Have you ever been to Quartzsite, AZ?

Have you ever heard of the Reader's Oasis in Quartzsite? It's a used book store and is probably one of the most highly sought out tourist attractions in the area. Now mind you, I didn't say the most highly RATED I said the most sought out.


Below is a picture of the owner. He dresses like this all year round unless it's really nippy - then he wears a jacket. This is no lie - this is for real!! I've seen it with my own eyes - well, not IT, but him anyway. YOU know what I mean!!










So does this pique your interest? Any comments please?

BTW, I think Beau is on the mend. He seems better today and the swelling in his shoulder and leg are down.

More later - as always

Love Lena

Beau and Daisy Meet Goat Heads

Well, it's time to catch you all up on things I suppose. The adventures go on.

We finally pulled out of Big Brother's place on Monday about 1:30 - hurrah - we're on the road again - finally. Following a lunch stop at the local golf course we hit the highway and headed south. Our destination for the night was Deming, NM - a distance of about 175 miles. We didn't make it.

Somewhere along the highway between Alamogordo and Las Cruces we were hit by a very strong gust of wind strong enough that Ole had to grab tight to the steering wheel to keep from going in the ditch. It hit hard enough that it knocked this big rig over onto the rumble strip. As Ole managed to steer it back onto the highway we thought we had just hit a bad patch of road because the road noise was unusual. A few seconds later things seemed to have cleared up as the noise disappeared. Suddenly a woman in a little white car passed us flying by and waving her arms for us to pull over. She pulled ahead of us and stopped and Ole got out to talk to her. She indicated that we were throwing sparks all over. We didn't know that we'd blown a tire on the tow dolly because everything looked fine in the rear view camera. When Ole went back to check things out what was left of the tire was only shreds and the wheel was flat on one side. The fender on the tow dolly looked like a pretzel and I'm so fortunate that nothing damaged my car.

The problem was that it was getting close to 5 o'clock, starting to get dark and it was 60 miles to the nearest town. Ole managed to get the wheel off the mangled mess, threw it in the back of my car and off I went to catch up with Big Brother, who was already over the next several hills. I had called him, he had pulled off and was waiting for me. I followed him into Las Cruces where we found a Lowe's that had exactly what we needed and offered to let him leave his rig in their parking lot. Back the 60 miles in my car, after a stop to buy road flares and some burgers for supper as it was getting to be 7:30 and we were all hungry. When we finally got back to the rig it took the guys about 15 minutes to get everything back together and we were off again.

Lowe's said we could spend the night in their parking lot (thank you Lowe's) so we put out the slides and ran the dogs in a field that was close by. Then it was time for a toddy or two to relax a bit. I was the first one up this morning and discovered that our house batteries weren't sufficiently charged to even make a pot of coffee. That meant no toast either. So what does a woman do when she can't make toast or coffee? She goes shopping. I grabbed my purse and headed for the garden department of Lowe's.

Oh my gosh - it's just not fair. They had big orange poppies in bloom, primroses, pansies, trees that were blossoming - I want you all to know that I had a very difficult time holding myself back. I get that garden itch every once in awhile and for someone from the
Far North to see flowers blossoming in January makes that addiction very hard to control. But then I thought about dogger tails knocking the pots over and spreading freshly watered dirt all over and I decided I'd be better off leaving those flowers in the store. I did buy a couple of other things though, and wheeled the cart back to the RV to unload. Ole and Big Brother wheeled the cart back to the store for me and returned to the rig with a little blossoming primrose for me. So I do have a blooming flower and it's small enough to sit on the counter where dogger tails can't reach it!!

