Take a peek from time to time to share with us the hopes and dreams, successful and the not-so-successful steps we are taking to turn this neglected farmstead into a premier vacation Inn for horse people, pet lovers and "country cravers" from all over the world.  We really want to hear from you, so come along for the ride!

July 24, 2008

Hello All,

My dream is about to become a reality and this diary is to take you along for the adventure! There have been plenty of "ups" and a few "downs", but all in all we are much closer to opening the doors of Just Ridin’ Inn than we expected to be at this time.

Hope you can get a smile at our expense as you read on.

We bought the place on June 1, 2007. The sales brochure proclaimed all the ‘NEW’ improvements to the property such as well, septic, master handicap suite and bathroom, pole shed and kitchen cabinets. Obviously that means we only have to "customize" it to suit our personalities, right? WRONG! We were about to discover just how wrong.

Our post purchase inspection revealed some deterioration that we wanted to address right away. Window replacement was a biggy. The old frames were decayed, panes cracked and gaps allowed air to gush in. Definitely needed new windows. Years of many paint coats on the woodwork would have to be stripped. The upstairs old claw-foot bathtub was horribly stained and had been leaking at the drain for who-knows how long. Since we intended to open an inn a shower made more sense than a tub, so replacing that was a priority.

Some other quirks included the upstairs middle bedroom didn’t have a door opening into the parlor. It’s only door opened into the bathroom! That would have to be remedied. The old crumbling chimney would need to come out, the roof hole sealed and the heating system air ducts routed to each room. Plus we needed to install air conditioning to tolerate the summer heat and humidity. Obviously this wasn’t going to be cheap. But, as luck would have it, an income source showed up at just the right time.

A family needed a wheelchair accessible home right away, so we rented to them on July 1st with the provision we could start with the necessary remodeling. (Well… it seemed like a good idea at the time.)

For a slight reduction in the rental rate, they got the inconvenience and we got the bill! First the dryer malfunctioned. Paid to have it serviced, but that didn’t fix the problem. They had to string up lines to dry their laundry. Second, we replaced the fixed shower head with one that could be hand held and put up a curtain and rod to keep the water from splashing all over the bathroom. (OK, we won that round. Finally some progress.) Next the dishwasher flooded the kitchen and was beyond salvage. Had to replace that, of course. Can’t string up lines and pin dishes up to dry! (Did I mention yet that our pocketbook seemed to have developed a hole already?) Their woes continued and our pocket hole got bigger.

A strong odor filled the house and, not wanting to take any chances, we asked that they vacate the house for the day. We called in local professionals to check out the furnace, gas lines and hot water heater. It turned out that the plumbing under the new master addition had not been adequately installed and a vent pipe had blown it’s cap. So we instructed Johnshoy Plumbing to redo everything to bring it up to code. (That pocket hole is starting to act like a sieve and we haven’t even gotten to the remodeling yet!)

Since the plumber was there anyway we decided to get that upstairs bathroom tub leak stopped. Our contractor, Jerry of Starbuck Construction, had our remodeling plans and recommended that the new laundry room be done so the plumber could do that work at the same time he changed out the upstairs tub for a shower. Then the tenants would be able to have a working washer and dryer to use. Made sense at the time. (Of course we weren’t expecting most of the flooring under the carpet to be rotten and need replacing.)

Jerry built the extension by installing a wall the full depth of the garage. This added about 6 more feet to the depth of the kitchen and provided a 6 foot X 14 foot room behind the staircase for a laundry. But, by now it was winter. Construction traffic in and out was a tremendous drain on the heat and the dust and/or mud was too much for our tenants. They were dealing with the deteriorating health of Bob and on the road to hospitals constantly. They asked if we would postpone any more work until spring. Stopping now left them without an upstairs bathroom. The floor had been all torn up to install the shower and replace the pedestal sink with a cabinet style. A hot water heater had been added upstairs so the plumbing was rerouted to flow through it. Of course another glitch came out when the electrician informed us that the capacity of the old house panel wouldn’t handle the extra load. (Did I mention the ILLUSION of a remodeling budget at the beginning of this venture?)

Bob never really got to enjoy living in a wheelchair friendly home. He lived at hospitals and care facilities until his death the end of April. His wife and son located a different place to live that would be more economical to operate and we packed up tools and supplies to contribute to the remodeling project and set out for The Inn.

We arrived the 10th of May and perched in the mobile home on the property because Bob’s family weren’t able to move out until their home-to-be passed health and safety inspection. That's how we discovered the deplorable condition of the mobile. (That sieve of a pocket just became a chasm!)

The disgusting tenants that were renting the mobile left owing months of back rent and trashed the place on their way out. I spent days cleaning the chocolate brown cigarette stains off the walls and blinds. The stove had to be cleaned by chipping out the first layer with a sod cutter from in the oven, under the top panel, the broiler and the floor and walls around it! (No kidding!) They left frozen fish, meat and vegetables pulled out of their freezer to rot into the carpeting. Needless to say, all the carpets had to be replaced. They even shot a hole in the kitchen floor! We filled an entire dumpster to overflowing with all the garbage, trash and debris they left piled in the house, garage and tri-barn. So, we had plenty to do as we waited to get into the main house.

Once in the main house, we set up ‘camp’ in the master bedroom and only occupied a small table in the dining room to eat our meals so we wouldn’t be in the way of the renovations.

Jerry and his carpenters, Dustin and Dale, attacked the project in earnest. They knocked out the old kitchen wall after shoring up the bearing wall with a big support beam. Denny’s Electric put in a larger capacity electrical box and wired in the upstairs hot water heater so that room was finally operational. The carpenters headed upstairs and moved over the wall from the Blue Room to the Green Room. That allowed another 3 feet of width for the Blue Room. The Green room only lost a closet. They cut a door from the Green Room into the parlor and made a solid wall where the Green Room door used to open into the bathroom. The chimney came down and inside was the vent pipe from the gas hot water heater in the basement. Since we didn’t want pipes sticking out of the floor in that parlor we opted to replace the gas water heater for an electric one. (Hard to swallow the trade off value in replacing a perfectly good water heater because of a little unsightly pipe. Budget? Did anyone mention ANY budget? Ha!)

Well, I was scrambling to paint as fast as the tape & texturing was dry. I wanted to have the bulk of the wall painting done before the next major step was undertaken….the window replacement. The old crown moldings were removed and taken to a wood specialist for stripping and sanding. I then took them, filled in all the holes, sanded, primed and painted them. The garage turned into a paint factory as I painted trim boards, replacement doors and crown moldings. The carpenters jerked out the old windows, tossed the rotten casements and then had to get creative. Jerry had warned me that remodeling old houses was an adventure. Nothing was plumb. He wasn’t kidding! Those guys had to shim, brace, fill and caulk just about every window to fit the hole! Some crown moldings were too far gone to save and a couple had to be created from scratch. Carpenter Dale really earned his peanuts on that job. He really took care to cut and fit pieces so the new moldings looked like the old style. Thank you, Dale!

We hadn’t expected to have to replace carpeting in the parlor upstairs, but what-the- heck, it’s only money! (Our money tree orchard should sprout one of these days, right?)

Affordable Flooring was quick to get the carpet we selected and Tony Karger set new land-world-speed records in installing it. What a difference in that upstairs parlor!

Ahead of schedule was the pouring of the pad for the BBQ pavilion. We weren’t expecting that until spring of 2009. But we needed to have a concrete entry ramp poured at the mobile to replace wobbly block steps as well as a flat concrete pad at the bottom of the handicap ramp, so the timing was perfect to get all jobs done at once.

The man who restored the old crown moldings, Joe at Chuck’d Wood Products, personally milled the hardwood pieces for the kitchen extension to match the old flooring. What incredible skill to precisely lay those strips! He also agreed to mill the baseboards throughout the house that were discovered during the remodeling to be missing or decayed. The end of July he will return to lift the living room carpet and sand, stain to match the old floors with the new kitchen extension and polycoat all the hardwood floors.

