Tricks and Treats

When your day starts out the walk-in clinic, you know it likely is going to be more tricks than treats this Halloween. Good thing they balance out.

Saw the doc by 8 a.m. and came home with a bag of goodies by 10 a.m. I went trick-or-treating at the pharmacy because I could not stop coffin. (Ha, a little Halloween humor for ya.) Not funny that it's just a crappy cold that will linger. But hopefully the three different meds will work!

Wasn't thrilled that it was raining all day and it was State Cross Country Meet day. But I wouldn't have missed it for anything. These guys worked hard and they wanted to prove it! And it turned out to be a treat.

A few photos...

State meet is at The Ridges. Very close by but had to take a shuttle from the Lions Club park to get there.

Rain dripped steadily off our tent and our runners all afternoon. Oh, and the fans, too.

Father Menzel, our biggest fan, gives a blessing under the tent before the Division 3 boys race at 2 p.m.

We don't have fair-weather fans...

We have all-weather fans!

Our girls cross country team, always supportive. So great getting to know this wonderful group of young ladies this year.

Our boys line up in the first lane. It was a tough, muddy run for everyone. Last year, I believe we finished 11th or 12th out of the 16 teams at state. This year, one of our runners finished 8th overall (amazing!) and our team finished 6th, just 5 points shy of the 5th-place finishers. Wow. So proud of this team!

Carter and his friend Nick did not run today, but were still happy with their last 4 years together on the team.

Carter and his coaches for the last four years: Gary Pritchard, left, and Coach Blue Beard (aka Erik Duhn). Mr. Duhn colored the beard for State and will probably shave it all off now and start over since the blue dye might not come out that easily. How's that for spirit?

Carter and his buddy Theo goofing around after the race.

Carter had a few extra layers on today to add weight. Ha.

Power-lifting success!

Speaking of success, here is our amazing group. They worked so hard, I am glad they not only made it to state but proved they belonged there! What a great group and what a great season!

After the meet, Carter and the team stayed together, went to dinner, etc. Jim and I came home and ended up going to a neighborhood Halloween campfire (rain stopped by 5 p.m.). I only went for a little while so I wouldn't make my cold any worse with the chilly air and the smoke.

I think the neighborhood axe murderer may have scared the germs right out of me! Maybe I won't need the bag of medicated treats after all!

I'll still give them a try. That and an extra hour of sleep tonight when we change the clocks will hopefully do the trick!

Happy Halloween!

It's A Good Day...

The early bird gets a special college visit. At least the early birds in our house.

There was no school today so the timing of the event for "already admitted" members freshman class of 2016 was perfect. Other than getting on the road at 5:45 a.m., that is. Now we know it does take 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to UW-Platteville, pretty much no matter which way you go. So glad hubby drove. I wanted to sleep but was the nag-agator so stayed alert to the best of my ability!

Got there a little after 8:30 a.m. Today was set aside for extended info (housing, financial aid, etc) for the almost new students. Like a pre-orientation almost. Got to hear presentations (including from the chancellor), take a campus and residence hall tour, and eat lunch at the all-you-can-eat buffet in the student union. And Carter now understands the Freshman 15 concept!

He also got to meet Pioneer Pete, their mascot. It's tough to force a non-morning person to pose for a picture. Thankfully another Assumption student was there today and she nudged him into doing it. His orange cross country sweatshirt fit right in.

Still, we had to make a stop in the bookstore in case anything caught Carter's eye. He managed to find a sweatshirt and t-shirt he liked. Since I love the color orange, I saw all kinds of things I liked. I settled for an orange UW-Platteville shirt, bypassing the UW-Platteville Mom shirt after seeing eyes roll. I'll just wait on that one in case he gets a better offer.

Frankly, right now, we are all excited with the UW-P option and what it can do for Carter. If either of the other two schools outstanding accept his application, we'll talk it out. Otherwise, I am fine with a splash of orange here and there.

As they said several times today, "It's a great day to be a Pioneer!"

Spread Blame, Not Germs

I'm still not sure who to blame.... the Amish, my sisters, a redneck or Fonzie for standing me up in the cold wind at Inspiration Point. Regardless, someone out there gave me a gift to last all week.

Achoo!

By intermission of the Willie and Merle concert, I needed to get a bottle of water because my throat was scratchy. By noon Monday, I felt like I'd been hit by a bus, or perhaps an Amish buggy. Went home and was in bed shortly after 8 p.m.

