Summer Mornings

There isn't a whole lot of deep stuff in this post, except for how wonderful summer mornings are. I remember as a kid (before central air) how I loved the mornings. Outside my bedroom window were two mock orange bushes and when they bloomed my room was like a floating paradise, at least to me. Now in my all grown up life, I still treasure summer mornings. I love the long shadows, the morning doves cooing as they sit in the sparkling dew laden grass. This is the good life!

The Number One Cause...

For you Fargo folks another has crossed the bar. Mr. Crippen, the infamous typing teacher at Agassiz Jr. High and later Fargo South High, died on June 9th at age 89. I thought he was at least 80 when I had him in the late 60's. Hmmm, another one of those teacher aging tricks that only they seem to possess. Doing the math, in 1968 he would have been 50. Younger than you know who!

My treasured memories of Mr. Crippen were always, and I mean always, getting caught chewing gum,(no guns, just gum). I would hear that scratchy voice, "Snyder, get rid of the gum."

Now my brother, Tom, who upon hearing of his death belts out the well worn and remembered phrase of Mr. Crippen, "The number one cause of typewriter repair is eraser crumbs in the machine."

My how times have changed. Your lesson lives on with one South High grad who doesn't even own a typewriter anymore. Farewell Mr. Crippen.

Worn Out

In past twenty-five days I have worked too hard and played too little. Two trips to Fargo to work on the house; loading a twenty-six foot truck with my brother, (and the 82 year old guy from across the street) so he can take the furniture to Chicago; hauling home crap to clutter this house, and let's not forget all the everyday stuff everybody expects and looks for. I am ready for a breakdown, but I don't seem to have time. I am tired and worn without blogging energy. Forgive me, I hope to be up to snuff by the weekend.

Girls Gone Wilder

Last night was the kick off to ladies night at the local course. It is always a fun filled night, with plenty of libation to see us through, should the golfing go bad.

The happy little group was Suzy, Jill, Janyce and moi. I am always amazed at how much fun, laughter and beer we take in. If good belly laughter increases your lifespan we should live well over one hundred ( hunert, as they say around here) years but then again the intake of beer may knock off a few days or so, at least a few days!

Janyce was note worthy with her longest drive. We always like to have a champion in the group, as it seems to justify the noise we make.

We also have a new real brick (no huffing and puffing this one down) men's and women's toilets, but for the moment it doesn't have a roof - still under construction. What better photo op than three chipper girls peeking over the top. Ron likes to fly over on girls night to give us a wave. He could easily have a full plane of riders once word gets out of that no roof business.

Why I Never Get Anything Done

A quick laugh needed? Check out my favorite sites: INDEXED. Last night I was surfing around on the New York Times website and found Indexed. Click on any of the archived and you're bound to find something to hoot about.

At least I know why I never get anything done, which is more than I can say for some.

Beads for Life

Mother's Day was a mere two weeks ago, at my pace I still have the cards out and feel it was just hours ago. So to publish this on Memorial Weekend is rather speedy for me, lighten up it is still May!

I did have a wonderful day, worked like a dog but that's they way it it. We gathered here for supper and I brought my mother down from the nursing home. She managed to stay almost 2 hours. Like most residents, they like to go, but just gotta get back! Mom seems to think if she isn't there when they give a pill, or help her to bed, etc. she'll luck out. "Too bad Evie, ya shoulda been here." That is called institutionalization. We try to avoid it but it happens. Elderly, especially from that era and laced with some dementia, are respectful of the process and grateful for the help. Mom doesn't want to assume anything - she needs to be there, and doesn't want to miss her "turn." We should all be so accommodating.

Anyway, my kids were so kind and thoughtful. I received a book, gloves for the garden, Barnes & Nobel gift card, plants. Collin gave me a six pack of petunias, they were red & white striped. He told his mom we needed to get those for grandma Lizzie because they look like candy canes. I have them out in a big pot on the deck so we can watch them grow more candy canes.

Lainey,in Seattle, sent me an interesting necklace and bracelet, henceforth the photo. They came from an organization called Beads for Life. The necklace is created from colored paper, rolled tightly and I think, varnished. If you double click on the photo, and after noticing all the creases in my face, you can see the paper rolls. The bracelet is the same.

Beads for Life (www.beadsforlife.org)is a nonprofit organization that sells the beads to provide an income for impoverished women in Uganda, most living with HIV/AIDS or displaced from civil wars. The beads have a hang tag that says, "eradicating poverty one bead at a time." Check out the website just to get a better understanding of what these women do. Amazing, and rather unsettling for those of us who have so much and think we need more.

