Here we are on the LAST day of February 2022

 TERRY

Terry is watching a movie this morning.  She woke me up at around 7:00 as she needed some attention as I will let it go at that.  I would say she is same same. Nothing really planned for the week so we will take it one day at a time and be thankful for how and what we have.

I enjoyed a feast for breakfast this morning.  With two farm fresh brown eggs (I put that in for Leo Lee) and two venison breakfast sausages compliments of Aaron I enjoyed it to the very last bite.  I would say I do expect a wonderful day with a start like that.  AND of course there was a compliment of FP in my favorite cup so here I am and ready to face the last day of the month!!!

I could guess that the venison might remind me of deer hunting and it did.  The very first time I was old enough we went out to the Badlands to hunt and filled our tags by late Saturday as back then one could start hunting at noon on Friday.  Camping in the middle of the Badlands with Dad, John Ronald and Dave I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  Then to make things better as I woke up in the dark camper to the smell of deer liver it only got better.  Dad was by the stove with eggs and liver fit for a king I would say.  I still remember lying on the barn roof looking west to try and spot Dad and Dave coming home from the hunt and thinking "next year I can go and that will make be a man just like Dad!"  For the life of me I can not remember the name of Dad's friend where we hunted so I will call him Ben but I know that was not his name.  Anyway the years before I could hunt they went and stayed in his almost antique house and slept upstairs by climbing a ladder to the second floor.  THEY oil production came into being and all the farmers all of a sudden had a lot of money.  The first year I went there was a new house in place.  I heard stories of farmers who could not handle all the money they were getting and it led to not so good things.  I would say I hunted many years.  Times with Dad, Dave, John and Ronald but many times by myself as well.  BUT nothing could compare to the very first year with the "real men" in my family as I felt now I belonged.  There really was nothing like sitting in one place early in the morning and then as the sun got high in the sky one would start walking and looking.  It sounds strange but I actually expected to see deer each time I came to the top of a hill.  Of course that did not happen but that was my mind set.  I think going deer hunting was so special because Dad never provided shotguns for Dave or me when there was pheasant hunting.  In those times IF I went along I became the bird dog!!!

I should try to get a repair man out for the dishwasher as it is not working.  However I have not been bothered by washing dishes by hand.  However it is better now than way way back when Joan, Dave and I would wash dishes when Mom was gone.  That darn Joan would wash and would say "there are points for each dish you dry.  Some are worth more points than others.  Then at the end she would say we each got the same amount of points".  As if we didn't know what she was doing!!!

I am going to get serious about our taxes today.  Travis said he would put some papers that arrived in St. Paul in the mail Saturday so I am expecting them tomorrow or Wednesday but there is a lot I can do before I get them.  I think I will clear the dining room table and then set up tax papers and pretend that I am actually organized!!!  I say that because organization is not my middle name as it is hardly in my vocabulary!  BUT I will start that today with a goal of sending papers off to our financial people no later than the end of March but hopefully before that.  Of course that is IF we get a refund which we usually do.  

There are two things that I have noticed about Terry just in the last couple of weeks.  First she is watching whatever show comes up on TV.  As I write she is watching a movie and a month ago she would have been watching the morning news.  The other thing is the first thing she always wanted was the paper.  Last week she did not even read the paper a couple of days and here this morning it is now almost 9:00 and she has not asked for it.  Well I guess a third things is she will often tell me I am cute!  I do not know what to think about that as I do think at the ripe old age of 75 cute is not in the cards because at the age of 74 I do not remember being cute!!!

As I read that this morning I thought there may be some truth in that for some!!!

No it is time to sign off and get some work done.  I may go on a bike ride as I was not put in for tennis today so I will not be playing but a bike ride would help with the sausage that I ate IF you get what I mean.  I just poured the last of the FP so will actually look at the pre stock market so see if I can stop at Starbucks today or stop at the bank to borrow money.  A "good-bye to the month of February.

February 27, 2022 and the last Sunday in the month

 TERRY

As I write it is about 11:30.  Terry has read the Sunday paper and now has been sleeping for about an hour.  I would say she is same same.  Another day in the adventures of life!!!

I am kind of making today, Sunday, a picture day so here goes.

Here is our basketball team when I was in 7th grade and the year was 1960.  The trophy is for 2nd place as we got killed when we played Cogswell.  This was my first year of playing ball.  Up to that time my gym was the light pole by the barn that had a wooden slab of wood with a basket attached to it.  It was difficult to dribble on the grassy court!!!  The first couple of practices I had to learn things like over and back, double dribble, in the lane etc.  I was in 7th grade.  We had NO locker to change in!  Usually when we arrived at the gym which was about a 10 minute walk from school as we opened the door we knew coach Murray was there because we could smell cigar smoke!!! Of the players #8, #55, #77, #7, #9, #44 and no# have all passed away.  When I think of it that is a lot of guys who died in their late 60s or early 70s.  My friend Larry who is #4, Jack who is holding the trophy and myself went on to play HS ball

Here we are as freshmen at Sargent Central.  We went undefeated as freshman.  Of all the guys Larry, John and I went on to play varsity.  Several quit basketball and joined the wrestling team.

As 10th graders John #31 and I #35 moved up to varsity.  John and I got to play some but were not starters.  

Here we are in 1964, our junior year.  John # 30 is now one of the starting guards and I #34 am the first off the bench.  I get to play a lot even though coach Wohler loves to have his starters play a lot.  We took first in the district, first in the region and 5th in the state.  Now as juniors we have #20 Larry, #50 David, #42 Dan, #34 me and #30 John on the varsity.

Here we are as seniors.  We still have from our class from left to right John #31, me #35, David #43, Dan #45 Larry #33 and we added Joel #13 and Ronnie #15.  I would say we had an OK season.  Our regular season record was 11-9 but two of the loses were to large schools as we were in a holiday tournament in Fargo.  Our conference record was 11-3. Dan, our center got hurt towards the end of the season and that hurt big time.  Taking 5th in our district tournament was not a highlight as we lost in the opening game. I still hold our loss to Britton to coach Wohler!!!  I forgot my knee high socks and he was ticked!  So he sat me down for much of the first quarter.  I did end up with 22 points but we came up 2 points short in a 49-51 game.  Of course today it is a distant memory of which I seldom think about but at the time I was not a happy camper so to speak.  I am not even sure I enjoyed the bus ride home with JoEllen sitting beside me!!!

I think that does it for today.  I had my FP this morning and now it is PM so life is good.

Here we are at the very last Saturday of January 2022 as it is the 26th

 TERRY

Really nothing new to say about Terry.  She is awake, eating a breakfast sandwich and watching the Saturday news.  Yes, you are right, one day at a time.

OK so I KNOW it will be a special day.  By 8:00 AM I had enjoyed: AMYLU links that are Paleo, No Antibiotics, no nitrites and gluten-free, 2 cage free brown eggs and a whole wheat piece of toast.  Now it really does not get much better than that!!!  AND of course I indulged in a hot pot of FP coffee.  Now IF anyone can start their day in a better way let me know!!!

