Category Archives: Uncategorized

2024, Family, home, Uncategorized, work

Spring Cleaning

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This weekend Husband and I are going to have a shred fest, disposing of lots of unneeded documents that we sorted through and discarded last Saturday. For some reason probably having to do with all the renovation in the basement, our housekeeping has really gone south over the past 18 months.

What with Covid and our busy schedules we have had very few guests over to the house in the past couple of years. Last Sunday that changed when Husband gave a cello lesson to one of our church choir members. The aspiring cellist brought his wife along, also a choir member, and we had to do a lot of house cleaning before they came. The dust was awful, and there were countless dog nose prints on the bay window that needed to be cleaned. We even cleaned out closets and brought lots of stuff to the thrift store. We also gave the basement a good cleaning now that the renovations are completely done. We were exhausted by the time we were finished.

We really don’t have a schedule for cleaning. We just do what needs to be done when we see it. I think that when we are both fully retired it will be easier to be more intentional housekeepers. Cleaning closets is pretty low on the list, but it sure feels good when I open the closets and see the organization and fewer things. I have the same approach to cleaning and organizing my desk at work. I have a far too grand, u-shaped desk at work that allows me to have stacks of papers that get bigger and bigger and still leave me room to do my work. You can see how ridiculously big this desk is.

I also have some odd figures that I have acquired over the years that hold pride of place in one corner of the desk. You can see them in the header photo. When the paper piles start encroaching on Moishe and Sigmund, then I know it is time to file things and straighten things up.

What did or does your desk look like at work? What is your decorative style?

2024, education, Family, Farming Update, Gatherings, Media, Theatre, Uncategorized

Genie In A Lift!

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben

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? ❤️

2024, Media, Uncategorized, Words, work

Mottos And Slogans

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I have two coworkers who plan to retire about the same time I do next year. We have worked together for 25 years, and have experienced the highs and lows and ridiculous moments that one experiences in a government agency.

Over the years we developed a motto to keep us going in our continued State employment until the time we reached the ages to get our pensions- “Just Soak Em!” Why, we ask each other, do we keep doing this? Because we’re going to soak em! We are going to extract every penny we are due from the State for all the hard work we did at wages much lower than in the private sector.

I suppose I will need a new motto for a new life that doesn’t involve my work. I will have to think hard on that. Luverne, the town we plan to move to after I retire, has the motto Luverne, Love the Life to encourage people and businesses to move there. Better, I suppose than “If you ain’t Dutch you ain’t much“, another popular motto from back home.

What is your personal motto right now? Think of new mottos or slogans for yourself, your family, state, or your community.

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized, work

Tease

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My children love to characterize me as being really rigid and fussy. I’m really not that fussy and particular, but they exaggerate as a way of gentle teasing. My post last week about Saying “No” gave us some some fun discussion about my parenting. I didn’t realize that they both read the blog on a regular basis. Son sent me the following You Tube video, which I find hilarious. He likes to refer to me as “Meine lieblings Mutti”.

I like their teasing, as it is gentle and done in good humor. My father was a terrible tease but he wasn’t malicious. There is a fine line between good teasing and bullying, though. We don’t have bullies in our family.

I have been teased at work by my coworkers the past few weeks for my smudging of our building and the sheer amount of smoke that I filled the building with. That has been fun teasing, too. I imagine it got tiresome for a former coworker to have it brought up on a regular basis that she had been caught speeding in a State vehicle by the governor. She always accepted it with grace and humor.

What do people tease you about? Know any mothers like the one in the video?

2024, History, holidays, Uncategorized, work

New Holidays

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I don’t think there are many Baboons who work full-time any longer for an agency or some other entity. As a State employee I sure appreciated having yesterday off. I really needed a three day weekend. I didn’t get as much done as I wanted, but it was very nice to sleep in on Saturday and Monday. Sunday was an early day ringing bells in church for three hours, but it was nice to take a nap when we got home.

North Dakota still gives State employees Good Friday off. I don’t know if there are many other states that do. That means that I have another three day weekend in March. I imagined what other days in April, June, and August I could suggest to the powers that be to consider for three day weekends. May and July are covered already with July 4th and Memorial Day.

For April we could have the 23rd off in honor of Shakespeare’s Birthday. June 16th could be a day off for Bloomsday, as long as State employees read Ulysses aloud. August 23 would be a great day to celebrate the opening of the first one-way streets in London in 1617. The Transportation Department would support that one!

What Monday or Friday holidays would you like to see?

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Sled!

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At the back of my grandson’s elementary school is a good sized hill that the children can play on. I suppose in the fall and spring they roll down it. Now that they have enough snow, our son went to Lowe’s and bought a sled, and they had a great time on Saturday sledding down the school hill.

The sled is blue and green and made of PET plastic. It is long and narrow. Son had a similar sled when he was growing up. We called it the Black Blaster. Husband loved taking the kids to the butte two blocks from our house that had perfect slopes for sledding. It was a great way to wear out active kids.

I had a wooden sled with metal runners that you were supposed to be able to steer, but I was never very successful at it. Luverne didn’t have may hills at all, and the opportunities for sledding were pretty limited. The best places for sledding were the piles of snow at the elementary school that were from clearing the play ground. When I was in Grade 6 that wasn’t even an option as the school administration banned all snow pile play after someone broke their arm in a vigorous game of King of Mountain.

I am really glad our grandson has a good place to sled. Son said there were lots of happy yells as he descended the hill. I will have to find out if the sled has a name.

