No snow yet!

Around Halloween we are usually seeing snow flurries and snow on the ground by deer hunting season. I remember one year when I had taken our children trick or treating and there was enough snow where when our daughter dropped something, we couldn't find it! That was certainly not the case this year, we have yet to see snow of any degree in Roseau County.

It has been a very busy month. The museum has gained several employees through a federal program and a grant to another organization which has been very beneficial. I try to keep ice cream and cookies on the break table to keep them happy! It is pleasing to see how well these women from different backgrounds work together. We have people entering information on artifacts that we couldn't get to during the flood, helping with databases for the Women in Military 2010 program, doing research, filing, and scanning our photos for the collection program. Someone asked me if we had work for these individuals. Work? We have work for several more, so if you would like to volunteer, step to the plate!

Our granddaughter, Breanne and hubby are expecting their second child. This will give us two great-grandchildren. It is so busy at the museum, I worry that I won't be able to get out to see them when the baby is born. I had hoped to be able to go and spend a week helping her, we'll see. Little Damen is becoming more of a little boy than a baby, his grandmother Michelle says. She took take of him about a month ago and send some photos.


Brian spent a week in Korea and Japan recently. I was very excited for him. It was work related but he still was able to find some time to see some sites. Ardmore was in Korea during the fifties, when he served in the military. He has a hard time believing the changes that have taken place in Seoul since those days.

Time to enter five things I am grateful for:
1. No snow and ice yet!
2. My iPod. I love iTunes and download several podcasts to listen to when I go to bed. I especially enjoy the CBC radio program "Between the Covers" where a chapter from a book is told for 15 minutes each night. I just listened to a science fiction book, "Roll Over." I also enjoy Stewart Mclean's Vinyl Cafe weekly program. I use my iPod when I go for walks, it is great to encourage a quicker pace when listening to some of the old 60s and 70s music.A
3. A lamp that I purchased at an auction. It has my favorite bird, the humming bird, on it.
4. Good friends, I will especially miss my lunch partner, Mickie Slater who is retiring from her job as Roseau City Clerk this month.
5. My car, actually the ability to go anywhere I desire, simply by sitting behind a steering wheel and turning on the ignition switch and driving down the road.

Snow and Weddings

October reminds us that fall is nearly over here in northern Minnesota, winter is just around the corner. Do you think that perhaps the corner may be too close? After the past summer of cooler than normal weather, we had a delightful September and a later than usual frost. When October arrived, it was a bit colder but it didn't bring frost again until almost the second week. Then the cold arrived with late fall vengeance.

Last Thursday, there was a legacy grant workshop in Shevlin, Minnesota. For those who don't know where Shevlin is, it is about 15 miles west of Bemidji on Highway 2. Thirty-six individuals came to learn how to write Legacy grants. Several grant application writers from MHS (Minnesota Historical Society) arrived presented a workshop and assisted in the grant writing. I am sure they must be weary of assisting with the grants; there has been so many workshops all over the state already.

Joan Hull, a staff member, and I headed down about 8:30 to what looked like a fairly decent day. We spent the day working on a grant and listening to other people present their ideas and work on their grants. It was a day well spent and our Northwest Minnesota consortium of friends made the day even more enjoyable.

Our drive home was more eventful. The trees were beautiful in their fall attire.

We also saw about a 100+ swans on a pond coming back from Gully. Then it got ugly. The clouds rolled in with some sleet, then snow scowls. Not fun at times and a good reminder of things to come.

On Saturday am, we woke up to a winter cover of fresh snow. I even had to sweep the car off when I drove to Roseau to do some shopping. There was a coat of about one and half inches all over it. First real snow of the season, and it disappeared by noon!

We had an enjoyable Saturday evening at the wedding of a neighbor's daughter. One of my friends from International Falls, a great-aunt to the bride, was there. We had not seen each other in years so it was fun to catch up on what has been going on each others lives. The wedding was a very festive occasion! The bride and groom were a delight to watch as they celebrated the first day of their life together.


