Goofy and the Gopher

Let me tell you a story about Goofy and the Gopher if I may. My youngest grandson, Leo, is quite a guy. He is in grade two, absolutely loves math, knows his way around race cars, space ships, video games and has a room full of weapons. He definitely has the family sense of humour and has picked up a nick name because of that. He is known very affectionately around most parts as "Goofy Leo".

Now let me get back to the part about the room full of weapons just in case you were wondering about that. When asked, he will tell you that he is proficient in all types of guns whether they be pistols or rifles, has an extensive collection of swords including light sabers, and has a working knowledge of explosives and martial arts weapons. Not bad for a seven year old, eh? He has now added a new weapon to his arsenal....traps.

It all started when his Dad noticed a lot of gopher activity in the front yard and was wondering what would be the best way to eliminate them. His dad remembered that when he was young he knew that I always had traps hanging in my shed . So Matt asked for my advice. Being the Grandpa that I am, I told them the story of how I declared war one year on the gophers in my garden because they started to take over and destroy all the produce. I used the best trap made for eliminating gophers and that year had a very productive garden. After telling the story, and when Leo's eyes became normal size again, He said, "Let's set some traps and see what we can get!!!!!!!"

The next morning Leo and I got up early and went out to check the traps. I thought his eyes were big when I was telling the story of declaring war on gophers but you should have seen them when we pulled on the chain and found this!---------

Traveling in the weather

In May of 2010 I had a trip planned to go to California. I am a delegate for my church and our annual Synod meeting was to be in Shafter, CA this year. This time I decided to drive out there pulling my 5th wheel trailer. I suppose the main reason I wanted to go with the camper was to see if in fact, I could handle it all by myself and still navigate the highways. The previous couple of years I drove out there once with my cargo trailer full of stuff for the girls and another time just with the pickup. Both of those times I drove about 900 miles a day. This time I had my living quarters with me and I could stop anywhere I wanted to spend the night, so I put a limit of 200 to 300 miles a day. The month of May is usually a pretty nice time of the year so I thought I would have a really nice trip this time. Well.......this is what I woke up to on the day of my scheduled departure:
Because this was a late season snow storm, it only lasted a day and by the time I got to Wyoming it was all gone. I visited friends in WY and by the time I got to the southern part of the state I ran into another snow storm. Then when I got to Salt Lake City, I hit another storm over the mountains with sleet and ice. There I just put my 4-way flashers on, pulled in behind a semi and just crawled over the pass. I still thank God for His traveling mercies.


This year, March of 2011, I decided to drive out again after having flown out in January but I drove without the trailer this time. Now in March we can still have some winter weather but I thought I could shoot between storms this time. Not so. The Friday I had planned to leave was the day that North Dakota got pounded. It was such a blizzard that Interstate 94 was closed across the whole state. It wasn't until Monday that the roads were open enough so that I could leave the state. Even at that, the road from Butte to the Interstate was ice covered and there was some fog that morning. I just love living in the Northern Plains!!!!

Across Montana

As I continued on my homeward way after visiting my brother in OR during my March/April 2011 trip, I had one more stop to make to visit a very good friend of mine. Daryl and Joan are in the process of retiring and they too decided to move from CA and head to Montana. Their move has taken several years of planning and searching for the right place to settle. Right now they are in the final stages of finishing their "cabin" along the edge of the Rock Mountains of MT. I will be the first to admit that their cabin is a little different from my brother's cabin, but Daryl and Joan have plans of entertaining and mentoring which require a facility for that purpose. Besides, it's what they want, and they are able to do it. Nice place, guys!!

I really enjoyed taking my long morning walks around their property. The only warning I recieved was to watch out for bears....and I only had my .22 pistol with me on this trip, not my 9mm. But I learned that pepper spray is more effective anyway. Daryl told me that he has another cabin on their property as well so one morning I headed that way to check it out. Now that is my kind of cabin!! I think that it would be ideal for me...with a little fix-up of course:

My hosts took me on several tours of the area and hiking trails. The snow pack had been tremendous here as well so the streams were running at full speed and snow still covered many of the trails.

I love the mountains,especially after having lived in Colorado for a while. But I am accustomed to the rolling, wide open plains of ND now so all I can say is that the mountains are a great place to visit but I like where I am.

