Buffalo Gal

Having my Aunt staying with us after mandatory evacuation from all the Eventide venues took place last Thursday, I am learning a lot of things about life when she was a young girl and woman.  She will have her 89th birthday in just a few days from now but she is always "My Young Aunt" because she was 18 when I was born and she lived with our family at that time while going to high school in Barnesville, MN.  In those long - gone days, there was no school bus service in the rural areas, so if a young person wanted to go to high school after completing grade 8 in their rural school, they had to find a place to "board" in town. My folks lived in Barnesville at that time so my Auntie went to their home and went to high school. She went on to work at the village store near her home in the country as a bookkeeper where she met her husband- to- be. After they married, they purchased the old Cormorant village store and were its owners and proprietors for many decades til they retired.

Now I am learning a lot of things about life on the farm when my mother and her siblings were growing up. It is wonderful to have a talkative relative who can fill you in on so many things you never heard about til now.   For instance, when a blizzard came or just the normal snowy, cold winter set in, there was not much entertainment from outside the homes….people could call each other on the "party line" after calling "Central" (Margot A. who was related to our family would connect you to whom you wanted to call)  Then you heard the clicks as more and more on the multiple-party line picked up the phone to listen in to your conversation.  Nobody thought they were being nosy…it was just a form of finding out the news when there were no radios (no electricity) and television was decades away from being a fixture in farm homes.   Listening on the party line was also a good form of entertainment especially if the news being heard was the least bit "juicy".  Once, as a child, I was staying at the farm during the summertime but I had to make a call to town to talk to my Mom, so my Aunts and Uncle would put me on a chair so I could stand up to the crank phone on the wall and ring up "Central" and have Margot connect me to  our home phone in town (also on a party line!)   My mother’s voice would grow distant as the country folks picked up their phones to listen in to me talk to my mother.  Once when I was wearing elastic waist shorts, my Uncle crept up behind me …I was standing on the chair of course…and whipped my elastic waist pants down to my ankles!  All of them—my Gramma, my 2 aunts and my mischievous uncle were hysterical with laughter as I stood talking to my Mom in my underwear.  It is a memory I will carry as long as I "have all my marbles."

Then there were the games of cards played in the rural neighborhood.  My Aunt told me that they (she and her sister and brother) thought nothing of walking through snow on the unplowed small road all the way to "Joe and Val’s" which was about two miles away so they could play cards til 2 in the morning and then bundle up once again and walk home in the snowy darkness to catch a nap before it was milking time in the morning.  Card playing among the neighbors was a favorite pastime.  All of them became good whist players and held progressive whist parties often in each other’s farm homes.  All these games would have been played by the light of kerosene lamps, with the kitchen or dining room wood-burning range keeping the rooms cozy til it was time for "coffee".  Then a fresh pot of water would boil on the back of the range, and coffee would be added to the boiling water til the coffee was strong enough to satisfy even the most Norwegian of coffee  tastes in the assembled card crowd.  Sandwiches, cake, maybe even a jello dish would be served.  Homemade pickles were opened up to go with the sandwiches.  A cake or fresh cookies had been baked in the wood burning range before the company arrived.  That was the crowning touch to evening "lunch" which was served well after midnight when the guests would walk back to their own farms in the dark of the early morning hours. 

Tragedies abounded.  Often one of the parents in families would die at young ages leaving a widow with children or a widower with children which was even more difficult.  This happened to my family.  My Grandfather who I never knew, other than a few pictures I have seen, died at the age of 49 leaving my Grandmother with 5 children ages 4 through 16 to try to keep up the farming and make a living.  But kind relatives and neighbors came to her aid all the time, helping her with the herd of cattle, with the haying, the planting and cultivating.  She persevered in spite of the tragic loss at such an early age.  It happened all the time in those days….tuberculosis and other diseases that are now not even a problem took many people from their families prematurely.  There was no choice but to keep on keeping on… in spite of your grief….cows had to be milked, pigs and chickens fed, eggs picked, hay made, crops and gardens harvested, canning of meat and vegetables and wild fruits had to be done.  There was no time for self-pity but grief often took its toll in other ways….like illnesses.  My Grandmother developed Parkinson’s Disease at a relatively young age in her 50′s and she lived with it til she died in her late 80′s; there was no effective treatment or no nursing home care.  Your children took care of you at home and you died in your own home, in your own bed in which you had given birth to all your children, you had slept in  that bed for decades til death came calling and took you to your eternal home.

The marvelous tales that are unfolding every day are such a serendipitous end to the long winter of snow and cold and now flooding in Fargo-Moorhead.  If we turned off the radio and TV and got out the cards and invited the neighbors over I might even learn how to play whist.  But I would have to make a big lunch for the after-midnight eating before the neighbors walked back home in the velvet darkness of a winter’s night.  Maybe I would even make some egg coffee to go with the sandwiches and cake and cookies and red jello with one banana cut up into it!   I would have plenty of cream for whipping; I would just have to fetch it out of the "cold kitchen" where it had been placed after we had milked and "separated" the cream out of the milk.