So both Lainey and Collin made some good choices for Grandma. Happy Mother's Day to all!!

Skinny Soup

The folks that reside here are terribly picky at eating. Some even think that a food item, if open/cooked and refrigerated, can only be eaten within 24 hours, or sooner. Some have even gone so far as to say, "I don't do leftovers!" I should hope to live long enough to see when they have to choose between clothes or food. Their paychecks won't go far enough to cover both, what with the way they think they should dress and dine. Ha Ha Ha, rude awakening awaits!!

Just a little tidbit I wanted to share.

Now to return to the soup. This is not a unique recipe; I am sure there are variations floating around everywhere. But I make this for me alone, as no one else will eat it, except on its day of arrival. It is low, low in calories or about 4 points in the land of W.W.

Saute onions and celery in E.V.O.O. (Rachael Ray vernacular for Extra Virgin Olive Oil) Quantity to your liking. Add chopped carrots.

Add 8 cups water
2 packages of beefy onions soup (Lipton's packets)
1 can mild Ro-tel
1 can kidney beans, drained
chopped cabbage

I make it thick like stew. If you don't like tangy, just add a can of stew tomatoes instead of Ro-tel.

Simmer until the vegetable are done. EVOO meets the two teaspoons of good oil each day criteria, beans - suppose have a least 3 times or more a week for fiber and the Ro-tel is spicy which is suppose to rev up your metabolism.

Of course, this can be jazzed up with whatever else suits your fancy.
Enjoy!

Flip From a Forever Friend

Yesterday I came home from work to find a package laying in the front hall, actually two - the other one was for the neighbor. Ron had told me Best Buy or UPS, I wasn't listening too closely, was going to deliver a package tomorrow. "What did you buy?" soon followed as he knows I can be a purchasing giant in zero to ten seconds. Nothing to my recollection. Geez, maybe someone from Best Buy read my blog regarding the Geek ER and they wanted to thank me for the free advertising; maybe I was being rewarded for my two big (to me) purchases in less than 30 days. You know, one of those "we're glad you chose Best Buy" kind of things.

I gingerly opened the package, with Lacy hovering and asking a couple thousand unrelated questions needing answers RIGHT NOW, sure there would be an answer tucked in amongst the plastic air pillows. A cute little box (remember I am a box lover and saver) with Flip Video written on the outside. Hmmmm, nothing on the packing slip but my name, address and other unfamiliar numbers. No XXXXXXX1234 denoting a credit card number. (To date I have not had a kid use my credit card for an online purchase, unbeknown to me - but never say never!) And of course, no Thank You for choosing Best Buy. I even went on line to check my credit cards to see if there were any purchases. Maybe I had a blackout one day. Zip - no purchases.

So I dialed up the Best Buy 888 number, did the functionary "press one blah blah blah" thing finally getting a human voice. "Well, let's just see what we can find out." was her cheery reply. And she actually had information I could use. She gave me the initials and last name of my long time, forty seven year long time, friend. I said, "OH, Susan, really. I can't believe it" Miss Cheery was just as happy for me as I was. Wow, how unbelievably nice!

Now that I didn't have to return the Flip video machine I dared open the box. Susan was still at work so I knew I would wait to call her. This little Flip unit is so cool, everyone should have one - but of course, you would need to have a friend like Susan, too. Very easy to operate. My first video, which I was able to do almost immediately, was of me and my double chin (bad camera angle) saying slowly, "Wow this is so neat." I plugged it into my laptop, it loaded the necessary software right from the flip unit and we were up an running. In fact, the most difficult part of the whole deal was threading the wrist band into this itty bitty sunken bracket. But after numerous attempts I did succeed with the help of the factory twisty wrapped around the wrist bracelet.

About 8:00 our time I called Susan to gush forth with my thank yous. She is known to have fabulous gifts, all of which adorn numerous areas of our home. The Flip will be no exception. We are also long time Barbie comrades, both beginning the epoch around 1960. I still have my fleet (Barbie, Ken, Midge, Allen, etc.) and I am sure Susan still has hers. Around the holidays I have received many a Barbie ornament. They are in their boxes for the time being as Lacy goes wild. Now we take them out and look at them and I tell her Susan had this outfit, I had this and so on. The magic of Susan's gift giving is this: she has never married, not even once, and has no children. Read between the lines.

So now all you blog readers, a new facet has come to the post. I took it out at the store today and used it in Staples, Lacy soon was "filming" me. I wish I would have had the wherewithal to use it at Herbergers while she was having a tantrum because I wouldn't buy her the too tight shorts, (we did settle on the eights - no sevens, even though the other shoppers were looking at me like: why don't you just smack her and she'll be happy she gets to live another day) It all had to do with my parental holding pattern of being the ever so cool and self assured mother. I scoff at tantrums.