What are your sledding and winter play memories? Ever ride on a toboggan?

2024, home, Media, Technology, TV, Uncategorized

The Lost Cord

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Over the past month I have had to move from one suite of offices to another suite of offices three computers we use for psychological testing at work. Our tech guy has been instructed by his superiors that he can’t assist me with the move. He is only responsible for making sure the electrical outlets in the new rooms are working. He is allowed to help if we have trouble getting the computers to work if they don’t work after I move them and reconnect all the cords.

Well, it is the reconnecting the cords that is the challenge. I am proud that I was able to keep the computers and monitors connected while I moved them so the set up wasn’t too hard. It was somewhat of a challenge to make sure the speakers were set up correctly, since I had to unplug them for the move. I used a cart to make the move.

Now that the gas stove is set up and working again in the family room, I face the task of reconnecting the TV, cable box, DVD player, and ancient VHS player to one another and get them working. When we disconnected them to move them so that the carpet installers could do their work, I tried to keep the cords plugged in to the players as much as I could. We couldn’t keep all the things connected like I did at work. I fear I may need to phone the cable company, who is also our internet and land line provider to come and help with the set up, which they will do, but I hope I can figure it out on my own. I just hope all the cords are there and not somewhere odd in the furnace room where everything was stored and where we still have too much clutter. I also have to figure out how to clean the lens on the cd player in the living room. Uffda!

What has been your greatest technological set up challenge? Is it hard or easy for you to ask for help?

2024, Family, holidays, Uncategorized

Hearts or Ashes?

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Today is a tough day for devout Roman Catholics and Lutherans in love. How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday on the same day?

I suppose you could go out for a romantic dinner with the ashes still visible on your foreheads. It might also work to try to limit the number of chocolates you consume, or buy your loved one a bouquet of dead flowers. After all, it is the thought that counts!

Husband is in Bismarck today and won’t be home until late. The only flames ignited in our home will be the ones in the gas stove that is finally to be re-installed some time today. We decided to not attend the Ash Wednesday service this evening because we are heartily sick of church, having sung in the choir at both service’s two Sundays in a row, and having to play bells at both services this Sunday. I have consumed more than enough chocolate at work this week. Having Husband home safe tomorrow evening is a good enough Valentine for me.

What are some memorable Valentine’s Days in the past for you? How did your Elementary School observe Valentine’s Day? 

2024, Food, History, Uncategorized

Swedish Meatloaf

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Husband and I found an intriguing meatloaf recipe on our New York Times food app and made it this weekend. It is still in the oven as I write this and I don’t know how it tastes.

It is intriguing to me because it is made with caramelized cabbage inside it and on top of it. I am only so so about cabbage, but this looked like a nice way to get more greens into my diet. The cabbage is caramelized in butter and Lyles Golden Syrup. After it is baked, the meatloaf is served with a sauce made from lingonberry preserves, red wine vinegar, and Worcester sauce.

I never realized before that we have the Ottoman Empire to thank for meatloaf and meatballs. In the early 1700’s the King of Sweden traveled to Turkey and loved the kofte and ground meat recipes he tasted. He brought the recipes to Sweden. The rest is history.

What are your feelings about cabbage? If you were a historian, what would you like to research, and why?

2024, Farming Update, Seasons, Technology, Uncategorized

Something Something

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Today’s Farming Update is by Ben

Something Something

As I started writing this, I wasn’t sure yet what I had to write about this week, so I was not sure where this was going to end up.

We got some rain Thursday morning and evening. I don’t think it amounted to much. It didn’t help the muddy areas. I did spread out four bales of straw in front of the chickens’ pen as it was just a muddy mess down there. And the mud over by the shed is full of tracks and ruts. That’s worse than usual because it was fresh dirt last fall after the concrete work. Maybe I can get it smoothed out as the weather gets colder in the coming week so it’s not frozen ruts, and it will be better next year, but for now, Ish-da.

I have a young man helping me on weekends; I got to know him as a college student. He’s really interested in working with his hands and willing to try anything. And he never gets frustrated or gives up. He’s working a delivery job now, and he says he’d love to get into one of the trades like electrical or sheet metal or construction, but he really has no experience. It’s kinda cute, whenever we do a job, at the end of the day he says, “OK, what tools did I learn today?” We’ve talked a lot about which companies would hire him “green”. Meaning no school. And as I’ve talked with the HVAC guys working at the theaters or my nephew who works with a remodeling company, they are all willing to give him a chance as long as he’d plan on sticking around for a few years. And it helps I that tell them this young man isn’t a jerk. His biggest issue right now is he only has 1 pair of shoes. Loafers. Which have been terribly impractical in this mud. I’ve got nothing that fits him. I do pay him; he really should buy some boots.

Last week he and I put new batteries in my truck, we mounted some more 2×4’s on the shop walls, and we worked on changing an electrical box. Then I had him frame up the electrical box and add trim steel around it. Then I could add the “J” channel and get the pole barn steel around it.

There was an old, old fuse box here from when my Dad built the shed. I had new electrical service installed to the shed last summer

but I still need the old service. I had bought this new circuit breaker box 10 years ago and never got that installed. So, this was the time.  A job well done.

I plan on working hard on the farm financial bookwork this weekend. I meet the accountant on April 9th, but I should have 3 months of 2024 done by then, not still finishing 2023.

WHAT HAVE YOU GONE INTO GREEN?

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT SHOES.

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