With the snow falling again in another storm warning, it would not be hard to recreate the tales I have been told the past week when my Aunt came to stay with us, til she can go home to her apartment at Eventide once more.  I will miss our daily chats and stories and miss the fun of having my "Young Aunt" living once again within my family.

Since my last time writing on this blog, a lot had occurred in Fargo-Moorhead and the communities affected by the rising Red River.  My precious "little sister" and her husband have had to give up the battle and be evacuated from a  Cass County neighborhood.  I learned this morning that my cousin and his wife in south Moorhead will have to evacuate their home. It will not be easy..they are both elderly people but I trust that their children adn grandchildren will be there for them.    So many people I know are being affected by the predicted high crest on the river.

We have my Aunt staying with us, after Eventide and all its assisted living apartments had to be evacutated mandatorily by Thursday noon.   Things are going well out here at our farm and my Aunt is feeling more calm after the upset of having to evacuate her apartment at Eventide.

Now we are greatly concerned for one son and his family in Fargo; so far they are in a "safe part" of the city but nobody knows what the next few days will bring. They have to monitor their basement drains, et. al. very carefully during the flood’s crisis time.

The amazing work of the volunteers continues to affect all of us who are watching the flood from a distance.  The young people of Fargo Moorhead are once again doing all they can to save their community, whether it is their home or their adopted home for a few years.  Other volunteers who cannot lift and heave sandbags are working mightily as well in the effort to keep the cities from going under the river waters.

I am having thoughts during this terrible time about what might be done to avoid these crises every few years.  Diking and sandbagging are temporary and necessary, but the work done north of us , especially at Winnipeg, where a huge diversion of the Red River has kept that city flood free ever since it was built.   West Fargo is also protected and flood-free due to a Sheyenne River diversion built several years ago.   Building a diversion to  keep Fargo-Moorhead flood-free should now be a top priority , in spite of its cost and all the problems in planning for it.  A diversion for Fargo-Moorhead might have to be built on the Minnesota side of the Red River due to West Fargo and Fargo becoming as one over the years of building and development. A Red River diversion for Fargo and Moorhead will create a lot of concerns and probably resistance from people (farmers) who would be affected by the Right of Eminent Domain.   What is the difference, however, between giving up the best farmland in the world for massive developments south of both Fargo and Moorhead and giving up the richest farmland in the world to save the cities from the devasting floods of the past years?   Either way rich farmland is given up; I suppose the difference is that for development, the landowners are richly rewarded which they would not be, if the Right of Eminent Domain took the land for a diversion.    It is going to require a great deal of wisdom and also a lot of NOT wasting precious time (years) arguing over the possibilty of a river diversion.   It is simply something that should be done before  other devastating floods cause continuing trouble and trauma for the thousands and thousands who live in the River cities;  the population is here —admittedly in a very bad place….a flat, open area near a major river where the water goes all over the landscape when the river is high after winter melting or summer storms.  Mayor Walaker rightly called it "a big bathtub which is called the Red River Valley".

I sincerely hope that this needed diversion….one as big as what Manitobans call "Duff’s Ditch".. nicknamed  after the Manitoba prime minister who pushed for the Winnipeg diversion when it was built some years ago….will become a reality for the Fargo -Moorhead area.  

With each passing hour of the flood battle in Fargo- Moorhead, one thing is becoming clear once again.   The people who live in the Red River Valley are not going to lay down in front of the Red River and let it ruin their cities and towns, if they can help it.  I cannot help but remember the seeming helplessness of New Orleans when the Katrina disaster hit…so many things went wrong…..evacuation of citizens became a total disaster as far as the governing bodies of the city and state went….disastrous looting and horrible crimes occurred….helplessness and a "hands-out" attitude of the people there was puzzling. Wy too many New Orleans citizens refused to leave even though they lived in the most vulnerable part of the city for flooding and the authorities failed to act to evacuate them in spite of foolish stubbornness.     Blaming others, especially the national government, was astounding to many who are not used to being so dependent on government for everything.    Katrina was a horrible catastrophe, but somehow I picture how the citizens of the Red River Valley would have reacted in the face of such disaster.  It would have been a very different picture.

We see what marvelous citizens our F-M young people really are when the floodwaters threaten. With three college/universities in the F-M area, and the tremendous cooperation of the college and high school authorities allowing all the area students to join in the hardest physical labor needed….filling, hauling, throwing, passing, sandbags—- creating the protective dikes around homes, businesses and other venues so the floodwater will be held back.  They are shining examples of the same kind of people who are now referred to as the "Greatest Generation"…those young people who endured the Great Depression and then got plunged into fighting World War 2.  Today’s young generation is just as great…  not thinking of themselves first, when it comes to volunteering to save the two cities from flood disaster, even though few are actually from Fargo-Moorhead.  They are so willing to help their temporary home towns when the chips are definitely down as far as they can go.

