Dogs

When our kids were home we had a least 4 dogs: A yellow lab, a black lab, a Pekingese and poodle. When the kids were gone and we no longer had all these dogs I told Lowell that I would like to choose my own dog. I wanted a Boxer. So 16 years ago we bought a 6 week old dark brindle puppy with a black mask. She fit nicely in my lap when we brought her home. We named her "Emma" and we loved that dog. Well, she grew and she grew and she grew until she was about 125 pounds. She still wanted to be on my lap but it just wasn't going to happen. My brother said she looked like a beached whale when she was stretched out on the living room floor.
After David and Sharon moved out here Emma put on many miles between our house and theirs. But she never did learn to leave their cat "oopsie" alone. In fact that first summer Oopsie spent most of day up a tree. But one day she'd had enough and used her claws like cats do and really gave her all to Emma. Well, Emma's lip and tongue bled a little but that didn't stop her from bothering the cat.
Six years ago this coming July she died. We had had very hot and humid weather so we had Emma go outside and lay in the grassy shade. When Lowell went to bring her in he found her dead. She had been up the hill several times that day and we think he heart just gave out with the heat and exertion. We called Zac to help dig a hole for her in our pet cemetery. The ground was so hard that it took Zac, Sharon and Lowell using an axe to cut through the roots to finally get a hole deep enough to bury her.

Ringer washers again

About those ringer washing machines: Both houses that I had to use the washers had porches that I could use in the warmer weather. But in winter we brought the washer into the kitchen and by the time I was done washing - no matter how careful I was - there was water all over the floor. So then I had to mop the kitchen floor. It took me pretty much all day to get all this done. I was generally "pooped" by the end of the day. I'm really gratefull for my automatic washer and dryer. All I have to do is turn on the water - load the clothers- and leave. Wonderful invention!!!

Is it ever going to warm up? Our thermometer said -30 at 7:00 this am. It has warmed up some (it's 1:00) now. And its sunny. We have a grand daughter with us this afternoon - her mom gives abstenance speeches in schools around the area. She's 3 1/2 with pretty blond hair and a great smile. She has trouble saying "r" so Grandpa is Glandpa. :) She is the youngest of 7 with the oldest sibling being a 3rd year college student in Valley City. He's a 6'7" basketball player. Her oldest sister, Janessa, (6'3") plays basketball for Penn state. I think I've already mentioned this. She sang The Star Spangled Banner before their game Sunday. Although the game was on the Big 10 channel her singing was not. :(
We visited a daughter and her family Sunday afternoon over Fargo way. It was blowing and there were some icy spots. If I had slowed down as much as Lowell wanted me to we wouldn't be there yet :) Coming home it was still blowing but not icy. The snow was drifting across the highway and it was almost like driving on clouds. Anyway we had a good time. We celebrated a grandson's 3rd birthday. He's such a cute little guy with oodles and I mean oodles of enegy.
I'm really ready for Spring!!!!

Ringer washer

Time for the ringer washing machine story: This is not a long one - I can almost feel it happen even now. I think we got the machine from Lowell's dad - Lowell's mom had died a few years before we were married and I don't think Harry knew how to work it. My sister-in-law probably did his washing for him. Anyway, Lowell hauled in water for me to heat on the stove and to fill the 2 tubs with cold water. I was really proud of myself for knowing how to use this machine. I did the white clothes first and so when Lowell's white shirt was next out of the water I folded the collar in half so it wouldn't wrinkle too much - guided it to the ringers- felt something - pulled my hand back and low and behold my whole thumb nail was gone!!!. Did you know that the thumb nail is actually quite long? Lowell found it and we showed the dr. All he needed to do was put a metal cap over my thumb and assure me that it would grow back. I'm not sure how long I wore that but having a metal cap on your left hand thumb is quite inconvenient.

Cold

Wow! It is sooooo cold tonight and it's been cold all day. We had our pickup plugged in last night so it went this am so we could go to church. If it wasn't for the fact that I had to play for 1st service I think we would have stayed home. We had -41(wind chill)when we left the house. brrrrrr. As I'm writing this it's -31(wind chill). The furnace hardly stops. We have a radiator type heater in the living room that helps some. And David brought in a bunch of wood yesterday afternoon so we have the kitchen wood heater going, too. I sure hope this is the last of the cold. I think I've said this before :)
I listened to Zac's ball game Friday night - they lost to Minot, ND. But last night they won. It was a hard fought game but they beat Dickenson by 10. This afternoon Janessa's team, Lady lions, played Iowa( in Pa) but lost by 10 points, I think. Thursday night Minnesota goes to Pa and I'l watch that on the Big 10 channel, too.
It's time to go to bed and sleep another cold night away.

