How cold is it?

Well it is so cold here that all the groundhogs went on vacation..yesterday we saw their replacements.

The entire animal world is suffering..yesterday during the day we saw a fat little skunk running north as fast as his little legs would carry him. Yes, I said North, he was going the wrong way.  He was also running toward Highway 10.  The little bugger probably never made it across. Skunks usually come out during a February thaw to breed..the lone males come out of their dens seeking a little love, but they are usually nocturnal.  Did you know they can spray more than 15 feet?  I did not get a photo.

The highway crews may have disturbed the skunks  hibernation. They are clearing snow from the ditches..to make room for more snow.  I wonder if we are half way through this miserable winter?

How cold was it here this morning?

Cold enough for me to wait inside by the door for Chance to finish his morning business..he did not lollygag around either.

Cold enough for both of us to go back to bed for a couple more hours.

Cold enough for me to look at some flower photos!

Barb’s Iris.

Barb’s Lupine last June..I enjoy going over there..she lives at the farm where I grew up..and she has weed free flower gardens:)

Wistful Wednesday: Life on the Farm

When I was little my parents used to take me to the barn with them, my Dad made me safe area to play amongst the straw, while my parents milked and did chores. The milking was all done by hand.

My Dad and I in 1952, with a patient kitten!

I was safe and warm in the straw. The kittys would visit..as would my dog/dogs..as I had quite a few different ones. Everything was just peachy keen except for those damn Banty (Bantam) roosters. They would fly right at my legs, and of course I would scream and bawl my eyes out.   I never considered them pets and I never named them..they were evil.   I named just about everything else, but never the banty hens or roosters. I loved all the other farm animals except for them.

One Fall when I was about three years old, the neighborhood men were putting up silage..somehow I was unattended. Who knows who was supposed to be watching me..perhaps I was supposed to be staying near the house..but instead I wandered into the pasture next to the barn. Imagine that.   I was not afraid of cows..and I was not afraid of bulls with rings in their noses either…

There I was standing next to that big old bull stroking his leg..telling him he was a nice cow..well I don’t actually remember that..but that is probably what I was saying.  My Dad said I was definitely petting the bull on the leg.

From what I am told..the men working all noticed me at once..perhaps my Mom was hollering for me.  One of the young boys, jumped the fence, ran in and grabbed me quick as a wink and ran right back out of the pasture carrying me like a football… I was saved by a neighbor boy named Max:) 

Thumb Report

My thumb is much better than it was.  It has been seven weeks since the surgery.   I do not have a noticeable scar..but a band of scar tissue that feels all funny. Perhaps with time that sensation will go away.

There are still things I can not do. I cannot snap the snaps on my parka with my right hand..I use my left.   I cannot open anything that has cap that twists off..like on a bottle of water.  I cannot grasp heavy objects between my thumb and forefinger and pull them toward me without pain. ( think down comforters, seat belts etc..) You know those little arrow things on the cap of a bottle of aspirin..that have to be lined up and you just flip that top right off..well that is still not happening.

What can I do? I can now use a can opener, for months I would haul the can to be opened and the opener to Far Guy. If I didn’t ..he would be brought into the kitchen by my screaming because my thumb would be stuck out of joint, and the stupid can would still be unopened.   Most of the time I can get a jar opened..sometimes not..but that  happened before my thumb went to pot too.

I would not be able to carry three gallons pots filled with plants at once or weed like I used too..but perhaps those are the things that wore out the pulley in my thumb in the first place.

The pain is mostly gone..but I still sleep with my hand elevated at night…out of sheer habit..I can go to sleep with my hand down and wake up an hour later and it is safely elevated above me.  My hand hurts if I get it cold..that must be the arthritis. So I am not 100% yet but 90% and it is getting better everyday.

It was twenty something below zero here again this morning..spring seems so far away. Thanks for asking about my thumb:)

My Readers

One day I got an email from a gal that enjoyed my blog, her name is Patti.  She wrote:

I can’t tell you how much I love reading your blog.  All the pictures and stories remind me so much of my childhood.  My mother was born and raised in Zerkel ( one of the two homes in Zerkel from what I remember ).  We would visit them every other weekend.  I just wanted to say “ Thank You” for your blog.  You really have no idea what it means to me. Pattie

Thanks Pattie!  These photos are for you! We went through Zirkle last weekend..it is one of those places in the road where if you blink you can miss it.

