All posts by reneeinnd

2025, animals, Family, Nature, Uncategorized

Hiss!

21 Comments

Tuesday Husband and I took the dog to the groomer in a little town about 10 miles west of us. I drove, and on the way back I had to swerve to avoid running over a very long rattlesnake that was slithering across the highway. We estimated it to be about four feet long. We have Prairie Rattlesnakes out here. Their markings are unmistakable. We have seen them all lengths, from tiny ones no thicker than a pencil to the long one on Tuesday. The weather has been so warm here I suppose it was a good time for the snake to check out the available mice in the ditch. We have never seen any in town.

I had some clients years ago who had to move out of their rental home on the south side of town because there were dozens of garter snakes in the walls of the basement. The house was later condemned and torn down. We heard that the lot the house was built on was a noted breeding ground for garter snakes. No other structure has been built there.

The town of Narcisse in Manitoba interlake region is well known for the tens of thousands of garter snakes that emerge from their nests in the spring and return in the fall. I guess it is quite a tourist attraction. We never visited there when we lived there. Snakes aren’t my cup of tea. I have a second cousin who I love dearly who lives near St. Peter and who loves snakes. He has bred snakes for commercial sale in the past, and loves it when his cats find garter snakes in the basement and bring them upstairs.

What are your experiences with snakes? Do you have any friends or relatives with interests you find odd?

2025, home, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Fingers Crossed

31 Comments

A month before we closed on our house in Minnesota, the realtor phoned me to let me know the hot tub had sprung a leak, and the current owners were told it wasn’t worth fixing. Did we want them to replace it or remove it? I told her to remove it.

Now that we are three weeks from our move, and four weeks from closing on our North Dakota house, I have become very watchful and worried for anything going wrong here and needing to be fixed or replaced. I had a scare Sunday when I noticed that the dishwasher wasn’t draining, but a quick application of a plunger cleared whatever was plugging it up.

I have to calm myself and tell myself to stop when I start worrying about one of our vehicles breaking down, the plumbing exploding and ruining the drywall, or one of us getting injured or dropping dead. It is stressful enough to move, but we sure don’t need a last minute disaster.

What last minute disasters have you experienced? How do you get yourself to knock it off and stop fretting?

2025, Nature, pets, Uncategorized

Going Buggy

15 Comments

The other day our terrier came into the house with a large, green caterpillar in his mouth. We got it away from him before he could eat it but it was clearly dead.

Our deck off the back of the house has a pergola that is covered by layers of grape vines. It provides nice shade and also harbors birds who like to eat the grapes. A night or two ago I was sitting on the deck when the green wiggler in the header photo dropped to the floor right in front of me. I guess the vines also provide a nice environment for caterpillar development. The caterpillar was still alive, so I moved it into some bushes so the birds and dog would have difficulty finding it. I hope it gets a chance to form a cocoon.

One of my favorite memories from Grade 3 is finding a really big cocoon and bringing it to class. My teacher let me keep it in the classroom, and a couple of days later we came to school to find an enormous Cercropia moth flying around the room. I don’t know what kind of caterpillar our green one is, but I hope it doesn’t turn into a destructive moth.

Any idea what kind of caterpillar this is? Ever have an insect collection?

2025, Uncategorized, work

Wrapping It Up

33 Comments

On Monday I let my administrators know that October 3rd will be my last day of work. I have been gradually reducing my work load. I conducted my last two psychological evaluations last week, and now my main tasks are to write up the reports for those and three other evaluations I conducted in August. I stopped seeing clients in March.

I wanted to be a psychologist and play therapist since I was 12 years old. I was able to do a huge amount of testing for all sorts of issues for clients through the lifespan, and learned how to use a plethora of different tests. I had a wonderful play therapy room and also did family therapy and individual therapy with children, teens, and adults.

I was quite calm and happy as I finished my last testing session last week. I love to do evaluations, but I am ready to not do them anymore. I will miss doing play therapy with preschoolers, but I won’t miss picking up the toys. (It is a cardinal rule that the therapist, not the child, picks up the toys after each session.)

