The Terrible Winter of '10-'11

I'm afraid the winter of 2010-2011 is becoming a repeat of The Terrible Winter of '96-'97, which was followed by a terrible flood in our neck of the woods. I can't remember the last time we had two days of sunshine in a row - it's just one gray day after another with an inch or two of snow on a daily basis. Ole has burned through many gallons of gas in the big farm tractor moving snow this year and with the price of gas at $3.09 it's becoming a very spendy winter.

And then there's the frustration of breaking parts and things when the snow is so deep and heavy. We had freezing rain just before Christmas so there's a thick layer of ice beneath all the snow, which causes ole' Poppin' John (the tractor) to get stuck easily and slip on the ice. Last time Ole moved snow I had to tug him out twice with the 4-wheel drive truck and the third time I refused because I was afraid something was going to break. I called Farmer Neighbor Dave who came over with an even bigger tractor that had chains on the rear wheels. His tractor hardly grunted and Poppin' John was out of the snowbank.

When you're pulling something as big as Poppin' John out of a snow bank and off the ice with a truck you have to YANK it out - you can't just slowly drive forward. There was a nylon tow rope between the truck and the tractor and I think we broke the tow rope three times. One time it hit the tailgate so hard I was sure there was going to be a big dent in it - but there wasn't. And not only was there blue exhaust smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe of the tractor - you should have seen the "blue smoke" that was coming out of the cab of the tractor!! I'm sure glad there weren't any little ears around to hear that.

This morning managed to dawn with bright sunshine so somehow I'm going to manage to enjoy that part of it. The actual air temperature is 18 degrees below zero with a bit of a breeze that makes the windchill 34 below. That's enough to frostbite the hairs on the inside of your nose, huh?

Love Lena

And How Deep is Your Snow?

We had another 6 inches last night - that makes a total of 30+ inches on the ground and it's only December. January and March are our snowiest months and our average snowfall over a winter is only 36 inches. Back in the winter of '96-'97 we had over 120 inches and Ole ran out of places to put it when he cleared the driveway. But at least we haven't had really cold temperatures - yet - that usually happens in January when we get sometimes two to three weeks of 20-30 degrees below zero. Some days it even warms up to all of 10 below. Oh well, I guess it doesn't do any good to complain.

When we lived in Florida we had two dogs that adopted us. They were strays that military people had left behind when they had to move. So of course we brought them back to Minnesota with us when Ole got out of the Navy. Hairy was a big dog with lots of fur and enjoyed the Minnesota winters. Hot Dog on the other hand wasn’t so crazy about them. He was a standard Daschund weighing in at about 35 pounds, and built low to the ground. The unfortunate thing about these two dogs is that we never had them neutered, so when Mother Nature called they would occasionally take off. Now Hot Dog was a dog that was always cold. He would lie on top of the heat registers that were so hot you couldn’t put your foot on them – but he’d cover them and soak up the heat.

One very bitter cold night I let them out before I went to bed and Hairy came back shortly but Hot Dog didn’t show up. I waited for a while, and then went to bed, getting up several times during the night to check to see if he had come back. He showed up the next morning, looking like he’d been “partying” all night, which I’m sure he had. Now you all know how low to the ground a Daschund is – and that year the snow was deep. So that night when I got home from work, there was Hot Dog suffering the results of frost bite on his “vital parts” that had been dragged through the snow while he was out “partying.” Everything was swollen and blistered and quite painful, I’m sure. So I called the vet who told me what ointment to apply to the “vital organs.” The vet laughed and asked me if this poor dog didn’t know enough to come in out of the cold. I told him that Hot Dog was a typical male and was just thinking with the wrong head!!

Talking about cold temperatures and doing stupid things. The first year that we were married I spent the months of January and February living by myself while Ole was going to school down in Minneapolis. He’d be home on weekends and that was all. We had an extremely cold snap during the month of January, but regardless of the temperature you get up and go to work anyway, as long as your car will start. I had plugged mine in, so it started right up, then went back in the house to finish getting ready for work. That’s when I heard on the radio that the actual temperature that morning was 52 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. I had ten miles to go to work, and must have been insane. With temperatures like that your car could stop along the way and where would that leave you – pretty crisp when they found you.

Then there was the year we drove home from California in January. We had flown out to visit Big Brother with the intention of buying a Mustang and driving it back to Minnesota. We found a l968 Mustang convertible (beautiful) and decided to take it home. Now mind you, this was a California car – never driven in cold weather, but Ole and Big Brother checked everything over before we took off to assure that it was in good running order. When we got as far north as Nebraska we ran into bad weather and very cold temperatures. The farther north we went the worse it got. The wind chill was at 100 below zero and the visibility was so bad you could barely see the front of the hood. Lovely Daughter was just a little girl then and we had her wrapped up in every blanket and jacket that we had along so that all you could see were two big brown eyes peering out. The top of the convertible didn’t fit tight so the snow was blowing in, landing on the dash and NOT melting, so you know it was cold in the car. We finally got as far as Sioux Falls and I convinced Ole we needed to stop. At that point in time he was invincible – you know how men are when they’re young. We found a motel, and then tried to figure out how we were going to get this car to start the next morning. Ole found an auto store, bought an engine heater, went to a car wash where it was warm to install it and when he came back to the motel plugged it in and took the battery out and brought it into the hotel room. The next morning he reassembled the car and it was the ONLY car in the parking lot that started. There were California plates on this car, and Ole had a good time going around the parking lot, jumping other cars and pretending he was from California. He even jumped a car with Alaska plates that wouldn’t start and got a big chuckle out of that.