I also heard from my second cousin Verniel..she wrote in reference to my Four Million People in Ponsford post. “I remember about Sally as well. In those days Nylon was a new fabric.  I heard at that time that her robe was made of Nylon.  This material basically melted on her as it caught fire.  That would be why she could not just remove it.  Now you might check this out with others to make sure I have my story correct.”   I wanted to relate this to my readers.. once Verniel mentioned it..I remembered the story about the nylon too.

  

My Daughter Jen said “How come I remember this story. My memory of this is in a graveyard... or maybe I am remembering incorrectly...”   I probably told her the story in the local graveyard..graveyards are great places to reminisce about the people that are planted there and their children. Next summer I will have to look for Sally’s grave…I think it is in a different cemetery.   

Last winter I heard from a gal that I grew up with and went to grade school and high school with, she wound up in California.   I used to ride horses with her at Joe’s, before she got her very own horse.  She found my blog, and said that some of the photos made her homesick.

This was the farm where she grew up. Sadly she died a week ago.  She was out riding her mule and was thrown, she was pronounced dead an hour later.  At least she died doing something that she enjoyed.

On a lighter note I wanted to share a couple of comments that my cooking stirred up :

From Linda: Sounds like what I make......I thought you hated cooking? ;)  

From ladyfi: You - cooking? Lies down in shock... ;-)

And from The beautiful Border Collie Emma Rose:

Hi Far Side! Sorry I am commenting so late but my Duchess had to go to the store and buy all the stuff to try your soup. She has never even tasted a Rutabaga, much less bought and cooked one! She had to ask the produce guy where they were :) Anyway, I just wanted to come by and tell you how much we love you and Far Guy and Chance, just in case she poisons all of us and we croak!
Kisses,
Emma Rose

Ahh..I love all my readers..you make me smile:)

5..4..3..2..1..LEGO

Yesterday we were privileged to attend a First Lego League Competition in Grand Forks, ND.  Our oldest Grandson Noah was in the competition.  His Dad is the advisor.  Their team “The Knights” has eight members. The theme for the competition was Body Forward.

Youth from Grades 4 to 8, build their own robot from a kit.  The robot is programmed to do specific tasks, the kids must do all of the work themselves.   Teamwork and problem solving is the key. 

This is a competition table, Noah is preparing the robot to compete.

  The energy in the competition room is palpable.  It was very exciting for us to see kids so enthusiastic.  The Knights is a coed team, with girls and boys.  ( Noah are you a a whole head taller than your classmates?) Noah is in the sixth grade.

They did great!  They visited the competition tables three times, they also presented a skit ( where Noah played the part of a man eating shark that bites the leg of a Barbie off..since the challenge was Body Forward..somehow Barbie’s leg was replaced or repaired with a robot) however we didn’t stay for that part, they also had a judges interview where they talked about their design and the teamwork involved to complete their design.

It was a fun day, win or lose all these kids are winners! :)

Four Million People in Ponsford

A long time ago, on Saturday nights when my parents wanted to go out..my Dad would take off and go fetch Margaret Million to babysit my baby brother and I.

I adored Margaret, she was a kind woman, always dressed in a floral house dress with a sweater..her brown heavy stockings and black shoes were part of her little old lady uniform.  Her long grey hair was braided and then formed into a bun, it was always neat as a pin.  More often than not she would bring freshly baked cookies with her..after the cookies were gone, I would sit next to her in the overstuffed rocking chair in our living room and she would tell me stories as we rocked back and forth.  I would settle in,  comforted by her closeness and her voice would gently lull me to sleep.  Margaret wasn’t plump but she was ample in all the right places, so that a small child’s head would find a soft pillow like resting spot.

 

Jack and Margaret’s place was way back behind the tallest pine tree.

Every once in awhile..for some reason we would have to go up to Jack and Margaret's house in Ponsford to get babysat. Their house was back in the woods behind the old Longfors Garage.  It was a tiny little house with not very tall ceilings, and a couch that was hard as a rock..it was a sad place.

