Category Archives: Family

2024, Family, Food, home, Kids, Music, Theatre, Uncategorized

Oma Sees All

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I have been thoroughly enjoying myself here this week in Brookings. Son’s surgery went well. He is home recuperating. Yesterday I roasted a chicken and made slow cooker Bolognese sauce and chicken enchiladas. I also got to drive six year old Grandson to school, which is terribly fun. One morning we listened to a number from Cats on the Sirius XM Broadway station, and he was rather astounded when I told him that the performers were singing and dancing in cat suits. He also liked the number from Hamilton that we heard.

Son and Daughter In Law are good parents with quite appropriate limits and expectations. I tend to call Grandson out more often for minor infractions, though. It was pretty funny when, one evening at supper, Grandson announced, with a huge sigh, that Oma’s eyes saw everything, and there wasn’t anything he could get away with that I didn’t see. This was after I reminded him to eat his penne with his fork and not his fingers. He made a point of showing us his fork skills after that.

What is the first Broadway musical you remember hearing or seeing? What is your favorite musical now? How was your relationship with your grandparents?

2024, Business, Family, Food, Seasons, Uncategorized

Fall Bonanza

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You all know my weakness for seasonal goodies – so does Trader Joes.  There is normally a slew of new items each season, most of which won’t be back when the season is over.  YA and I went out a couple of weeks ago, right after the latest Fearless Flyer (Trader Joe’s newsletter) arrived in my mailbox.  There are plenty of things we like to shop for but looking at and maybe picking up some of the seasonal stuff adds to the fun.  In this respect, the YA apple didn’t fall far from the tree!

We tried fall leaf tortilla chips and potato crisps in the shape of ghost and bats.  A big jar of harvest soup, a bag of apple granola.  Pumpkin pasta.  At the last minute we tossed a box of apple shortbread cookies into the basket.  Normally the seasonal items we pick up are nice but nothing that makes me sad knowing they won’t come around again.  But this year is different.   The tortilla chips, the ghost potato crisps and the apple shortbread were all winners.  I even whipped up some fresh salsa to have with the tortilla chips.  YA ate most of the apple shortbread before I even got one. 

Over the weekend, I had to pick up a couple of things at Michaels… and when I came out of the store and headed toward my car, my eyes lit on the Trader Joes on the other side of the parking lot.  I didn’t even hesitate; headed right over and picked up more of the chips, crisps and the shortbreads.  YA was very happy to have two more boxes of shortbread but thought that my extra bags of chips and crisps boarded on “hoarding”.  She also suggested that I shouldn’t be eating the ghost/bat crisps until it’s a little closer to Halloween.

Considering that the world has been celebrating Halloween for a couple of weeks; the scary movies started up on October 1st on the dot.  I like the fall and Halloween, but I prefer not to have my wits scared out of me by scary movies and creepy designs.  I do like most folks yard decorations at this time of year; how do they keep those giant skeletons standing up? 

So we’ll be enjoying our fall goodies for a few more weeks; I’ll probably have to make more salsa!

Do you prefer the cozy side of Fall or the spooky side of Halloween?

2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, Nature, pets, Uncategorized, work

Progress

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

I took a few days to work at home this week.

I got a lot of work done on my shop wall. It’s basically all framed up. I need a few more boards and a lot of finishing bits, but it’s getting there. I’ve purchased insulation to install myself, the LP tank has been installed, waiting on the heater and the big garage door to be installed, and the steel siding has been ordered. Going for gray on this wall. Might make it before winter yet.

I sure do appreciate my friend at Red’s Electric letting me use his lift. This would have all been much MUCH harder without.

I sure have been dropping things and knocking things over with working on this. Good thing I’m working alone; I wouldn’t want to be around me the way it’s been going. And there’s barely room for me in the lift. Cause you know, I need all the tools.

Saturday will be adoption day for Luna. And back in 2007, it was about the same time of year we acquired Allie.


Last weekend I burned a brush pile. I need to dig the metal out of it and then I’ll have the ash pile buried after that.

