He's of the colour of the nutmeg. And of the heat of the ginger.... he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient stillness while his rider mounts him; he is indeed a horse, and all other jades you may call beasts. ~William Shakespeare, Henry V

Sunday, July 31, 2005

NO HAY

Darren's mom called the other day. Because of all the rain that they have had up in Willow City and the surrounding area, Darren's dad isn't going to have much for hay. They allowed some CRP to be opened up so that ranchers could hay those area's but most of the CRP is full of water too. This is only a small area that Darren's dad can actually hay and he isn't going to have enough for his cattle over the winter. Right now, Darren's dad is feeding the cattle the hay that was left over from last winter because all of his pasture is still underwater and when that hay runs out, he doesn't have any feed left. Darren's dad plans on selling all of his cattle in November. It a real terrible thing and I feel bad that he has to do that. I wouldn't want to sell my horses because of something like that either but what else do you do about it. I found someone that I can buy hay from for $15 a bale and I need 30 bales, 10 per horse, to last the winter. That isn't too bad but it's a lot more expensive, and difficult, to buy hay for 40 animals unless you make the hay yourself. Right now I have only found 20 bales for sale, I am hoping to find another 10 some where but I am also going to buy 100 small square bales so hopefully that will help out too. I know that I may have to face reality too and that I might have to sell my horses since we may be moving, but right now, I just want to try every option to avoid selling.

BARN

With my dad's help, we should be done with this barn business today. The guy who's barn we were using kept calling us to do things and fix stuff up but when we would go up to the barn, the key wasn't in it's place and we couldn't get my tack or the shovels and things out to do the cleaning. My dad called the guy and asked him what was up with that and the guy told my dad he wanted some things done in the barn first before he would let us in to get our stuff. Apparently he's thinking was that we would get our crap and then leave things the way they were but my dad raised us kids better than that and always taught us to clean up things, and if we could, to even clean them better than they first were so nothing could be said about cleanliness. After some words, my dad and the guy came to an agreement that we would get all the hay out of the barn and the old manure pile would be moved to our side of the pasture and then he would open up the tack room to the barn. We didn't have to worry about replacing a couple pieces of tin, as long as the tin was placed in the barn the guy would put them up nor did we need to move the old straw pile or clean underneath the wind break either. So I got the hale bales out, yesterday my dad came over and helped me fork out the old hay on the bottom of the barn floor and then we put in tin siding in there for the guy, and today dad is taking his tractor over to our house and he and Darren are going to move the manure pile. Hopefully tomorrow the guy should let me get my stuff out and we won't have to deal with him any more. Now I still need to find a barn, an old garage or grainery will work great and I need to get something before the fall because they horses can't go without on over the winter. If any of you around DL know where we can buy one (moving it isn't a problem...as long as it's not in water!) let me know.

BREAKER BREAKER GOOD BUDDY

This morning when Cassidy and I got up, I turned on the TV so that she could watch some cartoons while she ate breakfast and then I went to turn on the air conditioner since it was already 80 outside and it was only 10 am. When I turned on the AC I lost power in the living room except the ceiling fan, lost all power in the master bedroom, and the light in the kitchen wasn't working but all the appliances were still going. I check the breaker box and everything looked OK. Darren got up and turned all the breakers off and then turned them on again hoping to rest them but it didn't work. My dad is pretty good with this kind of stuff so I called him and he came over to our place to check things out. He was there for about an hour and he couldn't get anything working either. Somehow some thing happened to the circuit that those things were running on. Now on Monday I am going to have to call an electrician over to see if they can get things working. I don't know how long they will be at our house and I hate to call them over because their rate per hour is just crazy. I am hoping that this doesn't cost us too much. Cassie and I are going to stay at my parents place until things are working again because it's supposed to be in the mid 80's and 90's this week. Darren said that he would just take off for Harvey tonight and stay at a hotel or stay with some friends. What a great way to start off the week.