Just for "old times sake" I enjoyed my FP in a Ball glass pint jar this morning.  One could ask themselves what do you mean by that?  Well often when we were in harvest Mom would drive to the field with an afternoon lunch.  It would always be homemade bread maybe with homemade jelly etc on it but she always brought a pint jar of coffee for Dad.  AND it had to be a Ball jar I think.  I could never understand WHY Dad enjoyed hot coffee on a warm afternoon.  AND I promise it was NOT the instant kind that they often drank later in life.  So this morning I went into the garage where I keep my empty washed jam jars and retrieved one just for old times!  I agree it sounds like my life is not very interesting if one has to use a Ball jar to drink coffee to remember the "good times"!!!

Well if one really wants the truth my life is very good now days but it is not exciting for sure.  I will not get into the details but just believe.

I am kind of on a forced rest from tennis.  No tennis yesterday and none until Tuesday.  Karl, who often puts me in a few days a week, is on a ski trip and then one of the days the courts were full so I got placed on overflow.  I could play this morning as there are 2 courts where guys just show up but I usually choose not to play on Saturday.

I am not sure WHY I ordered this but it came in the mail a few days ago.  As one could guess in our society today you could order a pack of 4 and they were free!  Well why not get some free stuff?  Actually I thought it would be good to have just in case.  But then I did think that maybe by buying into that I became one of the ???????? people in our country.  I will NOT explain what the ? means but maybe some can figure it out.

Well it was a BIG day on Wednesday as I received another royalty check for the sales of my book.  I know, it does not really bring me much closer to my goal of $1,000,000, but it sure is fun to get them AND I usually get maybe 3 a year.  They come every quarter but sometime the sales lag!!!  With a big smile I put the money into the bank rather than spent it at Starbucks!!!  I probably missed the boat as I think it would have covered about 8 trips to the coffee shop.  As I write I think to myself I have not stopped at a coffee shop for a long long time maybe a year or so.  Well when you have daily homemade FP really who needs Starbucks?

As we head towards the end of February and start looking towards March I tend to peel back the memories and think about the creek that flowed through our pasture.  It came from the hills to the south and went through our pasture and into the lake a half mile north of us. It would not be unusual to wake up on a late March or early April morning and have the creek all of a sudden flowing way over it's banks and sometimes over the bridge near our place.  The fence that ran along side the creek but about 20 some feet away would often be covered with a foot or so of flowing water.  It would remain that way for several days and then resort to being normal.  The more snow we got in the winter the higher the creek would be and the longer it would stay high.  I still can remember coming downtime stairs and hearing Dad say "the creek is running".  I would run outside and head north of the house to where our summer outhouse stood and there to the north our pasture would be covered in a river that was 50+ feet wide.  In a normal year the creek would continue to run maybe until mid summer and then after that there would be parts of it that would have water in it but the flow would stop.  Many hours of fun was had along the creek playing in the water, seeing perch that did not get back to the lake etc.  

I am trying to think of a theme for a 2023 calendar but as of yet have come up with nothing.  Of course I can always use family pictures but then there must be other ideas that would be good as well.  As I think about it I also admit that I miss family.  Even though there were ups and downs with good times and not so good it seems as I get a bit older I miss ALL of it.  From Mom's kind words to Dad's loud laugh AND I may add also to the not so good things--they all are missed.  Sometimes when I get up on a Sunday and get ready for church I almost look for those old brown shoes that Mom would often polish on Saturday night so I could kind of look good on Sunday.  Funny, I could look all over for them NOW and not spot them!  AND as I say that I need to mention that for all the love Mom gave and all the work she did I do not think she got the credit she deserved.  I say that even though she called me a terrible son when I took Dad to Briton SD to retake his drivers test!!!

I will end this morning by saying that Terry is holding her own in most ways.  Even when she may call me from the bedroom for the 20th time that day I still love her.  

The FP is finished so I will sign off for the day.  I may get on the bike and go see who is playing tennis this morning.

I do not know what happened yesterday!!!

 TERRY

It is currently 7:40.  I have finished the WSJ and the Naples papers and Terry is watching TV.  She said she is not ready for the paper yet.  She was up twice during the night and of course that means I was up also so maybe there is a half hour nap in the future today!!!

I have 9:00 tennis this morning.  That is the best time to play but one does not get it very often.  A person has to request a court and can do that up to 7 days in advance.  The program then spits out the schedule so a person has no say over the time.  Well when you sign up you request a times but that does not mean you will get the time you want.  9:00 is the best time as the cool of the early morning is usually gone and the heat of the day is not really in place most of the time until later morning.  Anyway it is 9:00 today.

I received a large box yesterday with several delicious items in it.  Aaron was kind enough to send venison and I will enjoy it for sure.  I forgot to take it out of the freezer last night so it will wait until tomorrow to be eaten but I can hardly wait.  There is also ground venison, chops and lunch meat so I will need to space things out so I can enjoy for several weeks!

As one can see it is kind of picture day today.  I got a chuckle out of this and usually Hagar The Horrible is funny in my mind anyway.

Well I thought this was pretty cute as well.  And as one could guess I pretty much always get a kick out of Pickles as well.

I usually do not spend a lot of time reading the political news but have been taking extra time in the last few days to read it in the WSJ.  It has been and is pretty interesting and with things happening around the world it is kind of concerning as well.  I will not get into my opinion on the way things are being handled as I am guessing the people who read my blog vary in their ideas!!!  So there will be no agreeing or disagreeing with my views.  I think there will be big changes on the horizon coming.

I do not have a lot of money in the stock market but I do watch it and it appears that it will be down down today and it was yesterday as well.  I am thankful that our (Terry & I) day to day bills do not get paid out of our investments because if they did we may have to forfeit some payments!!!  It will be interesting to see if or when the Mid East conflict/war ends and how that may affect our economy.  

I do not know when Wood Lake School was built but I do know that as a school the doors were closed after the school year 1956.  At that time there was a well on the south side of the school that was used in the fall and spring as before we went in after noon hour or recess there would be a line

After the school closed it was used for voting for a long time but as far as I know it is not used for anything now.  The addition on the right side is where we would prepare things for lunch.  We often had government commodes like peaches etc that we could all have with our lunch bucket noon meal.

Just to the south of the well was a great swing set, a merry-go-round and a teeter totter.  Our tiny ball field was on the other side of the school and the outfielders had to play across the road!

No I think that is enough for today.  I thought I had something that I wanted to add but decided that today is not the day for it so will sign off.  I still have FP left so will stay on the computer for a while before I get ready for tennis.  Terry still has not asked for the paper.  Maybe I need to see if she fell asleep as I know she was awake some of the night.

Enough for this morning as it is now 8:35 and time to get ready for tennis.

