Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Christmas 2019 post script
Our Christmas get together in Edina at the Homewood Suites has come to an end for this year. I think that we all agree that it went very well all in all, with plenty to do and an unusually nice string of above average weather. Everybody on Jan and my side of the family was here including my brothers and spouses. Hans, Rachel, Josiah, Annika and William from Burke, Virginia. Steve, Gen, Sam and Gus from Rochester, Minnesota. Eli, Lindsey, Leah and Aaron from St. James. My brother Phil and wife Laura, brother Paul and wife Marcy spent some time with us. One morning I drove my beautiful daughters around to some Goodwills and a book store. It was fun with little traffic and a used book store that I scored at, I think they did okay at Goodwill. That afternoon the kids all went skating somewhere not too far away. Monday night was football and typically the Vikings looked lost against the Packers, at home to boot. We were in the main area at the motel and had a fairly wild time and picked up a guy from London that joined in for a beer and some of Marcy's chili. He had a very interesting history, born in Angola, scuba dives for fun and looks like he may be a corporate head hunter. Yesterday was nice in the morning and sad too with everybody heading out in different directions at once, Hans and Rachel and their gang back to the airport to drop the rental and hop the flight back to Virginia, Steve and Gen and theirs to Rochester, Eli headed off to Hancock to pick up some coal at Laura's family farm, Lindsey and theirs to St. James. Paul and Marcy off to Hector and Fairmont, Phil to Hancock, Laura to her Mom's and Jan and I to the bike shops in Lakeville and home to St. James. Our three, Gen, Rachel and Eli.
Friday, December 20, 2019
2019 Letter at Christmas time part 2
Following convention July should follow June where I come from. So here we go with the second half at my attempt to bore you readers to tears. I had to rebuild the clutch slave cylinder on my 94 Ducati, probably spending entirely too much time in the garage doesn't help with age problems even for motorcycles. Jan and I headed down to Lanesboro with the trailer and a bike after spending that morning early, running to New Ulm Menards for sump pump parts. Our time down there is usually fun with one of the best fireworks shows we have seen, and I get a little riding in, heading over to Wisconsin for their back roads. Jan had a cousin pass away shortly after we got home so we had a funeral to attend in Jackson. At our age it seems like funerals are getting more common and are the only time we see a lot of people. I suppose that if we can hang on a while longer grand children will be getting married and start having families, so the cycle continues. I managed to get to some more PGR missions in the area, and Jan and I putzed around on some projects out at the farm. Even though it seems like yesterday, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing this year. Looking back now with what I have learned over the years, that was a incredible achievement that we would be hard pressed to duplicate today. I did my annual Big Horn mountain loop over to Wyoming later on with the new Triumph Tiger.
August finds me catching up on some homestead projects, doing some maintenance on our deck and hitting a few PGR missions. Jan had a go around with that medical procedure that everybody hates, it turned out okay. We got caught in the heaviest rainfall I have ever attempted to drive in, while the radio warned us of a tornado near Bingham Lake which happened to be the town we were driving by. We wanted to do some shopping in Windom but all the stores were shut down due to the tornado in the area. We live such an exciting life I can hardly stand it. Jan and I drove up to the Cities to make our reservations at the hotel that we are going to celebrate Christmas at with the whole family in just a few days from now- December 19-. I actually got the bicycle out of the garage and put on some miles before we headed for Ridgway, Colorado for a few days. Jan gets to hang around the motel, which has just gone through a big remodel in the lobby, cruise the thrift shops and I go riding in the San Juan mountains. We got home in time for Labor Day, but that's another month.
September, now we are getting to Vikings football and Leah playing volleyball with the St. Pauls team. Thunderstorms are making several appearances along with a tornado in Sioux Falls. Also Gus and Sam are busy with Fall soccer games at many different locations. Jan and I traded our Escape for a new Edge, mainly because we wanted a better riding vehicle with heated seats and steering wheel. One thing that I have noticed is that we can have a conversation while driving down the road without raising our voices much. The end of the month I tried heading down to New Mexico to try and find some sites that were used in the series "Longmire". The weather was kind of chilly and regardless of how warmly you dress, after a while you get cold, discouraged I headed home from near Cheyenne, maybe next year. I am working on putting a new wiring harness in Elis' 64 Falcon a bit at a time, so far the testing has been coming out good, so wish me luck.
