Tag Archive: friends


Goats, piggies and vampires

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 4 Comments
August 24, 2010

Ever since her GF moved up here early this year, S had been talking about the three of us visiting an animal farm south of Oshkosh. She took my wife and me there a couple years ago; we had a great time, and I got some goofy pictures, which is almost as important …

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(That’s an extreme close-up of an elk, by the way.)

Now she wanted to share the critter experience with her GF, who I will hereafter call T.

I wanted to take them there earlier this summer and drove down, but we didn’t have good luck with the weather. We did other stuff. Summer lasts a long time, right?

But when the calendar hits August, it gets really hard for me to take a couple days off–the month gets much busier (for me) than June and July are. So, early in August, on a warm, humid Monday night, my wife made me an early supper, and I hit the road for the four-hour drive south to the Fox Cities of Wisconsin.

Earlier this summer, I had run into road construction along the way. This time, I got smart; I figured out a route that only would take me a little out of my way. But fate didn’t work out that way, for three reasons: (1) patches of ground fog; (2) other condensation that made reflective signs hard to read; and (3) the earlier sunsets of early August. By the time I got to the construction areas, it was dark, and the signs were hard to read. I had to follow Highway 55, not Highway 54.

OK, I got lost for a while. The GPS on my phone helped straighten me out, but I finally got there about 11 p.m., a full hour later than planned. First things first: They had to get me up to speed on the “Twilight” movie series. We had decided to see a movie during this trip, and they wanted to see “Eclipse,” the third entry in the Twilight series. So I watched “New Moon” with them to learn who’s whom and what’s what. Werewolves. Vampires. Indians. My head was swimming with details.

Finally, to bed and quickly to sleep. S had taken a Tylenol PM, so she was night-night, no matter what. I was bushed, anyway. Sleep came easily.

We all slept late Tuesday. Just after noon, we got something to eat and left for the animal farm. It was hot (in the upper 80s) and quite muggy–but it was also cloudy. Lucky for us: If the sun comes out, I told them, the heat index is going to shoot straight up.

When we got there, I picked up my camera but not my hat. It was still pretty cloudy.

I paid for all three of us, and in exchange we got several bags of old bread–to feed to the critters we saw along the way. Off we went. Our first friends were a goat and donkey that posed with S. Say cheese! …

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The goats were quite interested in T’s bread …

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Then we found a pen where the goats were stacked for snacks …

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We also encountered a hungry bison with a black tongue …

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On the other side, camels. Some of them had figured out how to get closer to their two-footed visitors and look cute doing it …

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Again, the goats. They were quite insistent. They wanted food. They knew we had it. And they weren’t accepting any excuses. T had to talk to one of them, to tell him to mind his manners …

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S found a donkey, who brayed loudly about how hungry he was. S always falls for that trick …

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It was hot but manageable … until, halfway through our self-guided tour, the sun broke out in all its glory. I remembered my hat, still in the back seat. Sure enough, my U.P. blood was getting too hot.

We spotted a gazebo and took refuge from the sun there. I took off my shirt, something I don’t do that often, to invite a breeze. I invited the girls to do likewise. But they had seen a little girl earlier in our visit and didn’t want their breasts to corrupt impressionable youth, I guess. Anyway, I was the only shirtless person.

That’s about when a bunch of piglets spotted us. What fun!

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After that, we had piglets trotting after us, looking for treats and grunting endearingly …

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In fact, T was like the Pied Piper of Piglets. She certainly had a devoted following …

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When we visited in 2007, we took refuge from the heat in a camp store, where they sold sodas and ice cream. We finally found the place. It was closed. Our luck.

Before we left, S found more creatures near a fence–a bison, deer, more goats …

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(In fact, it was the same bunch we had seen earlier, when the goats were on multi layers.) …

Frankly, I wasn’t feeling that well. The girls saw my skin was a lot pinker than normal, and I hadn’t gotten sunburned–I was just overheated. Luckily, we found a gas station and restaurant and took refuge there for a while. Ice cream! What a good idea! I had a banana shake. Yum! We took our time, and eventually I cooled down.

Our original plan had been to drive north to Appleton, enjoy dinner together and see the movie. But first we had to go back to their place to peel off our sweat-soaked shirts. By the time we reached Appleton, time was too tight for a regular restaurant. Instead: Burger King. Then, off to the movie.

I’m glad I saw “New Moon” the night before–it did help me keep track of the main characters. The girls thought this film would tie up all the plotlines and bring the saga to a close. Far from it! The ending very obviously hinted that at least one more sequel is in the works. Nonetheless, everyone enjoyed the film–and the air conditioning inside …

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After that: Some evening shopping. The girls needed a number of things and were short on money, as usual. But they are my friends, and I don’t have a problem helping out. From Tylenols to maxipads to whatever, my attitude is: If you need it, put it in the cart. The big one was a cell phone–S had a phone, but it was only for emergencies. I reasoned that getting a new one would make their lives less complicated.

From there, back to their place. Various people visited, and someone took a picture of me with the girls …

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Finally, a little after midnight, off to bed (though the GF stayed up). S and I were tired after a long, busy day. We both fell asleep quickly.

Wednesday morning, I had to head for home. But first, S and I had some unfinished business to take care of. One important item remained on the to-do list because we were too tired the first two nights.