Here we are on the last Tuesday of February 2022, AND yes it is 2/22/22 so of course it is twosday (not my makeup)

 TERRY

So we have nothing new on Terry today.  As I start my blog it is 8:10 AM and she has the TV on.  I asked her to let me know when she wants the paper but no word yet.  She is dealing with VERY itchy skin.  I have several things that I have used but none of them have done a very good job so will continue to search for something that works.  So it is again one day at a time so to speak.

Every once in a while on Facebook faces come up and and then a person can invite them to be friends etc. Well this morning the face came up of Ellie Richman.  She and Ben lived here for some time and are great people.  Ben was a retired MD.  He had a stroke maybe 3 or 4 years ago and after that they moved back to the Cleveland area where they had family.  After seeing Ellie's face this morning I decided to search Ben on Facebook only to find out that he passed away last October.  So sad to hear news like that.  Terry and I were not best of friends with them BUT we did go out once with them for pizza and Ben was active in tennis.  More than once I played with him.  Anyway, for me, it is always sad when I hear of a friend that has passed away.  When I go to the courts for tennis at 10:30 I will take a copy of his obit just in case they never posted it.  Often when a member passes they will post a copy of the obit in the tennis office.  

Well today I am going to kind of start taxes!  I think I have most of the papers.  One of Terry's retirement funds is Delta Airlines and I usually have to search on line to find the tax info.  One would think they would send it out but that they do don't .  I think I have all the papers I need for my income but will take last years papers and compare to make sure I have them all.  Usually we get some back but I do not know what this year will look like.  I guess I will see in a few days I hope.

I have tennis at 10:30 so I may as well get some work done before that.  So I will sign off as I sip the last of my FP for the morning.

Here we are celebrating presidents day

 TERRY

Terry is awake and reading the paper.  I would say she is same same so nothing new.  We will just continue to take things one day at a time.  

Not much to say today so will go way way back in pictures.

Here is our family gathering in 2011, wow that is almost 11 years ago.  We made Glorine's home kind of a home base and our gatherings took place at a community center near her place.  It was a fun fun time.  As one looks at the picture you will take in the fact that three are not with us anymore.  Actually as I think about it we are so blessed to still have so many.  I will not mention any names but today people in the picture range in age from 85-12 I think.  And IF I can find the picture from 2015 there are more little ones!

For some reason I can not find a group picture of our reunion in 2015 but here are Dave and Marlys at the reunion as we celebrated their 50th.  In 2011 it was Joan/Ron's 50th and IF we had gotten together 4 years later with the entire family it would have been Judi/John's 50th I believe.  So here are the longevity marriages in the family.  At this point Joan/Ron are the leaders at 60 and looking at more, I believe Judi/John come in at maybe 53(?) and looking at more and Marly/Dave made it to 54+. Gail and Carmen came in at 40, Helen/Mike I think 20+ and Mom and Dad at 50+.  I would say a pretty good track record.

I am not sure WHY but this is perhaps my favorite family picture and we have many of them.  I am guessing it was in 1955 or so.  IF that is correct ages go like this: Ronald-17, Janet-15, Joan-13, Dave-11, Carmen-8, Helen-5, Mom & Dad 43.  I may be off on the year by one or two.  I can tell you that it was taken on the farm in the NE corner of the living room.  I am thinking Helen did not get the orders to NOT smile!!!  AND NO deer on the wall, way to go Mom.

Could this be Mom and Dad's 40th???  IF so it would be in 1965.  

I am thinking this was in 1947 or 1948.  I am thinking the Lee clan was pretty darn cute/good looking!!! Just so you know Helen was coming in a couple years!  That darn Dave was good looking from day one to old age. 

I am thinking this was at Joan/Ron's place and maybe 1976 or so.  I think Becky is trying to tell us something!

Now I am SURE this was Mom/Dad's 40th and it must have been in the church in Veblen and was taken in 1975.

Well I will end with a picture that is NOT my usual taste.  BUT it was a very funny thing and I am sure only Cynthia and Mike can relate to it.  

I may get back to it at a later date but for now will leave anybody who is reading this wondering what in the world is funny about that!!!  I promise you it was very funny!

My FP is gone so time to sign off for the day.  I greatly enjoyed finding the pictures and posting them and I hope others enjoyed them as well.  

Sunday, February 20th as we head into the last full week of the month

 TERRY

I woke up to the sound of the TV as Terry woke before I.  As I write she is into the huge Sunday paper and I would say she is same same.  There are a couple concerns but they need not be put into writing if you get my drift.  So one day at a time as usual.

As I write today I have much on my mind.  OK so it is Sunday and often I take time on Sunday to think about things and that is not always good.  BUT it is what it is so will put some of my thoughts down on paper and maybe, just maybe, that will help me get them off my mind for a while.

• It has been a year and a half since Terry and I flew down to Naples after her weeks in the U of M hospital and rehab.  I am lucky to have Travis living in the house but I have concerns about not being there.  I mean when you have a house that is 116 years old I would say it often needs a bit of extra attention.  Anyway I know Travis will let me know when or if something needs help but yes it is often on my mind.
• Of course #1 on my mind is Terry's health.  She now has been battling GBS for over 2 years and at this time she is pretty much bed bound.  She does get up sometimes and I move her into the living room with the wheelchair but for now the walker is out of the question as her legs are just too weak.
• One thing I do not have to worry about at this time is money.  Terry has three sources of income and I have two so between them we are doing fine.  Could we buy a Bentley???  No and we would not want to but we are comfortable with our income and expenses.  As usual the taxes in St. Paul climb each year and that could get to be a concern.  It is interesting.  I would say Terry's home here in Florida is worth maybe 150% of what my St. Paul home is but yet the taxes in Florida are about 60% LESS than St. Paul.  Interesting!!!  I think I said that right.  another way of saying it would be to say Terry could pay taxes for 2 years and her bill would still be less than my one year of taxes.  
• I admit I miss the open spaces of the country.  I say that and I have not lived in the country for 56 years yet I often think about the air, the sky, the fields etc that made growing up a great place to grow up so to speak.  I should make it clear I do not have a desire to move back to ND but I still think I can miss it!
• Each day I say to myself that I need to get some help in to help with Terry but each day I put it off.  Can I care for Terry?  Certainly I can but it really would be nice to be able to go shopping or play tennis and know that Terry is being cared for while I am gone.  I try to not be away very long and by that I mean more than an hour or two.  When I golfed it was much longer than that but I have not done that for many months.
• I think about family often and realize that a family of 8 is now down to 3.  It would be nice to get together with Joan and Helen but I do not see that happening anytime soon.  Helen was with Joan when Joan and Ron celebrated their anniversary but I was not able to go.  Maybe down the road that can happen.
• So of the most fun memories are of older siblings coming home to visit.  Ronald/Gorine, John/Janet and Ron/Joan always provided great times when they visited.  I did not include Dave/Marlys as we were closer in age.  The hunting, the boating, the water skiing and more were times to be cherished. Then there was the building an outdoor shower and building a trailer also go down as fun times.  
• Yes, I wish I could spend more time with the grandkids.  Again, maybe down the road that will be possible but as they get older I am sure they will scatter far and wide so we will see.

