Here we are on the LAST day of January 2022, oh my where does the time go???

 Terry

As is often the case as I write Terry is awake and with the paper.  I would say she is again same.  I will try to get her out of bed and into the living room today as we know it is GOOD to move as much as possible.  I need to think of something she would like for breakfast and I do think French Toast will be on the menu.

No complaints but just stating the temp this morning, when I retrieved the paper, was 38 and that is pretty close to as chilly as it gets here.  Not since I have been coming to Naples have we gotten frost where we live.  Of course there is frost in the country and a picture this morning of a groove of orange trees where they had heaters scattered around trying to prevent damage to the fruit.  I also noticed that some places here cover their flowers for the night.

My blog today will consist mostly of some pictures.  The first is about a yearly auction they have in Naples in January with the money going to programs for children.  An example is below.

This car was donated and then went up for bid.  The money that was paid for the car goes to charity.  Here this car must be pretty special as someone paid $650,000 for it, yikes!!!

I guess this explains itself but really, that much money!  I wonder if she wrote out a check or paid with a credit card?????😲

I think the above examples pretty much tells the story of Naples.  There is a lot of money here.  Don't get me wrong.  There are a lot of NORMAL people like Terry and I living here too!  The auction took in $22,000,000 which is the most ever according to the paper.

I post this only for the 9 hole golf course that one can see.  This is Captiva South Sea Resort which is not really exclusive as far as I know but I show it because Terry's daughter and family stayed here a few years ago and I golfed with them there.  It is a very interesting place as one can see it is on a peninsula.

I post this which I took out of the WSJ.  Terry and I visited Ketchikan while coming back on the ferry from Alaska and we did see some of these.  I think we were told that we could be off the ship 4 hours that day.  

Well here it is past 9:00 so time to get some things done before I get ready for tennis at 10:30.  I am thinking I will need a sweater at least for the ride over but I see that the temp is supposed to be about 50 by the time we play.  Maybe a sweater for the first half hour?

I know there is a lot of time before taxes but I have been wondering about tax papers for things.  Well we did get some tax papers Saturday so it looks like they will be coming.  I thought maybe there would be NO taxes this year AND if you believe that I have ------------!!!

I was worried about John and Judi as they both had covid and I had heard nothing but John sent a message over the weekend and said I should call.  It was good to catch up as we talked for some time.  It sounds like they are doing OK and John is getting better.  

No, time to sign off and get ready.  I am hoping I play OK today as I just do not feel all that great.  Maybe if I finish my FP that should help, right???

Here we are at the very last Saturday of January in 2022, the 29th

 TERRY

Terry is reading the paper as the time hits 10:00.  I think she had a good nights sleep.  There is nothing planned for the day.  Again I would say she is same same.

Weather wise the phone shows a high of 57 today and tomorrow it will also fail to hit 60!  Then it may warm to into the 70s.  That is cold for Naples BUT please keep in mind NO complaints as there is no need to go out but really I guess there will be a trip to the store.  AND I add being from ND this weather is really nothing BUT for Naples it is chilly to say the least. 

As I sit at the desk I am surrounded by happy things!!!  In front of me is the 2022 calendar with pictures of the past.  Then there are homemade cards from the Adkins and the Lees.  They consist of drawings and pictures that are pretty precious.  

I GOT DISTRACTED AND DID NOT FINISH THIS YESTERDAY SO WILL TODAY!!!

TERRY

Terry is deep into the Sunday paper and I would say is about the same.  Yesterday she did NOT want to walk into the living room but I am hoping today she will do that.  It just is good for her to get out of bed regardless of how difficult it is.  So here we are same same and one day at a time!

Yikes, as I walked out to get the Sunday paper at around 7:15 or so I thought to myself "I think it is kind of cold". When I got into the house I looked at my phone---35!!!!!!  No complaints BUT that is cold for Naples FL.  By 3:00 this afternoon it is supposed to get ALL the way up to 59!  The news says that during January the average low is 57 and average high is 74 so we are somewhat below average for sure.  What the heck Naples temp this morning is the same as Havre MT where my friend Larry lives.  Somehow that seems kind of strange, MT and FL being the same temp.

Other than church there are no plans for the day.  I may go for a bike ride but that is about it.  I am not a big fan in terms of football on TV but I will watch some of the playoff games today.  Of course the BIG news in sports today is Brady is going to retire.  What he has accomplished in football is almost unreal.  BUT I guess at his age, he would be 45 before next season, it looks like finally Father Time has caught up with him.  The NFL says the average age of retirement in the league is 27.6.  But one has to remember that many many players retire from injury etc but still playing at the highest level until one is 44, pretty remarkable.  It is hard to think that anyone will surpass Brady in what he has done.  BUT then one never knows, right?

Mom and Dad were always good at taking family pictures.  If it was a holiday we needed a family picture and here is one of my favorite ones. 

That was in the spring of 1952 which means Mom-40, Dad-40, Ronald-14, Janet-12, Joan-9, Dave-7, Carmen-5 and Helen-1.  I am thinking that way back then that was a mighty good looking family!  It seems to me that most of us kids look older than that BUT except for me everyone else had birthdays mid or later in the year so for example Dave would have turned 8 in maybe 3 months etc.  I get a kick out of the fancy wall paper!  I am thinking at a the age of 14 Ronald does not look too happy sitting between Mom and Dad as he holds the sign!  The age of 14 can do that to a person!!!

I will be putting pictures on the the coming days each one a little later in years as we have many family pictures as the years went by.  BUT here is a picture of one of my birthday presents.

How about that for a nice gift!!  Cynthia sent it and I can hardly wait to start to have some.  They are coffee beans so I need to wait until the grinder is empty and then start enjoying.  It will be difficult to decide which one to start with.  I will not mention any names but there are people in the family who actually drink Folgers!!!😂. AND as you would know I love them just the same!!!  

Here is the lefse that came from South Bend.  So here I am a couple days after my birthday eating lefse, thinking about my coffee that I will start in on in a couple days and all the while sipping on FP.  I would say even at the ripe old age of 75 life is REALLY good!  Does it get any better???  Well maybe if I could subtract some years like maybe 50 life would be at least more exciting in some ways!  But of course one can not turn back Father Time so I will be happy as I am!

So here I will wrap up two days, Saturday and Sunday.  I do think the kitchen is calling so I need to pay some attention to it and then maybe even get some order on the dining room table with papers that look like a back storm came through.  I still have a tiny bit of FP left so will sit at the desk for a few more minutes until it is gone.

Here we are at the last Friday of January 2022

TERRY

As I write at 9:15 AM Terry is finished with the paper and is enjoying a breakfast sandwich of South Bend back yard egg, cheese and ham!  How about that for a delicious start to the day???  I would say Terry is same same today.  She has spent time the last two days in the living room after walking there with the help of the walker and my steady hand on the belt around her waist.  I am hoping she is up for that again today.  I am not sure it helps her get better but "for sure" it is good for her to get out of bed and use those legs a bit.  As I write she is watching some old old TV shows like Lucy, George Burns, Bob Hope etc.  When one watches them it is easy to realize that times today are much much different than back in the 50s and 60s.  

Well there is not tennis today and what the heck.  Now that I am 75 maybe I need some days off!!!  Oh, I forget that I am only one day older!

I got word yesterday that sons Aaron AND Travis are dealing with sighs of covid.  It sounds like they are kind of sick but will be better as the week winds down.  Aaron is working from home for now and Travis has had the entire month of January off as that is when he takes his vacation days but I do think he is supposed to go back to work around February 2nd or so.  

