All posts by reneeinnd

2025, Family, Kids, Music, Uncategorized

Lessons

36 Comments

We made a quick trip to Sioux Falls yesterday to stock up on groceries before the horrible winds hit. I don’t think we will need to go back until the New Year. Before we went, though, Husband had a guitar lesson at the local music school that is housed in the former Carnegie Library building. He is very excited about this.

He has had a Taylor guitar for several years, and took guitar lessons as a child. He tried to teach himself over the years, but decided he needed more help. He really likes his teacher, and is relieved to find that he didn’t acquire any bad habits over the years. His teacher is a young man in his 30’s who also teaches ukulele and mandolin and directs two ukulele choirs. The music school is open to all ages, and provides lessons in voice, strings, piano, brass, and woodwinds. His next lesson is in two weeks, and he is working on a French folksong Au Claire de la Lune. It is a duet he will play with his teacher.

My first piano teacher was one of the Holy Sisters who taught out of the local nunnery. I then had a teacher who taught out of her home and was married to the high-school shop teacher. She played piano at our wedding. I haven’t played much over the past several years. Once all the Christmas baking is done and the holidays are over I intend to go back to playing piano again. Husband has some intriguing minimalist Bartok piano pieces I want to try.

Our daughter became quite close to her Bismarck violin teacher who taught her for seven years. Daughter and another Suzuki friend went to visit their old teacher in New Mexico where she and her husband retired. Music lessons have kept them together even after the lessons are over.

What lessons, music or otherwise, did you have as a child? Taking any lessons now? Tell about some memorable teachers.

, ,

2025, Family, home, Uncategorized, work

Jiggling The Wires

23 Comments

We were having some problems with our 15 year old gas stove. If you didn’t start a burner just right, the whole control panel would short out, and we would have to reset the clock, the timer, and the ovens if we had them going.

This was pretty annoying, so we called the local appliance repair company. The technician came out, unplugged the stove from the electrical socket, and pulled the stove out (now I know where the gas turnoff is for the stove. That was an anxiety for me). He removed the back of the stove, checked for frayed wires, checked out connections, replaced the back, and put the stove into position. Nothing needed to be replaced or fixed. It worked perfectly. No matter how the burners were started the electrical panel didn’t short out. The repair guy said sometimes just unplugging the appliance and jiggling the wires will do the trick. We plan to get a dual fuel stove in summer, as electric heat is better for baking. If there wasn’t a gas connection, I would have loved to jiggle the wires.

What appliance woes have you experienced? How are you at jiggling the wires and seeing what happens? Any current appliance worries for you?

2025, animals, Family, Health, Travel, Uncategorized

Where In The World is Jacque?

52 Comments

Today’s post comes from Jacque.

Recently, I have decided to begin traveling again.  I have husband’s care plan in place, as well as reliable people to carry it out, so I feel ready to plan travel experiences for myself.  This last week I had an opportunity to take a road trip overnight as a preliminary test of my travel plans.  My son stayed overnight with husband, and husband’s PCA (Personal Care Attendant) was scheduled for a long day so his regular activities were in place. After checking weather, which was looking unpredictable and snowy, I decided I could drive to my destinations between cold fronts.  I was out the door 1pm on Sunday.  Where did I go?

Hints:

There was an invitation from another state far away.

During my visits I encountered a dog and two cats, but one cat I did not see.

As I reached the state line Sunday evening, it snowed hard.

My group of childhood friends were there.

A Baboon was there.

Delicious treats were involved, as well as a scrumptious lunch of baked salmon.

On my way home it snowed again Monday evening about 6pm, starting in Belle Plaine, MN

In one destination the famous falls were entirely frozen and snow covered.  In the other destination the music is wonderful.

When I arrived home everyone was happy.  Puppy McGee was delighted to have   me back home.  Husband and PCA attended a fun Christmas party, and son had his usual workday here.  But he had to take a Lyft home due to the snow.

I will travel far away in April for 5 days given the success of the care plan this time.  I cannot wait!

Where in the world was I? When was the last time you got together with old friends? What was the occasion?

2025, Family, History, home, Uncategorized, Weather

A Thing Of The Past

40 Comments

For the first time ever we have an insulated three stall garage with copius built-in cupboards and cabinets. It has yet to get below freezing out there.

There is some trouble in paradise, however, since the cupboards take up so much space that Husband’s pickup is too long to fit in the garage. He is happy to park it outside, but he is concerned how to make sure it can start on the coldest days.