It has been a good run. I am very proud and satisfied with my professional life, but ready to move on.

If you are retired, what do you miss the most from your old jobs? What do you miss the least? What age children are the most fun for you to be around?

2025, animals, home, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Dishwasher Mystery

36 Comments

On Saturday we had our plumber over to fix a couple of leaky faucets preparatory to our home inspection. He did a good job, as usual, and then I had him look at the dishwasher.

I noticed about a couple of months ago that I could pull the dishwasher forward and back almost 3 inches. This was a new development. It never moved like that before. Daryl the plumber took a look and noticed that the four screws that secured the dishwasher to the sides of the cabinets had all been pulled out. He also showed me how short they were. He got four much longer screws and secured the dishwasher back in place. He was at a loss to explain how the short screws could have been pulled out like that.

On Sunday I was loading the dishwasher with the usual assistance of Kyrill the Cesky Terrier. He likes to do the pre-rinse on the dishes on the bottom rack and lick any delectables off the open dishwasher door. He has done this since we got him. Kyrill is a short dog of great length who can only get to the farthest dishes and door surface by standing with his front paws on the door. Sometimes he even jumps up so his whole body is on the open door. Did I mention he now weighs 30 lbs? Bingo. Mystery solved. I believe Kyrill, in his selfless attempts to help us as much as he can, stripped the dishwasher screws by putting his weight on the door. I am afraid he isn’t allowed to help us with the dishes anymore.

What repairs have you had to make due to animals? Any mysteries in your life lately? How are you at setting limits with pets?

2025, Art, gardening, home, Uncategorized

A Lightbulb Went On

20 Comments

As of last Sunday we had our house on the market for two months. We had many showings, but no offers.

Our real estate agent couldn’t understand why. The house was clean, well kept, and nicely updated, with lovely features. We knew that our rather wild yard with the mass of raspberry canes, the large strawberry bed, the front veggie bed, the large flower beds, and the rampaging rose bushes just didn’t appeal to some viewers. Others wanted a larger yard, something we really couldn’t do much about.

Our agent wondered if the basement, which we had extensively remodeled and updated. was just a little dark. She advised us to try ro make it brighter, so last Sunday we replaced all the basement light bulbs with Bright White LED bulbs. We did the same to the upstairs lights for good measure. The whole interior was somewhat brighter, with uniformly tinted bulbs.

The next day, Labor Day, was somewhat trying as we had two showings, and that meant keeping the house beautifully pristine and having to leave for about an hour with the dog. I don’t quite understand this, but both of the viewing parties on Monday gave us offers immediately after the showings!

Was it the lightbulbs? I seem to think it was, and I find it ridiculous. I am grateful and relieved, though. Now we can focus on wrapping things up here.

What would you look for if you were buying a new house? What decorating trends, past or present, have you loved or loathed?

2025, animals, Family, History, pets, Uncategorized

Allergic

41 Comments

Husband is allergic to most things airborne. Pollen in the Spring, grasses all Summer, deciduous and conifer trees, molds, dust, and cats. He has had shots, devours Sudafed multiple times daily, and uses nasal irrigation every day. Nothing really helps. He snots, drips, and gags. It is hard for me to hear. The only thing I am allergic to is oral contraceptives..

It has been particularly bad this last month as the Spring wheat harvest is in full swing and there is harvesting going on all around our community. Lots of dust and pollen are wafting around us.

Despite his cat allergies, Husband adores cats, and at one time we had four cats. He just ups his antihistamine doses and we vacuum the bedspread and brush the cat with the furminator brush. Due to his need for a cpap machine and his REM sleep disorder, I sleep in the guest room with the dog. The cat happily snuggles up with Husband.

I tell him it will be worse in Southern Minnesota, due to the increased humidity, but he is open to try living there. My best friend who will live with us has four cats, so we will have some challenges

What would you do if you found you were allergic to something you adored?I If you have allergies, how do you manage them?

