Category Archives: Uncategorized

2026, animals, Farming Update, Music, Songs, Uncategorized, work

ON THE ROAD AGAIN–

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This week’s farming update from Ben

There really wasn’t a lot happening on the farm this week.

It rained through Monday and then there was work work, and rehearsal for a show. So I still haven’t gotten rye planted and that seed tender trailer is still parked in the shed right where I left it. And it’s raining again. The new concrete has hardened and other than driving the gator across it, I haven’t gotten the edges back filled either. You’d think I haven’t been doing anything. Except homework.

I’m really enjoying the Humanities class. Lots of writing, which I can do. This week’s chapter was on Film and Television. We had to pick a movie and justify why it should be considered a classic using the themes taken from the chapter we read. (I picked All That Jazz. Honestly, I am still finding tidbits in that movie. Other student choices were Legally Blonde, The Hunger Games, and Sound of Music. Hmmm…) An upcoming project is to watch a classic film from a provided list. We can watch Casablanca or Citizen Kane, or a movie by one of these directors: Kubrick, Hitchcock, Kurosawa, Fellini, Godard, Truffaut, or Resnais. Really? I have to watch Citizen Kane again?? Well, if I must!

The music class has been a little more challenging. My music lessons were a long time ago and it’s taking a long time to get the names of the notes back in my head. And I never did learn bass clef, so that’s all new. And trying to remember what a 1/8 rest looks like. And put bar lines in 6/8 music. And there was some confusion regarding the textbook and if we really needed one or not. Turns out we do. Both classes are online so I do homework late at night.

Back to the farm.

Last Saturday, Padawan and I worked out in the machine shed finishing up some of the little odds and ends that haven’t been finished since I started the shop project. We ran some conduit and reconnected an outlet on the other side of my main shop door. The wires got disconnected during construction. I had other outlets, so didn’t really need that one, but I do sometimes need it. I practiced bending conduit and we added an upper outlet for the security cameras. I had padawan pull wires and install the outlet. I double checked it.

The pipe in the middle with the outlet at the top is what we did.

And we talked a lot. He sure makes life hard on himself. He’s not a self-starter, and I don’t know how many more times I can tell him, GET A FRICKEN JOB! Honestly, he’s a little afraid of having to become a responsible adult. He’s trying to coast through life without becoming “an adult”. It’s not working very well. He sure is a nice young man. Just dense.

Thursday morning, I drove my big tractor 20 miles to the John Deere dealer in Plainview. A few weeks ago, I had the water pump and thermostats replaced. And it still overheated. I drove it to them so they can work on it up there. They’ll hook it to a ‘dyno’; a gizmo that connects to the power take off and puts a ‘load’ on the tractor to work it. The tractor goes about 24 MPH. It took about 50 minutes. I try to take some secondary roads as much as possible to avoid the traffic. I like the wider roads better than the narrow roads.

A nice wide shoulder
A narrow stretch

I was lucky not to have too much traffic, and none of the drivers passing me did anything stupid. Tractors with cabs or ROPS, Roll Over Protective Structures, have seat belts. We don’t often wear the seatbelt, but I do if I’m on the highway, or I get into a sketchy situation. I went to put the seatbelt on, and the buckle wouldn’t latch. I futzed with it until I broke the latch. I was glad no one drove stupid.

And then, just before I got to Plainview, there was a dead skunk on the side of the road. You know what that means:

Listening to the 1940’s station the other day, I saw a song title, “Life Gits Tee-jus Don’t it” and that caught my attention. Sung by Carson Robison. He was a country singer from the mid 1920’s until his death in 1957. Wiki says he was a composer of ‘event’ songs that usually included a moral. Such as Remember Pearl Harbor, or The Wreck of Number Nine. The aforementioned Life Gets Tee-jus.., was a 1948 “worldwide hit” for MGM records. How about that?

The song starts off with these lyrics, spoken in a slow drawl: 

The sun comes up and the sun goes down
The hands on the clock go round and round
I just wake up and it’s time to lay down,
Life gets tee-jus, don’t it

And then goes on with these verses:

Hound dog’s howlin’ so forlorn
Laziest dawg that ever was born
He’s howlin’ ’cause he’s sittin’ on a thorn
Just too tired to move over

And ends with this:

Well, the cow’s gone dry and the hens won’t lay
And my well dried up last Saturday
My troubles keep pilin’ up day by day
And now I’m gettin’ dandruff

Sheez. Talk about a downer.

