November is almost gone

The grey cloudy November days are almost behind us. 

We have been working upstairs vacuuming everything in sight, moving furniture and dusting. The vaulted ceiling is a bugger, I like to get all the cobwebs and dust.  Far Guy has been a great help. ( he dusts his own trains!)   One more day of some odds and ends and making the beds up with fresh sheets and I will be done up there.  There is a method to my cleaning madness.  I don’t want to decorate the Shiny Brite Tree until it is spotless up there. 

As I have been cleaning out nooks and crannies I found a bunch of “stuff” that can be sold. Imagine that.

We have about an inch of snow on the ground…not exactly a winter wonderland yet.  I keep hoping for a good snow, it would seem warmer if we had a foot of snow.  Our cold is a bone chilling damp cold…typical November for us…a warm spell then a really cold spell. Roads that are fine one day are icy the next.

I like my garden flag it provides a spot of color to an otherwise drab yard.

Thanksgiving Dinner Report

We went to Jen and Andy’s home up north for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was –21 F or –29 C eh that morning…just a tad chilly.

I have eaten just a few dinners off this China.  It belonged to Far Guy’s Mom, when they moved into the apartment and had an auction sale I purchased a four piece place setting…later when Far Guys Mom moved from the apartment to the nursing home Jen was gifted with the rest of the set.

Andy’s brother Carl and sister in law Roberta were there with their son Arthur.

A big boy and a little boy.  Arthur would hit the chair, then Adam would do the same thing and Arthur would collapse in giggles. It must have been a boy thing.

Where did the big boy go?  Adam is in the computer room…he escaped.

We had a lovely dinner.  Smoked turkey, au gratin potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, the best homemade crescent rolls ever, corn, green beans, a cool whip green apple snickers salad, various pickles and olives, a wonderful Champagne and pumpkin or apple pie and pumpkin bread. 

Afterwards the menfolk did the dishes and we let them…we were out numbered anyway 3 to 6.

We watched a crazy movie called A Million Ways To Die In The West,  I had a nap and then we headed home before it began to snow. 

Remember to place your guess to be in the drawing for the Christmas Ornament!

Guess What Ornament?

Time for a bit of fun.  Thanksgiving is over.  I will have a Thanksgiving report soon…maybe tomorrow. 

If you would like to be entered into the 2014 Ornament Giveaway then take a guess at what we carved.

Here are the hints.

The ornament has six pieces.  They are carved from Yellow Popple…my new favorite carving wood and a popsicle stick. The six pieces are glued and pinned together to form the ornament.

One part is green.

Guess away…that is all the hints for now. 

If you want to be included in the giveaway then leave me a comment with your guess or for those of you who are shy shoot me an email. My email address can be found in my profile.

I have two ornaments all set to be mailed out.  I will draw two lucky winners on Wednesday December 3rd  at 9PM so you have till then to comment with your best guess!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A student was asked,”What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?”  He replied “I am thankful I am not a turkey.”

Just think…if Benjamin Franklin had spoken his thoughts out loud about the Turkey being a better bird for our National Symbol we could be roasting Bald Eagles.  That should be food for thought for the rest of the day.

Wistful Wednesday: Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpas

Growing up I cannot remember having a Thanksgiving Dinner anyplace else but my maternal Grandparents.  There was no choice…no invitations ever went out it was just expected that you would be there.  It was the same with Christmas Dinner. 

I don’t have any memories of a holiday dinner in my own home.  Confirmation dinners or Baptism dinners and maybe an Easter dinner or two but not Thanksgiving or Christmas.

No one could make stuffing (or dressing if you choose to call it that) like my grandmother, it had giblets and apples and raisins.  It was my favorite…that and some dark turkey meat and a mound of mashed potatoes along with some dill pickles!  If you helped to set the serving table you could snitch some pickles…taste testing of course. 

The serving table was the large yellow metal table with about three leaves in the heart of the kitchen. 

