Afternoon Out

 While Far Guy was woodcarving and then napping I took off and went to a couple of cemeteries.  

I take photos in two sometimes three cemeteries for Find A Grave.  I also transcribe obituaries if I have them.  I have a backlog of obits to enter ...a good winter project. 

My Aunt Anna's funeral was live streamed on Monday.  I wanted to visit her grave...so I did.   It was a chilly day.

I worked over in the shady snowy spots last summer.  Yesterday I just walked in the non snowy parts. 

Pickerel Lake Cemetery

This is a very familiar spot for me....high on the hill...I have come to this spot since I was a little girl.  The fence used to be right where I was standing to take this photo....now that area has been cleared for a road and more graves. 

I visited a few more graves and then went to a different cemetery close to home.  I made yet another list for that cemetery.  In my leaving no stone un turned I discovered that an old friend's obit was missing ...so I transcribed that for approval. 

The stone gate at Linnell Cemetery

It sounds like the weather is going to be great the rest of the week...I may be able to get a few more photos before winter snows settle in. 

One cemetery they say is 94 % photographed but no one is entering new info...so I just wander around until I find new graves or new headstones...people drive by and honk.:)  The cemetery on the hill is only 47 % photographed...so it is a real work in progress..it is so far out of the way that no one ever shows up while I am there. 

Far Side

Crochet Nests

With so much going on, hurrying up to wait,  I made twelve nests to ship off to a wildlife rehabilitator in  Pine City Minnesota.  The nests are suitable for mammals or birds.  This group included a variety of sizes.

This is the third bunch I have mailed off.  I belong to a group that has a facebook page and a website.  They have a specific way they want the nests constructed.  Wildlife Rescue Nests

The idea was to get rid of yarn, use it up...well I fell off the wagon and purchased more yarn. Imagine that.

Far Side

Volunteers

I managed to get three sunflowers out of the five or six seedlings that were in the ground under the bird feeders.  Volunteers is what they are called, seeds you never plant but come up all by themselves to bloom.

The wild gardens have lots of volunteers.

Liatris and Rudbeckia in the wild gardens….and a whole lot of raspberry canes.  I suppose if we left them alone we would get raspberries….I mow the entire area every fall. 

Now for different types of volunteers. All the hoopla from the All School Reunion is over.  Far Guy did an excellent job getting arrangements made for his class get together of 47 years.  Just down the road Jo and classmate Barry planned their 50th Class Reunion.  I saw all the work that went into both events.  All the volunteers that made the weekend a success deserve a big thank you!  Unless you have done it yourself or helped you have no idea the hours that are spent.

We ordered prints of the photos from Far Guys Reunion and one day this week they will all go into the folder he has full of class memorabilia. The last of the bowls and misc. items left behind have been returned to their owners. All three of “the old farts” that worked so hard are exhausted and wondering what to do next …besides relax and look back on what a good time they had.

Flowers For Me?

I am on my last day at the museum.  Sure I will have to go in on Friday for a bit, and next week to pick up odds and ends…but the end is in sight.  I can see it from here.  Some days I wasn’t sure I would make it to the next day..but here we are at the end of the season. What a relief.

My cold is still making me miserable, how much snot can one head hold anyway? 

Yesterday Tess finished off one of her projects and was helping me with the newsletter for October when I heard the jingle of the sleigh bells that are on the front door.

It was my youngest volunteer and her Grandpa with a delivery.   My youngest volunteer was so excited she could barely contain herself!  Flowers for me?  “Yes! For you!” she replied.  She had a good summer helping out at the museum, she has a healthy curiosity about everything in the museum except mannequins.  She is a little frightened by mannequins.  She learned to dust properly, how to wash windows, and was my best carpet sweeper gal, she also wrote her own treasure hunt, she helped me create and update displays, her least favorite job was putting obituaries in acid free sleeves.  The last day she spent with me, we designed a family tree for her to research over the winter.  She had to go back to school when school started, but occasionally stops by for a visit to see what’s new or old as the case may be.

