“In my element.” That’s the thought that was going through my mind as I headed out of the house yesterday morning to do some grocery shopping. With Pi Day coming up, I’ve been busy with the prep work. Organizing things is just about my favorite activity and Pi Day needs all the organization it can get.
Before hitting the grocery stores, I have to pick the pies. I go through all my appropriate cookbooks and pick out recipes that sound good to me, mark them w/ post-it notes and write them down. When I’m done with that, I cull the recipes down to 12 (always making sure I have our four regulars listed. Then I make a list of ingredients, cross check it against what I already have on hand and then head out. Had to hit three stores to get everything (including finding golden syrup without having to make a separate trip to World Market!) and it took four trips from the car to the house because I packed all the bags at Aldis pretty heavily.
I have two to-do lists for Pi Day… the lead up to Pi Day list and the Pi Day list. The lead up is all the stuff I can do a day ahead (crumble topping, pre-baking shells, putting out plates/napkins). Then the Pi Day list is sorted in the order that the pies need to be done The secondary sort is by oven temperature. The baking times are also on this list so the minute a pie goes in the oven, I can put the cookbook away.
Add making placecards, nametags with this year’s pie clipart and setting up a station for some temporary tattoos that I found and, voila… party time!
I’m not sure what it is in my personality that all this makes me quite happy, but it does!
This week has been about theater. It’s one of those periods where I have to get a show ready, plus class, plus the real job, plus the everyday household stuff and chickens and kids and dogs and, you know… “Any Idiot can handle a crisis, it’s the day to day living that wears you out”.
I’m lighting Hamlet this week. “A Reimagined Classic” is the marketing tagline. I don’t know my Shakespeare, so I don’t know which parts have been “reimagined”. I know the script jumps over scenes, and it ends with Act 7 and it’s still 2.5 hours long. I recognize many well-known lines. And there’s some funny stuff in the first half. It’s probably not a spoiler to say everyone dies at the end. Being reimagined, I can use some non-traditional lighting and some color washes on the backwall, as well as color on the actors. Here’s a picture from my tech table, just to give you an idea, with work lights still on.
Scenic design by Erica Zaffarano, directed by Merritt Olson.
Paper tech will be on Saturday evening, meaning the director and tech people go through the script and coordinate sound and lighting cues so the Stage Manager, who runs it all, has everything they need. Sunday evening will be a full run through with costumes, sound, and lights. Generally, Monday will be make up, wigs, plus all the other stuff. It’s really interesting, the show can be really humming along, and then you throw all the tech stuff in, and the show takes about 4 steps back. As an actor, it’s just a lot of stuff your brain is dealing with besides lines and blocking (movement).
We had our first meeting at our new Haverhill Township townhall on Wednesday. Bathrooms! Running water! HEAT! And AC!
Our old townhall was basically a one room school. A wonderful place with a lot of character, but it was 100 years old. With no running water, and an outhouse… The only State Insured Outhouse in Minnesota!
I went to 4H there, I did one act plays on that stage, and my mom and dad met as infants when their bassinettes were put behind the furnace by their respective moms during Mothers and Daughters Club. A lot of history in this building.
At the college, I’m working on the set model for The Curious Savage, by John Patrick, our spring play. I also got the genie lift out and tie a rope up at the ceiling for the physics demonstration show Saturday and, since I had the genie out, I changed some burned out fluorescent lamps. I keep a log of when I change lamps so I can change several at the same time if they’re all on the same timeline. Some of these 8’ fluorescents have been going since March 2, 2015! It isn’t unusual to get 6 or 7 years out of them. I’ve got one set in the shop that’s been going since January 25th of 2012!!
When I walk back from class on the other end of the campus on the first floor, I walk up 5 floors, to a roof access door, just to get steps in, then back to my office on the 2nd floor. Written on the wall by the roof access is some pretty wise graffiti: “you bleed just to know you’re alive” and next to it, “Don’t forget you can live without bleeding “ And these: “The quality of life is determined by the questions you ask” – WB 2017 “If you don’t ask the questions, you’re never going to know the answers” – SF 2018
WHERE OR HOW DID YOUR PARENTS MEET? OR YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE? ❤️
I’m sure you’ve all heard me say “why spoil a perfectly good holiday by spending it with my family”. Sounds harsh but when my whole family is together, it gets weird fast. The last time we were all together before my father’s death we were asked not to return to an Embers. An Embers!
I wasn’t looking forward to the macaroni gathering but it’s one thing to `dis your family for decades behind their backs and another thing entirely to `dis them to their faces. So Nonny and I got the condo ready; Nonny made her salad and I heated up the macaroni.