 

Sunset over the South West part of Ponsford.

Jack and Margaret had two grown girls..one was named Sally.  One morning or night..whatever..Sally stepped too close to the wood stove and her nightgown caught on fire. ( I seem to recall that Sally was getting up to feed her new baby..but maybe that isn’t correct.)  Sally died after a few days in the hospital.

Now why do I remember this story?  Sometimes in the wintertime I remember that almost everyone had a woodstove in their house..not a fancy potbellied stove either..sometimes just a crude barrel stove in the living room and a cook stove in the kitchen.  In the houses we would visit that had a woodstove ..we would always be reminded “Don’t get your clothing too close to the stove.” Then someone would tell the sad story about Sally.

I always wondered what Jack did for a living. It turns out that Jack could fire a Steam Engine, he worked at the Sawmill in Ponsford for a time before taking a job at the Pine Point School firing their boilers.

On a side note:  Dick Taylor had the sawmill in Ponsford..there were even Rail Road Tracks behind Nunns house.  This all makes sense to me now..it never did when I was a kid…there were large humps in the landscape back there..and the brush grew up and us kids were told to stay out of there.

Ponsford was a boom town back in the 1920’s until the highway to Detroit Lakes was re routed in 1942..then Ponsford lost most all of it’s businesses one by one..no it never had four million people but four people by the name of Million lived there:)

Far Side Cooks: Vegetable Beef Soup

I like homemade vegetable beef soup, Far Guy will tolerate one bowl a couple of times a year.  Usually I make it three times a year. Spring, Fall when all the veggies are fresh out of the garden..and in the dead of winter…the extreme comfort food. 

There has been no real recipe..until now.  I made it on one of those 20 something below zero mornings when I knew I was going to need some comfort later in the day.  I took the time to measure everything. It is finally a real recipe, complete with lots of photos!  The grand girls love my soup..and will someday want the recipe.  Now they can make it “Just like Grandma used to.”

1 1/2 pounds of lean beef..like a rump roast

3 beef bullion cubes

28 ounces of whole tomatoes

3 cups of cabbage shredded

1/3 cup onion finely chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

6 cups of water (plus or minus a cup)

4 cups of diced rutabaga

4 cups of carrot coins

8 cups of diced potatoes

The very first thing you need to do is get out your Dutch oven..I have two of them..one is stainless and one is cast iron.  When I make a double batch I use both of them.  The recipe above fits nicely in one Dutch oven pot.

Throw the roast in the pot and add about 2 cups of water, bake at 350 degrees for about 4 hours until it is nice and tender and can be broken apart easily. Move the pot to one of the burners on your stove top..turn the burner on low.

Add the three beef bullion cubes.

I like these whole tomatoes..actually I prefer to cook some up that I got from the garden..but these will do.

Now pay attention this is the most important part. I do not like hunks or chunks of cooked tomato in anything, as a kid I picked them out, as an adult I still pick them out..or gag.  My children never knew there were real tomatoes in the soup…. So you have to go to an antique shop and buy yourself one of these things..I am not sure what it is called.

You dump the can of tomatoes in here and then proceed to make your own tomato sauce.  Now I bet you are wondering why?  Why doesn’t she just use tomato sauce.. well because she has never tried it that way and she wouldn’t want to ruin a whole kettle of soup! 

All the clumpy stuff and the seeds are left in this fine antique tomato sauce maker thingy, and they get thrown out.   It is the pits to clean..but that is a small price to pay for no clumps and no seeds.

   Stir..and this is what it looks like.

Shred the cabbage first. You will not need all of a small head..you can make coleslaw with the remainder of it.

Then add the finely diced onion.

Then add the brown sugar, salt, pepper and about 4 cups of water.

Rutabagas..one of the veggies that makes you feel all warm and cozy inside:)

Carrots..see the pot is getting fuller!

Last but not least the potatoes.  I like red potatoes and use them almost exclusively.  Why?  Because one Fall I was a USDA Potato Inspector in a plant the took in only Russet Potatoes.

Stir it all..and let it simmer until the rutabaga and carrots are done.