After of fun night of sleeping with tissues stuffed up my nose, I took some meds for cold and for allergies. The problem is that you take these "only 1 dose per 24 hours" things and then you are helpless the rest of the day!

Gotten a little better each day but am not totally in the clear. Have not heard word one from any sister claiming to be sick this week. Either they don't want to take the blame or I am just lucky.

So I am pampering myself with yummy shots of Emergen-C, cherry Sucrets, hot tea and, well Pumpkin Spice Eggnog. Hey, I saw it by the milk and just HAD to try it. If I feel better tomorrow, we'll know I'm onto something deliciously magical.


If not, I'll continue to be good about covering my coughs, washing my hands often and not kissing any guys in black leather jackets.

Country Legends

Our fall geriatric tour was supposed to include The Who on Oct. 10 and Merle & Willie on Oct. 25, but we only got to enjoy half of it since the rock 'n' roll old guys had to postpone and only the elderly country legends had staying power.

A few months back I heard about the concert and knew hubby – a huge Merle Haggard fan – would want to go. I got a super secret code that let us buy tickets the day before the public and scored us some seats in the 6th row! I knew it would be a bit of a time crunch rushing back from sister weekend. But I made it back with a half hour to spare to unpack and country up.

None of the pictures are crystal clear -- and it's not because of a Willie weed haze, just a camera phone that can only zoom so far.

Waiting for the start! Not too far from stage, which was good because these simple country guys. No megatron for the audience of 18,000 to see them on a screen. We could see their whitish-gray hair and wrinkles. A whole lotta people probably just say some guys in cowboys hats!

The show actually opened with 3 songs by Merle's oldest from his "first litter" and his youngest (on guitar) from his "last litter." Yes, the 78-year-old is on his 5th marriage. And Willie, 82, has been married 4 or 5 times. Good thing music lasts longer than marriage!

Merle takes the stage!

Sounded and looked as cool as ever.

I can't remember what he all sang, but I do know he did "Mama Tried," "Sing Me Back Home," "Workin' Man's Blues" and "Okie from Muskogee" of course!

Willie came on stage they sang a few tunes together, including "Pancho and Lefty." Their latest duets album, “Django and Jimmie,” came out in June so they sang their entertaining “It’s All Going to Pot” song.

With a Texas flag backdrop, Willie Nelson opened with "Whiskey River." Also sang "Crazy," "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" and "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys."

We just call him "the red-headed stranger" in our house. But not many red hairs anymore.

He must have thrown 3 bandannas out to the crowd. Apparently we didn't have enough screaming women by us to garner attention.

They closed performing a few songs together, with Merle mainly playing guitar.

After that, we were "On the Road Again." We got home after midnight and I was so tired on Monday, but it was worth it. A legendary date night!

Check Your Surroundings

Our criteria for choosing a site for sister weekend is pretty minimal. First, pick a weekend we all have available (a challenge with 7 schedules!). We do enjoy the fall colors and mild temperatures so we shoot for September or October. This year was the latest in the year we've gathered.

Second, try to find a general location within driving distance for 6 of the 7 sisters (unless we're actually going to Texas to Rayna's), and then a specific location within that location that will house 7 people. It could be a touristy town or one we've never heard of before. I have never heard of Lanesboro, Minnesota, despite its reputation as the Bed and Breakfast Capital of Minnesota. Most of us hadn't, so it was a great excuse to check out our surroundings.

Lanesboro is sort of nestled among the hilly terrain and bluffs along the Root River. Rainy day on Friday but a view from "up town" still shows the dam / waterfall in the distance.

 

Close-up of waterfall.

Lots of neat old building downtown that have been converted into shops, inns or restaurants.

 

Would love to live on Coffee Street, wouldn't you?

 

As part of our Amish tour on Friday we swung by the oldest church in Fillmore County.

I was reminded of the church and school from Little House on the Prairie.

In fact, it is so old, the American flag hanging on the wall only has 44 stars. Now that's neat to see.

During our Amish tour, we realized we were only a few miles from Iowa. When one of my sisters said she'd never been there, we all said, "Let's go!" So Saturday featured shopping in downtown Lanesboro, followed by a trip south to Iowa. I have no idea what the passersby were thinking when they saw us determined to get a group picture!

But I wish one of them would have stopped to volunteer to take one so we didn't have to use a selfie-turned-group photo!