So I guess for now I'll just "bask" in the warm temperatures we have right now - 25 ABOVE - and remember those frigid frosty days of long ago.

Are you ready for Christmas yet?

Love Lena

Just call me a slacker, okay?

Sorry I've been letting you guys down - but I have been getting your emails asking me to come back and write. You bring a tear to my eye (sniff, sniff) as it's so nice to be appreciated. I haven't read any blogs so I have no idea what's going on in your lives and after all this time don't know if I can even attempt to catch up.

First of all, I have a couple of comments to make: KitchenLogic, I'm so sorry to hear of your cancer issues - just about blew me out of my chair when I read your email. I guess you never know what life will bring with each passing day. I know you don't believe if God, but I'll put you on my prayer list anyway. Can't hurt anything, right? You're a tough cookie, and I have the confidence that you will overcome. Keep up the "attitude," okay?

Second comment: This is one of the reasons I had decided not to blog anymore as I don't have a thick skin to ward off all the meanies and nasties that are out there in blogland. I'm always amazed when someone comments on a blog but signs in as anonymous. Obviously they don't have guts enough to stand up for their opinion but need to hide behind a smoke screen of some sort. Or maybe they just get a kick out of hurting other people. Whoever they are, they're sick and really need to get a life. This was referencing my previous entry. I've deleted some of the sick comments that found their way onto my page. Point made.

On to other things.

This has been quite a winter way up here in the Frozen Nort'land. It snowed and it snowed and then it snowed some more. And then in January it rained. For a minute there I thought Al Gore's global warming theory was kicking in but then we went back down to 20 below so I knew that wasn't happening. Now normally when spring decides to come around here it takes about three weeks for the snow to melt and it doesn't usually melt until the END of March. Mother Nature fooled us again as our snow is gone and now we've got lake front property. Unfortunately it doesn't increase the value of our property but does just the opposite.

Many of you may know that we have 5 acres of property on the banks of a small river that drains into the Red River of the North - the one you're hearing about now on the national news. We're famous up here, you know. We're the only humans that developed webs between our toes because of all the water year after year after year.

So the water came up and the water's gone down and we escaped this year with minor damage. The house stayed dry but the other buildings took on water and as usual we have a mess to clean up from all the river silt and the trash that floats in on the water. Just a repeat of last year - so we should be used to it.

Why don't we move, you say? Would YOU buy a piece of property that floods so frequently? We've flooded four times in the last 13 years. When we bought this property back in 1973 it had never been under water. My how times change.

Here's some pictures in case you want to look - -

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

On other levels I'm doing fine. I went to see the doc about my new hip for my two month check and he told me I was doing great. He told me I could jog now. I said I didn't jog before, why would I start now!! Remember that "slacker" thing way up there in the title? That's me. Although I truly need to get back to some form of exercise (other than my fingers on the computer) as this winter has been tough on the waistline. It's disappeared for some reason - just doesn't exist anymore. Oh well, spring is coming and that will mean lots of outside work and exercise.

Love you all,

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

On Being Grinchy

Sorry, Folks, but I've been a bit on the Grinchy side through the holidays. I just haven't been able to get into the holiday spirit much and I can't even tell you why. I guess things have piled up on me lately and I haven't handled it very well. I've been losing a lot of sleep for some reason, averaging only about three to four hours a night. I guess that could have a tendency to make one a bit on the Grinchy side.

Normally I love decorating the house and putting up the Christmas tree, but not this year. All it meant to me was just a bunch of work I'd have to undo again in short order. Ole and I took down the tree last night and the rest of the stuff is getting packed away today. I can't wait to get back to some form of normal if I can.

I should be looking forward to packing up the RV, and I guess I am - kinda. It means getting out of here - for awhile at least. And I do look forward to that. But there's been a bunch of things around here that have kind of beaten me down a bit; kind of like trying to swim in mud. Doesn't work very well. Why is it that if someone has an issue with something you do or say they don't have the guts to discuss the issue with you to your face? They'd rather go Pssst Pssst Pssst behind your back and talk about you and then when you happen to walk in on the conversation they're having they act all surprised and go on the defense? What a bunch of putzes.

Oh, well, enough of that. I'll get over it. I always do - it just takes me awhile sometimes.

So I apologize to all of you - I haven't been doing much reading of blogs so I'm way behind on everybody. If I've missed something important in your lives I'm sorry. But I won't tell you I'm going to try to catch up because when I look at the number of entries I would have to read in order to catch up it's overwhelming. Some of you have really been productive with your blogging throughout the Christmas season. Me? I've got nothing here.

