whistle from time to time. It took tremendous skill for the maker to use metal lathes and cutting gear to create this steam engine. It is often at the Rice County Steam and Tractor show on Labor Day weekend.

It was great to see so many folks attend the open house. I chatted with city councilors, bankers, lawyers, retired folks….a whole cross section of the town showed up to congratulate Dave and his staff.

The Wednesday evening roasted hog dinner was attended by a lot of people from the area. The weather was perfect for the event, which was held in its ususal location under a big tent adjacent to the rodeo site by the Cannon River. I ran into our State Senator from the area, Al DeKruif, and we had a good chat about. I always like to see the Junior Royalty at these events, and they were busy saying hello to people.

If you are looking for a fun thing to do on the weekend of September 1oth, come to Northfield for Defeat of Jesse James Days.

In 2005 we finished construction of a new residential living unit…or cottage….for Laura Baker Services. The building was designed by local architects Professional Design Group. It provides an excellent living arrangement for Laura Baker residents. The building has a cement plaster exterior finish on the upper portions of the exterior walls and brick on the lower portion of the walls. Yesterday we officially named the building Wright Cottage after a long time Laura Baker Services supporter.

We then moved on to Baker Cottage. We completed a full remodeling of Baker Cottage last year for Laura Baker Services. ( I posted information on this work on this website as we worked on the project.) Baker was constructed in the early 1980′s and is a solid building, just as is the partner builidng Elwell Cottage. But progams and needs change, and surfaces and fixtures need updating. So we did a thorough remodeling of both these buildings….from removing the concrete floors and installing new plumbing, to completely new air conditioning and electrical systems…and everything in between. Baker looks wonderful and is perfoming to expectations for the residents that occupy the building. We had a few speeches from involved parties as well as a song from the Laura Baker residents. The architect, Jim Braucher, and I held a big yellow ribbon at the ceremony for Laura Baker residents to cut with a giant pair of shears!

Finally, Executive Director Sandi Gerdes announced Laura Baker Serices captial fund raising campaign. Called “Inspiring Possibilities…Realizing Dreams” its goal is to raise funds to complete two more new cottage units of approximately 3,600 square feet each. These two new units will replace the 7,200 square foot Graves Hall that has come to the end of its useful life.

Due to the threats of a winter snow and ice storm, and with the train leaving at 9:00AM,  we decided to spend Tuesday night in Red Wing to make sure we made the train connection. We stayed at the beautiful St. James Hotel, directly across the street from the Red Wing train station.What a wonderful old river hotel! The building is well preserved and has been renovated to serve modern traveling needs. We especially enjoyed the historic lobby of the hotel which appears to be preserved exactly as it must have looked when the hotel opened. It includes a pipe organ and a nice library area.

Once in Chicago we took an architectural river tour on the Chicago River. The docent was excellent, informing us about many of the wonderful buildings visible from the river. Some photos….

We also had a chance to attend a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field is a wonderful outdoor baseball park. It has a true feeling of old time baseball. The scoreboard in the outfield still has the numbers changed by had by someone stationed in back of the scoreboard. The outfield wall is brick with nice hanging ivy type plants growing on it. And of course, there is ‘rooftop Wrigley’ where people sit in bleachers on the roofs of buildings across the street from Wrigley Field.

We had a wonderful time visiting Chicago and would recommend it to anyone thinking of visiting the Windy City.

We’ve also had our regular herd of 9 deer hanging around all winter. They are fun to watch. This year the snow was up to their bellies much of the winter so they really stayed on their trails. We will be watching to see how many fawns show up this spring. The fawns are very hard to see when the moms bring them into the yard, but we did manage to watch triplets two years ago.

The other change this year is that the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce is involved in hosting and organizing the event. All of the exhibitors are pleased that the Chamber has come forward ready and willing to help with this fun event.

As we have done every year the Home and Garden show has been held, Northfield Construction Company will have a display booth at the show. Please stop by and visit us. We are having a drawing for $25 of Chamber dollars at our booth. We also have another $25 of Chamber dollars being given out as a door prize. It should be another excellent show—-come visit.