Thursday, October 30, 2008

The fifth day of the week, Thursday, tomorrow is Friday!

What makes Thursday so special? Is it because it comes before Friday? Is it because the week is half over on Thursday? Whatever the reason, today is special because it is today!

Yesterday I returned to pt for more ultra sound on my tkr. It really does help although I really had a double dose of care due to going for a massage afterwards. I almost fell asleep during the massage. I had more pain that I have had for a long time during the massage. Perhaps I haven't been taking care to give myself massages lately. I felt so much better after Pam was done.

During PT, my therapist did some stretching along my scar and showed me how to do it myself. She said it would help to stretch the scar and make it more pliable. I am three and a half months out now and hope that this will help with the knee stiffness and pain. I even took a 1/2 hour after lunch to go work out on the machines for 15 minutes. It helped some.

Wth walls and dividers are all up on the exhibit platforms. We have only to put the plywood walls on the south wall and it will be done. Now comes the painting. Our staff will have to do some real planning for this to work out right.

FIVE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THURSDAY
  1. The fact that tomorrow will be Friday.
  2. I tend to feel more relaxed on Thursday.
  3. People set goals to have finished by Friday so Thursday is good.
  4. My newspaper column is finished and sent to the papers.
  5. I sleep better on Thursday night.

That's all folks...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

What is so great about Today?

I thought it is 7:15 when I awoke this am but it was only 6:15. By the time I had checked the clock, I had already wandered upstairs and decided to boil eggs. Here I could have tried to sleep another hour. As it was I had a backache and decided I needed to take care of it so stayed home.

What do you do when you decide to stay home from work? After a couple hours of trying to take care of the back pain, it finally subsided so I took the laptop upstairs and baked a batch of monster cookies and worked on some exhibit things that were haunting me. It is so easy to work at home, no interruptions, no noise, and total devotion to the job at hand!

At one-thirty I was on my way back to work with cookies in hand for the Roseau HS shop class who have been putting up our exhibit platforms. We used a platform design method from the Wisconsin Historical Society that we were shown at a consortium workshop a couple of years ago. The platforms went together very well, and the shop teacher told me how we could improve them if we make more. It is wonderful to have such a great group of young people to work with. They are polite and conscientious and they are almost done with the project!

When I came home this evening Ardmore was in the field combining. It is such a slow business. I could see where he had gone into an area and had to back out as he almost was stuck. He was only able to take off about 200 bushels of soybeans, but that is 200 more than we had this morning. It is suppose to be warmer tomorrow so he should get some more off.

Today being the middle of the week I decided to put in a favorite childhood poem. When our children were young, like most parents, I derived a great deal of pleasure reading to them.
Because of their short attention spans and the rhyming and rhythm of poetry, it was the first reading material I introduced to them. I also liked to use poems that taught them something besides just reading learning to listen, although one must learn to listen before they can listen to learn.

A.A. Milne was one of our favorite authors so for this Wednesday I choose Vespers.

Vespers

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little golden head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

God bless Mummy. I know that's right.
Wasn't it fun in the bath tonight?
The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot.
Oh! God bless Daddy -I quite forgot.

If I open my fingers a little bit more,
I can see Nanny's dressing-gown on the door,
it's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood.
Oh! God bless Nanny and make her good.

Mine has a hood, and I lie in bed,
And pull the hood right hover my head,
And I shut my eyes, and I curl up small
And nobody knows that I'm there at all.

Oh! thank you, God, for a lovely day.
And what was the other I had to say?
I said "Bless Daddy," so what can it be?
Oh! Now remember. God bless me.

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little golden head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

-from When We Were Very Young


That is my thought for the day!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Frosty morn

This morning was frosty and I had to use the windshield wash on the car. How easy it is to just run the whippers to clear the window. I know the time will come when freezing and shivering, I will be scrapping snow from the windows. I can never figure out why there isn't enough room in three shops to put my car!

Yesterday morning, the blue jays were scouting our back yard. One landed in a spruce tree right outside the kitchen window while I was washing dishes. What a beautiful contrast he made against the evergreen.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Time is running out...

