A mountain of apples

Y'all know I only have two trays for my dehydrator - so I can dry about 5 apples at at time. I had two grocery bags full and now I'm down to this bowl full.

These dried apples are so sweet and good that I've eaten most of them out of hand. The Man says 'why didn't you just eat the apples?'

Christmas in September

Mom and Frank wanted to give the Man-Cub his Christmas present before they left.

Grandma gave him a ride out to his 'fort' in the new wagon - it's going to be perfect for hauling boys and they're toys - I meant tools/snow/dirt...

A Fun Visit

Mom and Frank left after dropping the Man-Cub at school Friday - they're on their way to Bismarck, Teddy Roosevelt Park and Medora and then the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. We sure had a lot of fun while they were here.

Mom brought a bunch of goodies when she came - including okra and green beans from her garden. I returned the favor somewhat - by sending some beets, onions and cabbage back with her - notice the difference - all mine were cool weather crops...

Name That Tune

I promised to post a picture of the Man-Cub on stage with the Hunts...

(sorry it's blurry - but the shutter tries to stay open too long when we take a digital picture in the dark - it's ok for landscapes and things that stay still and the camera on a tripod - but not for boys on stage...)

Maybe some expert photographer will give me some tips...

More Fun with Mom

Just a few more pictures of all the fun we've been having with Mom here...

A low flying plane - Mom and Frank were amazed at how low the planes fly here - no mountains (aka cumulus granite)...

We took the Man-Cub out of school and went to an indoor pool - he's been there before and he got with some other kids and made the whirlpool again - fun-fun...

We saw this pretty white tail with her baby...
The view from the restaurant where we took Mom for her Birthday dinner...
The servers sang Happy Birthday to Mom and gave her this little cake...
A drive in the country...

An Old School House...

Open space and Big Sky...
a picnic...
Bison - we usually still say buffalo - but almost everyone up here calls these 'bison' and it's pronounced 'bizon' not with a soft 's' like I usually say it...
Fall...
A big elk - he even gave us a warning call - I wish we had gotten a video of it. The Man-Cub was really excited - he said Mama have you ever heard that 'except on TV' - of course I said no - this is the closest I've ever been to a HUGE elk...
His harem...
The Man-Cub playing football with Frank (the Man is cooking on the grill to our left) and that's a shadow of me and Mom to the right...

Mostly, Mom and I have just been talking (my TMJ actually flared up - the Man has always said it was from talking to much - hehe)

Speaking of Trains

The cub scout theme this month was trains - and the Man-Cub had to show his trains to his Grandma...


We need to get started on a village - the Man-Cub wants to replicate some of the main buildings in our little town...

First Pack Meeting

We had our first Pack meeting and I had to drag Mom and Frank there of course...

Mom took all the pictures for me. The theme was the "Cub Scout Train" and we started off with a visual...

The activity was to build a candy train...

The finished train...

Scouts trying to work together to get a dozen people inside a hula hoop...

The leaders trying to do the same thing...

This exercise was much harder for the leaders (believe it or not) and I am in there - I think that's my hand you can see on the khaki uniform.

Hunt Family Fiddlers

We took Mom and Frank to our community concert last night. It was the Hunt Family Fiddlers and it was a lot of fun. You can read about them here http://www.huntfamilyfiddlers.com/ They had a contest and the Man-Cub volunteered and went on stage with them and WON. The contest was name that tune and he successfully named 'She'll be coming 'round the Mountain', 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. It was great fun. I'll try and post a video - it's really cute. His prize was this autographed photo.

Snakes Alive

The Man-Cub is our 'Jeff Corwin' - he's always catching critters. Here is the only garter snake he caught this year.

we are totally a 'catch & release' facility here...

Mom's Birthday

We went back to Sully's Hill - we intended to go to Fort Totten - but it was closed - We celebrated Mom's Birthday when we got back.

The Man-Cub lit the candles...

Mom opened all her presents - notice the puzzle (from the Man-Cub) is a picture of the Wright Brother's Memorial at Kitty Hawk - interestingly - we found that here in ND...

and Mom gave the Man-Cub a present for 'her' birthday...

it's a super-neat Lewis & Clark book that we'll enjoy a lot...