And then it was time to go. I saw many things on the trip home. Birds gathering on wires. The hamburger capital of America. Pretty farming valleys. But that’s enough pictures for now. Maybe another time. Finally I got back home.

The trip was a bit too rushed for my liking, but it had to do. I don’t expect to visit them again until October or November. We’re already talking about special plans for that one. This one is so special to me that my wife might join us. I’ll explain in due time.

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Decamping, decompressing, unpacking

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 4 Comments
July 8, 2010

Pardon me if I look a little tired and bedraggled this week. I am.

I got back from my trip to the poly camp on Monday afternoon. We left a day earlier than originally planned–S’s girlfriend was struggling with allergies and had a really hard time sleeping. She did OK for three days, though, and said she really liked the camp–it was her first camping experience in decades. S is quite used to camping and camp cooking. I fall somewhere in between.

What happened Sunday morning is this: After they walked together to the bathroom (porta-potties), S asked for “a family conference.” Oh? I got dressed and sat in the camp chairs with them around the remnants of our fire from the night before.

S said that with the allergy problems the GF was having and with heavy rain expected to arrive later in the day, we might want to leave now. I hadn’t expected that, but it wasn’t long before I agreed. Things got chaotic after that, as we all scrambled to pack up our gear. To date, two of S’s axes are missing in action–not found yet, anyway.

We packed up the car, said a few good-byes, and started driving away. Just a few minutes later, fat raindrops started falling on my windshield, and dark clouds were noticeable to the west. We drove east and eventually got back to their place in Oshkosh. It sure was hot and stuffy inside. Luckily, their bedroom has a room air-conditioner. Certain creature comforts can’t be found in a tent.

The trip started from Oshkosh last Thursday at about noon, when we packed up my car. Oh, did we ever pack that poor little car! I had cut my gear down to a backpack and a plastic box about six inches high. The girls came equipped for anything. Big duffel bags. Clothes, meds, cooking supplies, cans and bags of food (and we got more, besides), craft supplies and tobacco–they both smoke and roll their own cigarettes, which they seemed to be doing every other time I looked.

You know what it was like? Ever been to the circus, and a clown drives into the ring in a tiny, little car? He stops and gets out. Then another clown gets out. And another. And another. And another. And they keep on coming from somewhere.

Well, we had a clown car. Instead of clowns, we had three people and tons of stuff, jammed and crammed everywhere, including that car carrier attached to the roof. Cooking supplies, clothes, huge duffel bags, camping gear. The car was way overloaded … but we made it there and back.
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Planning for poly camp

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 2 Comments
June 18, 2010

All through March, April and May, I had been worrying about our weather. How warm it was–much warmer than normal. Especially how dry it was–much, much drier than normal.

And then June arrived.

Flipping the calendar to June apparently did the trick: Since then, we have had plenty of rain. Just rain–no thunderstorms. But you should see how lush and healthy all the weeds on my lawn look now!

I was out, covering a truck pull earlier Friday night. Some of you may have read how scintillating I find truck pulls. On Saturday night, it’s a demo derby, and Sunday has a car show, art fair and steak cookoff. How tasty!

No rain over the weekend–it’s supposed to be back next week. Today it got close to 90 here. But it was a dry 90, with low dewpoints, so it was nice. Major storms passed through southern Wisconsin and the Lower Peninsula and northern Illinois (plus all the storms in Minnesota last night). It was cloudy here for a while. That was as close to rain as we got.

Of course, I’ve been following the World Cup, too.

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Since last week’s visit to S and her friend, I have been planning for our visit to the poly camp during the first days of July. It’s been eventful.

My mission: I am to drive the three of us to the annual event, which takes place in southwestern Wisconsin. I will first drive to Oshkosh (eastern WI) to pick them up and then the three of us ride together–it’s about 130 miles away on state highways. A three-hour drive.
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Betwixt and between

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 1 Comment
June 10, 2010

Transition time. Last night, June 9, the Stanley Cup playoffs ended when the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime to win the big mug for the first time since 1961.

Tomorrow, June 11, the World Cup opens in South Africa. The world-wide soccer competition lasts for a month and will hold much of the world in thrall. The sports-obsessed, non-American part of it, at least.

I may not exactly be in thrall, but I will be watching the action whenever I can. Where I live (Central Daylight Time, which is UCT-5), the games will be broadcast live in the morning and afternoon. South Africa is seven hours ahead of us.

That’s what I told my wife. We just completed the annual Stanley Cup marathon, which is two months of hockey nearly every night–two games a night during the early stages. I watch as much as I can. Once in a while, she joins me for a little while. Otherwise, it’s Hallmark movies or the History Channel–she was delighted to see that a new season of “Ice Road Truckers” is starting.

I told her the bad news first: As soon as the Stanley Cup ends, the World Cup starts.

Then I told her the good news: The games will be played in the morning and afternoon where we live. So there won’t be live games played during the evening, when we often to sit together and watch TV.

But, in the name of full disclosure, I guess I have to tell her sooner or later the bad news: CBC will broadcast a “game of the day” in prime time. during the evening, and then another game at 11 p.m. (Don’t know if it’s the same game as at 7 p.m.)

