troy austian | blog

Uniquely Minnesota

I had to take a picture!  I saw this as I pulled into my neighborhood on my way home the other day.  I just had to turn around so I could say hello and ask if I could take a picture.  The woman walking her dogs was very kind, and she let me take these pictures for my blog.  Her dogs are Greyhounds, and have very short hair that doesn't provide much protection from the cold.  They're beautiful dogs, and they're bundled up in style!  I think those leg warmers from the 80's are making a comeback!

This goes to show all those of us originally from the south that dealing with cold weather is all about dressing appropriately for it.  I'd love to know how long it takes her to get her dogs bundled up.  She actually wrote down the web address for my blog (troyaustian.com), so I hope she'll check it out.   [To her:] If you do, please let me know how long it takes to bundle up the dogs.  It would also be cool to know their names and how old they are.  They are lucky dogs!  And you obviously love them a lot.  Thanks for letting me take the pictures.  It was great meeting you!

Hate Junk Mail? Me too.

There was a segment on the news the other night, on local station WCCO, called "How Can I Go Green AND Save Money?"  It caught my attention...especially these two websites for reducing the amount of junk mail you get:

http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html
This site has info for removing yourself from mailing lists, email lists, telemarketing lists, etc., and has other consumer information as well.

http://www.41pounds.org
This site offers a service for $41 that claims to eliminate 80-95% of your unsolicited mailings.  (And half the profits go to non-profit organizations.)

I thought it was interesting that each of us gets about 41 pounds of junk mail every year, and that making and sending that junk mail uses more energy than 2.8 million cars and kills 100 million trees.  Huh.  If you're interested in the whole article, here's the link:  http://wcco.com/goodquestion/local_story_036173653.html

Considering that another way to save energy was not driving above 55 mph, I thought I'd better go with one of these!

Baby Wyatt

This isn't a great picture of me, but baby Wyatt is beautiful and looking right at me!  It's amazing how a baby can make your heart melt.  And it's amazing how they'll just look you right in the eyes...as if they're peering into your soul.  It's amazing how we delight in these little ones... regardless of pretty much anything... even rumbling in the diaper, the resulting "aroma", and whether or not the baby is good looking, or just cute...'cause let's face it, all babies are cute and adorable, but not all babies are actually good looking.  Well, it's true, isn't it!!!  Baby Wyatt just happens to be cute, adorable, and very good looking.  And I'm sure your baby's good looking too!

I officiated Jesse and Stacy's wedding back in 2003.  I pronounced them husband and wife at a beautiful outdoor wedding in a beautiful area on a cliff overlooking Lake Michigan.  It was a lot of fun.  Jesse and Stacy have been wanting to have kids for a while -- little Wyatt was born this past December to very proud parents, and is doing great.  Stacy just sent me this picture -- it was taken a couple weeks ago when I was hanging out with her and Jesse and Wyatt.  I guess it was pretty much the first time that Wyatt was smiling and cooing that much at one time.  It was pretty cool.  I just had to ask Stacy if I could post the picture so you could see this wonderful little guy.  (Click on it for a larger image.)