Our last day of working for the State will be sometime the first week of October. The administrators at both of our agencies are scrambling to figure out who can do all the things we do, and it is turning out to be a challenge.
Husband and I are somewhat unique in that we are actually in-person at our agencies and don’t work remotely. Most of our State psychology colleagues live out of state and only test people via telehealth with the help of psychometrists. Very few of them even test children. We also are unique in that we know how to give IQ tests to children about to turn 3, and that is a rare skill indeed. Children with developmental disabilities need IQ testing before the age of 3 to determine if their issues are severe enough and will be long term. If so, they qualify for a host of services, as well as Medicaid and excellent case management. In other more populous parts of the state, there are enough psychologists in the private sector to do the testing. Not so out here.
We also know how to do IQ testing using the Stanford Binet IQ test, which has norms down to age 2, and which none of the younger State or private sector psychologists know how to use. You can’t test a 2 year old via telehealth. They don’t make them like us anymore.
Husband says he wants to be like a 1964 Chevy Impala. You can see it in the header photo. I identify with my Great Grandmother’s early 1920’s Reo. My father had vivid memories of playing in the car when he was small. Here is a similar model
What out of production car model do you miss? What else have they stopped making that you regret?
When we talked about esoteric knowledge the other day, I would not have said that The Three Musketeers was a particular interest of mine. Then I stumbled upon a tv series from 2014-2016, a British production. Binge-watching is a perfect occupation when you’re nursing a knee.
This particular series is a little darker than I like, but I realize that I’ve seen quite a few of the musketeer movies over the years, so it’s intriguing to see this one. The production values are quite good – costumes and dialog seem more realistic than a lot of historical dramas. Of course, there seems to be at least one nubile young woman each episode who manages to fall for one of the musketeers in just a day or so. Then there’s the fact that all of the musketeers except D’Artagnan (the only character played by an actor who I recognize – Santiago Cabrera) have old, unhealed loved tragedies in their past. Athos in particular can’t seem to get over his.
And it’s VERY violent. I find myself listening more than watching every now and then. I’m not surprised that there were only three seasons. I’m about half way through the second season and I’m starting to wonder if Paris is going to run out of population, so many people get murdered each episode. Last night I actually muted it for about five minutes while Captain Treville was getting operated on. (Thank goodness I live in an age with anesthetic.) It’s another show that I can’t watch up until bedtime or I have dreams that are much too intense.
As I’ve been watching the show, it occurs to me that I can’t remember if I ever READ The Three Musketeers. All the comparisons that I’m making in my mind may be from other movies/series I’ve seen. And there is still the one big question of why Dumas titled his tome The Three Musketeers when there are clearly four of them? Maybe the book explains this? So I put it on hold at the library. I’ll let you know!
Did you have a play sword as a kid? Ever taken fencing or shooting lessons?
One benefit of moving is the chance to go through things and decide what is good to keep and what is good to go. I spent part of Saturday going through a closet in the guest bedroom that has all our photo albums in it. That was a daunting task.
I am the photographer in the family. Over the years we have kept, organized in albums, most of the many photos I took during our early marriage and of the children as they grew up. We also acquired Husband’s family photos that included photos of his childhood as well as old family photos from early 20th century. We got a lot of those after Husband’s father died. I have my own old family photos organized in another part of the house.
I found I still have the scrapbooks my mother put together of a trip to Europe I took as a high school senior with America’s Youth In Concert in 1976, and my years at Concordia. I had forgotten we had those, since I shoved them in our closet after my parents died 11 years ago. I am glad I made an executive decision then to get rid of most of the volumes of my own baby pictures. I haven’t missed them at all.
The whole problem with the guest room closet is that we have been shoving things in there and forgetting about them. I got rid of empty photo albums and other useless things on Saturday. Why, I asked myself, do we have three pairs of binoculars? I didn’t have the energy to sort through the fifteen or so photo albums that remain. That will be done at our leisure after we move.
Snce the advent of smartphones I no longer use my camera. Those photos are in “the Cloud”. I will have to figure out how to digitize the photos in the albums I decide to keep. Our son assured me it is easily done. We shall see if that is so.
How do you store your pre-smartphone photos? Any Baboon scrapbookers?
One of the challenges of sharing a kitchen with Husband is his extreme fussiness regarding the foods he cooks and prepares. He has many preconceived expectations as to what goes with what, and is unhappy if the combinations aren’t exactly the way he wants them. When he seasons a dish, he spends quite a bit of time tasting and adding this and that til it is just right in his mind. I can’t tell the difference.