ESPN is broadcasting the games live in the States but won’t be having any prime-time replays. A few games will be repeated during late night or overnight hours, as it suits their needs for “content.”

Of course, I will pay special attention to the U.S. team, especially its Saturday game against the U.K.–their most important game of the group stage. The thinking is that the U.S. will get out its group and make it as far as the group of 16 before the water gets too deep.

But once they are eliminated, I will keep watching it to the end. It should be a good show. South Africa is a beautiful country.

****

Betwixt and between, I got out of town two days this week to visit S and her girlfriend. I drove down on Tuesday and returned Wednesday. It wasn’t a long visit, and I went by myself.

We had planned to all go down to visit a wildlife park/farm south of Oshkosh, but it was raining too hard, so we spent Tuesday afternoon at their place, watching several recorded episodes of the “Angel” TV series, about this vampire with a human soul. It’s by Joss Whedon, who made the “Firefly” series–I really liked that. Several hours passed by. Maybe I dozed off. An “Angel” marathon isn’t what I had expected–but I didn’t expect rain, either.

Then it was time to get some supper. We went to Golden Corral for their buffet. While eating, we talked about some plans. I am going to take them to the neopagan camp this year; we are going to stuff everything into my little car and go there during the first days of July. (Last year, B flew down from Alaska to go there with me–but she can’t get away this year.)

S has been there just once–five years ago, which is when I first met her. She has been wanting to go back ever since, but circumstances (her husband) didn’t permit it until now. Her GF, of course, just moved up to Wisconsin this year, so she hasn’t been there. This year’s theme is “deep friendship,” which is a topic that resonates with all of us.

While eating, we also talked about other stuff. They hadn’t yet seen “Alice in Wonderland” with Johnny Depp, which just came out on DVD. So we stopped at Target to get it, went home, popped it on the DVD player and enjoyed that. Then, off to a bar, about two blocks away. It had been S’s birthday the day before, and we had a couple drinks to mark the occasion. I had a rum and cola, which was, eh, OK, and a Smirnoff pomegranate cooler, which I liked much better.

From there, I drove us all home. They saved me some money by putting me up for the night, and the accommodations were very soft and warm and pleasant.

The GF slept in Wednesday morning, so S and I got up and talked for a while before I hit the road for home. I got back about 3 p.m., and my wife and I quickly went out for some shopping.

I made a mistake during the trip, though. I had wanted to call her late that night. I did call after I arrived there (while watching “Angel”). She wanted me to call again between 8 and 10–we were watching the movie then, and I had turned the phone off. Alas, I forgot to turn it back on before leaving for the bar. By the time I remembered, it was nearly 11, and she is usually in bed by then. So I called her in the morning to make sure all was well.

So it goes.

****

Get out the ark! We may need it.

The weather forecast is talking about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of rain tonight … 3/4 to an inch on Friday … and 1/2 to 3/4 inches Friday night. Don’t think I will be driving very far on Friday. (Earlier, they had talked about 1 to 2 inches Friday, but that’s been cut back. One inch is plenty enough.)

Better round up the ice cream buckets. We have a leak in one corner of the attic roof, and the ice cream buckets come in handy.

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Uncertain times

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 3 Comments
April 12, 2010

I don’t like living in uncertainty. Doesn’t matter: That’s where I live these days. Too many questions don’t have answers right now. Time will tell … but time’s not telling me. I’m not in on the secret. Wish I knew.

This post has been in the hopper for weeks, long enough for some of the concerns to resolve themselves and new ones to crop up.

Item 1: File under “resolved.” My wife wanted to take another bus tour, like her journey to Branson, Mo., early last fall. This time, she wanted to go to Nashville in mid-April. And she wanted me to come along.

I wasn’t so sure. I can take or leave country music. I like the old-timey stuff, with fiddles and steel guitars. “Modern country” doesn’t do it for me, especially when the entire string section gets in on the act. Fiddles are cool for country music. Violins aren’t. Besides that, it’s also the first week of the NHL playoffs. Maybe you know how I look forward to that.

I never had to decide. In the end, she decided “not this year.” That’s because of …

Item 2: My mom’s health is becoming a concern to the nursing home staff. During a recent visit, the head nurse asked me about “what-if” decisions if they can’t contact me. Should they (the nursing home) take her to the hospital in Iron Mountain (about five miles away) or keep her in her room, as comfortable and pain-free as they can? Because they can see her health is failing.

So can I, of course, especially since she broke her elbow last fall. She has worsened a lot since then. I have kept my thoughts to myself (outside of my wife, of course–and she agrees with my assessment). My mom has been at the nursing home for4 1/2 years now. If she makes it to late May, she will turn 88.

She surprised them by surviving her fall, and she is tough. But she is very frail now. She has been sleeping a lot, and it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure that one day she simply isn’t going to wake up.

But during our most recent visits, she seems more alert. It’s still very difficult to understand what she’s saying. But her mind still seems strong.

Item 3: I still have never taken that first ride in a jet. I thought I would do that this year. Now I’m not so sure. One reason is my mom. There’s another reason, too.

In mid December, I wrote to a friend of mine–we’re just friends with a common interest–and told her maybe this year I will finally fly out to California. I didn’t get a positive response. I got no response at all. We’re still friends, still talk online, but she has never mentioned that. Guessing and trying to read between the lines, I’m wondering if she and her former boyfriend are back together. If so, fine.

