All posts by verily sherrilee

Directionally challenged, crafty, reading mother of young adult
2024, Business, Family, Farming Update, Health, Weather

The Two P’s

38 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben!

As you can see from the header photo, we felt the need to add a flag to our flagpole recently. We’re liking it.

Hope you all had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat.

Our son and daughter-in-law were here and I ordered a 15 lb ham, and had it on the grill for 4 hours, topping with honey bourbon glaze and it was very good. And there are many leftovers. And we sure had a good time.

Near the end of the day I received word my cousin Marcie had died. In May of 2021, she fell down some steps at her home, hit her head, and suffered bleeding in her skull. She never fully recovered from that, and after having a stroke in October, died on Thursday morning.

Marcie, Grandma Lillie, and myself in 1972 as Ring Bearer and Flower Girl at my sister’s wedding.

She was the youngest of three siblings adopted by my Uncle Stanley and Aunt Judy. Her older brother Mark died a few years ago, and the oldest sister Marie is still with us. It seemed like a pretty tough childhood for them. Judy seemed awfully stern to me. My perception was that she was pretty strict. My siblings say she was fun. I was scared of her.

Marcie married a good guy, and she had some really good years in the middle.

I basically have a functional heated shop now. It’s not done, but I hooked up the thermostat complete with conduit and not just ‘temporary’ and I can monitor it from my phone app.

I need to finish the interior wall and get the electricians back so they can do their thing, and figure out where to put the tool boxes and shelving, and, well… I could keep myself busy in here all winter.

About 2 more weeks of classes left. I’ve still got an ‘A’ going for ‘Interpersonal Communication’. We have to write an online discussion post each week and respond to a classmate’s post. We can see how many views our posts get. Mine never get many. It could be they read a few at the start, never got my Seinfeld references and old jokes and they quit reading them. Or it could just be they only read their friends. Or maybe they pick the short ones, I don’t know. It doesn’t matter to me, It’s just interesting.

Hey, how do you know if your computer is musical?

If it’s a Dell.

“Adele”.

She’s a singer.

Found this photo when looking for the above wedding photo. That’s about 1965. Dad is working on the blade of the road grader. I’m helping. It’s pretty clear I liked being out there and helping at an early age. The patches on the knees make me laugh. Was I that busy? Or hand-me-downs? Probably both.

When Dad was still coming to the farm and helping, “helping”, I’d usually have ‘Dad stories’ by the time he went home. I wish I had written them down. I sure can’t remember any these days. It seems like there’s a long tradition of the dads coming to the farm and ‘helping’ until they break something, and then they go home. Once retired, it’s not their problem anymore. And dad knew that too. He said the same thing about his dad. And my dad had picked up some part time jobs, so often, it was conveniently time for him to go to his other job when he broke something here. He’d laugh, I’d roll my eyes and grumble, and off he’d go.

But… perspective. Time and perspective. I don’t blame him.

A lot of situations improve with time and perspective.

At the theater we often end up talking about ‘Perception’. Sometimes It’s still enough to make me roll my eyes. I did a little searching and there’s a lot of talk about perception and perspective.

Mom and dad at their 65th Wedding anniversary. Dad died in November the next year.

I have much to be thankful for.

PERSPECTIVE?

PERCEPTION?

2024, animals, Baboon Blog Redux, Fantasy

Steve’s Dragons

19 Comments

It’s been three years since we lost our Steve.  This is one of his posts from back in the day.  Feel free to answer Steve’s original question, share a Steve memory or just ruminate on whatever you want.

A friend and I used to discuss troublesome issues in our lives. We called them our “dragons.” Dragons are problems can only be dispatched with exceptional effort and resolve.

Few problems qualify as dragons, which is good. Most of us handle routine problems with routine efficiency.  Alas, some problems are a lot nastier or complicated than others.  Some of us have anxieties that prevent us from addressing certain issues forthrightly. Sometimes problems become entangled with side issues. Throw some procrastination into the mix, and what could have been a baby problem might grow up and begin belching enough fire to qualify as a dragon.

Examples? You don’t gain street cred as a dragon killer for beating a head cold, but beating cancer will earn you respect with anyone. Overcoming any addiction would surely count. The friend referenced in my opening paragraph slew a dangerous dragon when she escaped a marriage that was destroying her soul. From what I’ve read, the nastiest dragon Barack Obama faced down in his two terms as president might have been nicotine.

My most recent dragon should have been no big deal. Last September my computer emitted an electronic scream, seized and died. I had expected that. Computers typically remain healthy and functional for five to ten years. My fifteen-year-old computer was clearly living on borrowed time. I had prepared by backing my data files, although I could not back my applications.

