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The Job of Rest

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Happy Labor Day Weekend, Babooners!

We have arrived at a seasonal bookmark, the holiday opposite Memorial Day. In between these two three-day weekends is all the summer fun we had.
Take a moment to reflect on that. It was glorious!

New adventures are about to begin, including school, for many, on Tuesday. If there are any things you had planned to do that are left undone (if?), please do them now. Especially if they’re recreational. Relaxation is a job you must not ignore. Clearing your mind keeps you healthy, and it’s good if you can indulge yourself every once in a while. But if you’re Denny Hecker, make sure you notify the court and the trustee before you tear open another secret bag of money.

Trail Baboon started just a few days after Memorial Day, and I had planned to take a blog vacation somewhere in there but you were all so generous with your time and so engaging, I forgot. To compensate, the Baboon will take a three day weekend as well. I’ll return with a fresh post on Tuesday.

As far as a longer vacation is concerned, I am hoping to have a guest blogger week in October. If you would like to write the lead post between October 4th and October 11th, it would be a delight to turn over the controls to you. Frequent commentators and lurkers alike are cordially invited. Common sense rules apply. Please write to me at connelly.dale@gmail.com, I’ll get back to you with the details.

Right now, I’m planning to go to the State Fair, a place so inclusive and diverse, you can meet and shake hands with the person who will be our next Governor and also get a hug from a Man of Spam. Yes, they are two different people (I think).

What will you do with your long weekend?

62 thoughts on “The Job of Rest”

    1. Forgot to say I am home today, going to Okoboji tomorrow for a family get-together with some of my favorite family people, and I am home again Monday, resting up for the Autumn Work Schedule When People Want Therapy Again. I will also be transplanting garden perennials into a new/revised patch.

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  2. Good Morning and Good Bye,

    The good bye is for you, Dale, as you take your short break. Have a good time. I will be getting ready during the weekend for a vacation to Glacier National Park later this month. I have a lot of end of the season gardening work to do plus packing and various other things. There will also be a family get-to-gether tomorrow.

    Trial Baboon has been a very good activity for me this summer as a retired person who is at home alone most of the time. I could get out more if I wanted to, but why bother when I have all of you on Trial Ballon to keep me company. I don’t stay home all of the time. At least I hope I haven’t become on those eccentric people who hardly ever talks to any one, or have I? No, I think I’m still more or less in contact with reality, whatever that is.

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    1. Woops! I forgot that it’s Trail Baboon not Trial Ballon. May be I am not completely in touch with reality and living a little in the past. However, I am glad to be moving forward with Trail Baboon, the new reality that you have offered to us, Dale.

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    2. How wonderful–Glacier in the fall. Always wanted to do exactly that.
      I am actually becoming that eccentric, Jim, which means I am becoming my father, damn it. Part of the reason is in this quote I found in reference to older people, retired people, and which also explains what I–and I think yo–get out of this: “Everyone needs to be taken seriously by at least a few other people in life. No one can tolerate being lightly dismissed day after day.” “Staggerford”, Jon Hassler
      I too have much coming up and will have only spotty attendance on the blog for the next 2-3 weeks and maybe beyond.

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  3. have a great weekend, Dale! and the rest of you ‘Booners also.
    still have brother and sister-in-law here until monday and a friend until this afternoon. we will celebrate our Mom’s 91st BD a little early today
    i’d love to go to the state fair tomorrow to see the Alpine goat show, but i don’t think it’s in the cards. next year.
    beautiful day in Blackhoof – hope where you are also.

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  4. Today we’ll be canning beets and rearranging furniture. 🙂 If time allows, I want to make a swiss chard version of Spanakopita (Spinach Pie) — anyone know of a reason this would not work?

    Then tomorrow I’ll head down to my mom’s for a couple of days, and avoid the Monday traffic that way. See you all Tuesday — have a great weekend, Dale and Babooners.

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    1. I think the swiss chard would work and would be very good, at least for those who like the swiss chard flavor. That is a flavor I really like.