Friday, July 29, 2005

CASSIE'S NEW PICTURES

I had Cassie's pictures taken about three weeks ago. They came in on Thursday so I ran into DL to pick them up. I posted them for everyone to enjoy. You have to admit that she is a doll.

This is the very first professional pic that she has smiled in. Posted by Picasa

My mom really likes this one.  Posted by Picasa

This one is a little weird. The bike looks like it's straight but the buildings in the back ground look like they are ready to fall over. Posted by Picasa

Thursday, July 28, 2005

RURAL WATER

I ran home the other day to feed the dog, check the answering machine, and get the mail. When I turned the corner to get to our house, I noticed little white flags marked all along the ditch, up in through our yard and they continued down towards the elevator. Then I realized that they must have marked the yard for the rural water pipes. This is pretty excited because our well water is so horrid that we don't use our water for anything except washing dishes and to take quick showers. All of you that have been out to our house know how rusty the water is. Now, if we don't find a home in Harvey before the baby is born, at least we will have good water finally.

BEEN BUSY

I have been on hiatus and decided that after a week I should post and let everyone know what's up. I have been at my mom's place watching my grandmother for her while she is at work. My grandmother is getting a little forgetful and is starting to see things. The poor lady is always thinking that she is seeing trains for some strange reason. She also has diabetes and she hasn't been taking care of herself. A few weeks ago she went with one of my Aunts to visit my sister in St. Paul and while she was there she was acting weird and they treated it as low blood sugar and gave her something sweet to drink and after a few minutes she came around. Then the following week at my Aunts place my Aunts husband woke up and was going to walk into the living room when he saw my grandmother walking around and acting weird so he woke my Aunt up and she went to check on grandma and had grandma lay down on the couch while she went down stairs to check on things. While my Aunt was down stairs she heard this loud thump on the floor and asked grandma if she was alright and my grandma hollered back that she was fine. When my Aunt went back upstairs she found grandma rolling back and forth on the floor and she wasn't making any sense. She called 911 and it was low blood sugar so they started and IV and after a few minutes she was fine. Then the week after that, my aunt brought her back home because she had a doctors appointment in DL. They brought her back the evening before the appointment and the next day my Aunt went to wake up grandma for breakfast after my Aunt was done with her shower and my grandma was still in bed and was not responding to anyone so my uncle called 911. This time they couldn't get and IV in so they took her to the ER and had to have her admitted to the hospital but was discharged later that same day. They don't want to keep grandma alone cause if this happened over the weekend nobody would know about it so she has been with my mother and I have been watching her for my mother while she is at work. I make sure my grandma eats well, drinks all her fluids, and I check her blood sugar 3 times a day. So far nothing has happened while she has been with me, and I don't want anything to happen either, but I know what to do and what to give her if she if goes into another insulin reaction. I will keep posting as long as I find the time and let everyone know how things are going.

Friday, July 22, 2005

ADOPT-A-PET

KSoFM has the coolest virtual pet. It's a little dog. You can scratch it and it will bark and you can even feed it a treats. I went to check out his blog and I think I played with the virtual pet longer than I actually read stuff. It's pretty neat and if I find out how to do it, I am going to put a virtual pet on my blog too. Way cool!

WEEKEND PLANS

My husband comes home tonight...YEAH!! Tomorrow is Crazy Dayz in Devils Lake tomorrow. We have to run there anyway because Darren wants to go to Goodyear because there is still something wrong with the truck and we want to pay a little on our bill. I am hoping to talk him into a little shopping and checking out the Dayz deals while we are there. Then at 5 we have some friends that are getting married in Leeds. I am not sure if we are going to go to the wedding but we may run up to the reception/dance later. Sunday there is a bridal shower for my cousin in Rolla so I suppose I will have to go to that since I got her a gift. I could send it up with my mother and grandma too however. Darren said that he found a house and wants me to go with him on Sunday to take a look at it. We would have to leave pretty early to make it back so I could get to Rolla. I guess the house is really nice, Darren already looked at it but told the guy that I would have to take a look at it too before he decided on anything. Tomorrow when we run into DL it would be nice to catch up with Kevin and April since we haven't see them in a while but they are always busy and it's hard to catch them...well, we can't catch them anyway so maybe that's saying something about us?!?! No, I am sure that I have it wrong! Their are just busy people. Well, I am off to watch CSI and then I am going to sleep until my hubby gets home. Damn, I wish the new episodes of Nip/Tuck would be on soon cause I am starting to go through withdrawals.