Gerhard wasn’t off the hook during all this construction. His job was the grounds. Every day, beginning at 7am he headed out with trimmers, loppers and shears. He launched a personal war on weeds! The gas weed whip I bought at auction never worked. No one would bother to repair it because it wasn’t worth the effort and we didn’t purchase a replacement. So all Gerhard’s work was stooped over, hand hacking at the overgrowth! It’s no wonder he felt his joints and muscles squawking in protest! But, for all the work I did inside, it didn’t hold a candle to the improvement his work made outside. Any compliments paid on the place were for his efforts, not mine! But it was so satisfying to me to look out and see him taking a break, admiring his handiwork with a little smile of contentment on his face. It was during these times he got to meet our wildlife residents.

Turkey, pheasants and Canadian Geese and ducks are almost daily visitors. A family of swallows watched his efforts from their birdhouse and he was delighted by their dazzling acrobatics. But one day he came in excited to grab the Birds of MN book to identify the bird that paraded just yards from his resting place. It was a ruffled grouse! We had just been talking about the prairie land restoration project of repopulating the Prairie Chicken. So we are delighted to have one of the rarely seen grouse 'cousins' at Just Ridin’ Inn.

We have another resident that local folks say we shouldn’t be happy about. Chucky, our friendly wood chuck, comes out during the day to supervise the carpenters when they are working on the outside of the house and to make sure we don’t mow the grass too short to suit him.

One Sunday morning about 9ish, when I was making a quick pass with the lawn mower, I discovered a baby raccoon in the tall grass. Realizing that they are nocturnal animals, and that something must have happened to it’s mother for it to be out at that time of day, I took it inside. We went to get a doll bottle, I named it Zorro, and I was ‘Coon Mama’ for a couple days. With our travel plans back and forth to Arizona, we couldn’t keep it, so we gave it to a woman who placed it with a wildlife rehabilitation specialist. Zorro will be cared for until he/she? can return to the life of a wild raccoon. Such a special couple of days! It was so cute!

Mid July came all too soon. We snapped a few pictures of the progress made and headed back to Arizona. We didn’t want to have to leave just when things were shaping up so good, but we had obligations back in Arizona that had to be kept. We had great traveling weather and light traffic so got back in record time. Although reluctant to leave MN it sure felt good to soak nightly in the hot tub and do our water exercises in the pool. There are advantages to living in a resort town too! I jumped in to get our website published and our bookkeeping caught up. (Remember that non-existent budget!) Gerhard had another round of clipping and snipping here since the monsoon rains turned our austere desert landscaping into a virtual forest! Good thing he got such good practice there.

We hope to head back to the Inn for a few more weeks in October to catch the changing colors of the season and to see our geese families V’ing off to warmer winter climates. We’ll then follow them South again.

July 27, 2008

Just Ridin' Inn is a real farm! We arranged with a neighbor to help us get the thistle and weed problem under control.  We traded all the hay he could harvest in exchange for weed chopping.  He harvested 180 bales of hay!!!  That's a REAL farm production.  That should keep his Clydsdales munching for a good part of the winter.  Let's just hope this first stage of weed whacking will start to make a difference in the use-ability of the rest of the land. 

Eventually we would like to have nice paths to the artesian spring so guests can sit to watch for the beaver and a path to the edge of Outlet Creek to watch the bird life that flourishes there.  These are future plans for The Inn that begin with weed elimination.  I sure don't mind replacing thistle for a nice stand of prairie grass.  If you come to us from the South I would recommend a stop in Jeffries to see the petroglyphs.  The Native Prairie Restoration at the park is a delightful peek into how much wildlife is sustained by a natural prairie landscape.  We'd love to see just a piece of it here.  All in good time.

August 12, 2008

The pace is intensifying and we're encountering unexpected snags. We contacted the MN licensing department to initiate getting our license. The preliminary property inspection just about stopped The Inn from even opening!  The inspector informed us that according to code, none of the rooms were big enough to sleep two people!  We would have to add anywhere between 1 1/4 Sq. Ft, 12 Sq. Ft., to 21 Sq. Ft. of floor space to the different rooms!  Ugh!  We already moved walls in the initial remodeling and were just devastated by the thought of having to do it again!  Where were we going to gain the space without reducing the upstairs parlor to a postage stamp?  Fortunately our contractor, Jerry Kerkvleit, is a creative fellow.  He made a few suggestions that enabled me to pick my chin up off the floor and get my enthusiasm going again. (Guess I better get some Miracle Grow to fertilize that money tree!) 

We also learned that the Health Department's rules on food handling will prevent us from being able to offer the full display of the European Sideboard Breakfast we initially planned.  Cheese is best served at room temperature to enhance it's full flavor but we will have to display it on a bed of ice to keep it sufficiently chilled. We won't be serving anything that isn't 'store-bought' otherwise we have to adapt our entire kitchen, appliances and utensils to big restaurant health code compliance. As I try to keep my irritation from overriding my optimism I can't help but wonder how my ancestors lived to be such healthy oldsters eating raw milk products and food cooked on cast iron!  Ahh, but remember, friends, the State is only protecting us from ourselves!

Even while sweltering here in Arizona we are thinking of making that May 15th opening date.  We just got back from Tucson after arranging for the furniture and picking up the fabric for the bedspreads.  We really want this to be a 'made in America' Inn.  We found some good solid furniture manufactured in New Jersey.  It will be shipped to Tucson and the finishing touches applied there.  I was happy to learn that Furniture-In-The-Raw will construct accessory pieces right in their Tucson store to match the finish they are putting on the big pieces.  I was concerned I wouldn't be able to find tall, narrow bookcases to fit in nooks and crannies for all the books I want to stash all over the Inn.  No problem!  Now my assignment is to stitch the bedspreads together.  I had to give up on the idea of having the weavers of Oaxaca, Mexico make them.  The arrangements to have them done to specific colors and shipped in time for opening day got to be too much.  We don't need that stress when I can simply fire up the sewing machine.  So, don't hold your breath, but start planning your vacation!  We'll be open for business in May!

August 15, 2008

You spoke and we listened.  We have decided to allow dogs in the bedrooms. Of course they will have to be 'good neighbors'. Their people will have to keep them quiet and under control. They can not be left unattended or unleashed. We don't want them to annoy other guests or be allowed to frighten our visiting horses or any of The Inn's wild "visitors".  We sure hope this will be a positive experience for all of our guests. 

September 20, 2008

We're getting nervous now.  The furniture we ordered has not arrived yet.  We were told to get our order in by August 13th in order to be on the truck leaving New Jersey the third week of the month.  We did and it didn't. For whatever reason that 'truck should be arriving' has not appeared.  But the company keeps assuring us that it will show up with the pieces ordered and the store will have them stained and wrapped in time for us to pick them up on the Friday September 26th.  The rest of the preparations are frantically coming together.  We picked up the fabric to make the bedspreads at an unexpected discount and the sewing machine performed flawlessly.  So that step is boxed up and ready. Gerhard is skeptical about how we are going to get all these furnishings and supplies to fit into the U-haul trailer.  I keep assuring him by pointing out that anything other than the furniture can be left behind until the spring.

The tension mounts as we learn the final flooring renovation is not done yet. Reading the licensing requirements for a B & B and conversations with the health inspector have not been reassuring.  What a lot of hair spliting requirements!  But we established an appointment on the property and we'll go over everything together. We also learned a severe storm brought down a limb onto the power lines and also tore out the Direct TV cable. The electric company took care of the power line and we set up an appointment to have the TV repair company out late in the day October 1st.  Gerhard is quite agitated at the narrow margin that leaves in our travel time.  We expect to pick up the trailer late Friday the 26th, load up the furniture at the store, then spend Saturday and Sunday stuffing in all the other furniture we have accumulated as well as the miscellaneous operational items that have been piling up near the front door.

In the meantime I can't help but surf E-bay for those can't-be-missed opportunities!  Sure enough, I couldn't miss out on an antique 1920's Hoosier and, to my surprise, my bid got it!  Talk about adding stress!  How to get it from near Chicago to the Inn? My cousin agreed to bring it next time he came over for a visit and the seller agreed to keep it protected until that when-ever.

