Fish decor

While we were dealing with the puppy I asked the home owner if I could photograph his wall.  I loved the display and the combination of new and old.  Many Minnesota homes have some wild life decor in them.  The two small one are from Art in the Park.  But the walley is a 7 pounder that was caught in the Fall on a lake hy his home.  The bamboo pole is one that his grandfather used.  And the old reel is one that his father used when he was a kid.  I have one like it that I purchased in 1954.   Very pleasing to the eye.  Enjoy.

fabric

My phone call was from a classmate.  She had gone to Blackduck to buy fabric for curtains  She told me that the owner of Anderson's Fabrics was giving solid fabrics away to quilters.  So my friend and I continued our outing by going to Andersons.  I got 11 rolls of fabric which we can use for backs for our quilts.  When then decided to have luch in Blackduck.  Lunch over I got back Bemidji in time to do my book club at Luekens. 

 

 

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puppy

My friend wanted to go on an adventure.  There was a man selling a poodle yorkie mixture 3 month old puppy.  So off we went North of Bemidji toward Buena Vista.  Before we could reach the destination I got another call from a classmate about a good deal going on in Blackduck.  So when we went to our puppy destination.  The puppy is a pure black in color.  He is hard to photograph.  I bet he didn't weigh 5 pounds.  We got to see both the mother and the father.  They were about the same size -- just under 20 pounds.  That is a guess as they had a lot of fur.  I am not sure at this time if there was a sale or not.  I will continue this story tomorrow about what the call was about. 

Hair Naturally

 

 

When I first moved to Bemidji I started getting my hair cut at great clips.  I thought I would stay there until I found a person that understood my hair and gave me a good hair cut every time.  Well I found that person.  Her name is Calyn.  When she cut my hair the last time she shared that she was moving to the new salon that was just opened.  Of course I decided to follow her to her new location.  I just got my first hair cut in the new salon.  A hair cut then on to the wash station.  That was a great surprise.  They had vibration and heat in the chairs.  I could have stayed there all day.   But the best part of this story is that she and her husband belong to car club.  Even better.

amber alert

On February 20th my phone started making the sound of an alert.  I had never heard it do that.  Will there was a child abducted in Minneapolis so the police put an Amber alert out to all the cell phone in Minnesota that text.  It simply gave the make and color  of the car they were looking for.  They also told you to tune in to local media for more information.  I did that an it was scrolling all the information.  That child was recovered because a girl read the message and had seen the car.  The child is back with its mother.  It is surely difficult to keep one step ahead of the twisted people that are living amongst us, but in this case technology helped out a great deal. Until I learned that the baby was found and recovered I looked at all the red cars that I met especially the Red Kia Sportage models. 

Jax update

My little fisherman

 

A picture is worth a thousand words.  What a loved little boy.  These are his 3 month old peictures.

Holy roof pain

 

 

 

 

Living in a cold weather climate does come with some added hassles. When a large amount of snow accumulates on your roof, the weight of it could be damaging. Large amounts of melting snow can actually be much heavier than you realize. To avoid any damage or leaking problems that can be associated with snow on top of your roof, you need to take the time to safely and effectively remove large amounts as they accumulate.    I am having my roof shoveled.  I think that there is 22 inches of snow or more up there.  I spoke to the guys and they thought there was spots in the valleys that almost was 5 feet deep.  We are expecting a blizzard which is brewing for the weekend.  They think the weekend blizzard may not get this far North.  At least that was the latest report from the weatherman.  But what do they know they are weathermen, which is to say they guess for a living.  But if it does get here it might dump as much as the last one did.  I just don't want to test my roof construction thank you. 

combined circle

Almond bark, pretzel and a M & M 

Mary circle was in charge of serving the snack for our combined circle meeting.  We decided to bring muffins.  What goes with muffins but bacon and eggs.  It was just the right amount of sweets to accent the muffins.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the the whimsy of them.  Our bible study was about Paul's letters.  I found it interesting that Paul's letters were written 20 years before the gospels were written.  That surely is a little known fact.  But the surprising  part was the issues that the church was dealing with are the same issues that we are still dealing with today.  How to take communion,  types of foods that were served in the church, and what is appropriate attire to wear to church just to name a few.   Our pastor led the bible study which made it very interesting and he has the ability to bring it to life. 