October starts with more heavy rain, it's been a wet year so far. After an online course at the University of U-tube I replaced the rear brakes and rotors on Jan's car. Next up is the fronts, maybe next Spring. A couple days later I hit another deer, that makes four, and I hope that it's the last. Jan and I flew out to Washington to visit with the DeFor family for a few days. Rachel's job with a local contractor has her running all over the area moving supplies etc. around and I rode along a couple of days, I had a good time flying around northern Virginia- I think, most of the time I had no idea where we were. One of the stops in Arlington had us close to the Air Force Memorial so I kind of know where that is. Jan and I flew home on the 16th and we had a 70th birthday get together at the Schells Brewery on the 19th for the tour, imagine our surprise when Rachel and Gen showed up! They had orchestrated the whole thing, our three children Rachel, Genevieve and Steve and their two boys Sam and Gus and Eli and Lindsey and Leah and Aaron, Jan's sister Paula, my brothers Phil and Paul and their wives Laura and Marcy. I don't think that I missed anybody, but it was quite a day for Jan and I.
We had supper in New Ulm and cocktails later. The next day was Vikings football here and it was nice enough to put the tv out on the deck which has always been a great way to enjoy a Fall afternoon. Routine things kind of filled the rest of the month, but it had been a great one getting to celebrate the 70th birthday of the woman I love.
November where Fall goes to die and Winter really begins. Jan went up to Wadena to spend some time with her sister Paula and a couple days later I went there too and we came home together to find four inches of new snow on the ground at home, and so it begins. Leah and Aaron's school had a nice veterans day program that I attended. Got the Mustang's oil changed and put it away for the winter in a corner of the garage, now Jan's car gets to be indoors till Spring. We had an assortment of doctors appointments, one a pre-op for me for that unmentionable procedure and one at Mayo with my guy. As long as we keep getting good reports from him it's always a pleasant visit with doctor Eli and nurse Dawn, even if it's not good check up we still chit chat about things like the sky dive in May and how the riding is going among other things. We put snow stoppers on the roof the day before we got another 8 to 10 inches of wet snow, so the timing worked out that time for me. Thanksgiving was at the Theobalds in Rochester again this year. During the pre dinner festivities I had the thought that occurred to me before in of all places the Target in Burke "I'm really going to miss this when it's over". Life I'm pretty sure what I meant. I was also making some progress on the Falcon wiring project, so there is that.
So December begins with the ugly the bad and the good. Colonoscopy prep, actual procedure and the news that a small polyp was okay, and now for the good part, at my advanced age I don't need another one-ever! Then a weekend of basketball with Leah and Aaron at Redwood Falls and Sam and Gus at Northfield. A lot of driving but I have never complained about driving unless the weather is totally impossible. Jan says I'm like a black lab, just mention going somewhere and I'm out in the car waiting. About this time the temperatures took a turn for the basement with daytime highs at or below zero with snow and high winds. We had three National Guardsmen killed in a helicopter crash near St. Cloud, one of whom was a St. James graduate. I did make one of their funerals at St. Johns abbey. This funeral was almost like the Killed in Action funerals that I have attended in the past. Lots of military, tears, ceremonies, flag presentations to his family ending with a dual helicopter flyover. I shook a lot of hands after that including our governor Walz. And that about brings us up to date. I have been putzing around with the bikes but I have to save myself for the depths of Winter when I will really need something to do besides read. Jan and I will be heading up to the Cities to spend a few days with our family in a hotel near Southdale. Sometimes a person has to take some time and sit back and consider what the root cause of all of the hustling and bustling, depression, fear of not having everything exactly right, need I go on? Remember Christ is the reason for the season. That sounds a little trite, or still minimizing the real part of that slogan...Christ. I'll leave you all, or the couple that actually read this, with that.
