Category Archives: Family

Family, Fantasy, Kids, Mysteries, Travel

Apple of My Eye

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I know I’ve talked about this topic before, but it’s fascinating when I see glimpses of myself in YA.  She is in Dublin for two+ weeks for work and the morning of her flight, I found the clipboard (in the photo above) sitting on the counter downstairs.  In an interesting twist on the apple-not-falling-far-from-the-tree, I note that she has used three colors of highlighters.  I am a one-highlighter gal when it comes to my lists; it looks like the yellow highlighter is for her backpack but I’m not sure about the fuchsia or even the dots. 

My list-making has evolved in the past couple of months.  My weekly spreadsheet went by the wayside around the holidays last year; it was a gradual decline but I realized it wasn’t doing it for me any longer.  I actually went “list-less” for several months with the occasional list of errands on a post-it or groceries on my phone’s note app. 

Then a few weeks ago, after I re-retired, I wrote out a list of things for the next day.  Just on a pad of paper I had laying around and only a few items, nothing that is part of my regular routine.  It felt nice to take a highlighter to the list at the end of the day so I did another list for the next day.  Again – just written by hand and just a few items.  It’s become my new routine — for the most part.  There have been a few days with no list and I survived!

YA doesn’t do daily lists (that I ever see anyway) but it’s nice to have evidence that every now and then she’s takes a page from my playbook.

Would you rather have a pet dragon or a pet unicorn?

2023, Family, History, Kids, Uncategorized

Summertime Cousins

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Our son and DIL and grandson were in Alabama last week for the baptism of our DIL’s niece. I was glad our grandson got to spend time with his only cousin. It was really hot there, though, and between the weather and the politics, Son said he could never live there. I wish our grandson had cousins who lived closer.

I remember summers as the best times to hang out with my cousins. We all lived within 30 miles of each other. As an only child, my cousins were the closest people I had to siblings, and I got to spend weeks in the summers at their various farms. They all lived on farms. They were mainly boys, and I learned how to set gopher traps and set off fire works and play rough and tumble football and baseball. We played and messed around and had a great time. When I was in Middle School and High School I spent summers with a married cousin and she taught me to sew for 4-H.

The other day, Son was filling up his car with gas in Pipestone, MN where many of my cousins lived, and saw a really tall, thin, older blond man filling up his car. He looked like one of my relatives, and after Son introduced himself, it turned out he was one of my cousins, who asked when I was moving back to Minnesota! He lives in Norfolk, NE, and he is going to move back, too, when he retires. I don’t think he still traps gophers.

Where in the US wouldn’t you want to live? If you had cousins, what did you like to do with them? What are some of your favorite summer memories from childhood?

2023, animals, Automotive, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Seasons

Summer “Farming”

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Thankfully theaters are equipped with AC these days.  This week was all about theater.  

I was at the Rochester Repertory Theater Monday and Tuesday evenings finishing lighting and dress rehearsals for ‘I and You’ by Lauren Gunderson. That opened on Thursday with a preview audience on Wednesday so that Wednesday night I was headed to the town of Chatfield, 20 miles South of Rochester to begin lighting ‘Hello Dolly’. I drove down on Monday with my friend Paul to scope out the place since I didn’t work there last summer, and the building had a lot of renovations done. Potter Auditorium, built in 1936, is attached to an elementary school built in 1916. 

The theater was renovated in 2016. The renovation done to the school revealed the original skylights and main beams in a ‘great room’. It removed a lot of steps and ramps and various levels and added more bathrooms and elevators. It’s pretty nice.

I started working in Potter Auditorium in 1986, building the set for ‘Annie’ for $500. My dad and brother helped me carry 40 sheets of 4×8 particle board up from the basement to cover the gym floor (because of course it was a ‘gymnatorium’) and we couldn’t mess up the basketball floor.  

The next year I built the set for ‘Barnum’, and the next year, some kind of original talent show.  