September 26, 2008

The furniture arrived, the store got it all finished and wrapped.  We picked up the trailer, loaded up at the store leaving plenty of room to spare and at home, began stuffing the trailer and van with the other accumulated items. We were packed to the ceiling and had to leave very little behind. We were so ready by Saturday evening Gerhard wanted to pull out then instead of waiting, but I persueded him to wait until Sunday morning.

Our trip had only one real stressor. Sunday we miscalculated how much gas was consumed while pulling hills and bucking a stiff headwind so we coasted downhill into Raton, NM with white knuckles and clenched jaws. The first station was out of business, the second's pumps were malfunctioning, and by the time we reached the third station we put 19.92 gallons into a 20 gallon tank!  We pushed on and took an untried route toward a place called Mountainaire, NM.  Evening was coming on fast, the road was good, but a steady incline and I was concerned about the strain on the vehicle out in the middle of nowhere.  We pulled into the historic town of Mountainaire, found a wonderfully equipped motel called The Rock, grabbed dinner, fueled up and collapsed for the night.

September 30, 2008

We branched off at Souix Falls and angled across Southwest MN.  What a delight!  The picturesque countryside soothed our minds. It's a good thing too since our 4:00 arrival was chaotic!  Our caretaker was not home, we couldn't get our keys to work in either the front or back door, a horrible chemical smell was emminating from the house and it was getting dark and chilly.  Our deck door key got us in and we were appalled to find the new part of the kitchen and the Red room floors to still be tacky with varothane!  The phone and internet was not activated yet since we were a day early. The heater wouldn't come on and, of course the TV wasn't due to be hooked up until October 1st. I left a message for the flooring company owner from my cell phone and was at least somewhat mollified by his appearance within an hour.  He was very apologetic about the floor not being dry. The non-operational heater was part of the reason. He pointed out all the extra fill-in splicing he had to do to repair the holes and threshholds that appeared when the carpeting was removed. He didn't charge us for the extras because of the wet floor inconvenience. That nice apology was completely accepted!  We weren't able to unload any of the trailer so we didn't have our pillows, bedding nor kitchen supplies. We spent a chilly uncomfortable and irritable night.

October 1, 2008

Our contractor showed up early, only to tell us he wasn't going to start working on our place for a couple of days! Ugh! But they did carry in all the trailer contents and moved around the heavy items onto the now-dry floors so we were able to function.  The phone company got us up and running so I could handle activating services.  We stocked up on supplies needed for the renovations as well as the necessities for daily life. Our caretaker got home from her outting and life began to get back on track. The heating company made a same-day service call and found that mice had made a nest over the intake vent and prevented the heater from drawing in air.  With that diagnosis we promptly purchased an electronic rodent repellant to install in the basement to keep those little pests from taking up residence in our home this winter!  Hope it works as good as the hype.

October 3 - 23, 2008

The Health inspector meeting was a real relief.  He agreed that we could install the separate hand sink inside the corner cabinet so it wouldn't wreck the 'decor'. He simplified the whole license application by highlighting those provisions we needed to impliment and he talked directly to Jerry Kerkvliet, our contractor as to what adaptations needed to be met. Because he is using a time frame as the criteria for food handling I CAN serve cheese at room temperature and serve the other European Sideboard Breakfast items as planned. The main stipulation is that anything set out during that three hour breakfast service time frame will never be offered in any form to the public again.  Well, that is no problem at all since I intended from the very beginning to serve only quantities that could reasonably be eaten at any one breakfast. We go into Starbuck every day to get our mail and intend to pick up the following morning breakfast items fresh each time.  That way I don't have to fuss with storage, packaging or preparation handling. So, I thank Todd Appel with the Health Department for cutting through the red tape of the Health Code in a manner that will allow me to provide the kind of service we originally wanted for Just Ridin' Inn. 

Fortunately Starbuck Construction's carpenters Dustin Wagner and Dale Faehrich really jumped in to make up for lost time!  They got the wainscotting up, the doors aligned upstairs, the floorboard trim installed and even remounted the pantry doors twice after I changed my mind on the direction of opening! Johnshoy plumbing got the sink installed and removed the rods from the hot water heaters we installed during the summer.  So now the water doesn't stink anymore. I was painting as fast as I could reload the brushes to get the details done.

Our caretaker, Debbie ended up in the hospital the day after we arrived with a bad respiratory infection.  Her husband, John, came from the job he is finishing up near Chicago to be with her.  Fortunately he stayed about a week and took care of the animals, got his garden cleaned up for the season and tended odd jobs that still needed doing. We were sorry to see him leave as we really like the both of them and look forward to next year when we will be able to work together on the gardening and land restoration. The carpenters began the stable remodeling before the rainy days slowed down their progress. Debbie recovered enough to tackle the enourmous yield of John's five Roma Tomato plants. They hadn't moved in until July 1st, so the plants did not have enough time to ripen.  But she put up green tomato salsa, chutney and made an incredible green tomato mincemeat pie!  I can't wait to be able to enjoy this quality of life with them at the Inn!

I watched a string of Canadian geese head South the week of October 13th and didn't hear any more honking from our families back on Outlet Creek. So that signaled it was time for us to wrap it up too.  Gerhard got the garage wall painted while I finished up the detail work inside. He planted some Hyacynth by the front ramp and weeded the spreader planter so we didn't incubate those unwanted plants through the winter. We moved the one set of bedroom furniture we brought along from bedroom to bedroom, dressed up the bed with the appropriate colored spread and pillows and snapped pictures for the website.  The pictures of the stable will have to go on-line as a work in progress.  I contacted a fencing supplier to start getting the horse safety fencing topic addressed.  But that subject will probably not be up enough to photograph until next spring.  The man who was to look at the arena space so I would have an idea of what needed to be done and when it can be tackled did not arrive.  That is another project left hanging.  But even with these few outstanding projects I feel confident we will have enough together to meet our expected opening date of May 15, 2009.

We packed up for our return trip.  It had become very apparent that our little old Cocker Spaniel, Scuffles, would not be returning with us next spring. His eyesight and hearing are almost completely gone and he has developed a large tumor on his lip as well as the usual bevy of fatty lumps found on old dogs. He is frantically insecure in any environment but his familiar Green Valley home and we needed to keep him sedated the entire month.  So when we packed up we gutted the house of all dog treats, grooming items and bedding.  Since his buddy, Moko, had died the week before we left for MN we will soon be dogless. Because we must be diligent to keep pets out of the food service areas of the Inn, we will not be keeping house pets outselves.  My sister has been taking care of our Green Valley house for us and tells us that the old cat we adopted last December will be passing away soon too.  It will seem strange to be without the companionship of pets.  But we are hoping that our herd of barn cats, Jenny and her family, will continue to entertain us with their antics as they have this fall.  The added bonus of Jenny adopting us is she is teaching her brood to be excellent hunters!  They will be a wonderful 'organic' garden protector next year.

October 22, 2008

Our last day was very busy, but we had one more special bit of entertainment. We picked up my Aunt Addie and drove to Benson for the Redeemer Luthern Church annual Norwegian Smorgesbord.  To lend to the atmoshere, a light dusting of snow escorted us to the affair. I revelled in the perfect end to a successful month as I listened to my Aunt's tales of our forebearers as we drove along the routes they helped establish here in this magical part of our country. The supper was exquisite!  All the tradional favorites I grew up with: potatoe klub, blood klub, pork loin with citrus/cranberry relish, roulade, and, of course, for dessert, roumagrout, suttsuppe, rosettes and each table was laden with light, moist lefse!  Surely a bit of Valhalla on earth!   

October 23, 2008

Without a trailer behind us and a more relaxed time schedule we were able to enjoy the trip home.  We stopped at most of the historic markers in NB.  The drive through the Winnebago and Omaha reservations is lovely and very interesting.  If you ever have the opportunity, I suggest you also amble along that route. We made it back to Mountainaire for Friday night.  At first we were concerned that there was no room at The Rock motel because the accomodations were filled with the workers constructing a large Wind Power plant.  They are erecting 45 wind turbines that will be plugged into The Grid to furnish Texas with power!  We did get a very comfortable, remodeled and clean suite with sink, frig, and microwave at an older style "motor court" at Turner's RV and cottages.  Fortunately the historic Shaffer's hotel and restaurant was open for dinner so we indulged in some very 'Southwest' grub of Menudo and green chili cheese frys and quesidilla.