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    3. i have some CSA beets that i would like to donate 🙂 we made a beet-chocolate cake w/ peanut butter frosting last week (only way we’ll eat beets, ain’t we terrible?)
      i have a borek recipe (middle-eastern kind of pasty) that uses swiss chard, tahini, and is delish. think that would be fabulous in spanakopita. but i can’t find it right now, BIR, so i’ll look this evening. i may have given the book away when we moved…..

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      1. Last week was my first beet-free week from our CSA. Not being a huge fan of beets, I was relieved. I have sauteed, roasted, had them in salad, and pawned them off on friends and family. Didn’t think to try chocolate cake. Will have to remember that for the next time I have beets to use.

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  5. I think this is a weekend all about creative ways to use up CSA veggies. On today’s agenda: making pasta sauce and having friends over to grill (which will more than likely include creative use of CSA veggies). On tomorrow’s agenda, grilling at the neighbor’s house (and another excuse to figure out something creative with with veggies). Monday I shall rest.

    Mostly it will be a weekend about doing nothing – y’know, like when your mom would ask what you’re doing and you say “nothing, “even though you’re doing *something* – but it’s a “nothing” sort of “something”, which is one of the best kinds.

    We are already past the first week of school for Darling Daughter, Husband starts on Tuesday. I have a big upgrade and launch for the tools I work with on Wednesday, so I need to rest up now – this week was tiring, and Tuesday and Wednesday are bound to be a bit crazy, too. I may be off the Trail those days. By Thursday my brain may be the consistency of cotton candy.

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  6. Yesterday I cleaned the floor of our deck with a chemical preparation that takes grime and gunk off, and on Sunday I will restain/seal the deck floor so it doesn’t rot. I also have to make pesto. The basil crop is good this year and I’ll have lots of jars to freeze. It freezes well as long as you don’t put the cheese and butter in until you thaw it just before using. Husband should return from Pine Ridge tonight or tomorrow. Daughter will practice violin and sleep. Our cats will lurk and the terrier will be so excited to have her people at home three days in a row and will try to be a part of everything we do. I think that chard spannikopita would be lovley. it also goes well in lasagna in place of spinach.

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  7. Oooh, and I just remembered I’m preparing for a garage sale with my neighbor for next weekend. Uffday, I need another day to this long weekend!

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  8. Well, I’m getting ready for Rock Bend! Rock Bend is NEXT weekend and preparations are in full swing, so no rest for the wicked.

    I cook a lot for backstage so I’ll be baking this weekend, making pesto, as well as making a crock pot of vegan chili at least three times this week. I bring chili, salads, oatmeal raisin bars and zucchini bread. On Wednesday night we have brats done in beer and I’ll do those. I also have to mow the lawn (not a small job). Another friend slow roasts pork for sandwiches for Friday through Sunday. The backstage food feeds the musicians and the numerous volunteers. Everybody gets plenty and much of it is organic and/or locally grown. This is one of the busiest weeks I have all year and doesn’t stop until the following Monday or Tuesday evening. Then I rest. Really rest.

    I think the Rock Bend website is finally close to being accurate. Check it out at http://www.rockbend.org. Or check out the conversations we have on our Facebook page (search for Rock Bend Folk Festival.) We’re in our 20th year and we love our wonderful free festival. We’re so proud of being able to bring such a list of fine musicians to thousands of people for FREE every year.

    Have a great weekend, Babooners!

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    1. Krista, you’re making my mouth water! We’re planning to come to Rockbend next weekend… where shall I look for you? Is Saturday or Sunday preferable in any way?

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      1. Oh, please do come! I’m looking forward to meeting you! I’ll be at Joyce’s North Grove Stage most of the time. It’s on the north side of the park. It’s a smaller stage with lesser-known acts. We also have the Zoomobile, an open stage and a comedic juggler. We love it.

        Parking is tricky. You’ll have to search for a spot to park (on city streets) and then walk. You can enter the Park anywhere and you’ll be able to see where things are going on. Bring lawn chairs and a cooler with your favorite stuff. The only thing the City of St. Peter bans are dogs. You can bring beer or a bottle of wine if you want to. A blanket is a good idea too. The mosquitos will be serious.

