2026, Farming Update, Theatre

LOQUACIOUSNESS!

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This week on the farm / in the theater from Ben

Thursday we got 1.23” of rain. Then Friday was cool and windy and partially cloudy with a freeze warning for the evening. It’s MEA weekend and we had scheduled hayrides for daughters PossAbilities groups on Thursday and Friday. Well, first we postponed Thursday’s, then that evening, figured it was going to be so cold and windy that it would be miserable for riding out on a wagon. I’d be fine in the tractor, but it’s not about me. I suggested we postpone Friday as well. Next week looks to be a much nicer week.

It’s troublesome that it’s dark by about 7:00 PM these days. It’s hard to get much done at home. Good thing Padawan 2 added those extra lights to the back of the one tractor this summer. Last weekend Kelly was picking up sticks. I was using the tractor loader and grapple bucket to pluck larger branches and piles and move them to the burn pile. The plan might be to move “this” pile, but then there’s “that” log and pretty soon I’ve moved quite a bunch of other stuff. Once again, I had to remind myself, the tractor and loader is NOT A BULLDOZER. I told myself that right after a hydraulic hose started squirting oil. A very lovely arc six feet tall. But only when I closed the grapple. Turns out just a connection had come loose. No damage done. Whew.

Then down to the barn and the cow yard and the old, worn out fence separating the former calf pen, from the cow yard. There’s about 5’ of elevation difference, the calf pen being higher, and the fence had tilted over the years and posts broke off and it was just a mess. Covered in weeds because of the hill and rocks and it was hard to get mowed. This wasn’t a barb wire fence, it was cattle panels, sixteen feet long (that’s a standard) and about five feet tall. They were all beat up. Some random cow or bull trying to climb over once too often. I used the grapple and just lifted them up out of the weeds. Made a pile that I’ll crush down and haul into the scrap yard at some point. I picked up some new (to me) cattle panels at an auction, just need to get this fence out. And make new holes. And build a new fence. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! I have a trailer with scrap on it, I’m just trying to decide when to fit that into my schedule. Won’t be until after I get this play at the college open.

Over MEA, I painted the stage floor a light blue color base. It was a five gallon bucket of discount paint from one of the big box stores. Then my usual texture over it. Mostly brown, then some red, green, and blue. Have I mentioned, we’re doing “Dragons Love Tacos”, which is a pretty popular kids book. And there are Red, Green, and Blue dragons.

It’s not done yet

I was talking to Kelly one morning about how daughter will try to tell you something and her explanation goes back to yesterday and lunch or something that, in my mind, has nothing to do with what we’re talking about now, or the question at the moment, and I can’t figure out how it’s relevant, and I said to Kelly my attention span isn’t that long and I never know what we’re talking about. Kelly said daughter is definitely mine. And I blinked. And the reality smacked me in the face. I sort of tried to object, and Kelly said we were both very verbose in our explanations of things. Huh. Damn.

Verbose: wordy, long-winded, talkative, effusive, garrulous, rambling, bombastic, pompous, pretentious…

I saw a FB post the other day that said “I didn’t know parenting the Me out of my kids would be so hard” Yep. I have said before that daughter is stubborn and opinionated and thinks she has to have the last word, just like me and it makes me crazy. Just hadn’t thought about the talking thing before.

I picked up some new shirts from Savers the other day. Took them down to the costume shop. I didn’t have time to be pulling seams and swapping sleeves, so I just hemmed some up and cut some off. When I was a kid, I liked having the western style shirts with snaps. I have found a few of those lately and it’s kinda fun to have the snaps again.

YOU EVER HAVE BUTTON FLY JEANS? (I Had one pair on some army surplus pants. What a pain!)

WHAT HAVE YOU GOT FROM YOUR PARENTS? OR GIVEN TO YOUR KIDS?

2026, Art, Baboon Achievers, Food, gardening, Gatherings

PJ

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PJ / Margaret brought something special to the Trail.  Wicked sense of humor, acerbic wit, thoughtful comments and great stories.  What a life she lived.  I thought we needed a full day to remember her.  Bill commented earlier that we all probably had our own special connection with her, so hopefully today, we can all share.  I have many memories but will just share a few that really stand out to me.  The rest will be up to you all.

The Garden Restoration.  When PJ got hit by a car and couldn’t do her spring gardening, it was amazing how many baboons came together on a Saturday to lend a hand.  Even Lisa showed up in her green cocktail dress (she didn’t garden in the dress).  Everybody picked a patch and went to work.  And, like magic, food showed up.  Amazing how that happens when baboons show up.  PJ sat on the patio and cheered us on.  She mentioned it to me more than once over the years; I know she was profoundly moved and grateful.