It was time for a new ‘everyday-in-town’ hat. Not so dirty to be a farm hat, and cleaner than the farming hat, but dirtier than my ‘going-to-church’ hat. This is a hat I got for free at the theater conference USITT. It’s a seating company that I won’t be able to afford anyway.

I lost half the ducks last week. Friday afternoon I counted 22 ducks. Saturday morning I saw something white laying down by the barn. It was a dead duck. And there was another. And another. I picked up 6 carcasses. Four outside and two in their pen. And we have 11 ducks remaining. We’re pretty sure it was a weasel as there was a bite mark on the back of their heads. I have found some piles of feathers out in the fields. The dogs never reacted, and I never heard a fuss, so I’m not sure what happen. But it’s very discouraging.

The mallard ducks have discovered they can fly. And if you think about it, how would you know you COULD fly, if no one told you or showed you? You’d have to figure it out by accident. Maybe instinct, but again, no examples… so… what will they do?

I often listen to a 1940’s station and one of the things I enjoy are the songs you don’t hear anywhere else. I heard Hogie Carmichael singing ‘Huggin’ and Chalkin’. It’s considered a novelty song.

“I gotta gal who’s mighty sweet

With blue eyes and tiny feet

Her name is Rosabelle Magee

And she tips the scale at three o three

Oh gee, but ain’t it grand to have a girl so big and fat that when you go to hug her

You don’t know where you’re at

You have to take a piece of chalk in your hand

And hug a way and chalk a mark to see where you began”

….

….

One day I was a huggin’ and a chalkin’ and a beggin’ her to be my bride

When I met another fella with some chalk in his hand

A comin’ around the other side of the mountain

A comin’ around the other side

Oh my gosh.

HOW DID YOU LEARN TO LIGHT PAPER MATCHS?

WHO WAS RESPONSILE FOR TEACHING YOU BAD HABITS?

2024, education, Family, Kids, Music, Uncategorized

Happy Kids Music Day

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The National Day folks have determined that today is National Kids Music Day, to emphasize the importance of music education for children.

My first music teacher in school was Miss Roesetter, who studied music in Paris at the Sorbonne. How she ended up in a small, rural school in Minnesota I’ll never know. Our school was blessed with wonderful band directors, most who had been educated at Luther College. Husband played cello in his school orchestra. Son played trombone. Daughter played piano, French Horn, and violin. Grandson is to start piano in a year ago. He loves to toot on his great grandfather’s bugle.

Grandson loves our recording of Peter and the Wolf and The Carnival of the Animals, narrated by Hermione Gingold. He listens to it on a cd player in his bedroom. His parents value music education as much as we do. His mother was a vocal performance major, so perhaps he will have a voice, too. It fun to watch how much children benefit from music.

Daughter is currently on vacation in Maine with a former Suzuki violin student she studied with in Bismarck as a child. Last year they visited their violin teacher who had moved to New Mexico. How fun is that?

Tell about your experiences with music teachers and music lessons as a child. What was your favorite music as a child? As a teen? Any instruments in your home now?

2024, Family, Travel, Uncategorized, work

Big Wind

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Monday we drove to Bismarck to meet with the State Retirement people. That went well. My official last day of work is 01/31/2025. I had lots of questions answered and was very relieved when we left the office.

The day was utterly stressful and overwhelming, however, because of the wind. I drove. We travelled east to Bismarck with a full tank of gas and a steady 36 mph northwest wind with 49 mph gusts at our back. We used very little gas on the 90 miles to Bismarck. The indicator was still on full when we arrived. We ran several errands after the Retirement appointment, always making sure the wind didn’t take the vehicle doors and rip them off, and struggling in and out of stores. The air was full of dust that was being blown around. It was a cold wind. Sunday the temperature was 95. Monday it barely reached 61. When those big temperature swings happen, the wind always starts up.