Enjoy!! I wait for it too cool down, then it goes into the fridge and later I package it into single servings that can be frozen and then heated up for lunch or for a quick supper:)

Chance: Me and a Chickadee

It is I, Chance the most handsome blogging Border Collie in all of Minnesota.   I love laying in the snow bank, I curl up some afternoons and just watch the comings and goings in my yard.

I check out the bird feeders from time to time.  The past few days the birds have been feeding like crazy.

Yesterday one little bird hit the window, even though Far Side has pretty stuff hanging in them..a few birds manage to fly into the windows every year.

Sometimes they are goners..you know NRTS code one.  NOT REPAIRABLE THIS STATION.  Sometimes they are just in shock and if Far Guy picks them up and holds them gently they will recover and fly away.

Sometimes they are NRTS code one with their eyes open..so you can never really tell..but this one was breathing..breathing is a good sign.

If you can turn your little head to look at Far Side trying to take a picture of you..you are probably not NRTS code one either.

Oh, it was pathetic looking.  Was it going to croak right there before our six eyes ( me and Far Guy and Far Side).  I suppose Far Side would have bawled..nothing worse than women bawling especially over a bird that can’t tell the difference between the sky and a window.

I did what any good Border Collie would do..I tried to herd the bird and he flew away. He landed in a branch high in a tree.

I handled the Chickadee crisis perfectly..Border Collie style:)

Wistful Wednesday: A Fish Story

The other day at carving, the conversation led to the upcoming fishing derby.  Now for those of you who don’t know about fishing derbys this is how it works in the winter.

Local organizations use them as fundraisers.  They are held out on the lake, which is safely frozen over.   They plow some roads out on the ice and then they proceed to drill hole after hole for fishing.   All you need is a few dollars for a ticket and a ice fishing pole.  The poles are short and have a sharp end so you can poke it down in the ice.  You attach a bobber and put  a wax worm on your hook or whatever your choice of bait is..and throw it down into the hole..the hole is circular maybe 10 inches across..then you watch your bobber.  Oh, you need a Fishing License too..and you should be dressed warm..and then be patient and wait for the fish to bite.  There are prizes for different size fish. It varies from one derby to the next, they each have their own criteria.

Anyway one of the gals asked my cousin Chuckie what the “secret” was to fishing a fishing derby.  Chuckie just laughed and replied “There is no secret, it is just dumb luck.”  He went on to tell us of one year, he was on the lake and had saved an extra hole for a little hunting/fishing buddy of his who was a no show..when Uncle Adolf showed up a half an hour late.  Chuckie  told him to take the empty hole next to him..so he did and wouldn’t you know it..he caught a big fish, a big enough one to take home some prize money.

My Uncle was a good fisherman, I am sure that he would have said that it was skill that snagged that fish.  He liked to fish, summer and winter.

One time, probably around 1958  my baby brother and I stayed at Uncle Adolf's and Aunt Lila’s for a weekend. They took us fishing in a boat out on Bad Medicine Lake, I believe this was the first time I was ever in a boat on a lake. I thought being in a boat on the lake was both magical and a little bit scary. I had been on lakes in the winter and was comfortable fishing on a frozen lake, or in the summer fishing safely from a dock near the shore..but a boat..that was a big deal.  I loved watching the water over the side of the boat.  I don’t remember if we caught fish or not..but I do remember that we had fun, and a ice cold soda and a candy bar:)

Uncle Adolf

First day of February

Good bye January..see ya..in eleven months.  So long to your bitter cold and gloomy days and long nights.

Welcome February..the short month..here is what the calendar looks like..someone has a birthday this month.

Yessiree I have all my shopping done for the birthday boy ..I told him to pick out some model train stuff on the Internet and I have been intercepting the shipments.  That is truly my kind of shopping.

We got just a skiff of snow since yesterday..the sun is out this morning..it was a little chilly this morning –8 F  or –22C. It may have been colder..I did not get up at the crack of dawn.

The bunny rabbit was here, scrounging around the bird feeders.  I feel sorry for her/him..but if I set up a feeding station with alfalfa  and cracked corn it will make them easy prey for Fox, Owls and Eagles..so I find it more humane to let them fend for themselves.  Something was hunting in our area yesterday, Chance sniffed the air..grabbed the ball and went to the door.

