Hunter Moon

Last night as the sun went down the moon came up.  The Hunter Moon.

We waited and waited…Chance kept sighing.  It seemed to take forever.

Finally it was full in the sky. 

We made Flat Bread and Andy’s Chili yesterday, cross something off our list.  Chili will go into individual servings to be frozen for nights when we don’t want to cook (That would be most nights lately.)

I napped most of the afternoon, I am still feeling partly rotten…my body is still at war with itself.

Chance: Observations

I got a new bed, I sleep on it sometimes, it helps my hips at least that is what they say.

The wind blew and blew yesterday.  I don’t like the wind.  Then Far Side went one direction and Far Guy another and it was hard to keep an eye on both of them, so I went between them checking on one then the other…looking quite pathetic in the wind…at one point I laid down in the woods.

Far Side attacked the leaves in the yard, they are 90 % down, and this is the sixth mulching.  Another time or two and old sore butt will have it under control. She raked, she cussed, she mowed, she raked some more sometimes it was just easier to rake the leaves into the woods. They better stay there too!

Far Guy blew the leaves from the rocks next to the house moving them out so the possessed woman on the mower could pulverize them to smithereens.  Then he worked on a project for awhile…it might be revealed someday.  Then they carved!  I like when they carve at least they were both in the same spot and I could have a nap.

Miserable Week

I had great hopes to get a whole bunch of “stuff” done on my list this week.  I still have a couple of days left but it is doubtful that they will get accomplished.

Tuesday afternoon we went to the Shot Clinic and got our Flu Shots…I also got a Pneumonia Shot because I was due for one a year ago.  I have been just miserable.  My body is not liking either shot, both injection sites have swollen to the size of grapefruits. (Ever tried to sit on two grapefruits?)  Both areas are hot to the touch as my body is putting up a big fight. I am exhausted and very little is getting done…I think the injections also caused a flare of my Lymes Disease.  Far Guy got his shot and he noticed nothing…nothing.

I am thinking that dying from the flu wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

I will be fine, if I were going to croak I am certain it would have happened before now.

Amongst it all we either have TV or Internet …but never both for very long. Grrrrr…

87

My Mother is 87 years old today. 

This is the only photo of her in Grade School.  She grew up speaking German only, and when she went to First Grade the teacher knew no German.  Other children had to act as translators.

I was looking at this photo and wondering who resembles her the most.  I finally decided that her Grandson Kirk looks like her especially through the nose and eyes.  Also  her niece Vickie.  Perhaps she just looks like herself.

Mom is a very accomplished quilter and she enjoys sewing very much, and can spend hours at her sewing machines.  She is also a very good cook.  She enjoys going out to lunch, shopping and the soap opera The Young and The Restless.  She belongs to a number of service organizations and always has some meeting to go to.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Midway Memories: Bucky, Mitch, Freddie and Billy

The Austin Minnesota “gang.”  Bucky and Mitch Buxton were brothers.  Freddie and Billy Grover were brothers.

The Grover’s were a very large family, they lived next to a grocery store owned by Bud Butler.  In an earlier blog I wrote about Butch Butler having the largest show on the West Coast.  Billy came out first and worked the Wheel.  Al Merriam left the show one day to put up advertising in another town…while he is away Billy and another ride boy by the name of Jerry Perkel started riding the rims. ( The rims on the Ferris Wheel.)  They would grab onto the angle iron that separated two spokes and would ride all the way over the top, upside down and would let go at the ground…of course this kind of foolishness was not approved of by Al…he heard about it.  The next morning it was real hot, he set up a card table and an umbrella between the two Ferris Wheels (possibly Al had a glass of lemonade.) He gave each of them a bucket of gasoline and a rag and told them to clean his Ferris Wheels.  Four or five hours later he told them “That is a pretty good job but I don’t want to ever hear of you riding the rims again.”

Billy and Margaret

The great Cambridge Fight: The ride boys and the jointees never really got along until later years.  So Red and George (jointees) are in the hotel in Cambridge so Billy and another guy went to their room and a fight broke out, a chair was busted over Billy’s head and a certain relative was thrown down the stairs.  Billy spent two weeks in the hospital, once he got out of there he was supposed to go to jail but Al went and talked to the authorities and told them “Billy is a pretty good kid, if you let him off, give him to me and I will make sure he doesn’t cause anymore problems in town.”  We are not sure why a certain relative didn’t end up in jail…perhaps Al put in a good word for him too…afterall he was a kid from Ogden.
Freddie was great. He had the greatest sense of humor.  Far Guy says “He was happy go lucky but bad luck seemed to follow him around.”  For instance one night after he had finished a bottle of soda he tossed it over his shoulder and it hit a kid in the mouth and busted his teeth out.
Bucky was out on the road when Far Guy got his electric guitar in 1965. A fun loving guy, that first night with a electric guitar Far Guy only knew how to play a few songs, Bucky requested Boney Maronie…Far Guy didn’t know it so he played Wipeout whilst Bucky sang Boney Maronie. Bucky and Mitch worked joints.

