Summertime--and the livin' is busy!

I always think of that commercial in which people are depicted on a hot lazy summer day lying in a hammock sipping an icy glass of lemonade.  But summer has officially begun and there's not going to be much lazy lemonade sipping!  Here in ND everything possible must be done in summer when the weather and time off from one's job allows.  We forget that summer months are the same length as those of other times of the year but we must pack it all in.

We are having a bathroom built in the basement right now.  The plumber is down the basement shoveling some dirt.  He had to use a jack hammer to break up some cement to find some sewer pipe under the basement floor.    It seems that he found more pipe that must be replaced and more jack hammering must be done--but this can be done later as we would have to move BOTH of the freezers for him to do it.  The whole business is so dirty.  Dirt is tracked up and down the stairs.  I guess there is no use cleaning it up until he is done.  

At the same time, Duane has put up sheet rock in the third bedroom upstairs and I have started the plastering of seams.  The garden is starting to grow and is needing attention.  Recent rains have caused the lawn to need mowing.  In a few days we will be going to see our kids.  I'm struggling to get over a cold by then.

Actually I do remember lemonade summers.  We did lie in a hammock and drink lemonade (at least a few times) when growing up during the summers at the lake in Minnesota.  Actually, a lot of the time, as kids, it seemed as if there was "nothing to do" and most of our time was spent fighting boredom.   I wouldn't want to go back to those days--oh, maybe for a day or so--but do enjoy having plenty to do.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is coming up.  This is a picture I took last 4th of July towards evening when I was going out to take the flag in. 

Our JBS Chapter inquired about.having a float in the upcoming Memorial Day parade but were told by the VFW that no political floats were allowed.  Our float was just going to say "The Constitution is the Solution!" with our two JBS banners on front and back but apparently they didn't approve.  Isn't that what our troops are (at least in theory) fighting for?  Oh, well.  We decided instead to wait to have a float in the Rally in the Valley parade later in June and/or the 4th of July.

Pain!

It has been such a trying few weeks--actually most of May.  I was finally feeling pretty good after having recovered from the excruciating pain of a pulled back muscle.  So after a couple of weeks I thought it was time I got some exercise again so walked down to the City Park.  When I was turning around to go back home, I stumbled on a piece of cracked up sidewalk and slammed to the ground, bruising my knee and shoulder somewhat but especially hurting my left arm.  I must have landed on it and sprained it.  At any rate, it is still hurting but may be somewhat better.  At first I wasn't even able to type.   Luckily, I didn't break a bone but at the same time, it has put a crimp in my activities. 

But, looking at the bright side of things, I couldn't do much so ended up looking up quite a bit of genealogy on the web.  Mostly I found census records for relatives.  I also wrote some letters to Congress and sat down to read the book Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy which had been given to me for my birthday by our son Eldon and wife Yulia.  My husband finally helped me plant the garden.  I couldn't handle a hoe yet.  I had made seed tapes for all but the beans so that made planting easier.  He also helped me with changing on the bed.  I suppose, I have gained a little more appreciation for how useful my left hand and arm are, if only to hold a dish while I wash it.  I should be thankful just to be able to do certain things and not take it for granted. 

In the meantime, I had an eye problem.  It seemed as if I had something in my eye so went to the eye doctor and got some antibiotic which she said would help a blocked tear duct.  I guess it is better.


And then while contending with my injuries, I contracted a cold.  It came on very gradually with only feeling achy for a few days, then a slight cough and lung congestion, then sinus and nasal drainage and more lung congestion.  Today I am feeling almost back to normal. Colds are hard on me.   Hopefully I'm going to be OK to visit our kids in a few days down in Mitchell, SD.  I'd hate to miss seeing them, especially Roger and Rosie since we see them only a couple of times a year.

Haiku

This is my haiku that won 2nd place in the contest in the Barnes County Independent newspaper.   Haikus are pretty short.  You have to get as much in as you can.  The first line has to be 5 syllables, the 2nd 7, and the 3rd 5th with the 1st and 2nd lines rhyming.  All three lines in mine rhyme so perhaps it isn't quite done right but suppose that can't hurt.  :) My prize was  $10 gift card at Pamida.

Spiderly necklace.

Pearly dewdrops hung in space,

Fragility, grace.

Easter Bunny Rap

Easter Bunny Rap

The Easter bunny he did hip-hop,

Uptown and downtown he did shop a lot.

Bought eggs and chocolates at a mom and pop,

Joypops and gumdrops at a sweet-shop.

Hopped past bake shops, book shops, shoe shops,

Bopped past dress shops, gift shops, toy shops.

He shopped his way to a traffic stop,

Had a photo-op with a traffic cop.

He hid eggs all day for tots nonstop.

Eggs in places where kids would look not,

In shoes, under steps, flowerpots, and doorstops,

In tiptops of treetops with the fling of a slingshot.

At the end of the day, he was tired as a wet mop,

He propped up his ears so they wouldn't flip-flop.

When his work was done and he was ready to drop,

The tired little bunny landed on his bed----plop!

