So Green it almost hurts your eyes

I have used this phrase before, but this year the crops are so green it just doesn't seem possible. Perhaps it is all of the nitrogen applied to the corn fields, but more likely it is the moisture that we have been getting lately. Last night I ran up to Leavenworth to take in a minor league baseball game. It was like going back to the 50s when my Dad played for Ormsby fast pitch. The games between Ormsby and Odin would draw hundreds of people in the days before decent television. I can remember sitting in the car waiting for Dad to get out of the pool hall after the game where the team went for a couple of cold ones. Believe me it must have been tough just forcing your way in the door the crowds were so big. It is hard to believe that those days are almost 60 years ago now. I have been thinking about trying to get a blog together on the rural schools that I attended in my youth. I went to district 67 for first grade, before district 126 was re-opened the next year. The district 67 building was torn down and replaced with the Galena township hall in the past, but the district 126 building is being used as a shed on a nearby farm to this day. I need to contact my Mom about possible pictures of those days. Anyhow, Jan and I have been busy since my last post 2 months ago. A couple of weeks ago we went on an extended bike trip that was pretty much destination determined by the Weather Channel. Originally we had planned to head out across North Dakota and Montana to Alberta, but nasty weather in that direction changed our plans. We ended up going to Nebraska and northern Colorado to Utah and up into Idaho. We tried going toward northern Idaho but the sky was just black in that direction so we turned around and went east to the Grand Tetons. I'll throw on some pictures of that trip. Previous to that trip we spent a weekend near Winona in a crowded campground across the road from the Mississippi river. The Theobalds came over and spent some time in their tent. Jan and I spent a couple of days there wandering the back roads in Wisconsin. Steve, Gen, Sam, Gus, and I hiked a State Park on the bluffs overlooking the river one morning. I will try to include one from that day. I have some photos from our July 4th weekend and I will include some of them in here too. Saturday is Aaron's birthday which we will be celebrating at Eli and Lindsey's house on the 10th. It's hard to believe that he is already two years old, my how time flies. With any luck I plan on making a run out to the Big Horns next week for a few days to cover some roads less traveled. Also need to remember my sister Kathy who has spent the last couple of weeks in a hospital in Modesto battling with the after effects of colon surgery. Lately it has been one thing after another with her health, so keep her in mind and your prayers. I know that it has been a couple of months since my last post, but I just did not have the urge to type. I can't blame work I guess. So anyhow, stay in touch, be good and eat your vegetables.

Early May

I am going to try and get the photos in the proper order on this one, so here goes. The last one is of my Mom and my brothers Phil, Paul, and I at the Kaiserhoff in New Ulm. We, along with our wives, Jan, Laura, and Marcy took my Mom out to dinner for Mothers' Day. Afterwards the girls went shopping and the brothers adjourned to a bar across the street. Last week on Thursday Phil and I went on another Pgr mission in St. Paul for a Maplewood police officer who was ambushed responding to a fake call. The officer was Sgt Bergeron, a 26 year veteran with a wife and twin 13 year old daughters. The funeral was at the St. Paul Cathedral in down town St. Paul. We lined the steps and the side walk in front of the cathedral while thousands of law enforcement officers faced us across the street. There were LEOs from a 5 state area and even a couple from Chicago. After the service the string of cop cars in the procession must have taken 45 minutes to get out of the several different parking areas and heading for the cemetery. I think that they said that there were over 800 cars in the line. I give up, The pictures, as usual are backwards again, I think that I need to blog more so that I can remember which way to go. Other than that the weather has turned cold and damp, kind of a typical May after a very nice April for a teaser. Today Jan and I are heading over to Rochester foe another followup with the doctors and a day with the Theobalds. Take care and stay in touch.