With nine days left until election, everyone should have their mind made up as to who they will vote in as our next president, either John McCain or Barack Obama. I am amazed at the amount of campaign money Obama has raised, over $150 million, the most any presidential candidate has ever raised. My next question, how has he done it and who are the contributors? Election night is going to be very interesting this year. I vote for my party platform, and I am conservative so I am a republican. I have voted across party line though in my district if I feel the man has the needs of our area at the center of his convictions. I am a McCain-Palin supporter.

I have been trying several new techniques to improve my range of motion. One is to do more squats at a counter going deeper each time and moving my feet back farther each time as I bend into the squat. I also stop on each step when going down the stairs and bend down my good foot with my bad foot on the upper step. This pushes the range of motion in my knee a little farther. Icing after doing any type of exercise that really exerts the knee is the best thing I can do after as it helps relieve swelling and pain.

I finally finished reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in life after deaf from a science fiction take. Although it was a long book, over 600 pages, I breezed through it in a week. Meyer is a Brigham Young University graduate and has several young fiction books that are very popular with the youth. I have one of them at home right now and plan to read it eventually. I have several books that I want to read right now but find that time is hard to come by without letting something else slide.

The kids were in from the shop class on Thursday and Friday and did some more work on the platforms. I think they will finish the project this coming week. I am going to contact an art teacher and see if she has some students who would be willing to assist us in paining the platforms, one for a Native American exhibit and the other for an immigration exhibit. Lots to do and think about this next month.

We have sure seen commodities drop in price the past two months. Oils is not in the upper $60 range and grains are tumbling right along with them. It was sure strange to pay only $14 for gas on Friday when I would have paid $35 about two months ago. Feels good though.



Saturday, October 25, 2008

Later

After almost getting stuck five time, Ardmore decided one hopper was enough. The forecast is for showers tonight and tomorrow, then snow showers on Monday. Hopefully they aren't too bad and we can get some more soybeans off.

Back to my walk. My back has been bothering me off and on all week so today I decided to use two canes when I walked. About half way to the bridge I ditched them beside the road and walked about 1/2 a mile. When I got back to where they were, I was glad I had them, my back started to ache as well as my knee. I immediately iced it when I got in the house. I had not taken a pain pill since early morning and then only half of a 350 mg. I should have taken one about a half hour prior to going on my walk.

I am laying in bed looking at my bookcase thinking, it may be mess but it is so convenient. I roll up my shirts and they hardly wrinkle, plus I can see everyone without going through the whole stack. Same with the pants. I also have the books I am reading on the first shelf and the magazines I am reading on the bottom, with a top to decorate. Someone else may think it is a mess, but to me it is an organized mess!

We only have five more weeks and we will be opening a new exhibit. Yikes!

Autumn Days

With soup simmering on the stove and clouds loafing across and otherwise blue sky, I decided to walk to the bridge. As I walked to the car to get something I heard the overhead doors on the shop open. That meant only one thing, Ardmore was going to go out to try the soybeans. I struck out east down our driveway into a fierce wind from the west. I thought it would be warmer but the wind was harsh and cold. By the time I got back to the house it was blowing with more vengeance and was I glad to get inside.

We have been fighting the weather ever since the soybeans ripened. It seems to rain three or four days, with just enough to continue to make it too wet to try. Today looks like it might be fairly decent. The only combines running in our area to this point have been those with 4- wheel drive, tracks, or duals; we have neither.

I remember what it was like in 1985 following a seven inch rain on August 3, Minda Haugen's wedding day. We watched the rain during the reception from the windows in Minda's parents home. The drive home told of the devastating situation we were in. We owned a pull type combine at that time and literally dragged it through the field to harvest timothy grass seed. It seemed to rain every day that fall and we never did get any other crops totally off. Some of the wheat was taken off on the frost, but that didn't last long as we had snow. I remember swathing in a snowmobile suit, no cab on the swather. Ice and snow would build up on the rollers under the canvasses. We couldn't fill the combine but about 1/2 full as the grain would freeze in the auger, and in fact once it did break the auger. It was awful. I would never want to go through something like that again!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Soybean harvest

On Friday, Ardmore decided to try to combine the soybeans. He always asks me to come and get him when he takes a truck out, and it is invariably just before I am leaving for work, which always makes me late. This time was no different only... He took the truck out and drove it into the wet field and with mud flying behind the back wheels, pulled it right back out and took it home. End of trying to harvest. Saturday he asked me to drive the truck across the chisel plowed field to where he was going to try to harvest. I thought it would be better to fill the combine and drive it home and empty it in the yard for the first trip. He only combined about a 100 bushels and decided the call it quits. It is still too wet and it is scheduled to rain again tomorrow! The question is, will we ever get the soybeans off?