Santa Claus was good to me though. Somehow he manages to blow me away every year with something totally unsuspecting. We've been putting off getting an LCD flatscreen TV because none of our TVs in the house were very old and all worked fine. So this year one just happened to show up under the tree and I must say it's really nice to watch. I guess that's what makes a good gift - something you wouldn't go out and buy for yourself and you really don't need but really like.

Ole got a wonderful gift from Lovely Daughter and Lars. They had a formal portrait taken of themselves with the two German Shepherds - Daisy and Beau. It is absolutely gorgeous. I'll have to post it - maybe tomorrow. Then they had a portrait of just the two doggers. I think people who can capture the personality of animals in a picture are some very special people. It takes a tremendous amount of patience to do that. And the personalities of these dogs shine through- Beau as kind of a little imp, full of mischief and fun; and Daisy very intense and somewhat neurotic. It all shows on their faces.

One of my fun things this year was buying fiestaware for Lovely Daughter. She has been interested in it for quite some time so I decided this year would be the year to get her started. I started her with two place settings, one scarlett and one evergreen, with a sunshine yellow pitcher. I had given her a cobalt blue gravy boat some time ago. When I went shopping for it I wanted to start my own collection, but I've already got four sets of dishes in the house already so I certainly don't need another one. I've got some beautiful complete sets left over from my mother, some that I've collected myself, and still I only use my plain white Correll. Isn't that boring? Maybe fiestaware would help spice up my life and change my attitude, huh? That sounds like a good excuse to me to go out and buy some.

But then maybe I better save my money because our goal is to pack the RV this weekend and be out of here by no later than Monday - depending on the weather of course. One always has to take that into consideration when you live around here. We're supposed to be hit with another storm tonight that will drop 4-6 inches of additional snow - AAAACCCCKKKK! Maybe all that white stuff is what's making me feel Grinchy.

Enough already, okay?

How Cold Does it Get in Frostbite Falls?

Well, folks, just check that little weather thingie over there to the right and you can see how cold it is right now. As I write this morning the current temperature is 7 degrees ABOVE zero, but our local Weather Guesser tells us we're in for a snowstorm this weekend with 8-12 inches of snow and a cold snap next week. By Tuesday we're supposed to have a 20 below zero nighter. I told Ole I better find his red long handles so he can stay warm next week.

If we get 8-12 inches of snow that means Ole's going to have to get his tractor going with the 8 foot snowblower on it. Moving the snow these days is a breeze compared to what it used to be when we first moved out here.

When we bought this property Ole decided we had to build the house WAY back away from the highway, so that required a really long driveway - about a quarter mile long - and besides that it's got two curves in it. It's pretty in the summer because we've got trees planted along each side of it the entire length. But it can be a real bugger in the winter when you're trying to get in and out and everything is white. It can be a bugger to blow the snow off it also, but then that's not my job, so . . .

For the first few years after we built the house Ole used the tractor below to move snow. It had a bucket on the front at that time, and lots of levers to push and pull in order to go forward and back and to get the bucket to go up and down to dump the snow. He would dress up in his snowmbile suit, put his face mask on, and pile blankets on the metal seat in order to keep from getting frostbite on his backside because the seat was so cold.

That old clunker was a beast to start when it was below zero. It didn't have an engine heater on like the cars up in the Northland do, so sometimes it would take hours to get the engine warm enough to get it started. Now Ole, being the ingenius person that he is, came up with a solution. He would park the tractor alongside the garage so it was out of the wind. Then he filled a five-gallon metal bucket full of old gunny sacks and poured fuel oil over them. He would set that bucket underneath the engine, cover the front of the tractor with a big tarp and then light the bucket on fire. It would burn like a huge candle and by golly that tractor would start in less than an hour. You see, when it's that cold the engine oil gets so thick it's like a brick and the engine can't turnover to start the tractor. You just have to thin that oil out a bit and then things move right along. I was always afraid the house would burn down.

After a few years of fighting with that old tractor and freezing his tookus off all the time, he graduated to a four-wheel-drive pickup with a blade on the front. We got into the 20th century because now he was sitting inside with a heater and the truck could be plugged in to start it. The only problem with that was that Ole didn't think a four-wheel-drive could get stuck. WRONG! When a four-wheel-drive gets stuck it's REALLY stuck. He had to be pulled out of snowbanks more than once by sombody with a bigger truck. And he still needed to wear his red long-handles because he had to get outside to shovel the truck out!

Now Ole thinks he's pretty smart. He got a newer tractor with a cab and a heater and a big snowblower and a set of chains for the big wheels. And he doesn't get stuck anymore and he stays toasty warm. He doesn't have to wear his red long handles anymore and sometimes he even has to take his jacket off.

But I still hope we don't get that 8-12 inches of snow that's forecast. Ick.

Love, Lena

PS: Local news article from last year: "Police arrested an intoxicated man one cold morning for urinating on a car in public. His claim? He was only trying to thaw out the frozen locks on his car."