A busy weekend

As is my usual practice, if you check out the pictures from the last to the first you will get them in proper order. One of these days I will get it straight and then everyone will be all confused I suppose. Anyhow, the weekend started on Friday when a group of PGR riders met at our place and then we headed for Rochester for the return of Lcpl Swenson's remains. Somehow that doesn't sound like the correct term for the body of a 20 year old Marine that was killed in action in Afghanistan. He was a son, brother, grandson, and husband. The first part of the mission was at the Rochester airport to greet the charter flight that brought his body home and escort him to the church where the funeral was held. The visitation was later in the evening, so in the interim I rode over to the Theobalds to drop my gear and hang out for a bit. The next photo up is Gus of course and then one from the visitation. Saturday morning dawned bright and warming nicely so there was a big group on hand for the funeral . We had the Patriot Guard and The Leatherneck MC club in abundance. I believe that we had over 200 standing in the flag line and at least 175 bikes across the street in the K-Mart parking lot. Maybe I am selfish, but I always try to line up as close to the door as possible so that I can see what all goes on. Let me tell you that the Marine Corps does a fantastic job of taking care of their own. Lcpl Swenson had a guard from the time he got off the plane until the casket was in the ground in Houston, Minnesota. Their precision and attention to detail puts the other services to shame. They had us surround the hearse with our backs to the vehicle while they placed something with the Lcpl in his casket. Someday maybe I'll find out what. After the service we lined up for the 64 mile drive to Houston. I don't know how many bikes that were in the string but it must have stretched for over a mile on I-90. I think that every bridge that we went under on the way down had people waving flags or just waving as we went by, but Houston was incredible. The main drag for several blocks, was lined with people shoulder to shoulder with flags etc.. Wow, it just gave me goose bumps passing down that street. He was buried at a small cemetery outside of town with all of the honors. We also had the almost common bald eagle fly over too. This is getting so common, you begin to wonder if our national bird is aware of what is going on on the ground below. I shook a lot of hands over the weekend with his father, mother, Grandmother, sister, wife, and Marine after Marine some of whom were in tears, all in all a satisfying two days. I managed to get home just as the sun set Saturday night. Sunday Eli, Lindsey, Jan and I went for a bike ride up to Fort Ridgley and down to Mankato along the Minnesota river. We stopped at a small waterfall-don't ask me how to spell it or pronounce it-and at Lake Crystal for a break and gas. After we got home Jan and I drove over to Eli and Lindsey's for a brewski. Today- Monday- I was going to go to St. Cloud for the funeral for Sgt Kruize, a 35 year old father of four, killed in an accident in Iraq, but it was raining and 47 degrees this morning when I got up and the funeral was early. I wanted to make the internment at Camp Ripley but I wimped out, I do have my limits. As I sit here writing I can hear the thunder outside and Eli called me from his job and said they were warning of flash flooding around Worthington. This will really green up the lawns. Take care and stay in touch?

Easter weekend PGR tour

Jan and I took a kind of long distance tour on Saturday to visit a few of the places that I have been to on Patriot Guard missions in the last couple of years. As is usual in my photo layout, if you read from the bottom up they will be in the proper order. We headed out Saturday morning with our cooler full of peanut butter sandwiches, soft drinks, and snacks. The first stop was at Duvi Wolf's grave site in Farmer, South Dakota. As can be seen by the photo, no gravestone is in place yet, but since her funeral was late last Fall I assume that no stone could be placed yet. We usually make several trips a year to Rapid City and the Black Hills, so I'll check back in the future to see how things are progressing. Farmer is another small town on the prairie that is virtually disappearing. I imagine that being bypassed by the interstate and having the railroad tracks removed didn't help. They actually had a high school up until 1968. It makes me wonder what the town was like in the 50's and 60's. I know that the small town - Ormsby population 220- that I came from, in 1960 could almost fill up a school bus with kids. Today I am sure there is no more than a hand full of kids in Ormsby, Minnesota. I digress, from there we headed mostly north to Willow Lake, South Dakota where the PGR helped dedicate a veteran's memorial in the city park. It is another very nice memorial in a small town with a special part for a local son Scott Saboe, who was a 33 year old helicopter pilot in Iraq when he was killed in action. I don't know if I am more aware of these memorials or that there are more of them being erected, but it seems as if I have run across a lot of them in the last few years. Anyhow, from there we headed east back to Minnesota to Dawson to visit the grave site for David Staab. It is at another rural cemetery that is kind of bleak this time of year. Sgt. Staab's headstone is unique with all of the etchings on it. I wonder what someone 1 or 200 years from now will think of the Chevy pickup? Sgt. Staab who took his own life after returning from Iraq is as much a combat death as anyone killed in action on the battlefield. His was one of the toughest funerals that I have attended, but I am afraid that it won't be the last. Next we headed north to check out a possible campsite at Lac Qui Parle state park. We couldn't do much recon there because of high water on the Minnesota river. The next stop was Lucan to show Jan the site of Captain Dan Days which I attended last year and had such a good time, as a matter of fact I have been to a couple of missions there. Lucan is a patriotic small town with a nice park and a brewery too, we took the tour last year. The last stop was at Eli and Lindsey's for a night cap, all in all we had a really nice day. The last few pictures are from last weekend when the whole tribe was at our place for an early Easter dinner. The Theobalds stayed over Friday night so we got a few on Saturday morning. Well, that's about it from here for now. The weather has taken a turn for terrific so I have had all of the bikes out for runs and oil changes and the 94 Ducati, Francesca, is running pretty good too after carburetor cleaning and fresh gaskets, new rubber, and battery. After the last winter we deserve it. Take care and stay in touch.