Paper Cutting.  Danish paper artist, Karen Bit Vejle brought her to show to the Swedish American Institute and the Twin Cities folks met for a field trip.  It was amazing to hear PJ translate some of the informational blurbs in all the Scandinavian languages – Danish, Swedish, Norwegian.  I don’t remember Finnish or Icelandic, but I’m pretty sure she could have handled those if they were there.  Amazing.

Don Panchos.  I delivered Ben’s farm fresh eggs to PJ several times and on our first egg visit, she clued me into a great Mexican bakery just a few blocks from her house – Don Panchos.  It got to be a ritual for me to stop there after every trip to take eggs. 

Advice.  PJ was a thoughtful woman and she gave me some excellent advice once about letting other people give of themselves without trying to make everything fair or even.  Wonderful advice that I think of often.

I could go on, but I’m going to let other baboons tell their stories.  Margaret, I already miss you terribly.

Tell me about your connection to PJ / Margaret.

2026, animals, Food, pets, Uncategorized

Snacks

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Yesterday I finished cooking a large pot of brodo, a turkey/beef stock from The Splendid Table cookbook. It calls for 9 pounds of turkey wings that simmer for 14 hours with lots of vegetables and 4 pounds of beef shank. I get about 3 gallons of stock from it.

I get my turkey wings from a butcher shop that gets a case of them for me directly from the meat packing plant. They are enormous and meaty. After simmering for 14 hours, however, there is not much taste left in the meat. I can’t make myself throw them away, so I freeze the meat in small bags for our dogs. They get a few pieces of the turkey in their daily kibble. They love it.

They also get roasted butternut squash and beef protein sprinkles every day in their kibble. I roast the squash with our Turkish olive oil brushed on it. At least once a day they get gullet strips, and they have collagen chews to gnaw on. Yes, we have terribly spoiled terriers. They get so excited it is hard to stop since they seem so happy.

I think we spoil our dogs with snacks because we spoil ourselves with good food. They don’t seem to get fat on these snacks, but they are busy, active dogs who race around and burn off lots of calories. By the end of the day they collapse and sleep soundly all night.

What are your favorite snacks? How do you spoil the people and creatures you love? How are you spoiled?

2026, Family, History, Radio, Uncategorized

A Matter Of Grave Importance

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Today’s post comes from Occasional Caroline.

My great grandfather, Oscar Elmer, was sent as a missionary to start a Presbyterian church in Moorhead, MN in 1871. In May of 1874 his brother, John, came to visit from New York. Unfortunately, John Edger Elmer fell into the Red River and drowned. The normal procedure would have been to have his body returned to New York to be buried in the family plot in a cemetery in their home town, but John’s body was not recovered from the river until nearly a week after he disappeared and had deteriorated past the point where it could be shipped East. The town did not have a cemetery and the typical burial in Moorhead at the time would be on the property of the deceased’s family. Since Oscar did not own property he recruited some men from the town to help him bury his brother in a temporary location between two trees, with a rope tied to the trees to mark the grave.

The lack of a proper burial site prompted Reverend Elmer to organize a committee of residents to establish Moorhead ‘s first cemetery. In 1875, a railroad company was persuaded to sell a 5-acre parcel of land to the city for $1 and the cemetery came to be. John Elmer’s body was moved from the tree-marked grave and re-buried in the new cemetery.

Fast forward to 1971 when a 29-year-old man from St. Paul was giving a poetry reading at Moorhead State University. While walking through the town the next morning he happened upon Moorhead ‘s Prairie Home Cemetery. He had been trying to come up with a title for the radio program he was planning, and Prairie Home caught his attention. He changed Cemetery to Companion and the rest is history.

The photo of John Edger Elmer’s gravestone was taken by my cousin’s daughter on recent visit to Moorhead. She is a genealogist and John Elmer’s great great grandniece and Oscar Elmer’s great great granddaughter.

Any family cemetery stories? Where do you want your final resting place to be?

2026, animals, Fitness, Health, Uncategorized

Chair Yoga

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Despite the limitations due to my wrecked shoulder joints, I continue to attend my twice weekly exercise class. I adjust the arm movements so I can at least approximate them. I try to put more emphasis on my core and my legs. I feel it is really important to keep moving.

I have some pretty stiff leg/hip joints. My doctor recommended chair yoga, and I finally got around to printing off some exercises. I tried them yesterday and my are they difficult! I think they will be pretty helpful through the winter if I make myself do them daily.

Boommate dragged me up to the high school the other day to get a pass for walking the school hallways in the evenings once cold weather hits. I think that will be helpful, too. We can walk from 6:00-8:00 pm any day school is in session.

I noticed that there is a place in Sioux Falls that offers goat yoga. I think goats are a lot of fun, but I don’t think I would want one to jump on me while I was exercising or to nibble on me. I would probably trip over one and break my hip!