The group included both my middle sister and her husband, my little sister, my niece, my niece’s partner, two nephews, one nephew’s partner and two boys. Oh, and Nonny and me. It started out a little strained. Even the St. Louis group doesn’t gather all that often and I know that my two sisters don’t approve all that much of the other one’s choices.
At one point my middle sister starting telling a story about baby possums that had gotten into their house and how they had to catch to them release them outside. My youngest nephew is all about animal rescue, trap/neuter/release and knows quite a bit about wild animal relocation. He was horrified by my sister’s story, jumping in to express indignation and to educate us all about how most people handle relocation incorrectly. My brother-in-law (let’s call him David) is a very nice man but in the dictionary, out in the margin next to the phrase “pours gas on the fire” is David’s picture. As soon as he realized he had a captive audience, he was off and running. There was an outrageous story about trapping possums under a trash can followed by his exhortation that you can’t keep possums in the house because when they grow up, then there is “possum mating”. This was accompanied by him stamping his feet and slapping his hands together to illustrate how this mating would keep you up at night. It was the funniest thing ever; it was a good thing I was sitting on the floor at the time because I would have fallen off my chair laughing.
Unfortunately the one person in the room who did not get the joke and wasn’t laughing was my nephew. He looked horrified. I had to ask him if he understood the phrase “yanking your chain”. Even once I explained it, you could tell he wasn’t too thrilled to join in the hilarity. But the gas on the fire did the trick and loosened some of the tension. Not perfect, but we did manage to spend another hour together without any incidents!
My middle sister is already asking when I think I’ll be visiting next year so we can do it again! Oops.
Do you have any “gas on the fire” friends or relatives? Or “gas on the fire” stories?
Last week I went out with six coworkers for a farewell luncheon for one of them. These are all young women under the age of 35, all mental health professionals. The lunch was delightful, but the conversation sure made me feel old.
Much of their discussion was about their newest discoveries for facial moisturizers and makeup, their latest experiences getting their nails done, their favorite coffee shops they visit daily, their favorite restaurants, their recent appointments at the chiropractor, and the new tattoos they were planning. Since I don’t wear makeup, have rather nice skin for someone who is almost 66, and would never, ever, get a tattoo, I hadn’t much to say. I have never had a manicure. I have never been to a chiropractor or had a massage. I refuse to spend money at coffee shops when I have perfectly good French press coffee brewed for me every morning by my husband. They were all astounded, however, when I mentioned that I have never had a pedicure. They all agreed that they are going to take me out for a pedicure before I retire. We shall see. I don’t know if I want someone messing around with my feet.
My coworkers view these activities as self care. I could never justify spending all the money that they do on these things. My self care is listening to music, gardening, and cooking. I suppose I spend more money on cooking ingredients than they do, but I am healthier than most of my coworkers and eat way better then they do.
What do you do for self care?What activities did you engage in that your elders shook their headsover when you were young?
The last time I was with my whole family for the holidays was 1978. Some years they gather without me, some years they don’t gather at all. So when I announced that I was visiting Nonny two weeks ago, they decided that January Christmas festivities would be a grand gesture. By the time I got the first text the week before my trip – the plans were so far down the road there was no turning back.
It was a potluck at Nonny’s little condo (truly the best choice considering the options) and all the obligatory dishes had been claimed. My baby sister had three things on her list and since I knew she would be starting a new second job that week, I volunteered to do the macaroni and cheese. She immediately sent me a recipe that is apparently my nephew’s favorite.
Now I’ve made many a dish of mac & cheese over the years, using many different recipes, but looking at this one made me put my head in my hands. It was two fully-typed pages and included four kinds of cheese, two kinds of pasta, garlic, green onion and quite a few spices. In addition to the fact that Nonny has next to nothing in the way of kitchen utensils or baking dishes, I wasn’t even sure if she had the spices. (I mentioned this last week when I was thinking of taking the spices in a bag in my luggage.) I confirmed my suspicions – no big pot for pasta, no casserole dish to bake or serve it in, no grater for the four kinds of cheese. In a funny turn of events, she DID have all the spices. We could purchase an aluminum casserole, a grater and all the ingredients, but unless we also sprang for a big pot, I’d have to make two batches to have enough for everybody. Not to mention the cost.