Pete Kuehl 20 December 2019
August finds me catching up on some homestead projects, doing some maintenance on our deck and hitting a few PGR missions. Jan had a go around with that medical procedure that everybody hates, it turned out okay. We got caught in the heaviest rainfall I have ever attempted to drive in, while the radio warned us of a tornado near Bingham Lake which happened to be the town we were driving by. We wanted to do some shopping in Windom but all the stores were shut down due to the tornado in the area. We live such an exciting life I can hardly stand it. Jan and I drove up to the Cities to make our reservations at the hotel that we are going to celebrate Christmas at with the whole family in just a few days from now- December 19-. I actually got the bicycle out of the garage and put on some miles before we headed for Ridgway, Colorado for a few days. Jan gets to hang around the motel, which has just gone through a big remodel in the lobby, cruise the thrift shops and I go riding in the San Juan mountains. We got home in time for Labor Day, but that's another month.
September, now we are getting to Vikings football and Leah playing volleyball with the St. Pauls team. Thunderstorms are making several appearances along with a tornado in Sioux Falls. Also Gus and Sam are busy with Fall soccer games at many different locations. Jan and I traded our Escape for a new Edge, mainly because we wanted a better riding vehicle with heated seats and steering wheel. One thing that I have noticed is that we can have a conversation while driving down the road without raising our voices much. The end of the month I tried heading down to New Mexico to try and find some sites that were used in the series "Longmire". The weather was kind of chilly and regardless of how warmly you dress, after a while you get cold, discouraged I headed home from near Cheyenne, maybe next year. I am working on putting a new wiring harness in Elis' 64 Falcon a bit at a time, so far the testing has been coming out good, so wish me luck.
October starts with more heavy rain, it's been a wet year so far. After an online course at the University of U-tube I replaced the rear brakes and rotors on Jan's car. Next up is the fronts, maybe next Spring. A couple days later I hit another deer, that makes four, and I hope that it's the last. Jan and I flew out to Washington to visit with the DeFor family for a few days. Rachel's job with a local contractor has her running all over the area moving supplies etc. around and I rode along a couple of days, I had a good time flying around northern Virginia- I think, most of the time I had no idea where we were. One of the stops in Arlington had us close to the Air Force Memorial so I kind of know where that is. Jan and I flew home on the 16th and we had a 70th birthday get together at the Schells Brewery on the 19th for the tour, imagine our surprise when Rachel and Gen showed up! They had orchestrated the whole thing, our three children Rachel, Genevieve and Steve and their two boys Sam and Gus and Eli and Lindsey and Leah and Aaron, Jan's sister Paula, my brothers Phil and Paul and their wives Laura and Marcy. I don't think that I missed anybody, but it was quite a day for Jan and I.
We had supper in New Ulm and cocktails later. The next day was Vikings football here and it was nice enough to put the tv out on the deck which has always been a great way to enjoy a Fall afternoon. Routine things kind of filled the rest of the month, but it had been a great one getting to celebrate the 70th birthday of the woman I love.
November where Fall goes to die and Winter really begins. Jan went up to Wadena to spend some time with her sister Paula and a couple days later I went there too and we came home together to find four inches of new snow on the ground at home, and so it begins. Leah and Aaron's school had a nice veterans day program that I attended. Got the Mustang's oil changed and put it away for the winter in a corner of the garage, now Jan's car gets to be indoors till Spring. We had an assortment of doctors appointments, one a pre-op for me for that unmentionable procedure and one at Mayo with my guy. As long as we keep getting good reports from him it's always a pleasant visit with doctor Eli and nurse Dawn, even if it's not good check up we still chit chat about things like the sky dive in May and how the riding is going among other things. We put snow stoppers on the roof the day before we got another 8 to 10 inches of wet snow, so the timing worked out that time for me. Thanksgiving was at the Theobalds in Rochester again this year. During the pre dinner festivities I had the thought that occurred to me before in of all places the Target in Burke "I'm really going to miss this when it's over". Life I'm pretty sure what I meant. I was also making some progress on the Falcon wiring project, so there is that.