The right idea

On the way back to North Dakota from my March/April 2011 trip, I decided to go north through Oregon, Washington and across Montana this time so I could visit my brother and sister-in-law. They had moved to OR a year or two ago from Montana to be closer to their children in northern California.

Wes and Becky need to be admired for their practice of living the simple life. When I look around and see the "stuff" that most people (including myself) have, it warms my heart to see that someone can still live without "much". And as they have proved, you don't need much to be happy. In fact, I am beginning to see all over again that "stuff" does not bring happiness. A warm relationship is worth more than rubies and gold.

Their house, or "cabin" as they call it, is an 8-900 sq. ft. home. Inside, they have all the basics for living which in my opinion make life more livable when there is no clutter staring you in the face. They do all the work themselves when remodeling and decorating. After all, that is what makes a home a home, right?

Thank you, guys, for being an inspiration to those of us who want to "simplify our lives". I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with you. You have the right idea.

Only in Nordakoda

The rest stops along the highways in North Dakota are rather limited. I'm not sure if that is because the traffic is rather limited too or because everyone is accustomed to stopping at cafes along the way every hour or so for a cup of coffee. Of course the two Interstates here have their share of them and a couple of the US highways have one or two. But to find a good rest stop along a state highway or especially on a county road is almost impossible.

Now I like to drive the back roads as much as possible so you can imagine my interest when I spotted one way back off the beaten path. I was on my way up to Devils Lake the other day to visit a very good friend of mine when all of a sudden I spotted it. Not only was it a nice rest stop but the scenery all around was so picturesque. I just had to stop and take a picture of it.
It's not everyday that you find such a well maintained and fresh smelling rest area as you travel this wonderful state of ours.

Jose' ,can you see?

I don't know where she got it because there isn't a whole lot of musical talent in my family that I am aware of anyway. But my sweet, lovely, and talented granddaughter Abby sure has a basket full. When I brought a trailer full of Nana's stuff out to all the girls a couple of years ago, there was a second piano that Lisa wanted. She thought that it would be good if Abby could take piano lessons so I loaded it up too. I figured that Abby would just dink around on it and the piano would just be a nice piece of furniture in their house. Wow!! was I wrong. Mommy lined up a terrific teacher and Abby went to work! I just love sitting around her piano while she is practicing and enjoy the beautiful sounds she makes.

She also has a voice by the way. She has been in her school and church choirs for years. While I was out there on my March/April 2011 trip, I had the honour of hearing her sing. Her school has a Monday morning assembly during which the students say the pledge of allegiance. During the flag raising, someone will sing the National Anthem. And lately that someone has been Abby. The way I understand it is that she really wanted to sing but was a little shy about doing it in public and as a solo. But one day she took the plunge and there has been no turning back. In fact she now volunteers for the job! Way to go Abigail!!!
Your voice is absolutely lovely Abbs. And I can't wait until your first cd comes out!!!

Tin Can Tree

A tree that grows tin cans? Well look, right in the centre of this tree at the top is a tin can. How else could it get there if the tree didn't grow it there? I guess you would have to ask a (almost) teen-age boy that question.
It all happened out at Gramy Sharon and Grandpa Steve's place while I was visiting this past spring, March/April 2011. The whole family got together one day for a huge lefse baking party. The girl cousins were running around outside and the young boy cousins were doing their thing, so what does a (almost) teen-age boy do? Thankfully, Grandpa Steve has an assortment of firecrackers on hand. And Steven, being the young inventor that he is, puts his inventive skills to work after just shooting them off in the street got to be old hat. With tin can in hand he punches a hole in it just big enough for a firecracker. Wow! That sends the can up in the air pretty good! How does a young man's mind work? I remember well from when I was his age: If one firecracker will do that, what will two or three firecrackers do? Will they perhaps put the can into orbit? Well the rest is history. He finally got the can to blast over the top of the tree.


Then on one of the blast-offs, the can turned open-end-down and on its decent, settled right down on a branch at the top of the tree. Will wonders never cease? We all just stood there, munching on lefse, looking up in amazement.

