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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. |
| We headed out yesterday for St. Cloud, or close to it anyway. It had snowed all day so the roads weren't the best, but still fair. We reached our destination about midnight, talked with family for a half hour or so, then went to bed. Bed yes, sleep no. Very little for me, I just kind of dozed on and off. Then up early to go to the basketball playoffs. But, all that's for another day when I'm not "butt-ass tired". Yes, I said that. I'm so tired I'm unable to focus my thoughts properly. My wife asked if I had finished my blog entry and my answer was, "No, I'm too damned butt-assed tired to write anything. If I try it's going to come out "poopious"! "Poopious? is that anything like crappy?" "Yes. It's one and the same." "Why don't you write that?" "Write what?" "What you just said about it being poopious because your butt-assed tired. I'm sure anyone who reads it will get a good laugh." "Yeah" I replied, and then added, "And think I've completely lost it." So, I included my last sane thoughts for the night to explain why I'm so tired, and what happens when I get very little sleep. |
| Years back when my wife and I first began kayaking, we went out every chance we could, often at lakes close to home. One very hot day we went to a Lake Pelican and began paddling around the lake. This was in eastern South Dakota with few trees and a lot of open land, so there was little shade. We reached the opposite side from where we had started and found a small, sandy, and shallow bay that was isolated and had a lot of trees. It was a great place to stop for a break. We sat on shore and drank some water, snacked on some protein bars we had brought with, and enjoyed the shade. Despite the shade, it was still hot. The water looked very inviting so we rolled our pants up and waded out; it felt wonderful. There wasn't anyone around on land or on the lake so we decided to strip down and go skinny dipping. We waded out about twenty feet or more before we could dive into the refreshing water. We splashed around and cooled ourselves for a few minutes then headed back to shore. We hadn't brought a towel, so we sat on our shirts and let the warm air dry us before getting dressed and heading back out in the kayaks. We had just reached the area where the water was deep enough to dive when we heard muffled voices from behind us. "We got out of there just in time." I said to my wife. She replied, "Yes, we did." We continued on our way not thinking anything about it. Shortly after rounding the bed of the bay, we saw we were alongside Lake Pelican State Park. We went ashore to investigate the park; we had never visited it and were curious if it would provide us a place close to home for camping. We left the kayaks on shore by a beach and fishing area, then walked up the road. We came to a trail that went right and followed back to the bay where we had just been swimming. The trail ended at a small, wooden, overlook tower were we met two park workers who had just finished clearing some brush and cleaning up the area. As they walked past us one asked, "Hows the water? Did you enjoy your swim?" |
| I still have a half hour to get this in for a daily entry. That's my time, but for site time, I'm a half hour late. Oh well, some days are like that. My eldest son called, his daughter, my granddaughter is playing basketball this year and wants us to come and watch her play. Of course, like most kids, she's a bit late in asking; the only game/games she has left are the playoffs this Saturday. Not much notice. Not much time to set things up, and we are in a another cold snap with temps barely getting above zero during the day. I don't like traveling when it's sub-zero, it's hard on vehicles, and dangerous; it seems if something is going to break or go out, it's during a long drive in cold weather. But, it's also very hard to tell her no, we can't make it because of the cold and short notice. So, my wife will take off a couple hours early tomorrow night so we can get to St. Cloud before midnight. Then Saturday, it's up early, we have to leave my son's by nine to catch the first game. Depending on how well they do, it may be one game or it could be more. I'll have time to get my stuff done in here as well as my other daily tasks before we leave, but I'm not sure about Saturday. I could log in on my phone, but I'm pretty limited because of the screen size. Then again, I may just take this laptop with and see if I get any time. Between visiting, games, and driving back home, it may be a full day. I wonder if anyone would notice I'm on the computer during the game? |
| I know, a brisk walk means a moderate-intensity walk that's faster than a leisurely stroll but not so fast that you can't carry on a conversation. Yesterday, however, I discovered what a "brisk" walk really is. It was sunny and my wife had the day off, so we wanted to take the two dogs out and let them burn off some energy. By noon it was only five degrees Fahrenheit, and there was a slight wind blowing, so we bundled up before headed to the State Park. After getting there we let the dogs out to play and walked the campground loop they keep plowed. It's adjacent to the lake and the wind was coming across without anything to block or slow it. The snow off the road was up to Max's belly, and for Bellah it was almost as deep as she is tall. but they ran, jumped, and enjoyed themselves as well as keeping us entertained as we walked. But that wind went through our clothing and soon we were chilled and ready to go. The dogs fared better and would have enjoyed staying longer, but it was just too cold for us. Listening to the radio as we drove back home we were informed we were under a wind-chill advisory with values of minus twenty-six below! The temperature had continuously dropped, not risen, and the wind had intensified. Yes, it was a enjoyable walking, but our pace was brisk as we hurried back to the warm vehicle to get out of the brisk winter air and the brisk wind chilling our bones. |