I think that is enough for this morning.  IF I could climb the light pole by the barn and lie on my back looking westward I may have more to day but of course that is not going to happen so will sign off for now.  The FP is pretty much gone and here we are at almost 11:00 so really time to sign off.

Here we are at February 18th, 2022 and is winter in the rear view mirror???

 TERRY

Terry was awake when I got out of bed at 7:15 this morning.  As I write it is now almost 10 AM and she is reading the paper with the TV on.  Not much new today.  Still, one day at a time and a hope that the future will be brighter in terms of Terry's health.  

We have a beautiful day with sunny skies and the temp is supposed to get up to 80 today.  I think it is the kind of weather that one comes to Florida for.  

I really have little to say today.  For some reason my spirit is down if that makes any sense!  Perhaps the cause is the kitchen clean up which ALWAYS seems to be there!  Or it could be I almost have dishpan hands now as I have not called to get help to fix the dishwasher!  Or it could be no tennis today.  But then I look at the dining room table that has piles of papers needing attention and I figure that could be it.  But then as I walked past the laundry room and saw clothes to be folded and clothes to be washed I figured that could be the reason too!  Oh, yes the couch in the den needs to be cleared of things as well.  Well as I try to figure out WHY I am down today I kind of just figure that it may be one of those days when I just sit back and feel sorry for myself.  Wait, that does not help at all so maybe, just maybe I need to act like a mature grownup and get my act together.  After all there are many many people in the world with more problems, less money and no family.  There, now I feel better!!!!

If there is anyone reading this I rest my case but I still feel kind of blue.  If I could go back, just for an hour or so, to the mid 50s.  IF I could do that I would stay in bed in the morning until I heard the car leave the driveway which would mean Dad had someplace to go.  I would then hurry downstairs AND if Mom said nothing about Dad leaving that meant I had FREE time now.  I would have to decide if I wanted to get my rod and reel and head up to the lake to catch tiny perch and put them in my homemade little corral but of course I would free them before I headed home.  OR maybe I would just head to the barn and when I got to the door I would grab the light pole and climb onto the roof of the barn.  There, on the west side away from anyone's eyes, I would lie on my back and imagine.  I would imagine I was a big time baseball player or maybe a pilot of one of those jets that left a vapor trail as it zoomed across the sky OR maybe I would be a rich person who would travel the world and see different places.  That would fill my day with dreams of times going forward.  I would, in my mind, leave far far behind the antiques of our farm.  Maybe, just maybe, I would dream of a modern farm with nice machines and a fancy house to live in.  No, No, as fun as the farm could be I could not imagine living and breathing it as an adult.  Mind you that may not be my mindset today but way way back then it certainly could have been.  

So here I am today and maybe I just need to be "real" and get some work done before this home becomes a disjointed collection of papers, boxes and THINGS.  

Before I leave my blog I do feel the need to complain a tiny bit.  We get the Naples paper.  Most of the time they have two or three pages that are half pages and are all ads.  So a person has to take the paper apart to get rid fo the pages.

It is not easy to see but the left half of the paper is just that, half a page so one had to take the paper apart to get rid of it.  OK so in the big picture of life this is nothing but still it is enough of nothing to get a person a bit upset!!!

The FP is finished so the day should really be a good one!

February 18th and we are att the third weekend of February 2022

 TERRY

There is really not much change for Terry.  She was awake as I left for tennis at 7:20 this morning and now as I write it is 11:00 AM and she just woke from a nape an wanted a cookie!  I would say she is doing about the same so as usual it is one day at a time.

I know it is really not important in the long term BUT my tennis game stunk today!  OK so the 4 of us played two sets and I won one and lost one but really my game was NOT good today.  I say that but WHY as we all know in life tennis can be fun, rewarding, and much more BUT in the end it is only a game that gives life some ups and downs.  Of course we all know that family, health and other things are important and games are good for what they are but really not all that important in terms of winning or losing.  Enough said about that BUT I like to win!!!

I had an interesting evening yesterday.  For some crazy reason I just felt punk if that is even a word.  Finally I took two Advil PM and closed my eyes at 7:30!  Perhaps that lingered over to my early tennis today, not sure.  Even now it is a bit past 11:00 and I am tired and because of what??  I do not know.  Anyway I will try to make the best of the remaining day.

For some reason I have had family on my mind a lot lately.  OK so it is not unusual for me to think about family and what it was like many many years ago but for some reason it has been almost consistently on my mind over the last few days.  Some of the things that have been on my mind are:

• The days of playing ball with Dave and neighbor Ricky.  We would use the corncrib for a backstop and play pitcher, batter and fielder with the batter needing to run to the base and back.
• The many many days of harvest that Dave and I would sit in the truck while Dad drove the combine.  I am thinking that those days had a lot to do with the forming of my being.
• The loads and loads and loads of rocks that seem to just appear out of nowhere in the fields.  Sometimes I swear we had a better crop of rocks than wheat!
• Driving the Ford tractor around the alfalfa field while Dad drove the stacker and Dave and Joan worked on top of the stack.  Really I had the softest job ever.  All I did was drive the Ford with the rake behind and pick up loose hay. When I had the rake full I would drive over a hay bundle and pull the rope which would dump the rake.  I often thought about why we stacked hay and all the neighbors bailed.  I guess it was cheaper.
• All the many times Ronald/Glorine and John/Janet would come home.  Of course Joan/Ron were in the mix as well but it seemed that I was older when they would come home.  Of course during hunting it was Ronald and John.  That would be pheasant hunting when I was expected to be the bird dog!!!  Well perhaps the better memories are from deer hunting and there are many stories about that.
• Of course there are stores that are not so pleasant to remember as well.  Like the time cousin Robert was killed in an accident.  I was not there as it was Dad, Ronald, Marvin, Jerry and Robert during their time hunting rabbits.  BUT the memories are of the days after AND when Dad came home after the accident.  
• Of course the days surrounding Ronald's death and then a short time later Janet's death.  Those memories seem to burn themselves into ones mind and leave scares that never seem to completely heal.  I guess one could call it "life" and leave it at that.  

Enough rambling on for the day.  I may need to get Terry something to eat and then I may just take a nap as I still am kind of in the mode of yesterday.  AND of course the FP is finished.

Here we are on Thursday and it is mid afternoon.

Terry

Terry seems to be holding her own today.  She did not sleep late and now in mid afternoon she is watching TV and has an OK day.  One day at a time as I say.

I had 7:30 tennis this morning so did not get on the computer until mid morning.  I have not really done anything today but yet here it is 3:30 and not much if anything has been accomplished today.  Well what the heck I am retired so it is not all that bad!  For some reason I am just not myself today.  I maybe had the worst tennis of the season this morning and since then I just have not felt all that great.  Not sick, that I am sure of but just kind of in a a vanilla kind of state if you know what I mean.  I thought a nap would solve it but after 45 minutes NO change.  So will let the news of the day be what it is and will write about times long ago!