Working in Chatfield always feels like going home. Lots of good memories there. There wasn’t AC until the 2016 renovation. Back in the 80’s, hornets would come in and buzz around on their backs on the floor. I’d walk over and step on them. Good times.  

I recently heard someone mention how, when they were a young kid, their dad talked about hunting and outdoor sports so that’s why they hunt now. And I thought, I got mail order books, and Disney records of Musicals. Mary Poppins, Robin Hood, Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Hmmm.    

I mentioned we had hail last Saturday. I notified crop insurance, and they assigned an adjuster. Haven’t met with him yet.

It knocked some oats out and beat up the corn and soybeans a bit. Left some marks on our cars too.  

The ceiling insulation for the shop was blown in on Wednesday. The ball is back in my court to start working again.  

I started cutting oats on Tuesday. It was so hot the swather wouldn’t run right and it left me walking home twice. And then we got an inch of rain Tuesday night. Because of course now it would rain.

Also Tuesday the electrician buried the new electric line to the shop. He cut the phone line, which I didn’t need to the shop anymore. He also found the phone line from 1968 when we lived in the machine shed while the house was being built.  

And then he found the current electric line to the old shop. The one my dad buried in the 1950’s and the one being replaced. It was 30 feet from where I thought it was. So, he changed course. Oops; found it again. Thinking back; there was a ravine and a tree there, so I guess Dad had to go around the tree. Maybe that’s why it was way over where it shouldn’t have been.  

But this guy is an electrician, and he was able to fix it; no harm, no foul.

Here is Kelly posing with her new Gator.

We like it better than the old one already.  

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIE OR SONG?   PLEASE RESPOND BY SINGING IT.  

2023, animals, Business, Family, Food, home

Adieu to the Milk Man

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This weekend, for the first time in 25 years, I’m going to have to go pick up milk at the grocery store and lug it home.  YA and I (well, it was mostly “I”) made the decision this week to discontinue our dairy delivery service. 

The combination of YA and I doing a little less dairy these days along with the reduction of items available from our dairy guy (thanks SO MUCH Kemps… she says with her voice dripping with sarcasm), it just isn’t worth it.  I find myself adding things to the order form that we don’t really need because I feel guilty not having as big an order as we used to have.  This is how I ended up with six rolls of cinnamon rolls in my fridge and four bags of tortilla chips in the cabinet.

It’s going to feel weird to not put the cooler and order form out on Wednesday night (my guy delivers to our house at 3 a.m.) but I’m looking forward to not having to get up at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning to get everything out of the cooler and into the fridge.  We’ll see how long before this wears off as I’m dragging cartons of milk home!

How much does a cow have to eat and drink to produce my gallon of milk every week?

2023, animals, Automotive, Family, Farming Update, Nature

Summer Lemons

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

There should be a lemon law for gators. Our gator, the utility vehicle we’ve grown to love, seems to develop some kind of coolant leak every 3 or 4 months. We got it in November of 2020. It went to the shop for the 4th time Thursday. When “Tim” came to pick it up, Kelly told him to bring back a better one, and we all laughed. “Brady” called at 7:30AM Friday morning working on numbers for a trade. We better wait for the mechanic to see what he can find first. Actually, dump it now and make the deal BEFORE the mechanic finds out what’s what.

 Kelly and I finished the steel ceiling in the shop late Sunday evening. Got in the house about 9:30 PM, but it was done. And Monday morning, the rental company called asking when I was bringing the lift back. I did that right away. The insulation guys had dropped off their lift, so it was nice to have two lifts for a while. 

Tuesday afternoon, a young man named ‘Blaze’ did all the prep work for the spray foam insulation. He added nailing strips to the walls (to support the 8′ wide fiberglass batts of insulation), he put cardboard in the attic to fill the gap at the wall, he taped over the windows, door, and covered the work bench. Then he put plastic on the floor too. He was back Wednesday morning to spray 1″ of closed cell foam on the walls. Thursday morning another crew was in and installed the fiberglass insulation on the walls and covered it all with plastic.  Now, just waiting for yet another crew to do the blown insulation in the attic.