That’s when I remembered that YA had purchased macaroni and cheese from Costco for our Thanksgiving gathering and it had been pretty good. I know there is a Costco about 5 minutes from Nonny’s place so the day before the party, we headed over there and picked up a pan of the stuff. I doctored it up with some garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. Via text that morning YA kept asking me if I had told my sister I was buying instead of making the mac & cheese. I know my audience. If I had fessed up that I was going to get it from Costco, my sister would have thrown up her hands in exasperation and said “Fine… I’ll just do it.” One of my mottos has always been “it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission” so that’s the route I decided to take.
Turns out my sister didn’t care at all…. but my nephew did. He kind of made a big deal about the fact that I should have let them know so HE could have made it. Of course, when we were divvying up the leftovers, I noticed that he heaped quite a bit into their Tupperware! But I was happy to have not gone to too much trouble and Nonny was happy to not have more utensils in her teeny weeny kitchen. And truth be told, the macaroni and cheese was really good.
I expect it will have to be another gathering for us to buy it again – it’s way too much for two folks, even folks who like macaroni and cheese as much as YA and I do. But now I aware it’s there, you never know!
Do you have a favorite pasta dish? (Either made or bought…)
YA and were invited to a nice party over the weekend – a surprise 70th birthday party for a friend. The invite didn’t mention any particular dress code but the party was held in a big lovely home up in Kenwood and it seemed like dressing up would be the right way to go.
Dressing up is not something that I’ve ever been good at. Pandemic, furlough and retirement has not helped. I do have a pair of black palazzo pants so I started there but was struggling with a top to go with the pants. Static didn’t help. At one point YA came in and said “why don’t you just wear a dress?”
Well, because I no longer own a dress. I decided to look in the attic to make sure I wasn’t forgetting about any dresses but no, nothing. I don’t even remember the last dress I owned or when it left the house, presumably in a goodwill/value village bag.
I did find a top to go with the palazzo pants and the party was great but I kept thinking the rest of the weekend, “should I invest in a dress”? Probably not a good use of income since I also can’t remember the last time the thought of wearing a dress even crossed my mind.
YA came home from work yesterday asking if I had watched the Golden Globe ceremonies. When I looked at her blankly she asked if I had “heard” about them.
I actually don’t really know what the Golden Globes are. I mean, I know it’s yet another way for the over-paid and over-glamorized folks in Hollywood to pump up their egos, but other than that I don’t know what differentiates it from the Oscars.
One of my friends always makes a point of seeing all the movies that are up for the best picture Oscar. I’m pretty much 0 for 5 every year for the past 10 years. I did see Shape of Water on Christmas Day 2018 – I didn’t know anything about it at the time, just that it was showing at a good time for us. I didn’t actually like it very much so was surprised to find out a few weeks later than it was an Oscar contender.
Apparently the Oscar nominations are due out on January 25 although there are lots of websites trying to predict who will be on the leaderboard. Since the only movie I’ve been to in the last year is “Migration” (an animated film), I’m pretty sure I’m continuing my streak.
I’m fairly certain that none of my favorite movies have ever even been nominated for a big award, much less won one: To Catch a Thief, Moonstruck, Princess Bride, People Will Talk, Sneakers, Murder on the Orient Express (1974 version only), American Dreamer, Dial M for Murder….
Do you follow the Globes/Oscars/Sundances/Cannes, etc??? Do you have a favorite movie?
Manitoba and southwest North Dakota have quite a few Ukrainian communities. We have several Ukrainian friends on both sides of the border. Some are members of the Ukrainian Orthdox Church, some the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Both denominations have married priests. I don’t quite understand that.
Both denominations also seem to celebrate Christmas on January 6th instead of December 25th. I personally don’t know if I could stand waiting until January 6th for Christmas to be over. I read with interest the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Ukraine militantly moved Christmas celebrations to December 25th this year in a punch in the eye to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Husband was doing some idle research and found that in Scotland, Ireland, and in Amish communities in the States, January 6th is called Little Christmas, and there are traditions of the men that day doing all the women’s work. How big of them! I certainly hope in those societies that Christmas isn’t just for women to arrange and orchestrate! It certainly isn’t in our house.
I regret that our basement is all in disarray and our TV and various media players are all packed up waiting for carpenters and carpet layers. One of my favorite recordings is the 1998 production of Twelfth Night from Live From Lincoln Center with Paul Rudd and Helen Hunt in the leads. Watching that is a nice way to end Christmas.
When is Christmas over for you? Any memories or good quotes from Twelfth Night, by The Bard?
Merry Christmas! All the Baboons have presumably opened their gifts by now. W e have always been Christmas Eve present openers. This year we are we are waiting until Thursday when we arrive in Brookings to open the family presents our daughter in Tacoma sent us to transport to South Dakota. We had to wrap them.