Monday, July 18, 2005

OH WHAT TO DO

While we were out eating yesterday with Amadon and Josie, Darren got a call on his cell phone. It was the driver from Schwan's that has been letting Darren stay with him and his wife to save money. Word had been getting around Harvey that Darren was staying there when Greg wasn't there and it didn't look good and Greg's parents got into an argument with Greg's wife about Darren staying there. Greg's wife talked to Greg about it and Greg went to talk to his parents. I guess his parents are really old school and they didn't like how it looked but it's not like Darren is some young single guy. They all know he's married, has a daughter and another child on the way. In the long run, Greg thought it was best if Darren didn't stay with them anymore because of the friction with the family. It's totally understandable though, I know that Darren wouldn't be comfortable with someone that I meet and in a week have him move in while Darren is gone. That wouldn't look good and in a small town there is sure to be some kind of rumors flying around about it. Darren called Greg back later and talked to him and Darren can stay with them on nights that Greg will be home. It will only be one or two days a week but it will save $60 a week on a hotel room. Now we just need to see if we can work out the other $90 he will be spending on a hotel or we are going to have to come up with something quickly. I told Darren since I am not working, we can find a 3 bedroom apartment or home to rent and we can all move down there and shut off the utilities here at the trailer then we would only have just the house payment. It's better to do that then pay rent, a loan, and utilities in two different homes. We will have to see cause then there is the expense of trying to move down there.

WEEKEND

Friday afternoon I cleaned the house so that it looked good when Darren got home. Cassie was helping me clean and she really liked sitting under my glass coffee table and end tables when I had them cleared off for cleaning. I took some pics of her and they are really cute. Saturday when my mom got done with a 12 hour shift in the ER she said that she would keep Cassie over night if Darren and I wanted to take part in Leeds Harvest Days or whatever. I thought that was really nice of her. This was the first night that I had spent without Cassie. It felt really strange not having her in her crib but at the same time it was nice. Darren and I drove up to the street dance but didn't look like there was a lot going on so we went to Rugby instead and hung out with his cousin for a while. We got home around midnight or 12:30 and I was really tired. We watched this hilarious program on MTV and then went to bed. We has some thunderstorm's through the night so when I got up to use the bathroom the clock was flashing but the sun was up so I thought I better get my butt to my mom's. When I got there, it was nine o'clock and Cassie was still sleeping. My mom said that she had gotten up at 4:30 because Cassie lost her nuk behind the crib and was crying for it. By the time my mom found it Cassie was wide awake and crying for "mommy" so my mom took her out into the living room and rocked her while they watched the lightening for a while and it was a bit before Cassie went back to bed. I felt really bad because it has been a long time since she has woke up in the middle of the night for her nuk. So I laid down on mom's couch and fell asleep and I think I was sleeping for a good hour before Cassie finally woke up. My mom gave her breakfast and then Darren came over so we could run to town. My mom said that she would watch Cassie if we didn't want to take her with us so we took my mom's vehicle to do some shopping then we went to Amadon and Josies and we took them out to eat at the Old Main restaurant to eat. We figured it was the least we could do and we thought it has been a while since they went out to eat. We were chatting at the restaurant for a while and then we walked around the corner to check out Amadon's new store. I personally like this new store better than the other one. I hope the store works for them. Then we did some grocery shopping and came home. And that is pretty much our weekend.

