Fall, Falls, Falling

Fall has fallen and with it beautiful leaves and the soy bean and corn harvest.  The elevator picture shows huge piles of soy beans and corn.  The crop was so big it could not all fit into the bins and is simply being piled on the ground.  The outlook for next year is in doubt.  Unless we get precipitation in the next few weeks, the sub surface soil will not have sufficient moisture to insure a good harvest next year.

The leaves are awesome.  The picture was taken at Inspiration Point near Fergus Falls, Minnesota.  We were there with two other couples from our church for a seminar on how to understand the world today's teens live in.  It was certainly eye-opening.

Niagara Falls was a wonderful experience.  We took a 10 day trip around the Great Lakes and spent a couple of days at Niagara.  It gave us a new appreciation for the beauty and enormity of God's handiwork.  About half of the time we were in Canada.  We were shocked at the cost of fuel and food there.

The big surprise was to find snow falling on October 4th.  We received about an inch which had mostly melted by the next day.  Oh well, this is North Dakota.

In addition to all of the other running around, we spent three days in Minot.  I attended the North Dakota Society of CPAs' annual convention.

Bowling has started up as well.  Every Thursday evening we bowl with our league, the Gutter-Busters.  Our handicaps are sky-high and our averages low, but we have fun.

We hope to get to the coast in December for a visit.  See you all then.

It's been a busy summer!  Vacation Bible School at Zion Lutheran was a highlight.  See top picture.  Erleen and I gave the gospel and bible stories to about 70 grade school kids.  There were several teen-age helpers who also heard the messages.  Besides teaching, Erleen played and sang for the kids which they enjoyed.  One little boy told his mother afterward that he had learned more about the bible in VBS than he had all year in Sunday School.  The kids were very receptive to the gospel message.  We believe that God did a real work in many little hearts.

We also spent a weekend in Minot helping with flood restoration.  We slept at a large Lutheran church (Our Redeemers Lutheran Church).  Many will remember the devastating flood that occurred there in 2011.  Some 11,000 people were evacuated and the damage was massive.  Much of the restoration has been done.  We were part of a crew which prepared yards for hydro-seeding.  As Erleen was visiting with one of the ladies from the host church, she discovered that they had been at Bible school together in Fergus Falls some 47 years ago.  It's a small world.

We are members of the Hannaford seniors club (the Friendly Fun-makers).  Erleen is one of the officers.  We entered a float in the Griggs County Central high school homecoming parade.  You can just see Erleen dressed as "old mother Hubbard" and me dressed as a railroad engineer.

The garden continues to produce wonderful vegetables and herbs.  It keeps Erleen busy watering, harvesting and preserving.

The house-painting continues as well.  Maybe we will finish someday!

"The corn is as high as..."

As you can see the "Corn is as high as an elephant's eye".  (For you teeny-boppers, this is a line from a song from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma").  As the rest of the nation suffers a drought and serious crop losses, North Dakota's crops are doing great.  We are just beginning to harvest a fine crop of winter wheat.  The corn and soy beans look to do very well also.

Our auto license plates read "The Peace Garden State".  Since we had never seen the International Peace Garden, we made the trip to the Canadian border.  The US and Canada created the Peace Garden to commemorate the pledge never to take up arms against one another.  The Peace Garden is several acres of beautiful flowers, bushes, trees, fountains and walkways which lie on both sides of the border.

The bottom picture is of the walkway around our house at night.  Erleen has planted red, white and blue  wild-flowers, lilies and carrots (??) along the borders.  She has also interspersed lights to create a magical effect.

We are enjoying good vegetables from our garden now.  Erleen canned green beans and zucchini relish so far.

Family Time

Spring has been a wonderful time at grandma & grandpa's home.  Grace drove from Portland to Hannaford in three days with Brendan (4) and Eva (2).  What a brave lady!  We enjoyed having them for about three weeks.  The kids enjoyed the two parks in Hannaford, playing with the toys grandma amassed, playing in the sand box and, yes, fishing.  Grace helped spruce up the back yard and did wonders with our garden.  What a blessing.