We had visions of reaching Gila Bend by tonight, but I guess we'll have to see if that will happen or not. We got a late start this morning - what with me losing control of my shopping addiction (me? shopping addiction? that's a real joke). But I guess we'll have to see how far we get today. Gila Bend is about 400 miles from Las Cruces so it's a full day's drive. And when you have dogger buddies along you travel slower than normal because they do need their potty breaks. It's much easier to travel with cats - - - -

Speaking of the doggers we're having issues. Yesterday we stopped at a truck stop to run the dogs. As soon as I get out of my seat, Beau has a habit of jumping into it, and Daisy into the driver's seat. Beau got a little bit over zealous when Ole opened the door and he took a dive from the passenger seat, missed all the steps and landed on his front legs, back legs in the air, on the asphalt. It's a good 6 feet from the passenger seat to the ground. I thought he was going to do a back flip before it was all over. He seemed to be fine until later than evening after he'd had a nap. When he got up he was pretty stiff, but we just thought he'd possibly strained a muscle. Today his shoulder joint is swollen but doesn't seem to feel like a pulled muscle. It almost feels like a large blood blister, and it hurts him to touch it. I wonder if he could have possibly ripped something and there's bleeding? The other thing that concerns us is that one of the places where we let them run was full of goat heads, unknown to us of course until it was too late. When Ole got them back to the rig Daisy could hardly walk and Beau seemed to be trying to walk on his tip toes. Ole sat down on the floor and started examining feet and pulled 15 goat heads from Daisy's feet and almost as many from Beau's. Daisy is still favoring one of her feet, but Ole said that one of the goat heads had already started to work its way in and he drew blood when he took it out. So hopefully that's all it is and it will be better by tomorrow. But poor Beau and his swollen shoulder - if he's not better by tomorrow we're going to have to find a vet to find out what's going on. I have lots of antibiotics along (cephalaxin) so depending on the situation I'll probably start giving drugs to both of them tonight. I sure don't need sick dogs and big vet bills when we're so far away from home.

During our travels late yesterday afternoon B4TBO (before tire blow out) we passed by the White Sands National Monument. If you've never been there, it's quite a site to behold. Ole and I were there several years ago and walked around on the white sand. Even went sledding down a sand hill. It's very difficult to make your brain realize that it's sand because it looks just like the snow drifts we have at home. Brrrrr.



Well, I guess we'll see how far we get tonight. We've still got a strong cross wind and I know that makes the guys exhausted from driving these big rigs and trying to hold them on the road. We drove through one area after leaving Deming, NM where there were sand storms. Not as bad this time as some of them we've been in, but Ole had to slow way down like when you're driving in a blizzard.

More later -

Love Lena

A Geography Lesson

Above is a map that will give you an idea of where I'm at. Big Brother lives just outside of Nogal, which is just to the left (west) of Capitan, NM, home of Smokey Bear.

There really was a Smokey Bear, you know. And he truly was found on the mountain outside of Capitan following a forrest fire. There's a beautiful park and memorial in Capitan for Smokey.

To the east of Capitan is Lincoln, NM, where Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid spent a lot of time and Billy the Kid was shot to death. The Wortley Hotel, formerly owned by Sheriff Pat Garrett, is located in Lincoln. Billy the Kid broke out of jail for the last time in Lincoln, killing Deputy J. W. Bell and U. S. Marshall Bob Ollinger, in the process. Bob was eating at the Wortley, along with several prisoners from the jail, when the breakout occurred. It was his last meal. Billy the Kid was considered too dangerous to be taken across the street and fed at the Wortley. He took his meals in the courthouse. He talked J. W. Bell into allowing him to go to the outhouse while everyone else was gone to lunch. On his way back from the outhouse, Billy overpowered and shot Bell.When Ollinger heard the shot he dropped his fork and ran across the street. Billy let him have it with both barrels of his own shotgun. He died well fed.

Just off to the right of the map you'll see Roswell, which I'm sure you've heard of - home of the Space Aliens and the landing site of their ship back in 1947. I truly poo-pooed that whole thing but after going through the museum and reading all the documentation and seeing all the pictures I left there really wondering. I'm no longer a full fledged doubter. Big Brother has been to both landing sites over the years.

Up on the north part of the map is a little ghost town called White Oaks which is very interesting - home to the No Scum Allowed Saloon. It's truly a ghost town, but people are beginning to come back and settle there restoring the houses that are still standing from the days of the gold mine back in 1879. Big Brother has a friend who lives there and we've been to visit him numerous times over the years we've traveled down here.