Every  time there is a flood in the two sister cities on the Red River, a long, inspiring book could be written about the ordinary people who become Heroes and Heroines.  In addition to those who do the hard physical work of building the dikes, there are others who take in people who have to evacuate their homes, those who prepare food and drink for the huge band of flood volunteers,  those who offer any kind of help needed—doing laundry or making meals or other  humble jobs for those whose homes need protection and whose owners do not have the time to do the every day jobs that are still necessary.  Churches and schools are opened and "manned" to serve as temporary living quarters for the volunteers who come from out of the area to help in the flood fight.   Others could tell of people who rose to do noble deeds in times of great need, like this week of March when the rivers leave their beds and banks and threaten everyone in the path of the water.

There are so many kinds of Heroes and Heroines.  God bless everyone of them and keep them safe in this time of flooding and fighting back to hold the floodwaters from the cities on the Red River.

Do not forget the heroes and heroines in the local Salvation Army and the Red Cross units. This is a good time to dig deeply, in spite of economic downturns, and make  donations to either or both of those good organizations who are feeding flood workers and offering many other kinds of assistance. Heroes and Heroines can come in the form of a group like the S.A. and the R.C.

This flood, too, shall pass…. but everyone involved in the battle against the river and the overland flooding is affected forever by their experiences…both good ones and bad ones…but may all the good done in this time be remembered the most.

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday) we made our way to the extreme southeast section of a river neighborhood now threatened by the high crest predictions.  My sister and her husband live there and we are very concerned for them and their home. The river is just out of its banks there but that can change in hours. 

  The level of activity  yesterday was mind- boggling.  Never having lived anywhere that was threatened by river floods, or overland flooding, it is a huge eye-opener to see how friends and family turn out to help in an emergency.  That particular neighborhood access road was lined with vehicles of sandbaggers helping those who need to build a dike around their homes.  When we arrived at our destination , we had met so many huge trucks hauling clay and dirt from county sites where homes used to stand, we parked in the driveway to get out of the way of the heavy truck traffic moving constantly to haul heavy soil to the places where earthen dikes are being constructed.  It appears that neighborhoods have banded together to get these dikes built so they can avoid the inundation of water that could come from overland flooding like what happened in 1997.  We saw a number of neighborhood dikes being built in the southeast area we visited yesterday.  Another heart-warming site was the presence already of a Salvation Army van where S.A. workers were bringing food and beverages to those working on the flood fight. It is worth it to make a good donation to this local Salvation Army branch—-they are the BEST when it comes to serving in times of disaster as well as serving others in great need at any time.

The amazing efforts put forth by the residents of Fargo in times of flood dangers is overwhelming.   The people in Fargo Moorhead and flood areas are so willing and dedicated to help  save homes and neighborhoods.  It is easy to criticize building homes and businesses in low areas or along riverbanks. The fact is that this has been done for years and years and cannot be undone right at this moment.  When the river rises higher than its normal height, it is time to put aside  grumbling and using hindsight to make critical observations …it is time to be a Good Samaritan and get out and help if you are able to do so.

Yesterday afternoon we were met by my sister’s grandson Gunnar, age 7, who was sitting by a pile of filled sandbags. Inside was grandson Soren, age 4, getting ready to help Grandpa fill  more sandbags.  These two little sandbaggers were so happy to help…they told us how they…and Grandpa… had already filled 80 sandbags on Saturday.  The flood effort is just a beginning and thankfully, church friends were arriving to fill more and be on deck to build a needed dike. Those two little boys were so proud that they could help Grandma and Grandpa.

We are beyond being able to heave sandbags into place, but we will be willing to help fill them or work to make food and drinks to feed those who are doing the heavy physical labor it takes to build dikes.  The day may dawn this week..earlier than expected…. when we will be taking on the roles of flood fighters in Fargo-Moorhead.  It will not be easy any longer to reach certain areas;  reports this morning are of roads closed, roads flooded, and having to walk many blocks to reach certain neighborhoods.

All of us who live in this region should be ready to help out if it is at all possible to do so. I hope that homeowners in the possible flood areas will be thoughtful and kind to those who are willing to help save their homes….there were reports in 1997 of several homeowners in the area of some very high-priced homes in extreme southwest Fargo who would not allow sandbaggers in their homes to use bathrooms….hopefully that will never occur again, especially now in this latest flood fight in 2009.

