Category Archives: Kids

2025, crops, education, Family, Farming Update, Kids, Nature, Technology, Uncategorized, Weather

Concrete Herring! or What Color is Your Herring?

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This weeks farming update from Ben

My schedule has been a little crazy lately. Next week will be better.  🙂

I hear there are places in the country where the weather on the evening news doesn’t take ten minutes. I don’t need the full ten minutes, I just want to know the 12-48 hour forecast, and the 7 or 10 day forecast, Which I know is just a guideline. Especially this time of year, when the forecast has some pretty drastic changes coming.

No, the corn still isn’t out and I don’t want to talk about it. The grain elevators are closed on the weekends now, because 99.8% of the harvest is complete. So I don’t expect anything this weekend unless they finish everything at their place and they just come in and fill up the trucks on Sunday. 

I wrote a long story about the thermostat in my shop and I threw all that away and tried to make this a shorter story. A red herring was involved and suffice it to say human error played a part. Because of course it did.  

I use a wifi thermostat so I can monitor it from the house. It worked last year. This year, it worked while I’m out there, but it didn’t work when I came to the house. 

One day it died completely so I bought a new one.  Installing that and I blew a fuse up in the heater itself. Another trip to town for an ‘E’ fuse. An E fuse? Never heard of an E fuse. Oh, it’s a ‘3’ not an ‘E’. Thank goodness I figured that out on my own and didn’t say that to the guy at the auto parts store. Then of course there was a new app and all of that rigamarole. And that night in the house and it wouldn’t connect again. 

The day we poured the concrete, including the slab outside the front door, I used a side door, and a different light switch. Turns out, the outlet I have the heater plugged in to is tied into the 3 way switch for the lights. And I hooked that up myself, this wasn’t the electricians fault. Other than they didn’t know I wanted an outlet for the heater, which is why I did it myself. But how come it worked last year?? Because the heater was plugged into a wall outlet and because the electricians weren’t here until March, and I didn’t get the heater outlet installed until April.  So now, when I come into the shop and turn the lights on, the thermostat works. When I leave and turn off the lights, the thermostat turns off. Well, don’t I feel like a dunce. How could I tell the thermostat was off once I left the shop?? I thought the problem was the wifi. Nope, that was the red herring. The problem was the thermostat wasn’t even ON.

I have it plugged into a regular outlet again and I can tell you, by the app, it’s 46 degree’s out there at 56% humidity. 

We did get the concrete done on Tuesday. Yay! Check that off the list! A big job, and I had the easy job in the tractor hauling the cement from the truck outside, to the pad inside. 

(Two reasons; the truck wouldn’t fit inside the shed, and I didn’t want him backing onto the existing concrete slab). When they poured the inside slab a couple years ago, they used a little “buggy” to haul the concrete. This was the same thing, only different.) The truck driver was great! Randy. 65 yrs old, been driving a concrete truck for 38 years. We joked before he got there, would he know we were amateurs? I told him right up front, feel to offer advice. He just picked up the bull float and got right in there helping. 

Took about 2 hours to get it all dumped and leveled. I was a little bit short of product and left a bit of a gap on one end of the walkway pad. I expect to finish that with 10 bags of concrete mix I picked up.  

About 6:00 PM I was able to start smoothing off the concrete with the hand trowels. (I Learned the difference between magnesium floats and steel floats. You use magnesium when you’re first leveling, and steel to do the final finish.) 

It was about 8PM when I was trying to finish the big slab and smooth around the drain. The concrete was getting too firm by that point and it was a little too late to be working it. All in all, it’s not bad for the first time for a bunch of newbies. It will look better when it gets some dirt on it to cover the imperfections.

I spread out tarps and covered the outside ones with straw. 

A few days later I pulled off the tarp and moved the dumpster over there. This right here was the original point of all this. 

I wonder how much snow will blow in here?
My brother using the bull float on the first piece.
Working on the big slab inside the shed.

Our son helped, my brother helped, Padawan’s girlfriend helped, (Padawan was at work) and Kelly helped. They all admitted this was harder work than they imagined.  And we all learned a lot. Next summer’s plan is to do another slab inside. My brother isn’t sure he’ll help again next summer. Son says he will find more younger helpers.

I’m just glad it’s done. I had a beer that night. I’ve been waiting to finish the concrete to have that beer. 

We thought for sure we’d have a dog footprints in it somewhere. Or Luna was gonna drop a ball into it. We locked them in the shop at one point.

Inside slab done. Won’t drive on it for a week yet, and will get it backfilled shortly.
You haven’t seen the chickens lately. Here’s the chickens eating some left overs.