I bought a replacement computer loaded with Microsoft’s Office, a choice forced on me because that is the only way I could get Word, the word processing app I’ve used for thirty-four years. Office costs $70. That is probably reasonable, although it irked me to pay for a suite of ten programs just to get the one program I use. But Microsoft enjoys something like a total monopoly on basic Windows business software.

Microsoft inserts a feature in the Office software that causes it to shut down unless users can prove that they have paid for it. To validate my purchase, I peeled back a piece of tape that covered the confirmation code. The tape ripped the cardboard beneath it, destroying the middle six numbers of a code of about twenty numbers. As it was designed to do, my software soon froze rock solid. I could not create new documents nor could I edit the many files already on my hard drive. Every time I turned on my computer, a niggling message from Microsoft reminded me I had not validated the purchase. As if I could forget!

Worse, there was no way I could contact Microsoft. The company recently eliminated its customer service office. Microsoft now directs customers with problems to some internet data banks that supposedly answer all questions. Of course, the data banks say nothing about what to do when the company’s own security tape destroys a validation number. I learned there are many businesses claiming they can help customers struggling with Microsoft apps. Those businesses didn’t want to talk to me until I shared my contact information or subscribed to their services. Then I’d learn again that my particular problem could not be resolved by anyone outside Microsoft. And nobody inside Microsoft would speak to me.

Over a span of seven months I spent many wretched hours dialing numbers and writing email pleas for help. The shop that sold the computer to me clucked sympathetically but told me to take my complaints to Microsoft. Members of a group called “the Microsoft community” kept telling me it would be easy to fix this issue, but none of them could provide a phone number that worked. While I could have purchased the software again for another $70, the rank injustice of that was more than I could bear.

I finally learned about a set of business applications called LibreOffice, the top-rated free alternative to Office. It is open source software, free to everyone. But people who put their faith in free software often get burned, for “free” often just means that the true price is hidden. I worried that this software would not allow me to edit all the documents I’ve created over thirty-four years of writing with Word. And—silly, silly me—I kept hoping I could find one friendly person in Microsoft who would thaw my frozen software. So I dithered for weeks.

Last week I took a deep breath and downloaded LibreOffice. It loaded like a dream. LibreOffice’s word processor, “Writer,” is friendly and intuitive. Ironically, I like it quite a bit better than Word. With it I can edit all my old Word documents, and I used the new software to write this post.

That particular dragon is dead, kaput and forever out of my life. Other dragons await my attention, malodorous tendrils of smoke curling up out their nostrils. I did not triumph over Microsoft, as that smug firm never even knew it had a conflict with me. Still, I celebrate the way this all ended. When we slay a dragon, the most significant accomplishment might be that we, however briefly, have triumphed over our personal limitations.

Any dragons in your past that you wouldn’t mind mentioning?

2024, Art, Food, Gatherings, holidays, Music

RIP Alice

31 Comments

When Alice’s Restaurant Massacre by Arlo Guthrie was recorded in 1967, I was 11 years old.  I remember it clearly and saved up to buy the record album pretty quickly.  I couldn’t find any little clips, so this is the whole thing.

I loved folk music – it made me feel quite part of the times.  Not quite rebellious – I didn’t have much to be rebellious about.   My folks were quite liberal for the times; once when I was in junior high they excused me from school so I could protest against the war with the Webster College kids (college was between our house and the junior high).  Although I don’t know if either of them ever listened to Alice’s Restaurant, I’m pretty sure at least my father would have thought it was quite funny.

In looking up the dates I discovered that the song, sometimes referred to as “talking blues” is also known as a “shaggy dog” story.  Wikipedia defines it as “an extremely long-winded anecdote characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents and terminated by an anticlimax. In other words, it is a long story that is intended to be amusing and that has an intentionally silly or meaningless ending.”  Mark Twain, Gogol and Isaac Asimov were all cited as contributors to this “genre”.  Who knew?

Arlo was adamant that he used the name Alice’s Restaurant because he liked it, not because the restaurant in the song was anything like the actual restaurant, owned by a friend of his, Alice Brock.  

Alice was an artist, a restauranteur and a writer.  She thought the song was funny but did not like the movie.  She felt that she was wildly misrepresented in the movie and was fairly vocal about it, hence Arlos’ comments that it wasn’t HER restaurant in the song.  One of the movie’s producers apparently made it possible for her to publish a cookbook.