I may have mentioned this yesterday but not sure.  Back in 2020 Terry was part of a home sale which added income for us.  Guess what??  Come January of 2021 SS sent me a letter saying that our income was so high in 2020 that they would reduce my SS by about 90%!  They did say they would look at it again in a year.  So come a year later which is 2022 I get SS the 4th Thursday of the month.  AND guess what!  They kept their word and now I am getting the full amount again.  I say that but somehow they mix my St. Paul Teaching retirement into the whole mix so my SS is not full!  IF I did not have the teaching retirement my SS would be about three or four times what I now get.  BUT still every little bit helps so now I have to figure out what to do with a couple hundred dollars.  I think I can handle that.  IF I remember way way back when I started teaching in St. Paul I had to make a decision about what they would take out for retirement.  The choices were 100% Teacher's retirement, 100% SS or 50/50 for both.  I choose the first option.  Enough about money for today.  I THINK there is enough coming in to live on BUT with inflation who knows?

Cousin Lenay was in Halver and Alta's family who lived within a few miles of us.  She is, I think, a couple years older than I.  She and her husband now live in AR.  Her husband Harlis passed away from congestive heart failure a few days ago which is what brother Dave died of also.  It brings to mind that as the days, weeks, months and years go by life tends to be fleeting.  I just looked in the trusty old school annuals and it shows Lenay as a senior in 1961 which would put her 4 years older than I.  I think that puts her a year younger than sister Joan.  I am pretty sure Joan flew to AZ to take in their wedding anniversary not long ago.  

Well I think I have rambled on enough this morning.  Will close as the delicious cup of FP is down to the bottom of the cup.  

Here we are on January 27th and one day closer to the second month of 2022

 TERRY

I would say Terry is doing at least the same or even somewhat better.  As I write it is almost 9:00 and she is still sleeping which I would say is good.  Yesterday she spent several hours in the living room which is good.  With the walker and a belt I held onto she actually walked from the bedroom to the couch.  That is GOOD but yes she did say her legs felt like wooden pegs!  Anyway here we are on a Thursday and again it is one day at a time.

I know I am only 1 day older than yesterday but there is a BIG difference!  I woke up to the fact that I am now 75.  For some strange reason that sounds so so much older than 74--really!!!  Anyway I will take some time this morning to reminiscence (you are right I can not spell a lick so to speak so I had to look that up!) about life, growing up and family.

First I am thankful to be 75.  Of my family, Ronald and Janet both died in their late 20s BUT Mom and Dad both lived into their mid 80s.  Dave died just short of 76 and then we have Joan who will be 80 this year and Helen who will be 72.  

I would say that I have had good health up to this point.  For that I am thankful.  Yes, there have been some bumps along the way but IF you only have a few bumps to talk about after 75 years I think all is good.  

Dad was always good at taking pictures so here I am at age 4.

It looks like I am 1 here.  I am on a weight loss bing as I do not want to look like that anymore!

My all time best friend Larry stayed over night for my 12th birthday.  Dad is being funny and Mom has that proud look on her face.  

As we were growing up there was very little money BUT Mom always had delicious birthday cakes for the day.  I am guessing there may have been some presents but I do not remember them.  All I remember is Mom would ask what meal we wanted and then there was the cake.  Someplace I have a picture of my 2nd birthday when cousin Arlene, aunt Alta and Mom each had a cake for me.  I have not been able to find the picture of me with the 3 cakes on the piano stool in from of me.  In the picture Mom had made her delicious spring chicken for SUPPER.  Of course she had frozen it as there were NO spring chickens in January!!!  I put big letter on the meal time as now it is dinner but not growing up!  

So here it is 9:30 and I have tennis at 10:30.  I am most grateful to be able to play tennis at my age but I should add there are many many playing tennis here who are older than I.  Now we will NOT take about the level of tennis!!!  No I admit taking up tennis in my advanced years has not made the game all that easy BUT I am thankful for being able to be on the court.  Way back when I broke my wrist I had to sit out for some time and then later with my detached hamstring muscle I was out almost a year but now I am back and guess what?  I do think my game now is at it's all time high but again will not say HOW high that is!!!

No, here it is 9:40 and will sign off for the day.  There is nothing planned for the day but I do intend to make a very nice meal for Terry this afternoon.  So it is time to sign off and enjoy the last few sips of my FP which is actually getting old so I need a warm up before finishing.

Wednesday, January 26th of 2022

TERRY

As I write it is almost 9:00 AM and Terry has been awake since about 7:15.  I do not know what is going on but she was SURE she needed attention this morning but after I got out of bed to help her I discovered there was nothing.  Not sure what that is about.  I would say she is about the same so will continue to take things one day at a time.

There is little to nothing planned for the day.  Somehow I did not get on the court schedule today so no tennis.  I may get on the bike just to get some exercise in but that does not replace tennis.  

I need not go to the store as I made a trip to Costco yesterday.  I did a "lazy" thing.  I purchased a couple of boxes of breakfast sandwiches that are frozen.  They are so easy and so fast so that is why I use the word lazy.  Not sure they are very healthy but the one I ate today had only 230 calories so that is a good thing.  That is IF I do not cheat on the side of food between now and lunch and then dinner.  I should really have NO problem losing weight as we ALWAYS skip supper.  Oh I guess we just changed the name to dinner so skipping it is not real!

I tell you it is so so nice now that I have the calendar hanging right in front of my face at the desk.  I can not believe all the time in the past it was hanging on the wall to my right and in shadow so it was so hard to see.  I am surprised I do not have a permanent squint on my forehead from trying to read it.  BUT now in a quick glance I see yesterday, today and tomorrow!!!  I am wondering If or HOW family has them hanging as I sent out many including I think 10 to sister Joan.  As I mention her name it brings to mind that I miss our family.  Of course there are only three of us left out of the eight and even that would be understandable as the years go by but even the three of us are so spread out it seems we live a million miles apart.  Yes, as Lees or other names that Joan and Helen have all of us have family, friends etc etc but it would be nice to get together once in a while.  Maybe in the coming year we can do that.  I felt I could not leave Terry last fall which meant we did not get together then but maybe in the next year or so.  AND of course in family I include Judi/John, Glorine and Marlys as well.  I don't know IF Judi reads my blog but if she does I know she is so happy that I now spell her name correctly!!!  Why did Ed and Opal not use Judy???  I do not even know if I spelled her Mother's name correctly but I add they were a grand couple as we were able to spend a bit of time with them when both of us lived in Devils Lake.  

I saw bad and good as I stepped on the scale this morning.  I was pretty sure I would be UP  as I thought I ate too much yesterday.  So the good was I was not up.  The bad was I was not down either!  Another try today and we will see how I do tomorrow morning.  I will share part of my life as I sign off today.