I have a new appreciation for the people doing concrete work and making it look easy.

HAVE YOU STOPPED MISLEADING PEOPLE?

2025, Business, Kids, Mysteries, sports

Chop Chop

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There has been a karate school a few blocks from my house all the time I have lived here (think going on 3+ decades).  I’ve really never paid attention to it at all.

Well, I got invited there to watch Marie (little girl who used to next door to me) take part in her karate class.  If I had any assumptions before going, they were almost all wrong.

The karate school is woman-owned (not Japanese karate master-owned) with primarily women instructors (not Japanese karate masters).   I saw a bit of three classes – the one before Marie’s, then Marie’s and then the very beginning of the class after.  It was approximately 2/3 girls (not a bunch of Asian little boys).   I actually only saw one Asian kid the whole night.  So much for all my assumptions.  To be fair, all I knew about karate before this was what I learned from watching James Bond movies.

Marie’s class is about 40 minutes long and the very first class was half instruction about when and when NOT to use their karate skills.  Marie is the smallest in her class but pretty feisty.  Another little girl had the karate yell down pat and one of the little boys could hardly wait for the instructor to give the go-ahead for the next move.  They were all very cute.

I did a little searching on the internet and the history/etymology of karate is WAY too extensive for me to even try to parse it.  You’ll thank me for that!

Have you ever learned any karate / judo / taekwondo / sumo??

2025, Fantasy, gardening, Kids, Mysteries

I’m Blooming Nuts

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Once, when YA was about five, she didn’t want to turn off the light in her bedroom – her reasoning being that she didn’t want her stuffed animals (a prodigious crowd) to be worried in the dark. 

I couldn’t really give her grief about it.  After all, she comes by this stuffy empathy honestly – she gets it from me.  I was quite active in the naming of all her stuffed critters and gave in to her desire to anthropomorphize them big time.  Heck I once carried my stuffed javelina Henrietta in my carry-on bag because it didn’t feel right to close into the suitcase!

It shouldn’t surprise you then to know that I am having a little trouble dumping my flowering baskets this fall.  I usually plant the baskets on Mother’s Day – sometimes a few days before or after depending on the weather.  Then when the blooms fall, I stack up the deceased baskets alongside the garage in the back of the yard.

Here’s the problem; it’s been a full six months and five of the fifteen baskets still have flowers on them!  I’ve been moving the baskets around, taking the empty shepherds pole away and storing them in the garage.  With the temperature below zero more than a few nights now, I was worried about being able to wrench the poles out of frozen ground.  But I just couldn’t bring myself to stack the baskets with flowers in the back.

So I set the baskets on the back steps (see the photo above).  The last basket is on the front steps, which is where its shepherds pole stood all summer.  Since it won’t be above freezing even during the day for a few days, I’m guessing the flowers are making their last hurrah but at least they will be making that hurrah on the back steps, being appreciated whenever I open the back door!

Are you irrational about anything?

2025, Food, holidays, Kids

Well-Laid Plans

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This time of year I do actually work at not having too much leftover Halloween candy in the house.  Luckily the number of kids that stop at the house has been remarkably consistent the last few years — even during Covid when I packed candy into little bags three weeks before and wore a mask while welcoming kids.  This year, based on the number of pieces per bag, I figured I had enough to give each kid two pieces.

I always do relatively high-value candy – this year little Snickers and Reeses PB Cups.  I heard a few ads on the radio the week before talking about non-candy ideas that you could implement and I just laughed.  It might make adults feel virtuous but what kid ever wants some plastic bauble or deck of cards instead of candy.  And while Smartees and Jolly Ranchers are infinitely cheaper, they aren’t as valued when kids are sorting out their bags of goodies at the end of the night.

In past years, I have taken any excess candy to the office – it never lasted long.  The force was with me this year; I gave out the last four pieces of candy at 9 p.m. when I was getting ready to turn out the lights and bring in the luminaries.   I congratulated myself on giving out all the candies.

YA has foiled my plans.  She brought candy HOME – some she had found on sale and some that she picked up at the office.  It is good candy – Ghiradelli caramel pumkins and Halloween-colored M&Ms.  And she also bought Reeses pumpkins for herself awhile back.  Turns out she bought more than one bag, so that is sitting out as well.  I’m trying not to walk through the dining room too often.  Out of sight, somewhat out of mind.

Are there any candies you find hard to resist?

2025, Family, Food, Gatherings, holidays, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Thanks

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I have purposely chosen to not write about Halloween today, as it seems to me we have enough horror and fear around us. Instead, I wanted to let Baboons know what I am thankful for right now.

