Happy Easter, Mom!

They're celebrating early Easter in Alexandria today at Beverly's in the Clearwater Suites. It just works out that way, that's when most of the clan could gather this year. Sosie's on a layover from Ireland with Bill, Becky braved the winter to join Linda in Blaine, Virg and Becky will be there as will Steve and Nancy. Missing will be Kathleen and Stan, who are still in Arizona, as will Becky's Al, who is in Florida. Many other grandchildren and extended family members will be there as well, so it should be a great time. We wish them the best. The photo above is from last Thanksgiving. We await new photos from today's event.

The home stretch

Company's coming! Time to close up the projects and get ready to entertain. We spread the beige on today (Katie did some fine ladderwork). We'll trim the windows and doors tomorrow and maybe apply the baseboard, we'll see. The old can of "Cameo" left behind by the former owners blended nicely on the new wall, matching up satisfactorily with the old walls.
Of course, the Inspector General won't get here until late, late Sunday night, so we'll let you know then. Right now, it's Miller time. We drank all of Virg and Steve's beer, so it looks like we'll have to run out for it.

What does it mean ...

when a coyote has its ears pinned back?
Mule deer, rattlesnakes, javelinas, hawks, roadrunners, bunnies, bobcats, quail and assorted critters abound here and rule the golf course by night. The coyotes are well fed but still not above snatching an occasional tender family pet. (Photo by Stan Rolfsrud)

She's leaving on a jet plane

Missy and Emily are leaving for their time-share condo in Mazatlan, Mexico, today. Missy has adopted a big family there and visits them annually. They've named a child in her honor. We're proud of what Missy has done for this family with her very limited resources. Our pride is mixed with trepidation, of course, as we worry about everything that parents and grandparents worry about when loved ones go to a third world country.

Mallard blog note gets inquiry

We'll be visiting Stan's cousin, Larry Veeder and his wife, Carolyn, soon in their winter home in Cornville, AZ. Larry is a noted artist. When last we visited, Carolyn asked if we had any Messer pottery. They were friends of the late Joe Messer and also knew that his pottery was growing in value.
Sure enough, Erling Rolfsrud had written up Mr. Messer in his Extraordinary North Dakotans, and apparently was given a piece of pottery in appreciation. The piece is a mallard duck, now on display in our Arizona place. If you want more info on it, type Messer into the Search Blog box above.

Anyway, yesterday we got the following note from a Messer relative:

She writes: It was really neat to see that you had a piece of Messer ceramics posted on your website. Joe was my great-uncle. His wife, Eunice, is my grandfather Dale Olson's sister. Our branch of the family tree has been trying to collect pieces of his legacy to pass down to our own children. Should you ever run across anything you would like to sell, please let me know. It would be nice to have something to give to my kids (I have twins age 7) when they are old enough.
Thanks again for recognizing Joe's work and it is neat as extended family to see so much history out there that pertains to our family.

Kind regards,
Harmony K.
Dickinson, ND

harmonyk@ndsupernet.com

Happy Birthday, Linda Letnes!

It has been a cold, miserable winter for the new retiree. Stan's sister, Linda, finished her teaching career in Ft. Collins, Col. last spring and returned to Minnesota with her husband, Ron. In her whirlwind way, she sold the Colorado house, built and furnished a house in Blaine, rented a home in Duluth where Ron serves a congregation, fussed over her mother in Alexandria and slipped in a vacation to Puerto Rico. Then came winter. Real winter.

"We don't regret moving to Minnesota," she gamely writes, but admits to grey and miserable times in a climate that makes it next to impossible to bring a plant home from Target and have it survive the trip.

But there is hope. In the midst of all the gray, dismal, cold days, she has a bright warm ray of sunshine: Her grandaughter, Anja.
We asked her to send us some pictures with her grandchild and a note about their times together.

March 5 is her birthday and the promise of a new season. She has hope for change. Can Ron and Linda make it through the Minnesota winter? In one voice, they now say, "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!"

Here's Linda's note:

Anja is sleeping now so I have an opportunity to write you about my own winter sunshine. Yesterday was particularly nice. Erik brought Anja over in her nightclothes early in the morning and we took it from there. Shana had packed a perfectly planned menu for the day along with all the other possible needs. Shana is careful to write things out for me though she knows I might forget to read it and just do my own thing.

Usually Anja and I read a dozen books in the day, but on this day only one. She was just fascinated with listening to Ron sing while he played the piano in the living room and played the guitar and sang upstairs. I had brought her a ukelele (Steve's unused one from 25 years ago) from storage, but we never got to it. That picture of her from Shana's blog got me to thinking. For the last few weeks she has been pointing out her shadow and since today was a sunny day, we found it numerous times in the kitchen. In Italy if you want to eat cheaper, you can stand at the bar. If you sit down in some places, it costs more. So we have Anja standing at her own place to eat, just getting her ready for future travels. She feeds herself from a shelf at just the right height which holds a picture of her and has nuks and sippy cups at the ready. Otherwise, one of us holds her and the other provides whatever assistance she needs which isn't very much.

So far we only have Anja at our house on Mondays so both of us can keep an eye on her. She is a real explorer, getting into anything she can. "No, no, no" has no effect, but redirecting does. You have to catch her first which is a job for two.

