All posts by reneeinnd

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Powerless

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Our community experienced a total power outage yesterday for about two hours in the afternoon. We had about 4 inches of wet, heavy snow the night before that broke some lines and made the whole town lose power. At my work we were thankful that no one was trapped in the elevator.

All work stopped. Most of the offices are windowless.  Since I have a window I let colleagues with clients use my office for meetings. There was no Wi-fi or Internet unless you knew how to connect your computer to the mobile Hotspot on your phone I did, but then my phone battery got too low and I had to stop.

Many of the main doorways in my office building are accessible only with special cards that only work if the electricity is on. We had to make sure we propped those doors open with chairs to allow us to come and go.

I found that my Internet at home was also inaccessible, but used my mobile Hotspot to post this. I was pretty panicked I couldn’t post a blog. I then remembered a tip from our Internet provider that if I rebooted our routers, the Internet and Wi-Fi might come back. I did, and they did! Uffda! I hope things are better today!

How would you cope without power? Know anyone who was stuck in an elevator?

2024, Family, Uncategorized, Words

Nicknames

23 Comments

Somehow and rather mysteriously over the past couple of ayears at my work I ceased to be called Renee and now I am referred to as Dr. B It is not something I particularly like, and in some ways I find it sort of dehumanizing, but it is what it is and I just respond when I am addressed. It isn’t the worst sort of nickname to have I guess.

Growing up in Luverne there were several guys my dad knew who had nicknames. Clarence Thone, the junkman, was called Abie, which was meant to be a slight since junkmen in literature and popular culture were often Jewish. One of the local mail carriers was called Ippy Olson. Ippy wasn’t his real name. I never knew what his real name was. I asked my mom whey he was called that and she just said “Oh, he is a real Ippy”. I never figured that one out. Then there was Skinny Kiebach. He was pretty thin. Soft Water Frakes was called that to distinguish him from his cousin, Marion. He owned a water softening business. Marion was a building contractor.

Husband has the nicknames of Kiffey or Dazzle. A good friend of mine is know to the world as Toots, when her real name is Denelle. I don’t know why we just can’t leave people with the names they were given to start out with.

Did you ever have a nickname? What are some of the best nicknames you have heard?

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Making Funny Noises

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Last April when our 5 year old grandson was stranded at our house for three weeks due to the weather, I took it upon myself to teach him some very important life skills, namely, how to make funny noises.

I don’t know why I think these are important skills, but he has really enjoyed trying to perfect them. When we visited him and his parents after Christmas this year, he proudly showed me how he could snap his fingers. He also learned how to make the loud popping noise you can make with your little finger on the inside of your mouth and lips. He is starting to whistle. He has yet to figure out how to make the trilling/purring noise that sounds like a motor by vibrating your tongue against your front teeth. 

My father loved making funny noises, especially bird noises to confuse small children and pets, making them think there was a small bird in the vicinity. I don’t know if noise making is encouraged in other families, but it sure is important in my family.

What important things did you learn from grandparents or other older relatives? What funny noises are you proficient making?

2024, Family, History, Media, Uncategorized, Words

Cheater

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I love crossword puzzles. I subscribe to the New York Times online, and get their crossword puzzles all week as well as the one in the New Yorker each edition.

I hope none of you think of me as a cheater, but I feel it entirely within my rights to look up crossword clues on line. Given the number of sites I see for just this purpose, there must be many like me. I view these puzzles as research projects, not as measures of my intellectual acumen. It is so satisfying when they are completed and correct!

Today would be my mother’s 100th birthday. She didn’t mind bending the rules at all! She got secretly married at 19 against the 1942 rules of Mankato State that students couldn’t be married. Ha! She showed them!

What are your favorite puzzles to solve? When do you bend the rules?

2024, Farming Update, Media, pets, Uncategorized

Squish

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Today’s farming update comes from Ben

Mud.

That’s all I got to say about that.

I shouldn’t be dealing with mud like this at the end of January or early February. I have to admit I do kind of like the warmer temperatures, and I don’t mind not having to deal with blizzards, and our electric bill is certainly cheaper, and I haven’t used as much diesel fuel moving snow, and all that kind of stuff. And, I still think the weather has to turn and we will probably get some more snow, and it’s gotta get cold again and that means I have to do mud all this over again in March. I dislike the mud more than anything.

Luna and Humphrey have both gotten baths because they get so muddy outside during their runs and playing. Luna does OK with the bath. When Humphrey gets out of the tub halfway through, it’s a bigger adventure. And why don’t people put a hot water faucet outside their house? There have been multiple times when I have thought hot water outside would sure be useful. Maybe that’s a thing now, I don’t know, but I think someday I would like to have hot water available. All that to say Humphrey could have a bath out in the garage instead of in the bathroom.

There’s a meme going around lately that says we should say “I get to…” instead of “I need to….”.  “I GET TO walk through the mud and get everyone’s feet dirty and track it into the shop and the tractors and the house.”  Nope, still not working for me. 

I looked up the translation of mud. I found it interesting so many countries have “blato” “bláto” “boue” “bloto” “bahno”. Or “Mudder” “modder” “muda” “muta”. German is “dreck”.

Speaking of running the dogs…Luna is so young; she needs to run off energy and I’ve mentioned before about running her on the driveway and how she leaves a trail of dust in her wake. However lately, she doesn’t like to get too far from home. We’ll take all three dogs out for a walk / run, and she won’t go far before turning around and going back home. I end up with all three dogs in the gator and we go to the end of the road, and she races for home again. Do you suppose she really loves to run? Or is she running for home and safety? We need a dog psychic.

IS LUNA RUNNING TO OR FRO?

CRYO-ANYTHING ?

