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??