The drive back home was the worst. Passing on the interstate was really tricky because the northwest wind blew vehicles toward me in the passing lane as I tried to get around them. There seemed to be a large contingent of rackety campers and motor homes, all high profile vehicles, traveling west, all going way too slow and needing to be passed, all swerving into the passing lane. The wind was so loud we couldn’t hear the radio playing, I was so tense when I got home I could hardly move. We used half a tank of gas going west into the wind. I know there is wind in Minnesota, but I don’t think it ever gets as bad as we had here on Monday.

What is your favorite music, poems, or literature about the wind? Favorite wind band music? What is the worst wind you have had to travel in? Ever had to drive a “High Profile” vehicle in the wind?

2024, education, Family, Uncategorized, work

Continuing Education

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In order for me and Husband to maintain our licenses to practice psychology in ND, we need to complete 40 hours of approved continuing education every two years. At least twenty of the hours must be from live presentations (which can be accessed either in-person or on-line). At least three must be on ethics. This is pretty standard for most licensed mental health professions.

We needed to have our 40 hours completed by this October 31. I started out September with only 12 hours, so I had to scramble to get the rest completed. It wouldn’t look too good if the president of the licensing board didn’t have her hours done on time. I spent time doing some on-line trainings, and spent most of last week in Bismarck at a conference that got me to a whopping 51 hours for the biennium. Husband was ahead of me in terms of hours, and completed his final three hours in an ethics workshop last week.

This is probably the last time we need to complete the continuing education requirements for licensure, since we plan to be fully retired two years from now, and have no intention of remaining licensed after we move to Minnesota. Husband commented that now we can do whatever trainings we want, whether in psychology or other topics, and this made me wonder what I want to continue to learn about. I want to learn to speak German. i want to delve more into my family history and the history of Ostfriesland. This could be really fun. I might want to learn more about the history of psychology, but we will see about that.

What are you learning about now? Did you have to attend required trainings for your job? If so, what were the best and the worst?

2024, Family, Food, Nature, Uncategorized

No Bad Apples Here!

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YA and I had one of “traditional” weekends.   We spent a day at the Zoo (new zoo), mostly to see the baby tigers.  Two Amur tigers were born in the end of May, one little girl and one little boy.  They’ve been out on exhibit for three weeks and are a cute as can be.  We started there, at Tiger Lair and after walking through all the rest of the zoo, we circled back and watched the babies some more.   Packed our own lunch and ate outside in the sunshine.  Lovely.

In what is our most enduring tradition, we headed out to pick apples as well.  I picked apples even before YA was born; she was three when she went for the first time.  We’ve done this almost every since then.  No apples picking in 2019 when she broke her foot and had survey for plates and pins.  And no apples in 2020 when most of the orchards didn’t open for ‘Pick Your Own’.  Even her first year at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire we did apples.  She called me the end of September and asked if I could come visit the next weekend and could we find a place to pick apples.  No problem!

So now we have a peck of Connell Red, half peck of Honeycrisp and half peck of Kinder Krisp.  Since I refused to go down the pumpkin spice trail, which is rampant at this time of year – time to ramp up apple recipes.  I’ve already made an Apple Manchego salad – apples and Manchego cheese sliced into matchsticks, tossed with a bit of lemon, olive oil and chives.  The crumble topping for Apple Crisp is done as well – two recipes of it – in the fridge for use in the next week or so.

I have some really cute molds to make hand pies.  The pie crust is thawing in the fridge.  If I’m remembering correctly, one package of pie crust should make six hand pies.  Just the right number for the two of us.  Mixed Berry & Apple bars are in the running, although the recipe doesn’t use too much apple.  I found two savory dishes.  The first is a Brussel sprouts apple salad with a citrus maple vinaigrette and the second is an apple cabbage sausage back (using vegetarian sausages).  Not sure if I’ll be able to tempt YA with Brussels sprouts, but I might try.   We’ll probably end up freezing some of this stuff, otherwise we’ll both start looking like apples ourselves!!

Any favorite apple recipes?  Or have you succumbed to pumpkin spice this year?