Ardmore enjoyed chatting with several neighbors and school chums. It was fun to listen to Ardmore and the Lee boys discuss their youthful escapades. One never knows what their spouse was really like until you listen to them visit with their childhood friends. Having not grown up in this area, they had even more meaning to me. I lived in town almost all of my life, he lived in the country, quite a contrast.

We waited and waited for a slow dance on Saturday evening but didn't get to dance while we were there. I was presenting a lesson in Relief Society at church on Sunday and decided I needed to check over everything one more time so we went home at 9:30. Aren't we the dead beats? We had a very enjoyable evening while we were there and that is what counts.

First Frost

This morning, we woke up to a sparkling white yard, yup, the first frost hit the area. I was up early, heading to a workshop in Thief River. When the sun came up it cast the most heavenly golden glow over the yard and on the wall in the bedroom.It was delightful to see we were going to have a beautiful sunny day. The drive was gorgeous!

The workshop, for history teachers, was on doing oral history interviews. This was the first time our historical societies were given the opportunity to attend this type of workshop and it was very good. We worked a little with a local teachers who has had students do military interviews in the past and is planning on doing Korean and Vietnam vet oral history interviews this year. He always makes sure the historical society receives copies for the archives so future generations can benefit. I am hopeful he will do more interviews in the future and we will be able to partner on equipment through the Legacy grant funding. It is so exciting to know this funding will be available for the next 25 years. Thank you people of Minnesota. You have always made good choices and you made another one in the voting booth last year.

Did I say we are going to be great-grandparents again? No? Well we are. I am very excited. Breanne is due in about 4 1/2 months. Damen will have a little sister or brother! Life is so good.

Shelving Installation and Exhibits

The last two weeks were a whirl wind of activity.We started putting the shelving together two weeks ago and are finally finished. As usual there is always changes. We decided to put a shelf in the work room too. The room looks so much roomier and neat with the extra boxes set on the shelf and used foam core posters laying neatly in a pile instead of on a way too small top shelf where they looked ready to fall off at any moment. The floor in the storage room is almost clear of any items that were placed in random places; now they line the new shelving, are accessible, neater, and most of all neater. The shelving for the snowmobiles is ready, all that is needed is to cut the 5"x6" boards and place the platforms with the snowmobiles on the shelves. We will need an electric forklift to take care of that.

we will begin in earnest looking at designing the upcoming exhibits. First will be the hockey exhibit. I have contacted several former hockey players requesting articles for the exhibit. Some items have been donated, others loaned. It will make for a great story. I hope to have some oral histories for our SMART board presentations. The SMART board should arrive in about a week and we will then have to install it on the wall next to my office. The dedicated laptop will be placed in the room directly behind that wall and with wireless accessibility. I am planning to request a new video camera and software so we can place the interviews on the SMART board.

We ordered the some boards to put up signage for the upcoming Smithsonian Museum on Main Street Between Fences exhibit. 1"x6" boards will be painted white and cut into pickets, which will be used sold to provided funding for our exhibit and programs. This week's newspaper article also mentions the need to land owners across the county to bring a peanut butter jar of dirt from their land into the museum so we can show a cross section of the type of dirt our county has.

The One Woman and Women in Military programs are devloping nicely for the upcoming March Women in History exhibits. I am very excited about what we will be doing in that area.

Summer, finally?

For about the past two weeks off and on we have had absolutely delightful weather. Last Thursday, I took the day off, knowing that this hot weather is not going to hold for much longer. A friend had invited me up to her cabin on Lake of the Woods; I am so glad I went. The day was hot and sunny. She picked me up with their boat and we headed between the beautiful, wooded Northwest Angle islands to their cabin at the point of a peninsula. What a treat!

After a delicious lunch we hopped onto the boat to visit an artist friend of hers and visited the hours away until almost 5:30. We quickly donned our swim suits and dove into the icy dark lake. It was so cold enough at first to take your breath away but in no time, we adjusted and enjoyed swimming.