        The Pavilion stage is the “main” stage and the best acts are there. Check out the website for musicians you might like. Saturday is going to be a really fun and busy day and that’s the day our famous Baboon friend will be there. Have you ever heard the band City Mouse? They’re from Mankato and they’re really great! They are Minnesota Music Hall of Famers. Check out the drummer.

        Before City Mouse will be a Rock Bend favorite, the Wild Goose Chase Cloggers. They broke our stage one year. After the Cloggers are a band all the way from Sweden: The Abalone Dots, four women who play like crazy. After City Mouse is April Verch, a Canadian fiddler and step dancer.

        I’m personally looking forward to Crooked Still (3:45 Sunday) but I never get to listen very long anymore. Also on Sunday will be Peppino D’Agostino, an amazing guitarist from Italy. Sunday will be quieter for me.

        Please do come and introduce yourself! I’m looking forward to meeting you.

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      2. Thanks for details, Krista! It all sounds good – may talk Husband into doing an overnight. See you next weekend.

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      4. I will testify to it, too. Walked through it two years ago with grand-kids. 7 years ago we went two years in a row; one of the places where I fully discovered my problem with sensory input; so quit going. But it’s no that loud; just was for me. Has sort of hippy fair atmosphere, but that is selling it short–more than that. Great to lay back and people watch.
        Barbara, if you are coming down for a night, you may want to look for motels in Mankato. I love St. Peter, but wider selection 12 miles south in Kato.

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      5. Yes, I agree with Clyde about lodging, Barbara. There’s an AmericInn in St Peter but it’s getting full already because we put the bands up there (Crooked Still has insisted on six rooms!) and others reserve rooms in advance. You could try making a reservation there, but I’d do it soon if you’re going to. Otherwise, Mankato has lodging too. I go home to Waterville – the strongly introverted part of me needs to be at home where it’s silent before going back on Sunday. It’s 27 miles from Waterville – St Peter. Let me know if you need any help!

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  9. Afternoon—

    We made a quick trip today to the Spam Museum in Austin, MN and had a great time (and got some new flavors of Spam; Garlic and black pepper!)… got recommendations to a restaurant for lunch and now home again so the older child can get on with his prior obligations and I guess I’ll go out and do some work…
    My lovely wife is planning a painting job for tomorrow… and I expect to continue the landscaping job around here.

    But it’s a nice easy sort of long weekend, as Anna said doing “nothing”…. because it isn’t ‘work’ work… so it’s better.

    Have a nice break everyone– Dale, You too!

    Ben

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  10. I’m not going to put up a full recipe but rather a trick I figured out for making soup, which I used again today. Use turkey drumsticks and pork neck bones as the soup base–very rich flavor, makes the house very aromatic all afternoon.

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  12. Red Beet Chocolate Cake (with peanut butter frosting)
    1.75 cup A-P flour, sifted (i didn’t do this)
    1.5 teaspoon baking soda
    .5 teaspoon salt
    1.5 cup sugar (granulated)
    3 large eggs (sans salmonella)
    1 cup vegetable oil (canola, soy, corn, etc)
    1 to 1.5 cups beet, pureed (i cooked 4 medium beets, slipped the skins off and put in food processor until smooth)
    2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease (i sprayed) a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Sift (i stirred) together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Combine sugar, eggs and oil in a mixing owl. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Beat in the beets, chocolate, and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients, beting well after each addition. Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool in pan on a rack. Cover and let stand overnight to improve flavor (yeah, right.) i made a powdered sugar frosting, using a big hunk of chunky peanut butter instead of butter, added a bit of goat milk and powdered sugar until the correct icing consistency. Frost the cake when it has cooled.

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      2. No worries. The beets eventually found another home. And it seems we are done with beets from the CSA for the season. Unless they have another last gasp.

        Next year – chocolate cake for the beets!