Matt flew in for a very short visit and drove back with Grace and the Kids.  We all spent one night at Medora, ND.  We watched the Medora Musical in the huge out-door theater and enjoyed the "pitchfork steak fondue" dinner.  The meat is skewered on pitchforks and immersed in vats of boiling oil.  We also explored the quaint, touristy town.

The Northern Pike have been in the crick (creek for you west-coasters).  We have enjoyed many wonderful meals of fish.  We are also beginning to get produce from the garden.  There is nothing like fresh fish and fresh produce.

Kumla - Yumm

High School events are a big deal here in Griggs County.  We went last night to a concert by the high school.  It was impressive.  The various choral groups were very good.  The 56 member band did an excellent job.  The instrumental ensembles were outstanding.  They do many Christian songs here which they probably could not do in California.

Erleen and I have been busy around the yard.  The beautiful spring weather has kept us outside.  See above the garden and newly decorated shed.

We were invited to Ron & Ruth Berge's home for dinner yesterday.  They serviced Kumla.  Kumla is a Norwegian dumpling made from potatoes.  They are rather time-consuming to make.  Ruth taught Erleen to make them.  Perhaps she will make them for those of you who visit us here.

Snow in Portland?

The death of an old client caused us to make an unexpected trip to Humbolt County. However, on the way we found out that we did not need to be there after all. So we went as far as Portland to celebrate Grace's birthday.

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While in Hannaford the temperatures were in the 60's and 70's, we woke up to an inch of snow in Portland (hence the pathetic snowman).

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The kids made Mama's cake with a little help from Grandma and Grandpa. We all had a great time.

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As we made out a card for Barnabas' birthday, I was reminded of my "adventures in babysitting" with the Cain kids several years ago in Pennsylvania. I don't recall how many years ago it happened, but Gracie had just learned to crawl.

It was early afternoon; the kids were sleeping. Nathan was at work. Erleen and Melodee decided to go shopping in Hagerstown, Maryland. It was a warm, peaceful day so I volunteered to babysit.

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Gracie and Barnabas woke up and were playing quietly in the living room. My cell phone rang. It was my office with an emergency. I peeked into the living room and saw Jerry and Abe with a jar of peanut butter and one of jelly which they were eating with their fingers. I told the office I would call back. After cleaning PB & J from the kids, the divan and the floor I called the office back.

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Before I could do anything, one of the kids asked me where Gracie was. Another look into living room which was absent Gracie and I hung up on the office again. A thorough search of the main floor did not turn up the missing child. Careful searches of the basement, second floor and the attic rooms were fruitless. I began to panic.

I began a second search beginning at the top and ending in the basement. Once again, no Gracie. as I sat near tears I noticed a slight movement in a three-foot high pile of dirty clothes. I tore through the pile and at the bottom, you guessed it, there was Gracie.

Back to the phone again. As my office answered, there was a blood-curdling scream from the living room. I dropped the phone and ran to the scene of the emergency. On the divan, screaming was Barnabas. I didn't see any blood or broken bones and at first was not sure what the problem was. Then I noticed that his hand was between the cushion and the end-piece of the divan. This seemed to be the source of the problem. A quick look verified that a large furniture staple was attached to the divan by one end and the other end had gone through his finger and out again.

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Several attempts to free him failed. Meanwhile he continued to scream at the top of his lungs. In desperation I fumbled for my pocket knife and cut the fabric. The staple had gone through his finger and out again like a fish hook. I was able pull the staple out with only a slight increase in the volume of the screaming. The finger was bleeding profusely. I washed the puncture and looked for a bandaid. Of course there was none. So I wrapped the finger in toilet tissue and had him hold it.

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Back to the office emergency. I needed to receive a FAX. So with the the cell phone between my shoulder and ear I began trying to figure out my son-in-law's FAX machine. At that moment, the land-line phone rang. I continued to work on the FAX machine with the cell phone between one shoulder and ear and the other phone between the other shoulder and ear. The call was from Erleen. I yelled into the receiver: "GET HOME NOW!!!"