December of 1967

I was finishing my fall quarter at NDSU.  My friend Larry and I had given up our meager basement apartment in the spring and now as juniors we were staying in a large house with a few of the guys we knew from Wyndmere ND.  Larry had gotten it together as we had done well our sophomore year in that basement BUT we did not want to pay rent for the summer when we would not be there.  Larry would be going back to Cayuga to work for some farmers and I would be staying at my job at NDSU and John Mouw was kind to say I could stay at his place FREE.  I am not sure I every repaid him for that nice jester.  Anyway here we were in a 5 bedroom house with 5 guys so we each had our own room.  A pretty nice setup.  I had kind of righted the ship so to speak and now as a second quarter junior I had my GPA up to a respectable number.  Still I had not committed to a major but was kind of pointing to speech therapy or something in that area.  Gail and I were pretty serious and she was a senior at Minot State with a double major and was on track to graduate in the spring.  I received a letter from her in early December with the mention that her advisor Dr. Gilbert wanted her to continue on for her MS in Deaf Education.  If she would do that there would be a scholarship that would pay the entire bill.  She said she had talked to Dr. Gilbert about wedding plans after graduation so that was not in her plans.  Well it turned out that Dr. Gilbert was pretty insistent and she said If I would come for a visit maybe she could offer me an undergrad scholarship in Deaf Education.  Somehow I was able to connect with Gail on the phone and we talked.  Just so one knows that was WAY before everyone had cell phones.  So in early December I boarded the train for Minot with the idea that I would interview with Dr. Gilbert.  As I boarded the train with my Bostian slip on shoes, my grey slacks with my baby blue pullover shirt I felt I looked the part so to speak.  Gail had been student teaching and as a senior graduation present her folks had given her a used Chevy Biscayne 4 door car so she could get to her assignments.  As the train pulled into Minot I looked out the window and saw Gail waiting in the car.  For the life of me I do not remember where I stayed for the weekend but I promise it was NOT in the dorm with Gail.  The next day I put on the same clothes but added my navy blazer so I felt I looked the part of an up and coming college graduate!!!  Gail went with me into the speech and hearing complex and introduced me to Dr. Gilbert.  That evening I boarded the train with a heavy heart as at that time I wanted so much to be together.  A couple days later I got a note from Dr. Gilbert saying that If I wanted to transfer and enroll in the Deaf Education Program there would be a scholarship for me.  In quick order I got things together at NDSU and made arrangements to transfer my records to Minot.  I opted out of my financial aid package after taking the final test of the fall quarter and then it was on to Minot.  

I admit it was NOT all roses that winter and fall quarter on my junior year.  I had given up my financial aid so I needed money.  The only job I could get at Minot was washing heavy pots and pans in the cafe on campus.  I admit it was my worst job ever!  The rest of the story is for another time I think!

As one could guess the FP is history and the day is almost into mid afternoon so I will sign off and write more another day.

February 16th, 2022 and on the down hill of the month!

 As I turned over in bed at 7:20 I heard Terry click the TV on.  Even tho it was perhaps time to get up I closed my eyes and thought, "I want to sleep some more".  I again rolled over to check the time and it was 8:15 and I had just finished a fun dream!!!  So finally I decided it was really time to get up, retrieve the papers and start in on a new day.  As I sit here at the computer now it is already 9:25 and here I am just starting my blog.  I admit the day has not been lost so far.  There was a wonderful wife that needed some TLC and for someone who is pretty much bed bound that is a priority as anyone would know.  So with things taken care of I will proceed with writing.  I should add that Terry seems to be doing fine this morning and that is GOOD.

I have a strange tennis time today as I looked at the schedule and here our foursome is on for 3:00 PM.  Of course we are in the very middle of the busy busy tennis season.  I would say January, February and March are busy busy busy.  After that it seems some make plans to leave for the winter and that means the courts are more open.  

I had a fun visit yesterday.  Cousin Laureen and hubby were in Key West and on their way home which is in St. Louis.  They called and we got together at a McDonalds which as right off of I75.  Laureen grew up on the family farm which as about 3 miles east of our farm.  She and her brother Philip went to Lidgerwood HS so in terms of school we did not see them.  Actually they were a bit younger than I as cousin Arlene and Loren married a bit later in life so to speak.  Loren died in his 50s and Philip took over the farm at that time and I do believe he was still in HS.  When Philip surprised a lot of people by getting married in his 40s I do believe Arlene then moved to Veblen.  Anyway it was so so nice of them to stop for a visit.  I do not think I had ever met her hubby.  Laureen retired from nursing in May so they are now exploring ways to enjoy life after work.  They do have a 5th wheel and have been looking at places around here to rent next winter for 2 or 3 months.  It is almost unreal as they have, so far, not been able to find ANY place that has space for next winter.  I knew I should have invested in trailer parks way back then!  Of course that is not true but I thought it was kind of funny!

I got good news this morning as I opened my phone.  My friend Larry F sent a note that he is getting better.  He has been in the hospital and things were kind of serious.  I had to chuckle when I read his message on the phone.  He signed it by saying "my friend".  That contrasted with a note that a high school friend JoEllen signed on their Christmas card "an old friend" and I was not sure if she meant her or me but wait we are the same age!!!  Anyway this "friend" thing is starting to get to me and make me feel kind of old.  WAIT, maybe 75 is old!

As I sit here and procrastinate about work that needs to be done around here I thought I would write a bit.

JUST ABOUT OUR EARLY LIFE ON THE FARM

I will start out by saying something that I have said many times in the past.  Dad was not born to be a farmer but rather a craftsman, a photographer and a hunter.  The farm pretty much got by with a minimum amount of work in terms of making things better.  Well really I would kind of be at a loss to remember anything Dad did to improve the farm.  I remember our barn had many windows with each one having 4 small panes, almost like a window in a house.  IF one of the panes happen to be broken it could go on forever in that state.  I remember there were two broken panes just behind where we milked cows so Dave and I fixed them in some way because left there were be a chilly breeze coming in when we milked in the winter time.  The granary, well IF one wanted you could go inside of it at night and then star gaze through the holes in the roof.  Just so you know I never did that but could have!  Our big old shed that we parked the car and the truck in blew down in a storm and the rubble was only cleaned up by us kids as the years went by.  That was after maybe a dozen or more nails found their way into my bare feet.  BUT yes Mom would fix that.  After that the car and the truck sat outside.  The only reason the small shed where we parked the Fork tractor stood is it was surrounded by trees on the west and the north.  Really the only upgrade I remember Dad ever doing is when we poured the cement for the three steel bins.  That was nice.   I maybe should also give credit to Ronald, Dave and I for putting up the shower by the clothes line!  The corn crib had broken boards BUT that could have been Daves and my fault as we used it as a back stop for our ball games!!!  Enough and I do not intend to bad mouth Dad as he was a smart and talented man.  AND he and Mom raised 6 children and sent they off into the world where they ALL did well.  But I do have to say in Dad's world I would NEVER want to list things like farming, earning money, family, getting ahead, hunting, photography and relationships in order of importance!!  You may get my drift so to speak.  I will say that once in a while Dave and I could get Dad to hit fly balls to us and that was always fun!  Having said all that I am deeply indebted to Mom and Dad for the upbringing we had.  I know money was often very scarce.  I know one could criticize Dad for his priories but WHY do that.  Mom, it seemed, always had us kids at heart when we were still at home.  It seemed that NO birthday went by without a cake etc.  Presents, well they took money and often there was very little there.   To this day I miss the farm and If I had my life to live over in the 80s I would change some things but the past is gone so it is important to remember but more important to live in the present and look towards the future.  

