Chance: Getting My Shots

It was time for my shots.  Especially the Rabies amd Lymes as we live in the woods.  We got up just past daylight. I did my outside duties and we headed to town to the Rabies Clinic at our Vets office.  Healthy dogs can get low cost shots one day only in the spring.

We waited in line for about 55 minutes before I got shot three times, twice in the butt and once in the shoulder.  The girls there knew my name and everything.

Here was some of my scenery.

A sweet girl dog named Roxie.

A boy dog named Ruger.

Big dogs…we still had a little snow.

We all survived, I was a bit tired from all the excitement.

Far Side says get your pets spayed and neutered! 

First Blooms

The Marsh Marigolds or Cowslips or Caltha palustris is blooming!

There may be hope for Spring in Minnesota afterall.

The snowbirds that were here, took off as soon as the snow melted.  Yes the snow melted but it is still cold.

A Square Basket

I was not sure what kind of a basket I would make this year for May Day. I had paper at home, but would it be right for the project…how many glittery sticks did I have tucked away upstairs?  One day I had some time in between appointments so I went for the basic supplies…heavy card stock paper, some glittery fuzzy sticks and some washi tape.  I hemmed and hawed at the paper choices, I chose a pack of paper that had many spring like colors!

Oh and candy…candy or flowers are the most important element of a May Basket. I always do candy!

I have never made a square box before…but I like to work with paper and I like puzzles…and parts of this project is like a puzzle.





Step #9 is the hardest.  Practice make perfect! 

I use a bone folder to make my creases.  I lost misplaced my good one, but found an old one that works just fine. I did end up with some paper damage on the edges from the bone folder…different paper may have worked better.  But hey it is a box!

I made a paper handle and decorated it with the glittery fuzzy sticks and stapled them in place…and covered the staples with washi tape.  What?  Never heard of washi tape?  It is just pretty scotch tape…it comes in a roll with many designs and colors. Mine looks like confetti…very spring like!
I added tissue paper and candy!

You can use paper smaller than 12x12 but it must be square.  10x10 or 8x8 might work but your box would be smaller.

I am folding and folding, I have 14 plus baskets to do. I have 7 done.  I have time, May Day is Monday…and you have time to make a basket too…it doesn’t have to be fancy smancy.

I will deliver a couple of baskets before May Day, but the rest will be delivered on Monday.
The tradition as I know it:  You decorate baskets fill them with candy and you take them to neighbors and friends.  You go up to a door and hang the basket on the door knob, knock and then run, because someone will chase you and try to kiss you.  I am old, I will settle for a hug…because I am not running away.

May Baskets Ideas!
May Basket Progress 2016
The May Baskets 2015
makin May Baskets 2014
Making of the May Baskets 2013
May Baskets 2012
Thinking of May Day 2011
A May Day Reminder 2010
May Baskets!! 2009

For the birds

Many things are for the birds right now.  SNOW being in the middle of that list.

We had some different visitors.

This is a fat bird…might be an Oregon Junco passing through…maybe not.  I am not a bird expert. Maybe he isn’t fat…perhaps he is all puffed up because it is so cold.

One of the resident Woodpeckers had a fight with these visitors.

 

This little fellow found a place to hide from the snow and eat at the same time.   A short time later…a very large bird flew in and all the little birds scattered.

Some kind of Hawk….a Immature Coopers Hawk is my best guess.

Far Guy saw a White Throated Sparrow…just one. No photo.  Different birds are migrating through the area.

It snowed.  We got about 1 1/2 inches, if we get 3 inches or more at the snow stick my good friend Iggy will win a wood carving because he guessed April 15.  From the sound of the weather forecast it is a possibility.

Guess what next Monday is??   More about May Baskets tomorrow….you should think about buying some candy or flowers to make a May Basket!!

 

Watery Wednesday : April 13, 1997

These are emails I sent to family and friends in 1997 during the flood.  Emails went to: Jennifer, Carey, Jan and Ron, Katie, Laura, Ardith, Arlene, Cathie, Lorri and Kelly, Hans and  Debbie.

Subject: Still Pumping

Hello everyone!  Thank you for ALL your encouraging messages and prayers!

Today we are down to three pumps pumping. Finally shut off the big gas pump that hurts your ears.  We are maintaining with two electrics in the water, and of course our faithful sump pump in the basement.

