Brainerd Lakes Real Estate News

Sometime this summer on Edgewood Drive and #371 North in Baxter another coffee experience will be opening up. Area residents have watched and wondered what was going into the 1,835 square foot building next to Arby's.  Now we know.

The site ,as described by Starbucks, will have a drive through to make those coffee runs even more convenient. It is to have "comfortable upholstered furniture, cafe tables with chairs and an outdoor patio."  They will be selling coffee (of course) coffee beans, pastries and other merchandise. If you are interested in one of the 20 or so jobs that will be opening up you can apply online at www.starbucks.com

NOW WE ARE TALKING COFFEE 

Kathleen Lordbock

Specializing in Property Presentations

Re$ale Design 

•  To create drama and dress up any room, consider adding touches of black. It works in virtually any color scheme and with any decorating style. 
  
• If you are going for major drama, inject even larger doses of this dynamic color in your window treatments, upholstered furniture, bedding, flooring or floor coverings, decorative wall moldings, shelving, cabinets, or your wooden furniture pieces.
  
•  Lime green, white, orange, red,  yellow and aqua all pop when positioned on or near black pieces.
  
•  Paint artwork frames, mirrors, or add black painted pinstripes.  Decorative boxes hung on the wall or open shelving to hold accessories in black are striking.
  
•  Paint the legs of a coffee table or dining table black -leaving the top in a wood tone. To give painted black objects an aged worn look; sand the edges, details, around handles and legs, or anywhere that might have natural wear.
•  IT IS BACK!
  

Photo taken in IKEA of Black & White Bedroom and Closet Display 

Kathleen Lordbock

Re$ale Design

Home Staging, Property Presentation, & Interior Redesign Services 

http://resaledesign.clearwire.net 

About 100 people were in attendance at Monday's ceremony held at the Veterans Memorial next to the Crow Wing County Courthouse.  Three surviving members of the march were in attendance. Walter Straka, Ken Porwall and Henry Peck placed a wreath of 61 flowers on the memorial in remembrance of the soldiers of the area's 34th Tank Company. Peck suffered a stroke two weeks ago and wasn’t sure that he would make it to the ceremony. “But I’m here, that’s the main thing,” he said.  “I was planning on coming, but I didn’t know”.

This memorial ceremony marked the 65th Anniversary of the Fall of Bataan.  The 34th Tank Company left Brainerd with 82 officers and men.  Of these, 61 accompanied the 194th overseas to the Philippines. 28 died in POW camps, 3 were killed in action, one man was wounded and evacuated and 29 survived captivity.  Out of the original 61 guardsmen who left  with the Brainerd unit only 29 returned  to Brainerd after the end of WW2. The 194th was awarded three Presidential Unit Citations for outstanding performance of duty in action.

Following their surrender in 1942 the U.S and Philippine soldiers, underfed and exhausted from four months  of fighting, were forced to  march 100 miles in blistering heat with little food or water. Many did  not survive and were  shot , others beheaded.

Brainerd Mayor James Wallin said it was imperative that the Bataan Death March be remembered in Brainerd. “I think if you look at the effect this had on the community and this area 65 years ago, this just had a  devastating effect on this area,” Wallin said “And yet, as they mentioned, there is a pride in the fact that they did serve, that they did give the ultimate for our area and our country.”

                               Brainerd area residents will never forget.

Kathleen Lordbock

Re$ale Design, Property Presentation & Home Staging

The Brainerd School District is in the process of selling the former Franklin Junior High School to Artspace Inc. Tom Fitzpatrick who is the school district's attorney  told board members Monday, that there may be a small problem with this.   It was discovered in establishing the site description that .288 acres of the property was and is still owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.This comprises a portion of the east wing of the building and part of a driveway with a total square footage of around 12,000 square feet.The BNSF Railway headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas , is one of the four remaining transcontinental and one of the largest railroad networks in North America (only one competitor, the Union Pacific Railroad is larger in size). BNSF was created on September 22, 1995 with the merger of Burlington Northern, Inc. and Santa Fe Pacific Corporation, two companies with rich histories dating back to 1849. 

Artspace has been notified of the findings . "We felt if we wanted to sell the building, we should own all the dirt under the building," Fitzpatrick told the board.  The board agreed and authorized him to enter into a purchase agreement with the Railway for the property.  This oops will cost $63,000  - priced out at $5 per square foot. The district is proposing to use capital funds to pay for the land and then proceed to close the sale with Artspace this fall.

In the 1870's the government was handing out land grants and it is speculated that this  land was given to the railroad to encourage system development. The railroad in 1954 granted the school a perpetual easement at no charge. Now it is time to pay up and move on.