So here, the times does fly and it is now past 10 AM so will sign off and If I remember I will write about the "tooth" tomorrow!  I still have some FP left so will sip that as I access the market so see if I am a dollar ahead to a dollar behind today!

Here we are at February 15th, the month over half finished!

 TERRY

Terry was awake when I rolled over at 7:15.  I retrieved the papers from the driveway but she was not interested in reading now.  So she is watching TV.  I am guessing she will want the paper soon.  She seems OK this morning but yesterday I was concerned.  She had TWO BM only two hours apart and that had me concerned.  I will not get into my job when that happens!!!  BUT she is feeling fine this morning so I think all is good.  There are some lingering concerns about her memory.  In the afternoon she enjoyed TWO pieces of that Valentine candy and several times remarked that the first piece that she enjoyed was the best candy she had ever had.  However a couple hours laters she had no memory of eating the candy so my concerns continue to mount.

So here I am having read the paper and am now enjoying my first cup of FP as I sip it out of my now favorite cup.  I am thinking life is OK!

I am worried about my long time friend Larry F.  His daughter sent a message to me on Facebook and said he is in the hospital in Havre and they are concerned.  Some of his children are going to visit.  I am not sure what is going on but I hope and pray that he gets well again.  I am not sure how many people have lifelong friends as Larry as been to me.  We became fast friends when Wood Lake School closed and we started school in Cayuga.  From the first day I walked into the 4th grade classroom we clicked as buddies. I admit it may have been because of studies.  I will not get into details but of the several boys in the class he was the only one who was a student if you get my drift.  AND at that time girls were out of the picture as one can imagine.  Anyway we bonded (I know I hate that word) and stuck pretty close to each other until I transferred out of NDSU in the winter of 1968.  He saved me our freshman year of high school.  I came to football practice two days late so I kind of followed him around that first day as I did not know what was going on.  We roomed together for 2 1/2 years in college but then went our separate ways for many years.  We hooked up again maybe 15 years ago or so and have been visiting and calling ever since.  I do hope he gets well soon.  I have asked his daughter Jennifer to keep me posted so am hoping that happens.  

I have tennis at 10:30 this morning and I think that is good.  As I retrieved the papers this morning in my sleepwear it felt COLD.  So tennis later is a good thing.  I know, how can 51degrees be cold to a person who refused to put down his ear laps as a kid growing up when it was zero???  Actually I do know the answer to that question.  It is called being accustomed to Naples weather!

Here is Mom and her brother Olaf and I have NO idea when it was taken but would guess maybe in the late 30s.  How about that fancy car !

There must have been a HUGE party when Aunt Ragna came to visit.  It looks like the entire area came to visit.  It looks like it was maybe in 48 or 49.

Well I think I am out of pictures and out of words for the morning.  I just replenished my cup with FP so will stay on the computer for a time but sign off of my blog

Here we are at the start of week #3 of February 2022--I did not get this published on Monday

 TERRY

It is 8:15 as I start to write and Terry is into the paper.  We wished each other a happy Valentine's Day as Terry woke up about 7:30.  She had some candy waiting for her BUT she has not eaten any yet.

Yes, it is Norman Love candy and I promise I only stop in there for special occasions if you get my drift!  I promise they are actually better than they even look and I am guessing they will last for several days.  It seems that Terry is same same as in the past several days.  She did indicate that she would like a shower today and that will happen perhaps early PM.  

So here we are already half through the month of February, wow where in the world does the time go?  We have no plans for the week but I do think I am going to do some work on our taxes.  In fact as I write I am on hold as I need something clarify for our RMD papers.  At the end of the two page application is a question that I do not understand AND I do not remember how it was filled out last year.  On second thought must maybe I have a copy of last years so I may look for that.

Karl has his normal two tennis courts booked for 10:30 this morning.  That is always a fun court because he usually gets players that I do not play with often.  I do get kind of tired of playing with the same same so the change up is good.  I say that but really most of the time the guys I play with come from a group of about a dozen players.

I had a surprise this morning.  Yesterday I tried to post a 15 second video of Henry making a basket in there game and all I could get is a picture that said it was loading.  Well I stared at that for what seemed like a long time and then gave up.  To my surprise as I opened Facebook this morning there was the video, go figure.  I wanted to put it on my blog but that did not work.  I know, my skills on the computer are less than good but usually I can get something done it just takes me much much longer than most people.  Now if I could figure out how to put it on my blog.

I watched half of the Super Bowl last night and then thought it would be just as good to read about it in the morning.  It looked like the ending was very fun.  That is for the winning team of course.  I am sure it was a good game as it was played in the new 3 BILLION dollar stadium.  

With no plans for the day other than tennis the car may just not venture out of the garage today.  I checked the fridge this morning and it looks like we have enough food for the remaining of the month and that is without buying one more item!!!  The problem is when one shops there are usually items on sale that are a good deal!  Well maybe I should say the problem is ME.  There I said it.

I am going to sign off.  I have the phone on hold as I write and I think since I started I have had this voice telling me they are sorry but they will get to me soon and that has been repeated at least a dozen times!  So I will sip the last of my FP and maybe read about the Super Bowl as I finish it.  I could mention that as I sign off I am sill on hold with the RMD people and it has been at least 20 minutes.  I so love times like this!!!!!  But as they state, they are sorry!

A cloudy day, a light rain and a lazy day leading up to the Super Bowl

 TERRY

Terry woke about 8:00 this morning.  She said she was not ready for the Sunday paper so it is on the kitchen table waiting for her.  No need for details but she did need some attention so things are taken care of for now.  It seems that all is normal for the day so will let it be at that.

If there are any people who read my blog and have for many many years there is something I missed.  Wallace, our wonderful full of mischief Golden Doodle is now just a memory but I am thinking I missed the boat with him.  An article in the paper today is about a pet masseuse.  OK, I never heard of one either but I guess IF you really love you dog you might hire her to come into your home and give your dog a massage!!!  For an hour of her time the cost is only $90 plus mileage!!!  Now when I think of Wallace and what he missed out on because I held onto the purse strings too tight I almost feel badly.  Well not really but I thought it made a good story.  On the farm our dogs sleep in the barn or on the porch and here we have people who give their dog a massage!!!  What the heck, I do not even do that for myself!