So December begins with the ugly the bad and the good. Colonoscopy prep, actual procedure and the news that a small polyp was okay, and now for the good part, at my advanced age I don't need another one-ever! Then a weekend of basketball with Leah and Aaron at Redwood Falls and Sam and Gus at Northfield. A lot of driving but I have never complained about driving unless the weather is totally impossible. Jan says I'm like a black lab, just mention going somewhere and I'm out in the car waiting. About this time the temperatures took a turn for the basement with daytime highs at or below zero with snow and high winds. We had three National Guardsmen killed in a helicopter crash near St. Cloud, one of whom was a St. James graduate. I did make one of their funerals at St. Johns abbey. This funeral was almost like the Killed in Action funerals that I have attended in the past. Lots of military, tears, ceremonies, flag presentations to his family ending with a dual helicopter flyover. I shook a lot of hands after that including our governor Walz. And that about brings us up to date. I have been putzing around with the bikes but I have to save myself for the depths of Winter when I will really need something to do besides read. Jan and I will be heading up to the Cities to spend a few days with our family in a hotel near Southdale. Sometimes a person has to take some time and sit back and consider what the root cause of all of the hustling and bustling, depression, fear of not having everything exactly right, need I go on? Remember Christ is the reason for the season. That sounds a little trite, or still minimizing the real part of that slogan...Christ. I'll leave you all, or the couple that actually read this, with that.
Pete Kuehl 20 December 2019
Friday, December 13, 2019
The 2019 Letter at Christmas Time part 1
I find myself less interested in putting out this letter every year, call it what you will but from my point of view it's really only interesting to us. So there, I have that out in the open. Maybe it is the weather system that just literally just blew in this morning. Jan and I were heading up to New Ulm at 6am for a doctors appointment and the visibility in blowing snow and falling temperatures forced us back to town for breakfast at the Home Town. Wait, this is supposed to be the Christmas letter so I better get back on subject.
January like most Januarys in this part of the world was cold and mostly nasty, snow, cleaning out after, more snow, digging out ad infinitum. Jan and I did manage to get to follow the Theobald boys basketball season. I spent a lot of time re reading a couple series of books in order and we watched a lot of tv series on dvds. I also had a few projects to keep me busy in the garage and doing some finishing work in the basement. Really bitter cold by the end of the month, -26 at night and high temperature of -16 oof da.
February starts out with me and a cold that got worse as time went by, eventually Jan got it too. Jan and I were down to Ormsby to the bank to finish up some paperwork to get my Mom's bank accounts closed out finally. She had her ducks in a row financially thank goodness, not like my sister who had not until my brother Paul and wife Marcy got a lot of it in line a few years ago. Jan and I celebrated our 48th anniversary at Bailey's in Ormsby when they had a special for Valentine's Day, our anniversary date. In checking my notes I see that we got 5-6 inches of snow about every few days with a blizzard with 50 mph winds thrown in, somehow we did manage to make a couple of routine doctor appointments.
March started with what else but more snow and wind and below zero temperatures. Jan, Leah, Aaron and I did manage to get to Rochester to watch Sam and Gus play basketball in a tournament on a day between storms. We did spend some time in Menards finally getting a gun safe and a really nice electric fireplace that Jan, showing some of her Jewish dna, got it for about half the regular price. Actually toward the end of the month I managed to get a couple bikes out for a run, so things are starting to moderate some. Also the Mustang came out of cold storage for the Summer and I did manage to get to some PGR missions in locations in southern Minnesota.
April, I have got to think of a better start to a month than using a variation of the word start. Anyhow, I managed to get the BMW in for it's Spring checkup at the dealer in Sioux City before the next round of nasty weather hit. Jan and I did trade in the Triumph Bonneville in for another Triumph Tiger, the 2012 Tiger was purchased by Eli. Jan and I were to the Theobalds in Rochester for Easter and it was 85 degrees that day, and 45 the next with rain, wow only in Minnesota. We did keep an eye on Leah and Aaron while Eli and Lindsey made a run to The Hills.
