Ice Castle

They are building an Ice Castle on the beach in Detroit Lakes.
 

I have always wanted to see it.  It is not yet completed.  When it is done they have a gathering and it is all lit up.

They harvest blocks of ice to build the castle

The blocks are lined up on pallets until they are ready to be placed.

It should be beautiful all lit up.

It was fun to see it in progress!
Far Side

It takes lots of cousins

In that box of memories I unearthed was a fancy apron.

I know it is a wrinkled mess but you get the idea. It was a sheer half apron that was short and had lace trim, it tied in the back. There was a bow and a bell on the pocket.

Year and years ago teenage cousins were asked to help serve the bridal table.  You know go for coffee refills and fetch extra napkins and make sure everyone had what they needed.  At our wedding the "waitresses" were my cousins;  Diane, Vickie and Max short for Maxine although most of the time we called her Zeeny.

In fact it took a village/lots of cousins to have a wedding reception in the church.  Far Guy had some cousins that helped out also and probably wore the pretty little aprons!

Coffee was poured...the gals sat at the end of the table and poured coffee from a silver service and presented the cup  on a small plate.  (Is that correct Bonnie? She reads my blog too!) Yes we had punch...but I do not recall the ice cream. (Sharon...she reads my blog... was there really ice cream?)

I think 400 people is a stretch...but there were lots of people on that cold December day.

Note:  50 years ago all the women that were married are a Mrs somebody...if you are married you lost your first name.
Far Side

Update From Sharon: Yes Connie, you did have ice cream and I was so nervous serving it because there were so many people! 

Update from Bonnie: I remember serving coffee on a fancy china plate☕️.

The Parade

The parade was short...about five minutes.

A wave from the King...no horse drawn wagon this year.

This group was collecting donations for the food shelf.

Best part was a tie between the dog and men in underwear.

Remember to enter your snow stick guess HERE.
Far Side

A Mission

I have packed up a boatload of craft stuff and headed up north to babysit Little Elvis and Miss Miney and keep Adam company during the storm.

Far Guy will stay at home where he is most comfortable.  I will keep a close watch on him through Facetime.

Perhaps Adam and I can have some quality cooking/baking experiences.  We can make big messes in the kitchen when we are unsupervised!

Far Side

Gnomes, Far Guy and shoveling

When I put Christmas away I left the gnomes. I thought they looked wintery.  Jen made the gnomes, they are sewn by hand.

Never mind the nails on the mantle they are for Christmas stockings.  Still have not found a “the” perfect spot for Chance’s canvas…then again maybe the mantle is the perfect spot.

Far Guy is a bit better, we hope that he will improve everyday.  He will see his regular Doctor on Monday…or at the very least talk with him on the phone.

We are getting a snow storm later today that will go into Monday.  Just what I need in my life more freaking snow.

Yesterday I got the path to the small garage door shoveled and the path to the bird feeders all cleared out.  No path to the sauna yet…I ran out of shovel muscles. Luckily my other baby brother snow plowed a path back to the LP tank so I took a broom and cleared snow off the tank so I could read the percentage.  I made a trip to the landfill (we go every three weeks or so) and recycled.  So much for Saturday jobs…thank goodness the weather was warmer…I think it got up to 24 F above zero…practically shirt sleeve weather.

Far Side

Red Lights

Last year we bought new lights after Christmas.  Neither of us could remember what color lights we bought…we knew they were not blue….cause we have had blue lights on our trees for many many years.  We needed a change of color. All our light stringers were old and needed to be replaced.

I can see now that a few lights should be rearranged.

So far we only have lights…hey it is a start!

We had a busy day on Saturday, I ran errands whilst Far Guy was enjoying breakfast with classmates.  I joined them after my errands.  Then I made more Turtles…and worked on Christmas cards.  Made supper for my parents and my brothers and their brides….pizza, salads and you guessed it Turtles for dessert.

Robotics: Adam

I traveled up north to watch Adam in a Robotic’s Tournament.  I also volunteered to do something to help Andy ( this was a tournament he was in charge of )…so I was at the Information Table;  I checked teams in and answered questions.

Jen and I got up at o dark thirty to be in Thief River Falls before 7 AM.  Jen was a volunteer as was Noah.

Here you can see the robotics field all set up…the referees are getting instructions from Andy.

Adam cutting an axle

The Judges are interviewing the team.  Adam is replacing that axle.

Part of their team during a match.  There are a number of matches throughout the day.  They have a different alliance = a team they work with for every match.  So 4 teams compete for points…and 2 of those teams are on the same side.

Sportsmanship was evident as the teams shook hands after the matches. Teamwork and cooperation…and a bit of rilvary made it a fun event.

Here is Adam with his no shave November beard.  He told me he would be shaving it off and getting a haircut soon…so it was a good thing I got a photo. 

I had fun and I am glad I went.  Adam’s team ended up third in the competition.

166th day of winter

Not much melting yesterday.  What isn’t snow is mud.  The rutts will go away when we get a rain.