Sunday, July 17, 2005


Don't I just look so innocent. Posted by Picasa

HELP!! Let me outta here! Posted by Picasa

Cassie holding Scrappy and watching TV Posted by Picasa

CRAZY

Funniest thing happend when my brother and parents went to the Hansboro Centenial. My dad hasn't played horseshoes in a very long time and I don't know if my brother has ever played the game but they decided to enter themselves as a team in the horseshoe tournement they were having and them made it to the championship game. They were competing against a couple of men that my dad said were really good. Before they could start the championship game, they were going to start the parade and the other guys and my parents had things entered in the parade so they played the final game when the parade was done. During the parade, the two other guys were drinking and my dad said that they came back just shit faced. Dad said it was funny because they couldn't play worth a crap they were so drunk and because of this Mike and dad won the tournament. The other guys were pissed and said that they should have won. I think that was pretty cool.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

WWW.FINDAGRAVE.COM

Last night my dad told me about this website that he came across when he was just snooping online one night. It's www.findagrave.com and you type in the name of the person that you are looking for and it will pull up a picture of the person in their youth and the plot/headstone where they are buried. It even gives you the name of the cemetery and if you click on the name of the cemetery, you will get a list of everyone buried their. I check out people like Johnny Cash, Jack Benny, Hank Williams, Walter Mattheu, Jack Lemon, Judy Garland, and a few other people. It's really neat and nobody's probably going to be into it but Doug but I thought it was really cool and worth sharing with all of you.

A DAY FOR CLEANING

Cassidy spent Sunday evening until today at my parents place. I figured since it was rainy and semi cool today that it was a good day to come home and get shit done around the house. The kitchen needs attention just terrible, I have to pick up and vacuum the living room and then I need to move on to our bedroom and Cassie's nursery. I had my mom pick up some air freshener stuff for me at Wal-Mart. Our trailer has that nice musty "trailer house" smell and I am not all that partial to it so I am hoping that with some vanilla scented floor powder and these air fresheners will do the trick. I also need to check out the bathrooms and the yard needs mowing terrible. The yard hasn't been mowed for three weeks and I let the cat outside and she got lost in the tall grass! Darren comes home tomorrow night and I can't wait. The weeks get really long without him here at home. He is staying with a co-worker in Harvey so he isn't spending money on a hotel room and he said that it's not too bad. Saturday is Harvest Days in Leeds. They have kids games, a parade, a good will supper at the community center, and then there is a dance later in the evening. We will probably check out the kids games and stuff, maybe even the dinner but I won't be able to stay for the dance cause Cassidy will be ready for bed before it starts I'm sure so I told Darren if he wanted to, he could go back for the dance to see friends and stuff. If I am lucky, maybe I can have my mom come to the house and watch Cassie then that way Darren and I can enjoy the dance...we will have to see. My mom is probably sick of seeing Cassie and I.

MIKE GOT TO FLY IN GOVENOR HOEVEN'S PLANE

My brother was up in Bottineau taking pics of the flooded land for the paper and the senators flew in on Govenor Hoeven's plane so we went out to the airport hoping to get a few pics of the senators and stuff. When Mike was out on the tarmac taking pics of the plane the senators were just getting ready to board and take an aerial view of the land from the plane. One guy walked by Mike and asked him if he was coming with. Without hesitation Mike told them "yeah, if there's room." so they checked out the plane and there was one available seat so Mike got to fly around in the Govenors plane with all the senators for a couple of hours. Mike didn't have time to get any of the good lenses for the camera out of his truck before the plane took off so his pics didn't turn out too good but he would have been able to get some awesome pics of the flooded land if he would have. He was pretty excited about the whole thing when he called my parents to tell them about it. Hell, I would have bragged about that too. It's not every day you fly around with people like that.

