horse business

a couple of weeks ago i stopped by the county fair grounds in buffalo county to see a horse auction. it wasn't just any old auction. they were selling bucking stock...horses on friday and bulls on saturday. so they had an area set up with chutes etc and volunteer riders. before you bought you got to see the horse buck and there was a screen set up so while the bidding went on they replayed the ride. i only got to see some of the first rides. the stock was from canada! they have been breeding bucking stock for years.

as you might expect since there are not they many owners of bucking strings for rodeos, there weren't that many bidders. but i actually knew one of the bidders. my sisiter's late husband's brother was sitting just behind me with several of his friends from the wounded knee area.

life is so weird.

falling apart

it is spring, some say the cruelest month.... and maybe it is. most of us think of spring as a time of growth, new buds and shoots, rain to make them grow. which is all true, but spring is not warm and romantic, it is bitter and cold to the bone.

on campus the truth of the end is closing in and some are just giving up, some complaining about their futures--not that i blame them. some moved here just last year with the intent of staying more than just one year. for sure.

now some are trapped into despair because of circumstances. some are too old. cannot find jobs because no one wants to pay them for their years, some have spouses who do not want to move so will become house husbands, some moved to finish a degree and cannot change course until they finish degree, so must improvise for the next year. stress, stress, stress. we are all tired. stress and uncertainty will do that.

i happen to be lucky since i know that i am going to move to my house in belle soon. the stress for me is how soon can i get everything done. and packed. i do so hate packing.

almost like seattle

we have had several days of clouds and off and on rain. one day the air was so full of moisture that everything was wet even though it wasn't raining. i like the the pictures that fog makes, but i crave the warmth of the sun. actually i could have titled this almost like michigan.

bird clouds

on my way to church i noticed a black cloud or drift of smoke on the horizon. ever curious, i kept glancing in that direction as i headed to kearney. when it kept changing shapes and directions i looked for the nearest county road going south. it happed to go over three tracks and there was a train stopped about a block and a half from the crossing. looking to the left and seeing nothing i crept forward to peek around the stopped train which of course, was on the middle track. just forward enough to see a little ways down the track....i saw a train coming. so i backed up as fast as possible. even if i had stayed where i was i would have been okay. the train on the middle track was not moving. that was definately a track where there should have been an electronic crossing guard.

after the train was on its way i drove to the flock of migrating birds. it was a mixed band of geese and ducks. i think i have to get up a little earlier to see the cranes. but i did get some decent pictures for only have a little digital camera. i will have to start carting around the 35 m with my telephoto lens.

spring

Spring is coming. the other day the little crab apple in front of the ad building was filled with cedar waxwings. i haven't seen waxwings in ages. i hope they like the nannyberry in front of the belle house. maybe we will have to plant a crab apple. another sign of spring is the rising water in wood river. it has filled enough to cover the little wood bridge behind the farm barns that connects the farm compound with the fields. it might actually be six feet deep at the bridge. also, the snow geese and sand hill cranes are flying overhead. and they are racing at fonner park.

buddy shopping on line

i am supprised that there have been no articles about buddy shopping on line. i do it with my daughter and with my sister. we live miles apart so cannot go to the mall to do shopping together. so we just sign on and send our ideas back and forth across the air waves. not quite as good as in person, but it is way better than trying to do it snail mail or by tele.

packing

the boxes are starting to stack up. if i pack a couple of boxes every day or two it won't be too bad at the end. everyone who is moving off campus is planning a big yard sale right after graduation! whatever doesn't go i am going to either burn or take to goodwill. my stuff pile keeps getting smaller. but not small enough. going through all magazines. not toting whole mag everagain. cross out word eve...will try not to cart whole mags. books are a whole another thing.

undecided

hmmmmmm
shall i sell the jeep and buy a new honda fit or civic......or maybe a used honda.... probably could get a good price on a honda civic.....
could haul things in cyn's car...bet she would appreciate that... but on the other hand if we go on trips the honda would get a lot better gas mileage.
this is really difficult for some reason.
i have checked out the new car specs several times and it always comes up as honda as really being the best choice.

hmmmmmmmmmm i just ought to bite the bullet and do it..

part of the problem is that i said i would never own a station wagon or van and i just discovered that the fit is classified as a mini station wagon. sigh

might as well give in the wagon idea. have to wear old ladyke. shoes now because of my feet... just going to the old age home faster than a spring snowflake melts.

the femine side

so i was trying to be more in touch with my femine side. got a manicure while waiting for a student getting physical therapy. she was fast. it looked nice. one under coat, two color coats and a top coat. first thing i nick two of the nails getting into the jeep. i wore gloves while washing dishes. but by sunday i had chips in two nails ... that is beside the jeep chips. by the end of monday after typing i decided it was time to take it off.

i think she had thinned it down to o much so it would dry faster. couldn't possibly be my life style.

secret things

life is full of secrets. i have a feeling that not only did i begin my teaching career with a secret among my students but i am ending my career with a similar secret. my first year deaning, a couple got married at christmas break. the boy brought her back to the dorm every monday morning. remember this was the 60's. the principal knew about it, the girls knew, but i didn't. the principal later went on to be president of a southern college. i think they should have finished school, but it would have been nice if i had known instead of wondering what all the weird looks were about.

this year and last one of the guys has been visiting his girlfriend every home leave. so over christmas he calls from an island in the caribbean. the girl is there. i hear no mention of parents. maybe they are on there honeymoon. i don't know. just seems a little weird. maybe the parents were there. maybe i have an overactive imagination.