Meanwhile, my first flight will be … who knows?

Item 4: I just don’t know where I stand with B. We are friends, and we still write each other several times a week. We spent a couple days together last July, and I thought that went very well. But it’s nine months later; we haven’t seen each other since, and there are no plans.

I was B’s first polyamorous partner last summer, and she seems to have taken to it like a duck to water. She now has a friend in western Canada and one near Philadelphia. She has been with the Canadian guy twice, and her first visit with the guy near Philly was last week. (She had a medical appointment in Philly and took advantage of the opportunity.)

But as for her and I, right now we are just close friends who write e-mails. The e-mails are G-rated, mostly about what we’re doing. They were more naughty last year–if I showed you a typical e-mail from last year and an e-mail from recently, it’s easy to tell which is which.

Complicating factors: I don’t get many chances to travel because of my work demands, and her busy season at work is in June and July–no vacations or days off allowed during those months. We met last year because her work holidays during the Fourth of July weekend worked out right. This year, they didn’t. Such is fate.

I miss her. I enjoyed our time together last year. But it takes two to make a date. Will we ever meet again? I just don’t know. You know that it hurts. But, again, she is a good friend, and it seems like genuine friendship to me. So maybe I just have to try harder to be patient and accept the fact that our paths won’t be crossing again, at least for the foreseeable future.

Item 5: All of a sudden, another friend, S, is at a major crisis in her marriage. My wife and I have visited her and her husband several times in recent years, and they seemed to be getting along well. They have been married about 20 years.

But S is bisexual, and for some time she has wanted to add a second woman to her relationship. She recently met a woman that she gets along with very well–she’s bi and poly, just like her. But her husband is having major problems with it–he is very Christian, not a bit poly, and he and this other woman don’t get along. Unfortunately he has taken a hard stand: her or me. S has also taken a hard stand, and it isn’t looking good. She tells me things are very tense in their house now. They are both headstrong people, and that doesn’t help, either.

I tried to get her to cool off and think things through before making big decisions. I said pointedly that her husband and I are friends, too. I also said I would rather have them stay together than she and I resume our own relationship (which certainly becomes possible if they split). All the same, she is looking for an apartment for herself and her friend, and that’s how things stand now.

I’m an easy-going guy, and I think people should try to get along and not make trouble for themselves. But that’s just my philosophy, and I can’t live others’ lives for them. All anyone can do is shake my head sadly when people throw away happiness.

Item 6: I will be visiting my other friend, N, this week. The only question here is: What is she going to make for supper before we fire up the DVD player? We have a movie night together about once a month.

If you remember, N is a widow who is three years older than me, and she lives about 100 miles away with her rescue dogs. Quite independent. She enjoys making me dinner, and then we watch a movie or two. The next morning, I’m driving home, and normal life resumes for both of us.

****
We got back Saturday evening from our first mini-vacation in a while. My wife, my son and I went to the Green Bay area on Friday. The main reason was a big quilt show in Green Bay. This time, my son wanted to come along so he could hit some of his favorite stores and buy stuff. My role essentially was that of chauffeur.

It seems to have been a big success: My wife was very happy about the quilt show–she thought they did a really good job with exhibitors and vendors. She and I were able to stay in touch because she brought along her TracFone–when she was done at the quilt show, she called me.

As she studied the quilts and booths, my son and I made the rounds. We visited Best Buy, Target, a video exchange place and then the Green Bay Packers pro shop at Lambeau Field. He wasn’t shy about buying things, either. The phone rang while we were at the pro shop.

(I never entered the high school gym where the quilt show took place, so no quilt photos this time.)

As for myself, I invested in a CD by Bob Dylan and The Band. That’s all. I nearly bought a book about Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 when we visited the Barnes & Noble bookstore, but I finally left it behind. I have a book about PE4, which I was using on my old computer–I had PE8 included when I ordered the new one.

My highlight was bumping into Nick, our Olympian, at Best Buy. I had talked to him (on the phone) a few days earlier, and he said he would be in Green Bay, but bumping into him was just dumb luck. (We are arranging an interview about his experiences in Vancouver, now that he is back home.) He was in a rush, so we just talked just briefly–unfortunately, we saw each other a minute or two after my son and I separated after entering the store–he didn’t see Nick, who graduated from high school one year after him.

Talking about Best Buy … did you know there is also a Best Buy in the Iron Mountain area? It’s true–right on the highway, across the river from Michigan. Yellow and black sign and everything!

You don’t believe me? Suit yourself, but you can’t argue with pictures …

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A blast from the past

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 3 Comments
November 23, 2009

You aren’t going to believe what happened to me last week. No way. It’s amazing news.

I’m still a little stunned myself. I haven’t told anybody yet. Not even my wife, whom I usually tell everything to.

Not yet, but I will. You, my friends, will get a world exclusive a few lines from now.

But first …

****
As I started suspecting a few weeks ago, I will indeed be making a long, long trip out of town for Thanksgiving Day. And it won’t be to visit relatives or friends.