 It was Thursday, March 4 of 1965

It was a cool late winter/spring day as with kind of a happy feeling we boarded the bus for the first game of the district basketball tournament.  Coach Wohler had his hands full from Monday on.  We had a successful season until the last couple of games.  Big Dan, our center, was hurt and we really did not have anyone of his size to take his place.  Dan had played in our second to last game against Edgeley, a team we had defeated in a close game in late January, but he was hurt and was not himself.  We came out on the short end of the score 54-66.  Then came the last game of the season against Lisbon.  They had defeated us in the very first game of the season 53-50 bit really it could have gone either way.  BUT in our last game it was a disaster to put it mildly.  Dan did not play and pretty much everyone else was not good and the final score of 31-53 showed that we were a hurting team for sure.   Coach Wohler did his best, in the three days leading up to our first district game, to put a positive spin on the upcoming tournament.  We played in a district which was comprised of teams to our east so we played none of them during the season.  We were seeded in the top 3 but what did that mean, not much.  With records the way they were we were seeded to play Wyndmere AND the tournament was in their gym.  The game was at 3:00 PM on Thursday.  Well we came out fighting but with Dan out of the lineup we were in for a dogfight and in the end came up a point short.  That meant that we knew our high school days of playing basketball were now consist of only one or two more games.  If we won our next game on Friday afternoon we would play for consolation on Saturday.  If we lose that we would be done.  It was a long time in showering and dressing as the disappointment was deep and hurtful.  Here we were from a school that had gone to the state tournament the year before and now we were relegated to playing consolation BB at the district level to end our high school career.  At the time my very best friend was dating Pat from Rutland and I was dating Joellen which had been on/off/and then on again during our high school days.  Coach Wohler let the team know that he would be watching the game following ours as we would play the winner on Friday.  I suggested to Larry that we take a walk into town.  So as I gripped Jo Ellen's hand we headed out to explore Wyndmere and try to shake some of the disappointment off.   Larry and Pat joined us aswe walked the streets of Wyndmere for what seemed like a long time.  You can guess that the girls were supportive but really it was a gloomy afternoon at best.  We actually got to the far side of town and climbed the steps of the grain elevator where we sat with long faces and little talk for some time.  I had a million thoughts go through my mind.  Yes, we had at least one more basketball game and maybe two BUT the thought was "My high school days are over.  Well of course we had about three months of school but really sports WAS high school to me.  In looking back "for sure" I should have spent more time with the books but for me at that time a "B" average and a place on the honor roll was OK but the REALLY important thing was sports and I admit I had a girl friend too.  As that thought came to mind I actually was realistic enough to know that the girl friend also may be a thing of the past as my high school days eneded.  It was most likely a passing thing in my life.  I squeezed Jo Ellen's hand and she looked at me as if to say, now what???  I just tried to smile and said that I was happy to be with her.  I maybe even have said I loved her but really what high school guy knows what real love is???  I found out much later in life that I did indeed know what love was at that time but somehow "young and foolish" came into play.  Finally after a couple of hours sitting and walking we headed back to the bus which was about ready to head back to Forman with stops at Cayuga and Rutland first.  

The next day, Friday, we again played in the afternoon as one would expect consolation teams to do.  We played Hankinson and we felt, after brooding over our lose to Wyndmere, that maybe we could end up our high school on somewhat of a positive note.  With Dan's doing somewhat better we took care of things on Friday in grand fashion as many of the starters sat out much of the 4th quarter in a laugher.  That somewhat lighten the air but of course not entirely.  The consolation championship took place again in the afternoon and on Saturday. It was against Lidgerwood whom we had defeated early in the season by a score of 53-48.  We anticipated a tough game but it was one of those games where it seemed like I or almost any other player could put the ball in the air and have it come down in the basket.  In perhaps a bit of luck or maybe a bit of redemption I scored 26 points in a shooting display that was rare for me.  Many years later I found the clipping from the paper that Dad had cut out of the Lidgerwood monitor paper and saved.  BUT do you think he complimented me??  Yes,  you are right as he never mentioned it!  

Anyway it was biter sweet as my football and basketball days were over.  I had so so so much fun during the four years and I know there were many more positive notes than negative's so that was a good thing.  I could note that the gal I dated went off to be a summer counselor at camp so I did not see her all summer.  Stupid me I felt maybe, just maybe, it was a relationship that would endure for a long time but actually I got lucky!!!  Gail reentered my life that summer and the rest is history in a GOOD sense.  

I share this as a memory that had it's ups and downs and perhaps more than a bit of naiveté that seems to go along with youth!!!  Would I do things differently IF I were young again???  Perhaps but then that is senseless to go there, right!    To end this I would say that I was a very lucky guy in high school.  Yes, I could have done things differently but then if one could live their life in hindsight I am not so sure that would be good either!  

From time to time I pull out the annual of our senior year and reminisce about "what was".  I know in my mind I was a VERY bashful young guy but as I look at the annual I see so so many things that tell me it was a very wonderful time in my life.  It seems that I mingled with and worked with so many people from football, basketball, class of officers to band officers to letterman's club and the list is actually a bit longer.  

So it is time to sign off for the day.  I am kind of guessing that not many readers will get to this last sentence as they may have fallen asleep in trying to read it all.  So I should say something really important BUT really I have nothing important to say today!  No tennis, the FP is almost gone and no real plans so will just sign off with a thankful heart for a long life but yes as I say that I remember Ronald, Janet and Dave.

I did not mention this before

 Sister Helen was married to Mike who died 9 years ago.  I do believe he would have celebrated his 78th birthday today.  Of course Helen misses him greatly but as a LEE she has moved on and has a life that I do believe is great.  Yes, I am maybe 1500 miles away from Holiday Island AK but I am SURE that Helen, in her grief, has adjusted and is doing OK all the while she misses Mike.  She has her friends whom she often goes to Mexico with and I know a bundle of friends around her home.  She is in the "Lee" tradition in that she adapts and makes life enjoyable wherever she is AND I promise she has MANY friends.  Anyway I salute Mike today as a man who made my sister's life fun for over 20 years!

Here we are at mid week of the last full week of January 2022

TERRY

OK so it is late today.  I could not believe it when Terry kind of woke me up by saying it was late--8:14!!! I can not remember the last time I slept that late.  BUT Terry seems to be doing OK so that is good.  She needed some attention when I got up and that is usual for the morning.  She said it felt good to get some things changed in the bed and then settle in with the paper for the morning.

How about that for a breakfast!!!  A South Bend back yard egg between ham with a foundation of cheese all on a toasted English Muffin.  What a way to start the day AND I am sure it will carry over to 10:30 tennis in a big way!

There are the ingredients that became the best chili I ever made.  I asked Terry if she would like chili as our weather is kind of "chili weather" if you get the pun!  It is a little warmer today as the temp shows 55 as I write but only a high of 72 which is kind of the story for the entire week.  Back to the chili.  So Terry said "yes" and the hunt was on for a new recipe which I found on the computer.  I would say it was a smashing success.  There will be leftover chili today.

How about that Agatha, she kind of stole my heart yesterday.  Cynthia send this picture and said Agatha loves Grandpa's book!  I always knew Agatha had good tastes!!!  I am thinking that it may have been the perfect ending to a cold cold day in Minnesota to snuggle into bed with a GOOD book.  Someone may say I can not be an impartial judge but I differ!!!  I am kind of wondering IF I could hire her to be my agent to sell more book.  I would allow her to use this picture!

Other than Tennis I need to make a quick trip to Costco, the store that has ALL for the best prices.  We do not need much but will also fill gas as they have the best prices for that as well.  As Dad would say, "I need to put gas ON."

We are in need of rain.  Very little over the past several weeks.  I am reminded because I have a certain mark on the pool that I feel the water should be at and about once a week I have to run water for about 30-45 minutes to fill it to that mark.  

I am NOT complaining about the weather here BUT it is unusually cool.  Over the next 10 days the high ranges from 61 - 78.  That is right I did say 61 for a high on Saturday.  I could mention that it looks like a temp of -10 in St. Paul now but that is not so bad as Cayuga takes the prize today with -16.  Oh I made a mistake as Deb Binde is in Lake Park MN and there it is -19 which means IF Judi/John were home in MN that would be their temp but being they are in sunny Mesa they are enjoying 41.  I am guessing they will need a light jacket on as they walk to enjoy coffee with friends at the club.  Maybe, what do I know about what they do in the morning as I ONLY know they, for some reason, can not get into enjoying delicious FP!!!😎

Well as I rattle on and on the time seems to fly so it is now almost time to get ready for tennis.  I may just wear a sweater going over on my bike as there will be a chill in the air but once on the court it will be warm enough.  So it is onward for the day with hopes that all ends well as night falls. 