May. I had a PGR mission down to the new state veteran cemetery at Preston and mowed the lawn at the beginning of the month. Jan and I were up to Sleepy Eye to watch Leah and Aaron participate in the track meet for all of the Lutheran schools in the area. It's really fun to see all of those young people, Lutherans all, by the hundreds I think pretty much having a good time. I replaced the stool in one bathroom with a new Kohler super dooper model recommended by a close expert. And the soccer season starts with trips to assorted fields in southern Minnesota and a check up with my doctor at Rochester Mayo. Got a clean bill of health again PTL. Made a bread run to Sioux City and one to MSP to pick up Rachel who had come home for my 75th birthday-Memorial Day festivities. May 25th was an extremely big day for me and our family, We had our usual get together at a park in Owatonna and Eli and my first ever parachute jump. The weather was great, we had brothers Paul and Phil with their wives Marcy and Laura, children Rachel, Gen and Eli with their spouses Steve, boys Sam and Gus, Lindsey children Leah and Aaron. Rachel was here by herself as the rest of the family was home in the D.C. area. One at a time to 10,000 feet a little free fall with at least 10 minutes under the canopy. For me I guess it was more of a check off on my bucket list but Eli loved it. I got to thank my wife Jan for coming up with it, lining it up and for the kiddos for chipping in. Quite a day all in all. I looked out the kitchen window one day after a heavy rain and saw a buzzard sitting on the back of a chair on the deck right outside. It was there all afternoon and eventually flew off. I think it got caught in that heavy rain and got too soaked to fly. Weird looking up close but unique.
June. I finally made it all the way to Elko, Nevada after a couple of aborted trips in past years. Last year it was smoke so thick it was hard to see more than a mile or two. This year the weather was nice, a little warm around Salt Lake and the salt flats and breezy out there. Elko was kind of surprising in that it is a busy growing place in what looks like the high plains. I spent some time touring around the Ruby mountains. Got stopped by snow banks going up the Lamoille Canyon and then made a long circuit to Ely. The run from Ely to Beaver, Utah was a pleasant surprise, green- this time of year- rolling valleys between mountain ranges when I expected dry desert type terrain judging by the maps I had been studying. From there it was a run through northern Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and home. So I have that one checked off the bucket list. Having no desire to head east on a bike I do have some other destinations to look to in the future. In the middle of June the DeFor clan stopped by on their way home, so to speak. They had had a good trip west as far as Craters of the Moon in Idaho. We had Rachel home over my birthday the last of May and now she and Hans, Joe, Annie and Will spent a couple more days here. Jan and I were making some soccer games for our grand kids, out to the farm on projects and doctor appointments. The 20th there was a tornado east of town that hit the airport and the turkey barns along hiway 60, it was quite a mess. The turkey barn still is missing most of its roof and the hanger destroyed has not been replaced. I managed to attend several PGR missions during June, so it's been a pretty busy month. I will post this half and finish the rest a little later.
January like most Januarys in this part of the world was cold and mostly nasty, snow, cleaning out after, more snow, digging out ad infinitum. Jan and I did manage to get to follow the Theobald boys basketball season. I spent a lot of time re reading a couple series of books in order and we watched a lot of tv series on dvds. I also had a few projects to keep me busy in the garage and doing some finishing work in the basement. Really bitter cold by the end of the month, -26 at night and high temperature of -16 oof da.
February starts out with me and a cold that got worse as time went by, eventually Jan got it too. Jan and I were down to Ormsby to the bank to finish up some paperwork to get my Mom's bank accounts closed out finally. She had her ducks in a row financially thank goodness, not like my sister who had not until my brother Paul and wife Marcy got a lot of it in line a few years ago. Jan and I celebrated our 48th anniversary at Bailey's in Ormsby when they had a special for Valentine's Day, our anniversary date. In checking my notes I see that we got 5-6 inches of snow about every few days with a blizzard with 50 mph winds thrown in, somehow we did manage to make a couple of routine doctor appointments.