I have been taking a Vitamin D tablet everyday for a month,  the consensus is that it is not making me less cranky. The pill that is supposed to make me more sun shiny is not working. If anything my crankiness has been accelerated.  Have you noticed that when people say “Hi, How are you?”  It is really just a polite thing..they don’t really care..so if you answer “Well, I am really cranky, thanks for asking.”  They look at you like you have three heads…although some of them laugh out loud…I think those are the really cranky people..I just have the nerve to say what they are thinking.

What do you think?  Is it better to sugar coat what you think..If someone asks you something should you lie..or tell the truth?

How are you this fine day?  “Cranky, really cranky..”

Hi..I haven’t seen you in a long time, what have you been up too?  “Well apart from trying to stay warm..I have been busy putting the finishing touches on my crankiness.”

Or with a phone solicitor. How are you Madam?  “Cranky”..sorry to hear that.. how is the weather up there in Minnesota? “Freaking cold and gloomy.”  Sorry to hear that too..what do you enjoy about Minnesota?   “The one month of summer that we get spread out over three months.”  :)

Totem In Town

There is a totem pole in town, near the courthouse. It was a source of entertainment for Chance and I one day.  Far Guy was getting his Drivers License renewed.

I drive by this totem every once in awhile, yet until I began to photograph it, I had no idea what animals were on it.

 


The lowest animal on the totem is a wolf..the highest is an eagle just above the owl.
  Ha..you would have missed it..I almost did too..but it is there..it is just not real noticeable.
This guy is third from the top, I take it that it is a man or is it a monkey?

The carver had a sense of humor..

He or she also successfully merged four creatures in this section of the totem..Deer, fish, bird and cat.
I know there is much to be said about totems..my take is that they are artwork..just in a different form.  Sometimes art work is in the form of words..sometimes they compliment each other.

I think I could turn and live with animals, they're so placid and self contain'd,

I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth… Walt Whitman ( from Song Of Myself 1891)

Today is the last day of a fairly long January that brought us more snow than normal, some cold temperatures but nothing out of the ordinary for us people who live in the frozen tundra they call Minnesota.  I hear a large storm is brewing for much of the nation..we are north of that storm..so we will just get a couple of inches of snow and below zero weather. Just another fine day in Minnesota:)

Campfires

Have a seat, take a load off, sit your busy butt down and enjoy the moment.

Ahhh..stretch out your legs and warm the bottom of your feet at the fire pit.  Have you put marshmallows on your grocery list lately?  You will need some for the roasting, toasting and burning that happens at this firepit.  WHHHat?  You cannot imagine…

This campfire pit worried me..were we going to run out of marshmallows? Was Adam going to have the sticky marshmallow picked off of his cheek successfully?  Was Andy’s marshmallow going to just hang there on his stick?  No..NO the fire is at ground level. I was worried…

These are the reasons why..especially the black and white one with the fluffy tail he likes to wave in the air like a flag.

This was the old campfire pit.  Far Guy and I dug a pit and put some rock around the edges and smeared some Quickcrete here and there.  It worked fine..but at almost ground level, I worried about a child or a dog falling in..plus in the winter I stepped in it one time..no harm was done, I felt stupid but that is nothing new.

Far Guy was in the Emergency Room late one Sunday evening with his Mother a number of years ago. A burn victim was brought in.   A two year old child was playing near a campfire up in Itasca State Park..and fell headfirst into the campfire and was severely burned.  That summer we found an old refrigerator rack and put it over our campfire pit so that no one could fall in.

Far Guys fancy smancy way to make sure that we start this project on the level.

Last summer fixing the campfire pit was on our “things to do list.”  Maddie helped, she got to drive the three wheeler back and forth with the landscape blocks.

In between throwing the ball for you know who.

We still have to watch Chance and his tail that he waves like a flag..but no one should be able to fall in head first..not a dog and not a child.  Notice the Shelties and how they carry their tails versus the Border Collie.

I like my marshmallows burned to a crisp..black ..crunchy..the ones that are mistakes..the ones no one wants or the ones that are thrown back into the fire.

There is no such thing as a  completely safe campfire..but ours is safer now:)