I will skip songs by Bing Crosby or Vaughn Monroe. I just can’t take their voices.

WHICH CLASSIC MOVIE WOULD YOU WATCH FROM THE LIST?

ANY MUSICIANS YOU SKIP?

2026, Family, Government, History, Travel, Uncategorized

Lawrence In France

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The State of North Dakota gives out the Rough Rider Award annually to native North Dakotans who have been influenced by living there to achieve excellence in their respective fields or endeavors. It is the highest award the State endows.

The plaque is fairly small, with a 3-D bust of Teddy Roosevelt in the center. The recipients are given honorary rank of Colonal in the Theodore Roosevelt ND Rough Riders. They also gets their portraits painted and hung in the capitol building. Past recipients include Louise Erdrich, Bobby Vee, Peggy Lee, Louis L’ Amour, Roger Maris, and Eric Severeid.

The first recipient of the award was Lawrence Welk in 1961. I should remind Baboons that Lawrence Welk is a particular interest of mine since my paternal grandfather’s first cousin married Lawrence Welk’s daughter, Shirley.

Imagine the consternation in ND last week when it was reported that a ND couple traveling in Brittany, France went into a thrift store there and found Lawrence Welk’s Rough Rider Award Plaque. The woman in the couple stated she saw this 3-D silver image of Teddy Roosevelt on the plaque, and was astounded to see the inscription regarding Lawrence Welk below it. How on earth could this happen?

Why in France? Did Lawrence travel much in France in the 1960’s and 1970’s? Were the Welk’s so hard up after he died they sold all his memorabilia? Did the woman and her husband somehow get the plaque and bring it to France and claim they found it, thus to increase its value? It is a mystery. I hope we can find out what really happened.

What mysteries would you like solved? What award would you like to receive?What would you like your relatives to do with your things after you are gone?

2026, education, Family, home, Mysteries, Uncategorized

To Wrinkle or Not to Wrinkle…

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When I was growing up, ironing was as art form.   In my family, EVERYTHING got ironed, from my dad’s work shirts, to shirts and dresses, towels and sheets.  I don’t remember underwear getting the once over, but I could just be suppressing that memory.  My mother had me ironing pretty early – starting when I was in first grade – and she instructed me in the correct way to do every kind of garment/fabric.  When my dad’s ship came in, Nonny’s first luxury was to send out the laundry to be ironed.  She still washed and dried everything but then it went into a bag to get picked up by the ironing person twice a week.  I can still see the ironed items (in garment bags) hanging in the front closet after they were returned in pristine shape.

I do have an iron, but it gets lonely in the closet.  The only thing I’ve ironed in the last year was the quilt that I inherited from Nonny (well, inherited is probably the wrong word.  “helped myself to” is more like it).  And the only reason I ironed it was that I was adding sticky fabric tape to several places where the fabric had basically disintegrated over the years.  YA probably uses the iron and ironing board maybe once a quarter.

When I went off to college, Nonny did send a little travel iron with me.  Snort.  The very first things that I quit ironing were my sheets.  They stretch out on your bed and you sleep on them, for goodness sakes.  Sheets were quickly followed by just about everything else. I never looked back.

With this in mind, I’m not sure what the heck I was looking at on YouTube a few days ago, but for some reason, a few posts came up about how to fold a fitted sheet.  Then I made the fatal error of clicking on one.  Now my feed is full of folks seriously showing me how to fold a fitted sheet — all of them basically the same method – sticking the two lower corners into the top upper corners, then folding into thirds or fourths and then folding again.  It LOOKS easy, but I remember trying this years ago and it’s not that simple.  And if you’re dealing with slippery sheets, of which I have several sets for the summer, the method doesn’t really work at all.  I did find a YouTube of how I do it…

I don’t actually chuck it into the closet.  After I’ve wadded it up, I then put the folded top sheet and the pillow cases on top and then gently slide the whole pile onto the shelf.  I’m not a savage.

Toward the end of her life, I know for a fact that Nonny was still ironing some of her clothing, but she had abandoned ironing the sheets, thank goodness.  Whenever I would visit and help her with laundry, she would have us do the two-person fold.  I’m now sure what she was doing on her own.  I hope she was wadding the fitted sheet into a ball, but somehow I doubt it!

Do you fold fitted sheets?  What method do you use?  Do you use a top sheet?  Linen closet or drawers?