Ever done an exercise class with animals? How do you keep physically active? Any experience with goats?

2026, Food, holidays, home, News, Seasons, Uncategorized

Anyone’s Guess

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Well, it is that time of year when people try to predict how severe or mild the coming winter will be. Winter is coming, you know!

Our Arikara Indian friend from Twin Buttes, ND likes to use buffaloberries for prediction. Buffaloberries, aka Shepherdia or Bulberries, are a pictured in the header photo. They are tasty, tart, native berries that grow on shrubs that make lovely jam, jelly, and pie. You can order plants for your yard. Deer, elk, and bison love them. Our friend Bruce says the more productive the buffaloberries, the harsher the winter. I haven’t had a chance to ask Bruce what he has observed as yet. I trust his judgment, but it may only be relevant for north central North Dakota.

Woolybears. The caterpillars that develop into Isabella Tiger Moths. Well, if the black stripes on them are near the front end of the caterpillar, winter will be early. The more black stripes, the more snow and the harsher the winter. The more brown stripes, the more mild the winter. I wonder through, what if the woolybears all have different stripe allocations? Which one do you believe?

I think I have a better source of prediction. Saturday we noticed a house down the street that was having a Christmas light service install their lights. I had no idea such services existed. Humbug Christmas Light Services was on the job. We don’t put up Christmas lights, but how nice for people who want lights but who can’t manage ladders. I think the earlier the lights go up, the earlier the first snow.

What do you think we should use as winter prediction? Be creative. Do you put up outdoor Christmas lights?

Uncategorized

FALLING

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This weeks farming update from Ben

This week’s country living update brought to you by dogs barking in the middle of the night. Three different times! In one night! Bailey barks at whatever, Luna barks, daughter yells, someone has to let Luna and Humphrey out, then let them back in later. It’s a whole big stupid thing that’s been going on for the last couple months. We suspect Bailey does it as her passive aggressive revenge on Luna. She doesn’t know it’s worse on us.

Last night I Iocked Bailey in the garage overnight. It was a very restful night.

Geese are moving. Leaves are falling. And Orion is back in the night sky. I don’t know why I have such an affinity for Orion, however, what sticks in my mind is a play that I did 40 years ago called The Young Mayo Brothers. Written by a local director and it was performed for several years. And there was a scene where the two young Mayo brothers were standing outside on a summer night and they commented on Orion. I said to the director Orion is a winter constellation and he didn’t care. And that really kind of put me off, and it made me very aware of the different ways directors may go about something. Just like reading a book, you have your protagonist and does he have a complete backstory? What got them to this point? And are they fully flushed out or just kind of slapped together?  No, the line didn’t make a difference in the play, but it made a difference to me (because what else is the playwright making up?) and I love to see Orion coming up now and I think to myself, “There you are.”.

It’s been a good week.

Got the soybeans harvested on Thursday and that’s always nice. Yield was up from previous years, and the price is $3 / bushel higher than last year. Yay! Normally I’m stressed over snow and the weather, and this year it was just another beautiful fall day.

My ride along
Unloading while still combining. It’s all the rage now. Everyone does it!
Tractor and cart

I got the rye planted last weekend. The seed tender had a dead battery so I swapped out my lawnmower battery to make it work. Then put the old one back in when I took the seed tender back. I accidentally left my good battery sit on the machine for the 20 mile drive back to Potsdam. The dealer asked me the next day if I was missing a battery. I don’t know, am I? Man, I sure would have been scratching my head trying to figure out what I did with that battery if it had fallen off on the road.  

I took all the dogs to the vet. They got vaccines, and Bailey got antibiotics for a UTI (or possible kidney stone. We’ll follow up in 10 days and see if there’s a change on the ultrasound.) Humphrey needed a check up to stay on the aspirin he takes for his arthritis. They’re all healthy. Luna got her nails trimmed. She didn’t like it there any better than us doing it.

And then I picked up my tractor and drove it back home. Took 55 minutes on back roads. It seems to be all better now with a new radiator and cooling fan clutch. Still haven’t seen the bill. And that’s OK. I can wait. I did get Padawan to change the theater furnace filters in the morning, then we took the dogs to the vet, I bought him lunch, and he drove the dogs and the truck home. And he cut grass and did a few other things.

Next to my tractor was a new Fendt brand tractor. It was unlocked so I sat in that one.

A joystick and a screen and lots of buttons

One of these days I’ll hook up to the chisel plow and get it ready for fall. It needs new points before fall tillage.