I have been doing a bit of driving around today (Saturday) and the Buffalo River is out of its banks in many places along its route.  Near the Buffalo Bluff, there have been  big ice jams the past two days with enormous chunks and sheets of ice but I see that today the river is running wildly out of the banks but the ice chunks are gone…probably melted and headed to the Red River (Oh Woe Is Us!)    Just east of Glyndon, the river has flooded the field right by the farm that has the "Spooky Forest" each October.  Their house is high and hopefully dry but oh, is there a field flooded completely  and so is the entrance to the Spooky Forest.  Ice sheets all over the landscape at that site!!  I am keeping track of the hourly news about the flood fighting efforts underway in Fargo and I hope my blog friends who live in Fargo will be safe and sound if the RR actually goes to the crest that could come in a few short days.  I wonder if the Buffalo is going to leave its banks near our meadows near the flowing river?   Sometimes we have a massive lake in place of the low hay meadow if the spring melt causes the swollen river to overflow the road and it has happened after heavy summer rains as well.  Man-made clay dikes keep the Buffalo from flooding the low places in town but I remember as a child seeing a whole neighborhood near the river underwater a number of times in the spring.  I particularly remember people traveling in small fishing boats to the flooded shore to get into the town from the eastside neighborhood that always flooded back in "those days".   That neighborhood had a name that I never gave much thought to back then….it was called "Stockholm" because it was populated largely by the descendants of early Swedish immigrants….Swedish names like "Berg" were prevalent in "Stockholm" which is still a little neighborhood off on its own on the east side of the village.  I always loved to go to "Stockholm" to Mrs. Dolva’s house with my Mom when she would go to Church "Circle" there. I associate  that experience with eating red jello with bananas and apples in it and creamy whipped cream on top of the red jello; also of playing with Mrs. Dolva’s older girls who were nice to me. They were teenagers but were very kind to a little pre- school runt like I was.  I still love cherry jello with bananas and apples in it and whipped cream on top but I never make it at home…..you can still get it with Sunday dinners at the Sons of Norway in Fargo though!!!   Mmmmmm,  the food of my childhood.

Spring is coming on strong today, also.  Even though there is a forecast for more rain in a few days, at least it won’t fall as snow (I HOPE).   I am so thoroughly sick of dirty piles of half- melted snow and other ugly aspects of March.   When I went out to check on things at the "bunny hutch",  I noticed that tiny spears of tulips are already peeking through where days ago there were huge drifts of dirty snow!!!   They must have been poking up under the snow!  That is such a for-sure sign of much better days to come.  I can see in my mind’s eye, the brilliance of tulips blooming (if the bunnies so not get at them).  I have deliberately planted every possible color of tulip and although they do not bloom for more than two weeks total, it is SO worth it.  I can spend a whole afternoon out on the deck just staring at those blooming spring flowers!!!!  (but not when it is raining).

When I was outside, I found a rake I did not put away last November and I pried it loose from some ice it was embedded in.  I raked up a few of the protective maple leaves I collected from my son’s lawn in Fargo and uncovered the hollyhocks and lupines I got from "FarSide"  last summer.  I hope they make a mighty comeback as strong perennials this year. I also took the white foam cones off some shrubs in hopes that they will form nice bushes of huge white blooms of hydrangeas.  I am trying to cut back on the gardening jobs but I have such an urge to plant things. I brought a big pot inside (a long one) and I am going to try to plant the first crop of salad greens inside the house under the gro-lights.  I really have Garden Fever badly. I want to buy some pale pink hydrangea shrubs that I have seen in the Bergeson Nursery catalog and also another one or two Juneberry bushes— plus—–a bush of "bittersweet";  that shrub still grows wild in a few places deep in the woods out by Rollag but none are on my land so I can only beg some from Doris S. who has some deep in her woods. If I had my own bush—–I would harvest bittersweet every fall for annual decorative bouquets.  Three strong and wonderful memories of my Mother and her sisters are of picking Juneberries in a pasture, picking wild grapes in someone else’s pasture….and hunting for bittersweet in the Fall and tiny cattails in early Summer.  My Mother loved gardening and arranging flowers and weeds and anything she could create into a bouquet or a pot of pretty things from gardens, wild and tame.  She was so good at it that she did flowers for weddings when she was already in her mid-60′s.  Oh, how hard she worked to make things pretty and just perfect for the Bride and her Mother!!!!

I hear the Beltway Boys debating the week’s political issues, so I have to go listen in while they are still arguing back and forth.  Fred and Mort are my buddies!

I also have to go out before dusk and see if the pussy willows in the woods are beginning to show buds.

Slushy and Mushy—that’s the names of the two extra Disney Dwarves…..not really….I just came inside from venturing out in my waterproof boots to check on a few matters in the yard.   The sky is so blue—the air feels mild—and I distinctly heard the cries of migrating Sandhill Cranes!!!    I searched the sky but could only hear their faint calls to each other as they ride the thermals on this sunny warm-ish afternoon.   Sandhills only migrate when they can ride thermals that are updrafts  from the warming earth in early spring.  Sandhill cranes are such big birds that I do not think their wings along can allow them to stay airborne. I have seen them come over the Buffalo Bluff in the past in early spring as they make their way northward to their summer nesting grounds.  They soar in circles and let the prevailing southerly winds carry them northward.  All this time they are emitting mysterious sounding cries, apparently to each other in some form of avian communication.  Migrating geese cry out also and it is obviously a way to stay together in their "Vee" formations.   By the way, do you know why one side of a Geese "Vee" formation is always longer than the other side?  It is because there are more geese in one line!!!!   (Yeah, I fell for it too, the first time someone told me!)