For the sixth consecutive year, one of our football teams has made its way all the way to the state championship game. They clinched it with a win at the dome in Marquette on Saturday, Nov. 21. The title game is at Ford Field in downtown Detroit on Friday, with a kickoff at 9 a.m. Central Time. (It’s 10 a.m. down there.)

The team had looked like it would be defeated in the first weeks of the playoffs. But they won against two strong teams and then dominated their regional opponent and, on Saturday, their opponent in the state semifinal game. Next stop: Detroit.

So much for my plans for visiting friends this week and having a quiet Thanksgiving dinner at home (for the first time since 2003). And the funny thing is, 2009 was supposed to be the “regrouping” year for our team, the one when the players acquire varsity experience, take a few lumps, exit the tourney early and get to do some deer hunting. But everyone has matured faster than expected, the team improved markedly during the season. And the 2010 team? It’s really supposed to be something. Who knows how many more Thanksgivings I will spend down there?

I’m going to go down there–I just don’t know how yet. Three options. Last year, for the first time, I was able to ride on the team bus–experience the entire week with the team. They sent two buses down to Detroit. This year, due to budget cuts, they’re just sending one team bus, and odds are 99:1 against me riding along.

Option two is the fan bus, if there is one. Here’s what that would be like: ride in the bus for 10 hours or so, climb out to watch the game (about 2 1/2 hours), then climb back on the bus for the 10-hour drive home. Remember to pack along the Tylenol!

Option three is the way I have gone almost every year: Driving down there myself, in my own car. Coincidence or not, I bought new tires a week or two ago, so that part should be OK. The advantage of that is that I can visit my older son (who visited here last week) and have time to talk with him. If I go there by myself, we can really talk. If my wife and/or son invite themselves along, there is almost never time or privacy for that. So I think you know what I would prefer.

In past years, we have watched the Lions game on TV, then watched a movie, or else the kids played some games. Once or twice, we have all gone across the river into Canada, to spend a few loonies–Canada’s Thanksgiving Day is in October, so Thursday is an ordinary working day there, and all the stores and restaurants will be open. If we do that, though, we to take our passport cards along, and David doesn’t have one.

No matter what happens, I am on the road by 7 a.m. Friday, heading downtown to the Ford Field parking lots. After the game and the press conferences, I start the 10-hour drive home. We have had very mild weather for November–some snow is supposed to move in this week, but the ground is not frozen, the lakes are fairly warm, so everything should melt quickly and roads should be no worse than wet.

Saturday, I try to gather my thoughts together for the article about what happened. It’s a long, difficult time. What I really need to do over these next few days is get some extra rest–It’s going to be a busy week.

****
Back to the main topic: my surprise. It’s about an old girlfriend who has found me. She is delighted that she has. So am I.

She was my girlfriend before N was. And B. And S. And even my wife. And I have never seen her in person.

Our history dates back nearly 45 years, when I was in high school. I was taking German in high school (in suburban Milwaukee), and we were told that if we wanted to, we could write to a penpal in West Germany. I wanted to try it, and that is how I started writing to a girl named Martina. We wrote on this onion-skin paper, trying out our German and English on each other, folded it up booklike, put it in thin envelopes with red and blue diamonds on the edges (to indicate air mail), put extra postage on it and mailed it.

We wrote about … I don’t know. This and that. Whatever teenagers talked about during the mid 1960s. Popular music, of course–the Beatles were big on both sides of the Atlantic, along with the other British groups. I was a Rolling Stones fan even then, and the Beatles were a close second. She liked the Beatles most, and when their “Help!” soundtrack record album came out, I scrounged up enough money to buy a copy and mail it to her. That cost some money. I think my dad cut out a thin piece of plywood to keep it from getting smashed–evidently it worked.

We wrote for about two years. Then … I don’t remember. Either she graduated from her school or I did from mine. Anyway, life intervened, and we stopped writing each other. Kids, you know. They have the attention span of a fruit fly.

But I remembered her, her name, the city where she lived … and when a German woman named Martina contacted me via Facebook last Friday, it awoke those memories of a Martina from long ago. I asked if she is the same Martina L. who lived in R. … and she said she is.

Today she is a “Chefsekretärin bei einem Strafverteidiger” (chief secretary of a defense attorney), is married (second marriage) and has a son and granddaughter. Her Facebook profile says her favorite quotation is “Vergangene Tage, nicht weinen, dass sie vorüber, lächeln, dass sie gewesen.”

Literal translation: “Past days, don’t cry that they are over; smile that they happened.” A pretty good philosophy on life, I think.

All that happened out of the blue. So now I am trying to remember how to speak and write German, what the different words mean, the rules on word order and word endings and umlauts and genders and cases and all that stuff. I haven’t studied German for over 40 years. So among the things I will look for while downstate this week will be … a good German language guide and dictionary.

Wow. Amazing.

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Love’s Something Something

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 5 Comments
November 12, 2009

Oh, the things we do for the people we love!

Late last week, my wife asked me to do something: Can you record a movie for me? A few movies? Fourteen hours’ worth?

It seems that the Hallmark Channel was carrying eight movies based on the Love Comes Softly series of books by Janette Oke. It’s a series of books set in the 19th century, following the life of a family living in the prairies or the West. They are described as Christian drama TV movies.