Artspace has renamed the building the Franklin Arts Center  and is in the process of re-roofing the building and doing some preliminary remodeling. Local artists have already established studio spaces in the building.

Kathleen Lordbock

Re$ale Design

Home staging and Interior Redesign services in Brainerd, MN 

While driving through Brainerd today, I was startled to hear the tornado sirens blaring.  It wasn't a "first Wednesday of the month drill "and the skies were certainly clear.  I called my husband on the cell phone and asked if he knew what was up. It was the first of two tornado drills of the day -one at 1:45 p.m. and the next at 6:55 p.m.  I was relieved to hear it was only a drill but was reminded again of our 2001 tornado that destroyed 20 homes (ours included), damaging many more, killing livestock and some of our horses. Amazingly, only two minor injuries of the human participants were reported.

I decided it may be time to get a little more information out there and again draw attention to doing what you can to stay safe. In Minnesota, tornado activity can be from March through November with the biggest threat at 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.. Everyone should have available supplies to last 72 hours without  much outside help.  Your main supplies will include food , water, and your prescription medicines . Batteries, flashlights, lanterns, first aid kits, pet food and a generator should be added in.  We now have a weather radio, which range in price from $15 to $100 in price.

If stored at home- tax papers, titles, and the like should be in a safe bolted to the floor. To see more information  on planning kits go to the Crow Wing County Web site - www.co.crow-wing.mn.us - and click on emergency management.

If you are evacuated and your pets can be moved , take them with you. That was one lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina.  John Bowen, Crow Wing County emergency management director, says "They are part of the family and we have to treat them that way." . In an evacuation in Brainerd an  area will be set up for the pets or a shelter set up for people and their pets.

TORNADO WATCH: Issued to alert people to the possibility of tornado development in your area.

TORNADO WARNING: Issued when a tornado has actually been sighted or is indicated by radar.

Public Domain tornado photo

 A free Skywarn class offered by the National Weather Service will be held 10 - 11:30 a.m. on April 28th at the Brainerd Fire Hall.  This will be to train volunteers in the detection and reporting of life-threatening storms.For more information call 824-1044 or 824-1055.  For more information on Skywarn, go to www.skywarn.org. 

"The No. 1 goal is the safety and security of our residents," Bowen said, "If they are prepared it's going to make it a lot easier if something happens."

                                          Click on right side links for more information.

 Kathleen Lordbock

Re$ale Design in Brainerd, MN 

Having read several good ideas from Active Rain members on handling their inventory - I've haven't come across anyone used the bar-coding system and bar-code scanners. Couldn't find it upon doing a search either - so here we go. It appears  that you can embed a lot of information in your numbers as to the items number, description, price paid, rental price you would ask for.  Not having any experience with this system, but knowing that if I keep building inventory I'll need to change out how I do things . I'm asking for input from all you stagers out there.  Good idea- I do that - stay away - experiences( other that self scanning for prices at a Target Global Market sale).

The following is off Amazon: 

Program  to make bar-code labels 

 Bar Codes Made Easy is just what it does. You are instantly produce bar code labels quickly and look like a pro! It can
generate different types of bar-codes, instead of having to go buy them. So good money saver. 1000+ fonts for PC/Mac. No downloads required. With a simple three steps -1) Choose your Label Type 2) Choose Bar Code 3) add the personal stuff...and hit print.

Big money saver.

 Bar code Reader

 Product Description
The WLP 4170 CCD is a rugged and accurate all-purpose bar-code scanner. It has the ability to scan all major linear barcodes, such as UPC-A or Code 39, with the added flexibility of scanning PDF417 (2D) bar-codes. With a scan rate of over 200 scans/second and the accuracy of CCD technology, the WLP 4170 will meet your most demanding office and warehouse needs.

 I'm very visually oriented,so I am taking photos as Patti Walker suggested in her blog but still think I need more.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

  Dry blog, so I gave you a  photo!

Kathleen Lordbock

Re$ale Design

Brainerd, MN 

     First let me introduce myself.  My name is Baylin and I am a long haired German Shepherd, who also happens to be an honorary police dog. I was adopted by Kathleen Lordbock (Re$ale Design) and given to her daughter for a birthday present.  Boy was she surprised !  Kathleen took Allison to the Heartland Animal Rescue  Team site in Brainerd, Minnesota to walk the dogs.  There I was way down on the end with a sign on my cage reading “Happy Birthday, Allison—I’m your new best friend.”  There were ribbons and everything.  The nice people at H.A.R.T. had me all brushed up and even my teeth were polished.  I think that my teeth are exceptionally white, anyway.