Monday, July 11, 2005

TORNADO

Darren got home really early Saturday night, however, since it was so hot outside Cassie and I spent the night at my parents. Darren totally understood cause Cassie and I just can't stay in a house that hot. Darren came over to my parents house around 11 the next morning and he brought over his uniforms for me to wash. I put Cassie down for a nap around 1 pm and Darren and I relaxed and talked for two hours until Cassie got up. We all headed to Rugby to eat. We met up with Darren's cousin and his girlfriend and we all went over to Bob's Pizza Inn to eat. We hung out there for a while and then went over to the girlfriends house. We were going to stay for a little bit but the sky was really dark and there was thunder so we decided to head for home since we weren't sure what the weather was going to do. When we got into the truck, we noticed on Darren's cell that we missed a call from Mike, I called Mike back and he was listening to the radio and heard that there was a tornado in Benson county (where we live) and wanted to know if we were ok. I told him we were in Rugby and weren't aware of the tornado. On the way home we ran into some heavy rain and when we got home, the sky was almost an aqua green color, so much lightening that the sky was almost constantly lit by it, we started to get heavy rain and the wind really picked up. Not long after we got in the door my dad called and said there was a tornado 3 miles north of Harvey moving NE and to stay where we were until the storm lightened up. We started to get more lightening and it started to hail, and the thunder was almost deafening. We turned on our radio to hear that there was a tornado moving towards Esmond and Maddock then the power went out. It didn't stay out for long and when we turned the radio back on the weather guy said that the tornado was just 5 miles S of Leeds. I started to worry about my folks cause they live on the S side of town. I called my dad and he said they got a few pieces of golf ball sized hail but not many but the wind was terrible and it even blew a part of roof off a little building in his yard. He also said that the horses started to get worried, he was watching them race around the pasture looking for some safety so I am sure they knew that they were in some really bad weather. After things lightened up a bit Cassie and I went back over to my parents to sleep because even after the storm it was still 86 degrees outside. Darren didn't come over and I was bummed about that cause we only spent about 10 hours together but I can understand with being away from home all week and he would want to stay in his own bed. I miss him and I can't wait till he comes home Friday night. I hope that everyone else did okay in the storm.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

MAN BURIED UNDER COMINSKEY PARK

Did anyone else hear, or care, about what police in Chicago think are remains of a mobster named Michael Frank Albergo aka: "Bones" or "Ham Bone". He was a loan shark and was caught in the act by police and was waiting trial in 1969 when he went missing in 1970. They say that someone in the mob took Albergo, killed him, and buried his body in a construction site for a warehouse. The warehouse was torn down some 20 years later to be used as a parking lot for Cominskey Park Stadium, home of the White Sox. It's now US Cellular Field. Way back when it was rumored that Albergo was killed around the time of Cominskey Park and the body was buried under the playing field. In August of 2003 the FBI at that point was not talking about whether they had a suspect in mind for AlBergo's murder or if it was actually the remains of Albergo himself. I am really interested in this thing and if anybody knows anymore of this story or if anybody knows how it ended and really would like to know. Hey, KSoFM, I know it's the Sox but do you have any clue what I am talking about?