We had stake conference in Winnipeg this weekend. We did not go. Ardmore does not like to stay over night and we can't go through the border before 9 unless we go through the Roseau crossing which adds an additional 45 minutes to our trip making it a 3 hour trip. He and I both had meetings on Saturday but I can't take the long trip two days in a row. I think about how it would have been to cross into Canada if 9/11 hadn't happened. We live only about 5 miles from the border. It is a small crossing and the plans were to make it accessible with an id card similar to a credit card. The cameras and the machine were all in place, then September 11 happened and all that changed. Now we need to have id and a birth certificate or a passport. Hours at our crossing have changed from 8am to 10pm to 9am to 5pm. It has made things so much more complicated. Government intervention in the way of making our country safer.

Now a little update on my thr and tkr:
The swimming definitely has helped as had the rocking chair and riding the bike. There is still considerable stiffness and I have problems with range of motion. I like to go on the computer when I am in bed just before I go to sleep. My knee does not cooperate with the bend I want and then it swells and gives me pain off and on all night.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

This has been one of the busiest weeks.

The school class was in Monday and Tuesday, we didn't have school on Thursday or Friday, MEA.
Yesterday was spent tying up loose ends and working on the board meeting info for next week and preparing for today. Today we had three programs. A bag lunch program showing the documentary Riding the Rails it is about the young people who rode the rails during the depression. Well attended and enjoyed. We had the same thing this evening and although the attendance wasn't as good it the noon program, it was still pretty good. They want more documentaries.

I'm over tired now after two nights of tossing and turning, I think I will sleep like a baby!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Yesterday

First day of the week at work:
  1. Get up in the morning and get out of bed (Bus Driver - Guess Who)
  2. Call the school to see if a teacher and his class have time to put together museum exhibit platforms
  3. Ride the bike to limber the limbs
  4. Talk to Toots on way to work
  5. At work now - check email, teacher comes in to check out project
  6. STS bring in the items from the old jail, a bunk and a door from a cell. Heavy but exciting stuff'
  7. School records paper work comes through
  8. Electrician comes in to complete the final job, installs a switch for the storage room in the gallery, wonderful! We will no longer stumble on something when we try to locate the switch on the wall behind the door
  9. Teacher and students arrive and begin the project
  10. Work is done, swimming therapy!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Misty, foggy, and warm...

As you can tell by my heading, that is what we are contending with again! We had about an inch of rain today. Ardmore asked me yesterday if he should take the bean header off the combine and park them both. My answer was no yesterday, today, I'm not so sure that was the proper answer.We will need some very warm weather with wind to be able to get back in the field, but we live in northern Minnesota and it is the middle of October so...

Breanne and Josh celebrated their first wedding anniversary today. Michelle had little Damen. She said she had to take him out of church because of his screaming. He loves to hear his voice so every once in a while, just screams. No crying, just screaming! It was so funny when I was talking to Breanne yesterday, every once in a while Damen would scream. She said it is so loud it pearces her ears.

It seems like Michelle's life is so busy, even on what should be days off. Take yesterday as an example. She had three piano lessons up in Valley Springs, which is about an hour away. Besides being a full-time student she teacher 10 piano lessons each week. Thank goodness she doesn't have any small children under foot.

My knee is so stiff today. I try to flex it but it is just too sore. I did walk about a mile and a half, but no cycling tonight or rocking in the rocking chair. I am swimming about 5 times a week, which seems to help with the stiffness and the range of motion. My goal is to be able to sit in church and put my foot up on the cross-bar at the base of the church chairs. This is going to be an accomplishment. I find that walking down the stairs has been easier this past three days, and doesn't cause me pain behind my knee until the last three stairs in our split entry home when I go to the lower level.

