St. Urho’s Day Parade

It snowed another five inches plus.  The snow on the highway was melting.  We followed a snowplow and a long line of traffic to the parade.  The little village of Menahga had snow down the center of their streets. Their snowplow guy might have been in the parade.

The parade was a little late getting started.  Musta been on Finn time:)

Right behind the Police car is the Finnish Flag Bearer.

The flag and banner carriers holler “Happy St. Urho’s Day!”

The Royalty!

The Royal Order Of Weekend Finlanders were there again!

The Nytes of St Urho seeing that all the kids have candy.  Yes, one Nyte has Sponge Bob Square Pants Underwear on! 

A young Nyte flag bearer.  The older Nytes seem to be recruiting quite a few kids..what fun for them!

The grasshoppers were escorted out of town in grand style.  The grapes will be safe another year!

It was a wonderful little parade..it lasted all of 7 or 8 minutes.  Chance watched it  from the curb,  he was a real good boy and didn’t bark at the horses..he just watched them:)

St Urho’s Day

The parade is today.  I am hoping to get some good photos.  Last year it was 60 degrees F this year it might get to 15 degrees F…that converts to –9C..balmy.  It snowed and snowed yesterday..so we hope the roads are clear by parade time.

If you haven’t heard of St. Urho before you must have been living under a rock.  He chased the pesky grasshopper out of Finland and saved the grapes.  Finns all over the state of Minnesnowda celebrate the 16 of March!

Now for the 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 parade last year..2012.

One of those pesky grasshoppers!

It snowed all day yesterday, morning, afternoon and night.

This is the view out the Living Room Window.  The snow keeps sliding off the roof and falls right in front of the window.   It makes you feel like you live in a snow cave.  It is surprising how much light can get through a snow bank:)

Company

We got another four inches of snow. The snow is getting really old.  Another storm is headed our way and I heard a rumor of an old fashioned blizzard for next week.  An old fashioned blizzard is one of those where the wind blew the snow so bad that you couldn’t see the barn and had to leave the house with a rope tied around your waist so you could find your way back to safety.

This bold little fella visited us yesterday.  He/she must have heard the weather report too.

Far Guy’s Uncle Archie and his wife Helen came out for a visit.  You can see how tall the snow banks are.  They are standing on the walkway to the house. We had a nice visit.  Archie’s old stories are fun to listen to.

Here is the mountain of snow in the yard.

I wonder if it will ever melt:)

March 13 2013

The gremlin in my computer reared his ugly hear again.  I finally surrendered and took him and my desk top to the repair shop.  It has been giving me fits when it had updates where it had to restart. System restore didn’t work this time from any of the recent restore points and system recovery was the pits.  So I gave up.

I have most everything backed up.  My photos are on the Simple Saves.  Some of the files on the Simple Saves are duplicates..I will get it all straightened out sooner or later. It is discouraging..but not devastating.

I will struggle along with the laptop until my desk top is fixed. Some people like laptops..not me. I have one for it’s portability when we travel and as a backup.

I am still exhausted from the time change.

We finished with the cleaning of the grout..yeah!  Cross something off the list!!

It is supposed to snow again…bet you wish you lived in Minnesnowda!

This is my flag for March..my other little garden flag is totally buried by the snow:)

Wistful Wednesday: 1952

I have just a few photos of me with my paternal grandparents. 

Grandpa Y, me and Grandma Y

Grandma Y and me.

I was a bit of a chunk..or is that just the look of a healthy baby?  I wonder what the occasion was?  It was the summer of 1952..I would be one year old in the Fall.  I am pretty sure this photo was taken at my Grandparents farm..there was a bunch of bushes most likely some Lilacs half way up the hill to the house that was a stopping off place for a photograph.  I think someone else took the photo..it is a different size photograph than the ones my Mother took with her little Brownie Camera.

Grandma’s favorite flower was a Hollyhock..either that or it became her favorite after it grew effortlessly near her house:)

Spring is not here yet

Spring might be right around the corner..maybe.  In Minnesota anything is possible. Most  likely we will have snow the rest of this month and into April.

All good things come to those that wait. Whining does not work. Spring is on it’s own schedule..just because Spring officially arrives in ten days or so..doesn’t mean it will visit Minnesnowda.

Snow banks in our yard March 11 2013

Everyone I have talked to is sick and tired of moving snow.  In town the sidewalks are like tunnels..one of these days I will get photos. 

Saw half the neighborhood in the grocery store, and got caught up on most of the area news. Who died, who was sick, who could still not eat regular food, who got their hips done, who had extensive dental work..old people news. You know it has been a long winter when the menfolk are standing around the grocery store visiting. I noticed that almost everyone’s grocery cart had chocolate of some sort too.