The next morning we took the time to tour the Salinas Pueblo Mission ruin sites of Quarai, Abo, and Gran Quavira. These sites are chronicalled in the text of the Spanish Friars of the late 1500s and the 1600s. Of course, the Puebloan people lived in these thriving trading communities long before the Spanish invasion. We decided to be happily late returning to Green Valley with such interesting detours along the way.  Although we did bypass the Three Rivers Petroglyph site because that place could easily occupy a few days time just to enjoy it thoroughly.  We will return to it some weekend when we can set up camp and tripod to really take it all in.

October 28, 2008

As I write this update the Arizona sun is still toasty warm, our old dog is stumbling around his familiar habitat and Daisy, the old 18 year old cat, is warming her wasting body on the patio bricks.  I'm catching up on bookkeeping and this diary, and getting ready to bake for the upcoming seasonal parties that are sprouting up.  Gerhard's family will be coming from Germany for the holidays and we look forward to preparing for a bountiful and joyous season.  To you and yours, we wish you the very warmest of holidays and a prosperous New Year!   

2009  The New Year Has Arrived!!!   And with it our optomism.  We hope we will see you this wonderful new year.

March 19, 2009

We are delighted at the response to our Horse Hotel venture!  We have received calls from people begging us to open earlier than we expected.  So, due to popular request we are taking reservations beginning April 15th.  Needless to say that really put the spurs in our flanks! 

The Furniture-in-the-Raw will have all the pieces ready this afternoon, wrapped and ready to load.  We put in an order for a 5X10 U-Haul trailer a couple weeks ago.  Since they don't have many that size, we have been on pins and needles that one could be found for us.  The next size smaller won't fit all our furniture and the next size larger is too big for our Dodge Caravan to pull.  Naturally we were delighted when we got a call yesterday that we could pick up a 5X10 today. We will take a few days to pack up all the bedding I finished sewing and hope to be on the road on Sunday.  That will put us into Starbuck on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather and road conditions.

Contractors have been notified to expect us early so we can jump on finishing up the stables, fences and get the blocks to start constructing the Bar-B-Q facility.  I realize it's a bit early in the season to expect folks to want to sit outside to have supper, but all these things need to get done and the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.

See you in Minnesota!                                                                      

March 24th:

We beat the storms!  We slid up a weather-free corridor from Interstate 80 between the blizzards that were sweeping East from the Dakotas and the tornados that were roaring North by East via Omaha.  We arrived about 3:00 even after stopping for a sit down lunch in Pipestone.  Unfortunately we found the heating system kaput.  Ellingson' Heating and Cooling company was here immediately to fix it.  Unfortunately it didn't last through the night.  But we were prepared!  We had ordered the Heat Surge economy heaters encased in the Amish mantels and that took the chill off enough to make our bedroom comfy.  Ellingson's was back out the next day and this time the fix stayed 'fixed'.  We grabbed the vacume and cleaning supplies and proceeded to evict a fall and winter's worth of dead bugs from every crack and crevise. I thought the super-duper Marvin windows we installed throughout would eliminate any bugs from getting in.  Wrong!  Folks tell me that they get into the walls through the tiniest holes and cracks and then travel within the walls until they can find a gap to enter the house.  Well I guess that tells us we have our share of gaps!  Whether I like it or not I'm told we'll have to spray for them in the fall to prevent a repeat.

March 25th through 27th:

We got the place cleaned up, the furniture moved in and then went out to open up the hay storage part of the tribarn in order to get it ready for our first horse guests.  Uff da!  What a mess!  We didn't realize how much junk had been stuck in there or how many low shelves, protruding nails and brackets were left.  No way could that house horses!  Fortunately our contractor, Jerry Kerkvliet came and finished off one of the stalls to make do. It didn't have a door yet, but it was safe.  He then installed his own portable fence panels to form a corral.  We scattered straw on the floor and it made quite a cozy home for the incoming mustangs. We stocked up on the supplies for a good Sideboard breakfast and breathed a sigh of relief.

March 28th (really Sunday morning the 29th:

We were expecting the two couples and horses about 10pm.  They had purchased these new horses in S. Dakota and were traveling slowly, checking on them frequently.  About 9:30pm we got a call from Sioux Falls.  They were way behind schedule and suggested I just go on to bed and they would find the place.  I couldn't do that!  Not only did we not have a sign at our driveway yet, but I couldn't leave them to deal with bedding down their horses and then try to tiptoe into a strange place to find their rooms.  So they called me when they got to Starbuck and I drove the 2 tenths of a mile to the hiway to intercept them.  That stall light was a real beacon in the night to those tired travelers. The horses settled right in and it wasn't long before the people were too.  They were delighted with the breakfast and on their way in time for us to even make it to Sunday services at West Zion.

March 30th on to April 3rd:

Lots more cleaning kept us busy. We stocked up the pantry in preparation for our next guests due on Saturday the 4th.  The Direct TV technician got all the TVs hooked up and we got wireless internet. Problem was, neither my PC nor the laptop made the trip.  Both were in the computer fix-it store for repairs in Alexandria. The same day mine went in the shop they were hit with 50 others brought in as victims of the virus.It took close to two weeks before I got them back and in the mean time we kept going up there to fetch supplies and to use their equipment to keep up with E-mail.

April 4th:

Our wedding guests arrived in the afternoon so I had time to get details mopped up for them.  They got settled in and headed into Starbuck for a late lunch. Then they came back in time to get into their 'fancy go-to-meeting' duds and head out for their celebration.  We had an invitation to attend dinner at our neighbors, Frank and Cathy Quarenski, and to play a game of Mexican Train.  Fortunately we headed home at 9:30 so I could start to get things prepped for tomorrows breakfast.  It's a good thing we did too!  The first of the guests returned at 10ish so i zipped upstairs and turned their beds down and put the water bottles on their nightstands. The others came in around midnight.

April 5th:

They enjoyed their breakfast at around 8:30 so they could get underway early enough to avoid the storm that was predicted to close in on us that afternoon. We were able to make services at East Zion and the rest of the day we enjoyed the potluck there. So we just 'jellied out' that evening and had a light supper.  Unfortunately, not light enough.  Gerhard lost a cap off his tooth.

April 6th:

I called a dentist and got an emergency appointment for the next morning.  We got the beds stripped and the rest of the 'after guests' clean up done, but put off the washing for a bit.

April 7th:

We woke up to snow on the ground.  The dentist's office called to move up our appointment due to the weather. They intended to close early. Gerhard suggested we cancel altogether, but as usual, I didn't listen. Uff da!  It was sure tense going.  Whatever tracks a previous vehicle made was filled in almost as fast as it was cut.  I had to judge where the road lay by staying an equal distance between the telephone poles and the trees on each side. We made it alright, but when I started to leave my parking place I drove straight ahead onto what I thought was more of the lot. I successfully drove out onto their sloping yard and ended up buried to the axels. Our dentist enlisted the aid of another customer and we were pulled back onto the paved lot.  From there we made it a white-knuckled way home.

The farms looked absolutely "Currier and Ives".Gerhard insisted I come right in as it was too cold to mess around outside.But, as usual I didn't listen.  I just had to have pictures of the magical sight. Naturally I had to play in it too.  By the time he came out to find me, it was too late (As you can tell from the picture below).  That's Gerhard on the left.

April 10th:

Started to get all the bedding washed up.  The sound of rushing water sent me scurrying into the laundryroom thinking I had accidently left a rag draped over the utility tub again causing another major flood.  No. Everything was normal there, but that sound. I followed it back into the kitchen and lifted the hatch to the basement.  Water was getting "Noah deep"!  I frantically called the plumbers.  Phil Johnshoy recommended I call the pumping company since he suspected the sewer line was frozen.  Well, unfortunately we weren't the only ones with 'blizzard' troubles.  It was 3 days before the pumping company could get to the problem.