I was thrilled, it is a pumpkin stuffed to the brim with flowers!  It is a lovely gift!

I don’t “do” flowers inside often, they usually give me a cold or aggravate allergies but I already have a cold so what the heck!

It is nice to be appreciated! :)

Museum: High School Memory Room

We have a room downstairs in the basement of the museum that is dedicated to High School Memories.

Last year it ended up on my list.

Before:

It was a mess “stuff” was falling off the walls.  The carpet was dirty and smelly..uffda.  The old cabinet that used to be upstairs in the courthouse held High School Yearbooks and if someone put them in the proper drawers..you were in luck.  There was one light.

During:

We moved everything out of the room and rolled up the carpet.  Found a hole in the floor..back right..so a new cover was made for it..no one knows what it was for..perhaps the water supply years ago.

The walls were repaired, sealed and painted.  The floor was painted with a special concrete floor paint.

One of our members owns an Electrical Business.  One day he came by and asked what projects I had going and where did I need some help.  That afternoon new light fixtures were installed.  What a difference a little light makes!

Over the winter with the proceeds from a grant we purchased 10 display cabinets.  7 of them are huge units..perfect for museum display.  The only problem was..they were pink on the inside.

Gravy spent several days painting for me.  When he was done, he and Dawn spent two days arranging the room and it’s contents.  Every time I turn on the light and welcome people into the room I say a quiet thanks for great volunteers!  It is now a room to be proud of.

After:

The middle cabinet is used for storage of duplicate High School Annuals.  We took the doors over to the High School and one of the art students did the painting for us.

The next thing on this rooms list is painting or wallpapering the inside of the two lower cabinets that we kept open.  The one pictured here holds Obituaries from the newspaper.  They should be moved..so far I have not found another spot for them..maybe soon.

This room holds High School Annuals from the three high schools in the county.  Class reunion memorabilia and photographs.  Photographs of classes and schools through the years.  It also holds an index of Class Lists from 1900 to the present time.  I think the oldest High School Annual is 1909..back then it was called “The Moccasin.” There is a great collection of Homecoming buttons too!  There is also a section that holds all the Miss Park Rapids Pageant Scrapbooks and Video Tapes.  Oh and trophies..lots of trophies.

I am very pleased with the progress made on this room.  The paint was paid for with a grant, as were the display cases and the new lighting fixtures were donated so it was a great improvement that we didn’t have to include in the budget. ***The light fixtures on the cabinets are non working, they would have to be rewired to reach the outlet..of which there is only two in the room.

I will remind all the local people that read my blog to keep one eye open for High School Annuals at Estate and Garage Sales:)

Shine on Shine on

Harvest Moon!

That was my best shot last night. At least it had an orange glow.  If I stare at it long enough I can see a man in the moon face.

I volunteered at the Museum all day yesterday.  Painting.  I painted until my bad shoulder started to ache.  The AmeriCorps kids all seven of them came into the museum to help paint.  The fellow that was injured in the freak accident last week was with the group.  He told me that the van that they jacked up to get unstuck fell onto his back and that he sustained soft tissue injuries but that nothing was broken.  He was on light duty…so I gave him a little paint roller and put him in charge of drips.  Everything needs two coats of paint..we are about 75% done and ran out of paint.  The paint all came from a grant..so we will try to get the same paint…if not perhaps we can match the color. 

I am tired.  Far Guy said I was “cranky”..maybe so.. it was a long day:(

Museum: Old Maps

I worked on the Historical Museums Newsletter yesterday again..it is finally ready to mail.  I am all done with newsletters until May when I am back in my office.