2026, Gatherings, History, Uncategorized

Reunion

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Last weekend we attended my 50th high-school reunion. Boommate and I were in the same class. There were two parties-one on Friday night at a local brew pub, and a catered dinner on Saturday night. The Saturday night party was held at The Lake, a small spring fed pond that has been converted into a picnic and camping area with indoor spaces for dining.

The Friday night party was held out of doors at the brew pub. Our class had tables reserved, but it was open to anyone in the community to come and hear the live band, get a beer, and eat at the Polish food truck that had pulled up. Much of the evening was spent trying to figure out who was who. The women were easier to identify than the men since male hair loss and beard growth really changed the men’s appearances. I could hear frequent exclamations of “That’s _______? You’re kidding!”

The Saturday night gathering was fun. Husband noted that not a single person smoked, even though much of the time was spent out of doors. The main organizer had displays of our class pictures from elementary through high school. We were the largest class to graduate from Luverne High School, with around 110 students.

I had only attended our 10 year reunion prior to this one. Some had been to every reunion in the past. For some, this was the first. It was interesting to hear people confess how anxious they were prior to the Friday night party, wondering if people had changed, worrying that the same cliques would be evident. I admit that I was somewhat uneasy to begin with, as was my friend Mary, who has an M.Div degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and another female friend who was a community organizer and mediator in North Carolina, and who has worked for years to get minority individuals registered to vote. The early lessons are the hardest to unlearn, I guess, no matter what you experience later on. I am happy to report that the cliques had disappeared, Everyone was happy and friendly and incusive. Phone numbers and Facebook addresses were exchanged. As one classmate commented “I think we finally grew up”. After 50 years I should certainly hope so.

Have you attended any class reunions? Why or why not? Are you in touch with high school friends?

2026, Automotive, Family, Uncategorized

Karma!

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One of my mother’s life lessons for me and both my sisters was “who said life was fair”?  This was in direct contrast to the lessons most of us absorbed from cartoons, television and movies; usually, the bad guys get their comeuppance in the end.  Considering how little comeuppance a lot of current bad guys are getting, I’m glad my mom taught me some balance to always expecting fair.

Yesterday I had to run an errand over to St. Paul.  On the way over, I had to go north on Highway 280 – a left exit off 94.  There was quite a bit of traffic, so the last 2 miles before the exit, I just hung out in the left lane.  Even though I was going about 5 miles over the speed limit, there was one person behind me who was really impatient and got pretty close.  I ignored them.

Then on the way home, I had to go south on 35W, another left exit.  Same scenario – about 5 miles over the speed limit and again, somebody on my butt.  But this one was really aggressive and even flashed their lights at me.  Good grief.  They did a quick rush into the lane to the right to get around me.  The car that was already in that lane actually put their brakes on.  The impatient car swerved back behind me; the car in the right lane sped up a bit.  The impatient car tried again to swerve over and around; again the right lane car put on their brakes.  There was some long laying on of the horn and more flashing lights.  When we got off at the 35W exit, I slowed down a bit so my right lane friend could get ahead of me.  As we got onto 35W, the impatient car finally was able to swing out and pass us both.  I was wondering if he would pull in front and then stomp on his brakes, but he just left us inn his dust.

I completely get that things like this can turn into road rage but as impatient guy raced off, I realized I had a big smile on my face, having seen some instant karma.  I’m sure we didn’t make him late – the whole thing only took about 2 minutes, but I’m hoping the exasperation and anger he felt was a bit of karma coming his way (yes, I did eventually see that it was a guy).  So at least for two minutes yesterday I got to see a little bit of fairness in the world!

Have you ever seen someone get their comeuppance?

2026, animals, crops, Family, Farming Update, Kids, pets, Travel, Uncategorized, work

BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS

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This week’s farming update from Ben

The soybeans are turning yellow and dropping their leaves. Another week will make a huge difference.

We spent a week outside of Charleston SC visiting my niece and her husband and their two cute little girls, age five and two. Boy, that two year old: She never stops moving! Better them than us. And a wonderful dog, Maggie. A female Doberman. I’ve not had anything to do with Dobermans before, but she was a sweetheart. 

These people love their hot weather. I was hot for the whole week we were there. They made a fire one night in their fire pit. IT WAS 80 DEGREES! I kept moving my chair back. But, it was a lovely night and It was a great, much needed vacation. 

Our first night and I got to take the five year old to bed. I was pooped out.
Who doesn’t love chasing seagulls?
Daughter loved the beach.