January 24th, 2022

 TERRY

As I blog this morning Terry is sound asleep and it is a bit past 8:00.  I fell asleep last night shortly after 10:00 and she was still awake with her eyes on the TV so she may have stayed up late.  I am hoping she sleeps in until 8:30 or later so she gets her rest.  I would say she is doing same same.

I looked at the weather on my phone this morning and saw that Naples temp was 39 at 7:00.  Then I looked at other places like Cayuga ND and saw a zero so I decided to not complain!  When I step onto the court at 9:00 it shows a temp of 46 so I may relent and go with a long sleeve shirt IF I have one that is OK for tennis.  I could arrive at the court in short sleeves and brag that I am from North Dakota and the cold does not bother me but then decided to not start out the week on a lie!  I have found that the weather is just relevant to where you are at the time.  For some reason my thoughts went way back to Servant Camp maybe in the early 90s.  We had campers from New Orleans and with morning temps of 60s most of us were excited but campers from the south thought it was really really cold!

I did a good thing yesterday.  I have the computer on the desk and I sit right near a window which means the wall next to me is kind of in shadow.  I always had the LEE calendar hang on the wall and when I needed to see a certain date I had to look hard as it was kind of in shadow.  So I fixed that yesterday.

OK so my desk is very messy etc BUT I can easily see the calendar and now I often break out into a smile as it reminds me of this or that.  Every time I see a picture of Mom when she was young I say to myself how cute she was and then I realize how my three sisters got be become homecoming queens and of course Dad had something to do with it also BUT I am not aware of any kings in the Lee clan!  Oh maybe they did not elect kings in high school but WHY?

Enough for today as now it is 8:48 and time to leave for 9:00 tennis.  I went to put my watch on and it looked like the time was all wrong.  When it gets a low battery it stops.  THEN I realized I just had it upside down.  Hope that is not how my tennis will go in a few minutes!!!  

I had my FP so it should be a good tennis match and a good day!!!

Here we are on the second to last Sunday of January 2022 as it is the 23rd1

 TERRY

As I write it is about 9:30 and Terry is reading the paper with the TV on.  She said she is feeling pretty good today.  She has already eaten a breakfast of French toast with a side of bacon.  She said the FT was super!!!

We are in the middle of a cold spell.  We will have a high of 64 today as it will warm a bit from a morning of 47.  Tomorrow morning it will be 42 and get up to 66.  As I look at the 10 day forecast five of the 10 days do NOT get out of the 60s and Thursday we have the high for the 10 days as 74.  I am guessing there will be long sleeves on the tennis courts and many of the women will have tights on.  But it still is WARM compared to St. Paul where in the next 10 days the lows five days will be minus including Wednesday where it is supposed to bottom out at -17.  On Tuesday the HIGH is -1 but then by Thursday the high is 31!  So I guess I need not say anything about Naples temps!

I certainly started the day out right as I enjoyed hash browns with bits of bacon and topped it off with a South Bend backyard fresh egg from Liam's flock of chickens!  I tell you it was the absolute BEST!  AND of course it needed to be fried in the cast-iron skillet that has a picture of Arches National Park on the bottom.  That's the best way to go for sure!!!

I could write about a lot of things today but will start out with my interest in pens.  Perhaps it started way way back when I was still at home on the farm.  I could listen to Harry Cary who was the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals at the time.  He advertised this pen & pencil set in the shape of bats.  

I ordered a set and fell in love with pens.  Of course I have NO idea what happened to them except maybe there were still in my memory box of things that went up in smoke when the farm burned.  Anyway ever since then I have liked pens.    Here are some of the ones I have today.

1. That is currently my favorite as Henry gave it to me for Christmas and he made it.  The wood is beautiful.
2. That is a pen from long ago that has a broken cap but I used it for years and years as I headed Servant Camp
3. That pen is the only pen I have that also serves as a tire pressure gauge which is on the top!
4. Is just a beautiful green pen that I like.
5. When heading Servant Camp we gave out pens to people who were awarded the George Simmons Award.
6. That is another pen that Henry made and gave me.
7. That is the most versatile pen in that is has a ruler and a bubble for leveling things!
8. Is just a nice pen that I often use.
9. That is a pen from the school reunion that took place last summer.
10. Well this little pencil is from Audubon Country Club.  Past neighbors Diane and John belonged to that club.  More than once they treated us to Sunday brunch there after we played croquet at the club.

So as one can see I need NO more pens but still am always on the hunt for pens from different places.  Perhaps one of the most funny things about pens happened at a meeting long ago when Henry was maybe 3 or 4.  Grandpa had a pen and Henry wanted to see it.  After looking it over he thought he would like to be like Grandpa so he put it into his upper pocket in his bib overalls.  There happen to be a hole in the pocket and next thing he knew it was on the floor.  At first he could not understand it so again he put the pen in the pocket and presto it was on the floor again.  Well one can now guess that he figured out this was kind of a fun game!!!  Well Grandpa had to stop it after a few times.

IF MY 2022 CALENDAR IS CORRECT MY GRANDMA LEE WAS BORN ON THIS DATE IN 1891

If everyone had a grandma like Emma here the world would be a much better place to live.  Grandma was the kindest, best cookie maker and most loving grandma ever.  She died in the Veblen Hospital in June of 1965.  Her berries and fruit trees on the farm were amazing.  Her garden was the best and I should add that she loved her BLACK dog that she named WHITEY!  I am thinking that we NEVER visited her without having at least 1 cookie!  AND I have to add there was one thing I did not like, her oatmeal breakfast!!!

Here it is a few minutes past 10 AM and time to sign off.  With the FP gone and still many many memories in my mind that seem to never go away I will stop for now.

I missed Friday and not sure why!!!

 TERRY

As I write it is 8:30 and Terry is in the middle of the Naples paper.  She had a good night sleep and seems to be in good spirits this morning.  She said she was not hungry an hour ago BUT she is on her second helping of peanuts!  We are good for the day I think.

It is Saturday so I will not have tennis today or tomorrow.  I think it is good for me to rest a couple of days but I assure you that the way I play tennis is NOT the kind of tennis one might think about.  Yes, some of the guys are good but still playing doubles means that you are NOT running all the time.  Yikes, yesterday I took a tumble on the court.  I took a minute to get up but was not hurt.  Well when one does that your pride is somewhat wounded but that is all!  We had a terrific match but went down to defeat 9-7.  Rich and I had a huge lead and let it slip away but I would say this.  It is always fun to win but I would rather lose a match like that than play a match and win 6-0.  We are promised a rematch next week so that should be fun.

Here we are in the middle of January or should I say a bit towards the end.  But the thought is January was a month that stands out in my mind as I grew up.  There were basketball games.  There were girls!  In the early years there was sliding down the bank just beyond the out house.  There was skating on the lake in skates that were hand me downs, hand me downs and hand me downs!  There was walking to Wood Lake school bundled up.  So how did some of these things play out?

