I have been keeping a daily tally of the price of various commodities since September. As a farmer, I want to understand the daily fluctuations in wheat, soybeans, and canola so we can sell at the proper time. I also keep track of the cost of light crude per barrel. This has helped save several thousand dollars as the price has been such a yo yo. Right now I am disgusted with the powers that be that set the pump price. The lowest price for gas in Roseau was at the end of December,$1.70 a gallon, the price of a barrel of light crude was $39.03. Right now we are paying $1.95 and oil is only $41.68. Who is controlling the prices? Who is running off with my money?! Enough said, what do you think?
The last couple of days have seen some drastic changes at the museum. STS was in on Thursday and spent the day rearranging exhibit platforms for the upcoming education committee exhibits. Britt painted a wall in the ag exhibit so it will coordinate with the school by painting a door and a window. She is pretty talented with a paint brush! Then Helen spent three days painting the background and floor on the American Indian exhibit. It is very cool!
I stayed late on Thursday when the education committee came in and then went in to work late yesterday as I was going out to dinner with some friends in the evening and worked until that time. Every time I went into the work room I would cringe at the mess on the counter. We had stacks of photos from Key Ingredients and the 150 project. I tackled that job and packed them away, perhaps they can be used in another project sometime. No sense throwing them away, they aren't archival, and are on foam core so will last for a long time. Several shelves needed cleaning, paint is now put back on the shelves and the place looks a little neater. Now it needs a good vacuuming, but that will have to take place next week. The storage area also needs to be vacuumed too. We have had so many projects lately that we need to get them put away and clean up the messes.
STS completed stabilizing the clothing racks and put a shelve in the back for the military hats. Now we need to find a group of ladies to make some covers for the clothing racks so the clothes will be protected from dust. Whoever believes that working in a museum is boring, needs to volunteer, they would sure have an eye opening experience. But such satisfaction!
After reading about The Shack from a friend's blog, I decided to read it. Finished it on Wednesday. So much to contemplate after reading it. I highly recommend it. Now I am reading Twilight. My granddaughter, Leah, just finished it and said it was so good. I have heard nothing but good comments about it. It is written by Stephanie Meyer, the same author who wrote The Host. I read that a couple of months ago and enjoyed that so know this must be good to. Well if I am going to get to read it, it is time to stop writing and go read!
Life on the Haugen Farm
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Education Committee
Last night the Women in History education committee met. They are such an enthusiastic group of women, I love working with them. They are so committed to this project, it gives me such satisfaction knowing they are in charge of the upcoming exhibit.
Yesterday we removed a couple of panels from the agriculture exhibit. We will be painting them to match the rest of the walls in the exhibit. The one thing that concerns me is the fact that they are Masonite and the rest of the walls are plywood which shows the wood grain, where the Masonite doesn't. My assistant thinks that she can paint it so it will match though. She is pretty talented so I need to have faith that she is right.
At this time, I am working on two grants. One is about ready to be submitted on line now. It is nice when they are almost identical as one can use some of the same wording in several grants as well as the financial work. It is just a matter of changing some of the areas of the project to meet the new project.
Lately my hip has been a little painful in the morning. Perhaps I am laying on it wrong. It gives me no other troubles though.
Beautiful but cold (-17F) day, the sun is giving that early morning salmon color to the walls in my bedroom. It is always a pleasure to dress under that condition. Time to exercise!
Yesterday we removed a couple of panels from the agriculture exhibit. We will be painting them to match the rest of the walls in the exhibit. The one thing that concerns me is the fact that they are Masonite and the rest of the walls are plywood which shows the wood grain, where the Masonite doesn't. My assistant thinks that she can paint it so it will match though. She is pretty talented so I need to have faith that she is right.
At this time, I am working on two grants. One is about ready to be submitted on line now. It is nice when they are almost identical as one can use some of the same wording in several grants as well as the financial work. It is just a matter of changing some of the areas of the project to meet the new project.
Lately my hip has been a little painful in the morning. Perhaps I am laying on it wrong. It gives me no other troubles though.
Beautiful but cold (-17F) day, the sun is giving that early morning salmon color to the walls in my bedroom. It is always a pleasure to dress under that condition. Time to exercise!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
How is the hip and knee?
Perhaps it is time to put some perspective into having hip (THR) and knee (TKR) replacement for those who are contemplating it or are recovering from both or either surgeries.