Bucky on the right in 2005

Mitch in a Skee Ball Joint in 2005

Freddie and Mitch started their own game, going into business for themselves.  They wanted to frame up a joint, they needed 2 x 4’s but it was Sunday and no lumber yards were open.  They showed up with lumber and Al Merriam asked then where they got the lumber on a Sunday…Freddie said “ What lumber?” Al said “The lumber with the cement on it.”  Most likely it came from some construction project somewhere.

Freddie in 2005

When the Merry Go Round Foreman was unable to take the Merry Go Round apart which was quite often…Al would come and get Freddie to do it…Freddie would try to hide from Al on tear down night.

One of the joints that Freddie and Mitch had was a Paint Spin Joint.  I ran it for them one afternoon in Algona Iowa.  It was pretty easy, you took the money and put a piece of paper on a wheel and let people squirt paint on the paper as it spun on the wheel and hung it up to dry….this was in 1968.  They had important business someplace and I think I made a quarter for every fifty cent picture. What kind of important business…who knows..might have been for whacky tobacky.

Bucky died in 2007, he was a Vietnam Veteran.   Mitch died in 2012.   Both were liver transplant recipients.  Both spent most of their lives out on the road.  Mitch was known as “Concessionaire extraordinaire.” 

Billy and Freddie are both still living.  We see Freddie from time to time, he has a string of joints out on a show that stays in Minnesota for the most part. One of Danny Suber’s sons works for Freddie.  Freddie lives in Louisiana in the winter.  Billy gave up the show business, he had no college education but wrote computer programs for a living.

Either you have Sawdust flowing through your veins or not.  
 

Frost

The frost did most of my flowers in.   They look so sad.  Sunday mornings 28F or –2C eh! was too much for the plants.  My cousin Art said it was 18F early in the morning…I think he gets up earlier than me!

It was a beautiful day here yesterday and at the end of the day we enjoyed sitting outside before dark…and had a good round of ball with Chance.

Marigolds on happier days

Last Spring we had a freeze that destroyed most of the acorns. There are very few acorns, so the mice are invading whatever areas they can.  They nested in the passenger air filter of my car again…this time we ordered a new filter off the Internet and put Fabric Softner Sheets along the air intake…we will see if that works. We have mouse poison out in the garage.  I hear many people are looking for barn cats to help with the problem.

My plan for this week is to make Chili and Flat Bread one day, clean up my car, photograph some gravestones, clean up my flower garden and mulch leaves. 

90

My Dad was ninety yesterday.  We celebrated with a open house gathering in the afternoon at church.  Cake, ice cream, cookies, nuts, mints, lemonade and coffee.  I will guess that just about 200 + people came to the celebration.

We had eight huge cakes.  Spice, lemon, white with lemon curd, strawberry, chocolate of several kinds.  We served gluten free cake and cookies also…my Mom baked a gluten free cake and Aunt Anna made the gluten free cookies.

My grandaughter Paige took photos with my camera.

We sang happy birthday!

My Dad and Mom

My Mom will celebrate her 87th birthday in four days.  My parents celebrate for a whole week in October between their birthdays and anniverary.

Guests came from all directions and from all sides of the family.  Trica, Richard, Madison, Paige, Andy, Jen, Noah and Adam were all there. ( Savannah had to work.) They all helped in the kitchen along with my brother and she who see Robins first and my sister. It was a great kitchen crew.

It was a good afternoon, my Dad said “I can’t believe that so many people showed up for my birthday!”

My Dad is the oldest living person in his family.  His sister Anna is younger than him…they are the remnant.

Dad says there was a snowstorm and it was 20 below zero back in 1926 and he weighed in a whopping twelve pounds.

The Hills

The Smoky Hills were showing off one day last week.

The Aspen or Popple is golden.  Aspen is a fancy word…for Popple.  It is a worthless tree, it has few uses…some v groove paneling is made from it and firewood that oozes a dark brown bubbly substance that has reminded me of our favorite name for it…Piss Popple.