• Well perhaps as much as anything basketball comes to mind.  It was in January that we walked from Cayuga School to the hall on MAIN street in Cayuga.  As a 7th grader it was my introduction to team basketball.  Up to that time my BB was on the dirt near the light pole by the barn and in the hay barn throwing a rubber ball into a 5 gallon can nailed up on the wall, 10 feet up at that.  As 7th grader I had NO idea of BB rules.  What the heck, you could not stand in the lane!  AND you had to dribble all the time.  AND if you stopped you had to pass!  Once you crossed the center line you could not go back!  All and more came into play as this awkward 7th grader, who was the tallest on the team, learned or kind of learned how to play team BB.  Then it was onward to HS and the many January memories of bus trips, wins and losses and good company too!!!  I made sure I had fun rides back to school after the game during both my junior and senior years.  As time has passed I am not so sure those were the results of good judgement but I do say it was fun!  I should always mention later coaching the 7 & 8th graders at the School for the Deaf and being the interpreter and scorer at games where Steve Blehm averaged 35 points per game as a senior.  Basketball, many memories for sure.
• On the farm we did not have any hills so to speak.  We did have kind of a down hill just beyond the out house so that was our sledding place.  I am sure it was all of 20 feet from the pasture fence to the creek bottom.  So with buckle up overshoes, a winter cap with the ear flaps UP and maybe 3 layers of clothes from California we had fun sledding.  January was usually the best month for that.
• Then in 1st-3rd grade there were usually January walks to Wood Lake School.  I remember it was seldom that Dad would start the car and give rides.  Again that darn Mom insisted ear laps DOWN but as soon as we got to the down hill on the road the ear laps went up!  Why, I really do not know but for some strange reason I needed to feel more free and open!
• We would always hope for a winter storm so we could stay home from school.  I do not know how often that happened but I do know there were some times.  So what do kids do when they have a "free" away from school?  Well as one might know there were NO electric devices to play with so the day in January became a "day of fun" with 
• Tourning Card games
• Lincoln Logs and electric sets
• Marbles and empty 3006 shells
• Table tennis on the kitchen table WITH round corners.  
• Milking time in the dark during January when the lantern was hung on the nail in the back wall and one would see the beady cat eyes looking for squirts of milk!
• Of course puzzles were always in play from 500 piece ones to 2000 piece ones.  Much much later in life the 18,000 piece puzzle that Travis brought was worked on for a long time but then put away before much of it was put together.
• Then there was the very large black board that was just a sheet of slate.  We could often get Mom to do a drawing on it and then with it on the floor we would cover the chalk lines with kernels of corn.
• I would be remiss if I did not mention lying in bed upstairs where there was NO finished ceiling in our bedroom.  On those cold cold winter nights one could be in bed and see the frost covered nails that held the shingles down.  In that setting one could practice and practice until perfect rings would be made as you blew out breathe.  Dave and I probably could have been world champs at that!

So here I am in Naples FL with a warm house and not even cold temps.  As I looked at my phone this morning it showed a cold 64!!!  So I guess I will go with my memories only as I think IF I were playing tennis today I would break a sweat.

No here it is somewhat past 9:00 and I think I have written enough for the day.  I do not have any certain plans for the day but I may go for a bike ride, a short one.  The FP is near the bottom of the cup so all is well!!!

Here we are at Thursday, January 20th, 2022

 TERRY

As I write Terry is in bed not wanting the paper yet but watching cartoons!!!  She woke up about 7:15.  Nothing is planned for the day and I would say she is same same.

Our activities today are my tennis at 10:30 and Terry's daughter Kim is coming over for lunch.  That may be a full day for a couple of older people one of whom is sick and the other who is TIRED!

My tennis game is up and down.  Tuesday I was more than awful then yesterday I was kind of good!  I guess that is how tennis goes at times.  Still with the good and the bad I do enjoy getting out and the exercise is good for sure.  I will play also tomorrow which means tennis 5 days this week and then I think my body will need some rest over the weekend.  

I admit I have NOT done well with my weight loss so far this month.  Still I have 11 days yet to redeem myself and elevate things out of the basement so to speak.  I still have hope that I can exercise more and eat less as we head towards the end of January.  Can I do it?  Well no doubt I can but will I?  That will only be answered by January 31.

I ordered a new tennis bag yesterday as I am finding a tennis bag where the racquets fall out just is not a good thing.  Not sure when it will come BUT for the time being I have a make shift answer to the problem but will not say WHAT as that may reveal how an old North Dakota guy solves problems AND it may be embarrassing at best!  How about that for a long sentence???  I did not check to see if it is correct grammar but really who cares?  Well IF Terry were to see it she would care!

Well this morning was a first for the year.  As I got out of bed and went outside to get the papers I felt like I was in North Dakota again.  I looked at the temp in the house and it showed 72.  I have the furnace on a setting so the air goes on at 78.  So I needed to change the setting from air to heat and then set it at 75.  Presto, soon the HEAT came on for the first time in many months.  I checked the weather and it showed 58 so I felt I was justified in having some heat.  Terry does not need it as she has an electric blanket on most of the time.

I do not have any plans for the day in terms of going.  

When Kim was here yesterday we talked about what to do today.  Kim asked about Terry getting into the pool but I felt that was just too too much at this time.  With very little strength I am not comfortable at this time doing the pool.  I do know that it would be good for her but in my mind she needs more strength for that.  IF we had a ramp it may work but to go up several steps it would take a couple of people and then it just is not a good idea at this time.  Maybe at a later time if things change.

BACK TO

 Monday, January 20, 1965

As I lay in bed my head was full full of many thoughts.  Here I was a senior in high school and no doubt on this date the next year I would not be here!!  But "where" was a big question and I had no answers.  I looked up towards the ceiling in the bedroom and thought, "Really, will I have frost on the ceiling next year".  The bedroom did not have a ceiling so I could see the nail tips covered with frost as I lie in bed.  I then blew out a short breathe and watched as the cool air turned it into a smoke like circle.  My mind went back to my wonderful electric blanket and I silently thanked Mom and Dad for it and also Mom for turning it on before I got home from basketball games.

Then thoughts went back school and what was ahead after graduation in May.  I had this girl friend but I knew that would end when school was out.  I also knew that my girl friend during my junior year may be back for the summer.  THEN I thought, "really are these girls so important?"  It almost made me feel like I was in need of something as I so needed/wanted special friends.  

Then my thoughts went back to what may I be doing a year from now.  Actually I did not have a big desire to go on to college even though I knew that should be what I did.  What I did know is I needed and wanted to move away from home.  Brother Ronald had died a short time ago and his death was pretty much in the air daily.  I missed him so much but what was really hard was it seemed like he was NEVER far Mom and Dad's thoughts. It would not be unusual to come into the house and notice that Mom had tears.  Then of course the military draft loomed tall.  The Viet Nam war was going and there were thoughts that anybody who did not go on to school would be drafted.  That turned out to be true.  

Another thought was what was I interested in doing with my life after high school?  I thought about Ronald, Glorine, John, Janet, Joan, Ron, Dave and Marlys  and it seemed like they all had a firm idea of what they wanted to do or what they were doing and for me that was not the case.  Well one thing I knew for sure was IF farming was any thing like OUR farm I wanted nothing to do with it.  It seemed like IF our family and others farms in the area were in a race to be good farmers we would by way way at the tail end.  AND that may be OK for Mom and Dad but for me that was not where I wanted to be.  But where?  That was a question that I did not have an answer for.

So on this Monday night in the cold cold upstairs bedroom I wondered and wondered some more what was in store for me as time went by.  I know I did not want to stay on the farm but beyond that the horizon was hazy and undefined.  Oh, I also knew that I did not want to go into the service as that had been instilled in me as a little boy when cousin Marvin came home with movies of the navy.  

