Labor Day

 

Hope you are all having a great end of summer weekend. 

Far Side

Report on the 4th

We went for a pontoon ride around the lake.  It was a beautiful afternoon with no rain!  Jen and Andy joined us.

Ava was waving flags for us as we went by.  Her sisters were showing us how they jump into the lake!

There was a pontoon parade on the lake earlier in the day.

We had a nice ride came home relaxed a bit and then had supper.  Played cards in the evening and consoled Chance, Miney and Little Elvis as the fireworks commenced down on the lake.

Happy 4th of July!

Not sure what we will do today.  Sounds like thunderstorms will be active during parade time and probably during the fireworks too.  It has been raining every day…you have to mow lawn between rain showers.  We got another inch of rain in the last 24 hours.  You can almost see the grass grow.  The skeeters have hatched.

I have eggs and potatoes all cooked up for potato salad, and Far Guy cut up a bunch of fruit.  We will probably put something on the grill…burgers or chicken… or cook inside…we have to stay flexible with the weather.

We have been enjoying the quiet, no fireworks every night down at the lake, if it ever stops raining they will have to be brave souls to light off fireworks covered in skeeters. 

We can always watch fireworks on tv….skeeter free tv.

Have a Happy 4th whatever you are doing!

Happy 4th of July!

Not sure what we will do today.

There is a parade in town, but with all the people and traffic I am not sure we will go. 

It is “no left turn season” in town.   Tourists clog up the streets, especially making left hand turns….you don’t even have to see the out of State license plate to know they are tourists.

Last year my Dad was one of The Grand Marshalls of the parade so that was a good reason to fight the crowds.

I have a rack of ribs and a salad planned for our picnic that will probably be at our usual supper time.

A quiet day at home to finish up a few projects seems good to me.  And a nap.

However you choose to celebrate the day I wish you a Happy 4th of July!

Fireworks

Minnesotans cannot purchase or use exploding fireworks: no firecrackers, bottle rockets, missiles, roman candles, or mortars and shells. Acceptable, as they have been, are sparklers, cones and tubes that emit sparks, and novelty items like snakes and party poppers. 

Then why am I hearing various booms…that are not party poppers.  People down on the lake are busy.  We have another couple of nights to endure before they run out of exploding supplies.  I hope they don’t start any fires or blow any body parts off.

We make sure that Chance is walked before dark…so he can go hide by the bathroom door or under my feet.

I bet the wildlife on the lake think the world is coming to an end.

We used to have a neighbor that had a cannon, the 4th of July was his day.  Various really big booms happened throughout the day.  He and his wife moved into an apartment in town…I wonder what he did with his cannon?  After all the little noise one could have some fun with a really big noise IF she had a cannon.  (She would probably end up in jail.)

As I write this it sounds like WW3 down on the lake. Maybe it will rain.

I can hope…we don’t have any skeeters to chase the people indoors.

I must be a party pooper.

4th of July Parade 2016

The big parade was late in the afternoon.  It was a beautiful day, not too warm about 74 F and a breeze.  Here are some highlights from the parade.

My Mom and Dad waving.  Dad was one of the Grand Marshals.

The Shriners from Alexandria with their 1910 Circus Calliope

The New York Mills Marching Eagles…the only marching band in the parade.

Miss Park Rapids

Linda’s Recycled Goods…we went to school together.

There was more…logging trucks, towing trucks, fire trucks, politicians shaking hands. the parade lasted about 90 minutes.  Many groups threw candy from five gallon buckets… at the end of the parade kids watching had bags of candy.

Chance went along …he was a good boy and just ignored the horses.  There was only one dog in the parade and when the owner saw Chance she picked up her little dog.  Chance liked the beef stick samples that Main Street Meats handed out!

Happy 4th of July!

We will have a quiet day at home, we have had a busy pre 4th week. 

In previous days we attended two picnics, ate way too much and enjoyed visiting with a number of people. The two gallons of potato salad I made are almost gone.

At one picnic we enjoyed some Boudin straight from Louisianna…it warmed my tummy for 24 hours and I only had one bite.  Far Guy loved it… he said “Those Cajuns sure can cook!” Boudin is a sausage casing filled with pork, rice, onions, peppers and spices.