So there's lots of interesting things to see and do here and over the years we've seen/done them all. I really need to write about White Oaks and the No Scum Allowed Saloon - but that's a story for another day.

Can you believe it actually rained here last night? And it's overcast and the clouds are hanging low in the mountains today, but it's not cold.

So what's been going on here? Well, Big Brother's neighbor, Rick, has a dog named Sullivan, a year old Golden Retriever. Sullivan came over yesterday to meet and greet Beau and Daisy and welcome them to the neighborhood. Sullivan and Bruno (Big Brother's Plott Hound) are best buddies and play together just about everyday. Beau loved it, but Daisy, in her usual neurotic manner, had to supervise. When the play got too rough she thought she had to break it all up. No rough housing on her watch, you know. So by the end of the day, this is what we had in the RV:

Beau with his paw over his ear trying to drown out the sound of the TV.

Bruno sound asleep on the davenport using some towels as a pillow

Ooops - we ran out of seating room so Beau had to find the next best spot and sit ON Daisy. Why would a dog want to sit on the floor when there's a davenport available?

Well, I painted one door yesterday so I'm off to paint another one today.

TaTa for now - Lena

Aren't you Envious?

Aren't you just drooling over these pictures? I've seen some absolutely gorgeous sunsets in the deserts of Arizona, but I certainly think these sunsets are just as spectacular - taken from the ridge just above where Big Brother lives. The air temps cool down as the sun sets, but we were able to sit outside with light jackets and toast this beautiful view.

Today I put the kabosh on anymore building. It's time for Big Brother to get his 5th wheel and diesel truck ready to travel. I told him I would allow him to finish putting his bed together today, but that was it. We've all worked very hard and now it's time for some play time. You all KNOW that it takes a woman to get things going, right? All work and no play makes Ole and Lena and Big Brother some pretty dull people. Now we're going to go roaming around the desert for a bit, hit the big flea market at Quartzsite, AZ and various other things.

Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have something more interesting to write about.

Love Lena

Meet Big Brother

Well, here I am again - better late than never I guess. I've just been soooo busy I haven't been doing much updating or reading. So bear with me, okay?

We put the final coat of paint on the walls downstairs yesterday and Ole painted the bedroom upstairs. Then the guys put down the carpet in the living room and moved in some of Big Brother's furniture. So it's starting to look like living quarters finally.

I guess I've never written too much about Big Brother so you don't really know him. He and I are very close, but it certainly didn't used to be like that. I'm the baby of the family (spoiled, of course), and he is the middle child and the only boy. Our sister, who was the oldest, died in 1993 from a heart attack at the age of 56. Way too young to do that, but she was an extremely heavy smoker and although she was thin as a rail had a cholesterol number of 362 when she died. The sad part was that she didn't even try to do anything to lower it. She had very unhealthy eating habits and ate candy like it was popcorn. But - that's about her, and I'm supposed to be telling you about Big Brother.

There's 5 1/2 years between us. When we were kids we used to fight like cats and dogs. But something magic happened when he went away to college - we became best friends and have remained so ever since.

When he was growing up he was always on the small side, and didn't grow much when he was in high school. So as a result he was always picked on by the bigger kids on the school bus. Not a pleasant situation. Again, something magic happened when he went away to college - he grew and he grew a lot. He grew to the point of 6 foot 2 with blond curly hair.

And he was/is smart. He went to school to become a rocket scientist (electrical engineer). He truly was a rocket scientist because for 30 years he worked for the military and designed missiles and other weapons that were used in the Vietnam war. He went to Vietnam as a civilian a number of times and taught Navy Seals how to use some of his invented weaponry. Some of his inventions saved many American lives.

He lived in California during those years and when he retired at age 50 he couldn't get out of there fast enough. After searching for some time for the ideal location he moved to New Mexico, up in the mountains to a peaceful and beautiful location. I love it here and wish I could convince Ole to leave Minnesota and move here.

He was always kind of a "catch" for the ladies, and still is. Unfortunately he's been married four times, twice to the same woman. Like I said, he's extremely intelligent, but not with the ladies. He always ends up getting involved with the same type of controlling personalities and then things just didn't work out. After four divorces he's lucky he had enough left to retire on.

