LET'S GO CAMPING!

I guess this is the time of year to go camping.  To tell you the truth, no matter how cute a camper is...I do not like camping.  Give me a nice motel and have someone cook and do the dishes for me and I will be just fine.  That is my idea of a relaxing vacation or weekend.  Otherwise...I will do my own cooking and dish washing from the comforts of my own kitchen.   I cannot in my wildest imagination think why I would want to get food and supplies, pack up the camper with all sorts of things, pack some more, then finally drive and drive to get to the campsite. unpack everything, cook all the meals...bitching complaining about the mosquitoes and how hot it is and then pack it all back up again and drive and drive just to get home and unpack everything...and it all stinks like mildew!    Oh, boy...what fun we had. 


I know you can hear the sarcasm but really we can have fun right in our own back yard and we do!  We have a fire pit surrounded by flowers which do attract bees but DH sprays for all those nasty things.  We grill right outside the front door on the deck.  I can eat at the table by the AC if I want to or out on the deck.  I can sleep in my own bed, sit in my own chair and if I really truly want to scare the coyotes...I can sing around the campfire.  The coffee is always hot and the beer is always cold.


Our girls love to come home and actually stay home when they are here.  They love "camping" at home.  Hmmmmm...maybe they haven't caught on to us yet.  

Now this wasn't always easy to pull off.  Nope...not when you have young children.  You have to expose them to all the fun things in life.  You have to allow them to experience life.  This is how we went camping "MOMMA STYLE" around 25 years ago.



OK, girls....aren't we having fun at the lake!  You just eat those Popsicles and make sure to wash off when you're done.







Well, girls that was quite a day at the lake, you settle down in those tomato ketchup sleeping bags and Dad will take care of those nasty snakes and mosquitoes.  You never know how many there are in the dining room!

As the girls got older we even let them fill their own lake!  Can it get any more fun camping?

 

Oops, girls, you will have to take turns in that lake!  Play nice.
Learn to share.  Not everyone can go for a dip in the lake at once.



That's better.  Big sister let little sister in first.  What a life...cooling off AND camping in North Dakota...MOMMA STYLE

 Well, after telling you and showing you how we camp, (I camp?) I thought I would share this little camper design for those that have electronic cutting machines.   I did this one for a lady on one of my boards. 

CLICK HERE to download SVG.

HOW TO SURVIVE A SNOW STORM....and life in general!



Those trees off in the distance is what I was shooting for. 
All I have to do is keep the truck on the road...but where is it?
This is a normal morning commute home from work in the winter.



It seems I always have a story to share with my family and friends and the following was an email I sent out to them in the wee hours of the night..  Apparently SOME (and you know who you are!) were rather entertained by this one and suggested I share it...so here it is.  This happened to me on Wednesday night.

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Well, it was quite the evening for me and I don't care to repeat it any time soon or if ever!
I did not travel safely tonight. We have 30 below wind chills and I got stuck about a 1/2 mile from home ( I thought it was a mile!). I called Hubby and told him I was stuck and would see how far I got shoveling. The worst part was a LARGE woman trying to put on coveralls in the front seat of a pickup. Not pretty at all! First I had to take my work boots off to get the coveralls on. Do you know how many laces are on work boots? Too damn many! I was huffin' and puffin' and almost too out of breath to go shovel snow. I then realized that my coat with the hood would not fit over the coveralls so I had a sweatshirt I tied over my head for warmth and three scarves wrapped around my neck. I looked like a human cocoon! Well, I got out and tried to shovel but the wind kept blowing the sweatshirt off my head and over my face. I was fighting with that and it was so cold and the wind was blowing so hard. It tried it for awhile but I am also doctoring with a bad shoulder and it was just not happening. I got back into the pickup and what do I see coming down the road...a flashlight! Hubby was coming to save me! LOL...and all I did was yell at him to get in and warm up. He was not supposed to come and shovel because I had told him to stay put. Oh, well, he never listens to me anyway! No one is supposed to walk in this kind of cold! Well, he shoveled and I got it to move about 30 feet total and we sat in the pickup and decided the only way to get out of this mess is to leave the truck! We should not have even thought about leaving the vehicle as we are always told not to do but we did. My allergy to cold was about to be tested...to the limits.