Happy 4th!!

Chance will be glad when people stop shooting off fireworks down at the lake.

Flag Day

Seems to me that many people forget about Flag Day…that is today June 14.

We fly the American Flag on Far Guy’s garage.

When I was in fifth and sixth grade, the students put up the flag in the morning and took it down at the end of the school day.  It was then that I learned about the flag and how it should never touch the ground and how to fold it properly. 

I wonder do kids in school learn hands on like that now or do they just read about it in a book? 

When Flag Day would fall on a day that the museum was open, I would have old soldiers  from the American Legion come over and hold a flag folding ceremony.

Do you know that each fold means something?  I did but that is probably only becauseI am an avid reader and I read about it someplace!

Little Dancers

The Pow Wow took place last night nearby.  We went to watch the Grand Entry and to have some supper, I had taco in a bag and Far Guy had a fry bread burger and fries.

The flag ceremonies are always impressive, they honor the flags and our veterans.

It is always fun to photograph the dancers.

This year I tried to capture the smallest dancers.

A little Jingle Dress Dancer holding someones hand…might have been an older sister.

A feathers flying dancer…he loved those feathers!

This little Fancy Shawl Dancer must like horses, even her shawl was lined with horses and on the back of her shawl was another horse.

Pony tail flying dancer!

It was a fun evening, we had a spot to sit in the shade after a fairly warm day the shade was a welcome relief.   This was a busy weekend in our area.  In Detroit Lakes “We Fest” was going on and over in Park Rapids it was the Logging, Legends and Loons Celebration. We attended neither… too many people. 

PowWow

Every year a PowWow is held on the nearby reservation. A PowWow is a gathering much like a family reunion.  It is a special time for family to get together and dance and pay homage to their culture.

Photographs are allowed except during the Peace Pipe Ceremony.  When in doubt ...ask.

Every part of the regalia worn has meaning.  Often times special pieces of the regalia are handed down from one generation to the next.  ( Grandma’s Eagle Feather…Grandpas moccasins etc…)

The Staff and Flag Bearers

Visiting Royalty follows the flag and staff bearers.

There are many colors…these are Jingle Dancers except for the little girl on the left she is a Fancy Shawl Dancer.

This beautiful gal in the turquoise regalia is the daughter of a good friend.

Aqua and orange do go together

A young man  who’s regalia is that of a Grass Dancer

One of the littlest Fancy Shawl Dancers

This gal used some Loon fabric on her regalia.

Older women have time for beautiful beadwork.

We visited with friends and had some homemade French fries for lunch.  It clouded up and threatened rain so we headed home.  We eventually got 4/10 of an inch of rain while I was enjoying an late afternoon nap.

Logging Days

Logging Days is a celebration that happens every summer in PR (Or Park Rapids) I don’t like huge crowds of people but went anyway … most everyone must have stayed home or went to WE Fest over in DL (or Detroit Lakes).   I am not sure when we started using just the initials of these towns…but we have for as long as I can remember.

Anyways The Loon Country Carvers were there…a group which Far Guy and I belong to.  We had a table set up to demonstrate some of the talents within the group.

The menfolk had it covered so I just wandered around taking photos.

I watched the Chainsaw carvers.

I grabbed a good seat for the Lumberjack Show.

The guy in the middle was the announcer.  The guy in the blue lumberjack shirt was from Wisconsin, the guy in the red lumberjack shirt was from Minnesota…Stillwater I think.  They had some competitions, sawing logs with super modified chainsaws and one time they each used a one man buck saw.  They ran up and down poles…but what I was waiting for was the log rolling competition.

The tank with the black lining is filled with water, a log with strips of carpet or some other kind of fabric is wrapped around the log on both ends.  There is a neutral zone in the center of the log that they cannot go into and they cannot touch each other.

Kicking water at your opponent was allowed.

Distractions work as planned.

A victory jump into the water!  The lumberjack from Minnesota was victorious!

I wandered around and talked to a few people…saw some neighbors and some old friends.

The weather was almost perfect..it was overcast and about 76F or 24C eh!   It spit rain for awhile but it didn’t amount to anything, it evaporated before it hit the ground.