The same goes for his fussiness in pairings of different foods. I can usually put up with his demands for just the right main course with just the right sides. It is a little more difficult now that we are trying to empty our freezers before we move. We have agreed, for example, that we aren’t going to buy any more sausage, brats, or ground meat until the stuff we have is gone. There are a lot of sausages to be used up.
The other day I was pretty exasperated with him for stopping at the butcher shop and buying some ring bologna and summer sausage. I reminded him of all the brats and other sausage that we had that would work just as well as bologna. He insisted that he had to have the bologna because that is always what he has with the particular side dish he was going to have that evening. I told him that we would never get through the food we already had if he keeps this up, and that he might have to change some of his expectations for meals if we are to reduce the food in the freezers. He sighed and stated in a somewhat martyred tone that he would just have to start practicing acceptance regarding our meals. Husband says he owns his culinary idealism.
I am fortunate to be married to someone who loves to cook and loves good food. I just hope he doesn’t get too distressed as he has to change his ideas, at least temporarily, regarding our meals.
What do you have to practice acceptance of? Do you have inviolable expectations for some meals and food pairings?
For the last several weeks I have been plagued with an ear worm of Oh, Canada. Don’t ask me why. It is a nice enough tune, but it was getting annoying. I woke up at 3:00 am Sunday with another tune going through my head. I was sleepy and had to think for a minute but recognized it as Polka and Fugue from Schwanda the Bagpiper by Jaromir Weinbeger.
I pride myself for an ability to identify pieces of classical music by ear. I had the advantage of playing the Schwanda piece in college concert band, so it wasn’t too hard to identify it. I challenge myself as I drive or listen to Classical MPR to name the piece or composer before the announcer does. I still have some trouble discerning between Poulenc and Milhaud, as well as all the Spanish guitar composers, but on most other composers I think I am pretty solid.
This knowledge, as well as $5.00, will get me a cup of coffee, but it is pretty satisfying to be able to say, if anyone asks “Oh, that is such and such by so and so”.
What area of esoteric knowlege or skill do you pride yourself on? What long running 1960’s television program made repeated use of a composition by Brahms?What classical music are you most familiar with?
Wow, Man, what a week again. Thursday night I hit a gumption trap so hard, I had a rootbeer float and popcorn for supper…
We have baby guineas! I had seen one sitting on a nest behind the machine shed a few weeks ago, and we talked about getting the eggs into an incubator but never got too it. Next time I looked the nest was empty and there were broken eggs. Momma was nowhere to be found, and we feared the worst. A week later I saw her and a bunch of chicks heading into a corn field. Typically, guineas are not the best moms. But this group seems to ‘community parent’ and they’re doing surprisingly well.
As you can image, the real world is a tough place for a little chick. They could fall into a hole, they could get eaten or lost. It’s a tough place. But yeah, they’re doing well and getting big enough they might just make it. They’re not quite pigeon sized, and they hop and flutter and there’s always that one that’s six feet away and running to catch up.
I cut down a bunch of box elder tree’s growing over a fence down around the barn yard. Treated all the stumps. Then tore out the old feed bunk augers and cement bunks. Don’t need them anymore and it will help open up the yard.
The cow yard, before.
The cow yard after.
Tree’s before
No more tree’s. Looks better.
Dad built the first silo in 1968 and installed these augers. When the second silo was built in 1976, the whole feed bunk was turned 90 degrees and the cement bunks installed. Then it was 1978 when I stuck my leg into this.
The augers I stuck my leg in. Hard to visualize from this picture how it was set up when working. I’m just really lucky.
As I tore it out, I thought about that. I don’t harbor any resentment. These bunks fed a LOT of cattle over the years and provided for two families. They served their purpose well.
I put the forklift extensions on and used the loader forks to lift the old bunks out. I expected animals to be living under them, but nope, nothing. I’ve been asked why I’m doing this, and to what end? Just to clean up. There is no end goal. It would never be used again, why save it?
The oats got harvested Friday and Saturday. Yield wasn’t very good, the oats didn’t even fill a semi. Ended up at 735 bushels, meaning about 31 bu / acre. According to the oat people on FB, oats has been all over the place this year. At least the test weight was 34.6 meaning the elevator would take it. Wasn’t heavy enough to be food grade, nor was it enough bushels to mess around with.
Lots of straw! I ended up with 900 small square bales. Put 700 in the barn.
The hole in the middle is where the elevator was.