So as I turned over to see that the time was already past 10:00 and I figured that maybe I needed to get some sleep as we had a big basketball game tomorrow and also a test in physics which I struggled in.  Well I knew I would pass the test but my goal of a B+ or better was kind of beyond my reach I felt.  As I drifted off to sleep under my warm blanket I still had many many unanswered things on my mind and I was kind of sure they would remain for some time.  

The FP is about finished so time to end.

Here we are at mid week and pretty much mid month as well!

 TERRY

As I write it is about 5:30 AM.  Terry is watching TV and here I am at the computer.  Terry had some needs at 4:30 and after that I knew I would take a long time to go back to sleep.  With tennis at 7:30 this morning I decided it was good to just get up.  I would say Terry is doing about the same.

As I walked down the driveway to get the papers I felt a COLD chill attack my T shirt top.  Later while unwrapping the papers I looked at my phone to see a temp of 48!  I know for those in MN, ND and many other places you would welcome a temp of 48 but for Naples FL that is down right chilly.  With tennis on the schedule at 7:30 it may be a "long sleeve day" on the court or even a light jacket day.

Terry's daughter Kim will be here this afternoon for a time.  We have not seen her for some time.  She must be in FL for training some of her people.  She said she would be here today and tomorrow for short visits.

I am going to have to purchase a new tennis bag.  The pocket where the racquets go has a long zipper and it completely broke.  So it is the tennis shop today or Amazon.  I did look on Amazon yesterday and was not all that impressed with what I saw.  Nothing fancy but I do want one that a person can carry like a backpack as I ride the bike over for play.  AND I would say If that is my biggest concern today I guess I have a pretty easy life!!!  Yesterday I had one of those days on the court that one just wants to forget!

I was not all that happy this morning at 4:15 when Terry needed some help.  Of course one needs to take care of things when nature calls BUT that does not mean a person has to be happy about it.  I mean for sure you need to be pleasant but happy---no!  Then as I got into bed again it was 4:30 and my alarm was set for 6:30 as tennis is on the docket for 7:30.  As I lie in bed wide awake it becomes pretty easy to see that getting up is the best choice.  So here I am at 5:30+ and I have had breakfast, read two papers and now am at the computer.  Something tells me that I may fade this afternoon.  

Terry has had this cough several times a day and it has me concerned.  This morning at about 4 AM she had it and now, at almost 6, again she has it.  She says she is not concerned but to me it does not sound good.  I am almost hoping she has it when daughter Kim is here so I could get another opinion.  

I have this birthday coming up next week.  AND for some reason I have in my mind that I am not happy about it.  Well how goofy is that as birthdays come and go and one has NO say over them but for some odd reason I do not mind thinking or saying I am 74. BUT it seems a whole lot more to say I am 75.  It seems that does not make any sense BUT it is what it is.  I am wondering if it would work to just blot out the 27th on the calendar and then maybe I would still be 74!!!  Some people may think that is crazy but I have read someplace that old men can dream dreams!

As I was looking through pictures yesterday I came across a picture of our barn.  Now our barn on the farm was unique in many ways.  I could look in any direction from our farm and not see a barn like ours.  I could look at Rollofs, Georges, Berts, Uncle Oberts and others that we could see from our place and NOBODY had a one story barn.  Every farm had a two story barn where cattle were on the lower level and the top level was to store hay.  We had the cattle in 2/3 of the barn with the hay in the other 1/3.  For the cattle we had 4 pens with one having the water tank in it.  In the other half of that part we could have as many as 15 cows in milking stands.  We never milked more than 5 or so.

This picture was taken long after the barn was used for cattle.  But my story today is about the area inside where the row of windows is.  That was our pens for calves and about those pens were big wooden boards that were the length of the pens.  Well Dave and I liked to climb above the pens and play tag as we hopped from board to board.  One could say, in hind sight, that was not a good idea and actually after one summer day I would agree.  It was early summer and the pens, which had calves in, were not cleaned so there was a layer of manure in each pen.  Well that probably saved me.  As I jumped from one board to another to get away from Dave I fell head first down into a pen and landed on my head.  I knocked the wind out of myself and lie grasping for breath.  Finally I was able to get up and get into the house where I could lie down and I stayed there the rest of the day.  Come to think of it maybe, just maybe, I never did recover fully!!!  I wish I could bring up a picture of the barn as it was when we were growing up.  Dad cut a hole in the wall as he then used it for a garage.  The tank is there where we used to pull a hayrack up and toss hay into the north part of the barn.  Above the tank there is a door that we could open.  The pole by the door is where I could grab hold and shimmy up onto the roof.  That was my getaway as I would lie on the far side of the barn roof and dream of the future.  Funny, I never did dream of living in Florida!  One can see how the farm was kept up or should I say NOT kept up.  I do remember helping to paint the house one time but really ALL buildings were in need of repair and more.  On the far side of the barn was where we would milk the cows.  There was a row of windows there too.  IF a window pane would break we would fix it but on this side I am sure some broken windows never got fixed.  As I say that I would repeat what I have said in the past.  Dad was among the elite in terms of what he could do.  He could load shells for you.  He could take your wedding pictures.  He would wire your home for electrical.  He could develop pictures with the skill of a professional.  If you needed a car fix he could rebuild the engine.  He was a crack shot with firearms AND yes he could farm but just to the point of making ends meet, not in anyway did he work to make a modern farm out of our farmstead.  Having said all that I know there were gaps in our growing up where things could have been different BUT still I would not trade my growing up years for any.  WELL maybe I would if I could have had a horse!!!

No here I am at 6:45 and only 45 minutes away from the chilly tennis courts.  I need to finish my FP, look at the Dow Jones to see if my $1.98 investment will go up or down and then get ready for tennis.  By the way with the dow down 500+ yesterday my $1.98 did not do so well!  BUT here I am with half a cup of FP to enjoy before the day really starts.

Here we are at Tuesday, January 18th of 2022

 TERRY

Terry is awake and is reading the paper this morning as we head towards 9:30.  She has a terrible itchy back and I am at a loss as to what to do.  I think I need to call the doctor office to see if they will prescribe something to put on it.  Other than that she is doing about the same.

A current story that for me goes way way back.

This is George Harff of Cayuga.  I did not really know George as an adult.  In fact I only knew him as we were in grade school together, not in the same grade, and then he was a freshman in my senior year.

George died about a week ago at the age of 71.  I do not know from what.  But his story is interesting for sure.  The picture is of our football team in the school year 1964-65 which was my senior year.  George was a freshman and he is #78.  Now as a FRESHMAN  he is standing next to senior Dan J who was maybe 6' 2" and a pretty big guy.  Now there is George as maybe a 15 year old and I am guessing he weighted in at around 400 or so.  The story was that he could not weigh on a home scale so he weighted himself at the elevator.  For football his mother had to take two of some pieces of clothes to make one for George.  As I look back I question how the coach took care of things.  An example would be this.  Often at the beginning of practice we would run around the football field to warm up.  When most of the guys would be finished George would be maybe, at best, 1/3 of the way around or maybe less.  Now one may think at his size he would be a great player and maybe he was as the years went by BUT in my senior year which was George's freshman year his participation was limited at best.  He was a good kid but physically he was a little boy in a huge adult body.  I do not know how his adult life was but in his obit it says he farmed right up to the end of his life.  

I write the story because it brings back memories of HOW things were handled and I, at times, wonder how he did as life goes on.  In the obit it asked people to wear camouflage to the funeral in honor of his love of hunting.  I do NOT mean to make judgements about how or who etc but I do remember and think that George's life often revolved around his size as it was just way way out of the ordinary.  