It has been ten months since I had thr on my right hip. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my hip at an 8 1/2. It is the best thing I have done for myself in many years. I had suffered with terrible back pain for quite a while and had almost given up on being able to have relief when I had an MRI that gave a diagnosis of severe hip degeneration. Once my hip was replaced, my back pain disappeared! I also didn't realize how out of shape I was. PT was a struggle but it taught me that I needed to get into better physical shape. I began exercising and walking and then decided it was time to have my knee replaced. By the time I had my knee surgery, I was walking about 2 miles and my knee wasn't as bad as it had been even though I knew it needed replacing. I think if I would have known there was going to be so much pain during the recovery and that it was going to take so long, I would not have done the tkr. Would that have been good or bad? I don't know and won't ever know. As it is right now, I can say, it is definitely improving now. my range of motion is still not what I would be happy with but I find I can climb up and down stairs fairly easily, especially after riding the stationary bike. The key to recovery from tkr is riding a stationary bike and rocking in a wooden rocking chair or glider. Bending the foot back as far as can be handled and holding there for as long as possible also increases range of motion. I enjoy walking but lately our weather is just not allowing for that outside, today we had -5F and 15 mile winds bringing the windchill to -29F. Definitely not walking weather. I have gone to Lake Therapy two times this past week and ride the bike daily or at least 5 times a week. Winter is not a good time to have tkr or thr as far as I am concerned. One is too concerned about falling, I have gotten past that point now, and the chances of it happening are greater due to the lack of balance and strength in the leg that you had the surgery in. For my knee, I requested PT for six weeks prior to surgery so I would have an easier recovery. I needed that, the recovery has been difficult. Enough about tkr and thr.
We were able to make some real progress on Friday. STS came in around 1 and spent the rest of the day working. We ran into some road blocks when we called for Masonite, it won't be in until the middle of next week. STS removed several items from exhibits and helped with other things that needed to be done.
Today, I dedicated myself to Primary and designed the calendar and the opening exercise handouts. With that done, I can now focus on work again.I started writing two grants so will try to complete them next.
For pleasure, I am reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. It is a poignant story about the death of child and a grieving father's recovery. Even though it is fiction, it reminds one that life it not fair and we live on earth.
I can tell it is cold tonight, the window above my head is cooler than normal. I guess that means it is time to curl under and warm up and sleep.
It has been ten months since I had thr on my right hip. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my hip at an 8 1/2. It is the best thing I have done for myself in many years. I had suffered with terrible back pain for quite a while and had almost given up on being able to have relief when I had an MRI that gave a diagnosis of severe hip degeneration. Once my hip was replaced, my back pain disappeared! I also didn't realize how out of shape I was. PT was a struggle but it taught me that I needed to get into better physical shape. I began exercising and walking and then decided it was time to have my knee replaced. By the time I had my knee surgery, I was walking about 2 miles and my knee wasn't as bad as it had been even though I knew it needed replacing. I think if I would have known there was going to be so much pain during the recovery and that it was going to take so long, I would not have done the tkr. Would that have been good or bad? I don't know and won't ever know. As it is right now, I can say, it is definitely improving now. my range of motion is still not what I would be happy with but I find I can climb up and down stairs fairly easily, especially after riding the stationary bike. The key to recovery from tkr is riding a stationary bike and rocking in a wooden rocking chair or glider. Bending the foot back as far as can be handled and holding there for as long as possible also increases range of motion. I enjoy walking but lately our weather is just not allowing for that outside, today we had -5F and 15 mile winds bringing the windchill to -29F. Definitely not walking weather. I have gone to Lake Therapy two times this past week and ride the bike daily or at least 5 times a week. Winter is not a good time to have tkr or thr as far as I am concerned. One is too concerned about falling, I have gotten past that point now, and the chances of it happening are greater due to the lack of balance and strength in the leg that you had the surgery in. For my knee, I requested PT for six weeks prior to surgery so I would have an easier recovery. I needed that, the recovery has been difficult. Enough about tkr and thr.
We were able to make some real progress on Friday. STS came in around 1 and spent the rest of the day working. We ran into some road blocks when we called for Masonite, it won't be in until the middle of next week. STS removed several items from exhibits and helped with other things that needed to be done.
Today, I dedicated myself to Primary and designed the calendar and the opening exercise handouts. With that done, I can now focus on work again.I started writing two grants so will try to complete them next.
For pleasure, I am reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. It is a poignant story about the death of child and a grieving father's recovery. Even though it is fiction, it reminds one that life it not fair and we live on earth.
I can tell it is cold tonight, the window above my head is cooler than normal. I guess that means it is time to curl under and warm up and sleep.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Social Security
Life has a way of creeping up on one and before you know it another milestone in life has arrived. Thus was the case yesterday when I received my call to sign up for social security. Yes, I will be 65 next month on the 27th. No, I am not going to quit work, that would mean boredom. I have a problem with days off as it is. I will cut back to 4 days a week starting in February though. Now I need to sign up for Medicare.
Ardmore had a problem with some bleeding the other day but it was determined to not be serious. He has been trying to figure out what caused it and now thinks it was his nose. He wakes up in the middle of the night and watches tv in the dark. He thinks that while sitting at the table he had a nose bleed and didn't realize it because of the dark. He says he has had that problem since he had some polyps removed about 2 months ago. I thought they sealed the polyps and that would take care of any bleeding, apparently not.