| Twenty-three years ago I met my wife. No, silly, she wasn't my wife then. But she would become my wife later. Actually, I met her for the first time on February eighth, but it was on the ninth that we actually talked to each other. She had moved to the area with her two daughters, who had become friends with my daughter in school. Soon they were coming over regularly. On one visit, there mom stopped to pick them up, but they weren't watching, or perhaps just ignored her so she had to come to the door. I had a five-week old puppy at my feet, so I scooped her up and answered the door. I introduced myself and my puppy, then held the door for her to come in. She looked me up and down, told me her name and spoke past me to her daughters telling them they had a couple minutes to get to the car or they wouldn't be coming over again. She turned and went back to the car to wait for them, I closed the door and announced to the room, "Definitely the anti-social type." A line I had picked up from the movie, "Kelly's Heroes." The next day they came over again, and she again stopped to pick them up. This time they convinced her to come in for a bit because they were still waiting for my daughter to get home and didn't want to leave before they talked to her. Shortly after, the kids began talking about going to the Eelpout Festival in Walker, about an hour away. Of course, my future wife's daughters wanted to go as well. They weren't dressed for an ice-fishing festival, but I had plenty of winter gear and soon it was decided they could go with. We, my future wife and I, sat and talked for hours getting to know each other. Before we knew it, the kids were back home and it was about nine hours later! After that, we quickly became friends, then began dating, then she moved in with me, and eventually we were married. It wasn't until some time later, after we were a couple, that we learned my daughter and hers had planned the whole thing in order to bring us together! Forget Cupid, we have daughters... |
| The sun broke out a bit today, the first time in at least a week. Starting last weekend we had a forecast for a dusting to an inch of snow; we got about two. Midweek another forecast for a dusting to an inch of snow: we got two more. Thursday the forecast was for an inch or two of snow followed by a cold but sunny weekend. We didn't get any snow. We didn't get any sunny weekend either... Friday afternoon there was a winter storm warning–two to four inches of snow by Saturday. It finally stopped snowing early this morning, as predicted, but we have six to eight inches. Thankfully our landlord pays for snow plow services; he's been here Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and now this morning! I started shoveling walkways and around vehicles, there's about a foot, maybe more, of snow that's fallen through the week. I'm thinking about going over to the neighbors and seeing if I can use his four-wheeler. It has a plow on it and it would make cleaning up so much easier. It would make it fun, too. |
| As I posted in the Newsfeed, my email went on the glitch and wouldn't open the next email. Not a big problem, but kind of a pain to always go back to the inbox. I checked my settings and everything looked fine. I downloaded Chrome, my Linux came with Firefox, and it did the same thing. Robert Waltz   suggesting the settings, so I went back in just in case I had missed it. It was set for next message. I decided to try switching it to previous message and tried it out. It worked fine. I next went back into settings and switched back to next message. I tried it out and it works like a chimp champ!I don't know why it stopped working despite being set properly, and I don't care; it's just nice to have it work correctly again. Hopefully what ever caused the glitch is over and done, but if not, I know what to do to fix it now. I guess if all else fails, jiggle a wire or a switch, so to speak, and hope it does the trick. Now, since I mastered that, I'm thinking of trying a bigger build of Linux that will do more. I'm currently using Mint, a small but nice formatted operating system, but it's somewhat limited and difficult to add to. The old laptop I put it on had a major Windows failure, but it has plenty of resources to run a bigger system. |
