Category Archives: Family

2026, animals, Family, Food, Mysteries, Nature, Travel, TV

Buckeyes

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We got to Columbus about 9:30 a.m. on a Friday morning and after picking up the rental car, we got to the hotel well before check-in time… in fact we were there before check-out time.   We knew this was a possibility so we left my phone number with the front desk and headed out.

Started with lunch at The Rusty Bucket.  Veggie burgers, fries and fried pickles.  Best fried pickles ever.  It was a gorgeous day and we sat near the big open windows so there was a great breeze.  Then we headed over for a hike to Indian Falls.  We walked quite a bit down of pathway before we realized that the little gurgling “rapids” we had passed earlier were the actual falls. Guess living so close to Minnehaha Falls, I had bigger expectations.  But it was pretty and we got to pet a few dogs along the way.

I know I mentioned Anthony Thomas Candies earlier; we found an Anthony Thomas Candy Shoppe outlet between the falls and our motel.  Anthony Thomas is a fourth-generation company that started as a Dairy Co-op in 1932 and following a couple of expansions, in 1952 they began making what is now their signature candy – the buckeye – peanut butter filling surrounded by milk chocolate.  They make 14 million buckeyes a year and are recognized by Ohio State University for the licensing of the candies.   We found a little box of what they call their “oops” – seconds.  Neither YA nor I could figure out what was wrong with them.  They were delicious – and cheaper!

Quick stop at a grocery store for a few bottles of pop/water for the fridge in our room and then headed back to the motel for our check-in.  Showers, lunch leftovers for dinner and we found Banana Ball on ESPN.  In a complete reversal of our usual roles, I am a BB fan, YA is not.  However she humored me.

Set our alarms to make sure we got up early enough for our adventure on Saturday.  Not bad for a travel day, no?

Do you have a candy that you would eat, even if it were an “oops”?

2026, animals, Automotive, Computers, Family, Mysteries, Nature, Technology, Travel, Uncategorized

YA in Charge

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We went to Columbus because I love the television show “Secrets of the Zoo”.  It ran for five seasons beginning in 2018 and spawned “Secrets of the Zoo Tampa”, “Secrets of the Zoo North Carolina” and “Secrets of the Zoo Down Under”.  Down Under was resurrected a couple of years ago for an additional season and depending on what you’re willing to believe on the internet, there MAY be a Season 8.  I was (am?) addicted to these shows – loved seeing the animals and the folks who cared for them.  I’ve definitely seen all the episodes of all the show and most of them more than once. 

The original Secrets explored the behind the scenes lives of the animals, the zoo keepers and the zoo vets.  They also shared each episode with The Wilds, a safari park and conservation area about 90 minutes from Columbus.  It looked as fascinating as the zoo.

When Guinevere passed away, YA and I were suddenly free to travel together – something that hadn’t happened for about 5 years.  We decided that going to Columbus to see the Zoo and the Wilds would be perfect. 

As is my norm, I immediately got a binder out and made tabs for air, hotel, rental car, cat boarding, zoo, Wilds and miscellaneous. 

YA used her work “points” for the rental car, spent some On the Fly cards for the air and got a smokin’ hot rate at a hotel using her Iatan status.  Turns out we even got Comfort + seating because she’s got a gazillion Delta miles.  I asked her for confirming emails for everything so I could print them out – she begrudgingly did this commenting that it wasn’t necessary since she had all the info on her phone.  Even the kitty boarding place sent everything via text and email.  But not to be outdone, I dragged the binder with us to Columbus.

Because we were leaving at an ungodly hour from Minneapolis, YA set up Lyft transfers (cheaper than the off-site lots at the airport).  Once we got to Columbus, she did all the driving because it would have cost extra every day to add a driver.  So I let her choose the car.  I didn’t even know what hotel we were going to before we drove up.  She had handled that as well, including making sure it was a double/double configuration. 