We have several projects at the museum for Sentence to Serve to do today. I hope they can spend the whole day. I think I will go in early so that I am there if they come in. Perhaps I can then leave a little earlier and work out at LifeCare.
One Wednesday, we took down the Minnesota's Historic NW sesquicentennial traveling exhibit. It is time to begin putting up the installation of the Woman's History Month exhibits. Time is really creeping up on us, we have only five weeks until we open the exhibit.
I attended a Roseau Rams girls hockey game last night with Micky and her mother. Roseau beat International Falls 11 to zip. The Falls team is reorganizing and had several seventh graders on their varsity team, so they will be an up and coming team to watch. Seems like that is the first time I was able to do something like that in a long time.
It was sure slick out when I went home last night. It must have started raining about 3, the windshield on the car was one solid sheet of ice. By the time I left the game it had changed to snow. This morning, it is cold, 6 below and clear. Yeah! No more ice.
Ardmore had a problem with some bleeding the other day but it was determined to not be serious. He has been trying to figure out what caused it and now thinks it was his nose. He wakes up in the middle of the night and watches tv in the dark. He thinks that while sitting at the table he had a nose bleed and didn't realize it because of the dark. He says he has had that problem since he had some polyps removed about 2 months ago. I thought they sealed the polyps and that would take care of any bleeding, apparently not.
We have several projects at the museum for Sentence to Serve to do today. I hope they can spend the whole day. I think I will go in early so that I am there if they come in. Perhaps I can then leave a little earlier and work out at LifeCare.
One Wednesday, we took down the Minnesota's Historic NW sesquicentennial traveling exhibit. It is time to begin putting up the installation of the Woman's History Month exhibits. Time is really creeping up on us, we have only five weeks until we open the exhibit.
I attended a Roseau Rams girls hockey game last night with Micky and her mother. Roseau beat International Falls 11 to zip. The Falls team is reorganizing and had several seventh graders on their varsity team, so they will be an up and coming team to watch. Seems like that is the first time I was able to do something like that in a long time.
It was sure slick out when I went home last night. It must have started raining about 3, the windshield on the car was one solid sheet of ice. By the time I left the game it had changed to snow. This morning, it is cold, 6 below and clear. Yeah! No more ice.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Foggy and georgeous trees
This is one of those days when we can't see the river because it is so foggy. The visibility is on about 1/5 of a mile and even less at times. I drove home from Roseau on 16 this evening and couldn't see any yard lights or even the road signs. Suddenly I saw the stop ahead sign that informed that I would shortly reach 89. It came up sooner than I thought, I was glad I'd slow down soon enough as it was a little slick too.
We spent the day working on the upcoming Woman's History Month exhibits. We will have our work cut out for us. This Friday, I hope to have lots of things accomplished. We will begin to take things down so the education committee can begin to work on their exhibits. We will need to get the maps done and the photos scanned and printed. I am excited about this exhibit and how it will honor the women in our county who have contributed to much to the well being of our lives. I am glad we have such good committees working on the programs. Our volunteer coordinator is tops! The volunteers she has recruited to work on the exhibits and programs are dedicated and talented. It has been a joy to work with them.
I have been listening to several podcasts lately. One of my favorites is the CBC program The Next Chapter with Sheila Rogers. It is always interesting to listen to an author interview. Today I asked our librarian to order me a book by Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, the Story of Success. It sounds like a good nonfiction. He does some serious research on his topic and some of the things he commented on finding when he was doing the research on this book, sounded interesting.
I have a good book, The Perfect Day by Richard Paul Evans I am reading and it is almost bedtime so it is also reading time.
We spent the day working on the upcoming Woman's History Month exhibits. We will have our work cut out for us. This Friday, I hope to have lots of things accomplished. We will begin to take things down so the education committee can begin to work on their exhibits. We will need to get the maps done and the photos scanned and printed. I am excited about this exhibit and how it will honor the women in our county who have contributed to much to the well being of our lives. I am glad we have such good committees working on the programs. Our volunteer coordinator is tops! The volunteers she has recruited to work on the exhibits and programs are dedicated and talented. It has been a joy to work with them.
I have been listening to several podcasts lately. One of my favorites is the CBC program The Next Chapter with Sheila Rogers. It is always interesting to listen to an author interview. Today I asked our librarian to order me a book by Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, the Story of Success. It sounds like a good nonfiction. He does some serious research on his topic and some of the things he commented on finding when he was doing the research on this book, sounded interesting.
I have a good book, The Perfect Day by Richard Paul Evans I am reading and it is almost bedtime so it is also reading time.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Obama Presidental Inauguration
What a great wave of flags there are being waved in Washington today! The Marine band was playing Amazing Grace when I turned on C-span 2. It is so much better to watch on ABC or C-Span as it is not so political.All of the political leaders on our country, past and present make their appearance under the circumstances of a presidential inauguration. Our former presidents have just made their appearances and our new President is now sworn in. What a humbling situation to be in. He has lots of work to do as President with all of the problems we now have in the US.
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