| After a comment I received, I was going to get a few pictures of Max, my Husky and post them for anyone interested. I have some pictures on my phone, but I'm using a Linux operating system with Firefox on my laptop after Windows crashed. I can, but with some difficulty and a lot of messing around, transfer pictures. So, I thought I'll use the camera on my laptop and take a couple new photos. I have tried several times today to take Max's picture when he's been doing something cute. But, by the time I get the camera ready, he notices and comes over to see what I'm doing and ruins the shot. I even tried while he was sleeping, but he notices right away and heads right to me. Two of the shots I took captured his nose quite well, the others were all blurry. I then decided to just use my phone, since it's faster. I kept it close by all day to try and get a couple of nice pictures of him. Fat chance! Anytime I activate the camera, he notices and moves, blurring the shot. I tried a couple outside and thought I had finally gotten a couple of pictures. However, a warm camera taken outside in single digit temps results in a steamed up lens and more blurred photos. Back inside, I dried the lens and left my camera on and ready. But, as soon as I pick up my phone, he moves. My wife just texted me she's on her way home. I picked up the phone to answer her and before I even got the phone in front of me, Max scrambled out of the room. I think my boy is camera shy! Tomorrow I'll try being more tactful and try to get a couple shots when he's not noticing, and hopefully post a couple for anyone who is interested in what he looks like. |
| As I posted in the Newsfeed, my wife wanted to go shopping yesterday, and she wanted to get going early so we could be done and back home before it got cold. By the time we finished shopping and running around, it was past dinner time, so we went to an Oriental Buffet that used to have good food at a reasonable prize. Skyrocketing food prices have managed to revers that, now the food is mediocre at best, and much more expensive. After dinner, we took the dogs over to an open area just outside of town and let them run, play, and relieve themselves before heading home. Once home we fed them, then hauled items in and put everything away. We had just finished up when the neighbor came over to visit for a bit (he's been holding off until we got over our last round with Covid, but seeing us out shopping, he figured we were safe to be around). By the time we finished out visit and he returned home, it was almost nine in the evening. I had good intentions of logging in and keeping my streaks going, but I dozed off in my chair before I got logged in! So, I missed yesterday and find myself starting over—again. |
I have two blogs, this one for more serious entries, and the other ("Kibbles and Bits"  for balderdash, drivel, and foolishness. Most days I write in here, but on occasion, if I'm so inspired, I write a bit of malarkey or twaddle in the other.But, with the opportunity for a badge of seven (7 Day Achievement Badges) I find myself wondering if writing seven consecutive blog entries between two blogs would earn one. Or, do all seven have to be in one specific blog? For that matter, does such a creature exist, The 7 Days of Blogging Badge? I suppose I could go look and see if there is such a thing, but perhaps one of you already know (sorry, I'm feeling lazy tonight). Any feedback, as always, is greatly appreciated. Oh, and if you missed it in the Newsfeed, I have another gibberish entry "It's a Woodchuck" in my other blog "Kibbles and Bits" , not that I would self promote or anything. |
| There was a question asked for the Spiritual Newsletter in the Community Newsfeed today asking: Do you find yourself saying 'it was my fault' when it wasn't? I answered no, because I don't take fault when it falls on someone else. But, there was a time when I did. Eventually, I learned that if I take the fault, the person who is at fault doesn't have to. This was the case with siblings when I was a child. Often I would get blamed for something they did and I would not argue it wasn't my fault. Back then, I would have only gotten into more trouble. But, the die was cast and I learned to just say, "It was my fault" even if it wasn't. I would take the repercussions as they got away with it. This was the case when I skipped a half a day of school in fifth grade. It was a beautiful spring day and we were outside for our lunch break. I was talking to the girl next door (actually a couple doors down) who was also my best friend. Not only my best friend, but I also had a huge crush on her. Being so nice, we decided to skip school for the afternoon. She had never been down the mining road by our houses, so we decided it was a fine day to do just that. I don't know if it was both of us planning or if I talked her into it. Perhaps she talked me into it, I don't remember What I do remember is learning a couple of very important lessons that day. One, never skip a half a day of school. If you were there in the morning, they will check up if your gone in the afternoon. If you're going to skip, take the whole day. Secondly, don't say it's my fault after you get busted. The school called my house when I didn't return after lunch, so I was in a heap of trouble as soon as I got home. The next day when I arrived at school and walked into my classroom, I discovered there was going to be more trouble heaped on top of the existing heap. My teacher confronted me right off about skipping the previous afternoon. I was responsible and admitted my guilt, I didn't make any excuses, and I accepted my punishment, even though I did not know at the time what it would be. I anticipated it would be detention after school for a while. During the interrogation, Kelly's name was brought up since she also skipped out with me. Since I had admitted my guilt, I thought if I explained it was my fault, perhaps she would be spared punishment. I was right in part. I explained that I had convinced her to skip with me, it was all my fault. The teacher nodded, then asked, "So it was all your fault?" "Yes." I was told that my punishment would be a choice of one week