Projects

Over the holidays 2012, we played scrabble, rook, cooked, and fished. A couple projects that we enjoyed over the past couple of weeks ..........

And the cooperative effort.......Laura spearheaded the completion of the 1000 piece puzzle

Where did the past few months go?

A recent text from Liz told me to update the blog.....Yes, the last entry was in August. So what happened during the next few months? I guess I started working fall semester, and spent hours preparing for the classroom, writing tests, and correcting.

Laura and I rode horse only a few times, and went for daily walks with Kia

Gramma turned 94 years old this fall, we had a dinner out at the Cornfield Cafe before the ice and snow came.

Winter came, along with frosty tree branches and a blanket of snow.



Thanksgiving 2012 ( I had to beg pictures from Laura)

Fathers Day

I'm so glad for all of the years we helped celebrate a very special Father's day and Birth day in one.
He would have been 97 years old this year.

My earliest memories are of him coming in from the field or from doing chores, sitting on the step and taking off his lace up boots.  Heading to the basement to wash up before supper.

Sunday afternoons teaching me how to throw, catch, and hit a softball
Ice skating down the Sheyenne-for miles and miles, looking for animal tracks along the way
Walks on the river on New Years Day
Shooting the 22
Being coached-how to saddle up, chase the bulls, vaccinate the calves
Driving the grain truck, the H International with a narrow front end, and the combine
Every Sunday-regardless of the season, being in Fellowship meeting

Smart, and a quick self learner, life had required him to leave formal education after the 8th grade
I can hear him say.....'Get a good education, that's something no one can take away from you'
He lived through the depression and World War 2,

Always so proud of his Granddaughters!! All 3 - soon - with a Bachelors Degree, the only thing of value in this life that responsibility didn't allow him to attain.

 

Mikiaha's long day

Well, I do think she looks tired, it was a trying day, not the same as lying around on the porch, chasing geese
when Will wasn't here, going for a swim, and barking to satisfy her imagination.

Today she went to Muttly's a dog grooming place in town. It started with a bath, a blow dry, and finished
with clipping. Her long hairs on her feet are clipped, and the rest thinned and combed out.

To me she smells really good, and is welcome to stay in the house-to her, she smells really bad and is sitting
by the door waiting to bolt for the lake, and anything else she could find to get her old self back together again.

The rule is-her coat must stay silky and clean until Laura comes on
Saturday.........

Organizing-Part II

 

I've read that cleaning and organizing a house requires high level thinking skills

Yes, first I know something needs to be done

I comprehend it will be a big job, require several days, and get flack from Will

OK, time to apply my time and energy to the task

Analyzing the stuff, deciding what to keep and where to put it-what to donate, throw?

Synthesis of like stuff, and frequency of use

Evaluating  at various stages and at completion

Does it look clean and organized

Has it made life simpler and easier?

Organizing

Oooh....I am extremely Thankful for Daughters.

Adult daughters bring into the family new ideas and up to date suggestions to enhance quality of life for parents and even grandparents....For example:

The house is cleaned and furniture arranged for a new and refreshing look....Thank you Laura

We are reading the WSJ and having interesting and challenging discussions....Thank you Kristin

and  the newest awakening came this weekend from Elizabeth....

Elizabeth watched a documentary about hoarding during her stay in Florida before leaving for a cruise.
She shared this very interesting topic with us.

Monday I started on the pantry-Wednesday- the refrigerator and freezer in the kitchen. Yes, I am determined to work my way through the house purging as I go.

The documentary definitely made both of us think....but before Will left for golf today he said....' Don't throw out anything that is still good-if it's outdated but not bulging remember - it's still good ? '

I had lunch with a long time friend yesterday who said to me    "Don't you just LOVE GOLF"  !!!

Yes, I do like golf season, now I have at least 1 or 2 days a week that I can freely clean and organize and it's never missed

What do people do without daughters ??

                                                                                    

newspapers

This month we visited our Daughter and Son in law in Idaho. On their end table was the Wall Street Journal. Both of us thoroughly enjoyed reading most of what was in this paper, we found it to be current, informative, and pertinent to what is happening both in our country and abroad.

The first week we were home, Will subscribed to the WSJ and it arrived in our mailbox this week. The Forum, the newspaper we had subscribed to for years was coming up short. It seemed most of the articles were about area fringe groups, and contained little useful information. We started thinking of the Forum as a sister paper to the National Enquirer. We will most likely continue to get the Forum as Gramma enjoys reading through the funnies, marriage and engagement announcements, and the obituaries. But beyond that, the paper is basically useless.

We are looking forward to being better informed about the actual news in the country, money and investing, and being entertained with the journal section, which is a far cry from what we've endured with the Forum's newest 'She Said'

Thank you Blair and Kristin, we'll be so much smarter now 

Visiting Kristin and Blair

This spring, Laura didn't have vacation plans during Spring break, we hoped it would work for her to stay with Gramma so we could drive out to Kristin's. We hadn't been there for a couple of years, and knew a visit was long over due. We didn't say anything to Kristin, as should something come up we didn't want to disappoint her, Laura suggested we plan the trip, and just suprise Kristin. We needed to include Blair in our plans-so they wouldn't be gone. The drive was event free, the weather suburb, and it was wonderful to hug Kristin and Blair again.

Boycott

Last week I decided to return a piece of fishing equipment I'd purchased at Walmart. The original intent was to make cleaning the fish easier for Will.....He really didn't think it would work...so I took it back to get a refund......

I went to the customer service counter, noticing that 2 people were ahead of me, I judged it would be a reasonable wait to stand in the line........

5 minutes went by, the lady directly ahead of me turned and walked away with a disgusted look....I happily moved up to the #2 position.

10 minutes....I continued to stand in line, noticing 3 people carrying items had joined the line behind me....

15 minutes....I noticed 2 of the people behind me left......
                    I also  noticed there still was only 1 customer representative waiting on customers...the 2 other
                    stations were closed, The lone representative of the store made no attempt to call for extra help,
                    but took her time completing the complicated transaction of the person ahead of me.......
                    During this time a couple of employees from the consumer service station wandered in,
                    glancing toward the line, and continued to the back, behind closed doors.

20 minutes...I stuck to my place in line, refusing to leave and 'shop for a little while' and come back later,as
                   this could only reward  the store by selling more 'stuff'.
                   My turn came, I pleasantly returned the item, thanking the customer service representative for
                   help, turned and walked out of the store

                  Thinking.....Hmmmm.....This is the last time I care to walk out of this store

It doesn't support costumer convenience, maybe I shouldn't support it,
                                   
                 
                

Winter snow in February

We've enjoyed the freedom to drive and walk anywhere - any day during this winter because of the lack of snow and wind.

But.... at the end of February- it looks like winter arrived. None of our neighbors drove anywhere, we didn't have meeting, and we maybe even burned some extra calories wearing boots and coveralls walking to the barn to water and feed the horses.

 Grandma and I watched from the house as Will and our neighbor Joe  moved snow with Bobcats.

Back to our roots

Cross country skiing (2 miles today)
Fishing and pickled Herring
Coffee

political philosophy 2012

Written by Ed Will

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. 

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.. 

The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED 

The professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that. 

  A test is coming up. The 2012 elections.

January at the Lake

Setting up the 'fish house'-can't let everyone else get all of the fish......





The first fish