He currently has had a lady friend for about the last 8 years. They don't live together and neither of them have the desire to get married. She's a cutie and a very nice lady. It's so nice that they have each other for companionship at this point in their lives.

Well, Folks, my task today is to clean more sheet rock dust and help move in more furniture. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll all be off and running to other parts of the Southwest.

Love, Lena

I Don't Have Green Hair But . . . .

I guess it's time I report in again, huh? Sorry I've been so lax, but not a lot of interesting things have happened unless you think me with white hair is interesting.

I put the primer coat on Big Brother's living room and kitchen today. Needless to say, I followed the usual routine and had as much paint on myself as on the walls. But the primer is done and tomorrow I'll put a coat of paint on. Hopefully one coat will do it and I can move onto the hallway and the bedroom. Did I mention that I hate to paint? Big Brother told us tonight that this was the best Christmas present we could have ever given him. He has a tendency to "put things off" unless there's someone here to work with him. And Ole is just that person. Ole doesn't let much grass grow under his feet - he's always pretty busy. With the exception of the picture below. He likes his naps and so does Daisy.



Beau stays busy playing with Bruno. I've got to shoot a video of the two of them. It's hilarious. They chase each other around a tree then stop and go the other way. They go at it all day and by night are so tired they can hardly wiggle. Daisy watches, but thinks it's a bunch of nonsense and goes her own way, usually velcroed to Ole, fearing that he might get out of her sight.

I can't believe how much better I feel down here than I do at home. Physically. I have some arthritis and chronic issues with my back and knee. And down here they don't hurt. It must be the warmer temperatures and the elevation which makes for less air pressure. And the beautiful blue sky and sunshine certainly help one's attitude immensely.

I brought my sewing machine along. At home I haven't had an opportunity to accomplish any fun projects for almost a year and I really miss that. I've had the fabric to make a duvet cover for my soon to be redecorated bedroom for over a year and haven't done a thing with it. In the week since I've been here I've almost got the quilted top done - hurrah!! It's so relaxing and such a feeling of accomplishment. At home there's always something or someone who diverts me from what I'd like to do to what I have to/need to do. Whoever thought retirement would be or could be so stressful. I'm just so glad to be stress free for a period of time even if it won't be forever. Maybe I can return home with a new and better attitude.

But then that's going to depend on the flood situation for us. Although I talked to Lovely Daughter this afternoon and she said we've had very little snow since we left.

Big Brother retired at age 50 to the mountains of New Mexico. He's been here 15 years. I truly wish that we could move down here as I absolutely love it. There are four seasons, but they are all mild - nothing extreme like Minnesota. I'm SO glad I'm not there right now with the horribly frigid temperatures, snow and wind that they're dealing with right now.

Big Brother is a dear. Not just because he's my brother, but he's the kindest, nicest, most caring person I know. He's so much like my Dad it's scary. He looks like my Dad when my dad was that age, and when you watch him walk he's got the same swagger that my Dad had. My Dad was also a very kind person and well thought of in the community, as is Big Brother.

Well Folks, that's it for tonight. Supper is cooking in the convection oven in the RV so I better get the finishing touches completed.

Stay warm, all you folks up North.

Love Lena

We're living WAY too High

No, I don't mean on drugs, people - get a life, would you? Have you ever tried to breathe at 7,000 feet up in the air? It's thin - very thin - especially for us Flatlanders that live at 900 feet. Big Brother lives on the side of a mountain at 7,000 feet so Ole and I take six steps and then have to stop to catch our breath. Good thing we're not afraid of heights, huh?

I took a better picture of his "view" for you. Isn't it beautiful? I could live here without any trouble at all - that is if they could make the air a little thicker!! Just think - winter temperatures ranging from 20 at night to 50 in the daytime. I talked to Lars yesterday and he said the forecast was for 31 BELOW.



