Saturday, November 29, 2008

Challenging Week

This is the week to answer a few questions from mmadness.com

  1. What was your biggest challenge this past week? Striving to get exhibits ready for an upcoming exhibit
  2. What was your biggest accomplishment this past week? Seeing things come together!
  3. What was the most exciting thing that happened in your life this past week? Having James call from Taiwan. there is so much craziness in the world right now, India has these terrible terrorist attacks, the stock market is like a roller coaster, up and down as well as the commodity market, hearing his voice and knowing he is having a safe and great time made me feel very good.
  4. What one thing made you the happiest this past week? Having a quiet Thanksgiving and not having to leave home. JUST VEG!

Must go, final things to do at the museum, big day is tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Quality Time with the Hubby

The past three weeks have been more than a little crazy at work. We are trying to get our exhibits ready for this coming Sunday and the grand opening of our Traveling through Time in Minnesota's Historic NW traveling exhibit. We have redone several exhibits in the museum and are only about 1/3 done. I took three posters I designed today up to Polaris for the walls on a Sno-Mo-Cade exhibit. There is so much still to do that I know it isn't going to get done but we definitely have made a running start. But... all this work means late nights at the museum and not a lot of quality time with Ardmore.
Last night the guilt set in and I decided we would have to find some time to spend together so I pulled our our church magazine, the Ensign, and we took turns reading two articles, the First Presidency message was wonderful, then we read one about sharing what we have with those who are struggling. Tonight we did the same thing, read two stories bother were excellent and motivational.
We also listened to a couple periods of the Roseau Girls' High School hockey game, which they won after playing a very challenging game against Bemidji. The game ended with a score of 5-3 in favor of Roseau. Roseau has not lost a game so fare so it was good for them to play a team that worked hard to show they could play hockey too. I am going to have to start going to the girls' games, they are very good and destined to the state tourney's in March. Go Rams Go!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Movies and the weekend

One of my favorite things to do it to watch movies on the weekend. This started when I was about five when my mother took me to my first movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We lived ten miles out of Eveleth Minnesota in a location called Leonidas, so at that time we rode the train into Eveleth to see movies.That was when families didn't own two cars. We went often but I think my favorite at that time was Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 movie The Greatest Show On Earth starring Betty Hutton, Cornell Wilde, Charlton Heston, and Dorothy Lamour and perhaps, the greatest clown ever to grace the big top, Emmett Kelly. The story was like magic to a young girl of eight. The trapeze acts were outstanding and, of course, there was the love story. That was the beginning of a life long enjoyment. Now I order movies through Netflix, which is great as I don't always have time to watch them from beginning to end at one time. It is also a great past time when I am exercising the tkr on the stationary bike.
This weekend I watched two movies, Amazing Grace is about the life of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce. It takes place in the late 1700s. This morning I finished watching Two Weeks, about the death of a mother with cancer and how the children handle the last two weeks of her live. this one stars Sally Fields and made a person think about how they would want their children to handle their death if they were placed in the same circumstances.
Other than that the weekend was spend working. Saturday I went to the museum and worked on the installation of the carpentry exhibit. There is sure a lot to do this coming week! I am going to leave it right there.

Monday, November 17, 2008

On a light note

Today was a day to accomplish many little things such as go to the bank, complete a couple of exhibit signs, and enjoyed a Cenex cream cheese topped cinnamon roll during coffee break. If you have not had one of these, you must try one. They truly are yummy!
The exhibit painting has come a long way and tomorrow the floor will be painted on one and we can put the exhibit together. I need to locate a piece of old green or gray canvas to make into a tent for the American Indian exhibit. I will be happy to see that one painted too. I need to get the Sno-Mo-Cade photos enlarged for the background and also paint the exhibit walls. I made arrangements to have a classic car cleaned at Ford today. It will be on exhibit over the winter. I wonder where it was purchased, maybe locally?
James flew to Taiwan early this morning to visit a young woman he has been conversing with on the Internet. I always find this to be interesting. Ardmore and I were in each other's company for months before we developed enough love to marry, now days with email and Internet visits via camera, relationships develop in a whole new way and often lead to marriage. Some marriages work, others don't. I hope that whatever relationship he develops, it will be good.
Busy day again tomorrow, time for shut eye.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Weekend View