They die from the top down, we have several out in our woods that are in the process of dying…they make fine woodpecker playgrounds.  Eventually only the main trunk is left and it finally topples over.  Many times they grow from a common root and just branch out just like in the photo. In the spring you can see two different types of Populus species in the hills…one leafs out before the other.

May 5 2016

Populus tremuloides.  That is the scientific name.  It is a prairie tree.  The cotton that fills the air every June has been said to drive some women mad…those fluffy seeds are everywhere.  Given half a chance the seeds germinate where they land.
 

July 2016

Fun to see the hills change with the seasons.

Mints

I just finished a batch of homemade mints for a gathering this weekend.  They are drying out a bit on the counter before I pack them away in the fridge.

I made spearmint flavored leaves and amaretto flavored sunflowers.  Yes I know it takes a bit of imagination to make a sunflower out of the yellow ones….oh well they taste good anyway.

The recipe is simple enough 1 brick of Philly Cream Cheese and a bag of powdered sugar. Mix well and divide mixture in half or thirds for whatever coloring or flavors you wish to mix.  My big mixer came in real handy. After mixing chill your batches, I threw mine in the freezer because I wanted the mixture to cool fast so I could finish this project!

We have many different molds…and they have been used over and over…I think the first time we made mints was back in 1994 before my oldest daughters wedding…Arvilla and I used the molds while my Mom mixed up the batches. 

I sprinkle a bit of sugar into the mold, then roll a ball of mint and dip it in sugar and press it into the mold, level off the back of the mold and then lift gently on the outer edge of the mold and release the mint and then dip it in sugar….repeat…until all your mixture is used up…allow mints to dry a bit before packing away.  They freeze well and can be made ahead of time.

The leaf and sunflower I used are in front.

Flavorings can be purchased in a bake shop/candy store, food coloring is just the normal one from the grocery store.

66 Years and Counting

My parents have been married 66 years today.  They were married in the evening at a candlelight church service and had a dinner afterwards at my Dad’s Parents home.

This is the card I made for them this year.  One photo taken in 1950 and the other last year at their 65th Anniversary party.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Yard and Cooking Report

Leaves and more leaves.  We had gale force winds yesterday and many of our trees are now bare.  The wind was from the North West and it had a real cold feel to it.

The vines that crawl up the trees are turning red.  It is a Virginia Creeper type vine.

Here is my flower bed, the leaf catcher that it is.  I was dissappointed with the flowers this year, my large yellow Marigolds were always shredded by the squirrels and my Salvia Victoria Blue never flourished. The small Marigolds did okay.  The red Salvia looks great this time of year…but soon a frost will take it out.

Small garden on October 4th.

We made homemade noodles for chicken and noodles, Far Guy got a lesson…I believe he could make it all by himself now.  The freezer was cleaned out.  We were going to make chili and freeze it up also but I have had other commitments that have been taking up some of my time. Perhaps next week.

We had a few Juncos show up in our yard yesterday…snow birds.

Midway Memories: My First Days

I went out on the road in June of 1968.  I stayed out until Labor Day that year.  Then I went back home to finish my last year of High School. 

I was a forty miler for a few days…then I went farther than forty miles with the carnival. After you made it through a few spots and travelled down the road aways you were considered a real carnie.
It was a different way of life for me.  Far Guy’s parents were really good about sheltering me…and Far Guy tried really hard to teach me the ropes. Do this, do that…it was a lot to learn.

I made some mistakes…luckily they were not huge life altering mistakes…only life lessons. 

I was an agent in the diggers and sometimes I was a ticket seller.  The first time I was in charge of a ticket box…Weird Harold (everyone called him that) took some money from me when I opened the back door of the ticket box for him.  Edna knew right away that I had been robbed…she hollered at weird Harold, he confessed and gave the money back.   Never let a Ride Boy in your ticket box unless The Boss or Edna said so. 

One night I walked back to the camper after dark to get sweaters for Far Guy’s Mom and I.  On the way back a group of teenage boys from town started hassling me…there were about six of the smart mouth creeps.  I kept walking and all of of sudden I was surrounded…just then a fellow I had only known for a few days walked right through and grabbed my arm and off we went.   That was Leon, he was a farm kid from Iowa and was out on the show with his Uncle Hubert.  Leon was a looker, tall dark and very handsome.  Far Guy says “Leon was sweet on you.”  Perhaps he was, he would stop by the joint and talk to me and ask me if he could get me popcorn or a soda.  I liked Leon as a friend…nothing more…however IF I hadn’t been going with Far Guy I would have went out with Leon.  Leon went into the Navy during Vietnam.  He died when he was 36 years old, I think in a car accident…but I am not sure.