Fresh Coconut

Somebody please tell me that all this effort is worth it...


We bought a fresh coconut - the Man-Cub wanted to crack one open - we did like Mom used to do and hammered a nail into it to drain the milk and then let the Man-Cub whack it with a hammer until it broke in two...

Here's the finished Birthday Cake - looks pretty - ! - but would probably look just as pretty with the frozen variety of coconut...

Fun with Mom

We took Mom and Frank to Sully's Hill yesterday - it was a beautiful fall day - we didn't even need jackets...

The Man-Cub loves the telescopes...

The prairie dogs are always a lot of fun...

They're here!!!

YAY! Mom and Frank got here about 3:00 yesterday - just in time to pick the Man-Cub up from school - he was thrilled.


We unloaded all the loot and had fried okra (from Mom's garden) for supper.

Fog - one of my favorite poems - ever...

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Chicago Poems. 1916.

Fog

THE FOG comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.


We don't get a lot of fog here - the air is usually pretty dry - but we had a chilly-rainy day and this fog rolled in at dusk. This picture is taken directly North of the parsonage - the field where 'our' hay bales were was directly East.

The Man-Cub and I took Jack out in the fog - it was eery and fun...

DryWall

I am finally getting around to finishing the drywall from the air conditioning installation (way back in January). http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2007/02/housework-or-work-on-house-not-that-im.html In a sick sort of way - I kind of like finishing drywall...

Stump Lake Village

We took the Man-Cub on a nice early fall day to see Stump Lake Village - it's a 'made-up' village - none of the buildings is original to the site - they were all moved there from somewhere else. Still it's a nice 'living' museum - this was the last day they were going to be open for the season and people were dressed in period costume. Sorry Mom - we can't take you there - but I promise after all these photographs - you'll feel like you've been there already...

We had loads of fun and then when we got ready to leave - I realized that I had locked the keys in the car - OH NO! - that has never happened to me before - but I took my money out of my purse - (after I had put the keys in it of course) and got my camera and locked the car. I'm thankful that I didn't realize it sooner as it would have ruined my day - The sherriff and two nice men stopped to help - after about 1 hour of trying - one of the helpers (not the sherriff with his special tools) managed to pop the door open. I'm hoping that it's not the only thing the Man-Cub remembers about the day...

The beautiful church windows.

The Altar.
One of many pump organs - some in working condition. Did I ever mention that at one of the nursing homes where I visit - they have a working pump organ - and I've played it. Our dentist also has a completely re-furbished one in her home - she says it's her children's inheritence.
Another pump organ.
The Man-Cub found a swingset outside the school building.
The closet library in the school building.
The one room schoolhouse.
The Michigan depot - when we first moved here and people would talk about going to Michigan - I thought they meant the state - it was much later that I realized there was a little town called Michigan...
A caboose - not red.
Inside the depot -
A polished stove inside the depot.
The ticket window.
A one room log cabin - log cabins are not as plentiful as they are in the mountains where I'm from - for obvious reasons - very few trees here...
A dragseng (drawbed) in the cabin - it appears to be adult sized. I googled for dragseng without success - the placard only says where it came from.
A cupboard in the cabin.
The cookstove - sort of reminds me of Mama Goode's...
The table and tinware.
This is the kitchen of a larger 4 room cabin that apparently I didn't take a picture of the outside.
One of the upstairs bedrooms of the larger cabin.
The other bedroom.
The parade.
The pretty kitchen of the white clapboard house.
Kitchen table with the pearlescent dishes like Nanny used to have.
Grandma used to have a cabinet like this one.
The farmhouse sink.

Another pump organ - this must have been the parsonage - haha.
A child's room upstairs.
The altarpiece of another church - Norwegian Lutheran of course.
The post office.
Threshing machines - fascinating.
Plowing the old fashioned way.
A different - probably 'new-fangled' type of plow. It was interesting that just after this picture was taken - the man on this plow overturned.
A hayride.
Hauling wheat to the threshers.
Baling hay.
Husking corn.
The steam tractor that drives the sawmill.
The mill chutes.
The grain cleaners - upstairs in the mill.
The millhand's kitchen.
Sawing logs - this was probably the Man-Cub's favorite.
The draft horses.
Tightening the belts on the threshers.
Threshing.