Holy schnikes!!! Andrew got initiated to a Minnesota thunderstorm big time! He was fixing dinner, Daniel was off at the corner house and Aaron and I were in the dining room. It had been thundering most of the day and raining off and on when all of a sudden, abut 45 minutes ago, there was a brilliant flash of light that seemed to completely surround us in the house followed by what may have been the loudest crack of a thunderbolt I've ever heard. To illustrate how close it was, we were unable to count to ONE... It was DIRECTLY OVERHEAD and the house shook as if we were feeling God's wrath focused on 716 Duluth Avenue North. Shortly after, I got a call from the pastor's wife three houses down to advise me Daniel was scared witless and needed to come home, but it was a torrential downpour the likes of which Seattle has never seen and he didn't have an umbrella, so I escorted the eldest Widerski boy, Tyler, over there under the golf umbrella and brought Danny back. I saw a Pennington County Sheriff's cruiser drive by us with his lights on and stop only a block down by 8th. I'm wondering if a tree may have been hit down there...
I was beginning to wonder when we were going to get some more good thunder going. It was supposed to be thunderstorms all week and late last night they streamed warnings on the television screen of flash floods, floods, and tornados in about 12 different counties across the tri-state area of ND, SD, and MN. I guess today was the big day for it. I knew it was going to be some bad weather when the dog elected to do her business just inside the back door entryway rather than ask to be let outside... I think I saw her tail stuck between her legs last time I let her out to do #1... :o) That's an indoor dog for ya.
As for me, I'm healing well from the other day's visit to the dentist. I don't have anymore pain, but I still have 98 Percocets left over for "headaches." :o) I even called the pharmacy and asked the pharmacist to verify the script and he told me yes, the doctor wrote it out as "hundred," so it couldn't have been a mistake. Maybe they just dispense pain medication in TRF in advance for the year...?
I gotta go now as the power is flickering again.
Ciao!
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Saturday, June 25, 2005
It's Gopher Season, I think...
I think I've already told most of you out there of my dental problems these past couple of weeks. For those who haven't been filled in, I've been looking for a dentist to take care of a tooth broken in half for some time now and haven't been able to find anyone in town. It's made getting any work down around here a challenge as it's hard to concentrate with the at times all-consuming pain. I did find a nun who's also a dentist in an outlying town, so hopefully I can get in to see her next Tuesday. If not her, I'll be looking in North Dakota (Grand Forks). I never considered how difficult it might be to get a dental emergency taken care of locally.
We just got back from setting a few gopher traps out West of St. Hilaire on the old 80-acre field. I thought I may have lost my touch as in order to set traps you have to be able to find the entrance/exit hole to the burrow by shoving a stake into the mound of dirt. I was able to set a couple within 5 minutes, though, so now we'll just watch and wait a little bit and see what happens. We have Dusty back over again tonight, so the house will be active a bit more. Andrew picked up a few ribeye steaks since yesterday was his payday, so we'll be firing up the grill for the second night in a row now (brats last night).
We have new neighbors already that just moved into the house our old neighbors moved out of only a week ago. They have two small children, a boy and a girl, the boy a year younger than Daniel and they happen to be friends with the pastor's familiy on the corner and go to his church in town, First Baptist. We helped them move in their 32+ inch television set and entertainment center to put it in.
As for other happenings in TRF, there hasn't been much different other than having to mow the lawn every week and an ever rising mosquito count. It was 86 degrees on yesterday or the day before so air conditioning has come in handy. I'm looking forward to the next three weeks following which at long last we'll be seeing Nana and Aunt Jen, Nick, and Jake. I don't think I knew this before, but it appears they'll be coming to town right at the start of the Pennington County Fair!! Nick and Jake will get to see some 4-H animals and have some small town fun with Aaron and Daniel. Yet another thing to add to their travel itinerary besides the water park.