There is no such thing as a Skyhook, Tent Stretcher or a Key To The Midway.  If someone sent you for any of them they were just sending you on a wild goose chase.

The first day I was out on the road I met lots of people and nearly every one of them told Far Guy “This girl is way prettier than the one you were with last night.”

Edna and Al Merriam with Joyce Berry leaning on the post in the background, unknown year possibly early 1960’s.

Today I will introduce you to some of the people I met.  Most are dead and gone now.  Very few are alive. I met so many over the years…I will be writing about them for a few more weeks.

Al and Edna Merriam: They were the show owners from Ogden Iowa.  Alva or Al better known as “The Boss” suffered from migraine headaches and was a tad cranky.  He ran a tight ship, drinking on the job was not allowed, if he caught one of the ride boys drinking he would run him off.  He didn’t care what you did after the show was closed for the night or on your day off.  Edna was in charge of payroll and the ticket sellers and Al.  Edna was really good to me, and well Al was Al…after Edna died he talked to us quite a bit about her, he was really lonely after she died.  We visited them a few times at their home in Ogden Iowa in the winter time. Edna died in 1986 and Al joined her in 1994. On a side note Edna had Trigeminal Neuralgia, we didn’t know about it back then but after Far Guy was diagnosed a good friend of Edna’s shared that information with us.

The Berrys: We called them Farmer and Mrs Farmer, I am certain they had real names but I do not recall them.  They had a sno cone joint and the pony ride.  They made their own sno cone grape juice…probably why Far Guy still likes Grape Snow Cones. They also sold Chocolate Covered Bananas one of my favorites!  They kept them in a huge cooler along with ice cream sandwiches…the homemade kind.  (They would slice off squares from a half gallon of ice cream and sandwich it in between two waffles that were crunchy.) They had two sons, Marvin and Eugene and one daughter Joyce.  Joyce was always sweet on Far Guy and Paul too, they used to take her along to the movies with them on nights off.  Joyce was a little cool to me…I was competition.  The Berry’s were from Minnesota.   Far Guy called and talked to Joyce a few times.  Her parents have passed on.  Joyce never got married and still has a sno cone joint that she sets up in local celebrations.   Her brother Marvin has a mini doughnut joint out on Stipes Shows.  Back in the 1960’s he ran the tilt and his beautiful wife with red hair sold tickets.  Not sure what Eugene did, once in a while he came out to help his parents.

Bill and Helen Campbell:  Bill had a Novelty Joint and was the mail man.  Helen had a spin the jewelry wheel and she would engrave it for free. Helen had a large goiter.  They were from Dennison Iowa.  They had a son named Lawrence that was a school teacher, during the summer he had a Guess your Weight/Age Joint and would draw quite a crowd.  It was fun to watch him work the crowd. Bill died in 1993 and Helen in 2003.  They were kind people.  Bill was tall and lean with a crew cut and mostly he wore grey pants and blue shirts and a funny little hat, he walked really fast!  Helen had curly grey hair and wore white anklets with her black old lady shoes with a bit of a heel, she usually wore slacks and a flowered blouse.  Helen also wore glasses and a smile…she also knew most of the gossip on the show.

Some older history from Far Guy.

Sno Cone Pete was an old bachelor.  He had a machine just like a wood planer that shaved ice.  Far Guy says “It fell into a bucket”  His sister says “ The ice fell on the ground and the kids would eat it.”

Al Merriam in Tama Iowa in 1975.

Back on Track

Busy days…I am unpacked and have the train cards on my desk, if I have some free time I can color a bit in the evenings.  I will eventually get them all done.

Planning to make some homemade noodles and cook up some chicken today.   They make a great freezer meal.  We will defrost our small deep freeze today.  We have lots of coolers and frozen freezer bags standing by.  IF I am going to spend my time cooking and freezing meals then I need a clean freezer.

Far Guy’s Fitbit went on the blink…sometimes his computer didn’t want to sinc it…so he bought a ZIP to put in his pocket…hope I don’t wash it.  Last night I had just come in from mulching leaves and he was having a crisis cause he couldn’t get it to work…following their set up directions…of course not…he had to go into his account settings and add a new device.  Sometimes simple things get to be not simple at all.

The leaves are about a third down, and we have mulched the entire yard three times.  The forecast is for rain so that is why I was out until dark, the leaves are easy to mulch when they are dry…not so much when they are wet.