Yesterday the water went down an inch, today an inch and a half.  Water is still on the dikes so we have to be watchful, it is encouraging to see the level go down, but we know we are still not out of the woods, but the situation is improving.  We can have water rising again because of ice jams, back flow from the Red River, dikes breaking etc. and the Sheyenne still has not crested. 

We are weary, its been a long struggle.  Mom and Dad will be back tomorrow maybe with the dogs, we will see.

The weather report is for good weather no rain and a slow decrease of water.

Gene says he hurts everywhere, he just woke up from a nap.  WE are officially disaster victims now, we registered with FEMA and you can call us water rats, mice is more accurate as they run over your boots quite often or boat people.  Even tho I have not been in it yet, tomorrow maybe I will row around!

Today Gene moved the boat up to the deck enough of the ice has melted so we can go across the lake.  You are all invited (Kelly especially) to help dump sand bags!!!! We have approximately 1800 of them to dump, each weighing between 40-60 IBS.

I have decided not to go to summer session at NDSU, I will take 30 days off, then re evaluate the second session.  I will have at least two weeks of classes to catch up with, luckily one of my instructors lives one mile west of us, so he has great sympathy and the others will be okay too.
Connie

The deck and the sand bags

Taken from the garage the cul de sac is filling with water.

**************
Neither of us can remember who took over for us when we went to register with FEMA.  I believe that Harvey our next door neighbor came over to watch our pumps.  Someone must have picked us up in a big boat to take us across the water to the landing where our vehicle was.  I recall we headed for Downtown Fargo and went into some building with very high ceilings to register and I am quite certain we went together.

The boat I am referring to was a Duck Boat that my parents brought over for us to use.

Watery Wednesday: April 10 1997
Watery Wednesday : April 9, 1997
Watery Wednesday: April 8, 1997
Watery Wednesday: April 6, 1997
Watery Wednesday: March 19 1997

Impatient

I have become impatient.  I want Spring and warmth and pretty flowers to look at and photograph.  I don’t want snow or rain…just warmth.

Creeping Phlox that will bloom in a few more weeks... maybe… if it ever warms up again.

Good News:  It didn’t snow yesterday!   Bad News : It was cold enough to snow.

April Snow

Minnesota weather can change just like that. 

We had a very nice but windy day on Saturday.

Sunday morning Winter reared it’s ugly head.  Perhaps it didn’t get the memo from Spring.

I am certain it is all my fault.  Note my trusty red snow shovel is propped up against Far Guy’s garage.

Later in the day most of the snow melted.

Unexpected encounter

On our after supper ride we noticed a bird on the edge of the road.  It most likely had been hit by a car.  It was kinda flopping around. 

Far Guy picked it up.  It was a Common Flicker.  They sure are beautiful close up.  We moved it into the ditch where at least it can die in peace or recover to see another day.

Yes we were tempted to do more for it, but sometimes wildlife is best left alone…except on a highway where someone else could run over it.

Spring Weather

We had rain this week for two days and then some appreciated sunshine.

Far Guy has been carving outside, yesterday I joined him, it was nice to sit in the sunshine.

Chance is still a bit miffed about his trip to the groomer.

Last night after supper we went for a ride, saw a nice sized Hawk that was hunting, it was fun to watch him dip and weave searching for his next meal. 

We ran onto the gopher trappers.

My nephew Josh and his children Lumbermason and Anna.

It wasn’t too long and my other baby brother and she who sees robins first drove by …so we had a family reunion in the middle of the road.

More signs of spring

We took Chance to the groomer, Georgia gave him the works.

He was a little disgruntled with us this time…he musta missed a few of his naps and got cranky.  He was not cooperative at all when I wanted to take his photo.

What a turd.  But a clean one.  I keep telling him he is handsome but he just ignores me.

The Sedum has popped up.

Yeah for green and growing things!

We have a patch of Bluestem on the east side of the house.  It was a mess, we cleaned it all up one day and hauled off two wheelbarrows of dry stuff.  We also worked on the dry rock bed that is behind the Bluestem.

We still have many twigs in the yard, we are making progress, little by little, soon the grass will be long enough I can just chop up the remaing sticks with the mower!

Far Guy heard the first Loon on April 18th.  I have not heard them yet.

Photo Project

I have been working on marking and sorting photos.  All winter I found photos here and there and would put them on my desk in a box to be sorted.  I finally made it through the entire box.  Took a photo of the sorted boxes and found a spot for them in the closet from whence they came…it was touch and go because other “stuff” almost took their spots.