2024, Food, gardening, home, Uncategorized

Just Double The Garlic

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The garlic bulbs that we get in our local grocery stores typically have very small cloves. I have taken to automatically doubling the number of garlic cloves that recipes call for. I never know what size clove the recipe author means, but I always assume that the cloves we have are much smaller than the ones where the food authors live. We love garlic, so even if I add more than was intended, it turns out fine. I refuse to grow garlic, as it is an awful lot of work, and what do you do to keep dozens of garlic cloves good until you can use them.

I am liking more and more recipes that come with weights for ingredients as well as volume. A cup of flour may differ depending on the brand of measuring cup, the humidity, and the condition of the flour. Knowing how many grams or ounces as well as the volume is sure helpful. Our kitchen scale measures in both grams and ounces. We use it all the time. Both Husband and I are left brained cooks, needing to measure instead of going by instinct. I haven’t gone so far as to compare the relative volumes of the two sets of dry measuring cups that we have, but I have sometimes been tempted. They just don’t look the same size!

Are you a left or right brained cook? Use a kitchen scale very much? How do you feel about garlic?

2024, books, Family, home, Uncategorized

My Archivist

48 Comments

I am not a really neat and organized person when it comes to putting away books, recipes, and media such as LP’s and CD’s. I will eventually get around to to when the volume of clutter starts to bother me. Husband, on the other hand has taken it upon himself to be the archivist, reveling in putting things way alphabetically and with similar content. It has got to the point that he doesn’t want me to search for recipes in the binders he has created, insisting that he get them and put them back. He has them organized just so, with the categories just the way he wants them.

It has been quite hard to have all our books in boxes in the furnace room while we wait for the mitigation company to send the guys to put the basement furniture back where it belongs. They said they would be at the house on Monday, but didn’t show up. I plan to send a pitiable text to the foreman pleading with him to speed things up. The bookshelves are behind a bunch of other heavy furniture so we couldn’t get to them and move them if we wanted. We are going to dust off every book before it goes back on she shelf. There are a lot of preliminaries before the archivist can get to work and arrange the books to his liking. I don’ t know what his plan is for organizing them on the shelves, but I am sure that whatever he comes up with will make sense to him, at least, but not necessarily to me.

What job would you want if you worked in a library? Tell about the best library you ever visited.

2024, Gatherings, Health, Uncategorized, work

Ah, Youth!

40 Comments

Last week I went out with six coworkers for a farewell luncheon for one of them. These are all young women under the age of 35, all mental health professionals. The lunch was delightful, but the conversation sure made me feel old.

Much of their discussion was about their newest discoveries for facial moisturizers and makeup, their latest experiences getting their nails done, their favorite coffee shops they visit daily, their favorite restaurants, their recent appointments at the chiropractor, and the new tattoos they were planning. Since I don’t wear makeup, have rather nice skin for someone who is almost 66, and would never, ever, get a tattoo, I hadn’t much to say. I have never had a manicure. I have never been to a chiropractor or had a massage. I refuse to spend money at coffee shops when I have perfectly good French press coffee brewed for me every morning by my husband. They were all astounded, however, when I mentioned that I have never had a pedicure. They all agreed that they are going to take me out for a pedicure before I retire. We shall see. I don’t know if I want someone messing around with my feet.

My coworkers view these activities as self care. I could never justify spending all the money that they do on these things. My self care is listening to music, gardening, and cooking. I suppose I spend more money on cooking ingredients than they do, but I am healthier than most of my coworkers and eat way better then they do.

What do you do for self care? What activities did you engage in that your elders shook their heads over when you were young?

2023, animals, home, Nature, Uncategorized, Weather

Brrr!

40 Comments

Last Saturday we reached a milestone in our community of a record breaking windchill of -70° F. I can’t say I was glad to be a part of this. The cold interfered with a lot of things. The guy who is putting new carpet in our basement had to beg off from coming over as his diesel vehicle was completely frozen up and he couldn’t haul the things that he needed. We didn’t leave the house from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. We kept the curtains and blinds closed to keep the heat in and the cold out. I can’t imagine how hard it was for ranchers to keep their cattle safe out in the pastures.

The dog has suffered the most with the cold. He finally got a walk yesterday. Last Friday he went in the yard and got so cold that he couldn’t move and Husband had to rescue him. That was after only a minute or so outside. He wouldn’t be cooperative with booties, and the enforced inside stay has made him constantly begging for attention and doing zoomies around the house since it was too cold to go for walks.

Daughter tried to explain to her West Coast friends how cold it was here, but they just couldn’t relate. It is hard to explain that the cold interferes with the pressure in vehicle tires, and how hard it is to put air in tires when exposed skin will freeze in less than a few minutes. Warmer weather is predicted for next week. I think the dog will be relieved he can finally go for walks.

How do you cope with extreme cold? Any experiences with frost bite?

2024, Kids, Mysteries, News, Uncategorized

Alarming Trends

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I have noticed over the past year or so a really alarming trend for people to back into parking paces in parking lots. At the grocery store, it means that if you have a van or you put your groceries in the trunk that it is hard to access the rear of your vehicle. I guess people do this so that they have better visibility when they leave their parking space. I think it is really dumb. It takes longer to park, makes it harder to park, and also makes it quicker for someone to steal your vehicle since they can just drive off instead of having to take time to back out.

People at my agency also noticed over the past year a trend for Middle School and High School female students to try to convince us that they have Dissociative Identity Disorder aka Multiple Personality Disorder, and watch TikTok videos to practice the symptoms and the shifting into the other personalities. They are so disappointed when we dismiss the symptoms.

If you haven’t noticed, I wrote this when I was really crabby. That is usually not a trend for me, but this has been an annoying week. I will be alarmed if my crabby trend continues.

What has made you crabby this week? What were the passing fads when you were in Middle School and High School.