It reminded me of the many hours I spent at Lake Vermilion with my parents and brother. My mother often would pack a fabulous lunch of fried chicken (she was a fantastic cook), potato salad, apple pie, and our favorite deviled eggs with paprika. My dad would rent a boat and off he, my mom and brother would go while would stay and play with a friend whose parents owned the resort we always went to. I can see feel the fat blood suckers that were infamous where we would go swimming. It wouldn't keep us out of the water on a hot day though; blood suckers or snapping turtles, it was just too hot to not take a dip!

Back to the Angle, about seven it started to cloud over and as we sat on their back patio we could see the lightening pulse across the sky in the south. All too soon, the day came to an end and I drove back home, through the white pines, the coniferous and deciduous trees with the deer making their presence know way too often.

Life on the farm is never dull. Yesterday, Ardmore began combining the wheat. It seems to be running ok, he said. He was not without problems though. Driving the combine home in the dark became a challenge when the water pump blew up and started spraying antifreeze. He spend today removing the pump, taking it in to be repaired, and installed it this evening. Hopefully we don't get the rain from the clouds that seem to be coming this way.

Work at the museum is moving right along. We have had Sentence to Service in the past several days installing shelving in the storage room. It is amazing to see so many things come off the floor and get installed on shelves. There will always be a few things that will have to remain on the floor, but for the most part, we will look immensely organized.

I tried to show our photos from Hanley Falls at the RCHS board meeting last night but they I couldn't get on the Internet to do it. We are not on Facebook with several photos from our trip posted on FB.

I think I will add a couple of photos from my trip to LA and Bakersfield. These are from the Huntington Library and Gardens.

Hanley Falls, Minnesota and the Installation of Between Fences

Now that the hectic, overloaded time we spent at Hanley Falls is over, I am trying to get some of the work I have here at home caught up. I arrived home at 11 pm, too tired to even bring in the suitcase.
The first of Ardmore's first cousins passed away on August 29. Jalmer Haugen's funeral was Friday afternoon. It would be family time for Ardmore's siblings. Bergliotte arrived the day before and morning I decided to have breakfast with her at the Roseau Diner. She pulled the photos of her grandchildren out of her purse to share. The photo of the Bridget's girls and Mary Beth's Corbin showed how they were aging. Mary Beth's little girl is adorable. I'm sure Mary Beth has enjoyed being home during the summer, one of the advantages of teaching. Following a breakfast of easy-over eggs and dark toast, we headed to the Roseau City Center for a tour. It will probably be the last time she will get to see the museum the way it is exhibited now. She was surprised at the collection and amazed at all that was in the storage area. The afternoon was spent at Helgeson's funeral chapel and the Badger Pioneer Cemetery visiting with relatives and friends; some we hadn't seen in many years and Ardmore didn't even recognized them. Adding onto the already busy day was supper for the missionaries.It is such a relief to be able to pull our some already cooked hamburger and mix it with a can of diced tomatoes and Prego for spaghetti. We ended the day visiting with Bergliotte, who headed back to the motel around 10.

Saturday I mowed our 4 inches tall lawn. It was a lovely day to be outside so I totally enjoyed being on the mower. There was also unpacking to do and washing to take care of. I tried to squeeze in some study time for my class but that wasn't as much as I would have liked, I was too tired and ended up napping.

About Hanley Falls...The Between Fences MOMS Smithsonian Exhibit installation, docent and interpretive workshops were informative and intense. As usually, it was a good thing we put it together as a group, there is always a few glitches, such as, installing a panel backwards, placing the wrong connectors in a panel, not having things lined up so the screws won't go into the panels or kiosk.


By the time the exhibit was installed on Wednesday we were ready for a break and some supper! We all spent some checking out the Hanley Falls exhibits. For a very small town they do a very good job. The museum has a very active board, most of them were in attendance at the installation. Britt and I were impressed with all the cataloging they had done. Each artifact was labeled with a small tag that told who the donors were, the number and the artifact object name. We know how much time it takes to accomplish such a task.

One of the interesting complementary exhibits was a fence with a tractor seat attached, to represent "fence sitters". We all know how fence sitters add to the workload of others. Do you know any examples of fence sitters in your life? Share them if you do in the comment section.