As the years went by she came to appreciate how her role in the song and movie had somehow catapulted her into a 60s icon.  Brock even recorded a series of custom introductions to Alice’s Restaurant for stations that regularly play the song on Thanksgiving.  She and Arlo also combined their talents for a children’s book, Mooses Come Walking, and they remained friends until her death.

Alice passed away last Thursday, just a week from Thanksgiving, the holiday that inadvertently shoved her life into fame and recognition.  I will have to play the whole Massacre tomorrow while I’m getting my vegetarian sourdough sage stuffing ready.

Stuffing.  Inside the bird or out?

2024, Food, Gatherings, holidays, Mysteries

In a Tizzy

21 Comments

I’m having a mental disconnect this week.  It’s like my internal clock knows that Thanksgiving is WAY late this year.  I’m itching to bring out my holiday movies and ask Alexa to play some of my silly holiday tunes.

Normally I do a lot of my holiday stuff early but the Friday after Thanksgiving is my official “get going” day.  That’s when cookies start, that’s when I assemble the cards for mailing and wrap anything that has to get shipped.  This year, because Thanksgiving is so late, I’m doing some of my tasks ahead of time.  Cards are all done and got assembled for mailing last night.  Eggs are all packed into their cartons.  All gifts that have to shipped are wrapped.  Today I will sort out boxes for each address I have to ship to.

Although I know what cookies I’m making this year and have a list of ingredients I need, I haven’t started baking yet.  That just seems sacrosanct before Thanksgiving.  But I will be doing the shopping run for those ingredients today so I’m ready to go early on Friday morning.  My goal this year is to get all the cookies done in 7 days.  Fingers crossed.

But all this normally-after-Thanksgiving frenzy is messing with me.  I’m dreaming about my spreadsheets and what order I should do the cookies.  And I’m spending a lot of time going through things in my head. The dreams aren’t bad by any means, but it is a little weird.  Assuming by next weekend, my disconnect will be re-connected!

Thanksgiving doesn’t engender any of this for me.  We go elsewhere and I only have to do two things which can be done that morning.  YA has one dish to make as well.  So no spreadsheets, no lists and no dreams.  Guess I can be grateful that I only have big prep for one holiday at this time of year!

What holiday prep needs to be done at your place but you’d prefer if brownies came in at night and did it for you?

2024, Business, Family, Mysteries, Travel

True Blue

27 Comments

Two COMPLETELY different people live in this house.

Me.
Cashier at a store:  Are you a member of our loyalty program.
Me:  No, is it free?
Cashier:  No, it’s ____ per year but you get ___ % of every purchase.
Me:  No thanks.
 

YA.
YA:  I need one more flight this calendar year to keep my Silver status.
Me:   And this is important?
YA:  Of course.
YA:  I think I’m going to book a flight to Dallas for the Jingle Bell concert in two weeks.   If I fly down on the day of the concert, I can stay overnight and come home the next day.
Me:  You can get the days off?
YA:  I can work on the plane and in the hotel.
Me:  And this is worth the expense to you?
YA:  Oh yeah.
 

I am enrolled in quite a few loyalty programs; all but one is free.  I can’t bear the idea of having to keep track whether I’m making my money back.  The one that I do pay for is Prime and I actually only pay half; YA pays the other half.  I did keep track for the first two years and with the movies, it was a landslide so I quit my spreadsheet after that.  Most of my programs only come up once a year on my birthday.  I get the birthday freebie and that’s all.  The program at my hardware store is probably my favorite – I get discounts and coupons for stuff that I’m purchasing anyway.   Couple of my bakery programs pay off occasionally as well.  But the idea that YA would fly to Dallas to keep her status is mind-blowing to me.  It’s like there’s an alien living in the house with me.

Do you have any loyalty programs that you like?

2024, Farming Update, Uncategorized

Townhall Burn

29 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

So the Townhall burn. We don’t know much early history of the townhall. We assume it was built in the late 1800’s.

It was basically a room school. About that size. And if you look at old plat maps it will show that this was always the townhall and there used to be a school across the road. Some people might tell you this building WAS the school across the road, and it was moved here by the great tornado of 1883. Believe what you wish.

A stage was added onto one end at some point in time. A gentleman who’s 80 told me last week his dad had talked about the stage being moved here, which is the first time I’ve actually heard that. We always suspected it, but I had never heard it was moved and not part of the original structure. I got my theater start doing one act plays on that stage.  

It’s the building where my parents met as infants when their parents would leave them behind the furnace in their bassinets during the Ringe Mothers and Daughters Club. Both my folks went to 4H there, my siblings and I went to 4H there, it’s been a voting place, if you grew up in the township you had a wedding shower there, oyster stews, ice cream socials, your typical rural gathering place. It had no running water or bathrooms. (When I first got on the townboard, we tried to get the residents approval to install a composting toilet, but they denied it.) The outhouse did have Boys AND girls sides. Two holes in each!