Yesterday we started out going to Bismarck but the roads were so icy that we decided we would go home and try again in December. We had really looked forward to going to the temple and felt quite put out about the icy roads. Perhaps if we would have driven on the conditions would have improved but it was misting and the temp was at 28, not good for driving.
In the end, it was probably for the best. I had been very stiff and after the 6 hour ride who knows what my condition would have been. Last evening I went for a walk to our neighbors. They don't come north very often (live in Mound, MN) and I hadn't been there in about two years. We had a very enjoyable visit and Vivian was pleased to have the company. It was dark by the time I was going to head home, so called Ardmore to come and get me. Went for another long walk today, used two canes. Some times I do that, especially when I have had some back pain like I did this morning.
Breanne sent the cutest photo of Josh and Damen. I am going to put it right here. Isn't Damen's smile adorable?

Friday, November 14, 2008

Museum Musings among other things

Each day seems to see us progress a little more. Yesterday we had our two faithful Thursday volunteers in. I call them the "Sister Chicks." They work so well together and are the delight of my Thursday. I decided it was time to treat our staff, Marie, and the Sister Chicks to pizza so ordered two pizzas from Pizza Ranch. I love that they deliver, it is so convenient! One of these wonderful volunteers remarked later about how much fun it was, and it was fun.
It was so busy that I forgot to send in my article to the newspaper. Sometimes I need a list that pops up and reminds me of what needs to be done every five minutes. Who would ever think working in a museum could be that busy, but it is.
Our registration room has four tables with items from exhibits that need to be put away, given back to the owner, or cataloged. That, of course, does not include the items that are on the ongoing list of "things to be cataloged". It is so nice to have volunteers do the regular things that need doing such as the membership mailings. Membership reminders are sent out monthly and come back throughout the month. We send need thank you notes and membership renewal cards. Kudos to those wonderful volunteers. If you volunteer for us or any museum for that matter, kudos and thank you!
I worry about our young couples today. My granddaughter's husband works as a superintendent for a home construction company in California. They have laid off individuals two times in the past year and he has been transferred to other home construction sites. I feel relieved every time this happens, but also wonder about the life of the person who lost their job. Will the recession deepen? I hope not, but when I hear that another 36,000 individuals lost their jobs , I think there is a reason to worry.
I have tried to encourage our granddaughters to look into a position in the medical field. Neither of them finds this to be very interesting but I feel that if they were to try it they might be surprised. We have an aging population and medical care is one of the fields that is solid.
A little about my tkr now. For the past three days I have decided not to ice after doing any exercises. I have not noticed any additional swelling or pain and discomfort than what I had before. I also noticed that I don't have as much pain coming down the stairs anymore, in fact, today I was even able to carry a cup of milk downstairs without spilling any, a major feat! Usually I would put my cup on the stairs so I could use both hands to go down, now I only needed to use the railing. Success comes in small degrees. I do find that rocking in the rocking chair and then riding the stationary bike is my salvation for less pain and more range of motion.
A friend blogger with tkr, Marie, is at 8 month mark from her surgery. She records her struggles with her range of motion and stiffness. It seems we women suffer more with stiffness than the men do. Perhaps it has to do with our hormonal structure. Whatever it is, it seems that exercise is the key and that it takes about a year or so to fully recover.
Today we are on our way to Bismarck, ND on a temple trip. I wonder how I will be after driving 6 hours?
Fall is such a great time to get good tasty apples. My favorite is the Honey Crisp. Lately I have had an apple a day and use the following dip:
3 tbsp caramel
3 tbsp dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp of crushed toffee (Heath crumbles in the chocolate chip section)
Warm the caramel for 30 seconds, stir in the chocolate chips until smooth and add the toffee, dip in an apple slice and enjoy!
Thought for the Day
If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
Abigail Adams
I admire Abigail, during the many absences of her husband, John Adams when he was working with the Continental Congress or as a diplomat in Europe, Abigail managed the farm and family finances. She expected the new nation to "remember the ladies", and look where we are today!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Volunteers

It is amazing what a volunteer can do in just a few hours! Yesterday, one of our volunteers arrived at about 10 and worked until 1. She removed labels and took off the adhesives on the backs so they could be reused. She cleared out exhibit items and cleaned out the cases. Volunteers are such an essential part of the museum. At this time, we have several volunteers working on an upcoming exhibit for Women's History Month in March 2009. It will be the first time we honor women in our county and I can see a real value in their service. Yesterday several educators were compiling the names of former rural school teachers. It was gratifying to see how they are so dedicated and organized. It reminds me of how much could actually be accomplished if we had two volunteer every day of the week for several hours. We could do so much more. One of the areas we need volunteers for at the present time is for designing programs for both school and off-site. There is so much more we can do for our county residents, schools, and organizations. I wish I had someone who could put together PowerPoint programs from our photographs and artifacts that could be used for programs off-site and in the museum.