When he worked on the Fort Berthold Reservation he had an electromagnetic thingy that attached to the engine block and kept everything nice and warm. The only problem with one of those now is that he has to crawl under the truck to attach it, and he isn’t that limber anymore. It also needs to be removed before you drive the vehicle. I phoned a local car repair place and asked if the still installed block heaters, something that he could easily just plug in. They hemmed and hawed and told me that block heaters are a thing of the past but they could install one. I declined, as they sounded so hesitant. We went to NAPA and got another electromagnetic thingy and he will deal with it. It is on the oilpan now. If he has trouble crawling out and standing up I will help him.

For some reason, this put in my mind a conversation I had with a directory assistance operator I had in the early 1980’s when we lived in Winnipeg. This was before computer search engines. I needed the phone number for the Curtis Hotel in Minneapolis. We had stayed there on our honeymoon a year or so before and were planning a trip to the Cities. The operator told me there was no such number. I argued with her that there must be, and she finally got exasperated with me and said “Ma’am, they blew it up!” I had missed that news.

What have you discovered to be obsolete? Any memories of the Curtis Hotel? Do you have an engine block heater?

2025, Gatherings, Music, Uncategorized

Community Music

31 Comments

I know that November and December are very busy seasons for musicians, but I have been astounded by the number of musical performances by local musicians since we moved here. When I grew up here, all the music was in the school and the churches.

In the last two weeks there have been musical performances by a variety of groups downtown in stores, in outdoor public performance spaces, and in the Palace, the old Vaudeville theatre. They performed in the snow storms. The music ranged from classical, folk, and rock. Children and adults have been playing and singing all around town. The school is having concerts.

Next Sunday, there is a big concert of a variety of musicians at the Senior Center. We bought tickets to attend. I signed Husband up for guitar lessons at the local music school. Is this typical for small town Minnesota? Our ND town was extremely musical, but not like this.

What is your favorite holiday music? What would you like to perform or hear?

2025, Family, History, holidays, home, Kids, Music, Uncategorized

Family Music

46 Comments

Husband and our 7 year old grandson spent most of Thanksgiving Day in the basement messing around with various string instruments. Grandson brought the three-quarter size guitar we got him in the summer. He and his Opa (Husband’s German name. I am Oma.) practiced tuning the guitar and his cello to eachother, and Opa taught him the difference between bass and treble clef, and that you could play the same tune in both clefs. Grandson also noodled around on the piano upstsirs using the sustain pedal until it got too annoying and we had to have him stop. He actually asked Opa if they could “jam” next time.

During the afternoon, grandson came upstairs and excitedly announced “Opa is teaching me finger picking”. He is to start piano and guitar lessons in the spring. At home he likes to just strum his guitar once a day and practice trying to play chords. He also thought Opa’s cello was pretty cool.

I learned cooking, gardening, and that History was a most interesting subject from my grandparents. Grandson wants me to make tirimisu with him one of these days, and loves to cook with his parents. I am so glad we can help foster these interests, as they really make for a satisfying life.

What skills did your older relatives and grandparents teach you? What names did you use to address your grandparents?

2025, Family, home, Music, Uncategorized

Misplaced

23 Comments

Except for thirty banker’s boxes full of books, we have unpacked everything else from the move. We are awaiting the arrival of seven bookcases sometime next week.

There are a few things that we can’t find, and I doubt they are in with the books. I am missing the widemouth graniteware funnel I use to fill canning jars. The cornstarch container has gone missing. Snow scrapers for the truck are nowhere to be found. All of those are easily replaced.

Husband was distressed earlier this week, however, when he couldn’t find his cello endpin anchor. It prevents the cello from sliding out from underneath him when he plays it on a wood or laminate floor. I found some on Amazon, but they would take several days to arrive, and he really wanted to try out the cello . We searched all over with no luck, and then I got what I thought was a brilliant idea for a temporary solution. The plug for the kitchen sink broke shortly after we moved in, and we went to Ace Hardware in town to get a replacement. Since we weren’t exactly sure what one would work the best so we bought a couple of different kinds. I remembered that one we had stored under the sink would work great for an endpin. It was rubber and perfectly shaped if put upside down:

He was so happy to play his cello. I will order some real endpins, as he always seems to misplace them, but this will work well for now.

What have been some of your memorable misplacements? What have been some of your more brilliant ideas?

2025, animals, Games, home, pets, Uncategorized

Annoying Pet Games

32 Comments

We have owned various terriers since 1989. One thing we have learned with them is that everything in life is a series of games, dead serious games that must be played to their fullest.