The township had been putting money aside for ten years for a new hall. We knew the front of the building was settling, and with the money the federal government provided to local governments during Covid, we were able to use that money to build a new building about a mile and a half away. It has heat, and air conditioning, and most importantly, running water and BATHROOMS.  no more trips to the outhouse. However, you’ll be glad to know we saved the outhouse seats and have put them in the new bathrooms. 

A lot of people wanted us to save the old building but there was a catch. The ground it sat on is county road right of way property, so the building needed to be moved. A few people got estimates, and it was ball parked at $20,000 not counting your site preparation and moving utility lines. Plus, we were not sure it would hold together for a move, and that stage end would probably separate. And in the end, we agreed to let the Rochester fire department use it for a practice burn as training for 8 new recruits. In order to do that, the fire department had to show that it had “interior firefighting value “, and thankfully, it tested negative for asbestos, before the DNR would issue a permit.  One man, a training officer with the fire department, built eight individual rooms inside, complete with sheetrock, in order to have eight practice fires before burning the entire structure.

Saturday morning, November 9th, I was there for the whole event. More interesting than the fire itself was watching and observing the fireman and how they went about their duties. 

Everything from the “shuffle” they must do when the motion sensor on their uniform goes off, to the trailer used to refill their oxygen tanks onsite. (The sensor is known as a PASS system – Personal Alert Safety System, and it’s activated by a lack of motion. As they stood outside talking, the alarm would go off and they’d “shuffle” or rock back and forth a bit or jump or something just to stop it. It was fun to observe that, but obviously, if someone goes down in a fire, it would be invaluable.)

They practiced cutting holes in the roof and walls, learning how not to cut through the actual roof supports. We discovered there was no insulation in the walls! No wonder it was always so cold in there!

Not really sure that many people should be on the roof…
My gratitude and appreciation go out to these men and women even more. I commented to one, there’s so much smoke, you can’t see anything. Nope, it’s all by feel, or the one man with a thermal camera near the front.

They simulated a Mayday call where one officer called over the radio that he was low on oxygen and lost in the building. Everything stopped while the rescue crew found him.

It’s sad to see a structure like that burned down, but that is tempered by the fact it went out serving a purpose.

A few day later we found out the telephone box next to the building was a major junction point and not simply the Townhall line. Oops. Melted that into one big pile of solid wire.

What did you want to grow up to be? Ever tipped over an outhouse? Or been tipped in one?

Graduating class recruits class photo
Oh no! Not the outhouse!

2024, Art, Media, Movies, Uncategorized

In Frame

38 Comments

So….. the reason that I was lurking around Southdale on Tuesday was that I went to the movies!

This may not seem like an amazing circumstance to you, but the last time I went to the movies by myself was when Princess Bride was released.  The fourth day in a row that I went to see it, I couldn’t convince anybody else to join me. 

For most of the last thirty years, I’ve gone to the movies on average once a year.  Almost always on Christmas Day with YA.  Part of it is that I just don’t get worked up much for the movies that Hollywood has been pumping out for decades and the other part is I just don’t see the value of coughing up that much cash when the movie will be out in a year or so (although even less these days) and I can see it for free on TV.  And when I can pause it if I need to hit the bathroom or refresh my drink.

Anyway… last Saturday at the book signing at Once Upon a Crime, as I was getting my books rung up, I noticed some bookmarks on the counter advertising Conclave, a movie that is currently out.  I’ve seen the movie’s commercials and admire the main stars: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini (boy does she remind me of her mom more and more).  When I asked the gal behind the register if I could have a bookmark, I mentioned that I couldn’t wait to see the movie.  She brightened up and said “just a minute” while she dug around in a drawer.  Then she handed me a ticket for two free movie passes to Conclave!   It could only be used during the day Monday-Friday, so being a carefree retiree, I headed out on my own. 

The movie is fabulous.  Visually stunning (Sistine Chapel!) and a very interesting look at the conclave process.  A little of it I knew, but most was new to me.  Ralph Fiennes gave a masterful performance as did the others.  I particularly thought both John Lithgow and Lucian Msamati were outstanding.  As you can imagine in a movie about the Roman Catholic conclave process, women didn’t feature as much as I would have enjoyed but Isabella Rossellini played her part with strength and resolve.

So five stars from me and I can’t wait for it to cycle to tv/cable so I can see it again.

When was the last time you were in an actual movie theatre?  What did you see?

