iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Got absolutely destroyed at Scrabble tonight, thanks to draws like this.

An alphabetically sorted scrabble board, showing all vowels. A,e,e,I,o,o,u.

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Some more leaf pics from the Honeymoon Trail, which is on the back/west side of the Sawtooth Mountains west of Tofte/Lutsen

The Honeymoon Trail showing a bright fall color collage

0112

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Now that we're back in our hotel in Duluth and have charged up my phone a bit, whomever of y'all that said to head to the west side of the Tofte/Lutsen mountains for fall colors was absolutely correct. Leaf colors were amazing.

We have red and orange leaf colors popping in the foreground, and in the hills in the background, a wave of fall colors.

The back of a road sign is a bit distracting from the red and orange hillside behind the road

A dirt road with a vibrant canopy of fall
colors

More vibrant leaf colors over a dirt road in northern Minnesota

1221

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Up in Duluth for our Anniversary weekend, caught a big boat leaving the Duluth harbor...

Pic of a large laker leaving the Duluth harbor, the lift bridge is up

That same big boat going into lake Superior, there's a full moon with a little bit of reflection on the lake

0130

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Also found Woodbury on SD's list, but wikipedia didn't list any history on England's, and check out the highlighted bit here, it's a suburb just like ours... (15)

snip of the Wikipedia entry on Woodbury England, highlighting a bit that it's 7 miles southeast of the city of Exeter, eerily similar to MN's Woodury's position to Saint Paul...

020

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Somehow Chester lists for MA but not MN, so there's 12...

snip of a google map showing the small town of Chester MN, east of Rochester MN on US-14

130

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I was at last Saturday's Minneapolis show and there was just a sea of gray hair and bald heads in front of me... speaking of 33rd reunion, here's my 1993 ticket stub from the same venue...

beat up ticket stub from the Sugar show on April 29th, 1993 at First Avenue, Minneapolis

170

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Getting excited for the big show tonight, pretty sure I won't be the only grey haired guy there that also saw them forever ago...

A ticket stub from 33 years ago, Sugar at First Avenue, April 29, 1993.

A screen shot of my phone with my digit tickets for Tonight's Sugar concert at First Avenue

130

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Vadnais Heights FD doing their annual 9-11 thing over 694 in Shoreview...

Two fire trucks on the Victoria St bridge over 694, one of which is a ladder truck with the ladder extended, hanging a big US Flag. Yep, it's 9/11.

011

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Two already cooked rotisserie chickens from Sam's Club, $9.96. Two whole raw chickens from the same Sam's Club, that I am rotissing myself? $28.04. follow me for more financial advice.

Here's two chickens that I seasoned and put on a rotisserie skewer to cook for dinner. On my recteq xfire and a motorized rotisserie.

390

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Number one and two at our precinct this morning! Go Peggy!

Pic of a voting machine showing an American flag, the time of 7:05am and #2 recorded today

1131

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Given the squirrels have been annihilating my garden,let me introduce you to my $12 Serrano pepper.

One small Serrano pepper from the plant on my deck. It's in my hand and *maybe* two inches long.

160

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Haven't tried any of those, but I can recommend a religious one, this stuff is pretty tasty. Got it from Beisswingers Ace Hardware, they have a *lot* of seasonings and sauces there, like a crazy selection...

000

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Using a combination of 2020's technology (fancy pellet grill and wireless temp probes) along with the best of the 1970's (the motorized rotisserie) in order to cook two Costco whole chickens for roughly 50% MORE than it would have cost me to buy precooked rotisserie chickens.

Two whole chickens slowly spinning around a pellet grill.

150

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Looks like I just missed my chance to screenshot a triple digit temp over here in the 55109 about 20 minutes ago. Good thing it's cooled off a bit already...

Screen shot of my Ambient Weather station showing today's high of 100.8, it's currently a much more respectable 99.5 degrees here in Maplewood...

010

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Missed posting this parade entrant earlier...

Two women dressed in Handmaid Tales garb

030

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

We got a local construction company driving several big trucks

Tractor with a flat ed trailer hauling a bunch of probably employees down the parade route

000

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

We got a school bus company looking for drivers with bonus cute kids in a little bus

Regular sized bus followed by a little remotely controlled kid bus

Closeup of two little kids that I hope have plenty of sunscreen

000

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

We got the Forest Lake high school marching band playing Kate Bush Running up that Hill

060

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

We have a Delorean, and city royalty

Didn't catch what he's advertising but here's a guy in a Delorean in the parade

Young ladies in tiaras whom are apparently the local riyalty

020

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I haven't had an occasion to open this yet...

A bottle of Blanton's bourbon I came across at a random liquor store in Connecticut.

4380

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Neglected to post a pic of the result of my first cook on my new pellet grill last night. Did Saint Louis spareribs, took 90 min more than the six hours I planned, but turned out very tasty. Pretty smoke ring, nice bark and was still tender. Did not wrap it, probably will try that next time.