Our current Cesky Terrier is no exception. If he isn’t tugging viciously with his Wubba and dashing its brains out, he is chewing vigorously on his squeaky ball and tossing it around the room at our feet. You can see it in the header photo. We used to get him squeaky yellow tennis balls, but he can eviscerate those in 10 minutes, so we got him the rubber Kong ones. Those last a couple of weeks.

The dog would tell you that our frustration with his current obsession of tossing the balls at our feet while we sit in the livingroom is entirely our fault. We should have taken him and his squeaky ball to the furniture store in Sioux Falls when we bought the new sofa. arm chair, and matching ottoman. Then we could have made sure there was enough clearance under the furniture for his ball to roll under and for it to hit the wall and roll back out, or for us or him to retrieve it easily. As it is, he tosses the ball, he tries to grab it before it rolls under the sofa, and if he misses, it is stuck and he sits and cries until we retrieve it for him. This means we can use the Swiffer floor sweeper to sweep it out, get down on our hands and knees and reach under and grab it, or move the furniture. This happens multiple times a day. It is exhausting.

I tried to solve the problem by stuffing thin throw pillows under the sofa and chair to block the ball. We haven’t enough of them for all the fronts and sides of the furniture, so I plan to buy swimming pool noodles and cut them to size and see how that works. The games must go on. The only thing worse than a gaming terrier is a bored terrier.

What are your favorite games to play? How about your pets?

2025, Family, home, Poems, Uncategorized, Weather

Hiawatha’s Snowblower

39 Comments

We had about 8 inches of snow last week. Husband was prepared, and had even gone so far as to buy a pair of Carhartt overalls to have ready when he had to clear the snow. He decided he would only wear the overalls with his biggest snow boots and thickest socks while he operated the snowblower. For all the other outdoor tasks like filling the bird feeders, shoveling the deck, and walking the dog he would wear warm pants and his hiking boots with thinner but warm socks. The Carhartt’s are rather voluminous and don’t allow for as much freedom of movement required for the non-snowblower tasks. It was clear in his mind he would do the latter tasks first, and finish up with the snowblower and his change of outerwear. The Carhartt’s were too long to wear with anything but his snow boots. The thick socks were too thick for the hiking boots, so they required thinner socks.

Husband got somewhat disorganized, and thought he had finished all the pre-snowblowing tasks and had changed into the warm clothes only to find that the batteries for the snowblower weren’t fully charged, so he methodically changed back into the less warm clothes, boots, and socks. The socks are a big issue, as Husband really struggles to put on his socks due to carpal tunnel and arthritis in both his hands. Once the tasks were done and the batteries charged he again changed into his snowblower uniform. He did a really nice job outside, but it sure took him a long time.

Perhaps it is because we are now in Minnesota, or that we live just south of Pipestone (home of the now defunct Song of Hiawatha pageant), as I watched Husband change in and out of his outdoor work costumes and get ready for the tasks at hand, I was reminded of Lewis Carroll’s parody on The Song of Hiawatha, called Hiawatha’s Photographing. The poem uses the same laborious cadence as the original poem. It describes a 19th century man trying to take family photos. It is really funny. It is readily available on-line. As you read it, imagine a similar parody about getting ready to clear snow.

What are some of your favorite parodies? How do you clear your snow? Any thoughts about Longfellow?

2025, Family, home, Media, Music, Technology, Uncategorized

Surround Sound

49 Comments

The former owner of our home runs a satellite communication company that provides TV and entertainment systems to health care/senior living facilities and hotels nationwide. His office is right on Main Street. He and his wife insisted that the three televisions in the home had to stay when we bought the house. They are hard-wired into a myriad of cables that run through the walls and from upstairs to downstairs and out of doors. They also left us several DVD players and stereo receivers.

There are six speakers upstairs in the ceilings of the kitchen, dining room, and living room, along with three speakers in the garage, and two attached to the house in the backyard. The ceilings in the basement bedrooms and family room also have speakers, and another huge room in the basement has several speakers in the ceiling and walls.

The header photo shows the main controls for this sound system. It resides in a cupboard in the kitchen. One can choose what part of the house you want to have sound from the radio, TV, DVD. CD, computer, or any other media player you can figure out how to hook up to the main system. The former owner graciously came over last week to show me how to operate the system. I gave him a package of lefse. It is complicated. I am a successful trial and error button pusher, so I think I will figure it out. eventually.

When did you get your first sound system? What did it consist of? What music do you think we should play on the outdoor speakers?