I was scheduled to do an Arts in the Park in Detroit Lakes this last Sunday so I suggested to my wife Kathie, “Let’s go a day early, get a motel and see the sights in that beautiful lake country. It’ll be a mini-vacation!” Kathie readily agreed so I went on line to find us the perfect motel. We didn’t need a big fancy one with all the amenities because we would only be staying for one night and we…..
I had forgotten about this incident that happened fifty-five years ago but a post on Facebook brought the memories rushing back. My criminal past that had long been buried in the recesses of my brain have returned! For the past few days since I watched that post guilt and shame have weighed heavily on my mind. You see the post was a YouTube video from the early 1960’s and featured the men’s chorus of the newly established University of Minnesota,…..
When I was a ten year old farm kid I loved to go fishing. Now that didn’t happen very often in those years for a variety of reasons. The dozen cows had to be milked twice daily seven days a week. The chickens had to be fed and watered. Several times a day the laying hens’ eggs had to be gathered and brought into the house where they were washed and prepared for delivery to the creamery each week. The…..
I didn’t realize it was an intervention at the time but as I look back on the event it is obvious that it was just that. Several years ago I purchased an iPad. My children jumped into action immediately and helped me set it up so that I could become a member of the Facebook crowd. I was excited! I have shared in previous blogs that I am an ‘entertainer’. I was born that way and it’s in my DNA……
After spending thirty-nine years living in the country I have had my sleep interrupted many times by a variety of nature’s alarm clocks. The problem with that situation is the alarm clocks don’t always go off when its convenient for me or my sleep pattern. Take this spring for example. It was 6:00 am, an hour and a half ahead of my normal wake up time when just outside our bedroom window the most awful “rat-a-tat-tat” filled the still morning…..
The message on my iPad read, “Hi!! I have a question for you and you can absolutely say no!! What are the odds the great Mr. Mike would be willing to come out of retirement next Friday?” Do you notice the clever way of using the words “the great” just at the right time in that message? How could my ego turn down such a request? So I didn’t! Cassie sent the message as she was doing my old job…..
“On and off” gentleman farmer might be a strange description when it comes to describing my farming behavior. But it does get across the point that I didn’t fit into the normal stereotypic ‘roll up your sleeves, dig in the dirt’ farmer role. My farming practices had their ups and downs. I grew up on a family farm and that old saying is so true, “You can take the boy off the farm but you can’t take the farm out…..
Selena is our granddaughter. She is in the fourth grade and we recently attended her spring music concert. It is a tradition at their house to have a post-concert celebration at Dairy Queen and feast on an ice cream treat of each person’s choice. I look forward to that tradition and since a hot fudge, marshmallow sundae is my favorite treat I dream about it from the beginning to the end of every concert I attend. Selena would be celebrating…..
I am sitting at my computer composing another blog and an April snowstorm is approaching. When one’s mind is expecting spring to appear any day the thought of a fresh foot of snow is disappointing. So I’m going to continue in the disappointing vain for a bit. Because after twenty years of growing pumpkins and selling them along the highway that passes our house I have decided to retire from pumpkin farming. As I announced my retirement intentions to the…..
Spring is creeping back into our northland. As the temperatures begin to slowly climb above freezing we anticipate the ‘ice out’ in our ponds, lakes and rivers. We have a creek that runs several hundred yards in front of our house and this time of the year as the snow begins to melt I can stick my head out of our front door a hear the roar of the water churning and tumbling as it makes it’s way to Lake…..
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Bitsy on Bedtime Stories
- Myra on Bedtime Stories
- Dave Huseth on Made in l944, All Original Parts!
- Nancy on Birthday Cards
- sam shoquist on The Praying Football Coach
Archives
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016