National Beauty Day

A few weeks ago I picked up a formal for Laura at the local thrift shop. The theory was that I'd do her pictures, she'd show them around, and everyone would want me to take their pictures, too. We joked she could hold a sign in each of the pictures, "You, too, can look like this! Call my mom at....". I didn't make her hold the sign. Maybe that's where I went wrong, but so far no one's contacted me. Or maybe it's that the natives are too smart to go parading around for pictures in February!

We waited until a "warm" day, all the way up in the 30's. We thought we'd be able to do it Sunday, but while that day was warm, it also had gale force winds. Not very conducive to elegant posing. So we had to do it after school, quickly transforming Laura and dashing out the door to catch the last of the sunshine. Did I mention that it was getting colder as the sun set? But Laura was a trooper, and after her cells unclenched she was quite relaxed, cozy even.

A special thank you to Tiggy, who is training to be my photographer's apprentice and came along to tote the camera bag. She also carried Laura's sweater so she could cover up as soon as there was a tiny break in the photography. I think all our chilly work turned out very well, and it was fun to do some portraiture again.

Fun on the Prairie

Some people might think that there isn't much to do way out here in the middle of nowhere. I'm a firm believer that you can make your own fun wherever you are, so I've compiled a pictorial guide to having winter fun on the prairie.





The most obvious source of fun is the snow that you find everywhere. Pooh on snow. I am bored with snow. The kids still play in it, but until I have snowshoes, a sled, or a snowmobile, I have plumbed the depths of snowiness. Maybe I will make my own snowshoes. Maybe I will make my own snowmobile!






The dogs find the pastime of chasing deer absolutely enchanting. I must confess I haven't managed to work up much enthusiasm for it, but a couple more months of winter and you never know. I'll be right out there, neck-and-neck with Jackie and Finley! (Jackie is the tiny closing-in-fast speck on the far right of the frame. The one not touching the ground.)






Of course playing games and watching movies are old stand-bys. We tried that one Saturday night, but it devolved into an impromptu session of throwing popcorn for the dogs to catch. And then for the children to catch. Sigh. Spring can't be far off....


Crafts are always an option. Laura made the family a very unique Christmas tree this year. It was time to open presents, but we were doing it at my parents' house which didn't have a tree. Everyone knows you can't open presents without a tree, so Laura took a branch that my dad had trimmed off the front yard tree and duct-taped it together to make a very handsome specimen, if I do say so myself.




Even worthwhile occupations like work can be fun if you make it fun. Why, Damon and Tiggy had a blast on their Spring Break digging under my house. Tiggy's creativity was even stirred to the point of composing songs about the process.


So you see, there is fun everywhere. Just look around you and you will see plenty of opportunities to create your own special memories!

Followed by February Blizzard!

What little I knew, or even thought I knew, about North Dakota before moving here, I gleaned from the books I'd read through the years. Not to give the impression that I was studying up on the subject; I really didn't give this noble state much brain space at all until the last year, but in a lifetime of reading, a few literary references crept in.

One of the most popular and oft-repeated concepts (coming in a close second to 'And Then Came the Locusts') was the deceptively warm weather that lulled winter-weary pioneers into starting on long journeys in nothing but their skivvies, only to find that a malevolent blizzard lurked just over the horizon. What I'd assumed to be a literary device seems to be a pretty common weather pattern up here.

After days and days of unseasonably warm weather, the weather forecast predicted a snow storm. No problemo, we've had plenty of those. When I poked my head outside Thursday morning, it didn't even seem that bad. Snowing, blowing, cold, but no worse than usual. I headed off to work as an aide at my mom's and Laura went off to school.

But over the course of the morning it became clear this was a little worse than usual. Something about having to walk up the driveway with our eyes closed because the snow was blowing so hard. Now I know how all those pioneers got lost. They had their eyes shut! The dogs were let out to roam free for their potty breaks and came back looking like abominable snowdogs. Noni has nice pictures of the blizzard here: goldcountrymeetsbigsky.blogspot.com, but I was smart enough to stay inside until it got better. At least that's what I keep telling myself. Secretly, I am consumed with jealousy over her blizzard photos.