April 10th to the 13th:

I won't detail what this place was like with no sewer to use.  I continued to cook, but not clean up. We cat-bathed rather than shower and tried to live upwind of one another. Needless to say, we were thankful we had 3 camodes in the place.  Gerhard rediscovered a country boy's freedom in tending some of his needs.

April 13th:

Midwest Pumping got here and pumped the tank. That wasn't the problem. Said it might be a blockage in the line. They ran a snake.  Then they said, 'give it a try. Flush a toilet".  I suggested I run the dishwasher or something with fresh water, but they thought they needed the gush of a force of water.  Bad move!  Two times an Uff da!  Well, since the cleanout plug is in the basement they had a real nasty problem to 'wade' through.  Then they ran the heater rod into the line and sure enough that melted the problem.  They captured much of the backup into a few 30 gallon trashcans and disposed of the problem.  But you can bet I have my share of disenfecting to do yet!  The problem is that basement has collected debris from generations of old broken down furnaces, water heaters and who knows what else.  We still have bunches to do down there.  But at least we could use water again and we made up for lost time!

April onward:

Jerry's carpenters, Dustin and Dale finished the stalls.  The pipe corral panels were delivered and set up. I got the stall doors painted and then our neighbor, Frank offered to bring his tractor over to help us get the land under control. This man doesn't know the meaning of quit!  He just about ran me into the ground and he was still going strong!  But his energy accomplished what I was expecting to take two seasons to accomplish.  All the buried and strung barbed wire was pulled out, coiled and stacked for removal. The iron posts and rotted corner posts were jerked out and sorted into re-use, sell, and scrap iron piles.  He tilled the garden and augered the post holes.  Then he provided extra poles he had along with new ones we supplied and he set them for the 6 foot deer fence around the garden.  He set the posts for the gates at the pipe corrals.  After two and a half days I told him not to set foot on the property unless he had a rousing game of dominos in mind!  Just kidding of course.  We appreciate him very much.

Cousin Steve, wife Nancy and their son Tom and wife Bianca came over to stay for a few days as we all attended the memorial for his folks.  They were like second parents for me so it was a heart wrenching day when we said our final goodbyes.  The service was simple as they would have wanted. The VFW provided a well earned final salute to both of these fallen commrades.

May 3:

Carmen Dahl, a man who has the local logging company stopped by in the evening with his wife.  I had flagged him down on the road a number of weeks back and had asked him to take a look at the stand of huge cottonwoods.  About seven of them were standing dead and some leaned dangerously against live trees creating a hazardous situation. He said he would bring his son, his partner by the next day to give us an estimate.

May 4: Carmen and his wife as well as his son and his wife came by. He quoted a number we couldn't believe and we took him up on it.  He said the only problem might be that he couldn't start until tomorrow morning. After a good laugh they were on their way.

May 5: True to their word they showed up in the morning and even after breaking a drive shaft on their loader (which they repaired in the driveway) they had all the dead trees felled and stacked and all the debris scraped clean!  We were so astonished we still keep dropping our jaws every time we look out at the tree line!  We will now get out there with the rakes and fine tune the ground.  Then I want to plant a bunch of wildflowers and some more trees.  I hope aspen and birch can grow here.  We need a denser line of trees since they block the prevailing winds from that direction.

May 12:  DISASTER !!   Well, almost.  Opening up the tree line created a wind tunnel that allowed a super strong straightline wind from the South to blast through the openings.  We had just gone into our room closest to the treeline for a midday break. Gerhard stretched out on the bed for a nap and I sat down at the computer to catch up on some work.  A loud CRACKKK-CRACK brought my head up just in time to see a four foot across tree trunk sail by the front window!  Our caretakers were in the garden when they heard the sound and looked up in time to see the tree falling straight toward the house!  They said it was as if an Angel blew on it and it twisted 90 degrees and fell in front of the house instead! That old Cottonwood was about 100 feet tall and it stretched the full length of the house!   Shatter from the branches burst across the driveway into the Rhubarb patch.  The trunk had been twisted apart and we discovered in the 6 foot tall standing stump that the entire center had been rotted through. We definately had plenty to fuel our "Thankful" prayers after that!  Gerhard claims he was given another birthday!

May 14: 

The Starbuck Study Club featured us for their Mystery Night.  The club has been meeting for close to 70 years in various formats. They have fun as they address and help with community concerns and needs.  The mystery this evening was that only the leader knew what their destination would be. To a group of aboout 20, I gave a tour of the house, discussed the renovations, our background and desires for the future as well as what I hoped Just Ridin' Inn could bring to the area. This cheerful group made us feel our endeavor was well appreciated.

May 15:

We contacted our delightful logger, Carmen.  He scheduled a clean-up just before our grand opening and referred an arborist to evaluate the remaining trees for decay.  Steve from Hi-View determined that two more should be topped to remove the weighted limbs and trunks that were leaning toward the house.  He recommended that one be removed.  When he came to trim and top he discovered another of those was rotted all the way through.  So Carmen was again called to the rescue.  He took down two big ones and a small one and Steve trimmed up a large limb on another. With that work done we feel the house is no longer threatened.

     With all those trees gone our view has definately been opened up.  But also the prairie breezes have a much more open path.  So, I joined the Arbor Foundation and ordered 33 more trees of various kinds.

May 18: GRAND OPENING !!!  Flowers were delivered that morning by Lori from Touch of Class in Starbuck.  Flowers were provided by Starbuck Telephone, Samuelson's Drugs, Touch of Class and Starbuck Locker donated a beautiful tray of coldcuts and cheeses.  About 40 people came, but unfortunately few were hungry. We were delighted to meet so many of our local merchants and neighbors.  Many commented about our cheerful decor. One of the attendees announced she was getting married soon and would choose to begin their honeymoon here. It was a happy day for us with all the well wishes and smiling faces.

June 11th - 14th:

We slipped out of town to South Carolina to attend the wedding of Gerhard's grandson Alex to his delightful bride, Kayleigh.  Meeting her family was a special treat and we both left feeling that Alex has indeed wedded into a warm and welcoming home-town kind of folks.  We left feeling the newly-weds have a promising future and have their feet firmly planted on the path to get there.

June 15:

Our order from the Arbor foundation has been neglected too long.  We got busy and dug 33 holes to plant the trees.  Some look beyond hope, but we stuck them into the ground anyway.  The garden has been sprouting more weeds than desireables with the cool spring we have had.  I have replanted the carrots and zucchini and some flowers.  Our caretakers garden has likewise suffered and they have replanted tomatoes, peppers and melons. Since we are all first time gardeners in this plot I guess there is a lot of trial and error.  But, I hope by the time the summer gets on I will be able to serve fresh home-grown tomatoes to guests.

I have been busy attending the Starbuck Chamber of Commerce meetings as we plan for the Heritage Days festivities and the Dragon Boat Races in August.  Both events offer plenty of fun for families and we look forward to participating as well as informing those not-in-the-know about these exciting days.  WE OFFER A 10% DISCOUNT FOR ANY TWO DAY BOOKING DURING HERITAGE DAYS (July 4th weekend) AND DRAGON BOAT RACES (August 7th & 8th). It's a perfect opportunity to discover Starbuck and have a lot of fun! 

June 25:

Our Bar-B-Q pavillion is up!  Friends came from Arizona to visit and helped us get the temporary structure constructed.  We enjoyed dining there in mosquito/fly free natural air-conditioning!  The permanent gazebo and block/brick Bar-B-Q and pizza oven will be put up next season but this year guests will be able to enjoy a pleasant place to grill a supper on the small portable B-B-Q provided. This photo is the beginning of the assembly. It appears the finished shot didn't take so I'll have to reshoot it and insert it later.