detention after school, or one whack with the paddle; skipping school resulted in two weeks detention or two whacks, but I had only skipped a half a day, I would only get one week or one whack. I did not want to stay after school at all, so I opted for one whack, that wouldn't be so bad. The teacher had me bend over my desk as the entire class watched. He took out his paddle (this was normal back then) came up behind me, and with a whistling sound followed by a thunderclap, the paddle impacted with my gluteus maximus. It stung so bad my eyes watered; I would have swore my backside was on fire. I straightened up clenching my teeth to hold the tears back so my class wouldn't see me cry and was about to take my seat. But, my teacher gently put his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and he shook his head as he told me, "You said it was all your fault, so instead of Kelly getting a whack, you also get her's. He gently bent me over the desk again. A second time I heard the whistling of the paddle, a second time I felt the intense sting as it slapped against my buttocks. But this time, I was already hurting and knew how much that paddle was going to sting, so I tensed up before it hit which made it hurt even more. I was then allowed to sit if I wanted, or I could stand in the back of the classroom if my bottom was too sore to sit. I stood the entire day, sitting only after I got home to a padded chair. Even then, it still hurt to sit. How did Kelly fair in all of this? She was still punished for skipping a half a day, despite my efforts to remove any fault from her. But, instead of one whack or one week, the teacher gave her two days detention for letting me take the fault when she skipped by her own choice. She didn't get punished for skipping, but she did get punished for letting me say it was all my fault. We both learned something that day. |
| My wife and I looked at a pull-behind camper today that my wife's coworker wants to sell. She and her husband purchased it to fix up (minor repairs) for their own use, but shortly after purchasing it, he became sick and passed on. It's been sitting for almost a year since then, parked in their back yard under some pine trees. At first it was, "Take a look and make an offer." But she also said that her grandchildren had been playing in it and it was a mess inside. She was going to clean it out before we came to look at it. She added, "There is some water damage now, so I'll sell it for five hundred dollars. Everything worked when we purchased it, but the kids have stuff all over and there's a bit of water damage." A couple of days ago my wife talked to her about looking at it today, her day off. Her coworker was going to clean out so we could look at it this afternoon. We arrived a little after two, since she said between two and three would work best for her. I dropped my wife off in front so she could let the woman know we were there, then I drove around back and looked over the outside. It's in rougher shape than it was last fall when we first looked at it and inquired about it. My wife came out and said the lady didn't get it cleaned out, she wasn't feeling well but we could go in and look around. There was toys, bikes, and other stuff everywhere with barely room to get inside the door. I managed to work my way in a bit further and saw the water damage. There were spots on the ceiling where water had leaked in through the roof, not an easy fix. My wife moved a bit of stuff around so we could look in the bedroom. "I can see light! There's a hole in the ceiling." We traded places so I could see better. Half the bedroom ceiling had fallen in and a hole the size of a softball! There were also signs of water damage down the wall. The floor was covered in parts of the ceiling and junk, so I couldn't tell if the floor was damaged, but there's little doubt about it with a hole in the ceiling. We closed it up, but before we left I climbed up the ladder on the back to look at the roof. I climbed just high enough to look, the ladder was wobbly, likely the back wall was also damaged and rotted. The roof had been re-coated sometime in the past, and patched some time after that. But, a lot of the patches were lifting and peeling all over the roof, it's shot. We were kind of disappointed after seeing the extent of the damage, we had hoped it was superficial from what she had told us. I don't think she has been inside since her husband passed, except just inside the door. I feel bad for her, but there's no way I'm taking on that mess even if she gave it to us for free. I seriously doubt it can be repaired and I'd be afraid to try and tow it down the highway. |
| Yesterday I finally managed to write a short story "Never Have a Bear As a House Guest" and break the streak of being bogged down and stuck. It was also my first time (I think) of writing a true story instead of fiction. I have written stories based on true events, but always have added some fiction in. Not this time, except for the peoples names. Having written it, I find myself remember a couple other encounters with bears during the time I lived further north. Here we only get the occasional bear reports, but living up in Itasca county, there were a lot of bears. I just don't think some of the other encounters I've heard would be enough for a short story, but if I add in some fiction–maybe. I could include every minute detail to make the non-fiction story longer, but I don't want to put you to sleep or scare you away, so perhaps a blend of truth and fiction is the way to go. The good news is, ideas are starting to flow again and it feels damn fine to be writing again. Leora, my muse, sat down on my leg today and whispered a couple of ideas I could add to my true tales, but before we got very far my wife's nephew showed up and Leora dissipated back to that place she resides in my mind (she's pretty bashful). But, I'm sure she will be back soon to assist me with a tale worth telling. Also, I read an entertaining and funny bear story by Wordsmitty ✍️  titled "Bear Drives into Tollbooth - Humor" (I recommend you read it) that aided with some comic ideas to add to the otherwise true tales.I'll work on the story and let you know when it's written. |