Grandma had a large farm kitchen. As you came in the doorway the huge fridge sat alone.  There was a spot for someone to sit in between the fridge and the massive red countertop that held the sink.  The table sat in front of the plants…off to the right of the plants was a huge pantry off to the left was a storage area and a private bathroom. On the other wall was the stove, I remember when it was just a stove…it eventually became a stove, countertop and cupboards. Chairs would be lined up in the area behind the table along the plant tables on the wall covered with windows that faced south.  Grandma always had something blooming.   The Aunts would line up on those chairs and watch the goings on in the kitchen. Mostly they gossiped.

I was a dish washer.  It seemed like I washed dishes all afternoon long.  I was the oldest grandchild. This was before automatic dishwashers…not that my Grandparents would have had one anyways.  There would be about 40 people give or take a few babies.  That was a lot of dishes.  The men would set up card tables in the living room and the dining room right after dinner and play Whist.  The women just occupied the kitchen…they fed little ones and occasionally hauled someone off to Grandma and Grandpa’s bedroom to change someone’s diapers.

I always wanted to be home before dark, but there was the inevitable “supper” after the big dinner and pie and coffee.  I would put my coat on and sit in the living room right in front of the television to watch The Wizard of Oz.  Of course I never got to see it all. It was always interrupted by the ride home…25 - 30 minutes that is about how long it took to get home.  I remember sitting in the back seat peaking over the front seat wondering why we couldn’t go faster. 

Summer of 1952, I was almost 1 year old.  That is my Grandmother Elsie and her Mother In Law my Great Grandmother Hatwig. I was their first…the first Grandchild and the first Great Grandchild.

Today as I ready a few things for Thanksgiving, I wonder how my Grandmother did it.  She must have been exhausted.

The Contest Results Are In

Last August I entered some photographs in the local Electrical Cooperative’s Calendar Contest. I asked for input over on my photo blog…thank you to those of you who responded!

When I sent in the photos I asked for a reply and a nice gal replied “Yes we have your photos…thank you.”  Then I didn’t hear a thing.  Months went by and I didn’t hear a thing…

I was certain that none of my photos were good enough…oh well…one night in the middle of the night I thought well after the first of the year I am going over to the office and see which photographs made the cut.  The only rules were that it be a horizontal photo with no people and be in the Electric Coop’s Service Area.

Lo and behold…Far Guy and Chance brought me a packet from the mail box yesterday.  There was a letter inside.  It congratulated me…and they chose four of my photos for the 2015 Calendar!!! 

I immediately thought which four?  Are you curious?

As I slipped the calendar out of the envelope I certainly must have squealed!

A photo I took just two miles down the road made the FRONT COVER!!

The snow on the bird feeders in our yard. I included this photo at the last moment…glad I did.  It wasn’t even a possibility earlier.

The photo of the deer at sunset in Steve and Jo’s field made it at the bottom of the June page.

My favorite sunflowers made the August page!

I am just thrilled.  I told Far Guy he is getting one for Christmas!  I think they are giving them away at the open house they are having in December!

The competition was stiff.

I am still smiling! I applaud all the photographers.  I don’t know any of them.

I won twenty dollars a photo and it will be taken off of December’s electricity bill.  I can live with that!

It ain’t over till it is over…or just when you think all is lost ..it isn’t! Life is funny like that sometimes.

Warm Spell

We had a warm spell!  It got up to 37F or 2C eh on Sunday!! Much of our snow melted!

I took advantage of the warm weather to clean my car one last time.  Chance’s quilt that he has in the backseat needed to be washed.  He was real worried when I brought it into the house…I think he equates that quilt with rides.

I finally changed out the Halloween Decorations for Thanksgiving ones.  Blew some leaves off the patio and carried away two plastic chairs that were left out. And gave the outside windows where Chance looks inside a quick wash!

Saturday the snow was melting in the fields.

I have to make a grocery list and do some baking…I guess the grands want some pumpkin bread.  Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pumpkin bread.