The electrician is planning on running the new power line to the shop on Tuesday. 

 I need to order more steel for the walls. And install 2×4’s on the walls to attach the steel. But that won’t be in the next few weeks. 

Young Padawan was back this past Thursday and we pulled down an old fence, loaded up some scrap metal, and he used the weed wacker and mowed weeds while I was in a zoom meeting. He learned to drive the tractor more and I showed him how to use the oxy-acetylene torch to cut steel. Like most teenagers, he lives in shorts. I mentioned it would be nice if he owned some long pants as I showed him how sparks fly everywhere while cutting steel. I showed him once, then gave him the torch. He didn’t like the sparks.

In the tractor, I explained, and showed, and helped him take the forks off and put the bucket on. Later in the day, we took the bucket off, and put the forks back on. I got him going, then I walked away. I don’t like to give all the answers, I really want the kids to figure it out. I’m the dad who would help you practice swimming once, then throw you in the pool. It’s surprising how many people, kids and adults, are afraid to try things. I told him multiple times, “You can’t break anything. Give it a try.” “Wiggle it more”. “Keep pressing buttons until it works”, “Try something.” That’s a big one for me. Try SOMETHING! You can’t just sit there, TRY SOMETHING! 

I unhooked the latches on the bucket and I walked away. I heard them snap back into place as he struggled and I went over and helped get the bucket off and directed him to the forks. They snap into place all by themselves once you’ve got it hooked. I stood there and never made eye contact with him. I wanted him to figure it out. Took a while, and a little direction from me, but he did it. He’s a city boy, and this stuff is all really new to him. He’s getting there. 

He’s also got a habit of walking away before getting the full instructions. “Over between the sheds…” and off he goes. I stopped talking. Eventually, from over between the sheds, he says “What am I looking for?” Good question. Maybe wait for the full instructions next time. And he walked back. 

 We let the teenage chickens into their outside pen last weekend. They love it. And they spend a lot of time hopping up on the fence, going outside the fence, then hopping back in. Usually. Sometimes we have to help some figure out how to get back in. And Monday morning, one of our baby guineas was behind the house. Don’t know how he got out. And he sure made a lot of cackling noises. But he ran really fast and could fly enough, we couldn’t catch him. Later in the day he was pretty quiet. In the evening we feared the worst. Hadn’t heard him all afternoon. Suddenly there he was by the chicks. And we could catch him and get him home again. Guess he wore himself out having adventures. He’s stayed in the pen the rest of the week. There’s been a few movies about the big, bad, cruel, world outside. He learned. The older guineas chased him around a bit, too. There’s no place like home.  And Friday morning, they’re up on the wall to the teenage chicks. So now they’re all together. And our gimpy one, (We call him Festus. Or maybe Walter) I put him over the fence with them. They’re all doing OK together. 

CROPS: Corn will get the fungicide applied by helicopter any day now. Prevent cannibalism, you know. The soybeans look pretty good for June 1. Oats should get cut and harvested next week.

 Stay cool next week. I hope none of you are riding a bike across Iowa like my friend Simon. 

HOW ARE YOU AT TAKING DIRECTION?  WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT LEMONS? ARE YOU SOUR OR SWEET?

2023, animals, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Weather

On and On It Goes

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

It rained again a bit. We got another 0.44 Wednesday morning; a nice gentle rain pretty much all morning. Is it too little too late? We wait and see.

The soybeans that didn’t germinate back in May are coming in and we are just starting to see the rows. Man, they’re gonna have to hustle to amount to anything by fall. 

The corn looks terrible; it’s just all over the place for height. I’ve seen some barely as tall as me just beginning to tassel.

And some is only knee high… I don’t know… it will be what it will be. It’s interesting on the edge of a field, the trees use so much moisture, the plants are only a couple feet tall in a patch matching the canopy of the tree. There is something called ‘Field

Edge Effect’ meaning the field edge suffers from winds or herbicides from neighboring fields. Must be nice to have huge fields with no trees around the edges.