2024, Family, Theatre, Travel, Uncategorized

Hamilton

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At the end of her work program in London, YA took a couple more days just for herself.  She transferred to a hotel in the City (the group program had been in Hampshire) and enjoyed her time walking around, seeing the sights, doing a bit of shopping. 

On Friday I got a text asking if $120 was too much money to spend on a Hamilton ticket.  My first response, as a cheap, miserly old mom was to discourage her from blowing a wad on anything.  It’s almost always my go-to position, sorry to say.

But as I thought about it for a bit I realized a couple of things.  #1 – she is a grown woman, enjoying time in London.  If she has the money for it, this would be a wonderful memory of her trip. (And truth be told, I’ve been to the theatre in London and remember it fondly [although I didn’t have to pay for it myself].)  #2 – paying $120 for a ticket to Hamilton in London is basically stealing it.    I sent her a text telling her to go for it.

She chose the Saturday matinee so she could walk to/from during daylight.  Then she texted me that her ticket was in a box.  When I asked why, she said it was the best deal at that showing.  She got there pretty early so was able to sent photos of her box (the header photo) and this photo showing the view from the box. 

Apparently her box price included a drink and a snack, which was provided by the butler, whose services were also included as part of the box.  My goodness.   And then, as if enough fortune hadn’t already given her a wink and a nod, the other three seats in the box remained unsold.  So for $120 she got a private box, a butler, a drink and snack, a walking transfer and, of course, Hamilton.  What a way to go!

I’m so happy that she was able to have this marvelous experience and so so glad that I got over myself and didn’t spoil her fun. 

Can you ever remember a time you’ve given dubious advice? Taken dubious advice?

2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

Party On!

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The weekend farm report comes to us from Ben.

Menards has Christmas decorations out. Oh my…

We got a little rain Thursday night. For the heavy storms, large hail, and wind they were predicting, we got about 3/10 of an inch. It was a nice rain and we needed it.

I’ve been seeing some of the neighbors chopping corn, and some of the YouTube farmers I watch are chopping, and it’s amazing how much the technology has changed in this regard in the last 30 years. While many large dairy farms are still using bunkers and pits for silage, a few are going back to cement upright silos. One place I watch on YT had 3, 100′ tall silos built this summer. Two for corn silage, and 1 for haylage. (Haylage or silage is the entire crop all chopped up; The stalk and ear, or the alfalfa, rye, sorghum, whatever, all chopped up, and packed and allowed to ferment. It may be in an oxygen limiting silo ((the blue ‘Harvestore’ ones)) or the plain cement ones.) Bunkers are faster to fill, but take more manpower and equipment to fill, pack, cover, and unload. Upright silos fill a bit slower and take a little more routine maintenance, but they settle on their own and pack strictly from its own weight, and they seem to be automated enough, especially nowadays, that feeding takes a lot less work.

And now they have cameras in the silos to monitor operation, and the electrical cable travels inside and doesn’t need to be moved from door to door. It’s been kind of fun to see and reminisce. There’s a young man climbing the 100′ silos– keyword “young man”… Not sure I’d be doing that anymore.

We used two 18′ diameter, by 50′ tall silos. One for 1st crop hay chopped and filled in June, and the other for corn, filled in September. Usually the primary ingredient for dairy cattle ration is corn silage. Course it depends on geography. In some places it’s grass or hay. Every farm is different. Our cows got ground corn inside the barn, (plus minerals and protein supplements) but they got hay and corn silage outside, plus grass in summer.

The hay silage is dusty, and once a month I’d have to go up the chute and open up a lower door and move the unloader arm down, and every couple of months move the electrical cable and it was just a dusty dirty terrible job. Corn Silage wasn’t as dusty, but still had to open the doors and move the cable and do regular maintenance on the unloaders, and chop off what was frozen to the walls in the spring… it was a whole big thing. I don’t miss a lot of it.

The Custom guys are chopping with these huge eight or ten row choppers that can go across the rows if needed, they don’t have to follow the rows. Then it’s loaded into trucks, or tractors and wagons that follow the chopper and are filled almost automatically, and it’s so much easier than it was 30 years ago when I was doing it with our 2 row pull type chopper. Again, just fun to see

I managed to have one afternoon and a couple hours one other day to work in my shop. Got some sill plates bolted to the concrete floor and I have one post up.