I wish I could have spotted those coasting cranes just now.  I am going to have to go out each day at the warmest part of the afternoon whenever it is sunny and warm and there is a southerly or south-easterly wind blowing.  That is the kind of day Sandhills must migrate. I really wanted to make a trip to Nebraska this spring to see the Sandhill Cranes as they gather at the national crane refuge along the Platte River in southern Nebraska.  It is my dream to see this phenomenon of springtime—-I think they also may gather there in the Fall so who knows…maybe my dream can be fulfilled in October 2009.  The new roof took precedence this crane-season (mid-March to mid-April)  Instead I will have to go out one middle-of-the-night and sit in a shelter to see the Prairie Chickens do their mating dance in their drumming ground area near the Hamden Marsh refuge in Becker County.

The lawn is suffering from slushiness and mushiness.  The remainders of the last snowfall barely a week ago are melting fast after 12 inches of snow fell. (it is hard to measure the snow depth at our place, since we are always hit by the winds from every direction atop our bluff)   We really had huge drifts last week; now they are nearly diminished in the open spots…but there is plenty of snow still down in the wooded land and in the shelter belt.  That will take some 70- degree days to make those drifts go away.  

I am having a hard time looking at our lawn. The roofing process which involves the use of a very big yellow, Caterpillar-like machine with a hydraulic arm attached to a platform so the roofers can get to where they need to work was part of the process.  This Monster Machine has  dug "potato trenches" on our grassy lawn when the days have gotten too warm and the surface of the lawn has gotten "mushy".  I know it cannot be helped but I am so- NOT- looking forward to the HUGE repair job that will have to be done unless we give in to my most despairing mood when I said "Let the whole works go to weeds—-I just do not care anymore—-I have had IT!!!!"     But we will repair it, I know….when the weather turns even warmer and fairer, I will not want to leave it as it is. It is soooooo ugly and so scarred.  It is really hard to look at right now.

I  also went outside to check on the status of the Wild Bunnies.   I have continued to put out food for them in the form of big carrots broken up in pieces and I have to admit that I bought two bags of "bunny food" in the pet department of a Big Box store, recently.  Then ,even more recently, I bought a big bag of Timothy hay which is used to feed tame bunnies.  I know this from having stayed with two Grandkids who have a tame rabbit named Lewis who is fondly known as "Bunners".  I became very attached to "Bunners" and wanted to feed him treats each day instead of the kids.  He got named Lewis because it takes a really long time to learn which sex you have bought when you buy a bunny.  Lewis’s  "properties" finally showed up, big time, but if "he" had been a "she" —she would have been named Louise or Louisa.  But it turned out to be Lewis and he is an energetic fellow who can really kick with his hind legs when he gets out of his cage-home  for daily excercise. 

I know I am going to be sorry for being so tender hearted to the wild bunnies this winter….especially if they attack my tulips.  But I am thinking that if I keep putting out the carrots under the little cabin, they will not notice the tulips.  I may have to buy a bunny fence if they don’t follow my line of reasoning.  I will want to wring their little necks if they bite off the tulips just as they are ready to bloom as they did to one patch of gorgeous white ones last spring.

It is so nice out—–I feel badly for those folks in Fargo-Moorhead places that are working like crazy to prepare for a higher- than - first- thought river crest.  If it goes to 40 feet I remember that that was the height of the river in Grand Forks in 1997 that put the city underwater in so many places.  It is an ugly prospect and I hope the Flood Fighters can triumph over the river one more time right now.  If  push comes to shove along the river, I may spend a lot of time helping people I love dearly next week.  I cannot sling a sandbag but I can make sandwiches and other food to feed the sandbaggers and pumpers and levee builders.   I just hope it won’t come to that.   Only time and the rate of melt and the rain that may come in next week, will tell.

The news that Michelle Obama is planting a vegetable garden somewhere on the White House grounds is most pleasing.  It reminded me of the legendary "Victory Gardens " of WW 2 when folks all around the United States planted vegetable gardens in order to produce their own food in a time of shortages due to the war being fought all over the world.  Now Mrs. Obama has brought in Washington D.C. children to dig up the lawn, prepare the soil, and plant vegetable seeds.  It would please me even more to  learn that Mrs. Obama has gotten into her "grubbies" and gotten down on her knees to help plant and cultivate the garden this summer.  It is designed to produce vegetables for the White House and to give surplus veggies to people who need food.  A worthy project!  I wonder if a vegetable garden has ever been planted in the past?  Probably so….I can see Abigail Adams and Dolley Madison having veggie gardens during their First Lady stints.  I think I might try to research this subject.  I am getting "garden fever" now with the almost daily arrival of seed catalogs with their beautiful pictures of fruits, vegetables, trees, flowers and shrubs.  mmmmmm!