Lovely Daughter and Lars had a major issue at their house over the last few days. Their water line froze and they had no water. They live in a mobile home, so normally there is a heat tape that is wrapped around the water line coming out of the ground and going up to the floor of their house. Somehow a little bunny, a very hungry bunny had gotten under their house and chewed the insulation and the electrical wire. He fried himself a bit, which of course left the waterline without any heat and exposed to freezing temperatures and the house without water. It was quite a job to get the line thawed out when the temperatures were more than 20 below. Ugly. Very ugly.

Life is pretty exciting for the doggers here. Big Brother has 3 acres of fenced forrested property in a canyon which backs up to national forrest. So there's a lot of wild critters around here - elk, deer, mountain lions and other smaller critters. We usually have a nightly barking session with Beau, Daisy and Bruno trying to protect all of us from harm. They must be doing a pretty good job too, because nothing has gotten any of us yet!!

The neighbor has a horse that gets out of his fence occasionally and wanders over to say hi. Funny thing is though, that the horse isn't a bit afraid of the dogs. Fortunately Lucy and Senior Citizen Simon aren't the least bit interested in getting outside. They're perfectly happy sitting in the RV surveying the world through the big windows.

Big Brother is building a cabin on his property. He's been living in his 5th wheel for the last year while building. Progress is slow when you're working by yourself so Ole and I decided to come down and help him speed things up a bit. The guys have been sheetrocking for the last several days and are almost to a point where I can start painting. I HATE to paint but volunteered just to speed things up a bit. I hate to paint because most times I end up with more paint on me than I do on the wall. Don't laugh - last time I painted I ended up with green hair. Not flattering at all.

Big Brother and I are going into Ruidoso this morning to lay in a few supplies. He's close to a couple of small towns, but they have no shopping facilities. His closest shopping is about 25 miles away, all mountain roads full of curves. They're beautiful, but when they're covered with ice and snow they're not for Flatlanders to drive on.

Well, that's all for today Folks. Lena, reporting in from New Mexico.

Beau & Daisy Arrive

Hi Everybody,

Daisy here - Grandma said I could have a turn at writing today. My paws don't work much better than Beau's but I'll give it a try.

We finally came to the end of our long ride to get to our Great Adventure. And you know what? There was another DOG to meet!! Grandma's Big Brother has a dog named Bruno and he's kind of a strange, unheard of breed. He's a Plot Hound. He told me his ancestors were bred in Kentucky and Tennessee to hunt bear and wild pigs. Beau and I kind of overwhelmed him at first - for being bred to hunt bear and wild pigs he wasn't real brave. All he wanted to do was play, but as soon as he got the idea that I was "top dog" in this group everything was fine.

It snowed here yesterday - a couple of inches. Grandpa and Grandma thought they were going to get away from all the snow, but I guess they got fooled. But at least it's warm - my feet don't get cold here.

Here's a few pictures that Grandma took on the trip.

Here's Beau and me trying to crawl over Grandpa's lap when we saw that little dog and we had to bark at it.




Here's Beau sitting in front of Grandma watching out the front window as we go down the road. He's so afraid he's going to miss something, you know.

He takes up all the space in front so I have to sit on the davenport and watch out the window. Oh, well, I still see a lot of stuff.

Well, that's it for today, Gang.

Love Daisy

Beau & Daisy's Great Adventure

Hey Everybody – Beau here. Grandma said I could write today because I’m SOOO excited (pant, pant, pant). Guess what? Daisy and I are going on a Great Adventure. My Mom decided to let us go along with Grandma and Grandpa on their trip south in the motor home. There’s a lot of reasons why she decided to let us go, and I don’t really understand all of them – – I’m just so happy to go along with Grandpa I just can’t keep from licking him and Grandma, too.

We take turns leaning up against Grandpa when he’s driving and sometimes we press on the seat controls and Grandpa goes for an unexpected ride – forward, backward, up and down. Then he laughs and pats us on the head. If we’re not leaning against him we sit in front of Grandma where we can see over the dash and watch everything go by. We saw a bobcat along the highway a few miles back, and not a dead one either – it was live and hunting something in the ditch. Boy I would have given that guy a “what for” if I could have gotten out to chase him.