Grandpa Steve came up with the brilliant idea of starting a pool and putting down a guess as to when the can would come down. For one dollar a guess, the one that would come closest to the time would win the pool. That lucky lady was Hope, after a big wind storm several days later.

The Sleep-over, God's great gift

I am preparing to make another trip out to California this summer, 2011 so I thought I better get caught up a little from my last several visits out there.





My latest trip was in March and April, 2011. I had purchased a small camper trailer-sight unseen- before I made the trip. My son-in-law, Scott picked the trailer up for me and towed it to a friend's place where they were gracious enough to let me store it. I had my daughter take some pictures of it and send them to me so I would know what to expect when I got out there. While she was taking photos, my grandson, Danny, was wandering around inside and as my daughter say it, "His little wheels were turning overtime as he was deciding just where all the electronics like TV, game consoles, etc. would go". He was heard saying things like, "Papa could cut a hole in this cupboard and mount the TV so I could lay here in bed and work my games." He was full of ideas and when I heard about it, I sent him a letter inviting him to have a sleep-over with me when I got out there and he could explain all his ideas to me. In no time at all, I got a return letter from him saying that he had talked it over with his parents and it would be fine for us to do that.





On sleep-over day, Danny packed his clothes and tooth brush etc. and armed himself with a backpack of DVDs. He planned out enough DVDs so that we would have to stay up to at least midnight. Well, it was a good plan anyway!! So after supper and a walk around the country side, we folded the table down and made up his bed. We actually did watch quite a few movies but I was a little surprised when decided it was time to go to sleep.






The fold down table bed was just right for him as another movie put us to sleep. We both slept like logs but Danny did mention the next morning that he thinks he heard something in the middle of the night that sounded like snoring. I wonder what that could have been?

We were both very refreshed in the morning so another DVD was in order to be viewed along with breakfast. I cooked up his favourite breakfast - well, I guess I'm not sure if it was his favourite or not but it sure is mine - PANCAKES! With real butter, pure maple syrup, and a big glass of orange juice, what could be better. I'm just glad that Danny used pure maple syrup instead of ranch dressing.

But then, that's another story............

IT'S IN!!!

I wasn't going to do a garden again this year even though we always did gardening of some kind for as long as I can remember. For the last several years I have kept the (small but very productive) garden plot tilled so it would be weed-free and ready to plant. This year I realized that I would be traveling again this summer so even though the plot was ready, I wouldn't be around to tend it.

Then the thought hit me....A friend of mine in town does a lot of gardening. He has plots all over town and even outside of town. I approached him with the idea that since my garden was tilled and ready to go, would he want to plant it and tend it? He jumped at the opportunity and came over with seeds and plants and put it in. That was several weeks ago and he has since been over a time or two to do some weeding. It is doing real well as we speak. There might even be some produce for me to feast on upon my return later on this summer. I can hardly wait!!!

DUCK!!! Here comes a flock of them!!!

I have been having trouble with my computer for many weeks now being unable to upload photos to this blog. I seem to have resolved some of the issues so here I go again with some up-to-date posts for those of you who are interested.

This picture is one that I took on one of my early morning walks about three weeks ago, around the beginning of June, 2011. Even though I usually walk the same couple of routes everyday, I always like to look around at the beauty that God has given us though his wonder of nature. If you look, you will see. With all the rain we had this spring, a section of ditch along the road going north out of town collected a lot of water and held that water for a long time. I had noticed earlier, a pair of Blue-Winged Teals swimming in the ditch but this day I noticed a little more activity. Sure enough! Extra splashing and extra quacking! As I approached, Mama Duck started quacking for her little ones to "gather around and follow me".

I did not have my camera with me so I decided that an extra mile to the house and back wouldn't hurt me so off I went. Upon my return to the ditch, I actually came up too fast and startled Mama. What followed was one of the most exciting things that I have experienced from all my excursions of watching nature. Mama Duck instantly flew up out of the ditch, quaking her head off, and landed right at my feet. She then proceeded to flop wildly around on the road right by my feet with one of her wings hanging out to one side as if it were broken. What did I do?!! Did I do something to cause her to injure herself? What can I do to help her get back to her babies? In all the excitement I realized what she was up to. A diversion. She wanted me to think that she was injured so I would go after her and leave her babies alone. All this time I was trying to do what Karen would have done if she had been there. Talk soothingly to Mama and encourage her gently to go back to her babies. Finally, when Mama realized that that I wasn't going after her or her little ones, she gathered her wits about her and quietly slipped back into the water and over to her babies. They quickly lined up behind her as if Mama was taking roll call and with all of them quacking away, they swam in circles and all eventually calmed down. Oh, I better quick take a picture:
Isn't nature wondeful??