I had the three teenage boys helping and I couldn’t have done it without them. They were great. The one doing the most work, number 3, (and treated as the odd wheel out by the first two for some reason), had a broken toe (dropped a barbell weight on his foot). Ah, the teenage mentality.
I baled 3 loads of straw on Monday, the boys came out Tuesday and we unloaded the first two, just throwing them into the empty barn. Then we put the elevator up and unloaded the third. I baled three more loads Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday, I started back at the college. You know what that means. Sleeves.
The boys came out at 5PM and we unloaded those three loads. 700 in the barn. Full enough. Haven’t had it this full in a few years. The boys rode in the wagon and we went to the field to bale up another load. And to stack this one as it will sit for a few months until the neighborhood berry farm is ready for it. I’d put one kid in the tractor with me, and the other two stacked on the wagon. I only hit one kid with a bale. He moved! I was aiming to the side and as the bale kicked, he stepped to that side. Oops. He was OK. Straw is light.
I’d have them rotate positions so they all got to ride in the tractor (and the AC) and they all thought it was pretty neat in there too.
Tractor view
Number 2 and 3 Padawan’s stacking in wagon. Number 1 is in the tractor with me.
Pretty proud of themselves. I couldn’t have done it without them.
I noticed on Friday, one of the rear wheel bearings on a wagon is gone. So that wagon is out of service until I can get new bearings. Hopefully it hasn’t damaged the wheel hub or axle.
And then Wednesday night, backing the stacked wagon into the shed, and the front wheels are not aligned. What the heck?? Tie rods are bend. Jeepers. Not sure when or how that happened. And I moved it a bit more to back it in and one wheel goes completely sideways. Well heck.
Huh!
So, I pulled that wagon in backward to at least get it under cover and out of the way. More repairs. Add it to the list.
AND THEN- Thursday evening and I’m taking down the bale elevator and the lift cable snapped and it all fell to the ground. Words were said. It didn’t break anything. It was about 8’ up and I was lowing it to transport height of about 6’ when it dropped. I dragged it to the shop and Kelly and I worked on it for an hour. Gumption traps were hit several times until I blocked it up with an old pallet and we called it a night. So that’s three things. I should be done now for a while. Right?
HUH!!
Corn and soybeans look great! We have reached the point we cannot make any more management decisions to help the crop. The last thing done was aerial application of fungicide. Now the crop just has to finish out the season. One neighbor called me upset about aerial application too close to his house. I understand that and will take steps in the future to create a buffer zone. However, by the time it gets from me to the agronomist to the company to the pilot, I’m not sure what will actually happen. Not an excuse, just warning him a lot is out of my control.
I was sitting at my desk at work yesterday at about 1:45 pm when I got a phone call from the Stark County Emergency Services Office. It was an emergency message sent out to everyone in town advising us that the community emergency storm shelter was opening now instead of this evening, and people who might need shelter from severe storms should go there now. The shelter is at the Dickinson State University Student Union. There were other shelters in the varios small towns around us. Cumulus clouds were developing quickly to our west and southwest, and there was the possibility of severe storms with baseball size hail and 80 mph to hit in the next couple of hours.
Well, this was rather alarming to hear. The weather was hot and quite humid yesterday. It is unusual for us to have much humidity. The NWS had been predicting possible severe weather depending on factors like heat and humidity. It was most probable that our severe weather would arrive late evening, but they wanted vulnerable people to seek shelter before that just in case.
I decided to leave work and pick up a few things at the grocery store. The emergency message must have been effective since the lines at the strore reminded me of the panic shopping we see before a snow storm hits. I went home and sat and watched the sky. There was a lot more traffic than usual for a Thursday in the early afternoon. Neighbors and people I talked to said it looked and felt like we were really going to be in for some bad weather tonight.
By 3:30 there still was no storm, but the sky was filled with big grey clouds coming in from the south and southwest alternating with periods of sun.
By 4:30 the temperature was up a couple of degrees. The sun/dark cloud pattern conntinued, and all of eastern Montana was under a severe thunderstorm watch.
By 5:30 pm, skies were mainly clear, and by 5:45 they had partially clouded over and our chance for severe storms was increased to 70%. The Thunderstorm watch was still on for eastern Montana.
By 8:30 pm, skies were completely clear, except for a solid grey line of clouds in the far west. We were in a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 2:00 As I was exhausted from work and weather, I went to bed.
