Paul Bunyon's back yard

There is no snow on the ground in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. I expected it, because my brother sends me pictures of blizzards in April, but I'm not disappointed.

If you read my last blog, you know that I'm spending a week with my brother Tim and his wife Shelly in what the locals call "Thief." Here's a small sampling of how we've spent some of our time so far.

Before heading up north, we spent Sunday and Monday in Minneapolis. My brother wanted me to enjoy a couple awesome restaurants. Murray's was one of them. It's been open since the 1930's and is famous for what they call the "butter-knife steak." It's an aged beef that is so tender and juicy you can cut it with a "butter-knife." I actually cut mine with my fork. It was exceptionally good. The next night was the "Melting Pot." My brother ordered what is aptly called "Lobster Indulgence" on the menu. OMG, is all is all I can say.

We spent Tuesday morning driving to "Thief" and are now just kicking back and relaxing.

At the risk of getting into something "Big Al" is much better at, I want to mention a couple observations I made on Sunday afternoon. Minnesotans are very much split over the whole Brett Favre thing, even more than cheeseheads. The Minneapolis Tribune was filled with various stories about Favre and what he's doing for the team, but there are still a lot of Vikings fans out there that won't except him even if he takes the team to the Super Bowl. There is also a lot more talk on the street about Favre than I expected.

I'll try to squeeze in one more blog entry before I return home this coming weekend, but don't hold your breath.