I am working on several H.U.G.E. projects…it all takes time. If I would stop making suggestions and having ideas I would be less stressed and in charge of less projects.  Ground work and making the road maps for an organization to follow is not an easy job. Attracting new members, raising funds, seeing that things get repaired and keeping one hand on the pulse of an organization is not exactly a walk in the park or a stroll down the road either. The board members assured me that they would send articles for the newsletter..three did and the other four dropped the ball. I filled in the blanks so I could get the newsletter off of my desk.  I did not think I would feel burned out during the winter..but after yesterday and the day before..I sure was.  I have to give them one more day this week..and then I can get all my ducks in a row on the next project. Most everything is in place. I just need to set the wheels in motion.  I hope the map I made is a good one. I do not want to crash and burn after all the effort.  Don’t worry I will tell you all about it sooner or later.

I thought that this was a cool map to share today.  The map is all folded up inside this folder.

 

I wanted to see what 1924-1925 looked like in my neck of the woods.  So I took a photo!

I was thrilled to find that Detroit Lakes was still called Detroit ( Later in 1926 it was changed to Detroit Lakes so that it would not be confused with Detroit, Michigan.)

Highway 34 went right past the farm I grew up on and very near where we live now. The stair step highway which we live near was featured in the opening chapter of Red Earth White Earth..which was written by a local farm kid and eventually became a movie.

Highway 34 was realigned in the 1940’s..and the booming town of Ponsford was no longer on the main route to Detroit. A new road was built, and the old part of Highway 34 that included Ponsford became known as Highway 225.  Old roads were often the life blood of a community..that and railroad tracks..if you were missed by either of them your town was going to struggle before it eventually died.

I wonder did the powers that be ever wonder if their new road map was the way to go? Did they feel guilty..or was it all in the name of progress?

Yesterday I took one of my volunteers out to lunch..and one of these days I will take my other wonderful volunteer (Far Guy) out for breakfast..both of them are ready to hit the ground running in the spring and are looking forward to the Museum opening..me not so much..at least not today..perhaps tomorrow:)

My Journey To Become An EMT

My Journey began in 1977 or 1978 to become an EMT, I actually wanted to be a Doctor..but with two small children and a Military husband that was never going to happen. I enrolled in an EMT course taught at Moorhead VoTech the instructor was a Moorhead Fireman EMT Marty S. I learned more in that class from him, than almost any other time in my life. Some Moorhead Fireman were in that class, and a few young men who are now Doctors. It was a long class, two nights a week, four hours a night. We had 130 plus hours of instruction and then put our time in at the ER which was then the old St. Lukes and at FM Ambulance. It was a Nationally Accredited Class, and we had to pass both the written and the practical skills. I passed! I worked for FM as a casual, just an extra person here and there..Rodeos, Drag Races and sometimes transfers to Rochester. I also became a CPR Instructor and gave classes in the FM area.

In the summer of 1979 I was injured in a freak one in a million accident ( a blog for another day.) I had to learn how to walk all over again. I was pretty gimpy for a long time, but thankful that I did not lose my leg..however it might have been a better outcome if I had.

I could not walk fast enough to keep up with a gurney and a patient any more after that. I struggled with lifting and walking with a patient on a backboard. The Doctors said I would only walk ten years, well those Doctors are all dead now, and I am still walking 29 years later. I do not walk or stand like a normal person. Over the years I have adapted. However I am easily tracked in the snow!

When we moved to the Resort in 1986, the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department recruited Far Guy and I. Since I had been previously certified, I found myself in a special refresher program and regained my certification. I could still do patient care..I just could not RUN! I was still not able to lift a backboard and come out of a steep ditch with a patient. Well, there were lots of guys to do that for me. I just got to boss them around! At that time there was only one other woman on the department, and one other EMT. Rural areas do the best they can, with what resources are available. For a number of years out here that involved a "gimpy" EMT. We saved a few, we lost many. After a while your head gets so full of bad photographs, that you have to step back and say..it is time for someone younger to take over. The Chief knows if they have some huge disaster... a plane crash, a 100 car pile up..I will come and help. Far Guy and I could probably take the roofs off of some of those cars with a hacksaw and a bottle of water..we would just have to stop and rest more often:)