June 27:

Ignor all of the entry for June 25th.  The 50  mph winds on the 27th made a sail out of the entire gazebo.  While I was out in the field staking out the lines for the fences, Gerhard observed the winds lifting the gazebo about 3 to 4 inches.  He hurried out to grab it and yelled for help.  We couldn't hear a thing over the howling wind.  The wind twisted the whole structure, wrenched it out of his hands and sent it cartwheeling down the driveway where a post wedged between the house and the air conditioner.  He hung on to keep it from damaging the AC and yelled again.  We finally saw him and the tangled structure and ran to help.  We removed the netting and canvas to reduce the sail effect and left the carcass on the lawn.  I was completely disheartened.  Gerhard had cautioned against such a 'flimsy' structure because of the winds.  He was right.  Now I am trying to convince him we need to get the permanent gazebo put up this season.  Since we are having the front porch rebuilt he feels this room offers three sided screened fresh air and a place to comfortably sit while looking at nice views.  I want a nice open gazebo that looks out at the water behind the barn as well as a good place to Bar-B-Q.  The porch project will be done next Thursday after our guests leave and I will bring up the project with the contractor to see how soon they can do a gazebo.  That is....after convincing Gerhard. 

July 3rd, 4th and 5th:

Heritage days were wonderful! We thoroughly enjoyed the Firemen's pork feed Friday night. Then the first ever 'Starbuck's got Talent' variety show had me holding my sides in glee! The Community Center was packed with the younger, nimbler Starbuckians sitting on the floor.  I chuckled for days as I E-mailed some of the one-liners to friends far and wide. We took in the Fly-In pancake breakfast with was handled with military precission as those golden discs flew in gravity defying arcs onto plates. Yummy!  We helped set up chairs for the visiting 'Royalty' from neighboring towns when they finished their journey along the parade route. And of course we cheered as our own Royal procession float came down the road. Such a fine group of young people represented their communities. We then scrambled to set up the chairs at the park for the coronation. Gerhard's knees gave out so I returned him home and came back to help clean up after the event. For my reward I took a dip in the lake. It was a bit chilly in the beginning, but it wasn't long before I was comfortably paddling away.  Sunday we joined  the townfolks and many of our own East Zion congregation for the Community Service in the park.  A beautiful way to begin the day, the week and wrap up a fine Heritage Days celebration. We enjoyed the Lion's ham dinner in the park before calling an end to our celebration of my Norwegian heritage.

THE FENCES ARE IN !!!!  Frank and Cathy worked feverously to auger those posts in and got the four lines of Electrobraid stretched so tight it could double as a violin! It looks GREAT !!  As badly as I wanted to have vinyl fencing I am now quite happy that didn't work out.  This Electrobraid is so non-obtrusive that we can look out on that pasture and it looks like an open field!  So, we are beginning to feel that we can now offer guests the quality accomodations we have been bragging about!

July 6th week:

The porch is done!  Our contractor replaced all the rotted wood when they installed the windows. Then they wrapped all the outside framing and even the inside bottom sill in forest green aluminum. Now we can actually sit out there and not get eaten up by all the bugs coming through the cracked windows and gapped frames.  It took me the better part of the next week to get the room painted and the carpet cleaned.  We first had to scrub years of grim from the old wood stove off the wall and ceiling surfaces.  The insurance company said we had to remove the wood burning stove so we replaced it with a Heat Surge Fireplace in an Amish mantel.  This little electric fireplace looks like a real burning fire! Plus it is very economical to operate. This room is now one of our favorites.  We eat our weekend breakfast here as well as entertain friends.  I've even found Gerhard sitting out here with his beer and magazine enjoying a well deserved break.  Our garden is yielding some nice bouquets to brighten the table in this cheerful room.

July Ends:

The field has been hayed!  Nine large round bales were harvested his year.  That isn't too bad considering what a dry year it has been.  All the farmers have been praying for rain. Soybeans and Corn fields are not very robust.  Our main desire for our field is that the haying will keep the thistles from heading out and reseeding.  Gerhard has been diligent in his war on weeds.  I drag the sprayer around and douse the weeds, particularily the thistles and cockleburs.  He then comes along a few days later and digs them out with shovel and spade.  We are hoping this two front attack will kill them off completely.  We have hacked the bramble I call 'the jungle' back from the yard to the tree line. Through the rest of this year we will work on killing off all except the grasses in this area so that when we return next spring we can sow the treeline with wildflowers.  But if we don't wipe out the weeds first we won't be able to tell which is a desireable flower and which is which is just a weed.

I have been on a recover-the-pasture program.  Intensive spraying, mowing and also watering.  It's starting to show the effort.  Most of the thistle are gone and all of the dandelions.  I am now fighting a large, course milkweed.  But after those are obliterated we should have a nice horse friendly blanket of grass sprinkled with a little alfalfa. 

August is for Dragon Boats!

What a thrilling event!  Last year there were only 18 teams of 20 rowers in the Dragon Boat Race.  This year we were up to 35 teams!!  What a great event to bring companies, families and organizations together.  The Chamber of Commerce worked hard to get this event up and running and run smoothly it did!  Gerhard and I helped where ever they needed a spare hand.  I am hoping we can get enough gray-haired rowers to pilot a boat to directly challenge the popular Bucket List team.  Anyone want to join me on the Silver Streakers Dragon Boat?  Get in touch if you're up to the challenge.

Our garden is producing more than enough to feed us and half the county it seems.  I've been busy canning and freezing things as I have the time.  Still on the Tame 14 acres schedule so we're outside most days.  The weather has been crummy for farmers since we've had so little rain.  But the plus side is there are few biting bugs and we can enjoy the outdoors with little use of  stinky bug spray.  Gerhard has been on a search and relocate mission to move any field boulders he finds to fit into his landscaping designs.  I'm not quite the rock enthusiast he is, but I have to admit the glaciers moved quite a variety of rocks around this part of the country.  It would be interesting to know where they came from originally.

September is for riding:

Horses grazing in the pasture brought a big smile to my face this month.  We are certainly enjoying the fruits of our labors when we gaze out on the fields.  Even the horseless guests are finding nitches and corners to lounge about to soak up the mild September weather.  We are starting to turn our attention to buttoning down the place as we begin to prepare to head for Arizona in October.  We are down to only four barn-cats-turned-domestic-cats now.  We never know why they quit returning home.  I always like to think they found more lucrative hunting grounds elsewhere since they have all but wiped out the rodents on our place.  We will be loosing our tenants from the mobile at the end of this month so the cats won't have anyone to tend them through the winter if we don't get another tenant in there.  Unfortunately it takes a stout soul to want to live up a country lane during the winter in Minnesota, so unless such a self-sufficient person comes along soon we will plan to close the place down this year.  Then our cats will have to adjust to being completely in-door cats in Green Valley for the season.  They won't like that even though they have become quite fond of lap time.

We have been victims of the end-of-season sales.  Trees have been marked down to can't refuse prices and we sucumbed.  Red Bud trees are now flanking the driveway and the entrance. Birch clusters are by the cottonwoods and even one of the old stumps is surrounded by three hydrangas.  I noticed that a few of the Arbor foundation trees have actually survived so we have a flowering sand cherry, a red maple and a prairie fire crab beginning to leaf out.  Hope they can all make it through the winter. 

October is goodbye time:

I'm sorry to be leaving.  Our last group of guests filled the Inn and the pastures for 3 days.  What a joy!  And what a wonderful way to close out the year.  My cousins from Cleveland came over and I met my second and now third cousins for the first time.  Having babies at this old farmstead was a heart warming time.  I can just imagine the babies that have cooed and crawled around these old floors in the years since 1920.  The cousins helped get a number of things stowed away and loaded in the van for the trip to Arizona.  Sure appreciated their help. The weekend of the 10th and 11th it snowed.  Such a beautiful sight to wake up to.  It was just enough of a dusting to make the place look magical, but not enough to hamper our activities.  As we listened to the geese honking and Ving up for their trip South we felt like we were just in time to join the formation.  Our only shadow during this time is one of our wonderful little hunters was hit on the road.  Our tenants buried him with full warrior honors as they said their goodbyes to BNK (black nosed kitty) and us.  We loaded our three remaining hunters and got on the road ourselves around 7 in the morning of the 14th.  We made the trip in great time, arriving in Green Valley at 11 in the morning of the 16th.  Now to figure out where we put everything in this house!  Quite an adjustment to go from snow to the 90's !  I miss Minnesota already !