YESTERDAY

It's been hot so I have spent the last two days at my parents. Yesterday I had my first OB checkup. Before the appointment I ran to the Comfort Inn and talked to April quickly before she took off to make it to a job interview. Then after the appointment I drove by Aprils apartment to see if she wanted to come to Wal-Mart with us because I had to get a few things and get Cassie's pictures taken but her car wasn't there so we went by ourselves. After Wal-Mart I ran to Cenex to put fuel in the truck and while I was there I was going to let Cassie out and stretch her legs a bit because she hadn't done much running around. When I pulled up to the pump, I opened Cassies carseat harness, I left the truck running so she would stay cool, then I got out and started to pump gas. Shortly after starting the gas pump, I heard the "click" of the door lock switch. I looked over my shoulder and there was Cassie, in the drivers seat pretending to drive. I started to freak because I didn't want her to hit the gear shifter and move the truck. There was a really nice guy in front of us who was getting ready to go inside and pay, I got his attention and told him what happened and he said that when he got done paying for his fuel, he would come out to my truck and keep Cassie entertained while I ran inside and called someone to come and open the door. Luckily, just as the man was coming back out the door, Cassie hit the door lock button again and I quickly opened the door, turned off the truck, grabbed Cassie and we went inside to pay for the fuel. I felt so bad and the oddest thing is that I never do that and I don't know what caused me to do it then. You always hear stories of kids left in running cars alone that get into accidents and they get hurt, or worse, they die. When Cassie was born, Darren and I said that we would never do that. I feel like I should have The Worst Mommy In The World award for that. After we got back in the truck we drove by Aprils again and she still wasn't home so we grabbed fast food and then headed home. Cassie was really crabby when we got home and it was getting close to her bedtime. I put her in her crib at my mom's and she was asleep before 8:30 and she slept all night. I am not sure what we are going to do, it's going to be 95 degrees so that is almost to hot to do anything...we'll see.

CHECK IT OUT

I am posting this, most of you have already seen it on Karissa's blog (www.obsessedwithisabella.blogspot.com) but I have some friends and family members that read my blog and I think that they should really check this out. Karissa was able to find this on the web the other day. It's the blog of Joseph Duncan who kidnapped and assaulted Shasta Groene. I have heard on the news that he had a blog and wrote disturbing things on it but I never thought that it would be found because I thought the police would stop access to it or something to block it from the public. I have read some of it and it is really tripped out and weird. The things this guy talks about is crazy and he even writes about talking to another sexual assaulter and writing to him while the other guy is in jail. This man is totally messed up and I hope that he never makes it out of prison for what he did to that little girl and her family. http://fifthnail.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_fifthnail_archive.html Don't try leaving a comment, because you can't. Doug already tried that and to Karissa, I hope you are not mad at me for "borrowing" your link.

DOCTOR VISIT

Yesterday I had my first OB checkup. My doctor said that I am around 10 weeks so my February 1st due date is correct. My doc is going to do the "big" ultra sound in 8 weeks so I will make sure that I post pics of them for everyone. I am starting to show a little bit already. When I was pregnant with Cassie I didn't show until I was almost 6 months. My doc said this is normal since the abdomen muscles are already stretched from the first pregnancy. For the delivery, we are thinking about doing the prenatal with the doc that we have and then when the time comes for the c-section, we are going to schedule it in Devils Lake with a doctor from Minot and then continue the follow up checkups and stuff with my current doctor. Cando has been talking about stopping deliveries because they are spending more money in malpractice insurance than they actually make during deliveries so it's really not benefiting the hospital. My doc said that they are talking about it and are a ways away yet from making a final decision but it could be possible that by February of next year they may or may not be doing deliveries so that was one of our biggest concerns and why we have decided to do it in Devils Lake, also, the nurses up in Cando weren't very pleasant and they never brought enough to eat durning my meals, plus my mom works at the Devils Lake hospital so that is going to be cool. My doc says that if this is what Darren and I really want to do, he will strongly support it and will work with the doctor from Minot and try his best to get him to DL for the delivery. I love my doc and he's a great physician and you can really joke around with him too. Before I left the office he told me that I must bring the baby back though for him to see. I laughed and told him not to worry because that is exactly what we plan to do.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