10 Houses

I was thinking about the houses in which Lowell and I have lived the 53 almost 54 years we've been married. We started out in the (1)little farm house that first summer. We had electricity but no running water - hence no inside bathroom. I had to heat water on the stove so I could wash clothes in the ringer washing machine. There were 2 tubs for rinsing that had to be filled and I put some bluing in the last rinse. Somehow I remember how my mother washed clothes although I really don't remember helping her. In my high school days dad bought her an automatic washer and dryer. There's a story about the ringer washing machine that I will write about later. We lived there one summer and one winter. Lowell remembers that every time he came in the house I was reading "Gone with the Wind". I remember a small drift of snow across the living room floor. We had an oil burning stove in the living room. In late february or early March I found out I was pregant with Randy. I don't remember the reason we moved from there but we moved in with Lowell's dad and where Lowell grew up - (2)again a farm house with no running water. We were there for only a few week until we found an (3) apartment. That apartment did have running water and a bathroom :) It was upstairs above a business in downtown Redwood. It was an inside apartment - that is - there were several others around the perimenter. That summer was the hottest summer since the summer I was born. Or so my mom said. We had one small window over looking a tar roof and no air conditioning so when I climbed those 100 steps (at least it seemed like 1oo) and very pregnant I was bushed and very hot. There's a story about that apartment, too, for a later time.
In late July we decided we couldn't take the heat anymore and started to look for a small house we could rent. The day we moved - Sept 1- it turned cool. It was (4)a cute little house - very, very small with a huge furnace. It was the same rent but now we had the expense of heating. Later we wished we would have stayed in the apartment. Oh well, you live and learn. The neat thing was that it was the house my mom and dad lived in when I was born. "How small was it?"
you ask. Well, the kitchen was just wide enought for my 30 inch stove at one end and had a 30 inch sink at the other end. The outside door was in the midde of the kitchen wall and a trap door leading to the basement was in the middle of the floor. In the living room we put the refrigerator, table, couch, Randy's crib and the only place left for the chair was over the big furnace grate. It was a wonderful place to sit when the furnace came on. The bedroom was just big enough for a queen size bed and the bathroom was just a step or two from the bed. Randy was born in October and we spent that winter and the next Spring in this little house. There's a story here, too.
In the Spring Lowell's dad died and so that summer we moved back to (5)the home place and again we were without running water and no inside bathroom. That winter my mom suggested that I wash clothes at her place so that I didn't have to haul water. Thank goodness!! Several stories here, too.
Just before Christmas of 1957 we moved to an (6) apartment in Austin, MN (a story comes later) and then we bought a (7) house in Austin Acres later that summer. In October Barbara was born. Several stories during these years. Both Karen and David were born while we lived in this house. From there we moved to Park Rapids. Lowell got a job working for Park Rapids Floral early in 1968 and since I was commited as organist until Easter we couldn't all move up here at one time. Lowell found a (8)little place so that Randy and Barbara could get started in school and I stayed in Austin with Karen and David. It was not a very nice house and very drafty so we found a (9) house to rent and moved again just before Christmas in a snow storm. It had 5 bedrooms upstairs, a huge kitchen, a huge living room and 2 bedrooms downstairs. (another story) From there in 1969 we moved to our (10) present home. We have electricy, running water, an inside bathroom and a good furnace. :-)

A scary 2006/2007

I just finished our story about Lowell's medical problem that started in February 2006 and continued through Winter and Spring of 2007. If you are interested in reading it, it is titled End of 2007. It is the first blog I posted so scroll and click on "old post" then scroll down the page.

Joke

So Lena and Sven were getting ready for bed - Lena cleaned her contact lenses and put them in a glass of water. Sometime in the night Sven got up and drank that glass of water. Lena couldn't see very good the next morning but Sven had 20/20 hindsight.

That was just one of the jokes at our Minnesota at Heart church party last night. We had such a good time. Theresa puts on one whale of a party: lots of food, fun and fellowship. It was good to see people that I don't get to see on Sunday anymore since I play for only the first service. One lady told me she misses my music but can't get up that early :) I told her it was the only day of the week that I had to set my alarm :-)

When I got home I turned on the internet to listen to the 2nd half of Zac's game with Mayville. They were ahead by 23 and little by little Mayille got them down to just 5 ahead. But the Vikings got themselves together and won the game by 18 points. So now they are tied for 1st place in the conference. Zac had 9 points and 4 fouls.