The agronomists are saying we should still think about applying fungicide to the corn because it will actually help prevent senescence (and cannibalism) even if it stays dry. Too much science behind it to get into it, but it’s always interesting what is happening in the corn plant to create an ear!  

The oats are turning color. I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen with the oats and it’s stressing me out. I don’t expect it will have a good enough test weight to meet the requirements for human food grade, and we won’t know until we start harvest. I don’t know if ‘those guys’ are going to combine it all anyway, or if they’ll start, find out it’s crap, and bail, meaning I’ll have to get my other guy to combine. And who’s hauling it anyway? I’m working on answers to all these questions, just haven’t gotten them yet. 

We had a family reunion / potluck last Saturday. Twenty-six people attended. It was a far cry from the 50 that were there in 2007, and sad how many people we’ve lost since then. And it’s hard to get the next generation interested. I better stop before I sound like an old fart. 

I’ve had the 20′ scissor lift rented this week, so it’s all been about the shed. Added the 2×4 ceiling joists under the roof trusses, the ceiling steel will be attached to the 2×4’s. 

That went quick; however, the rental lift is being temperamental and only works when it wants too. Course it worked when the repair guy was there. 

My brother has helped, my friend Paul has helped, our son came done one day and helped and of course Kelly is always helping one way or another; moral support, ideas, helping move things, and even driving the lift.

And the teenage helper from last summer, young padawan, has come back, bringing a friend with him. Two teenage boys…I tried not to roll my eyes too hard. But they did good. When we took a break, padawan took this year’s new kid around the farm in the gator. 

They’ve all been good help. We got the last big window in, and some of the ceiling steel installed. And my brother and son were impressed with the cool tools I have; like the metal shears that attach to a cordless drill. I didn’t know it was anything fancy. 

Course I also poked myself in the thumb, twice, using a dental pick like thing while working on something. Not cool.

Black raspberries are out, and right by the shed, so they’ve been a nice snack for us.

The lift was supposed to go back Friday,but I paid an extra day to keep it over the weekend. The ceiling steel goes fast once we get going. And I need to finish sealing off the one truss to keep the birds out. Half done with that.

Once all that is done, it’s up to the contractors to do the wall insulation. I called them the other day to let them know I’m ready and to get on the schedule. I have an ‘attic access’ panel, but I wasn’t sure how much they need to get around up there. Turns out they need more than I had, so I used some old 20′ sections of pipe to make walkways in the rafters so they can get to all the corners. Use what you have available. Dad would be pleased. 

Funny story about the lift. It doesn’t take much for the battery to get weak and it won’t go up. It tries, it goes up about 6″, then stalls. Oh, it whines and makes noises, but it doesn’t go ‘up’. So, the boys would jump in the air, thereby fooling the lift about how much weight it’s lifting, and it would raise another 6″. They’d jump again, it would gain another 6″, and then it would lift the rest of the way. So stupid it was funny and it made us laugh. 

The boys also cleaned out an area next to the shed where we’ve been dumping stuff for years. They dug out some old wire, cement blocks, even bricks! No idea where the bricks came from. I need to smooth it out a bit, and it will be nice to mow in there eventually. 

I’m hoping next week to start mowing weeds. And oats will be ready soon. And I’ve got a show to light in Rochester opening 7/25 and another to light in Chatfield opening 8/4. And then I’m back at ‘work’ work 8/10. 

But let’s not get ahead of myself. 

HOW MANY CANNIBAL JOKES DO YOU KNOW? DO YOU GET RIGHT UP OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING?

2023, Art, education, Family, Uncategorized

Silk Purses

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I have no artistic ability whatsoever, and I am amazed by those who do. Husband can draw quite well, and his mother painted landscapes. Our daughter also has some nice artistic abilities.