Well here we are at 10:30.  I have been trying to figure out how to get a video on the blog but NO success and will quit for now.  

Terry and I have nothing planned for the day.

Here I am much much later than when I started to write.  I did go to the store for some treats for the big game tonight.  Our time it starts at 6:30 I believe.  I am thinking I will watch it from the beginning but may cave in at half time and wait to read about it tomorrow.  I really do not care who wins so seeing all of it or half of it makes no difference.

I did go to the grocery store today and one would think there was a storm coming as people flooded the isles and were buying like crazy.  I am sure it was party time but really it was crazy.

Terry spent some time in the living room this afternoon which is a good thing.  As I write is is a bit past 4:00 and she is in the bedroom again.

No I am out of ideas for the day and I may just relax, watch TV with Terry for a while before the game.  I have had my FP a long time ago so the day has been OK.

Here we are at Saturday #2 in February 2022 as it is the 12th.

 TERRY

Terry is doing OK today.  She slept a little late but as of 11:00 AM she is watching TV and has read the paper.

Today is a day full of memories.  As I look at my calendar it shows a picture of sister Janet and the writing is 1966.  After dealing with the death of brother Ronald in October of 1964 here we were 16 months later dealing with the death of sister Janet on February 12 of 1966.

The memories go like this.  As I got into my senior year of high school things were not going well at all.  I was the captain of the football team and our quarterback John had a broken arm.  We really had No replacement.  As our bus headed home from a huge loss at Enderlin the gloom in the bus was so thick one could almost cut it with a knife.  After stops in Cogswell and Forman the bus came to Cayuga.  As usual there was no Dad to pick me up so I knew it was Grandma's place for the night.  I was surprised to see Grandms's house all lite up as it was almost midnight.  As soon as I entered into the house there was Grandma with a grim look on her face.  Brother Ronald had been transported to Fargo in serious condition and Mom and Dad had driven to Fargo.  Grandma gave me the keys to her car and said I could drive home.  Well the story goes like this.  Mom and Dad arrived home in the late morning with tear stained faces and the look of having lost a great prize.  Ronald had died in the early morning.  

So that was October 3rd of 1964.  Now we fast forward to the winter of 1966 which was only 16 months later.  Life is greatly changed.  Sargent Central is only a memory in the rear view mirror as I am now a freshman at NDSU in Fargo.  I am now on my own kind of with Mom, Dad and Helen still on the farm I am thinking my future is bright as I am now FREE of the farm which had become an active antique.  I am rooming with my best friend Larry and life seems to be getting back to normal as I still think of Ronald often and miss him so much but life goes on and I am enjoying college life.  Well the fall quarter brought grades that were not the best BUT they were passing and so no complaints.  Dave and Marlys married in September and now we are into the winter quarter and I like my classes better than the fall.  I fall asleep Thursday night thinking maybe I need to get into some social things at college.  It has taken me this long to kind of get out of the mentality of high school, farm and old girl friend!!!  A fellow student who lives on the 3rd floor knocks on the dorm room door mid morning and says there is a call for me.  In those days there were NO cell phones and there was 2 phones for the entire floor.  Sister Joan is on the phone and says that Janet is very sick in bed and could I go over and watch Bob and Esther?  No problem as I had planned to study BUT this was a great excuse to NOT.  I got on my bike with the semi low tires for the snow and headed to south Fargo.  When I arrived Janet was in bed with the dog under the bed and it would not come out.  Esther and Bob were there so I settled in for the day.  It did not take long to realize that Janet was not dealing with the flu but there was something more serious.  I called Joan and said I felt we needed to get Janet to the hospital.  Ron came over and between the two of us we got Janet into the car and headed to St. Lukes.  Well the rest is just kind of blurry.  Joan took Esther and Bob and I headed back to the dorm.  John was called as was Mom, Dad and Glorine. I do not remember the timing but I do believe Janet died the day or the next.  So from my perspective here I was not in a good place.  I was in my first year away from home and now my two oldest siblings were no longer with us.  They were the ones that I looked up to and they were, to me, the model of what older siblings should be.  AND I say that as much as I experienced sadness I am sure it was nothing if measured up to what Mom and Dad went through.  Later in the spring Mom asked at Easter time if I could come home for the summer.  She said Dad needed that.  Well I have written in the past about saying I had to have some transportation and then Dad suggested a motorcycle.  

ALL these memories came flooding back as I looked at my calendar with Janet's picture on today, February 12th.  Oh my the years and decades fly by at now 1966 seems so so so far away.  

Today I note that we have also lost brother Dave how passed away in 2020 so here it is Joan, Helen and myself.  So many memories, so many events and so many fun times are now history.  It seems almost unreal and not fair that not only are person of importance gone but the farm is long gone as well.  

So it is now one day, one week, one month, one year at a time and a person needs to remember, live in the present and look towards the future as life goes on.  AND of course that means FP every day!

I have NO idea where the time as gone since I last blogged!

 TERRY

I would say Terry is same same.  Here it is Friday evening and as I write she is in bed with the games on TV.  She spent a few hours in the living room this afternoon and I felt that was good.  So, one day at a time and it is what it is for now!

I really do not have a lot to say tonight.  I did play tennis this morning and we had a very fun match.  It was pretty evenly matched BUT I did have extra fun as my partner and I won 6-4!!!  Well of course everyone knows that games are fun but yet it is always a bit more fun when you win!

Terry and I have no plans for the weekend and I usually do not play tennis so it will be a couple of days for me to rest up and MAYBE get some things done.  I do think I will gather tax papers and start on that.  We do have our financial person do the taxes but I need to have ALL the papers.  One of Terry's income sources never sends us papers so I need to go on the computer and access them AND I usually need time to do that as I never remember from year to year how to do it.  I am guessing that we will get some back as that is always the case.  We did get papers in the mail today for our RMD so I will get those papers in the mail next week.  Of course that means we are old!!!

I am still not ready to get help in but I do admit it needs to come soon.  I just have a hard time paying money to someone doing work that I kind of can do!!!  I think one of these days I need to keep track of the things I do during the day.  Actually I may be surprised at how much it is, REALLY!

I did have an idea of something to write about today but I will leave that for tomorrow, maybe.

As it is now 8:20 PM I will sign off for today and pls do not ask me what happened yesterday!  I have no idea and I really do not think I was all that busy.  Well at the age of 75 busy has a different definition than it did at the age of 35.  

I am having a hard time with our meals.  I am trying to eat less but then it seems anything I make is enough for several meals so what happens?  We end up eating too much or throwing food which gives us two BAD things to do.  What is a person to do?

No pictures today so will sign off by saying that I did enjoy my FP this morning and the day--it was OK.

It is Wednesday, February 9th and we have rain!