Speaking of scaring things (which I like to do, but I only bark, I don’t bite) we stopped at a rest area yesterday so Daisy and I could get a little exercise. A guy in a big truck pulled up and watched Grandpa outside with us. When we got back in the RV the trucker got out of his cab – he was a BIG guy, as big as Grandpa – and he had this itty-bitty tiny dog that ran around looking important and sniffing in all the places Daisy and I had gone. He peed everywhere we did and then scratched dirt on top of it. Daisy and I really barked loud at him – but we were inside the motor home so we couldn’t do much. Dang anyway.

It was nice and peaceful where we stayed last night. But I guess I scared the “you know what” out of Grandma when she was sleeping. I snuggled down on a rug on the floor on Grandpa’s side of the bed and I guess I must have been dreaming or something because she said I started wagging my tail real hard and was hitting the wall. She said it woke her from a sound sleep because it sounded like someone banging on the outside of the motor home. She was going to wake Grandpa up but then she realized it was just me being happy in my dreams.

We’re going through Kansas today. We stopped at a rest stop so Daisy and I got to go out and run. It was so fun because it was 60 degrees out, the sun was shining and there was no snow on the ground. Just think – it’s January here, just like at home there’s snow on the ground and it’s really cold.

Well, I guess I better sign off now because Grandma says she wants to use the computer. Besides, this takes me awhile to do because my paws are so big and I make lots of mistakes.

Later Guys,

Love Beau

The Naughty Girl

There's a break in the weather here in Frostbite Falls. It's actually ABOVE zero this morning. So Ole and I are going to make a run for it and blow this pop stand before it starts to snow and blow and the thermometer plummets again.

Ole brought the RV up to the house yesterday afternoon. It's a big diesel pusher so we were a bit worried about it starting after having sat in these cold temps for so long. He had it plugged in for 24 hours before he pushed the button to turn the engine over - and it started right up. Unfortunately though, even though he had put anti-gel into the fuel, the fuel was still so thick that poor baby didn't want to run very well. He managed to get it up to the house and after it had run for an hour or so things were much better.

The next problem was to get the inside warmed up a bit. The inside temperature registered at 11 below zero. Believe me, you don't want to be touching much of anything when it's that cold. I picked up a metal flashlight with my bare hand because Ole needed extra light where he was working, and put it down in a flash. It was so cold that I felt like my hand had been burned. So we got the furnace started, opened up all the closet and cupboard doors, checked everything to make sure all would be safe and sound and exited back into the house where it was warm(er).

Now, I've written previously about how neurotic Daisy is. Daisy is our girl German Shepherd that clings to Ole like a piece of Velcro. Beau and Daisy actually belong to Lovely Daughter, but we do Doggy Daycare when she and Lars are at work, so I think the doggers spend more time with us than they do at home.

That's Daisy on the left and Beau on the right with the floppy ear.

The doggers, of course, were in the motorhome with Ole when he was getting it ready to start. Isn't it amazing how animals seem to have some 6th sense about things that are going to happen? As soon as Ole walked out to the RV she became very nervous. She wouldn't lay down, but kept pacing from one end of the RV to the other. It helped a bit when she got to ride along with Ole when he drove it from storage up to the house, but obviously that wasn't enough. When we left the motorhome and went in the house she was right on Ole's tail - he hardly had breathing room. Then horror of horrors, Ole had to go to a meeting last night and he couldn't take the doggers along like he usually does when the pickup leaves the yard. Beau isn't happy about it, but he seems to take things in stride.

Now Daisy - that's a different story. After Ole left last night she stood in the middle of my kitchen, looked at me with a very disgusted look and peed on my rug. Just like she was saying, "Okay, either I get my way or I'm going to show you a thing or two!" She didn't even squat, like girl dogs usually do, she just stood there and peed!! Needless to say, I was not a happy camper at that point and let her know it.

Senior Citizen Simon (17 years) and Lucy aren't too worried about their upcoming vacation, as you can tell from this picture.