The talk around here, especially the old timers is that this will be an old fashioned winter with lots of snow…perhaps that is why my pantry is filling up and my freezer is calling me to make soups, noodles and chili so we always have a meal on hand.

   Bottomless Lake

Busy Man

My husband was a busy man whilst I was gone, he washed the windows and totally took apart the screendoor windows and washed them.  He carried away most of the lawn furniture and folded up tables in my garage.  He sprayed weeds!  Chance got a new batch of pumpkin treats too.  Perhaps I should leave more often!

I stopped at this tree on the way home and took a few photos.  It was windy.

It stands near the Erie Town Hall.

This tree is a ways East of the old Highway 34 Club.  That was a dinner/bar/dance place called Erie 34.  There was also an Erie Junior located in Detroit Lakes out on Highway 10 east of town, Far Guy and I went there one year for supper before prom probably in 1968 or 1969. I am not sure what happened to the place in town…but the Erie 34 Club was bought and sold and the name changed to The Broken Wheel and it eventually burned down.  I recall once when Rhonda called me and said “The Chippendales are going to be at The Broken Wheel want to go?”  I wish I had gone.

Retreat

Retreat is just fine.  I made more sympathy cards.  Once I completed that project, I started something new to me.  Stamping.  Not sure if I ever will do it again. 

I am working on a Christmas card.  It is lots of coloring and playing with paper.  I like to play with paper. 

 

It is a big project and by the time I am finished I will be real tired of coloring.  First I used water colors and everything was too pale, so now I am using colored markers. 

It is a good project to use up scrap pieces of paper!  I might just clean out one of the drawers in my desk where I throw bits and pieces of colored papers.

There are eleven other women here.   Teachers, receptionists, a social worker, a stay at home Mom and I am the only retired person and the oldest.  They are good shoppers and have way more energy than I do.  Some are sewing, some are knitting, some are working on scrapbooks and some are making cards like me. 

Son in law, Andy came and cooked for us yesterday and Far Guy and Chance came to visit and had supper with us.  Supper was naan bread with rib eye steak, onions, peppers and cheese to make individual pizzas.  Dessert was brownies and ice cream. 

The weather has been beautiful and warm, perfect fall day in Minnesota. 

I am using an application called Blog Touch Pro it was $4.99 in the App Store.  I had the trial version and updated it to the paid program.  It seeems to be idiot proof so far. 

Far Side

Newfangled

Trying something new today... I have never used my IPad to blog.

First I had to learn about the camera.  That was fun, I especially like the pano view. Someday maybe I will use it for a photo other than Far Guy laying around. So far so good.  The camera is not too bad.

 

This is my desk pre retreat.  Last year I went for only a day, this year I am planning on three days.  God willing and the creek don't rise.

Far Guy bought me that Right Brain book for my birthday.  So far I have only read in it... No drawing yet. I will leave it home.

So far this newfangled way of blogging is ok. I guess the real test will be IF it publishes when it is supposed to.

I hope you have a good weekend!  I made vegetable soup for the retreat and that is the extent of my cooking for the weekend. 

Far Side

Water Tower Down on Second Street

We got a “heads  up” from one of Far Guy’s classmates that the old water tower in Park Rapids was going to come down.

I took a photo on the way into town, we were both relieved that we were not too late.

Far Guy grew up a block away from the water tower.  Who knows how many girls he kissed there!  It was a neighborhood kid gathering place. We found a spot to park just behind Far Guy’s old home place.

The backhoe was working on it when we got there.  It was very loud.  At one point there was a very large rumbling noise just like it was moaning and groaning and let me tell you the earth shook …but it stayed standing.  I was nervous…Far Guy was too close in my thinking…were they certain it was going to land in the hole and area that they had prepared? 

People were coming and going as the backhoe pecked away at the exterior.

The crowd got larger and larger.  I thought perhaps the Police would move us back farther…but they didn’t.  I was a tad nervous.  What if something went wrong…I stayed back further than everyone else…I have a good camera with a zoom. Far Guy was right up front, every once in a while he would look my way smile and wave.  I know I saw it sway several times and then right herself again.  I asked other people if they saw it…Far Guy said I was seeing things. 

This is one of her last upright moments.  When she started to fall, she fell straight downward and then…

Then there was dust.

It fell right where those guys said it would….for $86,000 they should be right.  I was glad it fell as planned. 

When it fell there was noise… crumbling sounds and cracking and groaning and then a big crash/whoosh and the earth shook.  Chance was in the car and he was fine, another dog in one of the houses started howling and barking.  People cheered when it hit the ground…me not so much…I thought it was sad.

Here is the new skyline view.