Marilyn, the other grandmother, has magic. On Sunday Anja went potty on the Baby Bjorn with her. No such luck for me, but I AM training her to wash her hands whenever she asks to use Baby Bjorn.

No TV for Anja until she is two so she isn't any more sure about who Bert and Ernie are than I am. While Sesame Street taught Steve how to read with his face pressed against the screen, I don't remember much about the characters. Anja and I do know Elmo because we have Elmo Soup and books with Elmo identified clearly. Our favorite book is Barnyard Dance where we stomp our feet, clap our hands, bow to the horse and to the cow, twirl with the pig because we know how.

Today Grandma had to dive on one, two, THREE like Anja does. The things we do for our grandchildren that we have never done before! (The pillow to fall on was soft, thank goodness!)

We have a portacrib in Ron's office. We don't know how long it will be before she will climb out of it, but so far it works. You have to be smart and ask her if she wants milk, juice BEFORE you take her up to bed so that she can't put you off with requests. The choice I usually give her is rock or nap. She will take rock 100% of the time which is the answer I want. From there she will ask for a book to be read. Because she wants to put off the nap, she listens very patiently to the book that has multiple lines on each page. Today she asked me to sing, but she didn't like what she heard so she would ask me to stop. Then she would ask me to try again, but nothing I sang sounded that good to her. She decided a nap would be better and off to sleep she went.

In a few weeks she will be in Norway, learning Norwegian. We will miss our little sunshine, but it will be exciting to see what she has learned when she gets back. My hope is that the real sunshine will be out and I can go out for walks in it and miss her a little less.

Love, Linda

$62.50, delivered

This morning, after a breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs, sausage and homefries at our new favorite, the Sunny-Side Up Cafe, on an impulse we pulled into the nearby Golden Goose Thrift Shop. Katie has been faithfully monitoring the store for a suitable king-sized headboard for the master bedroom. Alas, nothing for two months. She also has been admiring an immaculate, mint-condition Drexel love seat that would be perfect in the guest bedroom we just painted and trimmed with fat dentil. $125, tax included.
Today is Tuesday. We fought mobs of determined seniors (some using canes and sticks) to wade into the furniture section. Everything in the store is 50% off today. Still no headboard, but Katie's love seat was there, beautiful, beckoning, half off. We pulled the trigger.
John helped us load it into the back of the Rendezvous, and Katie and Stan lugged it upstairs to the guest room, to join the new $10 dust board we stapled together last night. Obviously, the room still needs some accessories, pictures, etc., but for now, we're just sitting back and waiting for you to come and use it!
We know that most of our friends can no longer stand and pull on their socks, so the love seat will get lots of use.
Oh yes. We saved so much money on the couch, Katie grabbed a stuffed northern Minnesota duck for $4.50. It will be perfect in the library.

(Katie did find a queen-size headboard for the guest room last week. You can see it below, mostly obscured by pillows. The search for the master king headboard continues.)

A note from the neighbors

Our neighbors, Tom and Sandy Story, sent this note from Shakopee today:

Stan & Kathleen:
Just an update. We're still looking at the same snow you saw in your rear view mirror when you left for Arizona. See picture.
The Abbey Point group will meet Wednesday p.m.

Tom & Sandy

Tom and Sandy,

Greet the neighbors at the association dinner Wednesday. Don't volunteer us for anything. We're hoping you get some melt by the time we get home in mid-March. Nice to see the roof hasn't caved in.

Stan & Katie

He's baaack!

This is Rick Peterson, the lastest refugee from the frozen north to arrive in Saddlebooke. He's Dick and Brenda Robertson's guest, though Dick and Brenda aren't here at the moment. Dick is making a good recovery in Minneapolis from some viral situation and expects to be here soon.

So Rick is alone at the Robertson hacienda. Gulp.

We played a free round of golf today, courtesy of Gordy, who complained last week about the quality of the greens at the El Conquistador, got four free passes from the pro, then went home to New Hampshire before he was able to use them. So we all pitched in and helped out Gordy, dedicating today's round to the memory of him being 1 under par after six holes at The Ranch.

Dick and Rick say they attended Bethel College (no graduation record available) together in Minnesota. Rick is a Swede from Grantsburg, Wisconsin, where his father ran the feed mill and creamery. Rick taught school to fourth and fifth graders as did our sister, Linda, in Ft. Collins, before she retired to Minnesota, of all things. Rick and fellow schoolteacher Dick have played golf together since college days, and possess fine golf skills. They had summers off. Duh.

Today Rick demonstrated a fine draw on his lengthy drives, his first time out in months. We all miss Dick Robertson (shown in a rare file photo at left, picking up a tab) and wish a speedy return. Of course, until we can nail down whatever it is that infected him, understandably, he'll have to be quarantined to his own cart and we'll wear surgical masks.

Keeping pace

Mr. Robertson often complains about speed of play. He feels other members of the foursome often don't keep pace, dawdling over putts, doodling on the teebox. He is discouraged by the amount of time it often takes to play 18 holes. While Dick has been absent, these same partners have played on without him. Oddly enough, it has been noted that play has somehow quickened, with each daily foursome finishing in record time, no matter how the group is composed or what the day's conditions are. The only variable has been the absence of Dick Robertson.

We leave readers to draw their own conclusions.