| It's been a pretty good day. I've been wanting to write a story, just a short one for some time, but I just couldn't get anything going. Today, however, I was thinking about a situation a friend had with a bear many years ago and decided I'd write about it in my blog. Of course, the idea came while I was in town shopping, so I figured I'd forget or lose it by the time I got home. I know, too much negative energy; but that's the way it's been going. But, as I waited in line to pay for my goods, my mind drifted back to the incident and the memories became clearer. I was interrupted my the cashier, "Are you ready to check out?" "Sorry, I stammered." I was a bit embarrassed I'd gotten lost in thought. "That's okay, is everything alright?" "Yeah, I was just thinking about a friend who had a bear break into her house a long time ago." Smiling, she said, "Really? That would be scary." I told her, "Everything worked out alright except for a lot of damage. In fact, after my friend told me, I thought it was kind of funny." By this time I was holding up the line. "I'd like to rear more about it, but it looks like I'm not going to get the chance." I paid her for the items I had and said, "I was thinking of writing a story about it." I stepped out of the way, but she signaled me to wait. "Do you have a few minutes." I nodded and waited off to the side until the customers had finished and left. "So, you're a writer?" I told her I was, but not published. I explained about the site and how I write stories here. She wrote down Writing.Com and my user name after we had talked a bit and told me I better write the bear story so she could find out how it ended. I told her I would write it after I got home. "I like to write, I'll check out the site and who knows?" I don't know if she will check up on the story or not, but maybe she will also join our community. The link is, "
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| January is coming to an end; only four more days until Groundhogs Day. What will the furry little weather forecaster have to say? Sometimes I think the saying should be, "If the groundhog sees it's shadow, six more weeks of winter, if not, six more weeks till spring." In my neck of the woods, here in northern Minnesota, there's seldom a groundhog (woodchuck as they are known here) emerging in February. It's still too cold to awaken them from their slumber and the ground is frozen solid under a foot or more of snow. We would likely need a week or better of higher temperatures to warm their bodies enough to awaken from hibernation. But, that's not a good thing for any hibernating critters, large or small. We will still have a lot of very cold weather, and we are just starting to get to our snowiest months–March is when we get the most snow, typically. So, if animals awaken now, there is little for them to feed on, and after months of sleep, they need sustenance before they return to their winter dwellings to go back into their deep sleep. It has happened, but rarely. It's always a problem because critters get into garbage bins and come up to houses in search of food. Most don't pose much danger, but raccoons can be very aggressive towards pets and we all know the smelly problem skunks inflict when they come in close contact with people or pets. Trust me, it's bad enough to have a crazed raccoon jump out of a dumpster when throwing trash away, but upsetting a starving skunk when tossing trash will have you suffering for a week or more. Oh, and let's not forget the bears. We don't have many in this area, but were they're more abundant, they raise hell on dumpsters and trash cans if they cannot find food. On rare occasions, they'lll even break into homes in search of food if they're hungry enough. I had a friend (she passed away some years ago) who had a bear, awakened too early from hibernation, enter their house in search of food. No one was injured but the damage inside was horrendous! One of these days I'll have to share that tale with everyone. It's an interesting and somewhat humorous story. |