Anyway...I bundled up as best as I could and I left only a small spot in front of one eye to look out of.  Hubby told me to hang onto the handle of the shovel and he would guide me.  Do you know how dark it is out at night. Pitch black! I think I went about 10 feet and I got stuck in a snow bank and twisted my bad knee and went right down. Oh, I was covered in snow and couldn't get up right away. Hubby's biggest fear was that he might have to carry me back to the house! I finally rolled around like a garden slug and was able to get a footing and got up. It didn't hurt so bad that I couldn't walk so off we went again. I told him that I needed both hands for balance or I would fall again so I let go of the shovel. I felt the cold air coming in that little spot I left open so I just covered up my head completely with the jacket I was carrying for more warmth. He held the shovel in front of his face to deflect the wind because it was so bitterly cold.  He then proceeded to direct me to go to left or to the right and led me down the road. OH, it was quite the ordeal and I would have loved to have seen us on camera! I was definitely sucking wind the whole way!


I was never so glad in my life to get to our driveway. The truck will be in an even bigger snow bank tomorrow and we now have no vehicle until someone rescues us. I have to call someone early in the morning and make sure they do not send a snowplow down there or it might get hit. Probably smuck our truck and it will fly out in the field somewhere in a million pieces. Oh, I really hate winter! I am too old for this crap!
I took a nap after I got home because I was so exhausted and slept until 4 a.m. and to think I was planning on being at work all night!
One thing is for sure...if Hubby will walk a mile in a snow storm to rescue me...I better behave myself!
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UPDATE...NEXT DAY...THURSDAY

Well, I called a township board member and told him our situation and to be sure not to let the snowplow come down here because the truck was sitting smack dab in the middle of the road stuck.  He said he would get the message out. 

Hubby decided to walk back to the truck and see what he could do.  As he walking towards the truck...off in the distance he sees the snowplow coming!  He said he tried to shovel like crazy to get it out but nope...the plow came right up to the pickup.  I guess there had been a slight miscommunication!  The poor operator had to then back up about a 1/2 mile with the snowplow and that is no easy feat.  A neighbor had spotted Hubby out shoveling and called another neighbor and told him that he was out there shoveling like a mad man.  Apparently he had seen my Hubby the same time Hubby saw the snowplow!  That neighbor came down and then another neighbor came also.  I was curious as to what was going on and he does not know I was watching them all with the hunting field glasses all from the warmth of the living room window!  Amazing what you can see thru them!  They did quite a bit of "Shootin' the Bull".  Awhile later a Bobcat Skid Steer loader comes in the yard and snow is blowing everywhere.  The neighbor had not only cleaned out the road and got the truck to safety, but he blew out our yard also!  WOOHOO.
What a great place to call  home!  What a great bunch of people to have around!

Yes, and that is my life on the farm....amazing how I manage to keep living and telling about it! 

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, oh, crappola

Yes, we are getting pretty sick of the snow. We are having one heck of a time finding the road. I have no idea how the blade operator can even see where it is after a snow storm. Once it snows and blows, there is nothing but white in the bright sunlight and heaven forbid...try driving at night like I have to...and the road just does not exist.

I wanted to share a few photos of just what it is like to live where I do. It is wonderful in the summer, traffic seldom goes by, the air is very clean, and you can always hear the birds singing. There is usually wind in North Dakota and it makes our trees rustle like the sound of an ocean right outside our window. Kind of cool sounding...very relaxing indeed.

THEN...along comes winter. Ripping around the corner of the house like a locomotive, howling like a pack of wolves in heat and snow so thick you can’t see in front of your face. You are constantly bundled up with enough clothing you could roll down a hill and never get hurt. (If we had a hill.) The cold is so bitter that you can’t breathe and vehicles burn up more gas just warming up than it takes to get to work. We are not wasteful we just like to be able to breathe when we drive. I tried holding my breath once but it was so cold I stayed blue for a week. We are not Smurfs. Yep, it pretty much blows the heck out of the relaxing summer we just had. Kind of makes you want to go out and rip that sign down that says…Welcome to North Dakota…and put one up that says, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK! They say it keeps out the riff raff. Oh, no, they are here because you have to be a little crazy to live here year ‘round.

So it goes…come on…share a day with me…the sun did shine for these photos.



Of course our dog drinks Aquafina and he never goes on a road trip without it! Doesn't yours? 