The school in Grenora waited all morning and into the afternoon before deciding not to run the buses. Laura doesn't have a 'home away from home'--as they call it here--a place where she can stay in the event of a blizzard, so I was stuck going down to get her. Thankfully, by the time I found that out, the blizzard was almost spent. There were some pretty impressive drifts on the road, but I made it through, and by the time we headed back home the sun was out.




When we got back to my driveway, it was to see that once again it was drifted shut, this time worse than ever. We spent the next four days, until my neighbor dug us out with his tractor, parking part way down the driveway and hiking in. No problem, but glad to be able to park by the door again! I'm making him cinnamon rolls this morning to say thank you.





Now the snow walls surrounding my house are pushed even higher. If you've ever seen "Ice Age: The Meltdown", that's kind of what I feel like. They're fun to play on now, but I'm a little worried about when they melt. Guess I'd better get all my under-the-house work done before then!

February Thaw!

This picture shows the distance we hiked. We went from our house on the right to the stand of trees on the left.


Oh, the heartache! I just lost a good four paragraphs of bloggery by pushing the hitherto unknown Automatic Blog Delete Key. Well, I lost four paragraphs anyway. We'll never know now if they were good or not. I'm not even going to try to duplicate them, but I want to get my pictures posted, so you'll get a very perfunctory version. Blame modern technology!

These last couple weeks we experienced a string of better weather, a wonderful thing known as a February thaw. There were multiple days of temperatures above freezing. Last Sabbath, on one of the warmest days, we went into church with morning temps still below the freezing point, but what a change a few hours later when we emerged. Liquid water! I never knew how exciting that could be, back when I lived in California.

Later that afternoon, Laura and I decided to hike out to the stand of trees not far from our little farm. We quickly discovered that while the warm air might make hiking more comfortable, it did nothing for the snow crust. We made a halting group as we would walk a few steps, then suddenly plunge through the crust, our knees level with our eyebrows.

We had fun exploring the old cars, farm equipment, and an old barn, but eventually decided to hike back home. Tiggy asked why we called it a hike since it is so close to our house, but since we spent most of the time climbing up and down like a Stairmaster workout, we felt quite exercised.


Westby had an even harder time than Plentywood during the thaw. The large piles of snow on the main street rapidly melted and formed swimming pools in front of the local businesses, one of which happened to be the apartments for which Noni is in charge of clearing the walks. Laura and I are contract employees for her, so we had vested interest in the developing situation. Within a few days the temperatures had dipped again and the cheery spring puddles had become impenetrable skating rinks. Fun to look at, but a little treacherous for the elderly residents to negotiate.

Snow shoveling is hard work, but we get $15 an hour for it. Of course we only get 1/2 hour of work every couple days, but it's a living. At least for Laura, who's excited to have her first real job (translation: working for someone besides me), and we've already got yard work lined up for after snow season.


Standing by the drifts on the Plentywood/Westby highway. And this was before the blizzard!

6 Things I Learned at Walmart

I intended to do this post right after I quit at Walmart, but life got in the way and here it is February already. I'm sure I've forgotten some of the pearls of wisdom I was going to impart, and I don't want to wait until I lose the rest!

Lesson 1: Bag Your Fresh Foods
I'd never thought of this before working in retail, but that belt gets REALLY dirty. People are plopping their meat on it all day long, and those packages leak! Meat juice gets on everything (including the cashier's hands), then people come along and put their fresh foods right on the belt. Gross even if you eat meat. Keep your fresh stuff in plastic bags to prevent cross-contamination.

Lesson 2: I'm REALLY Glad I'm a Vegetarian:
I've been a vegetarian all my life and never spent a lot of intimate time with dead animals until Walmart, where I discovered a key concept (with apologies to my meat-eating readers): meat is gross. I handled all of it as little as possible, sometimes picking up the grossest packages with my thumb and index finger to drop it in the bag. I hope nobody ever noticed! :) But by far, the most disgusting meat was lengua, which comes across the register looking like exactly what it is. A huge lump of severed tongue. Plus it really stinks.