Today we will have preschoolers come for a tour. They will be shown the dairy info and a short video about we get milk. The internet is a wonderful place to find information like this and we can do so much with it.

We worked on the exhibits yesterday. Britt painted while I designed posters. We have such a short period of time to finish the exhibits it is overwhelming, but I have faith we will get them done.

Time to rest again...




Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veteran's Day

I always think of my dad when Memorial or Veteran's Days roll around. My dad served during WWII and although he never spoke very much about his service time, the few times he did, left an impression. One of the times he would talk about was when he was in France on the front lines. One dark night, they were in their fox holes waiting out the night when one of the soldiers behind him lit a cigarette. This was like a flare going off for the enemy and suddenly they were under fire. My dad told of how he lost some of his best buddies that night. All because one person decided he had to have that crazy cigarette! Often in our lives, it is the things that we do without thinking of the consequences or outcome that are our downfall. That circumstance was one of those times.
Our prayers must be for the leaders of our young men and women who are serving in areas of dispute now, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. I was listening to a former military Lieutenant on CSPAN tell of his time serving in Iraq. He spoke of how they were unsure of how to handle Iraq following the initial attack and what looked like an immediate win and how it has taken years to get to the situation where we can actually now see some progress. I feel that we are progressing only because they are hoping to have us leave their country. Now that Obama is in what will the result be? How long will be remain and what will the end result really be like.
Shopping
Today I went to Grand Forks to look for a winter coat. I wanted a coat that would be long enough so that if I wanted to walk when it was 10 - 20 below F I wouldn't feeze too much. I found a down coat at Eddie Bauer. That of course, didn't end the shopping day. I went to Target and Bath and Body and stocked up on toiletries. Picked up some winter gloves and a head cover that will keep me warm during the walks I plan to take. Then I headed for the Jelly Belly section and stocked up on about 15 different flavors. Ardmore and I are going to the temple in Bismarck this week so I thought it would be fun to have a treat for the road.
Tomorrow
Busy day at the museum again tomorrow. The art class is coming in to check the painting job I hope they will do. We also need to paint a couple of the other display areas and get the bunk stained. We have taken several of the exhibits apart so now need to get them together again. I called a noted military artifact collector in hopes he would exhibit some of his wonderful collection. He has collected WWII items for many years and has a fine collection. We don't have long to get our act together so we best get hopping!
Total Hip and Knee Replacement
I was thinking of the many things that have improved since I have had the two surgeries 9 and 4 months ago.
1. It is much easier to climb in and out of the car.
2. My back pain is not as bad as it was, although now I seem to have more pain on the opposite side.
3. My stamina is improving daily.
4. I can sleep without the awful pain I had before the hip surgery.
5. The trip to Grand Forks went well. I was able to walk for about two and a half hours back and forth across the mall, many times as I went to at least 10 stores for one reason or another. Super Target, I decided, was too much for my knee to handle as I didn't know where things were and knew I would give up before I got everything I needed.
6. Driving long distances don't bother me as much as they did before, Bismarck will be a real trial run though.
7. Exercising gets easier each day.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Repair Time

