Getting One Out of Three Right We’re in Minnesota, so here’s the weather forecast: the rest of April: cold; May: cold; June: cold; July: somehow hot as hell. Back to y’all.” –Saturday Night Live; cold open (April 10, 2021). As a Minnesota native and long-time Twin Cities resident, I can attest to the “perpetually cold”...Read More
“If Winter in Minnesota Starts Early, Does it End Early, Too??” Not wanting to be the one to burst anyone’s bubble, there was really only one way to answer the question above, posed by the new neighbor who arrived here from Southern California this past Summer, about the duration of local winters: “W-h-y, y-e-a-h ....Read More
January 2019 Thaw Comes to an Abrupt End In case you can’t read the fine print in the photo above, the next time the temperature in the Twin Cities is supposed to reach double digits (as in, 10° or warmer) is early February, more than 10 days(!) away. And that’s air temperature, not windchill. As...Read More
Enjoying a Kansas City Winter . . . in Minneapolis What does it feel like when normally frigid February temps are instead in the 60’s? Not just once, but a couple days in a row!?! It’s like a collective mid-winter “staycation” for the metro area’s 3 million inhabitants. New Normal? Growing up, whenever my Kansas...Read More
Easier Sell in Summer The problem with tuck under garages is what’s “over” the “under”: I’ve now shown three homes in the last month where one of my (Buyer) clients’ main objections was that the bedroom floors directly above the garage were cold (admittedly, that was before the Twin Cities basked in 80º temps this...Read More
A Brand Name Dan Quayle Could Love* What’s today’s hottest new home amenity? No, it’s not silestone counters, ever-thinner wall TV’s, or Fireplaces in unexpected places (Master Bedroom, anyone?). It’s a . . . deluxe shed. At least, that’s based on a very unscientific polling of a couple families we know (including mine). Winter Prep...Read More