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  13. saturday, drive home form winnepeg the kid did great at linebacker, is a walking wounded but a great chalange for my homeopatihic magic stuff. 8 am til 8 pm college stops at grand forks and 3 in fargo (ndsu concordia and moorhead for him to think about.
    sunday new egg dish where i do the onion potato mushroom chinese peppers and and garlic for a while with spices and other stuff like tea , soy sauce , hoisan sauce , throw in some veggies (broccli today) a bunch of chhese and a fistfull of egggs with milk thheow it in the oven until its doen (375 for an hour or so)
    then i get the lasagne recipe request form my duaghter. she helps so its a day of watching these tennis greats and smelling basil. lawn needs mowing and then tomorrow off to the twins with the legion baseballs sons team but i have ot leave early to do a live fantasy football draft with some friends that were good enough to invote me into their league. i love fantasy football. that should take me until 10pm and finish the weekend. all in all a very nice 3 days. i had hoped to get back to the fair but winnegeg drianed my crew. the 8 hour drive for a days football and tnhen an 8 hour plus 3 hours at the border ( i figured out at the 2 1/2 hr point i could have back roaded it tio any other canadian checkpointg and gone across in 10 minute but pembina is a dmv like stpidity in the middle of the prairie. other than that and having my car broken into twice in winnepeg ( two different windoes smashed out) it was a marvelous weekend. see you all monday
    krista get work!!!

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    1. Border crossings have been just awful this summer. I don’t know why the US Border patrol is so slow. How awful about your car. I don’t remember Winnipeg being that crime-ridden.

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      1. looked like a 4 or 5 block stretch on main street downtown out side the radisson. there were drunks in the parking ots and groups of 5 6 10 people on the corners that appeared to be down and outers. i don’t tink the winnepeg police own the situation but they have a whole crew hiding to make sure people don’t run stop lights or make a right turn on a forbidden street. it may be a nice town but i decided not to stay another day to find out. people were friendly. town reminded me of us towns of 30-40 000 in the 60’s but thats always been my take on canada. good news bad news.

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    2. Ah bummer tim; kinda sounds like ‘if it wasn’t one thing it was another’…
      I don’t understand the Canadian crossing issues… only time I’ve done that was back in 1990 over in the Seattle / Victoria BC area. I imagine things have changed…

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      2. The Canadian side is a breeze to cross. For some reason the US border crossings in ND have been as slow as molasses. We cross pretty regularly and it was never this bad before, even after 9/11.

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  14. Greetings! It’s definitely Labor Day weekend for me. I was supposed to have off, but a co-worker sprained her toe, so I worked for her all day Saturday and I work tomorrow. Spent most of today doing last minute school shopping for boys, as usual. Spent the morning getting school supplies while they slept late.

    Spent 4 hours this afternoon buying new clothes, shoes and getting a haircut for Lucas. Ben absolutely refuses to get haircuts until his hair is beyond rock star long. The Albertville Outlet Mall was amazingly crowded — took forever to get through there. Man, I’m bushed! But I still have to make supper and then we still need to clean the Dojo where we take karate (pays half of tuition!) ’cause there’s no time tomorrow and classes start Tuesday at 11:00am. I need a vacation!

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  15. On Saturday I participated in a backyard salsa-making operation – the cooperative venture yielded a 24-oz jar of fresh stuff and 12-8 oz jars of the preserved type. It was glorious to see a table overflowing with fresh garden garlic, onions, peppers of all stripe and very beautiful tomatoes. Many hands really do make light work. Lunch was capped off with BLT’s!

    Today has been more of a grind – started well with a long bike ride at 7 AM but from 10 AM on it’s been all about meeting some serious work deadlines (Tuesday AM). We will make it but we’re not having fun…

    Dog-sitting has been great too. We have our nephew’s American Eskimo dog Stella (I’m enjoying calling her like Stanley K. in Streetcar) and while our pup Bess is not really into sharing, they have a certain level of detente going on. They are two really, really sweet dogs.

    Hope you all have a great holiday Monday!