I gotta go play some football right now, though, as Aaron is beckoning. I bought myself a bike so I can also ride with the boys, but it's nice to mix up the activity a little and throw the ball around now and then. Hope everyone is enjoying their summers! :o)
We just got back from setting a few gopher traps out West of St. Hilaire on the old 80-acre field. I thought I may have lost my touch as in order to set traps you have to be able to find the entrance/exit hole to the burrow by shoving a stake into the mound of dirt. I was able to set a couple within 5 minutes, though, so now we'll just watch and wait a little bit and see what happens. We have Dusty back over again tonight, so the house will be active a bit more. Andrew picked up a few ribeye steaks since yesterday was his payday, so we'll be firing up the grill for the second night in a row now (brats last night).
We have new neighbors already that just moved into the house our old neighbors moved out of only a week ago. They have two small children, a boy and a girl, the boy a year younger than Daniel and they happen to be friends with the pastor's familiy on the corner and go to his church in town, First Baptist. We helped them move in their 32+ inch television set and entertainment center to put it in.
As for other happenings in TRF, there hasn't been much different other than having to mow the lawn every week and an ever rising mosquito count. It was 86 degrees on yesterday or the day before so air conditioning has come in handy. I'm looking forward to the next three weeks following which at long last we'll be seeing Nana and Aunt Jen, Nick, and Jake. I don't think I knew this before, but it appears they'll be coming to town right at the start of the Pennington County Fair!! Nick and Jake will get to see some 4-H animals and have some small town fun with Aaron and Daniel. Yet another thing to add to their travel itinerary besides the water park.
I gotta go play some football right now, though, as Aaron is beckoning. I bought myself a bike so I can also ride with the boys, but it's nice to mix up the activity a little and throw the ball around now and then. Hope everyone is enjoying their summers! :o)
Thursday, June 09, 2005
An Extraordinary Accomplishment!!
Today brought a most joyous accomplishment in Aaron's life. Aaron has been diligently working on learning to ride his bike. Last night, I witnessed him coasting all the way down to the neighbors with his legs just hanging down barely above the ground. He didn't touch the ground the whole way. Today, just about 5 minutes ago, Aaron and his buddy, Drew, came running inside to announce he has just learned how to ride all by himself!! I went out to watch while Drew gave him a little jump start and off he went down the sidewalk... The look of pride on his face was literally priceless! Today was truly a milestone of which Aaron can be most proud. Especially so as he never used training wheels and did it 95% on his very own. I am so happy for Aaron also because he has come home so many times this spring and early summer with a dejected look on his face, commenting how all of his friends could ride their bikes and he couldn't and therefore couldn't play with them as much as he liked. Now he's opened up a whole new world to himself. Three cheers for Aaron!!!
Monday, June 06, 2005
The 2005 Mosquito Season (MN State Bird) Is Upon Us...
It's amazing how fast they show up with a half mowed back lawn. The grass got to over a foot tall in sections because I wasn't too excited to mow over toys left from Spring and anyone who knows anything about mosquitos knows what that means...a virtual Motel 6 for laying eggs. Andrew got a citronella candle to "protect" him while enjoying a cigar by the back door, but found it was pretty ineffective. We picked up some newfangled OFF! mosquito lamps with something else we're going to try. In any event, I finished mowing about 95% of the back lawn today, so hopefully that will help bring them under control. The nice thing is I can still count the number of bites with one hand and there's none on that counting hand.
We've settled into summer quite nicely here with the boys' first week off from school last week. That is, once I had corralled Aaron from going to his female classmate's house 4 blocks down across a busy street. I think most of you already know I met the local PD again when I got a ride home from them when looking for Aaron last week. Then a couple days later meeting the same officer again as he politely knocked on the door and advised that Daniel and his little friend Zack had climbed out the upstairs bathroom onto the back roof (lower roof). With their second week of summer, they've been on much better behavior, knock on wood.
We had Carol and Roger Delap deliver us a homecooked meal from church last Friday, a goulash with melted cheese and pepperoni, homemade whole wheat bread, watermelon, grapes, and freshly baked cookies. It was a special program our church does, bringing home-cooked meals to people they think could use and appreciate it. We all really did enjoy it immensely.