All the movie titles are three words long, and the first word is “Love” or “Love’s.” Love’s Something Something, for instance.

There are eight movies in the series, and Hallmark broadcast seven of them, back to back to back to back to back to back to back. At two hours apiece (including commercials), that’s 14 hours of recording. Enough to deaden the rear end of even the most ardent Hallmark movie fan. Then we found out that the times in the TV listings were incorrect, so we had to adjust the schedule.

But we got it done. The movies were recorded and eventually burned onto DVDs. She watched one Tuesday night (I was gone, covering volleyball) and said she enjoyed it a lot.

For what it’s worth, Wikipedia says that the Hallmark Channel movie versions “do not completely follow the books, and therefore take place in an alternate universe from the novels.” Alternate universe? Is that like alternative reality?

At any rate, my wife is happy to be able to see the movies on her own schedule, so she will probably do something nice for me. Maybe a nice dessert or a favorite dinner, when we have the time. Last night, we had wild rice casserole for supper. Haven’t had that for a long time. Yum!

****
We do things in the name of love or the quest for love. I do. You probably do, too. Here are a few other things taking place in the name of love.

My friend S and her husband are hosting a woman from the Northeast U.S. this week. They have been looking for a “third” (for a triad relationship) for a while, and in recent months they have gotten to know this woman. She is visiting them this week (their first encounter), and I hope things go super well for everyone. Barring a long downstate trip for football, I hope to visit them later this month for a much more conventional visit.

My friend B flew out for a long weekend last night, heading out to meet a friend. She met him online (as she met me), and this is their second weekend visit. She is happy and excited, and I am happy for her. No idea when she and I will meet again. It won’t be soon, alas.

A week ago, I covered a volleyball tourney out of town and then visited my friend N–just a few miles away. I brought along a new DVD player. She had recently bought herself a new TV (her old one died), but never has had a DVD player. I thought she should have one–they aren’t expensive and (aha!) it would give me a much greater range of movies I can bring that we can watch together when I visit.

So I bought one and brought it over, and N was very surprised and grateful. We snuggled up on the couch to watch two films that night before heading to bed.

****
I thought my football season would end last Saturday, but it didn’t. I have spent five consecutive Thanksgiving Days downstate because of the football finals. I didn’t think it would be six in a row, but then I didn’t think our team would win last Saturday. They did–they blocked a punt with one minute to play and scored the winning touchdown on the next play. So now … who knows?

My life isn’t quite back to normal, but it’s a lot closer. The stress of preparing for the sale of my mom’s house is done with. That long, rough week ended. My mom seems to be doing a little better, too. I visited her on Tuesday.

My wife and I had a couple quiet nights last week, watching this and that on TV–usually old TV shows on DVD. That’s the plan for tonight. Not too exciting, but those were good evenings. It’s nice to sit next to one another. We’re both feeling fine.

The H1N1 flu has been widespread in the local schools now. The entire district closed for the last three school days in October. They tried to open last Monday, Nov. 2, but still had over 25% absenteeism. (If more than 25% of students are out, the school doesn’t get funding and has to make up the day later.) So they closed at noon and stayed closed all week. Many other school districts in the western U.P. have done the same.

I called my older son last week. As it turns out, he will be driving up north to visit us this weekend. The reason is complex, but it has to do with his job and finding out whether he can be “on call” from the western U.P. over Christmas week in case the computers down near Detroit have a problem. Can he and his laptop do that work from way up here in the boonies? That’s what he’s coming up here to find out.

We talked Monday night. Wednesday, per his request, we purchased three pizza pasties for Friday night, and we’ll head somewhere else for a pizza another night.

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A new letter to learn

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 4 Comments
October 2, 2009

I’ll tell you why I haven’t been writing that much lately. It’s fall, and I’ve been busy at work and covering fall sports at night.

Then, my mom’s injury stole a lot of free time from me, what with driving back and forth multiple times per week–it’s a one-hour drive each way, you know, plus all the time in between. Besides sucking up a lot of my spare time, many of you know that dealing with this saps your mental and spiritual energy.

(An update on my mom appears later. She’s back at the nursing home and getting better very slowly.)

Plus, I’ve been writing B regularly, and I’ve been writing S regularly … and I have a new letter of the alphabet to tell you about, too.

This name starts with an N. I’ve been writing her, too. I have even visited her a few times lately.

Unlike B, N doesn’t live thousands of miles away. In fact, she’s only about a hundred miles away, which isn’t so far in these wide-open reaches of the Upper Midwest. She lives in a very rural area. That’s good because the love of her life are her dogs–she takes in rescue dogs, and some of them like to bark. She has about 10 dogs right now, though that number goes up and down as she adopts new dogs and others go over the Rainbow Bridge. Her oldest dog is about 18. That’s even older than our elderly kitty, Maggie.

What else can I tell you? She is three years older than me and a widow for the last three years. Works part time. Has a DirecTV dish. Doesn’t have a DVD player, which really limits the movies I can bring along when I visit. Methinks she will be getting a DVD player as a gift sometime soon. She doesn’t have a lot of money but is wise enough to know money never can buy happiness. And she enjoys my visits.

