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.

Christmas in Mississippi

Since this Christmas was to be only Erleen and Warren, we decided to tak a road trip. We traveled through some 17 states during our two weeks on the road. We stopped in St. Louis to take the tram to the top of the Arch (some 620 feet up). Christmas day was spent driving the length of Mississippi.

After touring St. Augustine, Florida, we spent five days in a beautiful condo in Orlando.

While in Orlando we enjoyed a dinner show called Arabian Nights. It consisted of a large cast of Arabian horses, actors and acrobats.

We spent an afternoon on the beach at Clearwater, Florida on the Gulf coast. It was 85 degrees.

In Branson we took the "Tour of Lights". It was a 45 minute drive through an amazing display of lights.

Branson, Missouri is a family-oriented Las Vegas. We saw two great shows and visited a theme park where we were incarcerated.

During our trip the weather was perfect everywhere we went. Upon returning home, we found that Hannaford had received its first snow.

After four or five inches of snow, I finally got to use my snow blower.

Turkey & Fleece

We enjoyed a great feast on Thanksgiving provided by John and Lorraine Curtis (see the chefs at left). With John's kids, Lorraine's brother, sister-in-law and their family along with several friends, we had quite a crowd. There was turkey, ham and all the trimmings. Hospitality seems to run in the Curtis family!

Erleen has been busy making fleece scarves and robes for friends and family. Notice the beautiful sky-blue robe on the lazy guy relaxing in his easy chair. Everyone at the senior center wanted a scarf. One lady ordered 30.

All the locals are raving about the beautiful weather. On Thanksgiving the mercury hit 60 degrees. We were all sun-bathing in our swimsuits (not really). We still have only had a half-inch of snow.

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.