My mother was an expert wrapper, as is my best friend. I am a so-so wrapper. I find it annoying to wrap a gift that is only going to be ripped open in a fraction of the time it took to wrap it. I am just not meticulous in that way. Don’t even talk to me about gift tags, ribbons, or bows!
Husband is left handed and right eyed, and watching him try to wrap gifts is painful. He insisted wrapping my gift from our daughter, even though I offered to. He admits everyone will know he wrapped it. There are tears in the paper and an unusually large amount of tape. He is just happy he could do it.
When do you open Christmas gifts?What kind of a wrapper are you? How is your Christmas Day shaping up?
No snow this year. I’m kinda OK with that. I’m sure it’s coming yet…we got 2 or 3 months of winter to get through, so I’m hooking up the rear blade and I’ll keep watching the forecast and I’ll get the snow blower in the shed if I have too. We will need the moisture somehow, and the cold weather does help kill bugs, but these up and down temps are really hard on cattle. Pneumonia and respiratory issues are common with these temperature fluctuations.
The farm magazines are making predictions and they pretty much always say “stay the course”. Don’t make drastic changes in crop rotations or marketing plans. Yet. I’ve gotten pecuniary plans from the co-op for fertilizer and spraying for 2024 and things are actually down a little bit from 2023. A few thousand dollars here and a few thousand there and pretty soon I’m talking real money. But I’m not planning any more major projects for next year. Yet. I mean beyond getting the fourth wall in the shed. We may not do that next slab of concrete. Yet.
County property tax adjuster was here this week. The permit for my shed remodeling project came in and he was following up. I know the guy from our township business with the county, and we talked for half an hour. Five minutes of that had to do with the shed remodeling.
Yesterday I got a 100 gallon propane tank placed so I can have temporary heat in the shed this winter. The deliver guy joked I was going to use a lot of propane trying to heat the whole shed. Yep. I better get the temp wall up. That’s my plan for these couple warm days. So far I’m not making much progress.
While I’m making plans for shed heat, back on Sunday night it was 8° and the well house thermometer was showing 35° and I am a gambling man and I hate to pay for electricity I don’t really need to use, but it’s also worth hedging your bets and I went out and turned on the well house heater. It was 18° the next morning but I slept soundly knowing I didn’t have to worry about that. Myself, and I know other people, use that phrase: I may do something that seems extreme, but, “I will be able to sleep at night”.
Got my final dividend check from AMPI, the co-op to whom I sold milk. They are on a 20 year dividend payout and this was my last one. Whopping $2.19 cents. Twenty years since I milked a cow and did all those chores seems like a lifetime ago. Seems like a whole DIFFERENT life. And it really was. I wouldn’t of missed it for anything. I still miss the cows’ personalities, and the situations they gave me and the people I met as a result.
Our kids daycare having a barn and farm tour.
Our bulk tank was a “Zero” brand. Kind of an oddball as the company had a unique design that didn’t work the way most dairy pipelines did. It was the first pipeline we installed in 1983 replacing the Surge brand buckets. Surge buckets were revolutionary when they came out in the 1920’s. (See this website for a lot of interesting information. “Interesting” if you’re into that sort of thing. https://www.surgemilker.com/history.html
The zero pipeline had some really unique features, but it also had a couple pretty serious drawbacks that affected the cows health. Too complicated to get into here. I replaced the pipeline, (keeping the Zero tank) in the mid 1990s with a Delaval system; a much more traditional system that was easier to service and cheaper parts. I sold the bulk tank a few years after we sold the milk cows. I saw a video online the other day of the same brand of tank and it brought back some nostalgic memories.
This photo was the milk house. The bulk tank is on the left. 600 gallons. Note the step stool to reach the lid for cleaning or samples. The four milker units are hanging, for washing, on the right. Wow, looking at this photo myself gives me so many memories. So many things I fixed over the years and so much time spent in there. The milkhouse was remodeled when we did the pipeline in 1983, but before that it was still the milkhouse and I remember washing the old bulk tank and surge milkers in there and my folks would say, “How did you get so wet??”. Well, I was washing stuff. Shrug. My history.
This photo was the ‘receiver jar’. You can see the milk came into that, and when it was about 2/3rds full, it pumped over to the bulk tank. I really loved having that jar. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but that was my favorite part of dairy farming: watching the milk rush into that and pump out. I’d watch that jar for hours.
Everybody travel safe if you are. Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays!
HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO DO SOMETHING SO YOU COULD SLEEP? WHERE WERE YOU IN 2003?
Trail Baboon 