Paige liked the bracelet I made for her.  Eventually I will show it to you along with the dress it is supposed to match!  The girls are getting excited for the Winter Formal…they asked us to go out to dinner with them that night…how nice is that!

The warm spell was short lived we are headed back to the cold temperatures again and some below zero temperatures too.

Puppies

Nothing better than a whole litter of puppies…puppy breath galore!

Five weeks and three days ago our Granddaughter’s dog Jade gave birth to thirteen puppies, twelve survived.  We saw them the day after they were born.  Yesterday we visited again!

They grew!

Here they are attacking a water dish…it had to be filled twice.

They each have a collar with their name on it. Originally it was to keep track of their weight. Yes!  I got all twelve in a photo!!

Maddie and Deacon, she has claimed him as her own.

Paige being a self proclaimed “More of a cat person” holds Hunter.

He has a nose already…Trica was cooking chili and this pup knew it was food!

Trica calls them “poopies”…as you can imagine IF you have ever raised a litter of pups there is a whole lot of peeing and pooping going on as they make the transition from nursing to solid food and water.

Jade is a good Mom she still nurses them once or twice a day.

Hunter grabs a quick drink.  It wasn’t long before Jade walked off.

Only four of the puppies still need homes.  All the puppies should be ready to go to their new homes soon.  They are eating hard food and drinking more water than they are spilling…all good signs that they will be ready to go soon.

They have a nice enclosure indoors.  Cozy and warm.  The girls and other family members have handled these puppies nicely.  I am certain I got to pet them all a couple of times.  Some puppies are more reserved than others…one was just like an old wise dog the way he looked at me.  Others bark, growl, whine.  One leapt into the air about four inches…they attacked each other and bit each others ears…one even had the audacity to grab another by the neck and give it a shake.   This last stage of puppieness is the most fun to watch…how they interact within the litter will determine their personality.  Back when I raised Shetland Sheepdogs (Shelties) we called this Puppy TV. Luckily we just had litters of four to watch over…not litters of twelve!

 

Paige petting Chance.  He was in to see the puppies a couple of times…he was curious but not impressed.  Jade was sure happy to see him and she kept kissing him..he hates that!  He had to keep one eye on Far Guy cause he didn’t want to be left behind.

Small Town

I frequent the Ben Franklin Store in Park Rapids… otherwise known as “the dime store” or “the five and dime”  although nothing is a dime anymore.  They have paper and paints, yarn and who knows what all.  I was looking for some small Christmas containers for cookies for the cookie exchange.  I got some there last year.  I hate going to Wally World…maybe I will stop by the new Dollar Store where everything is supposed to be a dollar.  There are buildings sitting empty around town..yet they build new. Go figure.

It has been a Ben Franklin for a good long time.  Back when Norman and Gladys Fulton had the store it was a Ben Franklin.  A classmate and next door neighbor of Far Guys probably would have inherited the store.  Norm and Gladys had no children, they took Danny under their wing as much as they could…sadly he was killed in a car accident in 1970.

You can barely see the name on the Fulton Bldg…but it is still there.

Norman was an only child born in 1914 , his mother was Belle J.Sobles Fulton Schmider and his father was the famous Fred Fulton Heavyweight Boxer.  Lena Fulton helped raise Norman…she was his stepmother…she married Fred in 1939 but they must have lived together for some time.  Lena was 18 years older than Fred and 67 years old when they married. There must be more to that story…and it must have caused many tongues to wag about town.

There are lots of stories about Fred Fulton…some not so pretty…did he throw some fights or “take a dive” as some report?  He must have.  He had quite a temper and hit his brother once…there was a law suit.   He bought White City Resort in Park Rapids and ran it successfully for many years.  There was a supper club and a dance pavilion out over the water in the late 1920’s and 1930’s.  You had to pass by the drinking place known as “The Bloody Bucket”  on your way out there.