Lesson 3: Give the Cashier a Break
When your cashier leans sweetly forward and offers to come around and scan something, let her, for goodness sake. I used to think they thought I couldn't lift that bag of cat food or bucket of pain easily or something, so I'd say "Don't worry about it," and heft it onto the belt with a muscular thump. What I didn't realize was that everything I lifted onto the belt the cashier had to lift off of it, and she had to do it all day long.

Lesson 4: I'm Turning Into a Cougar
At Walmart, I saw a lot of ID's. I quickly discovered the disheartening truth that all the gentlemen I thought were nice looking and about my age were about 8-10 years younger. And the people my age were old. Not just that, but people younger than my age were old. I'm not sure how or when that happened, but it speaks to a future of cruising around town in my wheel chair whistling at all the hunks 60 years my junior.

Lesson 5: Pick-up Lines Shouldn't Induce Nausea
My most indecent proposal was from a man who came through my speedy checkout line with some fried chicken. He asked me if I wanted to eat it with him and told me suavely, "I'll even lick your fingers off for you." Eeeeew!!!!!!!! Two months later, I still want to hurl every time I think of it, but as Noni pointed out, it did achieve the feat of earning him a permanent place in my memory.

Lesson 6: People-greeting is the Most Mind-numbing Job on the Planet
I only had to do it once, to cover a break, but I nearly died of boredom. Take pity on those poor souls who have to stand there for hours on end (less to greet you and more to manage 'inventory control', but don't tell anyone I told!). Smile and say hello....they'll be grateful. Trust me!

Hauling Off the Detritus

A picture of me working on the plumbing under the house.


I'm becoming acquainted with the wonderful concept of a February thaw. I've been watching the temperatures climb on the 10-day forecast, eagerly awaiting the day it would reach a projected high of 40 degrees. Never one to waste an opportunity, I've been using the unseasonably warm temperatures to clean under my house.

No one has cleaned under there in years, and while I readily understand why, I can't help wishing some resourceful previous resident had already had the gumption to get in there and give it a good clearing-out. It was filled with assorted tools, long since rusted into an unusable condition, canning jars so old their contents were little dried puddles of black swamp-ooze, and random larger items, such as rusted pumps and old windows.

We've made a lot of progress since these 'before' pictures were taken, and it's getting a lot nicer underneath there. I may even throw some doilies around when I finish!

I'm A Ruined Woman

It's the water table that did me in. You see, there is a very high water table in the area my little farmlet is located in. So high in fact, that my well is only 16 feet deep (so I'm told....I haven't actually measured it). This is great when it comes to drilling wells, but not so great in the spring time. As soon as the snow melts, it raises the water table so high that under my house floods. This happens every year, and my house is 50+ years old.

Over time all this flooding has gradually filled in the space under my house with dirt. Utilities that were accessible when installed are no longer reachable by anyone larger than a spaghetti strand. And Devon won't help me. That leaves me with one happy alternative. It has to be dug out.

Sunday, Laura and I whiled away our happy afternoon hours by hauling enough dirt out to allow my dad (who is NOT a spaghetti strand) to reach certain areas under the house that needed fixing. I personally hauled 60+ gallons of dirt out in 5 gallon buckets and 8 garbage bags of canning jars. By the end of the day I was pretty doggone sore, let me tell you. It's one thing to haul heavy buckets while standing upright. It's another thing entirely to do it bent in half!

To properly empathize with the experience, you must visualize yourself bent over in the position of someone in the middle of a gorilla impression. Knees slightly bent, arms dangling by ankles, that sort of thing. Now attach a five gallon bucket full of rocky dirt to the dangling arms. Grunting is optional, but not required.

We both worked hard and were very proud of how much progress we made. It allowed my dad to do the repairs he needed to do for that day. However, after some complicated analysis on things like back damage-to-dirt ratios I came to the conclusion that more---and younger---laborers are needed.

Thankfully (and providentially, in my opinion) next week is the spring break of my dear niece and nephews. And it's supposed to be a warm week according to the 10 day forecast which I check with more dedication and fervor than my stock indexes (maybe because I have no stock indexes). What a nice juxtaposition of availability and opportunity!