March 28, 2010

The U-haul is almost loaded, the house is a shambles and I'm bursting with excitement to get on the road!  The weather report indicates sunny days and pleasant nights for our trip. Our barn cats withstood being cooped up in the "cat-room" all winter and I keep assuring them they are just a couple of days away from fresh mouse munching again. We made the decision to live in the mobile home so we can turn the Inn's master bedroom into a Family Group suite. This should make the Inn much more comfortable and affordable for groups.  We can even rent out the whole inn without the breakfast option for those needing more space for longer periods of time.  Plus the benefit to us is we don't have to live in just one room, we can sprawl like we do in our Arizona home.  So, for now ....See you in MN !!!!

It is now May 11th and I have some catching up to do.  Wow, what a Whirlwind!

March 30-31, 2010

We arrived amidst angst.  While on the road we learned that Mid-West Plumbing was having trouble getting the water on!  They managed to melt the ice in the main pump with their steamer just before we arrived!  Fortunately the house was warm and all water systems in and out of the house worked.  The phone was connected and by the end of the next day, Wednesday the TV satelite was installed on the new pole we had erected last fall and the phone company technician, Dalen was out to install the computers.  Somewhere along the way I lost a cable and we had to make a quick run to Alexandria to get one.  We picked up odds and ends while there.  It seems like we brought the delightful warm AZ weather with us when we arrived.  That really inspired a flurry of Spring activity.

April 2-3-4, 2010

Neighbors greeted us warmly with Friday night pizza get together with Frank and Kathy Q and then a great German style Sideboard breakfast the next morning.  Kathy is German by heritage and caught the 'bug' from us last year so the feast they laid out was admirable.  Saturday night we joined the Swensrud's for a BBQ with friends to kick off the summer season with a rip roaring fire in the ring. The night was perfect for such a gathering. Everyone here is delighted to put the winter behind and delve into spring.

All of April

This month can be summed up as dig, plant, mulch, prune, dig, plant, and mulch.  Our garden is huge! Gerhard claims I better open up a roadside stand to dispense all the veggies because he can't eat that much. Frank came over with his tractor to till the soil and churn up the old weeds.  But before he could even start I had to remove all the old straw mulch!  The better part of the 60X30 area was deep in mulch!  Ugh!  I pitchforked myself to exhaustion just in time!  He was able to get back in as soon as he returned.   I am using the deep row method with furrow irrigation technique.  It is heavily mulched against weeds and to hold moisture. There is less mold and mildew as with overhead watering. Of course the seedling stage needs to be sprinkled until roots sprout.  The layout involves shoveling lots of dirt into those big rows, and then lots of mulch.  But the plus side is that it only has to be done once.  Next year we only have to part the mulch away from the tops of the rows and plant!  I ran out of steam with only half the garden rowed.  Fortunately our friend, Dale Faehnrich was available to help form the last 5 long rows.  I must say, he did a much better job than I had making nice wide furrow bottoms. 

Fortunately we had Ruff to help with the straw mulch part of the project.  By the 9th I had the permanent beds of asparagus and strawberries in.  The 14th the red and yellow potatoes and the bunch onion volunteers were in.  I had purchased starter plants of romas which I covered with milk jug 'greenhouses' and then seeded Bells, globe onions and eggplant on the 16th.  Days are long and my enthusiasm got ahead of my good sense and the warning of the 'long-timers'. We rented a brush-hog and I mowed down all the tall weeds and saplings from the front of the property along the road, around through all the huge cottonwoods and even behind the mobile where huge stands of thistle, cocklebur and burdock grew last year.  It looks great!!  Now that I can see the terraine I can follow up with Round-Up to eliminate these invasive pests. The weather has been astonishing!   By the end of the 22nd I had in all the lettuce, beets, broccoli, dill, cabbage, kohlrabi, turnips, spinach, celery, carrots and sage.  (I should have heeded the warnings of the locals:  disaster was on the horizon.)

The temperatures have been in the 70's and even up to 80.  I didn't remove my Roma "greenhouses" in time and cooked the little plants by the 24th.  My cousin gave me some starter plants she didn't have time to get in the ground.  I put them out on the 26th with the zucchini, yellow squash, melons and cukes under "green houses" .  Believing the warm weather would continue I planted corn, pumpkins, peas, snowpeas, beans, parsley, cauliflower, spinach,chard, herbs of basil, oregano, marjoram, parsley, cilantro along with the companion flowers of geranium branches, nasturtians, marigolds, cosmos and lots of gladiolas. Took off all jug "green houses" so those little plants wouldn't cook in the heat like the Romas had.  That was a mistake.  That was the end of our spring paradise.

April 28th the lion roared in!  The winds blew fiercely.  It pounded rain.  Temperatures plumeted. The 30th was still shrouded in misty rain.  Very appropriate weather as we attended the memorial for Orlin Swensrud, father of our neighbor. Orlin was son of one of the pioneering families that my forefathers knew well.  In those early days everyone needed to help each other just to get by.  His legacy is leaving a fine family that we enjoy as our helpful neighbors today.

May, 2010 First half of the month

The severe winds and rain continue.  Temperatures dropped to freezing. The Romas that were "cooked" didn't have time to recover.  The freeze finished off all transplants except the celery and cabbage. Only the hardy cool-season plants are okay.  The globe onions are peeking through. The bunch onion transplants are standing up nicely and the strawberry plants are hanging in there.  The dill plant is looking a bit haggard and the radishes are sprouting through.  I hope the cold doesn't rot the corn, peas and other seeds in the ground.  We'll just have to wait to see.  I really want to serve those fresh home-grown organic veggies to our guests as soon as possible!  There's nothing quite like the taste of a fresh from-the-garden tomato.

We hooked up the trailer and picked up a full trailer load of wood chunks, bark, leaves and debris from under the cottonwoods.  As soon as the weather clears I can plant the wildflower seeds there.  Gerhard has mulched his flower garden at the house entry and planted a bunch of the Iris we brought from Green Valley along the house foundation. 

We discovered the deer had really attacked all the trees we planted last fall.  In fact they look more like bushes than trees!  Even the 8 foot tall Paper Birch was munched down to under 5 feet!  Ugh!  Considering all the trees we need to plant to replace the Cottonwoods that were felled last year, we need to have a tree success story not this!  So as I find trees to plant, Gerhard finds "no's" to stop me.  He says it's way too expensive to feed the deer this way!  Guess I'll have to figure out a way to keep those pesky beauties from destroying my re-forestation plans.  We definately need wind breaks in this region.  Prairie breezes can be wicked!

The nasty weather provided some inside time to get other chores done.  Previous tenants deserted some bedframes in the garage rafters.  Much to our surprise and delight one was a metal bunk bed frame.  The bottom makes into a full size futon bed and the top is a full size also.  We caught a sale on futon mattresses and bedding so we now have that Family Group Room up and running!  The other frame from the rafters is now a daybed in our mobile.  Since we don't actually have a need for it right now I am holding off on purchasing a mattress for it.  I used these rainy days to catch up on our bookkeeping so I don't get behind like I did last year.  I made some lemon pies and since our rhubarb patch is so robust I recycled some into a pie.  At the rate it is growing I better get my quota canned up for the winter in Green Valley.  We now have a rhubarb fan-club there waiting for our harvest to hit town! 

I found we have slipped in the search engine pages way down from our standing last year.  I don't know what caused the slide, but it has resulted in a quiet phone!  So I have tackled the task of revamping our website to be 'fresh' on the seach engines again with more current information to tantilize you, our potential guests. 

 I couldn‘t figure out why no beans, peas or corn sprouted. I replanted. Again, no luck. After the third try I saw some little sprouts beginning to burst through. Next day most were gone ! The following morning I discovered what was happening. I was raising a bunch of extortionists ! If I didn’t get out super early to refill the numerous bird feeders those obnoxious Blackbirds were dining on my tender shoots! When I spread vinyl window screening over the rows it solved the problem. But then the month ended with an incredibly hard wind and pounding rain that just about flattened everything in the garden! That was followed by a cold snap that pretty well finished the devastation. The ‘Old timers’ were sagely nodding their heads.