Far Guy remembers seeing Fred Fulton around town and having to look up up up!  Fred was 6 feet 6 1/2 inches tall.

Back when I was the Director at the museum, I ran onto an old packet full of papers and old photos of Fred Fulton.  With the help of volunteer Tess we organized everything in Acid Free sleeves and put them all in a three ring binder.  History which someone may want to look at someday.

Winter is here

Winter is here early…a whole six weeks early.  I wonder if we get extra credit for that come spring?

The snow stick remains at 1 1/2 inches…maybe some blew away.  The wind has been wicked. Not much compared to the lake effect snow in New York State recently.

The Mill Pond on Straight Lake has 6 to 8 inches of ice.

The ice is clear and you can see the bottom of the lake.  Yes, that is a crack the ice cracks as it freezes.

There are a few fishermen out there.

That is ice…the snow just blew off of that portion of ice.  Yes someone lost their bobber in the tree!

We went for a ride since the sun was out.  We didn’t see much…a Crow…or maybe a Raven and possibly a Magpie.  No turkeys…no deer.

I sorted beads…it drove my husband and other baby brother nuts watching me whilst they had coffee…they had all kinds of suggestions for me. ( A straw, then a straw with a bit of nylon stretched over it so I wouldn’t choke to death on the beads.) I ordered a mixed bag of 11,000 beads and I am sorting them. ( My other baby brother asked me if I was counting them…ha…not this time.)  I sort them first to size and then to color.  Just the kind of organizational thing I enjoy.  I cannot help that it drives the menfolk nuts.

Some area news

The orange trees are still in the same state of orange as they were two months ago.

Every time I drive past them I expect that they will have lost their needles….maybe they are just discolored needles and not dead needles.  I can hope!

In Park Rapids Fish Hook River was frozen but the lake was still open.

Fish Hook Lake

Yesterday the wind howled and blew up a mini blizzard for awhile.  We stayed home.  I busied myself with beads and cooking.  Cook once and eat three times..that is my new motto as I packaged up the leftovers and put them in the freezer.  Last week we made French Dip (Pork Roast baked with a can each of French Onion Soup, Beef Broth and Beef Consume)…and that was good for three nights with another night packaged for the freezer.

On Tuesday I had lunch with my cousins.  Afterwards I hit the bookstore.  A book was released last summer.  I donated a old photo of my father in laws for the book and I helped research some of the  the history. I was thanked in the acknowledgements.  I thought that was nice.   So I bought the book.  The Best of Itasca.  I had hoped to get to one of the several book signings in the area…but that just didn’t happen.

Oh yes I finished with the Cousin’s Cookbook!! Yippee!  The cookbook program and a copy of all the recipes is in my cousin Kathy’s capable hands.  I proofed it one last time…I am certain it will have some mistakes…but so be it…it is what it is. I will be glad to see it in print.  It is a project that I have been working on for three years..maybe four. 

Wistful Wednesday: Slumber Party

My best high school friend Cathie had the best slumber parties!  She and her sister had the whole upstairs to themselves and they had their own bathroom…pure heaven for me where we had one bathroom and had to share it with five other family members.

What did we do…oh we did each others hair, played with makeup and nail polish, read those movie magazines, listened to music and giggled.

I remember one time when we were packed in the room like sardines…

This must have been about 1965…give or take a year.

That is me with the curlers and the blue thingy holding the curlers in place…I can still feel the pain of sleeping on curlers. That is Nancy giving me advice…probably because she had perfect hair and could wash and air dry hers…me not so much…I have enough natural wave that mine looks all funny air dried.   She and I went horse back riding together…she had a horse and with her I learned to fish for Trout along the Straight River because that river ran through their property. We used to know where all the cool deep pools were in the river. I have not seen Nancy in years …last I heard she was in White Fish Montana.

I am not certain who collected the horses on that shelf..maybe Cindy (Cathie’s sister) or maybe they both did.

Those were fun times. 