| I grew up in northern Minnesota in a little town on the Mesabi Iron Range about ten miles from Hibbing Minnesota, home of Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman). Twenty miles in the opposite direction was Grand Rapids, birthplace of Judy Garland, you know, Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. Although Judy was embarrassed by her birthplace, Dylan did acknowledge his hometown and even performed there a couple of times, one of which was an unscheduled concert at the high school in 1976. Our class was bussed over so we could enjoy the short concert he put on. The school tried to censor which of his songs he could perform, but Dylan wasn't about to be censored, he did agree to play the songs the school didn't think appropriate for younger students at the tail end of the concert, after a short break. Only seniors and older people were allowed to stay in the auditorium for the second half, the rest of us were filed outside to hang out and wait for the older kids to join us for the bus ride back home. A friend and I had slipped around the side of the building to smoke, and to our astonishment, there was the band! We stopped, but one of the band members signaled us over and asked what we were doing. Sheepishly we admitted our intentions, and to our surprise, he offered us a Marlboro and a light. We were in heaven getting to stand there and smoke with the band. Bob Dylan wasn't present, but shortly he opened the side door and called everyone back in. We stood in awe, staring until he said, "What the hell, I'm not going to hold this door open all day. And, if anyone asks how you kids got in, lie!" Without hesitation we ran in and found a spot close to the stage to sit and watch and hope like hell no one would notice us and chase us out. We enjoyed the rest of the concert and managed to be unnoticed until the middle of the last song, where we were herded out by one of our teachers tightly gripping an ear in each hand. We both got three days of suspension for sneaking back in, but after giving my reason, the principal added another two, stating I had a bad attitude. Dylan's final song was a new one he had only released the year before, and to this day it remains one of my favorites. I quoted a line from his song when I had to face the principle for our crimes. We tried to tell him we had stayed inside when everyone else left. After a pause to think about it, he asked, "Why didn't you exit with the rest of your class?" I smiled and sang out to the best of my ability, "I was tangled up in blue." |
| Today was a long day. I had to be up early to pick up my mother-in-law and drive her to her eye doctor (Ophthalmologists); she has to go in every six weeks and get an injection in her right eye. She lives about forty-five minutes away, but her eye doctor is another two hour drive from there, in the heart of Wait Park/St Cloud. She's ninety years old and has trouble walking, but gets around fairly well for her age. But this time of year there's snow and ice, so I have to assist her every step. I don't mind except when there are a lot of people who won't make way for us, and St. Cloud is always busy and it seems the people are rude, impatient, and unyielding. Her appointment was at twelve-thirty, so it was also the noon rush. I live in a rural area with small towns around, so I'm not used to city driving. The heavy, noon hour traffic makes it worse, and I had to take my wife's car, a little Chevy HHR. I would prefer to take my truck, it's big, heavy, and people tend to get out of the way, but in a little car they tend to push you right out of the way. But, my mother-in-law can't get in or out of the truck on her own; I have to pretty much lift her up into it or lift her down. With ice and snow it's just too likely her or I, or both with slip and I would feel horrible if she fell, so a little car in crazy traffic. To top it off, as I waited for her in the car, a guy walking around the parking lot decides to bust out a car window to steal a purse someone had left on the seat. This happened about four cars down from where I was parked, and I couldn't jut sit there and watch, so I dialed 911 as I stepped out and hustled over. He had opened the door but stopped when he saw me and heard me talking to dispatch. I stopped by the front of the car, a relatively safe distance from him, as I gave the address over the phone. He had a hunting knife in his had, I think he used the handle to bust the window, and pointed it at me! I put my free hand inside my unzipped jacket and told him he shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight, even though I had no gun. He must have believed the bluff because he turned and ran off through the parking lot. A few minutes later a police car showed up and took down all the information I could give them then went into the building to find the owner of the car. I went back to my car and waited for my mother-in-law to text me when she was done, but I was ready to head back to my home in the woods and couldn't get out of there fast enough. I didn't say anything to her about the incident, no need to worry her, and after we were well out of the city I stopped in a smaller town and took her to lunch. After I took her home and helped her get settled in, then home to our dogs and relax. I lived in Wait Park for over a year before we moved here, it was rated the highest crime rate in Minnesota and I think it still is. If it wasn't for my mother-in-law, I would avoid that area like the plague! |
