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Next Tuesday is election day. I for one, am glad it is over. There are two races that have really worn me out this fall. One involves two women running for the same seat (you can guess who they are) and the other is two men running for congress in the 3rd district. These campaigns have spent so much time and money and effort blasting their opponents publicly, that I have no clue what they stand for. Every commercial on television is telling me how awful of a peron the other is and how fiscally irresponsible the next one is. It has really worn me out and I am not in their district. Think about the good these people could have done if they would have channelled their energy into being positive and shared that with everyone. Instead they feel that they have to beat down their opponent to gain the upper hand in the election. I realize they will not be on my ballot this Tuesday, so my opinion means nothing, but if I were a voter in their district, you could surely bet I would be voting for none of the above. A wasted vote you say? What about the wasted hours they have fed us through television the last five months?

I apologize for going on a little rant. I do want to tell you to please get out and vote this Tuesday. It is our civic duty to cast our vote for our future leaders. We have some very interesting races taking place in our area, so your vote will make a difference. Chisago Lakes has always had great voter turnout and this year should be more of the same. Thank you in advance for voting.

Where has the time gone? I can't believe they were actually predicting snow this week. It seems like yesterday when I was mowing my lawn twice a week and it still looked shaggy. I guess I shouldn't be surprised about the forecast for snow, we did have that Halloween blizzard in the early nineties after all.

The one positive thing about the weather turning a little cooler is it gets you in the mood for Halloween. As I wrote here last week, Chisago City would like to share Halloween with you and your family this year. While the Falloween Festival was last weekend, the city still has some Halloween fun left to share. You are invited to Ojiketa Regional Park to take part in the Ojiketa Haunt if you dare. Not your standard haunted house, Ojiketa goes above and beyond the conventional scare tactics. I will leave it at that, but if you are looking to have a great time locally, give Ojiketa a try. The cost is only $2 and it is suggested that kids under middle school age not attend (too scary).

Ladies...mark your calendar for the weekend of November 6th. It is the hunting opener and the men of the community will be out trying to put food on the table. So what else is new, you say. Take advantage of their outing to plan one of your own. The businesses and restaurants down Highway 8 from Svens to Grama's Barn are busy planning the day marking down merchandise and offering special lunches and dinners. Don't forget, Christmas is less than two months away - start your shopping early. Please watch for the participating businesses in the Search this coming weekend and the Chisago County Press on November 4th.

If you think the apple season has come and gone, you are wrong. There are still great apples to be had locally. We have several apple orchards that have wonderful apples still available. A crisp apple on a fall day is there anything better?

Last week the kids got a very long weekend off with the Education Minnesota Conference. In the past, my family has stayed behind while friends seemed to fly off on their mini vacations. We decided that our kids deserved a little get away this year, so we booked a hotel in Crosslake. After tying up a few loose ends at work we piled in the car and drove two and a half hours up north.

When we got there, I am positive my kids somehow had their swimsuits on before we checked in, and down to the pool we went. It was heaven. No people, calm water and peaceful. We spent the day swimming and sitting in the hot tub, I thought to myself, this is going to be the most relaxing vacation ever.

On Friday we got up, swam again, and headed to a nearby state park to go hiking. We were gone until about 4 p.m. and were really looking forward to a nice soak in the hot tub. When we opened the door to the pool, it was just like the pool scene from "Caddy Shack". There wasn't a bit of open water in the pool. There were kids swimming in their underwear. There were people holding babies in the hot tub and people drinking beer everywhere.

After a long night of listening to the kids above us run laps around the room, we decided to end our trip a day early. There truly is no place like home.

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