MY DAY

Today my dad called me. He's up in Hansboro for a centennial going on there. He didn't have anything about the family with him so he wanted me to make a family tree really quick and have my mom bring it up to him when she got off work since she was going up there anyway. So I gathered Cassie and her stuff and went over to my parents place to work on a family tree. I just threw a small one together really quickly and it looked pretty nice but the only problem was that I didn't know my cousin's wifes maiden name. This cousin is quite a bit older than me and has been married to this gal for as long as I can remember but I have never known her maiden name. I called my mom but she didn't know, I called my sister cause she talks to him but she didn't know either. I tried to call my cousin but I got a recording saying that the phone number I dialed was temporarily out of service. I felt like a retard but I had to just leave her first name. After I got that done, I layed Cassie down for a nap. When she got up, she kept asking to go to Billy and AJ's so I called them and went to their house. We were there a short time and then we all got into Billy's car and went out to her mom's place because Billy had to help her mom pack because they are leaving for Washington state in the morning at 5 am. It was Cassie's bedtime by the time we got back and since it's hot, humid, and we are supposed to get sever thunderstorms Cassie and I are just going to spend the night at my parents place. I just hope that my parents don't get bad weather up at their centennial but from a look at the doppler radar, it's heading right for them.

NEW KITTY

The other day at my parents place, their cat came walking into the yard and there was this really mangy sorry looking cat wobbling along behind it. Dad was worried cause he thought that it might have had distemper or rabies but the reality of it was that the cat was so starved and skinny that it could hardly walk. Dad took me outside to see the cat and I checked the cat over. I ruled out distemper because it's eyes were not matted or cloudy. I don't think it has rabies either because it's a very sweet loving little cat. Dad gave it some food and a little dish of milk. The cat quickly lapped up the milk and then walked around all proud and try to rub on us but the poor thing was so weak that when it tried to rub, it just fell over. Dad made a warm bed for it in the garage and it going to keep giving it food and when it's healthy he is going to find a good home for it. It's a pretty orange and white cat and it doesn't look that old. I feel sorry for the thing because who knows what happened to it. There are a lot of people lately that have just been dropping them off on the highway and sometimes when people move, they leave the animal to fend for itself rather than take it with. I couldn't even think of doing something like that to any of my animals. To just abandon a family pet after they have been loyal and kind is cruel. I think that the cat might have already found a home though. My dad called the vet in Cando the next day and told the vet about the cat. The vet said that the cat was only about a day away from dying from starvation. My dad tends to be a real softy when it comes to things like this (now I know where I got it from) and I am pretty sure my dad just got himself another shop kitty.

Monday, July 04, 2005

OUR 4TH

Yesterday, I went over to my mom's house early to wash cloths and while I was washing cloths Darren ran into Devils Lake to get our shopping done so that we could take off for Willow City when he got back. We were really excited to be going up there for the 4th because Darren's Aunt and Uncle from Tennessee were up and so was his Uncle and cousin from Alaska and it has been a very long time since we had seen them. In fact, the Uncle from Tennessee I hadn't seen at all. We got up to Willow at about six. Darren's parents made steaks and potatoes on the grill and his Uncle from Alaska was there to eat supper with us. It was a really good meal. While we were eating Darren's folks told us about how much rain they had been getting and some places had even had 11 inches already just for the month of June and most areas were pretty flooded so after supper Darren and I drove out to check out the water. All the flooded land was really impressive, however, I can't help but feel bad for the farmers. Darren's dad is going to have to wait now for a while to start haying and when he starts he will probably be going until the snow flies. I am not sure if we are even going to be able to get hay from him this winter. Darren picked up fireworks in Rugby on our way up so when it got dark enough he lit his fireworks. Cassie did great with the noise and it seemed like she really liked the pretty colors they left behind. Cassie went to bed after the fireworks and the rest of us stayed up talking for a bit but I went to bed at midnight. I just couldn't say awake any longer. Deb got Cassie in the morning when she woke up and Cassie was at the table chowing Cherrio's when I got up. We all took a shower and left for the Hanson Farm at 11. It was really fun talking to all of Darren's cousins cause normally we don't see them except for at Christmas. His grandparents had a dog that wasn't very children friendly. When we got there the dog growled at Cassie, later on Darren and Cassie were back with the dog and Darren was watching Cassie (thank God) and the dog growled and jumped at her and grabbed her pant leg but she didn't get hurt. It lunged at one of Darren's cousins daughters and it even bit one of the little boys. They dog didn't break the skin cause Darren's dad was by the dog and noticed they dog was going to try and do something so when the dog went for the little boy, Dave grabbed the dog and yanked her back. The little boy just had a light scratch on the left side of his face going from his eyebrow to his cheek. The picnic lunch was wonderful. Everything was homemade and tasted great. Cassie had just as much fun running around with the other kids as we did catching up on things with the adults. Cassie started to get really tired around 3, which is very good for her since her nap time is normally 12:30 or around 1 so we said our goodbyes and gathered stuff to go home. Cassie fell asleep before we even got back into Willow City to pick up the rest of our stuff at Darren's parents house so we just let Cassie sleep and Darren and I ran inside the house quickly, grabbed our stuff and headed back on the road for home. We aren't too sure what we are going to do tonight. Darren has to leave for Harvey early in the morning so if we do anything, it's not going to be really big cause he has to get some sleep. I hope everyone else enjoyed their holiday!!

