This past weekend I decided to take a little break from my usual surroundings. I live in the Twin Cities, and I wanted to get away from the city life for just a couple days and unwind. A friend of mine reccommended Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge as a good place for a weekend get-a-way. After doing a little bit of research I found out that they are considered one of the best Minnesota Lake Resorts around.   It turned out to be a great decision on my part, as I ended up spending my weekend playing golf, swimming and all around relaxing without a skyscraper in site! 04/15/2010

Here are two great homes I recently photographed and did Virtual Tours of for Kuepers Construction, Inc of Brainerd/Baxter...   More photos at Minnesota Luxury Properties More photos at Brainerd Lake Homes        PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  CY: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  YCat: wait...  I: wait...  Top: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  C: wait...  SD: wait...   01/30/2009

                                                  photo by Hawknose Harlequin    Announcing. that in response to the slow market in housing, the Weyerhaeuser Company's Deerwood Minnesota plant would be indefinitely closed.  Also, closing production will be the oriented strand board plants that are located in Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada and Wawa, Ontario, Canada.     The Deerwood, Mn, plant employs 158 workers and produces engineered strand lumber. Steven Rogel, Weyerhaeuser chairman, president and chief executive officer said in a news release "The decline in North American housing starts has reduced demand for wood products, requiring us to rationalize our supply of OSB and engineered wood."     Lisa Paxton, chamber chief executive offices said, "Any time this happens it's a surpri... 10/29/2007

Woodblock prints, paintings, and bird carvings by Fergus Falls artist Charles Beck will be featured through September 16th at the Ripple River Gallery near Deerwood, Minnesota.The exhibit will  include 15 woodblock prints completed in the last two years and new wood sculptures of blue herons and egrets. Beck studied art at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.  He earned a Master's Degree in fine arts from the University of Iowa.  Charles lives in Fergus Falls, MN with his wife, Joyce.  For more information call 218-678-2575, e-mail ripriv@mlecmn. net or visit the Ripple River Gallery site. 08/18/2007

  photo by shipperphile4life In the next few days,more than 400 members of the Minnesota National Guard will leave the state to deploy to Kosovo, joining an international security force. The soldiers are from the 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry headquartered in Mankato."This mission is ideally suited for the Army National Guard because it involves two key areas we specialize in - community assistance and homeland defense." said Major General Larry Shellito. The soldiers leave for Camp Atterbury, Indiana for training for their next mission, including lessons in driving military vehicles on the narrow roads of Kosovo and identifying and reacting to land mines. Being just a few miles , as the crow flies, from our own Camp Ripley, MN and usually working on the grounds, a least for a  month ea... 07/17/2007