| I'm curious. I frequently get headaches, not migraines or severe headaches, just the kind that irritate until the Dual Advil kicks in. This has been ongoing over the years and I've mentioned it to physicians when I've been in for check-up or other reasons. There has been no explanation for the why or how. One Nurse-Practitioner, informed me that it could be caused by many different things and asked a lot of question. Since it wasn't seasonal, it wasn't environmental allergies, and since it was a daily occurrence, other factors were eliminated. But, there were still a lot of things that could be causing the headaches. Her advice was, keep a journal. Yes, journal my day with brief notes of what I'm eating, drinking, doing, and going. Also, add in notes of when headaches start, both day and time, so that we could look for a common factor. I did, but nothing seemed to be consistent with the headaches, not even what the weather was doing. After time, I stopped trying to figure it out; it was just a fact of life, and since any over the counter pain medication would get or at least reduce the headache, it wasn't a problem. A couple of years ago I put a new (to me) weather app on my phone. This app gives a nice breakdown of what's currently going on, UV's wind speed and direction, air quality, etc... It also show the barometric pressure and indicates if it's climbing, dropping, or holding steady. It wasn't instantaneous, but in a relative short period I started noticing that I had or would get a headache when the barometer was dropping. But, I had only noticed this a few times, so was it coincidence? I decided to keep a journal of barometric pressure in relation to my headaches. Instead of carrying a journal everywhere, I used the calendar on my phone and logged what days I got headaches and what the pressure was doing. There seemed to be a connection, so I logged the pressure as S.I.D. (steady, increasing, decreasing) every day as well as if or when I got a headache; the daily calendar made this easy to record days and times. It soon became apparent that if the pressure was steady, my headache was gone, but if pressure declined, I would get a headache. If it then became steady, the headache was soon gone, and if it started to increase I would get another headache. I also discovered that dropping pressure hurt more than increasing pressure. Yes, barometric pressure is directly linked to my headaches! decreasing pressure makes my head feel like it wants to explode, increasing pressure is less intense and more apparent in my sinuses. Steady pressure means no headache at all. I've moved to another state since I first started logging and watching this, so there is no going over it with that Nurse-Practitioner to share my results. She may not even practice medicine anymore. But, I am curious if anyone else has noticed the link to barometric pressure and headaches? |
| Yesterday I wrote about making an offer on a pull behind camper. A person my wife works with is selling it and informed us it needs some work inside. So, we were going to figure out a time to go look at it and make her an offer, as she had asked. From the outside, which I have seen, I was thinking maybe offering around one thousand and no more than two thousand, since that's about all we can afford currently. Last night my wife came home from work and informed me that she had talked to the person about us looking at it. She said that when her husband and her had bought it, it needed some work in the bathroom and a good cleaning, possibly some minor work here and there. But, she had let her kids play in it, and now it also has some water damage. She doesn't know how severe, but said she would sell it as is for five hundred dollars! She made an offer I would have a very difficult time turning down, even without looking at it. It looks very likely that we will be purchasing a pull-behind very soon! I still want to look and see how sever the water damage is and what it will take to use it. From what I understand, the damage is mostly cosmetic and it could be used as is. If that's the case, we will possibly be selling both the HiLo and the pop-up. We have talked, however, of setting the HiLo up on a relatives land and using it like a park model camper and continuing the repairs over time. |
| As many of you know, I purchased and have been working on a HiLo camper. It still needs a lot of work, but it's on hold for the winter because it's just too cold to work. However, a woman my wife works with has decided to sell her camper. Her husband and her had plans to fix it up (it needs minor work) but he passed away last fall and now she wants to sell it. I have only looked at it in passing, so I don't know how much work it needs, but it's in far better shape than the HiLo was. It's a pull behind (not fifth-wheel) about twenty or twenty five feet long. It looks good from the outside, and it's similar to what my wife and I had previously looked to buy. I don't know the price she wants, she wants us to look it over and make an offer. So, do I make an offer and purchase it? I have a lot to do with the HiLo yet, but I could put that up for sale and focus on the pull-behind. I'm leaning towards the pull-behind because it's a bit roomier, needs less work, and I can tow it without needing a fifth-wheel. Money is tight after the legal problems we had to deal with and all the costs we had to cover in that situation, but I can manage to come up with some. The plan right now is to wait for a warmer day and go look it over, consider what price to offer, and if we can get it cheap enough, purchase it so we have it for camping this spring (from what she has talked about, it's very usable, but needs minor work inside). The HiLo needs quite a lot of work before it's ready to use, and even then it's uncertain if it will develop leaks again as it flexes and bounces in transit. I've also thought about winter camping, later in the season after the extreme cold has passed. The HiLo would not be a good option for that, as it uses hydraulics to run the cable system to raise and lower the top. But, a tow-behind would work great for camping any season. It's something I'll have to put some thought into, look at the camper, and see how things work out. |
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