They both travel quite well. Simon is happy as long as he has food, a warm place to sleep and a place to poop. That keeps him happy. He's a seasoned traveler and has put on a lot of miles with us. Lucy on the other hand, has only made one trip with us, but she did very well. And the one most important thing - neither of them are interested in getting out of the RV, which is very important to me. I lost my last kitty, Petunia, when she escaped through the open RV door one night when we were in Sturgis. I still think about her and miss her always wondering what happened to her. That's the hardest part - not knowing what happened. (Thank you Jane.)

So I don't know if I'll be making anymore entries here until we get on the road. I'm going to be kinda busy packing the RV, you know (hurrah - finally). If everything goes according to plan we'll be out of here early Thursday morning. I'll write on the road, okay?

I'll end this with this cartoon that Ole clipped from last night's paper for me. I got a chuckle out of it probably because it's so true. All you pet owners will relate.

I case you can't read the fine print:

"Oh, you got rid of your wood floor and got a shag rug?"

"Nope, I just got a cat!"

Well, I thought it was funny anyway!!

Love Lena

If you're Gonna Play in Fargo you Gotta have a Shovel in the Van

Guess what it's doing outside again today - if you guessed snowing you're right on. It seems like we have a system that moves through here about every three days and then we spend the next day blowing out the six inches or more of snow that fell. It used to be that we'd get an inch or two at a time but this year every time it snows it dumps heavily. I guess we might as well get our boat out now because we'll be needing it in the spring. Or maybe we'll go south this winter and just not bother to come back. I could live nicely on a full-time basis in our motorhome. Lots less cleaning you know.

This could really tend to make one a bit on the crabby side but I guess there's nothing to do but suck it up and deal with it. Our plan of attack for the weekend was to bring the RV up to the house and start loading, but let me give you a clue - that's not going to happen today. And tomorrow we'll end up spending a better portion of the day clearing out the driveway. Oh, if I could only convince Ole to move south on a permanent basis. I'm just too old to deal with all this anymore, and besides it makes my bones ache!!

Now, if most of you haven't figured it out by now, I'm going to tell you a secret. I'm sure you've all heard of the movie Fargo, haven't you? Well, I'm going to admit that I live in that area. NOT in the city itself, but somewhere in the surrounding area. I hate to admit it, but it's true.

I have a story to tell you about that, and then I'll get back to the point I was going to make.

Several years ago Ole and I took a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - to the farthest point north that we could get to - Copper Harbor. It was in October and it was just beautiful. We pulled the motorcycle trailer behind the RV, so the Harley was the only transportation that we had. One afternoon we stopped in a little bar in Copper Harbor, all dressed in our leathers of course, and started visiting with some of the locals. We had a grand time and seemed to be nicely accepted by the folks. A while later a man and his lady friend walked in and sat down. She was dripping with fine jewels, dressed to the nines and was much younger than her sugar daddy. He was dressed in a very expensive sweater (and pants of course) and pulled out a roll of cash almost as big around as my wrist, peeled off some money and told the bartender to buy a round for the house. They were from Chicago and had come to Copper Harbor to buy property and have a vacation home built. He started visiting with Ole and me because it was obvious that we weren't from the U.P. either. When he found out we were from the Fargo area he immediately started talking about the movie, and his first statement to us was, "If you're from Fargo, then talk like that!" I quickly informed him that we didn't know how and that most of the local Fargo residents had found that movie quite insulting when it came out. He made a few other cracks about the folks from the Upper Midwest, downed and drink and left. Needless to say, after he had made his exit the local folks in the bar had a lot to say about him, too. And it wasn't very nice.

Now, back to the point I was going to make - that is if I can remember it.

Oh, yes. Now there's not only a movie out about Fargo, but there's a song and you really need to listen to it. Click here: http://froggyweb.com:80/?p=1744

It's sure a good thing all of us living here have a good sense of humor. You have to have to live here.

And on that note I conclude this diatribe!!

Love Lena

Meet My Dad

I want to introduce you to my Dad. This picture was taken in 1937 when he was 32 years old. He and Mom and been married for 5 years when this picture was taken. I don't have any idea what prompted a single portrait of him alone, but there must have been some reason.