SUNDOG

Do you know what a SUNDOG is?? It is one of God's most beautiful creations and wonders. When my nephew Mark invited me to Minnesota in February, 2010 to go ice fishing, we picked a day which happened to be one of the coldest days of the month. It's a full day's drive to Mille Lac Lake, MN so I left Butte at sun rise. The temperature was twenty degrees below zero. When I reached the highway just out of town I saw it!! The sun was just breaking the horizon, and the sky was clear as a bell. Did I have my camera with me? Yes! Pull over and take a picture before it is gone! Could it have been a better composition? Not with that windmill right in front of the rising sun!

A Sundog is made with prism shaped ice crystals, otherwise known as "diamond dust" that are floating in the atmosphere. That alone is enough to describe the phenomenon that the viewer is about to see. It must be extremely cold for a Sundog to form so the minus 20 degree temperature of this day, along with the clear sky, was a perfect combination as the sunrise happened. The prism shaped ice crystals reflect the sun's rays and create the beauty that we see below. I have seen several Sundogs since living here but this one was truly the clearest and most profound one yet. This is another advantage of living in a very cold climate. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and I wish that everyone could experience one first hand. Thank you, God, for your wonderful creation.

Minnesota Ice Fishing, Feb. 2010

Minnesota had at least as much snow as we did here in North Dakota but they seem to keep their lakes more accessible. They do have more lakes (10,000 at last count) and more people to use them so most lakes have roads plowed on them so one can get around. Mille Lacs, near Brainerd, MN is one of those that plows roads on the lake. Mille Lacs is Minnesota's second largest lake at just over 200 square miles of surface area and averages 40 feet in depth. My nephew, Mark, invited me to come to MN for an ice fishing adventure since I was not able to do much fishing here. It was a great experience and an opportunity to see what ice fishing in Minnesota was all about.

Since there are more people using the lakes in MN, you see more of a community of fishing shanties on the lakes. This trip was in February of 2010 and normally you would see a larger Shanty Town than this but with the severe winter, fewer people ventured out.
Once we got my fish house set up, it was off to drilling holes and getting the rigs ready to fish. The walleye bite was a little off when we were there but we did have good success with perch. What could be better than fishing with all the comforts of home?

One day it was so nice that Mark drilled a hole outside and soaked up the warmth of the sun's rays. I think the air temperature was -10 at the time.

Sunset on the snow drifts of Mille Lacs lake. It was a great week of fishing.

Ice Fishing '09-'10

The past three winters ('08-'09, '09-'10, and '10-'11) have seen snowfall of epic proportions. So much, in fact, that it has been nearly impossible to get onto the lakes because of snow drifts at the access points as well as the amount of snow on top of the lakes makes driving impossible. Each year I have been able to go out early in the season (as soon as the ice is thick enough) and start what I think and hope will be a full season of ice fishing. This picture is my first or second trip to Cottonwood Lake in December, 2009. The ice was close to three feet thick already and the conditions for getting around on it were excellent. I thought that I was in for a great ice fishing season!

The fishing is always good on Cottonwood and I usually catch my limit of Northerns right away. The Game and Fish Department has been working at building up the perch and walleye population as well. Even though it is more fun to reel in a huge 32 inch long northern, the perch are worth it too, especially when they hit the frying pan.

On this particular fishing trip my intention was to spend at least several days, if not a week, in my fish house and take advantage of the quiet and solitude of being out on the ice and having the lake all to myself. I spent one night out there and the next day the weather report started talking about a blizzard coming in. The afternoon of the second day it hit. It certainly was a good thing that I decided to come back home because if I had stayed out there, I would never have been able to get off the lake. Snow drifts started swirling around my rig so I packed up and headed home. That was the last of the fishing for the whole winter since the snow kept coming and kept coming. I parked my Jeep on the driveway when I got home that evening and the next day the snow had drifted around it. The reports had more snow coming over the course of the next several days and weeks, so I finally got it parked inside the garage. I couldn't go any place anyway.