First, I am thankful to all the Baboons for putting up with all the posts I have written over the past several months about moving. I am sure they were getting pretty tedious to read. Moving is over, and now we are getting settled and organized. Not much more needs to be said about it.

I am also thankful for the increased time with our son and his family. We saw them yesterday in Sioux Falls and I got the best smiles from our 3 month old granddaughter.

Thanksgiving is four weeks away, and our son has requested a particular brined turkey ala Alton Brown, homemade French bread, and various other side dishes. Son and family, along with my best friend, will spend Thanksgiving weekend with us. I am so excited to cook in our new kitchen.

Finally, I am thankful that the court hearing Husband was to testify remotely at yesterday was settled on Wednesday afternoon. He had done a parental capacity evaluation on the parent in hot water with a central ND county. Now he is officially done working.

What are you thankful for these days. What are your Thanksgiving plans?

2025, Family, home, Kids, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

Crimson and Scarlet Trees

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Our son and daughter loved listening to Rabbit Ears productions of children’s stories narrated by famous actors accompanied by wonderful musicians. One of their favorites was a story about Paul Bunyon narrated by Jonathan Winters with music by Leo Kottke. It was funny to hear Paul Bunyan talk about the assignment he got from the president to clear off all the trees from North Dakota. We could certainly relate, as we had a dearth of trees in our region.

Husband has really enjoyed walking the dog and seeing all the crimson and scarlet maple leaves in the neighborhood. We didn’t have these kind of maples in ND. He said the last time he lived in a place that had maples like this was 46 years ago in Madison, WI. The trees in Dickinson were mainly Green Ash and Cottonwoods. Their leaves were pretty blah in the fall.

We have a maple and an oak in the our front boulevard. We also have a Birch in the backyard, along with a Blue Spruce and a Flowering Crab. There are also all sorts of Arbor Vitae. We are well set for trees and bushes. The header photo is a tree across the street from us

What trees do you have in your yard? Any favorite Jonathan Winter or Leo Kottke creations?

2025, Family, Gatherings, Kids, Travel, Uncategorized

Old Town, New Bottle

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It has been interesting being in Luverne this weekend as I get to know the place again. When I grew up here I never bothered to associate street names with places or landmarks, so when I am told that City Hall is on Luverne St., it means nothing, but when I am told City Hall is in the old hospital, then I can find it no problem.

There are more coffee shops now, as well as a Mexican grocery store. I ran into a couple of people who knew who I was after I introduced myself, although their memories of my dad are fresher than their memories of me. I recognize familiar faces but don’t have names for them yet.

Two people stopped by the new house when they saw we were parked in the driveway. One was a neighbor who I knew from high school, and the other was the former owner. Both told us they had been keeping an eye on the place until we moved in. The former owner was able to tell us the garage door code and said her husband would come over to help navigate the very complex sound and video system set up throughout the house. We feel very welcome.

Last evening we ate at a very fine Italian restaurant in Sioux Falls with our daughter, son, grandson, and daughter-in-law. It was at the hotel we are staying at this weekend. We struck up a conversation with the waitress, a young woman in her late 20’s. She grew up in Luverne, knew my dad, and went to high school prom with my Cousin Jack’s son. She was going to drive to Luverne after work to visit her parents. She said she visits there a lot and would see us around town. I feel connected with new and old.

What are positive and negative changes over the years in your community? When have you experienced old wine in new bottles?

2025, Family, Food, Kids, Uncategorized

Tradition!

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I wrote on Wednesday about getting moose meat from our next door neighbor, a moose his brother-in-law had shot last year. The reason for the gift of moose was to make room in their freezer for the venison from a deer that Neighbor’s 12 year old daughter shot over the weekend.

Neighbor comes from an extended family for whom hunting is really important. Last Saturday he and his daughter drove to the sparsely inhabited grasslands south southwest of us, and she got her deer. It wasn’t a clean shot, and they had to chase it. It took a while for the deer to expire. They gutted it out, and loaded it in the truck. On the way back, the girl told her dad she didn’t want to go hunting anymore.

Neighbor spoke proudly of how courageous his daughter was for telling him how she felt about an activity so important in their family, and how he was supportive of her decision. He said they had great conversations on the way there and back about all sorts of things like boys, her plans for the future, etc. He is a good dad, an educator, who spent are least one summer in San Francicso coaching swimming for Stanford. His daughter is a lucky girl.

What family traditions have you kept or dropped? What qualities do you think make for a good father?