I don’t think Daughter really liked art projects very much in the early grades, but seemed to really like an art class she took as an elective in High School. One of her projects was to weave a basket. It seemed to start out ok, but just didn’t work out as she wanted it to, and thought she had failed the project. The art teacher, however, saw something more in her failed basket.

He noticed that instead of a basket she had created a lovely Flamenco dancer. You can see her head thrown back, with her orange hair, and the outlines of her body under her dress. Daughter was surprised I still had the dancer. It reminds me that lovely things can come out of what we think are failures.

What kind of art are you best at? What kind of art do you like to have around you and look at? When have you made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?

2023, Family, home, Kids, Travel

Luggage Conundrum

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Photo credit: Mikes-Photography

When I graduated from high school my parents gave me luggage as a graduation gift.  Matching luggage.  This was a few years before all black luggage became all the rage.   Two suitcases, one over the shoulder tote and a make-up case (although very in-aptly name in my case, since I wore next to no make-up, even back then).  I doubt my folks were predicting my eventual career in travel; back then luggage was a common gift at graduation or wedding – something you needed as you were launching yourself out into the world.  My mother also bought me a sewing machine and a few lessons to go with it.

Obviously after all these years, none of that luggage has survived.  I now have a rag-tag assortment of suitcases and bags, many of which I got as gifts from clients (leftovers from programs).  Mostly black.

YA has purchased two suitcases since she started traveling for work – and black is apparently not the color or choice these days.  Her big bag, which she uses the most, is a blue pattern thing with wheels that go in all directions, a handle and a plug in for charging her phone.  Fancy dancy.  I don’t have any problem with her suitcase EXCEPT when she gets home from a trip.  She empties it out fast enough, but then she tends to roll it out into the hallway.  Where it sits. 

Now I’m not the fastest “put your bag back in the attic” gal, so I tend to be lenient.  I also know that YA doesn’t tend to drop anything to attend to a request from her mother.  But after the last trip, the suitcase sat in the hallway for two weeks and at least three requests to put it away.  Being raised by the Queen of Passive/Aggressive, three days ago I pushed the suitcase right into the middle of YA’s doorway.  It was in the attic within an hour. 

Passive/Aggressive isn’t my favorite mode but sometimes it’s better than nagging.  At least that’s what I’m telling myself at this point!

Do you prefer hard-sided or soft-sided luggage?  Check or carry-on?

100 Words, 2023, Automotive, Family, Mysteries

Nun Fun!

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On the way home from Fawn-Doe-Rosa last week, YA and I decided to take a detour to go to the Dairy Queen in Osceola.  While we were waiting to have our order handed to us, an SUV full of nuns turned into the parking lot.  They pulled to the other side of the building so we didn’t get to see if they all got out of the car, but it was a funny sight.

Of course nuns can go to Dairy Queen if they wish, you just don’t think of soft-serve as a religious habit. 

Have you seen anything that struck you as funny recently?

2023, Family, home, Uncategorized

Division Of Labor

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I have always considered myself fortunate to have a partner who believes that household chores and childcare are the responsibility of both adults in a relationship. I wash and dry the clothes. He folds it and puts it away. We both vacuum. I dust. He mows the lawn and runs the snow blower. I do household repairs. He walks the dog three times a day. I make the bed and change the sheets. We both cook and clean the kitchen. He unloads the dishwasher and I reload it. We do grocery shopping together. We both work in the garden and pull weeds. I clean up outside after the dog. He cleans the cat litter. We clean our own respective bathrooms.

I noticed just how much he does around the house since he had carpal tunnel surgery last Friday. He still has been able to walk the dog and unload the dishwasher, but he can only do most other things one handed until next week. He can do some kitchen tasks and cooking, but not as much as he wants. He feels as though he isn’t pulling his weight as he should. This makes him anxious and irritable. I try to reassure him that I don’t mind having to fold the laundry and clean the cat litter for a while. I sure don’t want him to do too much with his right hand until it is healed.

How did your parents divide up the labor at home? Have you had roommates or partners who didn’t do their fair share of tasks?