For Our Badger

This post will be for Genevieve who has acquired the nick name "Badger" over the years, partially because she attended college in Wisconsin, maybe not. This string of pictures kind of bookend the early years and the present time. I would have included some more but I am only up to her early years in my ongoing slide conversion process. I really wish that I was more comfortable telling my children how proud of them I am face to face, so I do it with the keyboard. I have found that to be true of most interactions. I think that it gives me more time to think or delete things that should not have been said. Anyhow, now that I have that out of the way, I really want my limited readership to know how proud I am of Genevieve and her accomplishments thus far. She has done well in sports and academics and just accepted a promotion at Mayo, but I think that her accomplishments as a parent may be the highest calling. I don't know if it a common feeling or not but I never expected any of our children not to be successful in life, the idea that they would fail just never occurred to me. I pretty much give the credit to St. Jan for how the kids turned out.
Following my usual format, the pictures are in reverse order. If you read from the bottom up you will see Gen from pre-birth through her own motherhood. At the very top she is with Gussie last "summer" at Spearfish, South Dakota and the next is at Gussies birthday party in February this year with Sam, Gus, and cousin Leah. The next couple should be self-explanatory and one with all the girls eating ice cream and at the bottom is St. Jan probably in February 1978. We will see 2/3 of the clan on Saturday for an early Easter get together here at our house so we will get to see them again. One of these days the whole clan will get together and it will be great, no more communicating on line or over the phone and the cousins can get re-aquainted. With that I'll end with, Gen I love you and am proud of you too. I hope that I have more time to watch you and your brother and sister's lives unfold in the future.

Our Baby is 30

This blog will be following the incentive from Rachel, posting for her daughter Annika. I really don't know why it should be so hard for me to tell my children that I am so proud of them, but it is. I wonder if it may come from my background. Man, the older you get the more that you recognise influences from your childhood poking through. Eli, I am not sure where you got your work ethic probably from your Mother, but it makes me proud to see that you are not afraid to work hard to get what you want. I ought to know I have helped on a few construction projects with you. We can see what a good father and husband you have become and that makes us happy for you too. You have gone from a child on a Z50 Honda to a rider that quite frankly scares me to watch at times, so I let you break trail when we ride off road. You have gone from entry level jobs to being an engineer for the Union Pacific. You have no idea how much pride we take in watching you grow into a man that we can be proud of. I hope that you don't find this too mushy but it is for a 30 year old that still kisses his Mom and I and says " I love you".

Love Dad

update of sorts

Just a short note to the two or three readers that may know me. St. Jan and I drove over to Rochester on Wednesday and spent the night with the Theobalds. If those boys get any bigger and I am sure that they have a long way to go, I will not be able to wrestle on the floor with them much longer. It is tag team time when they get going. Anyhow, the most recent visit to Mayo was a good one, with both Doctors Moore and Miller saying everything looks great, although they could just be trying to make me feel better, you just never know.. After our morning appointment we cruised the mall, or Jan did. I headed for Barnes and Noble after we both got our hair cut. We stopped in Mankato on the way home for a couple items and were home by supper time - 6pm to you non-midwesterners. Yesterday I had a new tire put on the front of our GS and made a PGR mission run over to Marshall for the funeral of another PGR member that died of a stroke over the weekend. She was Ginny Tusa, in her early 50s and originally from Jackson. According to her male friend she was an organ donor and eight of her organs were transplanted and a total of forty benefited from various parts from bone marrow to skin grafts, so in a way she lives on in an assortment of other people. I also got talking with another member that has an autistic grandson that is involved with making quilts out of old blue jeans. It sounds kind of cool. I think that they sew all of the pockets together to form one side and the use the legs for the backing. In the middle goes some batting and then they tie it. It sounds as if they are sending quilts all over the place as word gets around. Anyway I was home by 2030. Stay well and stay in touch.