sweater

 

This sweater pattern came out in 1985.  You know the ones that come out in leaflet form to sell yarn.  I got it at Ben Franklins.   So of course I asked my Mom to make me one as I really liked it.  Some of you know how I like to dress with an individual flare.  Anyway I wore that one out.  So I had the brilliant idea to make one myself.  That was a year ago.  You know how ideas just sound so good in the middle of the night, but in the brilliance of the day not so much.  Well, I kept up with it and finished it this weekend.  I plan to wear it at home with a pair of black knit pants.  That should keep me warm when the house seems a bit cooler.  But this Thursday I will wear it to knitting.  I followed the instructions to a tee, but the sleeve got over sized and too long.  Well the front and back are knitted as one piece each so I could not unknit and reknit those parts.  So being the seamstress I am I altered both sleeves to fit and overcasted the sleeve seem so it would not ravel away.  Then set in the cuffs.  Not exactly the way to go.  But like I said it is a house sweater for me to enjoy. I really don't care if it isn't done like those high powered knitter knit.    The proof is in the pudding or in this case the knitting. 

Side note.:)  Did you notice that I use the word seamstress.  Well at first I use the word sewer, but then realized it spelled sewer too.  I certainly did not want to confuse you.

car club's birthday

Car club celebrated their 41st  birthday on Sunday night at their monthly meeting.  After discussing in detail car show planning we had a presentation by one of the charter members highlighting the history and development of the club.  I had heard this presentation before, but I got much more out of it as a more seasoned member.  The cake was a carrot cake which was a pleasant surprise.  One of our members made the cutest mail boxes out of two small candy bars.  I really enjoyed the meeting and the fun.

plants

QVC is having its 24 hours of gardening, outdoors decorating, and out door living spaces.  I ordered delphiniums, hen and chicks, and day lilies.  A plant has to be labeled too dumb to die in order for me to grow it.  I think that the three that I ordered qualify low maintenance and easy grow. I also plan to add the rain gutter planter.  I think I will plant parsley or oregano or other fresh herbs.  I hope to lean it agains my steel building.   I have been thinking and thinking, but I still don't know what I am going to do with that new king sized (my brother's water bed frame) raised garden that I put in last fall. Maybe my pumpkin vines can be place in there. One plant will fill it.    

 

 

 

Confirmation quilts

 

 

 



Our quilting group at the church not only work on quilts for Lutheran World Relief,  we also make quilts for the confirmands.  This wednesday we finished the 12 quilts.  They were presented to the youth director. I will be the first to tell you that I do not do all the work. There is collecting the fabrics, cutting them out, the sewers,  making the name tags for the back of the quilts, the tying the quilts and the binding of them.  That is a lot of different people working on them.  I hardly ever get  my picture in my own blog, so today I decided it was time and had my picture taken.

Pizza

 

 

Now doesn't that look just wonderful.  I was telling my kids this weekend that I really missed eating pizza since my gluten free status developed.  I told them that I was going to look into a crust for a homemade pizza, but I found out that Giovanni's Pizza makes a 10 inch pizza that is gluten free.  Of course, I ordered one and took it home to bake.  It was only $5.99.  I know I will never have that strong craving for pizza again.  I'll just have to make a call to Giovanni's.

supper for a buck

Our church several times a year make lasagna and bars to serve the BSU college students supper. It is held at the Lutheran Campus Center. The students pay a buck for the meal.  Church volunteers make the lasagna, some make bars and then others serve the food.  We make enough food to serve 75 students.  My experience with students is that they are always hungry. 

snow

I returned home from my trip to Jamestown to a yard with 2 feet of snow.  I wanted my truck to be in my steel building.  But there was a huge burm left by the plow.  So I measured how wide my tires were apart.  I shoveled through the burm two tracks.  Either I was going to be stuck when Rik came to plow my yard or it would make it to the steel building.  Then I put the truck in 4 wheel low and just gave it the berries.  Well.... the truck just plowed through the snow and into its parking spot. Must have been those new tires that I just put on.   I think it was tired of sitting outside in that blizzard.  Like an old nag it was in a hurry to be in the barn.