 TERRY

Terry has been awake since about 7:00 and is doing fine this morning.  I asked if she wanted the paper earlier and she said no but I am guessing she will soon want it.

Well my day at home was supposed to start AFTER tennis but no tennis today because of the rain so here I am with no plan for the day.  Is there work to do?  For sure but who really wants to work???  I woke up this morning with a smile on my face, why?  Well as I walked into the kitchen it was totally clean!  No fuss, no mess as the counters were empty and wiped clean.  Now that is a great way to start the day and yes it should be that way everyday but sadly it is not the case.  Well I just walked into the kitchen to refill my coffee cup and I did notice some work that needs to be done.  I had opened the dishwasher door to get a clean glass and there the dishwasher was staring at me with a full load of clean dishes.  Then on my way back to the computer I did glance into the laundry room and notice that there is clothes to get out of the dryer and dirty clothes to put into the washer.  Oh, and of course one would know that the dining room table has a pile of papers on it.  But that is not all that bad.  I now have enough of our 2021 tax papers to start working on things.  Well IF I remember correctly we did have our tax person figure out our taxes the last few years but I still have to gather all the papers up and send them in.  I am sure there will be more papers coming in over the next while but if I could get things sent in by the end of the month that would be good.  We always get some back except for 2020 when Terry had income from the sale of the house in Minnesota which meant we had a large tax bill.  

I actually got good news yesterday.  Now that we both are OLD (over 72) we need to withdraw money from investments that we have.  It is called RMD.  If a person fails to do that there is a penalty which I do not know the amount.  Well I do not recall filling out the papers for last year so I was resigned to paying the penalty whatever it was.  Well much to my surprise tax papers came in the mail yesterday stating we had done it.  So that was GOOD.  Now I am thinking I should fill out ones for 2022 before I REALLY forget to do it.  For me it is not a very big deal as the amount that I get would maybe buy several ice cream cones.  I exaggerate as it is a bit more than that.  But for Terry it is a sizable amount and we do not want to lose it. Anyway the bottom line is last year was done and make sure it gets done again this year Carmen.

I have my homemade 2022 calendar right in front of me at the desk.  So I always notice birthdays etc each day.   Well I am looking at it as I write.  As I look at February I see where this Friday is the date sister Janet died 56 years ago.  When I write that number it just does NOT seem that long ago but yes it was in the winter of 1966 which sounds like a long long time ago.  Then I glance down at February 25 and it is written Roxanne 2014 which I am sure means it has been 8 years since Roxanne passed away.  It is hard to believe it has been that long ago.  Well I guess I should maybe get onto some news that is good!  Well this is good news in the making.  Quinn Sandness IS slowly getting better according to Joan.  She sent an e-mail yesterday and said he is recovering but it has been a slow process.  I actually do not know many details as to what happened except that he suddenly became ill and it was serious.  Yes, good health is not a given so "for sure" we need to be thankful every day that we have it.  

I know, a repeat but it is a picture that I never tire of looking at.  When we lived in Devils Lake ND there was a wildlife preserve just south of town.  There were elk and buffalo there and most of the time when you drove through you would see one or the other.  Here we were watching the herd of elk and based on the kids it had to be the summer of 1974.  I might add that our 1970 Impala with the 8-track playing and the windows rolled down was a summer fun ride!!!

Well we fast track 8 years and help Cynthia celebrate her 2nd birthday November 1st in 1982 and by that time we were in St. Paul.  Look at those candles!  She must have had a strong blow for a 2 year old!  Most of the early birthdays were celebrated around an animal cake made by Mom but she must have been busy this year.

Well I do think it is time to sign off for the day.  Terry is now reading the paper with the TV on and I can think of many things to get done as I sip the last of my FP.

Monday, February 7th

 TERRY

As I begin to blog this morning I hear Terry!  Well here I am 20 minutes later after taking care of Terry and putting a small load of clothes in the washer!  Terry seems good this morning as she is now reading the paper with a movie on.

Well not a whole lot going on today.  I do NOT have tennis as the courts are all full without my name on them.  I do have tennis the next four days.  So what is a person to do who is 75, retired and nothing on his agenda for the day??  

Well I will go to the post office.  When the kids were here after Christmas I gave somethings to them but Aaron/Amy were not here so will mail a small thing to them today.  BUT the real deal is this.  I actually started cleaning up some messes here and there yesterday so will continue to do that today, I think!  Other than that it will be to make sure Terry is taken care of and making some food later on.  

I do have kind of an interesting story today AND I may have written about this before but not sure.  You understand that as age creeps in repeating is accepted without any judgement, right?

It may have been the fall of 2005 or so.  The principal of Highland Park came to me and asked if I would be interested in coaching the girls soccer team.  In the past I had coached the boys and had fun.  The girls had No coach and the principal said one of the girls had approached her and asked if she would ask Mr. Lee to coach.  Well here was a chance to earn a little extra money and also try to give the girls a fun fall.  In the past the girls team had been less than average!  So I took it on.  We came to our first game and I had a talk with the girls.  I wore this tie and said that it brought good luck so I expected us to do well.  The story goes that I wore the tie at every soccer game that fall and we ended up with a winning record.  I think that was the very first time the girls team had really won anything in soccer.  As we sat on the field after our last game and talked I took out a container from my coaching bag and said I had one last job to do.  I had the names of all the girls in the container and I pulled out one name.  I then took off my tie and then looked at the piece of paper.  I then gave my tie to the girl and said that was a good luck charm that she could have.  About a week later we had our end of the season little picnic in the school lunch room.  At the end one of the girls presented me with the tie with all their signatures on it!!!  I would have to say it was one of the most meaningful gifts I have ever gotten.  The real ending was these girls had experienced NO success on the soccer field in the past but now they knew they could do good things when they put their mind to it.  I still have the tie hanging in the closet BUT I almost never wear a tie now!

There were some interesting things in the paper this morning, that is the WSJ.  For the super bowl on Sunday a 30 second ad costs about $7,000,000.  I decided not to put an ad on TV, too expensive!!!  I also found out that I will not be buying a Chanel Classic Flap Bag.  The fairly small bag cost $5,200 in 201 but now sells for $8,200.  I just do not know how anybody can pay over 8,000 for a small purse and have any money left to put into it.  Oh, I forgot that there are perhaps many people out there with bank accounts much much larger than mine!

I do think that the Sunday Super Bowl may turn out to be a really good game.  I do not know what time it is played but I am sure I will watch at least part of it.

I know it is very early but I am starting to think about a 2023 calendar.  IF there is anybody who reads this and has an idea shoot your idea to me.  carjlee@gmail.com is where it can be sent.  Now I do NOT want to get ideas like, "You can just put pictures of me on every month!!!"😄

No here it is close to 9:00 AM and really it may be time for me to make some breakfast.  I do have my first load of clothes in for the day but there may be a few more I suspect.  AND maybe I will make a call to get some help in.  No promises but maybe.  I know I have that delicious FP everyday and still I tend to be kind of a "maybe' type of guy.