Returning to my chat with Susan, Best Buy did send me an email telling me of the forthcoming gift. I didn't open it because is only said E. (short for Elizabeth and she hasn't been E to me since the third or forth day of 1st grade) has a gift for you. I just thought it was some Eabando Mukarazi Whodookadad telling me to let him deposit his millions in my account before the Iranians seize it. Anyway, to coin her words in the gift greeting (after I dug it out of my deleted files) "the Flip video is to take your blogging to the next level." Who knows a You Tube moment could be just around the next corner!

While I Lie Sleeping

The beauty of North Dakota in May. We had rain most of yesterday, and this during the night. Four inches of wet white is great, but it is almost the same total we received all winter. Every few years we get this in May. The last time of note was May 12th on Karlie's 12th birthday. She will be sweet sixteen on Monday.

Never say Never

Just a little bit of tid...we're up to 32 snakes. Lacy (she's 10) even whacked a few one day. Ron thought he could have had a suit made from all the skins, had we saved them. Doesn't that make you want to hurl??

I Think We Got 'Em

This has been a gruesome spring in these here parts. Five measly letters and they spell SNAKE. This snake story started about three weeks ago when our grandson, Collin, came to visit. He innocently asked to jump on the "jumpoline" which is our trampoline. Collin, only three, needed booster assistance to get on board - so Grandma to the rescue. As we walked out to the tramp/jumpo there, lying underneath, was a mid sized garter snake. For one who doesn't "do" snakes (moi) he seemed like a forty foot anaconda carrying six shooters. Like Earl, he had to die.

Over the years this green turned glorified country girl has learned to kill snakes, (Not bats or lizards though) maybe not the forty foot kind, but a garter snake, yes. My preferred weapon of choice is the hoe, not one with a wimpy little pie shaped head, but one with a firm wide metal blade, heavy artillery.

So Collin and I bolted for the garage to get the hoe. We raced back to the tramp for fear he may get away. It is now I get dramatic. Up comes the hoe, well over my head, with my knees bent like a Twins batter, as I prepare for the slam. I then make this blood curdling "aaayaaa." while the hoe comes down at a blurring speed. I have made the first blow, only to follow with a few more, never quite sure if this is one of those regenerating reptiles. Who knows, they may have mutated their genetics since I was in science class. Should that be the case, my victims don't want to regrow anything by the time I am done with them.

I realize this is not good grandma behavior, but Collin is a farm kid and he should learn from a pro, who else to teach him but his beloved grandmother. He does call me grandma Lizzie.

Now the story isn't over yet. This first snake take was about 10:30 in the morning, before sundown we had killed 16 snakes all in one area, out the south door. Grandpa did most of the slaying as the day wore on. Collin would stand the back stoop and yell "get 'em Papa, get 'em Papa." We poured diesel fuel down these little holes, later some gas. Some times they would slither around almost disoriented.

We figured they must have a den underneath our ash tree. Years ago there was a huge elm tree now with only old dead root rubble underground, perfect for a snake den. Each spring we usually would knock off a few here and there, but this was of record proportion. For the next week we totaled 23 - some little, some rather large. I would come home from work at noon, eat lunch, throw some clothes in the dryer, check the mail, kill a few snakes.

Things have been quiet out the south door. Word must be out in the snake world about a loud mouthed blond with a wicked hoe. It did turn cool and their sunning was less then favorable, but not to see any in over a week and a half - I think we got 'em Papa!

Repeat Offender

I knew it was just a matter of time before I rejoined the ranks of Weight Watchers. Twenty-two pounds over my goal and I am back paying to lose. I joined in June of '06 after my doctor told me to either lose some weight and drop your cholesterol or go on medication. Being a wild child of the late 60's and 70's you would have thought I'd have opted for the drug regime. Bonk, wrong answer.

In November of '06 I lost 29 pounds and became a lifetime member. I did well, even through the months of rich steaming Tom & Jerry's. T&J's are my winter favorite with dark rum instead of brandy, oh my that is another story in itself. Anyway, I kept it off for the most part, with a few pounds creeping on here and there. I was even exercising - the ultimate secret to any weigh loss plan.


But in July of '07 my Dad had an aortic aneurysm repaired. The surgery was successful, it was the recovery that wasn't. Aspiration pneumonia set in and it wore him down enough to die on September 14th. It was during those struggles I too gave up the careful strategies Weight Watchers had taught me.