I heard that chocolate followed by a nap would make day light saving time tolerable.  I love self medicating myself with a tried and true remedy.

The ditches are full of snow now.  Every time the wind blows the snow will blow across the road.  Then depending on the temperature there are drifts across the road or ice forms as the snow thaws and refreezes.

Yesterday the roads were good.  I have seen drifts along this road that were taller.

When I rode the bus back and forth to school I loved to sit by the window and scratch a little peek hole in the frosted up window with my finger nails.  First scratching up and down and then side to side..or cupping my hands together and breathing on the window so I could see outside. If it was really cold I held my thumb on the window until a tiny peek hole appeared. There were old short telephone poles (6 feet tall) along this road, and some years you could have walked along and touched the tops of the poles.  I have not seen snow like that in a long time.  This was also the stretch of road that had a deep ravine where water would collect in the spring and water would run across the highway…near the old farmstead where the lilacs would bloom in the spring:)

Chance’s Colors

Sometimes winter is best viewed in black and white.

Chance went out and sat in a snow bank for me.

The driveway.

We have enough snow for a bit.  This is the most snow I have seen back here in the woods since we moved here in 1998.  I am thankful that we have a steel roof and the snow slides off even if it does scare the heck out of you know who.

I am still working on cleaning and resealing the grout in between the tiles.  Every time I move the furniture around Chance clings to Far Guy.  Chance does not like change…he likes things just the way they are..and doesn’t want me messing with anything.

Chance is getting more vocal in his old age.  Last night his water dish was empty and he laid in the kitchen and yipped until I went to fill it.  He likes ice in his water too..can you say SPOILED!

Lately he seems like he cannot get filled up in the evening.  He eats his supper and then lays in front of his treat drawer.  He will see how many treats he can get out of each of us.  I have started putting a jerky treat into a kong like ball so he has to work for it. On occasion he hides that ball from me..to see how long I will wander around the house looking for it before giving up and just handing over the treat.

Soon we can begin the after supper rides that Chance enjoys.  That is one of the only good things about day light saving time…it is still light after supper:)

Winter Wonderland

Let it snow let it snow let it snow.  Someone must have opened the snow gates.

In the middle of the night on Friday Chance had to go out.  It was raining ice..it sounded funny on the roof of the overhang as I encouraged him to hurry and do his thing.

Then it snowed..then it quit..then it started to snow again.  I think we have about six inches of new snow…heavy wet snow.

Chance herded snow..

 

Late in the afternoon we went out to the big snow bank.

Yes, we have enough snow.

I cannot see out the living room window.

Why?  Because all the snow falls off of the roof and falls right in front of the window.  Far Guy says he might shovel it out tomorrow.  Strange to look out a window and all you see is a snow bank.

We ventured out to go to the dump and recycling center.  The whole world is white out there.

Welcome to the White Winter Wonderland better known as Minnesnowda.

Just a reminder to change the batteries in your Smoke Alarms and Carbon Monoxide Detectors..have fun springing ahead:)

Five thoughts..or what’s in my craw

Spring Cleaning can give you lots of time to think.  I have a few things in my craw…imagine that.

First of all Minnesota’s extreme cold.   Sara Haines of the Hoda and Kathie Lee Show visited the Artic Cat snowmobile factory in Thief River Falls Minnesota.  Sara said “ It was so cold your skin hurt.”  Hoda replied “Your nose hairs freeze.”  It was a measly –4F that day…brrr..poor baby.  Your nose hairs warm the air..that is their function..to warm and filter the air going into your nose.  And take it from me  at –4 F your skin does not hurt..at –40 F maybe..they should all go to Thief River and do one of their remote location shoots from a snow bank. Oh ya, I forget they don’t go anywhere they can’t wear those short skirts and they would look and walk funny with frost bitten legs.

Second, American Idol really sucks this year.  I watched and napped one night last week when the girls sang..then I napped through the entire boys show the next night.  I like Angie Miller..she sings like a winner.  That weird girl judge with the hair drives me nuts…whoever she is ain’t good…her voice drives me straight up the wall. I cannot imagine what she could possibly sing that would sell records. 

Third, I am really tired of all the gun control crap. Yes some people have guns..yes some people are mentally ill and use guns.  If you want to go nuts and kill a bunch of people you will find a way.  Yes, three people die every hour from guns..two of those three people are suicides.  Secure your guns..buy a gun safe..at the very least buy a trigger lock.  If you come to my door in the middle of the night..I am going to shoot you..plain and simple.  Hopefully if I have time to aim, I will just shoot you in the kneecaps.