Winter is repair time on most farms and ours is no different. On Friday, Ardmore took off one of the drill's press wheel tires and spend most of yesterday afternoon and evening working on putting back on. He is still not done. In order to do this job, he had to remove the gang from the drill and go from there. This is a difficult job for one person to do alone. He should be done tomorrow though.
We escaped the snow that so many received this past week. It was reported that Dead Wood South Dakota had 44 inches of snow. I saw on weather underground that Rapid City had 7.29 inches of precipitation. That would be equal to a lot of snow! And here we are in northern Minnesota with the green grass still open. There will be no snowmobiles running here for some time.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Woke up to the sound of wind and rain again. Yesterday it rained off and on all day today will be more of the same. With the wet weather, we had STS in yesterday helping us rearrange the exhibit cases for our new exhibits. I think it looks very nice and I think the platforms are a great asset. The last of the wall panels was put on yesterday and now the class is going to cut paneling for the bases of the exhibits. It is going to look very nice. We have an art class coming in next week to check out the American Indian exhibit background and see what they can do with it to make it look like a photo we have. We have lots of work to do prior to getting the exhibits completed, but yesterday we came a long way.
My knee has been very stiff and sore since yesterday. Perhaps a bit of weather relationship. I also seem to be having some problems with the groin and hip area, it felt like my leg was going to give out last night. This is all puzzling.
As my friends know, I follow several blogs, one of these is a blog called The Daily Bitch which is writing by a mom with twins, one of whom is disabled. She recommended a great mom's website called Advice for Moms which always seems to have great ideas for family life. So my young friends if you are looking to good advice, this is the place to find it!
Thought for the Day
I will teach you the good and the right way. 1 Samuel 12:23

New U.S. President

After receiving 52% of the votes and 378 electoral votes, Barack Obama, is our new president and his wife, Michelle is first lady. We will also have little children running the halls of the White House, once again. This is the first African American to be elected as president and definitely a historic moment.
I will express my frustration at seeing McCain loss but I also had some trepidation about his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. From the first time I listened to her speak, I became worried about his judgment. With Hilary Clinton no longer on a ticket, did he think we must have a woman (any woman) and that would get him elected as president? I have nothing against Palin except her lack of world politics and leadership. If McCain wanted a woman, perhaps he should have looked for one that was a US Senator or Representative. As it is the republicans are out the door of the White House for at least 4 perhaps 8 years. AS things have transpired in this election, she has done several things that have caused me to wonder. One of these is her acceptance of a phone call with a Canadian comedian. I do take offense that when the press got wind of this they complained that McCain should have had more control over this incident, then compared it to Obama having received a call like that. Why wasn't she compared to Biden, after all she was not the presidential candidate.
We also now have legislature that is DFL affiliated. There is no balance of power which means the republicans will have to learn real fast how to reach across the aisle and shake hands if they want any of their policies passed. Perhaps this is all for the best... Maybe, just maybe some work can be accomplished. We will see.
I do not believe that Obama will get all the "changes" he wants, we live in a realistic world, not an idealistic world. Money is always a factor and right now money is a great factor. Congress must figure out a way to balance the budget and it can't be done without raising taxes. Like my husband said the other day, we paid more taxes under the Clinton administration than we ever had. To expound on that, where did the tax funds go during his years? We had a cut back in military spending, which put us in a precarious position as a nation, thus 9/11. Enough said. I will support our president and our government, because it is necessary and the best thing to do. United we stand, divided we fall...or is it fail??

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

D-Day for McCain and Obama

Today is the day many of us have been waiting for, either with a relief that we won't have any more political campaigning taking up the air waves or with the relief that they can finally cast their ballot for their favorite candidate.


Our township decided to vote by mail so we received our ballot about a month ago and have already voted. It was quick and easy and in the mail box before we knew it. Several states have allowed for advanced voting and lines were long yesterday. I am curious as to whether everyone will have the opportunity to vote this time. If the lines are as long as they appear to be, we will have some unhappy people. Then again, once the tally is done, people will either be happy or unhappy with whoever wins.


One of the advantages of living in the US is this wonderful right to a vote your conscience and not have anyone force you. We will have some voting irregularities but that is just a part of voting in any election. Since the 2002 election, the US has tried to implement practices that will eliminate voter fraud but this will still continue to be a part of any election.


I spend a lot of time rocking in a rocking chair prior to going on the exercise bike. This warms my knee and increases the range of motion. I haven't had much time to go swimming lately, we have been harvesting our soybeans. I miss swimming and will be starting again in a couple of days.


We finally had nice enough weather to do that. It is very wet in our fields and we had to leave about 3-4 acres as we can't go there. Ardmore decided to put a load of soybeans on the truck yesterday while it was in the field. He has been doing this. i had parked it a little farther from the road and he ended up with it sinking and had to get the tractor to pull it our. That was the first and only time we have been totally stuck this year. We are done combining for the year! Hooray! Couldn't be soon enough either, it is suppose to start raining again tomorrow and then snowing. We had one of the warmest days since 1903 yesterday, it was 70 in Roseau. Today is suppose to be nice also then the cold is suppose to arrive. We will be in the teens in the morning by Saturday. Brrr!