During the 7 weeks of Dad's downward spiralling my brother and I spent some wonderful time together. We ate and drank in many a Fargo establishment, almost daily, and then some. We dined at "Mexican Village", which Tom said is the best Norwegian Mexican a guy could ever want; the "HoDo", which was the Hotel Donaldson when we were young - a veritable fleabag affair, now it is up upscale.

And then there was this great Italian Restaurant (more upscale) in downtown Fargo, Tosca's or something like that. We arrived about 7:45, hardly an odd dining time, only to be turned away because they stopped serving by 8:00 p.m. Next door the VFW (to old Fargoans - The Black Angus) had some battle of the bands on Tues, Wed, and Thursday nights making fine dining near impossible. If they all had that service plan when we arrived I may not be back at Weight Watchers.

I have this theory, unproven - as most all of mine are, once you get back into the swing of fabulous and reckless dining things just go to hell, really fast. I have the over fifty metabolism which is as speedy as cold Karo Syrup, and the uncanny ability to have about 40 reason why not to exercise, road work as my brother calls it. So you see it really isn't hard to understand why I am back counting points, panting on the treadmill and digging out the old sizes as I plan to work my way down to a size 8 again. Tip: don't throw out the old sizes with that funny notion you'll not need these anymore. A few Rubbermaid containers and you will always have slacks that fit!

Determination isn't my long suit but I sure hope I can dissolve some fatty deposits before too long. Swimsuit season is just around the corner, and I don't want to be one of those bulky girls who everyone wishes would cover up or just go home. I also hope that by making a bold blog statement I won't fall off the wagon assuming no one will know of my latest attempt at weight loss. Heaven forbid should I become a multiple repeat offender with little to no rehab potential, a.k.a.blissfully fat!

A Little Dab Won't Do

We did get some moisture, but hardly enough. We received about one fourth of one inch of wet snow on the 24th. But no real record breaker, as in '84. Ron and I had lunch at the golf course today and this was out the west window. It is too small to see but there is a sprinkler going on the 6th hole. FORE!

Geek ER

In the past three days I have been digging into the innards of my computer until I thought I was going to have some sort of breakdown. I have them often and know the early signs.

It began when I made an attempt at hooking up a printer to the laptop. All our printers, we have three, not because we are upper crust, but - the laser is about 10 years old and refuses to die, the HP photo is one we bought a few years back, and then there is the Epson, one of my Dad's cast offs. They are all configured with Windows XP or below. None of the printer software will load onto a Vista OS.

After getting some sonly advise from Tad, who was on a tractor planting 20,000 onions, he told me I needed to download a patch from Epson. Easy enough for most, but remember I am prone to meltdowns and only dabble in directions. I couldn't do it because I kept attempting at 64 bit when I should have clicked on 32 bit. Mind you, I clicked on 64, as an uneducated guess: I have Vista Home Premium, and thought 64 must be better, because there is a Vista Home, they must be 32 bit. When I was little I remember my mother saying, "Well, it only cost 2 bits." It was at that early age I learned that a quarter was two bits. Now in the 21st century it has a new connotation. So using my childlike 1960 logic, wouldn't you think 64 is better than 32?

This printing nightmare started on Sunday. On Monday we had no school, (yipee!) and I needed take the dog in for his beauty parlor treatment - a buzz and a bath. I thought I am going to take this laptop into Best Buy for some work as it wouldn't take updates, and get some 64/32 bit advise. We loaded the van: Lacy, her friend Harley, Buddy the dog, who smelled, Carsten at the wheel, and of course me, the part time driving instructor. We struck out for Minot.

This is where the Geek squad comes in. She, not the two in the photo, but a skinny thing with maroon and yellow hair, began to work on it for the update problem. One month old and no updates are coming in. Of course, you are suppose to decipher any problems within two weeks if you have any hopes of free fix-its. "Then we can replace your (new and out of the box) unit with a new one." Ya, right, if you don't do anything else for two weeks, but mess around on your new computer (with the new Operating System)you might know if something is wrong.

While she works on the computer I am wandering around Best Buy, ignoring the three add-ons that came through the door with me, especially when they would come up and say, "We should get one of these," all the while hoping the maroon and yellow haired girl is going to fix my new favorite techie device . Soon, I stumbled into the camera department. I have been toying with getting a little purse size unit so I can capture the times of my life. We already have three cameras, but none are credit card size. Before long I had a nice little red Nikon in my clutches, ready for purchase. Nikon has a S210 now, so I bought the S200 at close out prices. Regularly $179.00, clearanced for $79.00. SOLD, to the lady with the three add-ons who want her to buy everything but the camera.