At 11:30, a very windy storm hit that lasted about 20 minutes, dropping .07 of rain and no hail. No sirens. No damage. All the storms moved east
How good are you at predicting the weather? How much faith do you have in the NWS? Any memorable times when they have been really right or really wrong?
This Summer has been one of the wettest on record here in western ND. Our veggie garden and flower beds are looking great. The trees are also looking quite happy.
We have a couple of hazelnut trees at the northwest corner of the house.
They are loaded with at the nuts, so that the thin branches are drooping lower and lower as the nuts get bigger and heavier.
We have never actually harvested any of the nuts because they disappear before we can pick them. I always notice an increased presence of sq6uirrels as the nuts ripen every year. I have seen squirrels with clusters of nuts in their mouths running along the top of our our neighbor’s fence as a bluejay shrieked “Thief!” in the way blujays do. I have never, ever, though, seen a squirrel in the hazel trees. The nuts are all at the outer ends of very thin branches. The nuts get removed right from the tree. Although the branches are sagging with the weight of the nuts, the lowest ones are still a good 3 feet off the ground and the ones at the top of the trees disappear, too. The only thing I can think is that the squirrels somehow crawl to the ends of these very thin branches, tear off the nuts, and leap to the ground. We find hoards of shells buried in the flowerbeds in the Spring. I think they really enjoy them.
Eight years ago, my new neighbors moved in. Two parents, one daughter; later a second daughter rounded out the family. Early on it was clear that Minnie (the older daughter) and I had a clear affinity for chalk. Often when Minnie was out doing chalk artwork on their driveway, I would go over for a bit and join in.
When my next birthday rolled around, Minnie and her folks came over and did chalkwork all over my front sidewalk. It was wonderful – lots of colors, flowers and rainbows. After that, every year, we would have a chalk party. A couple of other kids in the neighborhood joined in. I even found glitter chalk online to add to the festivities.
This summer, the family moved a few blocks away and while I briefly thought about asking if the girls wanted to come over, I let it go as they are so busy with camps until school starts. On Monday afternoon, YA texted me from downstairs (she was working from home and I was upstairs) that Marie (younger daughter) was at the door. I hurried down and found the whole family outside, working on a spectacular birthday chalk display, down the whole sidewalk, up and down some of the driveway, even on the steps up to the house.
There is a fun “dance zone”
An exhortation to sing
And the obligatory hopscotch
Marie and I did the hopscotch several times and after some more chat and hugs, they all headed home. That’s when I teared up a little – it was so special that they came over to do this for me. Hopefully this tradition can keep going for a few more years. I’m assuming that once Minnie and Marie hit their teenage years, coming over to do art on their “neighborhood gramma’s” sidewalk won’t be all that appealing!
When was the last time you jumped hopscotch? Any notable chalk artwork in your past?
I’ve been thinking about this term for a long time. What exactly is a lifetime? How good is any guarantee? And do I own any thing (product, device, appliance, clothing, etc.) that has been sold to me that came with a lifetime guarantee?
After all, a lifetime for a human can be less than a day to more than 120 years. Mosquitoes and many insects have lifetimes measured in days. Tortoises can outlive humans by a factor of 2, if the experts are to be believed. And Redwood and Sequoia trees live for four centuries or longer.
But let’s focus on human lifetime. Mine in particular. We bought the bathroom scale shown in the title photo from Brookstone at Southdale most likely, wayyyy back in the 1980s. It is battery operated, and I use it nearly every day to weigh myself. I’m weird that way. I think monitoring my weight daily helps me cut back on calories or exercise more to keep my weight roughly the same over the years. Not for everyone, but it works for me.
Lately, after easily 40 years of usage, the battery is showing signs of dying. I’m not positive, but I see larger than normal daily fluctuations in my weight. Normal is 1-2 pounds. Lately, I’ve seen several 3-5 lb. jumps or drops. I eat and exercise about the same amount every day other than an occasional restaurant or dessert pigout. So maybe the battery is at the end of its useful life.
I don’t even think Brookstone is around anymore, but if they were, and the battery died, would they honor their lifetime guarantee on this scale? Or did I miss the fine print in the sales literature saying something like “Lifetime guarantee or 40 years max, whichever comes first”?
No matter, the scale has been reliable and troublefree for decades, so if it dies, I’ll get a new scale that might be relatively cheaper because I won’t have to worry about getting a “long-term” lifetime guarantee. 20-30 years is about the best I can hope for.
MY QUESTION: Tell us about any products you’ve bought that came with a lifetime guarantee and have actually lasted far longer than you ever would have expected.
Trail Baboon 