Here is the Hanson family farm house. Darren's grandparents, Marvin and Irma Hanson, raised five children on the farm. This was the first time in a very long time that all the children were home. Posted by Picasa

Here is another shot of the farm house. Posted by Picasa

Ye' olde barn. Actually, it's a really nice barn. It's a home to plenty of calves in the winter. Posted by Picasa

Here is one of many pics that show how badly the pasture has been flooded from all the rain. The entire area around Willow City looks like this. I am sure a lot of farmers are going to be cashing in on their insurance. Posted by Picasa

Here is a shot of how high the creek got. The water is all the way up to the gates to let the cattle inot the holding area next to the barn. Posted by Picasa

Here is a very distant shot of Darren's father's cattle. They are all black angus. They were a lot closer to the road but one of little kids ran towards them and they ran across the water. You can see how bad the pasture is flooded from all the rain. Posted by Picasa

Here is most of the family sitting around and enjoying their lunch. Lunch was really good. Homemade BBQ beef, hot dogs on the grill, homemade baked beans, and all sorts of stuff for dessert. Posted by Picasa

Here is Hannah pushing Cassie on the tire swing next to the house. Hannah is Darren's cousin's daughter. Posted by Picasa

Cassie just acting silly. Posted by Picasa

Here is Cassie eating someone's stash of marshmallows for there marshmallow launcher. Posted by Picasa

This is Darren's cousin Paul using a miniture marshmallow lanucher. Paul found the instructions on the internet and made 5 of them that he brought to the picnic for the kiddies to use. They had a blast. Posted by Picasa

Friday, July 01, 2005

CAKE, GIFTS, AND A MISSING FINGER (NOT TALKING ABOUT WENDY'S)

It's Darren's birthday today. I ran to Devils Lake to get some birthday stuff and then I baked a cake for Darren at my mom's when I got to her place. I didn't have a lot of money to buy him anything big like I wanted to, but I will hopefully have to opportunity to do so later. Darren won't be home to enjoy his gifts or cake until he gets home and when he called this afternoon he said that it was going to be around 2 am when he got here cause he was running late. When I was in town shopping I ran into a co-worker and she said that the guy that took over for Darren when he left got his hand caught in one of the ravioli machines last night when he was cleaning it. I guess it really mangled his ring finger and he is in a lot of pain. The co-worker doesn't think they can really help his finger and that the mangled part may have to be removed. To me, it kind of sounded like he lost the whole tip of his finger but it's hard to tell. He won't be working for 10 days and when he does go back to work he may not be able to do everything that he used to do. Darren and I are friends with the guy and we both feel pretty bad. I was thinking of calling the flower shop in Leeds and sending something to his house or we just may run out there this weekend to see how he's holding up. This is the second time that someone has caught their hand in the machines out there.
 


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