I am nearing the time that I need to get ready for tennis so will sign off.  I should mention that as I got the papers this morning the phone showed a temp of 48!!!  I made my FP last until the end of my blogging.

January 16th, the month more than half over

 TERRY

As I write it is 10:15 and Terry is sleeping.  She has read the paper and with the TV on some show that I can't stand she feel asleep!  I think the show is on TLC and is about people who weigh 600 lb!  Enough of that but Terry is about the same.

We are having a very "none Naples" kind of weather day.  The sun is FAR from shining and the rain is heavy now.  It is supposed to be rainy for the next few hours.  I had planned to go to Costco but may postpone that to another day.  

I watched Henry's BB game this morning, a game that was played yesterday.  They won and played well.  Henry does not have all that much left of his HS sports.  He finished soccer in the fall and now BB is about half over.  I do not remember IF he does track but maybe both he and Liam do track.  It will be interesting to see IF he plays any sports in college.  If I were a betting person I would say Henry will go to a big time school where most if not all the sport teams have aid for their players.  I am NOT saying Henry would not be good enough BUT college sports are a whole different ball game and I do not see Henry playing on a college team.  Now if he does that would not surprise me but we will see.  Oh my goodness I need to stay on my game as after Henry's entrance into college we have Liam, Leo, Faustina etc etc etc etc etc!!!!!!  There are times that I allow the thought to enter my mind, "should I have tried playing football in college as coach Newman gave my name to the football coach at Jamestown College.  I would have been one of the smallest on the team.  Just so you know Jamestown College is a small college in Jamestown ND. 

I did get on the scale this morning and it showed my weigh to be down a bit.  Not a lot but down so that was good.  That was after two days of zero up or down. 

It was mid February of 1965

It was a Friday night and the temp was near zero as the team bus pulled into Ellendale for our second game of the year with them.  In mid January we had played them at home and won fairly handily by the score of 69-53.  Now I wanted in the worse way to have win #2 as I still could not shake the memory of our football game against them where we lost 6-19.  I sat near the back of the team bus with Larry F and we talked about our first game against them and tried to figure out how we did that so that we could get win #2 against them.  I may add that I would not sit with Larry on the way home but need not explain why!  The game ended up to be a nail biter though out the entire game but we did came out on top 64-62.  I did not have my best game but still scored in the high teens as Larry and John scored in the last minute to cement the victory.  On the way home I kept warm by sitting with JoEllen as was the case pretty much all season.  Little did we know that the injury to Dan would haunt us in the last three games of the season.  Well not the last three but we would go on to lose our last two regular season games and then the first of the district tournament only to win the last two to take consolation.  It was not the way I wanted to end my HS basketball career but sometimes it happens.  

As the days after the season finished I had time to think back to my HS days of basketball.  I would say for the most part they were wonderful.  Of course the highlight was playing in the state tournament when I was a junior.  Perhaps close to the top was our freshman year where we went undefeated and to top that off Coach Wohler allowed John C and I to dress for the last couple of varsity games.  As I may have said in the past the strong point of my game was shooting and defense but the weak point was dribbling as it was awfully difficult to practice that on our weedy court on the farm were the basketball rim was mounted on the light pole near the barn.  I realize that my practice facility on the farm was not up to par when you looked at the town kids who were able to often practice in doors on a REAL basketball floor!  Anyway basketball was fun and the memories were good BUT yes my football days were something I loved.  Really I was a very nice kind guy but for some reason I loved to tackle on the gridiron!

Enough of the OLD days as it is now 57 years later so just maybe I should think about the NOW!  I am feeling better today.  I had my FP which was wonderful and now it is on to the rest of the day.  I should add that making the OLD days fun to remember is watching Henry play his games this year.  It is interesting to watch them as all of them are on YouTube.  

That is it for the day.  As I sign off the TV is talking about not so good weather this AM so will continue to be watchful.

Saturday January 15th

 TERRY

I would say Terry is the same today.  As I write she is awake and reading the paper.  She has had coughing the last day or so and that concerns me so we will see how that is today.  Anyway here we are at the third Saturday of the month and of the year.  

So I need to change some things.  I desire to lose weight so starting January 1st that was my goal.  Here we are two weeks into January and I have lost all of 2 pounds.  I happened to look at myself sideways in the mirror and I almost wanted to go hide!!!  So starting today it is a new dawn and a new commitment to a better healthy life style and body!  We will see how I do.  One would think that a guy who is going to be 75 before the end of the month would be able to plan out a path and stick to it, right???  Well I am going to keep people up dated daily so maybe that will help be stick to the plan.  We will see what tomorrow brings!

I had one of the most fun days on the tennis courts yesterday that I have had in a long long time.  The fact that Karl and I won the first set 7-5 really had nothing or very little to do with it.  We switched partners for the second set and I think we were down maybe 3-4 when time ran out.  BUT the play was even, it was actually good tennis and the sportsmanship was excellent.  I would say one of the things that made it fun was the 4 players were kind of even in skills at least yesterday.  I have not been playing on the weekend so will see what Monday brings.

Our neighbors with whom we share a wall moved yesterday so we have new people.  The people who moved are in something like their 4th or 5th place in the last 10 years or so.  I think they are now in a high-rise.  When I say high-rise I am talking about a building that is maybe 12-18 stories high.  I do not know what level they are on but I am sure the place is somewhat pricey compared to where we live.  Prices on home down here have gone crazy but a guess is prices at a high-rise may vary from 700-1.5 or so.  Of course the higher you go the more $$ you spend.  I do not know what level they moved to.  They are not far from here maybe 2-4 miles I think.  

As I ventured out to get the papers this morning I thought to myself "it is kind of cool".  I looked at my phone before I starting writing and it is 52 here.  I then glanced at St. Paul and there it is 2 so I will not complain!  Of the many places I have on my weather app the coldest is Cayuga at -14, yikes!  I see even Judi and John are a bit cool at 56.

I have nothing planned for the day except Terry really wanted something good to eat.  For some reason she gets tired of sandwiches!!!  Well her suggestion or request should I say was mashed potatoes with Swedish meatballs.  So that is what it will be.  I will do my best.  The meatballs are kind of fancy with as they are made with bread crumbs etc etc.  I thought about buying bread crumbs but of course that seemed too easy and Terry never would do that!  So I bought bread and Terry says I should break it into pieces and then use the blender to crumble it.  That should kind of easy so I will see later today.  I will do my best but as one could guess my best is pale compared to Terry's norm.  I should add that with Terry bed bound my best will have to do!

I have this desire to make lefse but I do not know if I dare try.  To this day I remember helping Mom make it and it seemed like often she would get half through and then she would start having trouble with the dough sticking SO maybe I will just live with my desire but practice NO action!

I have not been feeling very good the last few days.  It seems like I am tired a lot but IF I lie down to take a nap sleep seems to be elusive at best.  I do usually get up twice a night to cover Terry as she seems to have a fight with her covers every night.  I should add IF it is a fight she loses as the covers are often on the floor.

I now interrupt my blog to let everyone know that it is already 7:45 AM and I have NOT cheated on my eating plan for the day---way to go Carmen!!!

