Flirting with Natural Disasters

Whether or not you have friends or family beyond the borders of Wisconsin and Minnesota, you still can't ignore what's happening in the category of "Natural Disasters" in and around the U.S. right now.

While Houston folks are just starting to see dry land after Hurricane Harvey, Florida and the Caribbean Islands are hoping to survive the monstrous path of wreckage from Irma. Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest is on fire and in Wisconsin we are about to turn on the heat.

Just. Plain. Crazy.

I have friends in each locale and this is scary business.

So far, the Houston friends have survived with minimal flood damage – compared to what we see on TV. In Florida, it's too soon to tell where Irma may or may not hit and how much damage will result. Hoping friends are safe.

The wild fires are the most concerning really. They just seem to be out of control. So far, friends in Washington and Oregon are fine. My girlfriend and her family in eastern Montana are OK for now, but she said it is pretty bad for lots of relatives and friends in other areas of the state. And a few of the fires have been pretty close to her parents' ranch. Wow. Just scary.

Suddenly, considering turning the furnace on doesn't seem so drastic, does it?

Pray for safety and the ability to recover. Pray for strength, too, for all emergency personnel meeting dealing with floods, fires and storms.

And thank God if you have blessings you can count today!

License to ... Collect

All thoughts of hoarding and cluttering are top of mind these days with my mother's big Downsize / Please Take This Off My Hands Sale just a week away.

I've learned this collecting disease does NOT skip a generation... as evidenced by one of the walls in Carter's basement Man Cave.

His habit started innocent enough. But I am to blame, I'm sure, because he wouldn't have been at a flea market years ago unless I took him there, right? So he picked out the cool yellow and red flamed smiley face one and then choose a Man Cave and Budweiser one for Daddy. Then, well, it just went into full gear!

He found a few "real" ones a different time at that flea market, then discovered there is an endless supply at the Iola Old Car Show. Of course, the treasured find – gift from his Grandma Hedberg actually – are the old plates up top representing the years my parents were born: 1927 and 1932. There also is a 1949 one, the year they got married, and a Wisconsin 1963 for Jim's year of birth. I don't think he has one for my year, which, for the record, was NOT from a Model T!

He's also received a few as gifts and now has more than half the states.

Our friend Tamara, one of Carter's first "girlfriends," sent him some from Indiana and Montana a few years back after she moved with her husband from Indianapolis to her homeland of Montana. She asked recently if he minded "duplicates." Not at all, I said. No two are exactly the same.

The one he got from her in the mail yesterday – as an early birthday present – is different than his other Big Sky plate. So that's cool. And now he started a new row, which obviously has to be filled at some point. We know that if he goes back to the car show, he could wrap it up in one final purchase. But what's the fun in that?

Besides, if he gets every state and fills the wall, what will he start collecting next? A car for each plate?

Let's not encourage him. Perhaps it's not too late to break the cycle.

Oh ha. That's a good one.

Dawg-gone

As I write this, my friend Tamara is probably traversing Minnesota (the state she hates -- but I forgive her) on her way home to Montana. I shouldn't say "home." She is going to her birthplace to get married and then it's off to Indianapolis, never to return (well it's unlikely) to Iola.

When I hired Tamara last summer, it turned out she became a pretty cool friend to me and one special lady for my Carter. It will be strange not having T-Dawg around. Who will be my tennis double? Who will spike my great sets? Who will be my personal trainer and tell me what to eat before a race? Who will take my son out to dinner?

Since tradition states we go to Shivers for special occasions, we met Tamara there last night for one last time. It was a time to laugh about the past year, lick our Flavor Burst cones and flurries, and discuss possibilities of one day meeting again.

Unfortunately, we won't be driving out to the wedding but Tamara has this idea of driving back to Wisconsin next summer to pick up Carter and take him to a cool cowboy kids camp. "Unless I have a good reason to come back sooner," she says. Carter thinks turning double digits in May is a good reason. We'll see.

Before we said our tearful goodbyes, Carter said he'd miss her and added, "I think everyone you know here will miss you." We will, Tamara.

Happy trails, T-Dawg!