I made some Romagrotte for Ardmore this evening. This is a Norwegian treat that is enjoyed by the people in our area. I make this in the microwave.

Microwave Romagrotte
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1/8 cup sugar
Salt

Place milk and cream in a 1 1/2 quart bowl and heat to scalding, add the sugar and a little salt. Melt the butter and add flour, mix to paste and add to milk/cream mixture and mix well.
Cook on high stiring every minute until like a pudding. Top witha a little butter and sugar-cinammon when you serve it. This was commonly served by the pioneers as it was made for ingredients they had in their homes and it was quick.

That's all Folks!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Hurrah, the newsletter is about done

After spending the past week, off and on, working on the historical society newsletter, today it went off to a board member to do the final editing. Tonight, I found out that something needs to be added so will have to do some more editing tomorrow but it can be printed and sent off on Friday, I hope.

The hot tub at the pool was still not working this morning. The owner ordered a part and said it should be here today. He wouldn't stamp my card today either. I hope the part came as the hot tub really is great for my stiffness and helping me work on my flexibility. I am surprised how much my flexibility has improved though. Before I had to go back and forth on the bike many times before I could finally cycle, now I just go back and forth about three times and over and after about 10 rounds I am going smooth as can be. Not any pain either. I ice for about 20 to 30 minutes following the exercises. Hurrah!

Picked up a new library book today by Richard Russo called Nobody's Fool. It starts out well written so it should hold my interest.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

What to do in the middle of the night...

What a busy day yesterday was, the time went by way too quickly. I had PT at nine and Mickie and I went for coffee afterward, then it was work, work, work. (Well, not quite, Roseau Electric had their customer appreciation lunch, which Mickie and I gobbled down. Delish, hot port sandwiches!) First we had to get the info on our upcoming lunch movie out to the public and then I spent the day working on the newsletter. When my phone alarm announced that I had a 4 o'clock appointment I was shocked. After my massage I spent an hour swimming and headed home to Ardmore. The house was not welcoming, it was dark outside and dark inside, he was fast asleep and it was only 7:30. I think the rain does that to him. He is probably disgusted about the fact that the soybeans are still not ready to be harvested and we have rain AGAIN.

We decided we need to purchase another fan for another grain bin, this is the fifth fan so now all the bins will have fans! Hurrah, no more worries about that, we could use another bin dryer though. I guess $1,800 more is a little more than we should spend until we know the soybeans are off.

I'd like to be positive about things right now, but with the way grain prices are falling, wheat's gone from $7.22 on September 22 down to $6 yesterday, that is a drop of over $18 since January 2008, Canola is at $13 after being $25. I can't fee optimistic about our future farm earnings. All I can say, is thank goodness we don't owe a whole lot of money. Well, maybe with the insurance that we have had to pay this year, that is not totally true, I think we have about an $11,000 crop insurance bill, that will be due soon, along with our other payments. Farming is not for the faint of heart...

Well I better try to get some sleep not, it has evaded me for the past three hours, but at least the pain in my knee has subsided. I had decided to try and sleep in the king size bed with Ardmore, bad move, too hard and my knee became very painful so I moved back to the bed downstairs. TKR must be taken care of or it will not take care of you!

Thought for the day
It is difficulties that show what men are. -- Epictetus

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Thoughts from past and present

This weekend is general conference. I have listened to several of the talks yesterday and today. Several times, I felt the Spirit whisper, listen, this will help with what you are physically enduring. I was reminded to pray more often. There was also a documentary about President Monson today. It was so interesting. I marvel at the caring he has given the elder that he served as a bishop and a stake president. He never forgot one of the elderly widows in his ward at Christmas.

I feel I am finally making progress on my range of motion. I went in again yesterday to work out in the pool. The hot tub was a cold tub thought which was not good, in fact the pool was warmer than the hot tub by several degrees. I hope that it is warmer the next time I go. The hot works wonderfully with the flexibility exercises, but overall exercises are great in the pool. By the time the evening rolls around, I need to massage my legs to get to sleep though. A small price to pay for a good nights sleep.