A drawing from my book.  This is pretty much what our cook stove looked like.  It went the way of the junk pile when Dad decided he needed a darkroom so in came the small propane stove and out went the cook stove.  Some memories that go along with the cook stove are:

• bringing in old wood or corncobs to burn.  We used an old pail like this:

• Dave and I would often fry sliced potatoes on the stove as we played ping pong on the kitchen table.
• It was on that stove that we had to heat up water to do dishes.
• In the fall Dad would sometimes give us $.05 for a pail of corncobs and that gave us money for the fall church festival.
• Mom would always get up before us in the winter time so by the time we came downstairs which was COLD there would be a nice fire in the stove making the kitchen cozy.
• To this day I can remember Dad taking out the stove for his darkroom.  I think Mom was kind of happy but not sure.  The dark room did nothing to make our kitchen better--in my opinion.

Then there was my friend Larry.  I am guessing I would ask Mom and Dad several times a year if Larry could come and stay overnight.  I think it happened maybe once a year.  Here it looks like it is my 12th birthday and as you can see on Dad's face Mom had made fried chicken which was ALWAYS the best!  To this day I call Larry maybe once a month or so.  He lives in Havre MT with his arsenal of firearms!!!  We spent our time together from 4th grade, when we started going to Cayuga school, to the middle of our junior year of college.  We roomed together on the third floor of Reed Hall at NDSU in 65-66.  Then we rented a basement place right across the street from the campus in 66-67 and then in the fall of 67 we lived with some others in a house.  I then transferred to Minot for winter quarter as Gail and I married after my junior year.  Some of the fun times involved when Larry and I both had motorcycles.  He a Honda 350 and I my Harley 250.  Fun days and fun to remember also.  In grade school Larry and I turned out to kind of the normal ones.  Let me explain.  We had several boys in our class who were not your outstanding students if you get my drift!  I should add that several of them did NOT have the home life that some of us had.  Anyway back to the picture.  I love Dad's look and you can tell Mom is enjoying family liking her cooking.  I should add that during the time I lived at home I do not think we ever had bread from the store as it was always homemade and delicious.

Here it is 8:15 and time to sign off for the day.  My FP is almost gone and that is usually a sign to end.  AND it was delicious as usual.  I will end by saying that now at 8:15 AM I have been up for 2 1/2 hours and still on my eating plan for the day!!!!!

Thursday, January 13th, 2022

 TERRY

Terry woke up about 20 minutes ago and is now watching TV.  Of course there were some things to do after she woke up but all are taken care of and we are good for the day.  She usually is not hungry early in the morning but I will need to figure out something later on as I have No plan for the day.

I was to play tennis at 7:30 but rain wet the courts so no play.  For some reason I do have tennis at 1:30 today.  Phil, the pro, suggested I play with some people this afternoon so I will get to play today.  

This could be a dangerous day.  No tennis this morning and my mind is full of ideas so maybe or maybe not they will end up on the blog!!!

I am enjoying my FP in my new "go to" cup so maybe it will be a good day.  For some odd reason thoughts have been going through my mind of day gone by, I mean gone gone gone by.  So I may just sit and type and what comes out may be now but it may also be a repeat of writing long ago or even not so long ago!!!

It was April 7th of 1966.  I was out of class at NDSU by 1:00 PM and looking forward to a long weekend.  I had been able to schedule my classes for spring quarter so that I did not have any on Friday.  I had enjoyed that as it gave me more time to work my part time job as a janitor at the dorm where most of the jocks lived!  When I arrived back at my dorm I found, to my surprise, a letter in the mailbox.  As I read it I was surprised.  Mom had written and asked if I could come home for Easter.  She went on to say that Dad was coming to Fargo on Saturday and could give me a ride home.  With Easter on Sunday I figured that would be a good thing to do.  I knew that Dad was not in a good place as Ronald had suddenly died in October of 64 and Janet had just died two months ago.  Mom went on to say that Dad would be stopping in at Joan//Ron's Saturday afternoon and IF I could come home with him he would give me a ride back.  As I sat and pondered the letter I somehow felt there was something behind the letter that was not in words and so I decided that I would go home.  Dave/Marlys had invited me over for Easter Sunday so I biked over to their place the next day to say I would not be there.   Saturday came and I worked for 4 hours in the dorm as I needed the money but then hopped on my bike and headed to Joan's after lunch.  Dad arrived mid afternoon and by 5:00 PM we were home on the farm.  As was often the case shortly after I got home Dad headed into his little hideout (darkroom) and the door closed to stay that way for most of the evening.  After supper Mom and I sat in the living room and she asked how school was going and did I like college.  Well to be honest college was NOT to my liking but for the present it kept me out of the draft so college it was.  I was not about to tell her that my grades were less than great.  NO, I was not even close to being put on academic probation BUT I was far from being on the honor roll too!  Finally towards the end of our conversation Mom popped the question, "Would you come home for the summer"?  It took me by surprise so I did not answer right away.  I looked away from Mom and stared out the east window towards the groove of trees with the gravel road behind those.  When I glanced back towards Mom I noticed some tears on her cheeks.  She then went on to say Dad had been in a tough place ever since Janet died.  She said it was almost unbearable for her to go through Ronald's death and then Janet's as well.  She then said she thought it would be really good for Dad if I could come home and work for the summer.  She said of course they would pay me.  After several minutes of conversation I blurted out my answer.  I said, "Mom, I can come home for the summer BUT I would have to have some form of transportation.  In my mind I knew that I could NOT be isolated on the farm at the mercy of Dad's car for transportation.  Mom said she would talk to Dad.  I never heard another word about it the rest of the weekend.  We had our ham and scalloped potatoes for Easter dinner and then mid afternoon Dad said he could drive me back to Fargo.  STILL no conversation about me coming home for the summer.  As usual Mom stayed home and Dad and I left about mid afternoon.  The silence in the car was almost like being in the middle of nowhere at midnight and no lights! Then as we took a left hand turn at Lidgerwood and headed north Dad started to talk.  He asked me IF I would be open to a motorcycle for the summer.  He said he had been to Aberdeen SD and they had a Harley dealer there and there were three 250 cycles that he thought were pretty nice!  After thinking about it for a bit I said that would work BUT I did not have the money to buy a cycle.  I said that knowing that IF I was careful for the next two months I may end the school year with $200 plus in the bank.  I had figured that after school I could continue to work at NDSU for the summer and that would set me up pretty well for the next fall.  Dad said he would go to Aberdeen in the next week or so to see what they still had.  About two weeks later I got a letter from Dad saying they had a 1964 red Harley Sprint that cost $400 and and 1965 black Harley Sprint for $500.  Dad said I could get either one and he would pay for it and I could pay him back when I got the money.  With a fair amount of caution I told Dad I could get home in two weeks and then we would see.  

The story does not end there BUT I did go home and April 23rd of 1966 I drove my black Harley home from Aberdeen with, it seemed, a wind at my back.  There are many many stories related to my Harley.  They include having a drunk back into me.  Staying at the lake with Gail over night because of a rain storm and finding out later Mom and Dad had gone out in the middle of the night looking in the ditches.  I still can remember riding many places with Gail's arms wrapped tightly around my waist.  Finding a safe place for shelter as we hit a rain storm after the movie in Milnor and then getting a ride for the last several miles in Chic's truck!  AND of course I remember my very last ride on it the morning of our wedding.  I took my cycle out of the shed and rode up to the lake.  After riding around the lake and into the country to dry my tears I drove into the yard at our farm and handed the keys to Dad.  The end of my motorcycle days and of course if I had known what lie ahead I would say the best was yet to come!!!

With my cuffed dress pants, my HS sports coat and my beloved Sprint I felt I had the world at my finger tips only to realize down the road that all was not rosy!!!!  

I got so into my story that my FP got cold.  I need to heat it up and then find out if my $1.98 in the stock market is up or down as the market has now been open for 20 minutes today!