 

He knows he buried a bone right there just last summer.
Yes, winter is tough on the Willy dog.
He seems to love the cold except when he has to poop.  He will get halfway done, it freezes and it just snaps off.  He never knows if he's done or not.



Here is my road going east.

  

Here is my road going west.

Can you really tell what direction you are going?

 I know by now you are pretty excited about North Dakota.
Do you ever wonder why our unemployment rate is the lowest in the nation?  It's because you will want a job, any job just to keep moving so you don't freeze to death.  And also, don't you think maybe, just maybe, you might get a bit tired of staying home and looking at this?  Yes, work is nice.....

Here is our farm from a distance.

This is as close as we want you to come without an invite...so says hubby.

Here is our house from the end of our driveway.
This is where hubby would like a gate...with a huge lock!

I let him think he really is tough...

Well, yall come back sometime! Ya hear!  Maybe spring?

WINTER BLUES IN NORTH DAKOTA?

I can't say we have the winter blues but I thought there was something wrong with my camera when I took a photo out of the livingroom window. I looked and looked, for some reason I thought I had accidentally set it on Black and White. At first I didn't realize that is really all the camera saw!
 



Oh, and then Low and Behold, here comes the Hubby and the dog.  They were out for a walk and feeding pheasants.  The pheasants are having a hard time surviving this winter.  There is so much snow they can't find feed.  I sure am glad he likes the cold better than I do!



There they go...all three of them.  The Willy dog, DH and that lazy cat.  They are headed for the warmth of the wood shop.  I wonder what he will be making today!

Looks like a soup kind of day!
I will have to see what we come up with.





Those of you shudder to think of living here in North Dakota but wait...we do have the lowest unemployment rate in the whole nation. That is only because half of the year we are working on the mountain removal project and the other half of the year is snow removal.

Have a wonderful weekend!



THINK SPRING!

Now that we know that winter is almost over, 6 weeks or not...I am optimistic that spring is going to come screaming around the corner at any minute. So until I hear the screaming...I will remember last summer.

Our youngest daughter decided that Daddy needed a new puppy. We had our other Yellow Lab for almost 14 years before he passed away. We had been dogless for a couple years and to tell you the truth, it was nice not to have to worry about a dog any more. Oh, sure I missed old Charlie but it just was a responsibility that in our old age we didn't really need.

So along came Willy! What a bundle of energy. I know why old people don't have kids...we don't have the energy to keep up with them. The same goes for puppies. But he makes us laugh so much it is worth it. What a personality. He is more human than some of the people I know.

He loved to ride with hubby on the mower last summer. That will come to a halt this summer because at 7 months old, he is now way too big for that, about 70 pounds. We have no idea how big he will get at this rate. The UPS man was wondering when we were going to get him saddle broke. We might have to!

I am sure the warm milk and peanut butter sandwich he gets for a treat everyday doesn't help. We just have to make sure he doesn't get overweight.

He absolutely loves the vacuum cleaner. He will lay there while we vacuum him then rolls over and he let's us do the other side. The shop vac seems a bit much for him but...I think he likes the way the vacuum flutters his lips.

I can brag, he is such a good dog.
He eats his veggies......



He plays well with others..........



He helps with gardening............



He also sits when we tell him to..............



Yep, I guess we will keep him. He knows too many of our secrets already!



UPDATE ON WILLY TWO YEARS LATER

I have to say...I think we fed him well.  Willy has turned out to be almost human.  I cannot even begin to tell you the stories we have to tell or the times he has made us laugh.

First of all, he is under foot all the time.  That is natural for most dogs.  Second of all, he is always smiling.  I have never seen a dog smile so much in my whole life.  I have no clue what he thinks is so funny or what there is to be so happy about, but he apparently has found it.

As you seen in previous pictures, he was quite cute as a puppy.  His days of riding on the lawnmower on hubby's lap are over...well almost.  He still trys to sit on his master's lap but has to sit beside him instead.  We can't sit in the gazebo without him thinking he has to have a chair to sit in too.  

Here they are resting after hoeing the garden.  He listens very well to "Get outta the Garden"

His feelings get a little hurt so he goes and lays in the shade of the apple tree.  He sometimes goes and

plays with the cats.  His favorite cat that he plays with is pictured below.

This cat is the laziest thing I have ever seen.  All he does is eat, sleep, poop and just be cute.  He loves to be cuddled and petted but just don't scratch his tummy...those are fightin' moves.