I have visited her several times, once while my wife was gone on her trip and twice since. Both of the latter visits coincided with football games I covered in her area. The first time, I drove over for a visit, late supper and sleepover after the game. The other time, I visited her before the game–she cooked a steak for us over a grill. That time, I didn’t return after the game–I made the two-hour drive home.

There are no more games in that area this fall, so our next visit has to wait until some time in the future. Best guess: maybe mid October.

We write each other about once a week. B and I still write each other about every day. B knows about N, and N knows about my wife, and my wife knows about N, and B knows about my wife, etc. In case you were wondering … no secrets.

****
Let’s move on to the news. My mom has been back in the nursing home for the last two weeks. She was in the hospital for a week after breaking her elbow. When we visited her last week, she was awake only for a few minutes during our one-hour visit. Maybe, suggested B when I told her about it, it’s because of the meds they are giving her.

We went again this Wednesday. She was more awake but complaining that she wasn’t feeling well. Her forehead and hands did feel warm–but later, before we left, they felt more normal. She’s still sleeping a lot.

My wife went with me to a football game in Houghton a week ago–a really nice day for a fall drive, with temperatures in the low 70s and the leaves really showing color. Last Saturday, I took her to a quilt show at a little town about 70 miles away. The colors on the maples were really vivid under the September sun, but it later clouded up and started a light rain.

We had a spectacular September, with temperatures into the 70s most of the time. No rain, sunny days, warm weather. A much nicer month than July was. But as the final week of September started, a front went through, with rain, cold and a chilly wind out of the northwest. For the last two nights, we woke up to temperatures in the mid 20s and heavy frost. Won’t be so cold for my football game Friday night–instead, heavy rain is moving this way.

OK, it’s getting late again, and I’m still typing. Time for bed. But I wanted to say hi and let you know I’m still alive. At least I think I am. I must be. Dead people don’t yawn.

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1,076 miles later …

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 3 Comments
July 20, 2009

That distance (1,732 kilometers for those of you who are into metrics) is how far I drove during my extended Fourth of July weekend trip. If you plot it out on a map, my course looks sort of like a backwards “7,” as I drove mostly west to Minneapolis-St. Paul, then southeast to the neopagan gathering … and then retraced my tire tracks a couple days later. My wife and I left home on Wednesday around noon and got back home the following Monday at about mid-afternoon.

I did this so I could have my first visit with B, my friend from Alaska. We met at the MSP Airport on Thursday just after noon and parted on Sunday, late in the afternoon. That gave us most of four days and three nights together. Without getting into a lot of words, we both had a great time, and the days passed very quickly. Way too quickly. We had packed a lot of activities into those four days, so we were very busy, and we both slept well each night–even I, who often wake up in the middle of the night and can’t settle down again.

Thanks to our cell phones and texting, we kept in touch with each other as we neared our rendezvous (the baggage pickup area at the MSP airport). I had parked at the nearby Mall of America and took the light rail train to the terminal. She texted me when her plane landed. By the time she phoned me a little later after exiting the plane, she had already spotted me. It was a 10-second phone call. Happy hugs and kisses ensued.

We rode back to the mall, where we did some shopping, got lunch (Arby’s), then hit the road for the three-hour drive to our motel. Supper was at Pizza Hut. The next morning, we finished the drive to the gathering, passing through some very scenic, hilly country that thrilled her, including a brief drive up narrow roads to a top-of-the-mountain park. Lovely place, but we didn’t stay there long; we had places to go.

We got to the gathering site, where she started meeting some of my friends. All went very well there–she said she had a great time at the events we went to, meeting many new friends along the way. She had never been to an event like that, and it was exotic, to put it mildly.

We missed many of the events–B wanted to see sarong-tying workshop, and I wanted the drumming and dancing circle; we arrived a day late for that. But we made it to a discussion of the group, a potluck dinner and a “henna play party,” with people decorating each other with henna. B really wanted to see that, and she did. We took part–I drew a little butterfly on her …

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And she drew a moon with some stars on me …

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They only exist in these photos now; the henna has already faded away completely.

A symposium was held in the evening, and I hoped for a starry night, because you can really see the stars and Milky Way from this hilltop location–no light pollution at all. But it was mostly cloudy. We went back to my tent and slept well. I just brought one sleeping bag for the two of us. When it got cool overnight, we put the thermal blanket under us on the air mattress and the sleeping bag over us. Problem solved.

The next day, we stumbled through a “mirror dance,” then enjoyed the sensual pleasures of taste at a “naked lunch,” where a poem of that name was read. “Clothing is definitely optional,” said the program, and so it was. One important rule: When someone feeds you something by hand, you have to happily moan with pleasure. Strawberries (a few with chocolate on top), grapes, melon, date bars. Mmmmmmmmmmm!!!

After that, we took part in a very serious discussion of polyamory that went two hours and could have gone for two more. The people there are very committed to the lifestyle they lead and their lovers–all of them. After it ended, B and I went back to our campsite, took down the tent and moved things back to the car. We stayed long enough to take part in the main ritual was that evening, and we left right after that, with more hugs for the people there.

We drove back north, and she was delighted to come upon a big fireworks show in one of the towns.  B has lived in Alaska for years, and they don’t have fireworks that far north on the Fourth of July. Just after the start of summer, the sun is up 22 hours a day, and the sky never gets dark. They have fireworks for New Year’s, but people have to bundle up for subzero weather to see it.

