Fashion and Meadow Muffins

Erleen is ready for cold weather and looks SO GOOD! Although so far we have had beautiful weather. Lots of sunshine and for North Dakota, moderate temperatures. The thermometer actually rose to 33 today!








On Sunday, I helped my friend, Nathan feed his cattle. He had just weened the calves. They have to be separated from the cows for several weeks. He has them in a pen away from the pasture with the cows. The challenge is to get the tractor into the pen without any of the calves escaping. When he feeds them alone, he has to go into a small entry, get down from the tractor, close the first gate, open the second gate, enter the pen and again, close the second gate. After feeding, the reverse process must be followed. With help, he simply goes in while I hold the gate and use a whip to keep the calves from escaping. It was fun even in the face of a 15 mile per hour wind which made the 21 degree temp feel like 5 degrees. Then, of course there is the chore of relieving the soles of my boots of their disgusting load.

We also connected with a dentist in Valley City. It's no fun having to change doctors and dentists.
Beside feeding cattle and modelling winter fashions, on Sunday we had four friends over for dinner and went into Valley City for Bible study with John, Lorraine and Dan. Wow, busy times.
Please make a note of our new phone numbers: Erleen (701) 269-7188 and Warren (701) 269-7187.

Cathedrals & Crows

We just returned from a four-day trip to Minneapolis. I attended a tax conference sponsored by the Minnesota Society of CPAs. This was our first venture into downtown Minneapolis. We were amazed by the beauty of the downtown area. Here is a picture we we took from the window of our sixth floor room in the Hilton. On the left is an incredible Lutheran cathedral. Beyond it is the city conference center. More about that later.

This is another picture from our room. The black spots are crows - thousands of them. Downtown Minneapolis is clogged with crows. We were stumped trying to understand what they found to eat. The downtown area was very clean, no McDonald's bags laying around to attract a crow.

The conference center is impressive. It covers approximately three city blocks and has six levels. It is beautiful and huge. There are elevated walkways covering several blocks and leading to and through several hotels, parking garages and other facilities.

As we were leaving Hannaford, we discovered a water leak in our cellar. It was in the pipe coming in from the city. We told Ed Everson, who handles the water system. He had the leak fixed by the time we came home.

There were approximatly 1,700 participants in the tax conference. The speakers were high profile CPAs, lawyers and political characters.

We returned home mid-afternoon Wednesday to a sunny, balmy 19 degrees and strong winds. There was an inch of snow on the ground as well.

The lakes and ponds around us are nearly frozen over and ice is forming along the banks of the creek. Winter seems to be here. Although the prediction for tomorrow's high is 46 degrees.

It's good to be back to our "little house on the prairie". We are all ready for winter.

Robes and Snowblowers

Erleen has been busy sewing. She made herself and me new robes for the winter. They are beautiful and so warm

I finally finished my snowblower project. After many hours assembling and installing here it is ready for winter snows.

Our seniors club had its annual Thanksgiving dinner today at the cafe here in Hannaford. There were twenty-three of us for turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, peas and pumpkin pie.

Erleen is making 25 fleece scarves for the members of our club. We will go into Fargo tomorrow to buy the material.It is a beautiful sunny afternoon here.

The temperature is 38 degrees and there is no wind. So far no snow, but there is plenty of frost.

Winter, Harvest & Snowblowers

It's beginning to feel like winter. The prairie winds are blowing with gusto. They make the daytime high temperatures in the high forties feel like the high twenties. At night, the low thirties feel like the teens.


We enjoyed our church's harvest festival last night. In a church made up of farmers, this festival takes on new meaning. The collection amounted to $12,000 - pretty generous for a gathering of only 50 or so people.


The wheat, barley, flax and soy bean harvests were okay, but not as boutiful as last year. The corn harvest was good, but the sunflowers tanked this year due to the heavy rains and hail. I will help my friend, Nathan Lunde, move his cattle to their winter pasture next week.


My last few days have been consumed with assembling and attaching the snow-blower to the garden tractor. The blower comes in 75 different pieces. The instructions are comprised of some 50 steps. After removing the mower from the tractor and making a workable space in the shed, I have fininshed step 5.


Erleen has brough her herb garden into the washroom for the winter. She has two large tubs filled with rich soil crowded with her herb plants. We will continue to have tasty meals all winter.


Erleen and her sister-in-law, Lorraine spent yesterday in Fargo. They shopped, ate and visited.


There is a chance of snow flurries today, but so far it doesn't look likely.


We love our new life here on the northern prairies.

Home Again

After a wonderful afternoon with our friends, Jim and Astrid in Longview, Washington,

and an outstanding salmon goodbye dinner by Matt and Grace, we finally came home to Hannaford.

We turned in the rental car and boarded our plane at the Portland airport Sunday morning. After a short layover in Denver we arrived at Fargo Sunday evening. Erleen's cousin, Nadine and her husband, Darrell met us at the airport with our car. What a blessing to have their help!

All was well at our house except for a foul odor in the hot water. After emptying the tank, the smell abated.

We went to see Erleen's uncle Dennis Anundson. He is doing well in the nursing home in Cooperstown for a 94 year old.