While we were gone, our house sitters, G & E, did a fabulous job keeping our dogs occupied. They left the house cleaner than it was when we left. E does a lot of cooking, which was evident by the washed cookie sheets and bread loaf pan on the counter. We need to get them to leave some left overs. And G works at a local nursery and we always come home to fresh cut flowers and even some new plants on the front step. Great people. We’re not sure the dogs were glad to have us come back or not. 

Plus our other neighbor, B, collecting eggs and taking care of the chickens. She said she loved her the dogs protected her from the raccoons.

The tree branch that fell down on the deck just before we left got cut up and hauled away. We are so lucky it missed the gutters and missed the lights hanging off the gutters. It broke a leg off one plastic deck chair, and bent one tiki torch. Driving around the farm, there are trees down all over. Lots of trees in fields, which will make harvest difficult. It’s hard to clean them up without damaging more crops. Our neighbors took their cattle out as there was so many trees down on the fence it was easier to take them out than to fix the fences. At least for now. They’ll be fixed before next spring.

And we’ve had a bunch of weird electronic issues since the power was out with that storm. Course the router needed to be rebooted a few times, and the extenders, and the security cameras… got most of them back, but it’s been a process. 

The Soil and Water (SWCD) people, and contractor Clint built the new structure to stop erosion. 

The front side with a tile inlet.
The back side. The tile drains down in the tree’s to the left.

Clint also built a ‘low water crossing’ at one of our waterways. It tends to be wet in the spring, (that’s why it’s a ‘water way’). He excavated down, placed geo-textile fabric, large rock placed underneath, smaller rock on top, and that way the water can still pass through but the equipment has a place to cross without creating ruts in the soft spring soil. 

Bailey approved

I am very proud of the work we’ve done the last few year making the farm a better place for the future. 

Including pouring concrete.

Last week Kelly and I were compacting gravel for this pad. This concrete is in the main part of the shed, right inside the main door, and is where just about everything gets parked. I’m as excited about this concrete as I have been about all the rest. 

A pack of wire ties.
Wrap the wire around the rebar, hook the loops, and spin it five times to make it tight. Six twists will break the wire.
Rebar wired together and propped up with rocks, tin cans, empty bottles; Anything I found in the garbage that I thought would be useful. You can buy 2” plastic rebar chairs, but why would I wanna do that?

We had some good help leveling out the concrete. Our son came down with a couple of his buddies. I spent a little more money and ordered a conveyor truck to get the concrete in the shed, that way I could be in there helping and not in the tractor hauling concrete 1/2 a yard at a time in the loader bucket. I am supposedly, the ‘Brains’ of the outfit. I use the term loosely. Jokes on them!

I ordered 5000 psi concrete “garage mix” with fiber and air entrainment. See, sounds like I know what I’m talking about.

You want a bunch of help getting the cement truck dumped out and the concrete spread out. Then there’s a little more time to get it level and time for it to begin to harden before the finishing work begins. And that can be a one person job on a pad this small. It just takes several good people right at the start.

On top of the compacted gravel we get the rebar laid out and tied together using a homemade wire twister. I use fiberglass rebar. I buy wire ties with a loop on each end, then use a paint roller I’ve modified to twist them.

By the time we finished I was pooped out. Man, I am not 30 years old anymore.

The conveyor truck getting set up. We were all working so I didn’t get any pictures of it happening.
Kelly was in charge of the measuring stick and the laser level to get it level. 
Looks pretty good for some amateurs. Better than our first round last year.
Humphrey walk through it first. But I’m OK with that. I left his footprints.

HOW OFTEN DID YOU FALL ASLEEP YOURSELF TAKING THE KIDS TO BED?

ANY GOOD BEDTIME STORIES?

2026, animals, Nature, pets, Uncategorized

Stickers And Prickers

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On Sunday evening Husband took our terriers for their third walk of the day. They have rather elaborate hair styles, with skirts, beards, long brows, short hair on back and tail, and longer, curly hair on their chests and legs. They have short legs with long bodies that are pretty close to the ground.

Husband is usually careful to only walk them on paved paths and not let them stray into long grass. They both got into some longer grass Sunday night though, as Husband gave some other walkers wide berth as they passed one another. He doesn’t want the dogs to jump on other people. The grass was full of tiny burrs the size of BB’s that stuck to the dogs’ coats in every place imaginable. It was impossible to brush them out as they stuck so securely.