Diesel fuel prices have started to come back down. A few places are $5.99 now. Like that’s a bargain!?? I finally drained the diesel tank. The gauge said it was empty a while ago yet I filled the smaller tractor, and got 50 gallons in the big one before the pump finally started to sputter and it did run dry. Shoot, I was hoping for a miracle tank. I’ll be good until the corn is harvested and I start chisel plowing. And hopefully the price of diesel will be down a few more pennies by then.

I’m always complaining about the deer. Check out this picture:

And that was just a FEW of them! I didn’t take a picture of the bunches further up the road… seriously, I lose hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to them every year.

ANY PASSIVE AGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR?

NICE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND. WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO WITH IT?

2026, animals, Government, home, News, Technology, Uncategorized

Dirty Little Secrets

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I was quite amused this week to read that the Federal Communication Commission is worried about our robovacs as threats to national cyber security.

Thats right. Along with certain routers and drones, the FCC has banned the importing of many robovacs unless they meet certain criteria. This means there will be fewer robovacs on the market, and, of course, prices for the government approved ones will rise.

We have a Shark robovac that we put to good use on our upstairs wood flooring. We named her Good Clean Bess, or just Bess, for short. Shark products are included in the current government ban, although already purchased or other units currently on the shelves haven’t been banned. She is parked in the dining room on her charger. Now, when I walk by her I wonder “What is she telling foreign spies about me and my home? What does she tell them about the dust and dirt she collects? Our cat ignores Bess, but what about cats who like to ride on robovacs as they travel over our floors? Do we need to worry that our cats are sharing State secrets ?

I know I am being a little over the top about this. I can understand concerns about routers and drones, but vacuums?

What would a hostile foreign government learn about you and your home from your vacuum? What would you do with a drone?

2026, Automotive, Business, Family, Mysteries

Forwards / Backwards

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When YA and I out together, I drive 99.9% of the time.  She likes to keep her car pristine which means driving it as little as possible; I get nervous being in the passenger seat when she drives.   So, me doing the driving is better for both of us.

Of course YA doesn’t think that being the passenger relieves her of the duty to backseat drive.  She wants to me move to another lane is the traffic is too slow for her.  She wants me to move back to the right lane sooner if our exit is coming up.  She wants to make sure I’m going at least the speed limit at all times.  She thinks I leave too much space between us and the car in front of us.  For those of you who have met YA, you know she is not shy about sharing my “failings” with me.  Ignoring her or “I am aware” are my usual modi operandi.

Parking is often an issue for her.  She is forever instructing me to back into parking spots so we can pull straight out when we leave.  Since I detest backing into parking spots (can’t even remember the last time I did), I always decline.  I’m pretty sure that the time it takes for me to back in is longer than the time to back out into the parking lot.  YA is adamant that it would save time.  I told her once that I didn’t want to stress myself out to do something would only save a nano-second.  She quickly replied that all those nano-seconds over a lifetime might add up.  Pretty fast thinking on her part but how would I ever know if it had added up?  I doubt on my deathbed and I’ll get a sign that I had 25 more minutes because of the times I backed in.

I was thinking of this last week when I was at the Dunkin drive-though very early.  The only three cars in the lot were parked in the very farthest corner from the building and all were backed in.  My first thought was that you must really be glad to be done with work if you need to roar out of your parking spot head-first at the end of your shift.  Made me laugh a little.  Second thought was that management “suggested” it to employees so that it would be clear that employees weren’t hogging the good customer spots.  This was the case in a few malls that I’ve worked at over the years.  Third thought was that it was a coincidence; you all know I’m not that great about coincidence.   But I’m not going to ask.

What about you?  Pull in or back in?  Any good parking stories? 

2026, Family, Government, Uncategorized, work

Unlicensed

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As always happens the first week of October, the email from the ND Board 0f Psychologist Examiners arrived reminding us that it is time to renew our licenses. Husband has been licensed since 1991. I have been licensed since 1994.

This year is different for us, since neither of us is renewing our licenses. We are retired. We no longer live in ND, and we haven’t accrued the 40 hours of continuing education over the past two years necessary to maintain our licenses., which formally expire January 1, 2027. We plan to email the Board office this week to let them know we aren’t renewing. Husband will also step down as the Board Investgator of ethical complaints against licensees on January 1.

I have mixed feelings about all this; happy to be retired and not having to pay for relicensure, wistful about letting go of a huge part of my identity. Husband notes with great irony that the Board is trying to enlist two licensees to do the complaint investigations that he did all by himself.

I was the Board president for 8 years, and I remember hearing from the Board office about people who initially decided to let their licenses expire when they retired, who then decided at the last minute to renew, and needed an extension from the Board to complete their continuing education hours. That will NOT happen for us. Done is done, but my, I will miss it.

Did your employment or some other aspect of your life form your identity? How has your identity changed over the years? Ever file a complaint against a licensed. service provider?