Really the only thing I was in charge of was the Zoo and the Wilds.  Even those were handling with QR codes (used our MN Zoo membership to get a discount) and getting emails with links and receipts.  Just had to flash my phone at the entrance of both. 

Suffice it to say, YA was mostly in charge of everything during the trip and I didn’t open my binder one single time.  It felt kind of freeing but sigh… the times they are a changin’.

How has travel changed for you over the years?  For the good or for the bad?

2026, Family, home, pets, Travel, Uncategorized

Meet Freya

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First off, no we did not go get her in Columbus. 

We officially started our dog search about a month ago.  It went quite quickly – adoption application, meet and greet at the foster’s home, a virtual home visit (which we passed with flying colors), more paper work.  Took our Columbus trip, got home last Monday and picked her up on Wednesday!

She is one of five siblings who were “breeder release” dogs from Missouri.  There are a couple of scenarios for this.  Some BR dogs have been over-bred and the breeders don’t want them anymore.  Then apparently many breeders quickly get in over their heads, especially if they get too many puppies around the same time or they just have other issues that keep them from getting their dogs adopted out.  We think she is this latter category of “overwhelmed” as she clearly has not had puppies.  The rescue organization (which is actually in Wisconsin) goes to breeder release events and purchases dogs which they then adopt out.

She came up as “Olga” on the rescue website.  The foster mom said that they just make up the names – theses siblings came with just twine around their necks and little hand written tags.  Olga’s said “37”.  That was it.  Apparently most of her 18 months have been spent in a kennel.

On the way to the meet & greet, YA and I decided we did NOT want Olga as a name so we came up with a short list.  Isolde and Jorinda were completely shot down by YA immediately.  We also added Arwen and Galadriel from Lord of the Rings.  YA wasn’t crazy about these either but she didn’t rule them out.   This lead me to Freya, Norse goddess of love. YA grudgingly thought this was OK. 

As we entered the house to meet the dog, the foster mom said “she responds better to Freya than to Olga”.  YA and I looked at each other and smiled – was there ever a better omen?

She is about average height for a female Sammy, although she is skinny at this point.  Hard to tell with all that fur.  She is extremely skittish and shy but she adapts well.  After the first couple of airplanes overhead, she is now ignoring them although low-flyers that cast a shadow still bug her).  She is very very curious and has already shown a passion for standing on her back legs and looking out the windows.  The cat has decided she isn’t a threat but Freya doesn’t feel that way about the cat yet.  She loves other dogs, so in a few more days, we may introduce her to some of the other canines in the neighborhood.

The rescue organization has some strict rules about adoption; they prefer to still have “ownership” of the dogs until their medical exams and spay/neuters happen.  So right now we as “fostering to adopt” and the adoption will be finalized three days after the spay, which will most likely be towards the end of July. 

We are ecstatic – she is very sweet and we already adore her.  Now the race is on to find an Irish Setter to complete our little household!

What happens after it rains cats and dogs?

2026, Family, Music, Uncategorized

Pulling Strings

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Many years ago Husband’s dad and stepmother gave him a mountain dulcimer. You can see it in the header photo. He played it on rare occasions, but it mainly sat in its case. He spent more time on his cello and guitar.

Since retiring, Husband has been playing all his string instruments more often. In addition to getting the dogs groomed in Sioux Falls on Tuesday we also picked up the dulcimer, which had been restrung. We would have taken it to my cousin in St Peter who is a luthier, but he is retired now.

I think the first song on a dulcimer I remember hearing was one by Joni Mitchell. I love this song.

Husband ‘s dulcimer never sounded like Joni’s when he tried to play it, I think because he didn’t know how to tune it or maybe the strings just weren’t installed properly. The mountain dulcimer is an odd instrument. I know it is used quite a bit in traditional Appalachian music, and is descended from the zither. I am so glad he got it restrung, since the luthier tuned it properly for the first time. As I strum it I can tell it sounds right.