The Maroon and yellow girl had now announced she couldn't fix it. I can either work with Mircosoft Tech support or pay $129.00 and they will reinstall the OS. We paid $129.00 after we bought it to make it ready for home use and to get the recovery discs. She wants me to shell out again? I am able to do a recovery as I have had to do it twice to our desktop - kid related issues. So home I go, with a new camera, the add-ons, a clean, shaved dog and my nonupdateable computer. Only to have a new problem.

I could not get on the Internet, which worked fine prior to the Minot trip, a few hours before. I dialed up maroon and yellow and she tells me she didn't do anything that involved Wi-fi stuff. I would need to bring it back in, to have them look at it. We are now up to $3.49 a gallon and I need to return to Minot? Figuring in time and my available time, I returned. I wanted at least to be able to get on the Internet, how could I solve the Microsoft problem without Internet? I did call our wireless server and he had me hook up with cable, so indeed the computer did accept Internet.

I poured myself a glass of Merlot before I left, sat down and regrouped. The wine was to settle the need to throttle maroon and yellow should she still be on duty. Back I went, minus the add-ons and dog. I did take my new camera, at this point, the only cheery thing in my life.

It was there I met the two in the photo. They were so enjoyable and chatty. But best of all, they fixed, quite easily I might add, you know who's error. I couldn't resist taking out my new camera and taking their picture. The Geek ER Docs.

1984, Not by George Orwell

Spring is taking its sweet time in arriving on the great plains. So is rain. The countryside is terribly parched and we look both skyward and tv-ward in hopes of something wet. Some are skeptical about the two extra days off the kids will have this weekend (Friday and Monday) for unused storm days. More than once I have heard, "We could still have a heck of a snow storm."

And oh yes, once upon a time we did! In 1984 we had 24 inches on the 24th of April. Those were my little words of rote to remember the storm data. In actuality, the storm started on the 24th and ended about 3 days later, back when this part of western North Dakota could still kick up a three day storm.

It started as rain, then slush and by nightfall it was snow. It was my second worst snowstorm as a farmer's wife. The first, being the infamous '75 snirt storm, which by the way was my first blizzard on the farm. We played Monopoly for three days; I must have been struck by love as I should have been packing! There were many many storms between '75 and '84, but those two captured 1st and 2nd place. Third - was another doozy in early April of '97. By the numbers, we are due for some type of decade event.

Anyway, returning to April of '84, we were smack dab in the middle of calving, as were all our neighbors, back when the countryside had neighbors. Each spring we moved the cows to our side of the river, up on the flats. They wintered on the river at the Espeseth home place. Moving the herd usually took place shortly before the first of the calves were due. Our side was sandy, sunny and dry, most of the time. Even if it did get ugly, the cows and calves weren't knee deep in muck as the river bottom could be in spring time.

So this fateful spring storm built up its furry and dumped on us with no mercy in site. Early in the storm the cows stayed up on the prairie, with hay and straw. Soon Myles fed them over the ridge down by the river, as it offered more protection. Before long a few calves were hauled up into the house as there was no real place to get them warmed. One was in the basement, getting lots of furious rubbing, and one was in the bathtub. He or she, I don't remember what, was almost iced and needed immediate treatment. Warm water was the only option left.

Before long the ridge along the river had drifts too high and too deep to get down there with the tractor, so all that was left was to wait it out, in hopes the calves that were ready to be born would wait as long as possible to "hit the ground."

Now comes the frustrating half of the story: I must have spent too much brain power remembering the 24 in 84 on the 24th, because I don't recall the outcome. I vaguely think one of the house calves died. But after that I just plain don't remember. Often I think "no news is good news," so possibly we didn't have a crisis with calves or cows. Spring blizzards may have their ferociousness, but one thing they haven't mastered is staying around for long. Soon the prairies were with bare ground and the crocuses were springing up in the pastures.

Whether we get a spring blizzard, thunderstorms, even spit showers would be welcome, let the heavens open up, please! We have burning bans, with the latest - only gas grills permitted for barbequeing. So each day we wait, and then wait some more. Maybe the early assumption of casting off unused storm days will be like washing your car or windows, only to have it rain! That would be nice.

Spoons

When I saw this recent photo of Lainey, I had to go digging for Collin's (who is now 3 1/2) similar picture. By the way, I am now using a flash drive for photo transport from one computer to the other. We've come a long way!

Lainey Grace 13 months

Collin Lee at about 18 months

Go Deep

I posted the prom before I finished the April 11th news. So scroll down to see what an active weekend we had.

The Couple