May 23rd, 2021

 TERRY

There is nothing new about Terry.  She is currently reading the Sunday paper so will be busy for a while!  Starting this week is the count down to seeing Dr. Vickers which may or may not give us any answers about Terry's long term health.  I really should turn the temp up on the swimming pool as I think it would be good for Terry to swim but as of now the temp is too chilly for her.  That is all for this Sunday.

I sometimes take Sundays to sit, reflect and ponder life.  I will do that today as well.  

Life has a way of going on and on as if today is the same as tomorrow BUT then there is the morning one wakes up and wow--I am so different today than I saw myself yesterday.  Yesterday but wait, my yesterday was really several years ago.  That was a time when getting out of bed was simply swinging one leg over the edge of the bed and standing up.  BUT now swinging that one leg causes a chain reaction!  The left arm is sore, the left leg has an ache.  AND there right in front of me is a stomach that is somewhat bigger than I remember.  OH, now I get it. I am what they can a "senior citizen" and I have pretty much everything that goes with that label!

AND I do remember my golf game last Thursday.  I was amazed as I teed off on hole #1.  I hit the ball pretty darn square and it flew off the club head as if I had a great shot.  But wait, the ball came down way too soon and as I gazed out over the fairway I saw the yardage sign near the ball and it, I had to squint, had 150 yards on it.  I looked down at the club in my hand and sure enough it was my driver!  As I put my driver back in the bag I glanced at the 5 iron and thought "that was a #5 just a short time ago or so I felt!

Back home I shared my experience with Terry and she just looked at me as if I should have known that all along.  Time has a way of creeping up and then zapping you just at the time that you thought you had cheated Father Time!  So I figured I did need some exercise so I pressed the garage door opener and presto the huge garage door opened.  I thought now that is so much better than 40 years ago when I turned the handle on the garage door and then with a quick lift from my right side the door opened.  I grabbed my bike and walked down the driveway.  Without thinking I turned the bike over at a 45degree angle and mounted for the ride.  Wait I thought.  Wasn't I supposed to put my right foot on the pedal, give myself a shove and then in a carefree way just lift my left leg over the seat?  Oh my gosh I do remember the last time I did that and caught my pant leg on the seat and crashed to the pavement.  As I rode down the street I realized that I had not mounted my bike like that in some time now and then it dawned on me, age has a way of catching up.  I had a great bike ride.  I biked over to the courts, around all the high rise homes and then through many paved parking lots before I headed towards home again.  As I approached home some thoughts entered my head so I did not stop as I felt I needed to circle the homes one more time.  As I passed home and kept going my mind went back to North Dakota and back to the gravel roads that my bike traveled so many miles on.  The half mile ride up to the lake on rough gravel road BUT look Mom, no hands!  The 2 1/2 mile ride to Uncle Halvors that seemed so easy and fast and I had No problems avoiding the stones and small rocks on the road.  As I approached our home for the second time I decided to turn in and end my ride.  It was ALMOST with regret that I remembered what used to be and what was today!  Later in the day I decided to watch the golf tournament on TV.  Almost as soon as I turned on the TV my mind went back to that early summer day in 1958 when Ronald drove into the yard with this big box on the passenger side of the car.  It was a TV, our first ever on the farm.  Somehow Ronald got the antenna mounted high enough so that when the TV was turned on we got this picture even if it was a bit snowy on a hot June day!  From then on it was always a "hope" that Saturday would be a rainy day so I could watch baseball and listen to Dizzy Dean call his "frozen rope" hits.  As I came to my senses again I almost was surprised as I stared at our 65 inch, clear as can be picture, that actually hung on the wall!  My goodness how things change.  

So here it is now 8:30 Sunday and it is about time to sign off for another day.  Terry is still reading the Sunday paper and actually I am about ready to take a short bike ride.  YES, I will tilt the bike over, swing my leg over the seat and go for a ride.  One can do their best to stay fit, stay healthy, stay safe etc but one can NOT cheat Father Time!  The FP was good today.

I will end with DAKOTA ATTITUDE.

"Glen worked for Peter Kiewit Construction and in 1996 retired from Great River energy Company.  Now he does woodworking in his garage.  He also regularly goes down to the service station for coffee.  What is interesting at coffee?  You always say, It's nice out or it's gonna rain or the wind is gonna blow.  That's the main topic.  That's how you start your conversation.  Like everybody else you've gotta listen to a little gossip.  There hasn't been much going on, nothing.  I went down there this morning, and nobody had nothing today.  Pretty quiet."

"One time I asked my dad what was his version of a rich man when he was growing up in the 30's .  He thought for a minute, then said, any farm that had paint on its buildings.  It struck me as, why was that?  Dad said, The grasshoppers were so thick they would move around the buildings with the sun--they ate all the paint off.  So any farmer who could afford to paint his building every year that was a rich man."