Then, as long as we were IN Iowa, we figured we'd continue down the road a few miles to Decorah... just because.

Decorah is home to Luther College and a Norwegian-American museum!

They had a Norwegian sweater display going on. So cool!

Little knit sweaters on every post!

A church downtown with a neat clock tower on top. Reminded me of Back to the Future movie.

Pretty scenery on the drive back to Lanesboro at dusk.

Almost a full moon... not that you can tell anyway when us 7 girls get together!

Capturing a moment with Raylene. Don't see my twin -- or any of my siblings -- often enough!

 

One last stop before leaving town. I'd probably still be waiting at Inspiration Point for The Fonz, but I had to get back home and find my thrill on Blueberry Hill, er Blue Jay Drive.

 

Aaaay!

 



No Amish Mafia Here

Back on the grid... When a sister weekend starts with a beer can tree, ends with weed-smokin' Willie and has a detour to Iowa in between, you know it's gotta be good.

I'm too exhausted to go into all the details (those I can share, ha) in one blog, but in a nutshell, we stayed in Amish country in Lanesboro, Minnesota, which is the southeastern corner. Yesterday I left Minnesota, crossed half of Wisconsin to get to Rapids, change clothes and grab hubby, and we crossed the other half of the state to cap off the weekend with a Willie Nelson-Merle Haggard concert in Green Bay.

Now you see why I'm exhausted?

Let's just focus on the Amish for today...

First the two views above are from the Cozy Quilt Cottage where we stayed. It was very dry and dusty because they hadn't had rain in the area for a month.

During our first trip into town to get ice and milk, I noticed this beer-can Christmas tree on the side of the road. Is this Amish country or hillbilly country? You decide.

And yes, you can see by the ornament there that it is indeed a Christmas tree! You also can see by the haze that it takes a long time for the dust to settle on dirt roads.

On Friday afternoon we took our 3-hour tour from Bluffscape Amish Tours. Yes, a 3-hour tour like Gilligan's Island... no phones, no lights, no motorcars... not a single luxury.

It was dreary, rainy day, so not much in the way of photos. We can't take pictures of Amish people's faces anyway. Still, it would have been nice to walk around a bit, rather than running from the tour bus to the shops, trying to stay dry.

Learned a lot about the Amish. The large population in southeastern Minnesota are mainly from the Old Order. No Amish mafia here. We visited four families and saw a variety of their crafts, from quilts and woodworking to hand-woven baskets and cashew crunch (I mean baked goods!).

Caught a buggy leaving the yard as we entered this particular place that I must say had the largest and most scrumptious selection of homemade treats! Had a caramel-apple-cheesecake bar of some sort for "lunch" and stocked up on some cashew crunch.

This farm had a variety of gorgeous handcrafted furniture. I would love to sit on that swing all day! The guy could make some darn good cashew crunch, too!

Gotta big kick out of the stop sign, I mean WHOA sign, by the horses' hitching post!

At this farm, I was just snapping a photo of this swing when I heard my sister Renell exclaim from inside the bus, "Where are my cinnamon rolls?" She had purchased them from the previous farm and they were there when we went into the shop at this one, but now were gone. The bus door had been left open but we were pretty sure no Amish would steal from us.

Well, after much investigation, I found the paper plate and plastic wrap on the ground. And Renell found the guilty-looking farm dog not far away! Now Amish dogs -- used to horses only -- would never jump on a bus. Apparently, this hungry dog was new on the farm but had previously been owned by the "English." That is why it had no qualms about jumping into a vehicle.

Learn something new every day.

Here a buggy is parked downtown while the owners sell at the Saturday farmers' market in Lanesboro. They hitch their horses elsewhere to eat while they sell their wares. Could not get close enough to the horses for a picture. They are pretty big workhorses and I didn't need to startle one!

This field of corn stocks really gives you an idea how much physical labor the Amish do. They look neat, too.

They do actually have an Amish Byway, constructed wide enough for a buggy lane on each side. Pretty sure that makes all the travelers along there much safer.

We met Amish of all ages. Kids were adorable and hardworking. And the adults selling to us sure had character. The one woman selling quilts has 73 grandchildren. When asked if she remembers all their names, she replied, "Yes, but I can't remember all their birthday anymore." Wow. And I thought our family was big!

I was almost jealous of their large homes (I can see why they NEED them), but then I see the windmill and am reminded I probably wouldn't get enough juice to charge my phone!

Bless them for making it work.