We headed to church this Sunday after I took a couple weeks off sick and had a substitute pastor, Frank Ehly. He was kind of funny in the beginning, saying most people at the early service were thanking him for "coming out of retirement" to help. He responded each time with, "I'm NOT coming out of retirement...I'm just helping! He also enjoyed the new microphone like telephone operators wear, stating he felt like Garth Brooks at a concert without the cowboy hat.
We went to Dee's afterwards for brunch and spotted Jerry and Marilyn Wigness a few tables down. We discovered the nonsmoking section this time, so it was a little more pleasant to eat in. Following that, we spent the afternoon relaxing and come evening, we met Scott Grochow and his boy, Dusty, at the Galaxy Twin Cinemas and watched the new Star Wars movie. Dusty left about midway in as he got a little scared and Daniel just went with him because he wanted to play at his house. Aaron made it through and enjoyed seeing the whole progression from Anakin to Darth Vader. I think Andrew liked it too. The casting was pretty accurate, I think, as I imagined the much older characters from the first three movies and could easiliy envision the younger versions as older. I'm looking forward to the DVD so I can catch more subtle nuances of the movie and see more of the "behind-the-scenes" footage and special effects.
Dusty spent the night last night, sleeping on the couch with Duchess. Above is a picture of the two of them. Quite comfy, I must say. He might end up spending another night as I haven't heard from Scott or Kristy yet if they're expecting him home tonight.
Today was the first day in over a week we've had nice sunny clear sky weather and it made for nice mowing weather. All last week it was like living in Seattle all over again with overcast cool days and a dreary feel. It's nice to get back to the dry stuff for a change.
Well... It's back to work for me and shortly to bed for the boys. Hope all of you out there are enjoying your collective summers, wherever you find yourself "at home."
We've settled into summer quite nicely here with the boys' first week off from school last week. That is, once I had corralled Aaron from going to his female classmate's house 4 blocks down across a busy street. I think most of you already know I met the local PD again when I got a ride home from them when looking for Aaron last week. Then a couple days later meeting the same officer again as he politely knocked on the door and advised that Daniel and his little friend Zack had climbed out the upstairs bathroom onto the back roof (lower roof). With their second week of summer, they've been on much better behavior, knock on wood.
We had Carol and Roger Delap deliver us a homecooked meal from church last Friday, a goulash with melted cheese and pepperoni, homemade whole wheat bread, watermelon, grapes, and freshly baked cookies. It was a special program our church does, bringing home-cooked meals to people they think could use and appreciate it. We all really did enjoy it immensely.
We headed to church this Sunday after I took a couple weeks off sick and had a substitute pastor, Frank Ehly. He was kind of funny in the beginning, saying most people at the early service were thanking him for "coming out of retirement" to help. He responded each time with, "I'm NOT coming out of retirement...I'm just helping! He also enjoyed the new microphone like telephone operators wear, stating he felt like Garth Brooks at a concert without the cowboy hat.
We went to Dee's afterwards for brunch and spotted Jerry and Marilyn Wigness a few tables down. We discovered the nonsmoking section this time, so it was a little more pleasant to eat in. Following that, we spent the afternoon relaxing and come evening, we met Scott Grochow and his boy, Dusty, at the Galaxy Twin Cinemas and watched the new Star Wars movie. Dusty left about midway in as he got a little scared and Daniel just went with him because he wanted to play at his house. Aaron made it through and enjoyed seeing the whole progression from Anakin to Darth Vader. I think Andrew liked it too. The casting was pretty accurate, I think, as I imagined the much older characters from the first three movies and could easiliy envision the younger versions as older. I'm looking forward to the DVD so I can catch more subtle nuances of the movie and see more of the "behind-the-scenes" footage and special effects.
Dusty spent the night last night, sleeping on the couch with Duchess. Above is a picture of the two of them. Quite comfy, I must say. He might end up spending another night as I haven't heard from Scott or Kristy yet if they're expecting him home tonight.
Today was the first day in over a week we've had nice sunny clear sky weather and it made for nice mowing weather. All last week it was like living in Seattle all over again with overcast cool days and a dreary feel. It's nice to get back to the dry stuff for a change.
Well... It's back to work for me and shortly to bed for the boys. Hope all of you out there are enjoying your collective summers, wherever you find yourself "at home."
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