Ice fishing '07-'08

Here are a few more photos of my ice fishing adventures during the winter of '07-'08. As opposed to the last three winters, this winter was a year of mild snow and good ice. We were able to get onto the lakes without any difficulty throughout the entire winter and the fishing was really good too.
This is Cottonwood lake just three miles north of my house. Most of the time it is like my own private lake as there are very few fishermen using this lake both in the winter and the summer.

I can hardly go fishing in Cottonwood without catching a good sized Northern Pike whether it be summer or winter. Here I am pulling one of the many Northerns through the hole in my fish house. When my kids are here in the summer time we come here in my boat. When I post photos of my grandkids fishing on Cottonwood, you'll see what I mean!

Ice fishing, 2006

Whenever I went ice fishing I very seldom took the camera with me. After all, that was Karen's job, right? Actually, it never occurred to me that I should take it with me since Karen was always so faithful in taking pictures upon my return. Karen very seldom went with me, especially on an all day excursion. I guess she was a little concerned about, you know, what does a lady do, you know, when she has to, you know, out there in the middle of a frozen lake?
When I returned home from this trip, in December of 2006, I didn't have to insist too much on having her take a picture of my catch-of-the-day. And this was a typical day of ice fishing.

Ice Fishing Now?

I finally was able to dig my fish house out of the snow bank yesterday, Feb. 12, 2011. We are starting to have some warmer weather and it isn't snowing every other day now. Access to the lake is a little better so maybe now I can get out there and do a little ice fishing before the season is over.

Ummmm, LEFSE

Another batch of lefse in the making before the warm weather hits tomorrow, 2-11-11. By this afternoon, I'll be full of lefse AGAIN.

Follow-up, on Karen's cats 2-8-11

The other day I was cleaning out bookcases when I ran across Dr. Pitcairn's "Complete Guide To Natural Health for Dogs and Cats". Those of you who knew Karen, knew how much she loved her cats. What you probably didn't know was that she doctored her pets with natural remedies. Karen was an absolute expert in herbs, and natural remedies for man and beast alike. If something natural would help us, or our pets, she would always try that first. And it usually worked. If the cat needed a vet, Karen would research which vet was the best for the particular ailment and choose the vet accordingly.
Like many of her reference books, this one is tattered, torn, marked up, underlined, highlighted, loaded with scratch paper full of notes showing what was wrong with a particular pet, and what worked and what didn't. And yes, there were "STICKY NOTES" all over the place too! We all know how much she loved to use sticky notes, don't we??
In reading her notes in the book, one thing stood out loud and clear. She kept a daily log on these pieces of paper noting how the cat was progressing during treatment. The "loud and clear" part will come as no surprise to most of you and as I was reading, I could actually hear her sweet voice: Interspersed in all the notes was a written prayer, calling on our Lord for help and guidance as she doctored her pets. There were also time of thanks to God as the cat healed from day to day. Karen lived a life of thankfulness in every situation that she found herself. That was one reason that we all loved and respected her so much.


Another reason we all loved her so much was that big, beautiful smile that she ALWAYS had on her sweet face.
Here she is holding Kunkie. Kunkie was probably her most favourite cat. We had her since we live in California and she made several trips forth and back with us. Kunkie was appropriately named because of her colouring. She looked like a skunk, thus the name..... Kunkie was a total marshmallow. Whether is was because of her nature or the way she was babied by Karen, I don't know. She layed around a lot and never got excited about much. But she was a good cat.


Kunkie lived to be 11 or 12 years old. A good long time for any cat, in my book. A testimony to a life of good care. One day I came home from the mail route and noted a sadness in the air. Kunkie had really been slowing down of late, and that morning she went to sleep and didn't wake up. Knowing how important this was to Karen, I went out to the shop and quickly put together a special coffin for Kunkie. It meant a lot to Karen to put her cat to rest properly.
Rest in peace, Kunkie.