The U.K. TELEGRAPH ( daily news paper) has listed the TOP TEN GAFFES of President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden just since the Inauguration.  They did not include in their list the gaffes made on the campaign trail in 2008.   Most of them belong to Biden (not surprisingly)  from number 10 down to number 1 (the most recent one)

10.  Minutes after being sworn in on Inauguration Day, Biden calls Justice John Paul Stevens "Justice Stewart"

9. Obama makes a joke about Nancy Reagan holding "seances" in the White House and is forced to apologize and call Mrs. Reagan (I bet that was an uncomfortable one)

8. Biden forgets the website number of the White House internet site to show how T.A.R.P. money is being spent.

7.  President Obama is caught on videotape trying to walk through a French window into the Oval Office.

6.  VP Biden jokes about Chief Justice Roberts fluffing the presidential oath but President Obama is visibly annoyed and Biden hurries up and apologizes to Roberts.

5. On President Obama’s first flight on Marine One (Presidential helicopter) he goofs on Protocol and shakes the hand of the Marine who is in a rigid military salute to the Commander in Chief.  Obama then walks up the steps and bangs his head on the door frame of Marine One. (eat you heart out Gerald Ford….you were castigated by the Press when your bad knee caused you to stumble on Airforce One’s steps)

4. Joe Biden tells his wife, Jill, that he had a choice of being Vice President or Secretary of State;  Jill Biden spills the beans on the Oprah show and it is "news" to both Obama and Hillary Clinton!

3. British P.M. Gordon Brown presents President Obama with a hand carved pen- holder made form the timbers of the HMS Gannet plus a 12 – volume set of the biography of Winston Churchill.  Pres. Obama gives P.M. Brown a box of 25 American movie DVDs which do not work in  Britain.

2. Joe Biden tells a former Senate colleague who addresses him as "Mr. Vice President"  to "give me a f—ing break!"

1. President Obama "takes the biscuit" says the TELEGRAPH by joking about disabled people on the Jay Leno show when Obama refers to bowling  in the Special Olympics.  He has to call Tim Shriver, head of Special Olympics and nephew of JFK and RFK and son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and make an apology.

OTHER ODDS AND ENDS:   A news article about the eruption of an undersea volcano in the south Pacific( near the island nation of Tonga)  as "a moment of Creation".   Can it be that someone in the MSM is acknowledging "Creation" as used in Biblical accounts?   ( We have seen similar "creation" times with the formation of the Island of Surtsey off the coast of Iceland in 1963 and the totally- changed  "creation" landscape around Mt. St. Helens in 1980.)

**Nancy Pelosi needs a new hairstyle more in keeping with her age (mid- 60′s) Many of her photos show her trying to brush back her 20-something hairdo off her cheeks…..and she could use some advice on lipstick application also, since her lips resemble the leering grin of a Halloween Jack- O- Lantern’s mouth smeared with bright red lipstick.  Pelosi , like many of the aging women in the Congress are doing all they can to appear to be somewhere in their 20s or 30s when they are actually Golden Agers.  What would they do without hair-dye, beauty salons, extreme make-up and either plastic surgery or Botox treatments?? Silly Biddies!

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KOE:  I take it all back!   President Obama HAS apologized a number to times.  Mea Culpa!!!

 I find it rather curious that President Obama is going on the Jay Leno show to push the stimulus bill…..curious because the stimulus bill has been passed already— rather quickly so  they could get it done without leaving any time for the Congress people to read it from beginning to end and, breaking a campaign promise for the illusive "transparency", the bill was not posted on the internet for 5 days, either..so the American people could see what was in it.  With the overwhelming number of  Democratic syncophants currently occuping the majority of both Houses, the bill has been on the books for over 2 weeks already.  So pushing the bill on the Jay Leno show is not at all a reason to go on that late night entertainment show.   Perhaps Obama has a hard time (like Bill Clinton) of getting off the campaign trail and getting serious about doing the job that the majority of Americans elected him to do.

This is also curious that Obama would choose a late night entertainment show instead of appearing on a serious news program on one of the many networks that produce such programs daily.  It would be exteremely interesting to see Obama answer questions put to him by real Journalists—the news anchors— (minus Katie Couric) or the panel on the 5 p.m. Fox news broadcast or the correspondents on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.   He is uninterested in such venues…..Jay Leno the comedian, is more to Obama’s taste.