Boommate is a former vet tech and also worked for a groomer for a while. She came to the rescue with a small electric clipper. Husband and I held the dogs securely while she patiently cut the burrs out of their fur. The dogs were very unhappy being manhandled and restrained. She said she had encountered these burrs before, and they can cause severe problems if animals ingest them or get them stuck in their mouth or throat.

After about an hour of clipping and brushing, the dogs were burr free. In the event this happens again I ordered a portable dog grooming table for easier management. The dogs go to their regular groomer next week so they can get their coats all evened out and trimmed.

Who has come to your rescue? Any incidents of burrs or stickers on you or your pets?

2026, animals, Automotive, Family, Mysteries, pets, Uncategorized

Random Chatting

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I’m pretty sure that if you asked YA if she would want anything about me changed, the top of the list would be “stop talking to strangers”.

I admit to this freely.  No big, long conversations; most of my talks to strangers are one-off comments, usually having to do with whatever situation I find myself in with strangers.  Lots of “beautiful dog” or “cute dog” or “does your dog like to say hi” or “does your dog like to be petted”.  YA was mortified about a month ago when I rolled down the car window to call out to someone that their Irish Setter was gorgeous.  I have a friend in Wisconsin who can start a friendship with anybody she meets; I’ve been with her when she got name/phone/address with a stranger we met at the zoo.  I’ve told YA she should be lucky she’s got me.  This has never mollified her.

Waiting on line for the State Fair Park `n Ride buses is the exception to my short yakking with strangers.  We’re all there for the same reason.  We all have stories to tell about various parking/bus situations.  It’s always interesting to find out where people are from (we met someone from San Diego this year) and there’s usually good information to be had about foods and entertainment.  YA has to admit that even she has taken part in these bus-line conversations.

So I felt completely exonerated yesterday morning while Freya and I were walking along in Tangletown.  I woman drove by, slowed down, rolled down her window and called out “beautiful dog” before driving away.  I felt like I had met one of my people!

Do you still say “rolled down the window” or “I typed my answer”?  Better yet, do you talk to strangers when you’re out and about?

2026, Food, Gatherings, Health, State Fair, Uncategorized

Nursing at the Fair

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We got to see the Emergency Services folks at the Fair in action again this year – NOT FOR ME. 

It was last Saturday, a seriously crowded day.  YA and I were feeling very lucky to have scored seats on the bench across Al’s to enjoy our malts when suddenly a man about 8 feet from us fell into the street.  Neither of us actually saw why he fell, just the fall itself.  I was just about to set my malt down and go over but immediately there were at least 8 folks surrounding him.  It made me think of a scene from one of my favorite films People Will Talk.  Cary Grant has taken over the lecture hall of another professor and during his talk, Jeanne Crain gets dizzy, faints and falls off her chair into the aisle.  All the other medical students jump up to help.  Cary Grant’s line is “Get back, get back. Quiet down, quiet down. A group of  Cub Scouts would know better than to crowd like this”.  I stayed put. 

I suspected from YA’s rapt expression that we were going to sit there until the situation was resolved, one way or the other.  When I asked her if this was the case, she nodded, not taking her eyes off the scene.  So I settled in. 

One of the people who had jumped in to help immediately was the woman who had been sitting next to me on the bench.  She knelt down next to the guy as they got him sitting up.  You could see her talking to him calmly; she kept a hand on his back the whole time.  She never seemed to lose her composure and when the first (and then second, third and fourth) set of emergency services guys showed up, she was the one communicating with them.  I said to YA “she must be a nurse”.  YA agreed. 

At first we had thought maybe heat stroke but then we saw the guy holding and rubbing his left shoulder – was it a heart attack?  Then YA heard someone say that the guy had landed on his new shoulder – he has just had shoulder replacement a few weeks back.  Ouch.  There were four different sets of emergency folks who came to the scene – it took quite some time to make their way through the crowds, even with lights going. They also were calm and assured; they asked questions, took vitals and eventually they were able to trundle the guy onto one of their gators and whisk him off.  Well, whisk probably isn’t the right word, considering the crowds.

I talked to the woman who had been attending to him and she confirmed that she was indeed a nurse.  I knew it.  Anyway, I told her that I had thought so based on her actions and I thanked her for her service.  Turns out that May 12 is International Nurses’ Day – I’m thinking we should have more than one of those celebrations a year.  So thanks to those of you on the Trail who are nurses or spent your career nursing – seeing one of your legion in action was really great.