Michelle told me that she went swimming but that it was so difficult with her sore ankle. I wonder if she is massaging it? I think that would help with the circulation and help it heal faster.

Our neighbors have started combining soybeans; this can cause a mixed emotion in one who is not sure if his crop is ready or not. Ardmore decided to try to combine and after one truck load decided that our crop is not ready. He also decided to transfer one of the electric heaters that go on the bins from a bin with wheat to the bin he is going to put the soybeans in. It is an excellent chance that the wheat is dry in that bin anyway.

It is always a little stressful when we get this late in the season and find we are up against the weather. Looking at the radar, it will rain before morning. I hope it is not much, we have had enough this fall and don't really need any more.

PT with ultra sound again in the am. I think I will do that this week and ask if we can give it a try without it.

I started reading The Host by Stephanie Meyer this past week. She is a BYU graduate and Brian recommended the book. It is a gripping story of how a group of spirits take over the bodies of humans as hosts. Different from anything I have ever read before. I highly recommend it.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Politics & the VP debate

Ardmore and I watched the VP debate tonight, he watched CNN while I was looking at Fox. Both of us are republicans, I don't like the controversy and there isn't much on Fox but CNN is far too Democratic. Ardmore was upset before the debate even began. Palin was finally herself. It was interesting to listen to her talk and to see Biden's reaction. She is a middle class working woman who has traveled in political circles most middle class women don't have the opportunity to even connect with much less travel with. I wonder, how did she got chosen for the VP position? Where were the powers that be during the time the McCain was looking for someone? I don't think we would be in the position of questioning a VP's platform if Romney would have been chosen instead. Somehow, sometime, somewhere, a decision was made that will either break or make the republican 2008 campaign. Was Palin chosen because Hilary was not? I don't think we will ever know. I know I vote for the platform, knowing that the President has to listen to his cabinet and others who know far more than he could possibly know.

This afternoon was Roseau's customer appreciation day with a dinner held in the city center. There was a great crowd. I hope I can get the count.

Two of our children are laid up now. Well Michelle sprained her ankle last week. She is out of the boot now and says it is only painful at night. She attended all of her classes and even taught her students right from the day after she sprained.

James took a tumble on his bike after a 20 mile ride and fractured his collar bone. Tomorrow he sees an orthopedic specialist. I hope it isn't too bad.

Pool therapy went well this am. There were three young people in the pool when I arrived. It was fun to watch the interaction between the two young men and young lady. Therapy went well, I was very stiff in the morning so needed it desperately. I hope this helps with my stiffness and range of motion.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Electric Heat

Well, I gave in and turned on the electric heat this evening. For the past two nights it has been in the low 30s to 40 and when I wake up I can't get back to sleep because it is too cold. I will not have that tonight, by 4 it will be warmer on the floor.

I started pool physical therapy yesterday. I am not sure if my range of motion increase today is from the ultra sound treatments or from the pool workouts but my range had increased and I was able to walk down the city center stairs without pain after my workouts. By the time 3 o'clock rolled around, I needed ice though. it might help if the leg was elevated on my computer, it is on the floor so it can be used for that purpose. I am enjoying the pt at the pool immensely. I probably should have done this sooner. It really is painful when I first do the flexing at first but it is amazing how much it helps.

Yesterday Breanne and I talked on the phone. She said Damen is crawling all over and pulling himself up on everything. He tries to climb upon her lap when she is sitting, by pulling on her pants. I wish I was there to see this.

I've been spending a fair share of time working on the newsletter at work lately. Today my newspaper article took precedence though. Tomorrow the newsletter will take precedence.

Ardmore has finished chisel plowing the fields where the crop is off. We must be lucky as may people can't do their fields as they are too wet. This evening he was picking rocks.

With our government in Washington not making any decisions on bailing out the banks, the stock market and commodity markets have been hit hard. We have seen wheat go down by $3, Canola by $5, and Soybeans by about $4 in the past month. It is harvest time so this isn't so unusual but it would be nice to see it be more stable. I'm not sure what should be done to take care of our financial situation. We live on borrowed money and a bail out of 70 billion is going to be a big chunk, although the economists say that the stock market 700 point drop cost trillions. Something has to be done to level us out. It will be interesting to hear but goes on over night.