     Well to dogress ( I like to make up my own words), my Kathleen spends a lot of time on Active Rain reading and blogging (sounds gross, doesn’t it). She is a home stager, but I’m really not into that kind of thing.  I prefer my toys out where I can find them and don’t even think of taking my doggy blanket!

Anyway, I was dogressing again—she goes on a new site for dog lovers and there I was.  I mean there he was, looking like me.  Not only was he trying to look like me. but he was going by an assumed name, which I assume wasn’t his.  If you look closely at my photo you will see that not only am I better looking but I’m also very intelligent.  I bet that other "what’s his name" does not even know how to type.

        BAYLIN                                   BELLA

 Check out your local animal rescue for a new best friend like Baylin.

The Brainerd area citizens are keeping true to their vow taken 65 years ago.  This April 9, they will hold a memorial ceremony marking the 65th Anniversary of the Fall of Bataan.  The 34th Tank Company left Brainerd with 82 officers and men.  Of these, 61 accompanied the 194th overseas to the Philippines. 28 died in POW camps, 3 were killed in action, one man was wounded and evacuated and 29 survived captivity.  Out of the original 61 guardsmen who left  with the Brainerd unit only 29 returned  to Brainerd after the end of WW2. The 194th was awarded three Presidential Unit Citations for outstanding performance of duty in action.

All interested are invited to a special program at the All Veterans Memorial, which is in downtown Brainerd, Minnesota  next to  the County Courthouse.  The ceremony starts at 11:00 A.M. on Monday, April 9, 2007.

The nearby Crow Wing County Historical Society Museum will have a display of artifacts from the 194th Battalion members who defended the Philippine Islands.  Museum hours are from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M., Tuesday through Saturday until April 27. Join us in honoring the heroes of Bataan at this Memorial Ceremony.

Brainerd area citizens funded the purchase of the courthouse bells that chime daily and are heard through out the
city - "lest we forget".

Kathleen Lordbock

Re$ale Design-Home Staging and Interior Redesign services

Brainerd, MN 

Although it is still early spring with a foot of snow on the ground here at our rural
Brainerd, Minnesota ranch, we know that "it" will happen.  With two large German Shepherds and a lovable but nosy mutt "it" could happen soon.  One of these days, while checking under a wood pile or shed , at least one of the dogs will encounter a peppermint kitty and he will let them have "it".  Skunk spray , one of the most obnoxious smells, works quite well for the sprayer.  The sprayed upon however have burning eyes, nausea, and owners who no longer want them as close companions. 

There are a number of commercial preparations, none of which I have found to be worth their price.  So grab a glass of tomato juice and drink that as you prepare the following recipe:

• ONE QUART OF 3 PERCENT HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
• 1 CUP BAKING SODA
• 1 TEASPOON OF LIQUID SOAP 

This needs to be used shortly after mixing and should not be stored, as it gives off oxygen gas, which could case a closed container to burst.  For large or long haired dogs, you will need more batches. Don't hesitate to repeat the process if odors linger.

Accoding to Wikipedia:

The singular musk-spraying ability of the skunk has not escaped the attention of biologists: the names of the family and the most common genus (Mephitidae, Mephitis) mean "stench", and Spilogale putorius means "stinking spotted weasel". The word skunk is a corruption of an Abenaki name for them, segongw or segonku, which means "one who squirts" in the Algonquian dialect

Keep in mind that skunks go into inactivity during our long Minnesota winters and winter is just around the corner.

ENJOY! 

Kathleen Lordbock- Home Staging and Interior Redesign in the Brainerd Lakes area

Re$ale Design 

  Miss Minnesota - Nicole Swanson & Allison Lordbock- Miss Brainerd Lakes

My neighboring town of Pillager , MN. in Cass County recently held their annual Fiddle Contest.  This was the 23rd year of this event and was held again at the Pillager High School.  It was a wonderful blend of both the young (6 years) and the not so young (90 years) with a wide range of talent not necessarily lining up with their years of life.  This year's event drew 28 fiddlers from around the State of Minnesota.

If you play the violin or want to learn, check with your local high school.  Most of them with an orchestra program intact offer a summer arts program with group and individual lessons.  These are often taught by the top seated orchestra students now on summer break and are reasonably priced.  For a little more money, you can sign up with the orchestra teacher looking to pick up some additional funds for the summer.

One of my favorite string players is our present Miss Minnesota, Nicole Swanson.  When she plays her viola I have seen grown men shed tears.  With our Minnesotan Scandinavian backgrounds that is pretty impressive.

And she is...both pretty and impressive!   

Kathleen Lordbock

Home Staging and Interior Redesign

Re$ale Design -located in Brainerd, MN