Ron Paul's visit to Jamestown

We went to the Ron Paul rally in Jamestown on President's Day.  He spoke to a standing-room-only crowd of about 400 at the KC Hall.  Several House candidates were there and spoke briefly before Paul spoke--Tim Koppelman, Bette Grande, Shane Goettle, and Brian Kalk.  Thoreson (running for Public Service Commissioner), Paul Sorum (running for  Gov.), and Rep. Rick Berg (running for Senate) were there also but didn't speak.  Gov. Dalrymple introduced Ron Paul who stood near me for some time while waiting for the others to finish their talks.  Paul was dressed informally in jeans and a plaid shirt and tan jacket.   He talked about issues like getting rid of the Federal Reserve, regulation on agriculture, and that we need to cut out foreign aid and military interventions.  This was on the replay channel later.  On the news a friend of ours, Susan, was interviewed about her views on Ron Paul.

This was the fourth time I had seen Ron Paul. Our son and I went to see him in 2008 when he ran for President in 2008 in Fargo where there was a standing-room-only crowd with lots of college kids at the NDSU ballroom.  There was a lot of chanting going on then which was exciting.  They would chant such things as "End the Fed!" and hold up signs.

We saw  Ron Paul at the book signing and speech at the 50th Anniversary of the John Birch Society in Appleton, WI, Oct. of 2008 and then at the Free Market Forum dinner put on by the North Dakota Policy Council Nov. 5, 2010. 

If Paul is successful in getting the GOP nomination, it wouldn't surprise me if someone like Donald Trump came forward to run as a third party candidate to spoil his chances.  Almost anyone should be able to beat Obama, it seems, due to the terrible unemployment, high gas prices, etc.  We need to get back to the  Constitution.  This would cut out most of our overspending programs, military interventions, and debt accumulation.

Something New

Scientists say that we need to be learning and doing new things to keep our brains plastic and to stave off mental decline of one kind or other.  So I have been trying to do some new things now and then.

I have been studying Russian and have made a little progress.  It is fun to learn some basic vocabulary and perhaps be able to communicate somewhat with my daughter-in-law's mother when she comes to visit again.  Perhaps we can do better than to point and play charades and then give up in exasperation after trying to communicate the simplest thing.  It's been interesting just for some appreciation of the language, if for no other reason.

After Christmas my husband and I went to the open mic night at an ice cream parlor uptown and listened to the music.  I even played a simple piano piece that I had composed for the 6 or 10 people attending.  To do that was something new for me.  Might do it again sometime.

I've got to go out and plant potatoes today.  I cut them in pieces yesterday, each piece with an eye or two and most had already started to sprout.  I've never planted potatoes before so had to Google how to grow potatoes to get some tips.  

I entered a haiku contest recently that an independent newspaper in our town put on.  I hadn't written a haiku before either so decided to and won 2nd place.  Yay!  My prize was a gift certificate from Pamida.

I have been thinking lately that the older you get, that doing something that you haven't done before seems to be harder, especially anything that involves a major commitment.  Partly it's that you've got about all you can do to just keep up with all the things that you need to do on a daily basis.  You've joined a few organizations each of which takes a certain amount of time.  You have some hobbies and skills to maintain and that take time.  You have people in your life who need your help (husband, children, grandkids, etc.) and when something new comes into your life, it just piles on top of your load.  You are less and less  likely to want to take on anything ELSE and unfortunately that includes doing very many things that are new!

When we were first married I recall how when we were on our way to Pine Ridge, SD, where my husband had landed a teaching job and stopped in a gas station in Chadron, NE, about 40 miles from Pine Ridge.  A guy was showing us a litter of baby toy poodles which he needed to give away.  We decided right then and there, "Sure, we'll take one!"  The man said to come back in a couple of weeks when the one we picked out, a gray one named Sherman, was ready to be taken from his mother.  We didn't think ahead of the responsibilities of feeding, training, grooming, finding someone to care for him when we would be gone--all that might go on for years.  I suppose the dog's adoption was mostly a good thing even so.  We had him for seven years and was a dear little pup.  Finally he died after several months of having some kind of seizures.  I know we wouldn't do such a spontaneous thing now!

Also when we lived in Pine Ridge, a town on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, we got a phone call from an organization called Youth For Understanding that was looking for homes for two foreign exchange students from Chile.  One of them,  Erik, was 15 and Carlos was 16.  We thought that sounded exciting so became the "parents" of Erik.  We were only about 28 and 26 ourselves!  Carlos went to another family in town.  This was right about the time of the 1973 Wounded Knee skirmish when the American Indian Movement, a terrorist group, burned down a church in Wounded Knee, a tiny town on the same reservation, ransacked and destroyed a general store owned by an old couple, and generally disturbed the peace for many months on the whole reservation.  This was another "Sure, why not? --sounds-like-fun" decisions, hardly a time to take in a foreign exchange student but we did.  Due to the general instability of the reservation at that time they both moved up to Hot Springs, SD, and stayed with another couple until the school year ended and in the summer they both took a trip with us to Winnipeg, Canada.  

Spontaneity can be a good thing and trying something new rejuvenating to the mind and spirit.  But on the other hand, it can lead one off onto unproductive tangents so we need to consider if a new thing would fit into our life's vision and priorities and, I suppose, leave some room for worthwhile new things.