Tell me about a nurse who made a difference to you!

Uncategorized

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING AND THEN SOME

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This week’s farming update from Ben

It was a work at the college, work at home, Some travel, and some storms kinda week. 

Last weekend Kelly and I prepped the spot for concrete. Just working ahead to have it ready. 
I rented the plate compactor, picked it up on Friday, and, like so many things, it goes better the second time around. Last year, when I rented it the first time, it kicked my butt. But now that I know how to run it and how it really only goes one direction, it was like walking a dog. Just pull it around by the leash / handle. I did a better job scraping out dirt, and adding gravel. Using the laser level and a stick with marks on it, Kelly and I raked and shoveled, and compacted, and checked and added more or scraped a little bit out. So it’s “level”, meaning within a 1/2” one way or the other, which is good enough for the base.

Ben walking the dog
Kelly pushing the dog
Kelly is feeling my muscles.

Just need to get the rebar laid in there, and wired together, and a form on the open South side. The other three sides are against existing concrete so they’ll get a barrier glued them, to allow for frost movement if needed. All of that will happen next week. Got concrete planned for the 11th. 

On Sunday I moved all the round bales of straw. Something wasn’t adjusted right and twice I lost a bale off the back lift when going up a hill. I tried to adjust the bracket, but I didn’t have a big enough wrench in the tractor and I just tried not to go up the hill at such an angle. We managed. 
So here is a bunch of pictures of that process.

Rear carrrier
Front spear
Net wrap

A comment was made last week about the long rows of white plastic bales. That’s a bit different system. This is called ‘Net wrap’ and it does shed some water from rain. Sometimes the hay will be baled when it’s still green and wet and then, to prevent mold, it has to be sealed, oxygen free, in those white tubes, or individually wrapped in white plastic. Takes special machines to wrap the bales individually or in the tube. And if wrapped separately, the farmer would use a sort of ‘squeezer’ on the front of the loader to pick up the bales with out poking holes in the plastic. Silage, or haylage, or even shelled corn can be stored in those white tubes. Animals or hail can cause holes and that’s a problem of course, because then you’re gonna get mold. 

Early Wednesday morning about 1:30AM a heck of a storm blew through. We knew there was a chance of rain, but holy cow, this was coming sideways through the open windows. Got them closed and there was a crackling noise. I thought Kelly was doing something and I asked her what that was and then there was a CRACK and  large tree branch was down on the deck. Missed the house by “this much”. We were all awake anyway, because, well, we’re idiots. I think there are a couple chairs on the deck under that branch. And maybe a metal deck table. 

The deck is under this.

Considering we’re flying out at 5:30 AM, I figure I better go check the road for other trees. The rain was letting up so I get in the car and head up the road and i don’t make it about 100 yards before there’s a large branch blocking the road. OK, back for the tractor. Oh. Power had gone off too. Figures. 
I’m out in the shed with a flashlight, unlocking the doors and sliding the doors open and I can hear the tornado sirens going off. And I’m about to get in the tractor and head up the road. Good thinking Ben. 

Looks like a good time to head out…Good Job Ben.

I clear the first branch, then up to the woods, and there’s a couple small branches down, and only one large tree blocking the road. I move it enough that we can get out. Then back home, and sit in the dark for another hour and we finally all get up and head to the airport. 
Flying out of RST is always easy. It’s a small airport and at 4AM security is easy. Up to MSP and I made a few phone calls and sent some emails to other township supervisors about the situation. We have a really good tree service the township uses, Olson’s, and they were out first thing clearing the roads. When I talked to the owner on Thursday he said there wasn’t a lot of devastation, it was just such a widespread area. And for the people complaining he hadn’t picked up the pile of brush on the shoulders yet, he’s trying to get tree’s off people houses first!
Add in the holiday weekend, and he’s got crews leaving for the holiday, and they’re doing what they can. 
Our power came back on about 8 AM according to the electric coop website. Our friends who are house sitting had to reboot the router for the internet a few times but I guess we’re back in action. 
I’ve heard there are some corn fields that are flat. Like steam roller flat. Beans looked a little rough, from what I could see in the dark, but they should be OK. And there was some hail, but that missed us too I guess. I take out a hail policy on the crops and that has paid out a few times. Guess I don’t need it this time. 

HOW MANY TIMES HAS YOUR CAR BEEN HAILED ON?

ANY EMERCENCIES JUST BEFORE FLIGHTS?