2024, Business, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Mall Malaise

35 Comments

I worked at the B.Dalton in Southdale almost forty years ago.  It was B.Dalton #1 – the first store in the chain, which eventually got swallowed up by Barnes & Noble.  So I knew Southdale like the back of my hand.  Southdale and Burnsdale  Center were the only two malls where I ever worked.  And not being a massive shopping fan, I never got to know any other commercial centers as well as those two.

Yesterday I needed to kill about 45 minutes so I thought I’d walk around Southdale for a bit.  WOW.  I was there around noon and was a little taken aback by how quiet it was.  And how many storefronts were covered up with photos and notices like the one in the photo about changes coming in the future.  Several stores that weren’t shuttered didn’t appear to be open and the stores that were open were almost all empty of customers.  The only lively spots were The Apple Store and the Hennepin County Government Services.  I didn’t even know that the HC Services had moved to Southdale when they closed their space next to the Southdale Library!

My guess is that big malls like Southdale may not survive.  I can’t imagine what they think they’re going to do liven it up. Even Santa’s workshop/photo op is abysmally small (and not open at noon) up on the second floor! Between the pandemic and the rise of free shipping and the seemingly growing sense that we’ve over-materialized ourselves, maybe big huge commercial centers are dying a quiet death.  I’d probably need more research to really answer this question but unfortunately it’s not research I would relish.  Just have to wait and see.

When was the last time you were in a mall?  Do you have a go-to shopping spot?

2024, books, Fantasy, Movies, Mysteries, Science, space, Uncategorized

Visitors

26 Comments

I had lunch yesterday with a few girlfriends.  Our conversations always range all over the place so one of my friends mentioning she had seen an article about aliens wasn’t too weird.  She couldn’t find the article online (on her phone) but that didn’t stop the rest of us from glomming on. Another friend said she’d seen a theory that aliens are already here.

I suggested that if there were actually aliens here we would never know it.  Considering how far we have yet to go to even get ourselves to Mars, any aliens who have the considerable enough technology to get here would certainly have enough technology to go undetected by us. 

After a bit more silly discussion I asked WHY these aliens would be here among us.  Maybe we’re just an amusement part for these aliens. Another friend said the article claimed that the aliens were here to save us.  Another big WHY from me at that point.  Maybe we’re some alien high-school kids science project – kind of like an ant farm.

None of my friends actually believe in aliens, at least not little green men in mental saucers.  I fall into Carl Sagan’s camp when he says in his book Contact “The universe is a pretty big place. It’s bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it’s just us… seems like an awful waste of space.”  Although if there were a way to bet that we would be done as a species before we made any contact from elsewhere in the universe, I’d take that bet.

Do you have a favorite alien book or movie?

2024, books, History, Movies, TV

Tudor Anniversary

19 Comments

When I was a freshman in high school, PBS aired The Six Wives of Henry VIII – a one-hour segment for each wife over the course of six weeks.  I do not remember why I watched the first one – it could have been because one of my folks turned it on, although neither of them were big history buffs.  It could also have just been a happy accident – by the end of the first episode, I was completely hooked.  That was the day that my interest in the Tudors was born.  About a year later, Masterpiece Theatre showed Elizabeth I, another six-part series.  Glenda Jackson was fabulous in this. It was also about this time that I saw Anne of a Thousand Days. Any time I think of Anne Boleyn, I also see Genevieve Bujold in my minds’ eye. Even when I hear this:

I would not call myself an expert in Elizabeth or any of her Tudor relatives, but I’m pretty sure I know more than your average Joe.  I remember being amazed when one of my Metro State professors, who I’ve always thought was just the smartest guy ever, didn’t know the order of the six queens.  Didn’t everybody know that.  Guess not.

Six, a musical that is currently playing on Broadway hasn’t piqued my interest yet – I still have to get around the weirdness of having a lot of singing and dancing based on what are almost all pretty tragic stories.  Truly, Anne of Cleves (#4) was the only one of the six who managed to come out ahead of the game.  I know a few people who have seen the musical and they say it definitely is good but I’m not ready yet.  Maybe one of these days. 

Yesterday, in 1558, Queen Mary passed away and Elizabeth came to the throne.  I thought I’d mark the occasion by reading Elizabeth I CEO: Strategic Lessons from the Leader Who Built an Empire.  It isn’t a new book but I’ve avoided it because “CEO” and “strategic lessons” aren’t on my favorite words list.  For some reason this week I’m thinking I might enjoy this – maybe give me some insights that I haven’t considered before.  We’ll see.

When was the last time you pushed yourself to read a book you weren’t sure about? And how did that turn out?