Horse Manure Park

We are nearing Thanksgiving.  The madness of the Christmas rush is just a few days away.  The snow is here to stay.  The cold is unforgiving.  The sun sets around 4:30 PM.  Vitamin D is at a premium. Our first snowmen of the year.  Actually, they more of a dirt/snow hybrid.  Probably some dog crap in there, too. We are approaching that time of year where sun and sandals can only be found in distant lands, thousands of miles away.   Blech. Still, it is important to keep your focus on the goodness of life.  A couple of situations involving friends and family over the past few weeks have reminded me to never take life -- or happiness -- for granted. Don't take your health for granted. Don't take your relationships for granted. Don't take tomorrow for granted. I know that's all easily said.  It's much more difficult to practice, especially if things are going well for you. Remember, happiness and good fortune may not last v...

It is time I update, in case some of you think I've fallen off the face of the earth.  I don't think that would be possible with gravity and all, but you never know. We enjoyed an extended weekend at the Bismarck Baumann's over Thanksgiving.  The weather wasn't the friendliest on the way to Bismarck.  The last 220 miles (give or take) looked like this, a snapshot Beth took with her phone: Interstate 94, somewhere between Fargo and Bismarck, ND. Yes, that is a car about 200 feet in front of us.  I was thankful that is wasn't snowing, just windy.  If it had been snowing even a moderate amount, the interstate would have been impossible to navigate.  It is no wonder why the highway patrol closes down the freeway when major winter storms hit. Luckily it was a fairly uneventful trip, except for Ava's usual carsickness.  She only puked once and it was successfully retrieved in the proper receptacle.  No problem, just a quick stop in Hawley to...

Hello, Bloggerland... I am back.  Happy December 1st.  Only 24 more shopping days 'till Christmas! I am still trying to catch up on my e-mails.  I haven't been around a computer much over the past week.  My laptop suffered a massive epileptic seizure the day before Thanksgiving.  It totally crashed and burned.  I entrusted it into the capable hands of James at Brainerd Computers on Monday and he diagnosed the problem and fixed it right away. It seems Windows automatically downloaded a driver which wasn't certified yet and it corrupted something-or-other in my computer.  At least, that's my layman's understanding of it.  Word of advice: turn off your automatic Windows updates and acknowledge everything manually.  Specifically, do not allow Windows to download or install any hardware drivers from Microsoft.  At least that was the advice Mr. Computer gave to me.  And I trust his advice.  Believe me, it really screwed up my m...

It didn't even occur to me until just a little while ago that tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  This week hardly has a holiday feel at our house.  Beth is working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I'm working Wednesday night into Thursday morning.  We are basically tag-teaming the kids.  It is a "hi" and "bye" week.  Thursday is just another day this year. Not much to say, just wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels this week/weekend.  I saw earlier that a "strong chance" of snow was predicted for this weekend in my neck of the woods.  That's now been downgraded to a 10% chance. My son is starting to stir from his nap.  He's going to wake up and be mad as hell his mom isn't here.  Wish me luck.