Minnesota Cold and Miserable

Uffda the weather could be better.  The wind chill yesterday was WAY below zero. I will guess it was –20 with the wind chill. The wind was blowing 30 miles per hour and snow and dirt (Snirt) was in the air.  What snow we had is now a unpleasant beige/brown color from all the North Dakota dirt it picked up and brought to Minnesota.

On the trip to town I figured out in no time at all that I need to get out my parka…in November…that really sucks.

We took my car in for service the Check Engine Light came on once during our trip and then it went off.  We were almost home when it came on again.  We made an appointment.  Yesterday we drove both vehicles to town, Chance and I waited for Far Guy whilst he dropped off the car.  He came out with a big grin on his face…”They said that the vehicle is registered to you and only you could request service.”  long pause…  I told them “She is waiting in the freaking car outside, I can have her come in and deal with you…they declined.” The car is still under warranty… a Pollution Control Valve on the Valve Cover was leaking so they replaced the whole valve cover.

The Craft Sale was last Saturday, I sold some “stuff.”  It was a fun day, I got to visit with a number of people that I had not seen in awhile.

Noah went deer hunting on Saturday, he told me he didn’t enjoy sitting so still watching for a deer.  I told him that it was okay…not everyone is a deer hunter.  My Dad finally got his buck on Sunday afternoon.  Josh my nephew got a beautiful trophy buck…and I heard that one was on it’s way to the taxidermist!

I haven’t taken any photos lately…so far the snow and cloudy skies are uninspiring for me.

My baby brother sent me this photo with permission to use it on the blog.

Mount Hood with Mount Jefferson in the background.

He took it out the plane window last Friday afternoon as he was heading to Oregon…probably for a Beavers game and to take his wife out for her birthday!  She reaches one of those milestone birthdays this week.

The Wedding

November 1st in Indiana the day started out cold…and there was snow on the patio furniture.  Our hope was that during the day the weather would clear up and the sun would come out.

We had almost the whole day…the wedding was to take place at 5:30.   Chance and I manned the fort with Ernie while Far Guy, Jen, Andy, Noah and Adam were out doing cave explorations.   The dogs and I got Ron organized and looking dashing in his tux and sent him off.  Cufflinks…who wears them anymore…and it was a good thing the tie was tied it only had to be adjusted to avoid strangulation. No snow on the pumpkins or the Mum’s.

 

No snow or rain and the sun is shining!  It was 44 degrees!  It could be worse.

It was warm inside.

The cake…I watched the gal decorate the cake in place…it was interesting!

I kidnapped the groom for some photos in the Vineyard.

Here is the bride, Bethany and her father Ron.

They had a beautiful ceremony.  The white cross is a unity cross.

The Unity Cross is actually a small sculpture.  The outer part is placed on the wood stand by the groom it symbolizes his strength and boldness, the bride places the inner part which is delicate and beautiful. Three pegs which represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are placed into the sculpture securing the outside to the inside…that symbolizes God’s place in the covenant of marriage.

The happy couple…a bit chilly but happy!

The bride was beautiful!

The Mother of the Bride (Jan… Far Guy’s only sibling) and the Bride.

The Bride and her only and favorite Uncle… Far Guy.  The wind was coming up and I made him wear his  do rag.

It was a lovely wedding!  We were happy to be there.  We  enjoyed a cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres of smoked salmon, cheese and crackers, little meatballs, chips and salsa then after a short time the wedding meal was served.   So we ate again, roast pork, champagne chicken, haricot verts, potatoes, gravy and buns.  Then later we had wedding cake.  There was wine available all evening…Far Guy and I didn’t have any…Far Guy cannot drink with his medications and me…well if I drink a half of glass of wine and I would be looking for a place to lie down and sleep.

After awhile the music started and there was a dance.  We all danced at least one dance…and both of our grandsons danced with their Mother.  We left the dance early… Andy, Jen, Noah and Adam’s plane was leaving early the next morning.

Chance was at the wedding too…he did just fine waiting in the car.