Fourth, If we used our energy toward curtailing drinking and driving we could save lives.  Every 53 minutes someone is killed by a drunk driver. I guess it is more socially acceptable to use a car as a weapon.. and that my friends sickens me. I have zero tolerance for alcohol misuse.  If I were making the laws..I would hang the driving drunks from their necks until dead. There would be no need to have the three four strikes you are supposed to be in jail laws that most judges ignore.

Fifth, I hate the hour change of daylight saving time..it upsets my rhythm.  What purpose does it serve anyway other than to irritate me twice a year:(

Spring Cleaning

It is that time of year…clean some things out and straighten them up so your obsessive compulsive self can have a few weeks off before returning to work on May 1st. 

I am slowly making headway on “the list.”  I have lots of unfinished projects..too many. I should learn to say no.  Some things will not get done… they will wait until Fall and go back on the “list.”

One of the projects in the works is super cleaning the grout in-between the tiles on the lower level of our home.  Far Guy has been helping..you use a toothbrush…need I say more?  It is tedious.  The grout after it is dry is resealed for another 4 or 5 years.  The next time it needs to be done I will be older..I hope I can still crawl around on the floor then.  The grout is beige..originally it was supposed to be Hershey Bar Chocolate brown, but that color was backordered.  So beige it is and it is beautiful when it is clean.  We have about 800 square feet of tile and we are half done..and my arms are getting sore. I love my tile except when it comes to cleaning the grout.  The house in Harwood North Dakota had beige tile with Hershey Bar Chocolate colored grout..sometimes I miss the floors in that house…and the lake when it isn’t flooding and the fenced in dog yard and doggie doors…and the neighbors..but I digress.

Betcha didn’t know that I laid all the tile here in the house.  Far Guy and Chance were the tile layer’s assistants.  I read a bunch of books..and figured I could do it..and so I did. The proper tools are essential, a couple of levels, a great trowel and a good mud maker/tile cutter (Far Guy).  It took us the better part of a month from start to finish..because you have to wait for things to dry out before you can grout..and then that grout has to cure a bit before it is sealed. It was a huge project, but well worth the time invested versus hiring a professional.

We are supposed to get some weather again..a wintery mix..which could mean freezing rain or snow Friday night and Saturday..lately these storms seem to be an every weekend kind of occurrence.

A beautiful yellow Pansy will chase the winter doldrums away:)

Snow Report

Ya, You betcha we have enough snow for a little while.  My snow stick shows that we have 24 inches of snow on the ground.  Ten inches fell in that last storm.

A snow  monster walked out to the snow stick before the last snow.  It measured 14 then.

 She it left huge tracks that were filled in by the new snow.  The snow was over the snow monsters boots.  She might need some of those gator things or woolen leggings…or snow shoes.

No one is going to venture that way for awhile…not even the snow monster.  We will watch the snow stick from afar. I think a squirrel visited the snow stick.

This is the view from my bench on the patio.

Besides moving snow around. I have been busy doing “stuff” on my list.

I had another big project to work on for the museum and it is ready to go out in the mail…pleas for memberships to be kept current.

Chance and I enjoyed some golden time outside just before sunset:)

Wistful Wednesday: Grandparents Y

Somehow my paternal grandparents met. Their families lived a mile or so apart. There was no story to pass down. (Perhaps when my Grandmother arrived from Michigan when she was 21 years old, she had her eye out for a handsome young man…) They attended different churches, and didn’t believe in dancing..so perhaps they met at some community function. Grandma was an older woman..she was 22 and Grandpa was 20 when they got married August 2, 1911.

When I asked my Aunt Anna how she thought they met, she said that such things were never talked about.

 

Grandma was a midwife, she helped to deliver many babies. I often wonder who midwifed for the midwife?  Grandpa was a logger during the winter and a farmer during the spring, summer and fall.

They were the parents of 14 children.  Wilbert, Hugo, Jalmer, Ervin, John Oscar, Arthur, Adolf, George, Einer, Elmer Jacob, Marie, Rudolph Andrew, Arnold and Anna.  12 boys and 2 girls.  Einer died when he was just a few months old.

This was their 30th Wedding Anniversary photo in 1941.

The same day a family photo was taken.

Somewhere I have a list identifying everyone in this photo. 

Grandma and Grandpa about 1950.

I love that he threw his hat to the ground for the photo and was there cream in that cream can? 

I cannot tell you any stories about them together.  I can only imagine that they must have loved each other, they were married for 42 years.  My Grandmother died in 1953 when I was just 21 months old.  I have socks that she knit for me to keep me warm.

I keep them upstairs in an old cookie jar with a note:)