Here is old technology mixed with new. A plumbob and a laser!

I took in some fire extinguishers to be renewed. This one from 1995 still worked great!

I showed daughter how to pull the pin and spray it around. Got a new one to replace this old one.

This week is Tech rehearsals for a 1920s jazz musical called ‘The Wild Party’ at the Rep Theater. Spending a lot of time here getting the new lights hooked up and the lightboard talking to the laptop. (Had to call in an expert to help do that). Here’s a picture of the lighting board from the tour ‘Back to the Future’ at the Orpheum.

Here is our new board at the Rep.

Their board has more knobs and screens. They win.

I did get a new battery put back in Kelly‘s tractor and had that running for a while. But there was a few wisps of smoke coming from under the dash, and the lights don’t work, so I assume I’m not done working on that yet.

And the 630 starter is making a funky sound.

And the 4-wheeler that I put the new carburetor on isn’t working again.

And the lawnmower still quits after it gets hot.

I have some things to work on yet.

Thursday night the dogs met a skunk.  I wasn’t there, Kelly and daughter were. We thought Bailey got the worst of it and she got a special bath (thank you Kelly), but this morning it was Humphrey that smells. Everyone is just staying outside for now.

Can you snap your fingers? Did I ask this before?  The musical director for this show, snapped her fingers LOUDLY, with a real good SNAP for almost the entire 2 hour rehearsal! After rehearsal I asked to see her fingers. I wanted to see if those fingers were twice as big as the rest. No, but she has a callous on that one finger. It’s interesting how that must be a young person’s thing. Daughter can snap good, too. I get a muffled little snap.

Not counting groans and moans, how many noises can you make with your body?

2024, animals, Family, History, home, Music, Mysteries, pets, Uncategorized

Pampered Pets

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We always had dogs when I was growing up.  The main two that I remember were Princess the Wonder Dog and Irish Colleen but there were a few others when I was quite young and then my moms golden retrievers about the time I went off to college.

It was much more casual having a dog back then.  No special bowls, just some dry kibble a couple of times a day.  No dog beds in multiple rooms of the house.  No walking dogs; when it was time for their business, you opened the door and let them out (fence or not fence).  No brush of teeth.  No flea and tick treatment, no heartworm pills.  No crates even.

It’s a whole `nother world now.  At our house, Guinevere is technically YA’s dog, so we pretty much play by her rules.  So yes, we have a crate, fenced yard, multiple leashes, all the vet treatments, teeth brushing, regular baths and nail clippings.  And beds (at least 3 of them).  Guinevere gets dry dog food mixed with a large spoonful of wet food twice a day.  Several kinds of dog treats.  Water upstairs and down.  A massive number of toys. Clothes and hats (which she detests).

But the funniest (at least to me) is pet music when we leave the house.  YA has decided that just chilling in her crate when we are both out of the house is stressful for Guinevere if she doesn’t have music in the background.  Since the crate is in the breakfast room, before we leave the house, YA calls out “Alexa, play classical for pets”.  Apparently we are not alone in this because every three or four times, Alexa asks if we want to subscribe to the Music for Pets channel/playlist and pay good money for it.  When we decline, then Alexa goes ahead with assorted classical music for pets. Personally I wouldn’t say that Guinevere likes or dislikes the classical – doesn’t seem to make her more relaxed – I think she’s already calm in her kennel.  And since she is YA’s dog, I play along. 

Every now and then if I’m leaving after YA and know I’m getting home before she does, I ask Alexa to play salsa music, or Peter Mayer or Enya – whatever comes into my head as I’m leaving.  Guinevere does not appear to be traumatized by this.

I try to imagine going back in time to my childhood and then having somebody from the present tell me how spoiled my dog is these days, including having to have music on when we leave the house.  I’m sure I would have fallen down on the floor laughing.

What kinds of things do you like when you’re being pampered?