Some pork ribs showing a nice reddish pink smoke ring, along with a sauced up bark

050

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Bought a thing, doing a thing today. Will report back about success or failure..

Fancy new recteq pellet grill on my deck. A bit of smoke coming out.

Three racks of raw Saint Louis ribs placed on the new grill, probes and wire sticking out of them.

Fancy computer controls on the recteq, showing my target temp of 225, actual temp of 180, probe 1 at 49 and probe 2 at 54...

050

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

ugh #mspweather it's already gross and sticky outside, took the dog out, 2/10 do not recommend. 6am and the dewpoint is already 74.2 degrees, yuck...

snip of my Maplewood MN weather station showing a temp of 75.4 degrees F and what's worse, a dewpoint of 74.2 degrees f. at 6am.

060

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

while yeah, yeah, We Needed This Rain (trademark #msp ) please pour one out for my lilacs and my pool filter...

There's a big bunch of lilacs on the right side of the pic hanging over my deck rail, just drooping in despair over the rain, the harbinger of the end of the lilac bloom season. Also pictured on the left is my pool, getting a lot of lilac blossoms stuck in the skimmer as a result of the last couple of days of wind and rain...

030

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I'm fucking old. Found a stack of beer coasters in my garage, including several of these Surly "Twin Cities Newest Brewery". I believe Surly is releasing a 20th anniversary beer this year, maybe I can trade this antique coaster for a beer....

250

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Okay #MSP old timers, how long ago did Snyder Drugs leave the twin cities? Looks like there's still a few stores in the UP... Found this cleaning out mom's townhouse...

An unopened half gallon container of Epsom salts from a defunct drug store chain

350

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did, actually. Relatedly, I was taking patio furniture out of my shed today and I can now easily reach my pool noodle inventory. Wanna meet up and re-ensafen the sign? (The smaller ones are less fun in the pool, better for signage, could go blue this time)

A pic of a bunch of pool noodles in my shed, the smaller diameter ones work really well for sign protection...

120

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Sadie is mostly soft, and she's rarely very far away.

Me and Sadie the Saint Bernard. Mostly her though as she sits on my lap.

110

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I have this one that needs a bit of cleaning up, but it's yours to borrow ..

An old, dirty white rotary phone from a shelf in my garage.

010

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Is stuff from the 1970's "antique" yet? Get a load of this baby:

A complete west bend electric fondue pot in the original box. Comes with the fondue forks and the recipe book/instruction manual.

Closeup of a sticker showing this on sale for $29.99 from Dayton's.

000

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Crap. Cleaned the ash out of my grill so I can cook some steaks and I guess it's time to shop for a new grill. It's maybe six years old? And we use it all the time... (Still grilling steaks tonight, just on the right side so the coals don't fall through and start my deck on fire...)

Picture of my charcoal grill with a hole in the barrel on the left side.

A closeup of the heart shaped hole that has rusted through my grill

000

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

get your rides in during the AM, looks like it gets wet in the afternoon and wetter in the evening...

too much to alt text, sorry. this is a graphic from NWS Chanhassen showing rain chances for a bunch of MN and WI locations with percentage chances broken down in three hour intervals. for the twin cities, 5% chance of rain 6am-9am, 10% chance 9am-noon, 25% chance 12-3pm, 65% chance 3pm-6pm, 85% chance 6pm-9pm, 90% chance 9pm-midnight.

120

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

If you see this post a concert photo you took it you'd like

The Boss and Tom Morello at first avenue

030

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

I dunno, if I was a tow truck driver, I'd put my good buddy in the driver's seat... (I took this as I was leaving work, this is one of my trucks being towed to one of my drivers who broke down...)

A large blue tow truck pulling a red day cab tractor. (Called a day cab because there's no sleeper berth)

A close crop of the other pic shows the head of a pretty large teddy bear bucked into the passenger seat of the red truck

051

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Contrails! (And a nice early sunset, but whatever.) Somehow or other this is a conspiracy. And there's probably a conspiratorial reason the jet in the second photo *doesn't* have any contrails.

Contrails through the treeline. One old, one new and a third one across the lower sky in the trees.

Here's a jet with no contrails crossing two other contrails.

000

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

It's that time of the year when you can see exactly how high the sun is getting... (Pic of my neighbor's north facing back yard, can see exactly where the sun has melted the snow that fell last weekend...)

My neighbor has a split level house, in the foreground there is a very definite line where the snow has melted as it rose over his garage, and another line further to the north over the main part of his house where it's taller.

141

dan'o lantern @dan-prokosch.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Back from my pre-blizzard shopping trip, went to Menards (almost costco-ish busy), and here:

A pic of the front of Morelli's liquor store and market on Payne Ave, an east side Saint Paul institution. But bring cash or a check, they don't take credit cards...

090