I am getting closer and closer to sitting down at our piano and practicing things on my own as well as the accompaniments for some of Husband’s cello pieces. I can’t let him be the only instrumentalist in the family. There are some simple Bartok pieces I have my eye on. What else is retirement for if not to play music!

What musical instrument would you want to learn now? What instruments did you play as a kid? Favorite Joni Mitchell songs or other dulcimer songs?

2026, Art, Family, History, Kids, Nature, Uncategorized

Small World

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On Saturday, Husband, I, and Boommate met up with our son and his family for a Father’s Day hike at the Pipestone National Monument, aka The Pipestone Indian Shrine. (I don’t think 47 would like to see that name.) It is almost equidistant from both Luverne and Aurora, SD, where son and family live. Here are some park photos.

My mother’s family is from Pipestone. My Uncle Harvey’s old farm abuts the park. It is an odd place, consisting of a quartzite quarry surrounded by prairie with a creek. For hundreds of years, native tribes would come from all over the contnent and get rock for ceremonial pipes. It is a holy place, and there were many cloth prayer bundles tied up in the tree branches. There continue to be native carvers at the visitor center who make pipes. Husband’s is in the header photo. We bought it several years ago. Boommate made the case it rests on. We keep it in its case, as our native friends say it is disrespectful to display it.

On our hike through the park we ran into a graduate school friend of DIL who heads a program at SDSU for disadvantaged students to help them transition to university. The students were with him. He and DIL hadn’t seen each other for some time, and it was nice for them to meet up.

We have a Hidatsa Indian friend from the ND Fort Berthold Reserve who attended the Pipestone Indian School. It closed many years ago. He also worked briefly at the park visitor center as a pipe carver. All the staff at the visitor center are native, and Husband took a chance and asked the older woman at the checkout if she knew our friend, Leo. Well, of course she did, and knew his wife’s name and the name of the band he played bass guitar and drums in. She was so delighted she gave us a bunch of free bumper stickers!

It is a small world, and it was fun to feel connected in so many diverse ways.

When have you felt the world is small? Ever been to Pipestone?

2026, animals, Business, Family, Food, History, Mysteries, Travel

Where in the World Are VS & YA?

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It’s been a few years since YA and I traveled together.  This is a four-day weekend trip that we’ve talked about for a few years now.  Here are some interesting facts about our location:

  • Nearly half the residents of the US live near here
  • The gate to hell is hiding underneath North Street
  • Part of the Berlin Wall can be found here
  • Woody Harrelson was arrested in this city in 1982 before hitting it big in Hollywood
  • The Anthony Thomas Company makes 50,000 pounds of chocolate here daily, including their famous candy named after a state tree
  • The NFL was headquartered here from 1927 until 1938
  • Jack Hanna is Director Emeritus to one of the largest attractions of its kind in North America here.

Where in the world are we?  (Bonus points if you can say WHY we’re here!)

 

 

2026, Family, Food, Travel, Uncategorized

How Far Would You Go?

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The other night I got some mushroom ravioli out of the freezer. It was some pasta we moved from ND. It was purchased at our local ND Family Fare store.

The pasta was somewhat remarkable for being imported from Italy. It is a brand that Family Fare regularly stocks. I am not a big mushroom fan, but the pasta was pretty good. Our Boommate thought it was absolutely superb. She loves mushrooms.

It had porcini and champagne mushrooms in the filling. We looked up where we might find the brand, and it is specific to Family Fare. The closest stores to us are in Cannon Falls, Litchfield, and Northfield.

The day after we had the pasta, Boommate drove to St. Cloud for a quilt show. She reported massive construction detours, one of which took her close enough to Litchfield for her to justify a side trip to the Family Fare store. It had the pasta brand, but no mushrooms ravioli. Sigh.