I find it not only curious, but rather strange, that a President would go on a late night comedy show when the nation is in such dire economic straits….none of which is a laughing matter at all.  Obama chose to snub British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently, because his (Obama’s)  nose is out of joint about Winston Churchill and other things British  for some odd reasoning.( old stogy White Men who were Oppressors of colonial nations etc.)  P.M. Brown brought a gift to Obama of a nicely- done container made from the timbers of a historic British ship plus a bust of Winston Churchill (banished, no doubt, from the oval office, immediately) and Obama, in return, gave Gordon Brown a box full of American movie DVD’s.  Really a class act for an American leader!!!  Hopping on the presidential jet for a cross country flight in order to "appear" on Jay Leno is far more important than treating the British Prime Minister with some respect and statesmanlike conduct.

It would be really a lot more comforting to see the American President taking his job a bit more seriously than what it appears, by his unnecessary trip across the U.S. to appear on the Leno show.  Never mind the huge "carbon footprint" he is leaving by flying in his huge presidential jet for something as inconsequential as an appearance on Jay Leno.  But of  course it is a "First" which Obama seems to be attracted to all the time….first American President to appear on a late night talk/entertainment show! (Whoopee-Ding!)  I wish instead that he might be the first American President to fill his cabinet with something other than Tax Cheats….although our past presidents have not had  many Tax Cheats….a few with illegal immigrants working for them -problems, but at least  most other nominees over the past decade or longer, have  actually PAID  all their taxes in a timely manner…to my knowledge. I do not remember it being an issue in the Bush 2- Clinton -Bush 1 -Reagan- Carter- administrations.  But then these are the NEW Liberals. (oops, I mean "Progressives").

Bill Clinton, once did go on a late night show and blow on his saxophone—that was sort of a First too….did Obama forget about that appearance?…which was on David Letterman, I think.  For a President who justifies the passage of certain bills by saying "I won" ,  finding out that Clinton may have  one-upped him on a "First" might be dreadfully damaging to the very large Ego we are now seeing unfold before our wondering eyes almost on a daily basis.

It is hard to take him seriously when he gets so mixed up by his Teleprompter while appearing with the President of Ireland on March 17, that he ends up thanking himself for inviting every  one to the St. Patrick’s Day party at the Whitehouse…and having the Irish President begin  giving the speech that Obama had just finished.    

I would feel alot better if Obama suspended all parties in the Whitehouse til the economy and the failing banks, the failing industries, and the failing markets get dealt with in a serious way other than throwing trillion of dollars at the problems and hoping that something good will happen by spending ourselves and our children, grandchildren and great grand children into impossible federal deficits and debts.   

I would feel alot better , also, if Obama had not tried out his brilliant idea of charging Veterans of America’s military branches for their healthcare through private insurance intstead of allowing them to use the Veteran’s Administration healthcare program which has been in place for so many decades.  But then, those disabled or sick Veterans probably are also disabled when it comes to making big campaign contributions to the Showbiz Prez, so there is no need for a "pay-off" …as in giving huge sums of  government money to Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and A.I.G. et al. ( some of the biggest contributors to Obama’s recent campaign).

It would be more comforting to have a President who took his job seriously enough not to pass off the writing of important legislation and other matters to the Donkeys ( a mild form of the term I would rather use)  currently occupying leadership positions in the House or Senate.

An art show is coming……I know there are many in this area,  but this one is a very special one….dear to my heart, since I have attended it since its inception.  This will be the 42nd annual Hawley (MN) Art Show which has been sponsored by the local community club and several businesses.  Area artists have displayed their work over these 42 years and also sold many of their paintings at this show, including many to the Lake Agassiz Regional Library system who have, in the past, purchased original works by area artists for the library patrons to check out and hang in their homes for six weeks at a time. (it was six week checkout at the time I worked in the L.A.R.L. system….I know there are numerous original paintings still available at the branch libraries of the L.A.R.L.)

This years’ art show is on April  3-4-5…the traditional weekend for the show.  Artists who wish to enter their work will come on Saturday March 28 and Sunday March 29 to register their art pieces for the show.

I have always enjoyed attending this show.  I have been introduced to many artists and many styles of painting and sculpture through going to the Hawley Art Show over the past years. It is a tradition between a good friend and me to always make it on Friday afternoon so we can leisurely view all the paintings plus sit down afterwards and enjoy something from the always-attractive dessert buffet that is set up each day of the art show’s run.  Local church and civic groups provide these daily buffets and they are never disappointing…to many good cooks and bakers live in the community!!

Not only is the artwork interesting but the way it is displayed and the setting that is created in the city auditorium just a block east of the main street of town is always very tastefully done.  At times in the past, a lcoal florist shop has allowed the use of  their beautiful potted plants and a local swimming pool business has set up comfortable patio furniture throughout the art displays.    There is a student division also and the art work of students and pre-school children has a special area of the auditorium.  Many years ago  all three of my sons had paintings displayed in the student division. 

The tradition of a small-town art show has grown over the 42 years of its existence.  It will once again be a pleasure to spend that special Friday afternoon with my friend, slowly making our way around the artists’ works, making notes, making comments—sometimes anticipating a purchase (many of the art works are very reasonably priced).  I have bought at least 4 works of art over the years and the last one was last year when I bought a watercolor painting by Fargo artist, Sherbanoo Aziz.  Her painting are luminously lovely.  I may add another to my collection in just a couple of weeks if she has entered more paintings this year.