2025, books, gardening, Uncategorized

Running Amok

42 Comments

I am a pretty quiet and rule abiding person. I have a wild side, though, that I show through gardening, especially by growing butternut squash, indeterminate heirloom tomatoes, and unruly rose bushes. I also think it is why I love terriers so much, the naughtiest of dogs.

I love the way vining plants are heedless to boundaries and barriers. This year’s butternut variety from Jung’s is a real winner in that respect. You can see it in the header photo. It has taken over much of the front yard veggie bed and is growing out into the lawn, into the pole beans, basil, peppers, and potatoes, and almost to the front door. I am waiting for it to grab my ankle when I walk onto the stoep.

The roses in front by the stoep are almost 10 feet tall. We have Brandywine tomato plants that are taller than I am. The rain this summer has been a blessing.

Robertson Davies, one of my favorite Canadian authors, describes in his Deptford Trilogy the Canadian penchant for quiet rule breaking, such as little boys surreptitiously setting off fire crackers at the end of a small town parade. If you haven’t read him, you must. His books are delights.

How do you push boundaries and break rules? What vining plants do you like to grow? Ever read Robertson Davies?

2025, Family, Health, Medicine, Uncategorized

Getting Along

21 Comments

The anesthesiologist who gave me my cortisone injection Friday had very Middle Eastern first and last names. When I met him in person, I noticed that he looked very northern European and spoke just like a North Dakotan. and I knew then that he was from here. He is a graduate of the UND Medical School.

I don’t think it is very common knowledge that the first established mosque in the US was built in Ross, North Dakota in 1929. Ross is in northwest North Dakota south of Estevan, Saskatchewan. There were a lot of Lebanese and Syrian immigrants to the area in the early 1900’s, and they homesteaded and farmed there in harmony with their Norwegian neighbors. They fought in the US army in the First World War. They intermarried with their neighbors, and many became Lutheran or Catholic. Some remained Muslim, and there were Muslims with Norwegian last names. They all seemed to get along. I read a story by a woman in Ross with a very Norwegian last name who told of her father, a Muslim, who tried his best to maintain some rituals, and who prayed while butchering chickens on the farm. She said “Do you know how long it takes to butcher 50 chickens when you pray before each one?”

Many of the Middle Eastern settlers moved to larger communities during the Depression and Dust Bowl. By 1970 the Mosque had fallen into disrepair and was demolished. There is a small domed structure built on the site in commemoration.

Husband and I had several psychology colleagues who were ND natives with Lebanese/Syrian last names. Every so often you run across folks with Middle Eastern names whose families have been here for generations. What astounds me is how everyone seemed to get along back then, even those diverse groups up in Ross. If they could do it, I have hope we can, too.

How diverse was your community growing up? How about now?

2025, Health, Medicine, Uncategorized

Pain-Less

26 Comments

I am a very healthy person. I am prescribed no medications and I only see my doctor once a year for my annual physical. For the past 5 years or so, though, I have struggled with intermittent sciatic pain, mainly in my left leg. I will be walking along and all of a sudden my left leg will give out, with pain at every step. My annual physical always seemed to coincide with brief respites from the leg pain, so I always could say it was better.

I have done four rounds of Physical Therapy over the years, which helps, but never lasts longer than a few weeks, even when I do the exercises. I really watch my posture while walking or sitting, and I stopped sleeping on my stomach, This has helped somewhat at times. Ibuprofen and acetaminophen did not help at all.

I had a really bad flare-up the end of January, and in June I finally went to the doctor and he ordered an MRI. That showed, in the fifth lumbar vertebrae, a bulging disc, spinal stenosis, and arthritis, especially on the left side. That vertebrae is where the sciatic nerve passes through. No wonder this had been happening. I also have lumbar scoliosis, which doesn’t help.

On Friday I drove to a pain clinic in Bismarck, and got a cortisone injection in my fifth lumbar vertebrae. The procedure took about 2 minutes The pain relief was instantaneous, and I walked out of the clinic with almost no twinges. I may need to repeat this procedure every 4-6 months, but it sure is worth it.

How are your relationships with your medical providers? What kind of a patient are you?