I have made ravioli from scratch in the past, but I don’t think I could replicate the mushroom filling. I admire her determination to get to Litchfield. These days the farthest I drive for things is Sioux Falls.

What is the farthest you have gone to get something you really wanted? Ever made pasta from scratch? How are construction season and detours going for you?

2026, Family, Gatherings, History, Theatre, Uncategorized

Tales From The Grave

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On Saturday, the Rock County Historical Society hosted a program of reenactments of the lives of several people buried in Rock County. One was that of a priest, Father Francis Sampson, buried in Luverne’s Catholic Cemetery. He was known as the Paratrooper Padre, and served as a chaplain with the 101st Screaming Eagles in WWII. He parachuted into Normandy on D-day and was the guy who alerted the top brass that a young soldier had lost several brothers in other engagements and since he was the last of the brothers he should be sent home to their mother. Hence Saving Private Ryan, the movie.

Another compelling story was that of a young woman, Captain Lenore Hansen, from Hills (about 15 miles from Luverne and buried in the Hills Cemetery) who was one of the first women allowed to enlist into the Marines in 1945. She worked with the Navaho Code Talkers. She was noted for her really good memory, and memorized over 200 Navaho words, and was involved in creating English words for which there were no counterparts in Navaho. Thus, the Navaho words for Iron and fish were combined to represent “submarine”. She never told her family what she had done in the war. She became a special education teacher in Rochester, MN. She is said to have not told her family about what she did in the war since it was considered classified information.

I think it would be really fun to be a reenactor in these scenarios. It is really wonderful to know about the people who lived and are buried in this country. I look forward to see who they find for next year’s Tales From The Grave. Although he is buried in Pipestone County, it would be fun to see a reenactor present my great grandfather who was a grenadier in the Prussian army and who fled Germany in 1914 after being found out by the authorities to be smuggling butter on the Hamburg wharves with his dray company.

Know any women veterans? Who of your ancestors would you like to present or see presented in a historical reenactment?

2026, Family, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Scientific Furniture Shopping

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Daughter is really putting down roots in Tacoma and has purchased a condo. It is quite a bit bigger than than her apartment.

Daughter has enlisted numerous friends to help with the move. She has a dear friend who is an engineer of some sort and who has been through the house buying and refurnishing process and who has taken her in hand regarding buying new furniture.

Daughter needs a new sofa. Friend insisted that the sofa must have a frame made from wood from a certain place in North Carolina for strength and longevity, along with many other caveats for structural stability. The two young women spent the day in Seattle yesterday sitting on sofas. Daughter texted me that she found one she loved at Crate and Barrel and was deciding on fabric swatches. I do hope the internal structure met the engineer’s specifications!

I think I like the advice another friend gave daughter regarding buying furniture: “buy once, cry once”, meaning buy the best you can afford so it lasts longer.

Any furniture buying stories? How do your tastes in furniture style run?

2026, Family, gardening, home, Uncategorized

Heads And Shoulders, Knees And Toes

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The childhood song has been going through my head. Husband is 72. Boommate and I are 68. Between the three of us, I think we have one functional body (but three functional brains).

Husband has arthritis and carpal tunnel issues in both hands. Boommate has had both knees replaced. She also had a shoulder repair after getting knocked over by a horse. I was doing pretty well until recently when I seem to have developed arthritis in both my shoulders that has greatly reduced my range of motion and caused a lot of pain. The sciatica issues for me are manageable and just intermittent. I have a broken toe that healed crooked and is totally numb.

It has been interesting seeing how we have managed to get gardening and moving chores done cooperatively. I am the only one who can crawl on my hands and knees. That means I can get down really low and weed and plant and plug things in. Boommate and Husband are taller than I am, so they can stretch and reach things that I can’t. Boommate and I have great manual dexterity to counter Husband’s hand problems. Husband is very strong and can carry stuff we can’t. It is all working out!

How are you joints and tendons these days? What chores are you doling out to others? What is the best team you ever worked with?