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.

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.