We got to our motel at 11:30 p.m. and were pleased to find the hot tub and whirlpool still open. We relaxed and let the rushing warm water sooth away our tense muscles from the drive before going to bed. During our final morning, as we were getting ready, I remembered that we still had to do a tick check on each other. Lucky that I remembered–I spotted one on B’s tummy. We had to get out her tweezers to carefully pull the little bugger out. She said I was tick-free.

She had gifts, both for me and my wife. She gave her a book on Alaskan wildflowers, a cutting board and an ulu (an all-purpose cutting knife with a rocking handle, like those used by the Inuit). She gave me a black Alaska T-shirt with a multi-colored moose on it.

I only took a few pictures, and there was just one of the two of us together. We stopped at a gas station near the motel on that final morning and saw a big orange moose on the motel grounds nearby. A woman saw me taking a picture of B and took a picture of the two of us together …

ST09-B-Me-PaletKnf-7-09-1.jpg


Then, back in the car. A few hours later we were back at the Mall of America. A visit to Taco Bell, an ice cream at Dairy Queen, and then back into the light rail train, heading back to the airport. She got her boarding pass. The security checkpoint lines nearby were very long–but one of the officers told us to walk down to the other end of the terminal, where the lines were a lot shorter. Indeed they were–B just had one person in front of her. Within minutes she was through, and we waved good-bye for the final time.

The next morning, I got an e-mail from her, saying she was back in Alaska, safe and sound, ready to go to bed and dream of ticks.

****
Now … I bet you’re wondering what my wife was doing while I was gone.

She was having a great time with her sisters. All three of them live in the same area, and I drove her to one of their homes that first day (leaving for the Twin Cities by myself the next morning). On her first solo day, she and the sister drove up to Duluth, took in two Imax movies, visited a big flower display at a local park and ate dinner at a revolving restaurant, 18 stories above the ground. That’s pretty big for Duluth. When they told me about it, I was impressed.

On day two, she stayed in town with the family, they had a big cookout and went to the circus that night, seeing fireworks afterward. On day three, she and the sister went down to Eau Claire to visit some parks, a mini-zoo, visit some nephews and have a nice supper. I guess they had a good time–they got home an hour after I got back from the Twin Cities. We stayed there that night and left for home the next morning.

While she and I were separated, we kept in touch the best we could–but she doesn’t have her own cell phone (not interested), and I didn’t have the sister’s cell number, so I kept calling her house. They weren’t home that much, but I did talk to her a few times from the road (or the tent or restaurant or motel).

It all worked out, and I’m very happy with how everything went. B and I knew we didn’t have a lot of time, and many things we had talked about doing fell by the wayside. Even so, we did a lot, we had very busy days, and I don’t think we could have packed much more into our time together. She loved the gathering and wants to go back next year.

Meanwhile, my wife said she really enjoyed having a long holiday weekend with her sisters, so this whole story could very well be repeated next summer. Why not? It sounds like it worked for everybody.

****

B and I talked for the first time since the trip (besides e-mails) on Saturday night. It went well, and my wife was part of it too–I put my cell phone on speaker. Since we said good-bye two weeks earlier, both of us have been trying to catch up on our sleep–she, especially, was fatigued when the visit was over. She also had to deal with a few health problems (nothing major), exacerbated by an unusual Alaskan heat wave that sent temperatures shooting up into the 80s and low 90s, along with wildfires and smoke.

All that is past now. We had hoped to meet again in August, but those plans didn’t work out. So our next time will be … whenever. When the time is right. As it was two weeks ago.

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Not your ordinary visit

Filed Under: Uncategorized by drdog — 6 Comments
April 19, 2009

After a really busy, hectic week, our weekend trip was completed successfully on Saturday.

Just as well we got it all done Saturday. Sunday, we had cool, damp weather that never got out of the 30s. But for most of Saturday, we enjoyed weather in the 60s and even the low 70s early in the day. For Monday and Tuesday, about a foot of very heavy snow is predicted for our area. That’s April for you.

We had been planning to visit S and her husband for a long time, but the story took on new urgency last Sunday, when S wrote and told me that her husband was looking very good for a new job–but their car had just been diagnosed with a cracked block. Not a good thing when your new job is 30 miles away.

Their car had been ailing for some time, and last fall I reminded them that my mom’s car was still sitting in her garage, unused since she went to the nursing home in late 2005. If you need it, I said. We’ll see, she said. That was the last time we talked about it until last Sunday.

Her plan was that I drive them north when we go home, so they can get the car. Monday, I was busy putting the paper together all day, but I called around to a garage that could help us.

Tuesday, we drove down to the house, then called the garage to send out a flatbed wrecker to pick up the car and take it to the garage. (Its battery was dead, and the gas had been sitting in the tank for three years.)   I told the garage to give it an oil change, lube, coolant change, fluids, and give the car a once-over. We visited my mom and got the car keys from her. Had a nice visit, too.

I knew where the title was–at our house. It was made out to my dad (who died in 1994) “or” my mom. The title had been mailed to them in 1988. It cost the state 18 cents to send the business envelope. But I had to call the Wisconsin DMV to find how to fill out the title, since my mom couldn’t sign it. View full article »

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