Dad was born in 1905, and yesterday would have been his 104th birthday. Can you imagine the changes he saw in his lifetime - from the Wright Brothers and their flying machine all the way to a man walking on moon.


My Dad was quite a guy - well liked by everyone in the neighborhood. He died suddenly when he was 70 years old four months before Lovely Daughter was born in 1975. His funeral was the the biggest that our church had ever seen. There was standing room only in the church basement that day because there wasn't room to seat everybody upstairs. There were even people standing outside. They had rigged up a speaker system outside so that the folks outside could hear what was being said.

Dad was a very soft-spoken man and only once did I hear him say anything negative about anybody. He never said much as a disciplinarian either, but when he spoke you definitely listened.

Dad grew up in central North Dakota where his father homesteaded back in 1882. He was the oldest and had two younger brothers and one sister. He farmed back in the days of steam engines and horses and was quite a horseman according to the stories he used to tell.

That's my Dad standing on the black horse and his youngest brother standing on the white one. I have no pictures of it, but I was told by my uncles that Dad used to do handstands on the back of his horse when the horse was trotting down the field. Guess he should have joined the circus - it probably would have been better money than farming in North Dakota.

Dad loved all animals. I never remember being without a dog in my growing up years, and as long as he was on the farm he had horses, even though by the time he quit farming he was using tractors.

Dad had a horse that was very special to him - she was the colt of one of the horses they used on the farm and she was white. Her name was Boots. He watched her being born and raised her to adulthood. He had trained her to do various tricks and she followed him around like a puppy. She'd even follow the tractor out in the field when he was on it and nip at his shoulder if she thought he didn't pay enough attention to her. One night a fire started when all the horses were in the barn. They managed to get all the horses out, including Boots, but when he let go of her halter she ran back into the barn. By that time the barn was so far gone no one could get back in to get ahold of her and she burned to death. How very sad.

Now this sounds really gruesome, but that's the way they did things back in the "olden days." Dad had a horse blanket made out of Boot's hide. I guess it was his way of keeping her. It's a huge blanket that's lined with felt and has a flannel backing on it. It's as soft as butter. And I've still got it - packed away in a box somewhere. I remember sleeping under it when I was a kid. Believe me, you never got cold, but it weighed a ton.

Dad was a big man - six feet tall and very broad shouldered, but surprisingly light on his feet. He could dance circles around most people. He and Mom met at a barn dance when they were in their mid-twenties. He was Norwegian and she was Swedish - which apparently made a difference back in those days. Kind of the same attitude about that as trying to mix religions. Back then it was frowned upon. But they married and made it 43 years until he died.

He also LOVED to fish. I sometimes think that's why he finally settled his family here - because we're a half hour drive from some of the best fishing in the United States. He fished all year round - winter and summer. He built an ice fishing house out of an old piano crate, and used that for many years until we had an early melt one year and the thing sunk to the bottom of the lake. In the summer he went fishing every weekend, and us kids had to go along. We didn't have a choice - maybe that's why I don't like to fish now, nor do I like to eat fish of any kind no matter how you fix them. Ick. He built a pontoon boat and installed an old Model A Ford motor in the center of it, attached it to a propeller and we spun around that lake in record time. That part was fun, but the fishing part wasn't. Did I say Ick before? But we kids all went because it was time spent with my Dad, something we all loved to do.

He could also play a harmonica - self taught. One year for Christmas we got him a huge harmonica - a 12-incher that had a terrific range. It didn't take long and he was tapping his foot and blowing out some great old time music. He loved music - so he made sure that us girls had lessons and instruments to play. That's where the accordions came in that both my sister and I played. Big Brother always said he only played the radio - he didn't want to even think about playing an instrument of any kind. That was "sissy" for boys back in those days.

I still miss my Dad and he's been gone 33 years. I've always regretted the fact that Lovely Daughter never got to meet him because he was the epitome of what a grandfather should be. I only hope that someday Ole and I can be as good a grandparent as he was to the grandchildren that he had.

Love, Lena