March started with what else but more snow and wind and below zero temperatures. Jan, Leah, Aaron and I did manage to get to Rochester to watch Sam and Gus play basketball in a tournament on a day between storms. We did spend some time in Menards finally getting a gun safe and a really nice electric fireplace that Jan, showing some of her Jewish dna, got it for about half the regular price. Actually toward the end of the month I managed to get a couple bikes out for a run, so things are starting to moderate some. Also the Mustang came out of cold storage for the Summer and I did manage to get to some PGR missions in locations in southern Minnesota.
April, I have got to think of a better start to a month than using a variation of the word start. Anyhow, I managed to get the BMW in for it's Spring checkup at the dealer in Sioux City before the next round of nasty weather hit. Jan and I did trade in the Triumph Bonneville in for another Triumph Tiger, the 2012 Tiger was purchased by Eli. Jan and I were to the Theobalds in Rochester for Easter and it was 85 degrees that day, and 45 the next with rain, wow only in Minnesota. We did keep an eye on Leah and Aaron while Eli and Lindsey made a run to The Hills.
May. I had a PGR mission down to the new state veteran cemetery at Preston and mowed the lawn at the beginning of the month. Jan and I were up to Sleepy Eye to watch Leah and Aaron participate in the track meet for all of the Lutheran schools in the area. It's really fun to see all of those young people, Lutherans all, by the hundreds I think pretty much having a good time. I replaced the stool in one bathroom with a new Kohler super dooper model recommended by a close expert. And the soccer season starts with trips to assorted fields in southern Minnesota and a check up with my doctor at Rochester Mayo. Got a clean bill of health again PTL. Made a bread run to Sioux City and one to MSP to pick up Rachel who had come home for my 75th birthday-Memorial Day festivities. May 25th was an extremely big day for me and our family, We had our usual get together at a park in Owatonna and Eli and my first ever parachute jump. The weather was great, we had brothers Paul and Phil with their wives Marcy and Laura, children Rachel, Gen and Eli with their spouses Steve, boys Sam and Gus, Lindsey children Leah and Aaron. Rachel was here by herself as the rest of the family was home in the D.C. area. One at a time to 10,000 feet a little free fall with at least 10 minutes under the canopy. For me I guess it was more of a check off on my bucket list but Eli loved it. I got to thank my wife Jan for coming up with it, lining it up and for the kiddos for chipping in. Quite a day all in all. I looked out the kitchen window one day after a heavy rain and saw a buzzard sitting on the back of a chair on the deck right outside. It was there all afternoon and eventually flew off. I think it got caught in that heavy rain and got too soaked to fly. Weird looking up close but unique.
June. I finally made it all the way to Elko, Nevada after a couple of aborted trips in past years. Last year it was smoke so thick it was hard to see more than a mile or two. This year the weather was nice, a little warm around Salt Lake and the salt flats and breezy out there. Elko was kind of surprising in that it is a busy growing place in what looks like the high plains. I spent some time touring around the Ruby mountains. Got stopped by snow banks going up the Lamoille Canyon and then made a long circuit to Ely. The run from Ely to Beaver, Utah was a pleasant surprise, green- this time of year- rolling valleys between mountain ranges when I expected dry desert type terrain judging by the maps I had been studying. From there it was a run through northern Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and home. So I have that one checked off the bucket list. Having no desire to head east on a bike I do have some other destinations to look to in the future. In the middle of June the DeFor clan stopped by on their way home, so to speak. They had had a good trip west as far as Craters of the Moon in Idaho. We had Rachel home over my birthday the last of May and now she and Hans, Joe, Annie and Will spent a couple more days here. Jan and I were making some soccer games for our grand kids, out to the farm on projects and doctor appointments. The 20th there was a tornado east of town that hit the airport and the turkey barns along hiway 60, it was quite a mess. The turkey barn still is missing most of its roof and the hanger destroyed has not been replaced. I managed to attend several PGR missions during June, so it's been a pretty busy month. I will post this half and finish the rest a little later.
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