I would urge others in the area who appreciate paintings by area artists to take time to come to the Hawley Art Show and experience the same pleasures I have for many many years.

There are no ties that bind us more than those which connect us to our familes….parents and children, uncles and aunts and cousins, grandparents, even extended family members like "cousins once removed".    I am part of a small family on one side and a very big one on the other.  As we have grown up, we  cousins do not get to see each other all that much but the ties are still there, very strong and very sure…when we do get together,it is often for a funeral or a memorial service these days.  No weddings anymore—-most of us have been married for 40-50 years.

On Sunday, when we went to eat at one of our favorite places, there were many others coming in also.  I noticed one older man who was balding and obviously "mature" bringing an even older lady into the dining room in a wheelchair.  It did not take long after they sat down at a table next to ours that I could see the family connection and the love of many years.  It was obviously a son (who was in his 60′s at least) and his mother. She was in a wheelchair and quite obviously unable to do much for herself.  I could see it….her loving son had come to the nursing home where she now has to reside due to her many disabilities, and he had brought her out to eat with other family members and friends.  He got her food from the buffet and came back, sat beside her, put his arm around her and began to feed her the food from the plate.  She obediently opened her mouth when he brought the fork or spoon up to her mouth.   It brought on strong emotions for me.   If we, and our parents, live long enough, the roles reverse.  We become the "parents" and "caregivers" to our aged parents and do for them all the things they did for us when we were small children and were mostly helpless to do things for ourselves.   I saw it happen with my own father as he aged …especially the final 3 years of his life, which were very hard for me and my sister. As Dad became increasingly helpless, we had to care for him and make decisions for him. It was hard to do because our Dad had been such a good father and had so lovingly cared for us and provided for us and taught us all the values we have today (him and my mother)  When Dad grew weaker and more feeble in all ways, our Mom had been dead for several years,  so Dad was truly alone, except for his daughters.  As hard as it was to see our Daddy slowly disappear from what he had been—-the strong, funny, friendly, helpful, loving man who everyone looked up to—-we had to persevere in spite of the experience being the hardest we had ever been through.   I thought of our years with our aging Dad when I saw that older son with his mother….he fed her like she had fed him when he was a tiny boy. He took complete care of her while they were out for their Sunday dinner.

Family matters—-how much fun we have with our loved ones; but we go through deep waters, too, with our families and we stand together and hold each other up when it becomes necessary to do so.  We help each other out when the going gets rough,  we give our time to each other and sometimes we have to provide a little financial help also. But we do it so willingly.  We cook meals for each other, we bake the things we know they love.   We laugh with each other and we cry with each other.  We celebrate holidays together , anniversaries, birthdays….picnics in summer and sliding or sledding in winters..sometimes we just sit around and talk and tell funny stories about when the "kids were little" to their great embarassment….and their own kids’ delight!!!!  We watch games on television together, we get out the old videos from when the kids were young and we sometimes laugh til we cry.

One of my precious family members—–a grandson who will soon be twelve…is causing me to be "popping my buttons" just now.  His Mom, my daughter- in- law,  sent an essay he wrote and he is such a descriptive writer.  Please indulge a proud grandma who just has to share the short piece with you.  He is a budding boy—following several family members who truly love to write.   His piece was titled "THE DREADED HAIRCUT"  and here it is just as he wrote it and turned it in to his language arts teacher.    

"Snip, snip, snip…that’s the sound of my hair being cut.  At the time this story takes place I had only had ‘trims’ not a buzz cut so I was rather nervous.  Even up to this day I have hated haircuts, and this story will probably tell you why.     

So I was watching some bugs bunny cartoons on our old yellow couch when my Dad says ‘Alec, haircut time.’    I grumpily walk over and say ‘Dad. can’t we do it next week?’ (in my most whiny voice)  But he would not hear it.

Next thing I know I’m sitting in our beach themed bathroom waiting for him to come in.  He comes in with a bag of black buzz cut fittings. This is when it hits me, this was not going to be a trim but a full buzz cut.  It didn’t take long before it all went bad.  I feel a sharp pain in my ear. I feel my ear with my hand. When I look at it I see ruby red BLOOD.

After five minutes of holding a kleenex to my ear, I have a look in the mirror.  It looked like I got a haircut from a weed whacker.  The worst part was that we had to stop three-fourths of the way through so part of my hair was three inches long and the other was part was one.

So that was my dreaded haircut.  I learned two things from this experience, one, never let your Dad cut your hair and two, buzz cuts are bad.  Now when I have a haircut, I make sure it is by a professional."

It could use a bit of grammatical cleanup and a few periods and commas inserted, but my  boy is a good writer —-a budding one for sure and I cannot help but be happy and proud.