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  16. a weekend with hours of freetime
    is as rare annd as loved as a good ryhme
    i think i should laugh
    play a giraffee
    and dance around circles in time

    labor day is a nice holiday
    it requires nothing to haul away
    no things you should do
    if you heart were so true
    you could sllep the whole weekend away

    maybe we should all have unemployment day
    and let people know we are worth some pay
    please help us find jobs
    and remove these corn cobs
    from the spot where they never see any light of day

    the summer is done feel remorse
    and take a long weekend of course
    to escape form the grief
    and the time bandit thief
    who has stolen one more year with force

    the time thats gone never returns
    enjoy this life lessons we learn
    to just do the best
    that you can and the rest
    will follow and kharme we earn

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  17. I stained the deck yesterday morning when it was perfectly sunny (only a 20% chance of rain), and it started raining about 5 hours after I was finished. The stain was still pretty tacky so I put a tarp over it, and now we have had over an inch of rain. (Which is a lot of rain for us at one time). It continues to rain. I hate to think what I will find when I remove the tarp. Husband made it back safely from Pine Ridge. He had a great time.

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  19. For the nearly 30 years that my wife and I have been independent of our children, we have a tradition we have fulfilled on most of the three summer holidays: we go to a park where we play Scrabble, have a meal and maybe a fire, and I carve. (Our kids had jobs on the NS in the tourist industry, so they worked the holidays in their teens.) I happen to be bored by Scrabble, a game my wife loves. But the carving gave me an outlet while she pondered every move for 10 minutes. We did it in every park from Jay Cooke to Pigeon River. Jay Cooke was our favorite. Down here we have done it in about five state parks and several county parks, of which there are several very interesting ones not far from us. I cannot carve any more, but we have kept up the rest of the tradition. But this year, considering the look of the sky and the radar and mobility issues, the “park” will probably be our back yard, where we can have a fire. On the other hand, I just learned she had as bad a night as I did, so maybe we will just sleep.

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    1. can you do clay? the intricacy is still there but in a different format. a bag of clay is a two year supply but maybe you could get them to cut you a deal and work the clay to get the initial bubbles out of it so you don’t have to work your hands too hard when you begin. i’ll bet you’d enjoy it if you you get the pieces to fall together. not this holiday but maybe down the road.sorry to hear you two had a tough night.onward and upward.

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      1. Not a clay fan for a variety of reasons. We will soon be moving to an apartment, where clay would be too much of a mess I suspect. Sticking to pastels right now.

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  20. Hail, Babooners! Hope you all are able enjoy the Labor Day Holiday in some way, shape or form. Today, this 37th day of August, I have the joy of resting from all labors and am watching the acorns ripen on the oak trees around our house. I have been listening for the sound of the loons, too, and have stood on the deck to yell to the birds who are packing their suitcases: “Stay! You’ve got time yet to hang around! It is still summer!”
    The warm and sunny months have me in their grip yet. Or maybe it’s me that is holding on tight to the season of plenteous light and the color green. Love it.

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    1. Oh, I wish it was still Summer. Right now its 50 degrees out, its pouring rain, and we are expecting 30 MPH winds with gusts up to 40! Not a good scene for the custom combiners.

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  21. Hello ‘Booners,

    Sorry to hear about your car tim, that sucks. That’s 2 people I know who’ve had their cars broken into this weekend. I had my car broken into at Minnehaha Falls Park a few years ago, and about a year later discovered an open pack of gum under the back seat. Presumably belonging to the culprit?? (I almost never have anyone in the back seat.)

    Went to the Fair yesterday and made a pig of myself. Some of the highlights:

    – Manny’s torta Cubana
    – Pot roast sundae
    – Honey sunflower seed ice cream
    – Stuffed French toast tots

    Oof. Now it’s time to be vegetarian for a week.

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    1. thanks mn
      glad to hear you made it ti the fair and got to oink out on some fair food. thats pretty funny that you find a pack of gum in the backseat and know it must be form someone who broke in a year ago. you and i live very different lives. i would never be able to narrow it down and would probably eat the gum and never think anything of it. if my kids or dogs didn’t get it first.

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