stupid things

holding a cell phone with your neck while washing dishes. fortunately mine survived. my son told me to take the battery out and let it dry out which i did immediately. it has been a week and it seems ok.

buying more "cute things" when you are going to move in 3 months!

leaving your car running while you go to work when it is zero out .... after driving only 2 blocks and thinking you will turn it off in about 10 minutes and then having someone come in after an hour and ask why your car is running

belle house

over christmas we added bookcases and books and pictures to the northwest wall. well, we don't have a fireplace and our room isn't big enough for a big tv cabinet etc. and we are both book people. we need to work on the pictures though. the two on left are okay, but one of theones on the right needs a different fram and the one on the end is way to dark, so will find a different print and put this one downstairs.

it is a small room, but the chunky furniture seems to work ok and they are compfy.

right now we have a 50's table in the dining area, but will put the big oak table in their, maybe. notice the puzzle on the table....another thing my sister and i share. the book case on the right is hers (on loan) and the one on the left is mine (my great parents).

camping out inside

just when i was ready to work...right... the ice storm came in and turned off all the electric which meant, no tv, no computer, no videos, no cds, no dvds, no lights, no heat, no cold for fridge, and no water or sewer. and for a week! good think i had a down sleeping bag that was good for 20 below. felt like a homeless person hanging out in the malls and stores to keep warm and use bathroom facilities. finally braved taking a bath sort of with 1/2 gallon of cold water in a cold room. felt better even if it was bracing. not ready for artic dips though. finally had heat but no water or sewer. they had the pump going but after a very short time the water line to my house broke...frozen and it took 2 days to fix that. i think light was probably the greatest invention ever. it gives heat and lets you read and most inventions would not have happened without this start. it was really hard to read by candlelight.

what lies beneath

i always thought our elderly money person (younger than my self-but squarely in hippy era) was probably a hippy in his youth. he is a vegan, grows beautiful gardens, and wears sandals. so the following tale was a shocker.

he saw rats eating in his garden...they especially liked his beets and beans. he trapped several of them, but one wily huge old fellow...as big around as an overgrown zuccini...eluded him. the fellow lived under the little garden shed in the back yard. so our money man waited to people were off campus, got out his 22 and shot the thief in the heart. it didn't kill him right off; he was able to crawl back under the garden shed and die in an unreachable place. ....getting his revenge by smelling up the place.

turns out our money man grew up hunting and fishing, served in vidt nam, and owns a rifle. who knew!

the three mums and vase story

my cousin called me yesterday....at least it wasn't at three in the morning so i was coherent. he wanted to know about the vase and the mums. the beginning. the best i can remember is that my dad gave the vase and three football mums to nanny, his grandmother, one thanksgiving when he couldn't be there. i think it must have been in the late 30's or early 40's. in any case the part of the story i didn't know was that my grandmother gave the vase to richard--my dad's cousin. then she decided to get it back. made richard mad so he went out and bought a 600 dollar waterford crystal vase. i can understand. my grandmother was always attaching great importance to things that did not necesarily have inherent importance. in any case she got it back, and i wound up with it ... it skipped my dad....and i gave it to my daughter. i think my sister would have liked it. not sure how i wound up with it.

in any case, my sister, myself, my daughter, i hope my son, richard (when he was alive), my mother(when she was alive), richard's son and i don't know who else... always have three football or other large mums in a vase at thanksgiving.

gobble gobble

it doesn't matter if you are a veggie eater or a meat eater, thanksgiving has lots of gobblers. but why, there is usually much more food than can be eaten. maybe the length of the meal depends on the stories told around the table. in that case you have slow stuffers. my relatives on my dad's side were all great story tellers. i was always mad because when the best stories were being recited, i was at the kids' table. sigh. now i am going to have to rely on my cousin's memory for the stories. he suggested i drive up to sioux falls with my laptop and write them down. i think that is a good idea. will have to find a non snowy weekend. meanwhile, i will find a good book and rest my digestive system.

holidays

it seems like the holidays instead of being relaxing, turn into a frenzied rush to get everything done. i volunteered to help put up the xmas tree in the chapel. i hadn't done it before so was relying completely on ms. m since she has done it for ten years with another (former) teacher. we spent the first hour trying to stablize the tree in the stand. turned out we had the middle section on the bottom. went way faster when we put the bottom on the bottom and the middle in the middle. bummer.

just around the corner

about the time you think things are smoothing out...wham.....life, God...the devil, does not let you rest. we loose a student, gain a student, etc... prospects good. catch a few students breaking the rules, arrange for some community service, and counseling, progress....maybe....more things blow in with the dusty air and wham, three students gone...for the best i believe, but it is still depressing. good thing, wanted enough to be asked to stay another year.:)

running to and fro

i remember that just before the divorce there was a flurry of activity... new house, decorating new house, new car, seeing counselor, new babies, moving twice..... then the end

now- here there is a flurry of activity, cows gone, new roof on chapel, new roof girls' dorm, new entrance gym, new paint on houses and trim on ad building, new furnances, new staffing, old gym being torn down, ........ so then.....?????????

cat attack 2

last Sabbath as I was relaxing on the couch reading i hear this yelp and remembered that the cats were outside. i dashed downstairs and opened the door. the two cats were at the door and came in while digger the dog was walking calmly and innocently with his owner.

what really happened?

the cats were waiting to come in when digger saw them and charged them. both arched and fluffed, but dennis charged back with claws and teeth, hence the yelp. by the time i got to the door, digger was acting as if nothing happened. he is only 3 or 4 times bigger then dennis.