This first photo gives you a good view of June our resident snowbank.  Maybe we should guess when June will be all gone?  What do you think?  If you want to guess when June will be all gone leave me a guess …what day in April, May or June? The best guess will get a woodcarving of some sort.

Chance was laying in a snowbank.

Washing his chin….back and forth back and forth…keeps his white somewhat clean.

I got the dreaded silverware drawer cleaned out yesterday. Now all the drawers are done…I have 17 drawers in the kitchen…love drawers versus cabinets. 2 cabinets left I can almost taste the victory of a completed project.

Meal planning for this week was a chore I gave Far Guy, he did great and supplies were purchased.
More Thistle Seed was purchased because the little Redpolls brought all their cousins to visit and feast.


June the Snowbank will be gone by:
April 22 Diane Daines
April 27 Tired Teacher
May 1 diane   Terry and Linda    Jo Annes Ramblings
May 5 Rita
May 6 diane in wis
May 8 zooperson
May 9 Wendy Danielson
May 10 Jean
May 13 Sandy B
May 15 Sam
May 16 KCD
May 22 Kathy
May 25 Cathrin Morgan
May 28 linda m
June 1 Lady Fi
June 3 Bonnie
June 6 Mildred

St Urho’s Day Parade 2018

It was a great day for a parade!  The grasshoppers were escorted out of town in style!

Sweet smiles!

Royalty

St Urho

Another St Urho

Some grasshoppers were on pitchforks and others were drug out of town followed by dogs.

Beautiful smile

Flag bearers

Instead of the normal horses and wagon, the King was riding in a pick up truck…I hollered “Where are the horses?”  They shouted back the horses were getting too old.

I think perhaps I know these kids!

It was a fun  parade, Chance was a good boy and quietly growled at all the dogs…with one sharp bark for the last dog in the parade.  The parade lasted all of ten minutes mostly because the Police Officer was driving her vehicle really slow. 

Happy St. Urho’s Day

We got the flag up!

We are ready to celebrate!  Chance and I may have danced around the flag if we didn’t have such huge snowbanks!

The big parade will commence tomorrow…it is okay to share the day with that lesser known St. Patrick.  I am certain that many Minnesota towns and cities will be wearing the purple and the green in honor of St. Urho…who chased those pesky grasshoppers out of Finland and saved the grapes!  I will be taking lots of photos of the parade! We are expecting sunshine and  40F ABOVE zero ( 4C eh!)…practically sunbathing weather.

St. Urho’s Day Poem

Ooksie kooksie kollme vee
Santia Urho is the boy for me
He chase out the hopper as big as pirds
Never before have I heard those words
He really told those bugs of green
Bravest Finn I ever seen
Some celebrate for St. Pat and his snake
But that Urho boy got what it takes
He got tall and strong on feelia sour
And ate Kalla Mojakkaa every hour
Thats why that guy dould chase those beetles
That crew as thick as jack pine needles
So let’s give a cheer
in our very best way
On the sixteenth of March
St. Urho’s Day!

The game

Jen and Andy and the boys gave Far Guy Hockey Tickets “on the glass” for Christmas.  For those of you that don’t know… “on the glass” is in the first row. Jen and her Dad had a blast! ( Both really enjoy Hockey) North Dakota vs St Cloud

Far Guy took a selfie

Weeks ago Far Guy was certain he would not be able to go.  We all encouraged him that he would be strong enough to go…and he was.

We drove up North on Friday afternoon. After supper of loaded baked potatoes and salad Andy dropped them off at the arena so they wouldn’t have to walk very far.

I kept Adam company…he had all four of his wisdom teeth extracted on Friday morning.  He was doing quite well, not much pain so we watched a bunch of Forged in Fire episodes. Chance enjoyed seeing Miney and Little Elvis…but he growled at poor old kitty Chaucer.   We drove back home after the game..it was late…the last 50 miles we didn’t meet another car on the road.

Before the game photo.  Oh yes North Dakota ( now the Fighting Hawks used to be the Sioux and for Sioux Fans Sioux Forever!) lost in overtime 4-3.

Ongoing Project: Sleigh Bells

Christmas gift from long ago…probably about 5 years.

 

It was a bunch of sleigh bells from Jen, Andy and the boys.   I put the bells in this wooden container and put them up on a shelf in the kitchen…twice a year when I would clean off that shelf I would think…I need to clean up those bells.

I started this project before Christmas.  I soaked them for a few days and then polished them…and polished…and polished.

Most of them still need their throats cleaned…but I could not stand the suspense of what one might look like? They were laying out on the counter drying.

Pretty…this one is a B/C bell ( Must be the place it was on the harness)

I am not sure how I will use these four bells…They are attached to the base with a screw.  Historically I can find no reference to bells mounted in this fashion.  So they are mystery bells.   They are all #3  petal bells. The creative part of my brain has a few ideas how to use them as Christmas ornaments….but I am not sure how they will look. 

For now, I will finish the cleaning…attach ribbons and put name tags on them and put them in a Christmas Tin to be opened before Christmas next year.

It was turdy below that old zero mark on the trusty old thermometer yesterday morning.