So I shoveled both of my decks which I could not even see.  Then my snow blower which is recommended to go through 10 inches of snow was put to the test.  I keep eating away at the 18 inches of snow on my sidewalk and apron.  I just finished when Rik showed up to plow.  It took 2 hours.   Good thing he did as I had tried to plow with my 4 wheeler and had gotten stuck.  I wasn't even off the apron of the steel building.  The pictures are of my yard after Rik was through.  Well there is 3-5 inches of new snow coming.  It surely would not hurt my feelings if it missed us. I will continue this story when I experience my roof rake.  I know there is over 20 inches of snow up there.   

women

WOMEN

A real woman is a man's best friend.

She will never stand him up and never let him down.

She will reassure him when he feels insecure and comfort him after a bad day.

She will inspire him to do things he never thought he could do,

…and to live without fear and forget regret.

She will enable him to express his deepest emotions and give in to his most intimate desires.

She will make sure he always feels as though he's the most handsome man in the room,

and will enable him to be confident, sexy, seductive and invincible...

No… no… Wait a second…

OH! ...Sorry, I'm thinking of whiskey!

…It's whiskey that does all that stuff.

Never mind.

Noah Today

In the year 2013, the Lord came unto Noah who was now living in America and said:"Once again the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me.  Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing.  Along with a  few good humans."  He gave Noah  the blueprints saying "You have 6 months to build the art before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights". 
Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in the yard, but no ark.
"Noah,"  He roared, "I'm about to start the rain.  Where is the Ark?"
"Forgive me Lord, begged Noah, "But things have changed, I needed a building permit.
I've been arguing with the boat inspector about the need for a sprinkler system on it.
My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood by-laws by building the Ark in my back yard and exceeding the height limitations.   We had to go to the local planning committee for a  decision. 
Then the local council and electric company demanded a shed load of money for the future cost of moving  power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea.  I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear none of it.

Getting the wood was another problem.  There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the greater spotted barn owl.  I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed  the wood to save the owls - but no go.
When I started gathering the animals the ASPCA took me to court. They insisted that
I was confining wild animals against their will.  They argued the accommodations were too restrictive and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.

Then the environmental agency ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted a  environmental impact statement on your proposed flood.

I am still trying to resolve a complaint with the human rights commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew.
The Immigration Department is checking the visa status of most of the people who want to work.
The trade unions say I can't use my sons.  They insist I have to hire only union workers with ark building experience.

To make matters worse the IRS seized my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species.  So forgive me Lord, but it would take ten years to finish this Ark.

"Suddenly the skies cleared and the sun began to shine and a rainbow stretched across the sky
Noah looked up in wonder and asked "You mean your not going to destroy the world?"
"No," said the Lord.
"The Government beat me to it."

Baptism

Ready to go

Father Bitz

Gramma Nancy and Grandpa Steve

Gramma Judy

God Parents

Jax's baptism was at St. James Basilica on Saturday.  Natalie's sister and brother-in-law were the god parents.  The message during the service dealt with the fisherman of men.  How appropriate to have for our little fisherman.  Also the Psalm 23--  that is my favorite  psalm.

Everyone had a great drive over, but getting home posed lots of problems.  God parents had to travel immediately after the service as they live in Zambrota, Mn.  Steve and Nancy left early Sunday morning to go back to Dickinson.  Whereas  I stayed to go back on Tuesday. Roads are closed yet this morning.   More  time with Jax.  My goodness it is fun to be with them.