I was feeling really good, and then I found a bunch more photos tucked away. I may have said a swear word or maybe even two.  Now they are on my desk …something more to be dealt with in a project I thought was done. Ongoing Projects…was a good word for me and a bad one all rolled into one.

My goal last winter was to get all the odds and ends marked.  Next winter I will attack the photo albums and make sure they are marked properly.   I gave up putting photos in albums about 1994…that was a long time ago.

I have made very little progress in the digital files…some but not much.  At least the digital files are not taking up space on my desk.

Some photos were scanned, some were shared with my other baby brother as they were duplicates.

I found many photos that made me smile…so it wasn’t all bad.

Watery Wednesday : April 10 1997

The emails continue:

Subject: Pumping

Hi everyone, pumping about 8500 gallons an hour from the sandbags in front of the deck, we have gas and will continue til the water drops or we do.  We have water all along the east side of the house, most of which is behind the bags, we added a water filled dike to our sand bags this am.

Gene says it is useless, but he keeps trying.  The chain saw artist (Gene) was at work on the deck, it now has holes galore, for the water dike and observation holes.

The water broke over the freeway this am, it should have relieved some pressure, but it is probably just running in here as fast as it is running out. ???  I hear on the radio that this water stretches from Kindred ND to way North of us.  Connie

*********

I kept thinking “It’s not so bad, I was watching the bird feeder in the yard…the water/ice was always at the same level”  Well…the bird feeder posts were froze into the ice and as the ice rose so did the feeder.

The gas pump out in front needed gas every hour.  The other pump was a small one and it was electric…you just had to make sure it didn’t get clogged.  

The water seeped beyond the first line of sand bags and that is why we put in a plastic water filled dike under the deck.  This is on the east side of the house.

Here is what it looked like in the summer of 1996.

Lake Shure is in it’s banks and the garden shed has a very large garden right behind it before reaching the lake.  Seems far enough away.

This is just outside our garage.  I think that is my Mom’s purse on the sandbags, looks like they brought us another gas can, note the duck boat off to the left.  I still have that trusty old wheelbarrow.  I am not certain when this photo was taken.  It shows the water between Stephen and Mae’s house and ours.

One of us was awake and on dike watch 24 hours a day.  We would make our rounds.  Out the patio door to check under the deck for water, then off around the south side of the house where we had two holes dug, in the holes we placed a five gallon bucket with holes in it and inside the buckets were sump pumps.   The sump pumps were on floats  and if the float didn’t activate we would do it by hand, then you walked along the west side of the house checking for water and into the garage door, where you would wipe off you yucky boots, go inside and head downstairs to the basement to check to see if water was coming in the window wells.  Then you would go back upstairs again, watch TV for a bit, warm up and make your rounds again.  The gas pump would spit and sputter at the end of an hour so you had to fill it with gas.   The person sleeping would be awakened by the absence of the motor noise.

Our basement sump pump ran almost non stop.  Gene used to time it…I don’t recall what it was ten seconds or so between pumpings…something like that.  I think we had a spare pump just in case.

Watery Wednesday: April 9

Water Wednesday: April 8

Watery Wednesday :April 6

Watery Wednesday: March 19

Allergies

Pollen is beginning to get bad.  It makes my eyes itch. 

I have drops to put in my eyes when it feels as if they would feel better if I scratched them right out of my head.  So far it is the Popples and Willows. I can hardly wait for the Pines to begin spewing pollen all over.

I saw Dracula an Allergist about my food allergies and may have results sometimes next month.  A brand new Epi Pen arrived yesterday in the mail…so I am all set.

Oh deer

On one of our evening drives we saw 21 deer.   It seems most made the winter in good shape.

There must be something left to eat in Steve’s corn field.

Some think they are safe, if they cannot see you then you cannot see them.

These two made a run for it.

Many were too far away to photograph.  I think in a one square mile area 21 is plenty to begin the year with.  About half should be Mamas having babies..uffda.

I had a smart idea to make a raised garden and grow some lettuce and tomatoes…after seeing so many deer I am having second thoughts.

Here in Minnesota the grass in the ditch will green up first and deer feed in the hours sunset and after.  They don’t look both ways before crossing the road…so they become Eagle food.  Driving after dark can be a real thrill.