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With the exception of that one fiasco, I remember having a wonderful visit with Nathan, Melodee and the kids. Grandparenting is great. If we had known grandkids were so much fun, we would have had them first.

Yum!

As you can see we finally got a blanket of snow with the promise of more to come this weekend. The town looks so clean in its covering of snow. I got to go out and play on my snowblower!

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Erleen has been busy baking. You can see the German chocolate brandy cake, chocolate cherry kahluha cake with Mrs. Richardson's fudge frosting and a 14 carrot rum cake with cream cheese frosting. We are celebrating a late Valentines day and 45th anniversary with our Hannaford seniors club, our Wednesday bible study group and TIm & Debbie Fogderud & Irving Standley.

Routine

Things have settled into a bit of a routine here: Sunday morning church, afternoon company for dinner, evening bible study with a small group in Page, ND. -- Wednesday afternoon Seniors club in Hannaford and small group bible study in Cooperstown. -- Thursday evening bowling with the Gutter Busters. -- Friday afternoon: bible study with the family. Whew - seems like a lot of bible study. Actually these events are as much about socializing as they are serious bible study.

We had a cold snap last week. Jack Frost painted the trees beautifully as you can see. Night temperatures dropped to 16 below zero with wind chill in 40s below. During the day it warmed up to 2 below. The saying here is: "there is no bad weather, only inadeqaute clothing". The temperatures have come back up to the low thirties - break out the shorts and flip-flops.

The water tower piture was taken a few weeks ago after a light snow. It is looking west on bridge avenue toward our new fertilizer plant.

Sunday we sang in church. Erleen played her auto harp and I played my guitar. It was the first time we have ever done that. Saturday evening we got a call asking us to teach the "kids lesson" in the morning service as well as singing. This we did with God's help.

Last week we celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary. We spent a night in a nice motel in Fargo. We went to the the movie "Hugo" which we enjoyed. It is about an orphan who lives in a train depot in Paris. It brought back memories of many hours spent in the enormous Union Station in Kansas City as a child. My grandfather worked there.

Mountains in North Dakota?

I suppose it had to happen at some point. Erleen caught a cold. And generous person that she is, she gave it to me. Now I understand that it is better to give than to receive.

Having recovered from our colds, we took a trip into Fargo to shop. Somehow Fargo got a storm that missed us here in Hannaford. They got over five inches of snow in a few hours. The picture shows one of many "snow mountains" formed by the use of wheel-loaders to clear parking lots. Kids love to climb these things and slid down.

Here in Hannaford we got another inch of snow last night. It is not enough to be a problem, but enough to be scenic.

We are busy getting ready to have John, Lorraine, and kids with Dan and Rachel for dinner (that's lunch for you west-coasters). They are also bringing a friend of Angele's who is visiting from North Carolina. It's great to have family around.

Burrrrr

Tim & Becky Hager had the family over for a Sunday Afternoon dinner at their farm south of Valley City. It was great fun to see 40 or so family all at one time.

Winter temperatures have finally arrived. Not much snow but sub-zero temperatures are here. The bank thermometer reads -4F at 10:30am. This was up four degrees from earlier. It is supposed to reach a high of zero today. Brrrrr.

We have been staying in a lot lately. We have put puzzles together, played Scabble, watched movies and read. I've gotten back to my stamp collection again as well.

We do get out however. Every Thursday night is bowling. Sunday morning is church and Sunday afternoon family Bible study. Every other Wednesday afternoon we meet with the local Seniors club. The other Wednesdays we have a Church Bible study in Cooperstown. We get into Jamestown or Valley City occasionally to shop as well.

Erleen just left to take an elderly lady to Cooperstown for a hair appointment. She will spend time with Rachel and with uncle Denny while waiting.

We enjoy our little "Grandma & Grandpa" home during the cold weather. It is a very pleasant place we share with each other.