2025, Food, Kids, State Fair

Fair Food Roundup – 2025

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I know that I always say that YA and I don’t go to the fair for the food but it would be a lie if we didn’t enjoy the food part of each day.  Here’s a lowdown on the 2025 fair foods for us:

  • Hot Siracha Funnel Cake Bites. This is not a new food but it is still the first thing that I get on the first day of the fair.  It doesn’t hurt that the owners of the stall know me and have the bite dough ready for me; normally they don’t make the bite dough so early because most folks want sweet in the morning.  Savory and just a bit hot with the siracha sauce.
  • Beignets.  This was a new stall this year and they knocked it out of the park.  The beignets were hot, fluffy, just the right amount of powdered sugar.  They also had a lot of tea and coffee selections, although the beverages were on the pricey side.
  • Sweet Squeakers. As always, The Blue Barn knows what we like.  This year’s new offering was cheese curds batter fried with lemon whipped cream and raspberry sauce.  A perfect way to start Day Two.  The pierogies and the French toast bites are still on the menu and we sampled them on Day Three and Four.  Still yummy.
  • Filled Churro and Chimney Cake. I’m putting these together because they were actually similar and disappointing in the same way.  Both were churro/doughnut dough caked and filled with stuff: the churro with Nutella and the chimney cake with ice cream and Nutella (although not much Nutella).  Both suffered by being stuffed which decreased the crunch factor.  Nutella and ice cream however were excellent.
  • Dessert Dog. This is the second year that the West End Creamery was disappointing.  This new food was advertised as ice cream sandwiched between pieces of coffee cake, drizzled with strawberry/rhubarb sauce and on a stick.  First off, the stick was a waste – you could NOT eat this off a stick – fork was required.  The coffee cake was more like cookie dough but not that good.  And the price was outrageous.  Probably no West End Creamery for me next year.
  • Green Apple Sucker Ice Cream. YA had this and informed me immediately that I wouldn’t like it because it tasted exactly like those green apple caramel suckers.  Which she adores and I do not.  Five stars from YA.
  • Jumbo Tater Tots. We finally had these on our final day – YA had been dragging her feet for some reason.  We got the cheese bomb version and they were exactly as expected – huge cheese filled tater tots.  We had sour cream and chives on the side and they were delicious.

All the rest of our favorites were still great:  roasted corn, Hawaiian shave ice, pickle pizza, cheese curds, potato cheddar crepe, blueberry pie and multiple applications of cookies.  Can’t forget to mention my favorite mocktails from Summer Lakes.  They have several varieties and I switch up but my favorite one is the Wedgehammer – orange juice, lemonade, lime juice, ginger and a slice of orange.

When I read through this, it sounds like all we do is eat, but remember all this is spread out over 5-6 days and for the most part we share everything.  There were several new foods we didn’t get to – if they’re still around next year maybe we’ll get to them.

Anything you’ve been craving this week (food or otherwise)?

2025, Kids, Music, State Fair

Happy Together

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While I love the State Fair, I’m not all that big on the grandstand shows.  Not sure why – just not my thing.  Every now and then I go to a show – last one before this year was Garrison Keillor, back in 2017.  

Back in the spring, the Happy Together tour was announced in an email from the State Fair folks.  Later that same day, my friend Lori, who loves the fair as much as I do, emailed me with the dates she and her husband were going to be on the fairgrounds (she lives in Chicago now).  For some reason, the grandstand show and Lori being in town seemed like a sign.  We texted back and forth a bit about going together and then I bought the tickets.

When I was leaving for the fairgrounds on Monday night, YA said “will you know any of the songs?”  Her opinion of my musical knowledge is that I don’t know anything written in the last thirty years.  She might be correct, but I assured her that the 60s and 70s are another thing entirely.

Here was the line-up:  the Cowsills, the Vogues, Gary Puckett, Little Anthony, Jay & the Americans and the Turtles.  Each group got four songs – they all did their most popular and on the fourth song, videos of each group back in the day was aired on the big screens. 

It was a fun show and I DID know all the words to all the songs – and sang them unashamedly (along with everyone else in the grandstand).  It was a little bittersweet though as the 60s is now too long ago for these performers to still be stumping around.  None of the bands had all their original members; only the Cowsills were all Cowsills, just fewer of them.  The Turtles were actually represented by Ron Dante, who was a member of the Archies, but was never a Turtle.  (This turned out to be fun because there was an extra song for that set – Sugar, Sugar, which is one of my favorites.)  And the single performers (Gary P, Little Anthony) were struggling.   And while I know all the words to the Gary Puckett songs (Young Girl, Woman, This Girl is a Woman Now and Lady Willpower), listening to the lyrics in 2025 is a bit…. squirmy. 

If another Happy Together tour comes around and it again features the 60s, I think I’ll take a pass.  Unless it’s for the 70s – then I might give that a go!

Any favorite tune from the 60s?