May snow was predicted for the third. Instead it was just cold. The April warmth, though, had the weeds winning races! I was already mowing twice a week and Gerhard was pulling them out constantly. Our previous renter did a superb job of designing an interesting flower garden. Gerhard put in hours keeping that bed in front of the mobile weed free. For a reward we had wave upon wave of fantastic blooms all summer. Gerhard was really handicapped by knee pain. So much so he did most of his weeding on a stool or chair. He could not walk on uneven ground at all, so couldn’t help me in the garden. He finally had arthroscopic surgery on the knee to remove the meniscus. Once he healed from the surgery he was doing much better! By that time I really needed him desperately! I discovered I was allergic to the deer flies, gnats (no-see’ums) and to make matters worse: DEET ! I couldn’t even be in the garden long enough to harvest something for dinner without swelling up a half inch over every bite! I was miserable! Those bugs bite right through cloth so putting on denim on a sweltery day didn’t even help! Ugh!

Gerhard's efforts have paid off in beautiful flower beds everywhere !

We had gotten so spoiled the last two summers because the drought had almost rendered the bugs non-existent. They sure made up for it this year! There was rain every couple days which made for happy farmers, but kept the bug populations thriving! By the time Gerhard was able to help me, the old straw mulch on half of the garden had deteriorated leaving a horrendous weed patch! The weeds chocked out the plants and the dense greenery was a prime breeding ground for bitey-bugs and mildew. Gerhard kept repositioning his little stool down the rows and finally he had the dirt scalped enough to remulch with good new straw. I E-purchased a net over-suit ‘guaranteed’ to keep bugs from biting through and allowing air to circulate. Yeah....right. A suit that can keep no-see’ums out is going to allow air to circulate? Oh well, it was worth a try. So with sweat dripping into my eyes, steaming up my glasses I then replanted. The suit did help with most of the bugs.

From the time we arrived I had been attending Chamber of Commerce meetings and City Council meetings as I am very interested in doing all we can to help Starbuck make the shift from dying little farm town to a recreation paradise. One of my pet projects was to get the Starbuck beach cleaned up of the winter wash-up before Memorial Day and keep the swimming equipment out until after labor day. So with the help of the newspaper’s nice article a bunch of volunteers showed up and together we had the beach raked clean in just 4 hours! Beautiful Lake Minnewaska began attracting water lovers in droves!

Our neighbor who harvests our hay field was running into some sickle height rocks. We promised to get them out of his way and called Frank over with his big tractor and bucket. It took him and me a good part of two days to dig them out. One was bigger than his bucket and almost pulled over the tractor! As it turned out they weren’t field rocks, they were field boulders! Frank is posing with our ‘kill’. The last big job of renovating the property was completed in May. The old portion of the house was stripped of the wood siding and redone with vinyl siding. It now looks great! The porch windows are all trimmed in hunter green aluminum clad. From here on out, hopefully, it will be just maintenance we need to keep up on.

Frank posing with our "kill".

June did give us a chance to do an exploratory trip to New Ulm and Pipestone. We stocked up on great German cold cuts at a butcher shop in Nicolett and then visited the Native Indian stone quarry in Pipestone (aptly named). It is a nicely restored prairie grassland area that was in full bloom for our pleasure. When we returned I again planted more kohlrabi for Gerhard‘s munching, plus the next round of other things.

Unfortunately in May our frig ice machine went out and dripped water through the floor into the basement, thoroughly soaking the dirt floor and causing a musty smell.  I didn’t discover the problem for awhile since we live in the mobile and I only came over to bake or entertain friends. This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact the smell was carried through the duct system into the house.

July we celebrate Heritage Days on the 4th. The Chamber was to serve Bratwurst to make some money and I volunteered to grill onions and peppers. By the time I finished pre-cooking 5 bags of those lovely yellow globes the entire Inn reeked! No matter how many windows I opened and fans I ran I couldn‘t get the air freshened. I called the company that installed our air conditioner to ask what I could do. He told me to change the air filter and spray it with Febreze. I said, “what filter?” I didn‘t realize that the duct system for the A/C ran through the furnace and since we rarely used the furnace I had never changed the filter in the entire time we‘ve owned the house!!! (Ok, so I occasionally ACT blonde). The filter was completely clogged and changing it fixed the problem. We enjoyed the rest of the Heritage Days by taking in the Fireman’s pork feed, the airport fly-in pancake breakfast, the Chamber fundraising brisket dinner & variety show. Once again Starbuck’s talent is a rib-splitter. Funny skits! Mary Baukol’s “Carnie Barker” style got top dollar for the pies and cakes raffled. My Rhubarb pie fetched $24.00! Afterward we stopped by our neighbors for the bonfire then home to watch the fireworks from the comfort of our own home. Sunday was the Community Church Service in the park followed by the Grand Parade.
              I was tickled to get a call to book a room from a man who was coming to Starbuck to ’discover his roots’. He introduced himself as Chris Signalness and I retorted “We‘re probably kinfolks!” He had never been to Starbuck and didn‘t even expect to find living relatives. The day he arrived I invited his kinfolk Shirley Danielson, her sister Becky and husband Steve as well as their mother Virginia. Shirley brought a big photo album and the chronicle she had composed that was the most extensive description of the Signalness family members and events that Chris had seen. The next day Shirley provided a guided tour of the old homesites including the ravine where the Signalnesses lived in a dugout cave as their first home. Chris couldn’t have been happier and vowed to return next summer with his sister and kids for a reunion.
       Our garden was finally flourishing so I began canning and dehydrating veggies and herbs for soup mixes. Gehard suggested I set up a road side stand to sell all the excess.   He teased that with all the replanting and cost of straw we were eating gold plated veggies.  I kidded him that organic always cost more! ;-)

This year Starbuck started a program, Thursday night on town. Every other week a different organization hosts the event providing eats and entertainment in conjunction with the farmer’s market. I served brats for our women’s group as well as the Chamber of Commerce. Our East Zion Church hosted one night too. We also attended one of our favorite affairs, the Horticulture Night at the University of Minnesota at Morris. We always learn so much and enjoy the stroll around the beautiful grounds.

It was a horrible business year with only three guests and I didn’t discover until later that we had all but slipped off the internet altogether. I have my work cut out for me to become a web-master!

Many hours of May and June I spent canvassing businesses in the surrounding towns along with another Chamber devotee, Caren to drum up funds and entries for our up coming Dragon Boat Race Festival. Fundraising was late to start this year so we were frantic to make up for lost time. We vowed to jump on this project much earlier next year.

August was a jam packed month. It began with a pounding hail storm that made our garden looked like an IED had been detonated in it! Good thing most things had been canned, preserved or eaten by then! I did replant some quick to mature things like leaf lettuce and radishes.

          Our big event was the Dragon Boat Race. Twenty paddlers propel these boats with a drummer to keep time and a standing steersman. This year Just Ridin’ Inn hosted the crew that supplies the boats. In exchange we asked for a boat in lieu of payment. Then we had to rustle up a crew. While attending a local rib-fest I worked the crowd to promote the Dragon Festival and ended up with a full crew.I made sock-headed stick horses for the crew to “ride” in the Parade of Entries. What fun! We had great advertizing with this energetic boat full!

Gerhard was quite happy "camping" in our Team Village site along with the remuda.

　

　

　

Our Just Ridin' Inn team all lined up for the Parade of Teams with steeds in hand.

        We finished the month with an appreciation BBQ for our contractors. Not all of our great carpenters and families could attend so we’ll look forward to more events with them in the future.

September my women’s group attended a nice presentation at the planetarium on the Morris campus. This group of women are setting records of time spend in charity and community activities.

Gerhard’s daughter, Martina and her son Alex came for a visit. Alex had to get back to work at the bank in S. Carolina, but Martina stayed for a week. She helped weed the garden, plant trees, pick up wood chunks from under the trees we are clearing for wildflower planting. Despite her ‘working vacation’ she had a relaxing stay in the country and enjoyed fresh organic meals. I frequently smiled as I watched Dad and Daughter working side by side or doing a cross-word puzzle. It was truly quality time together.

The sad part of September was Pastor Becky’s leaving East Zion. Decisions in the hierarchy of our association ELCA (Episcopal Lutheran Church of America) resulted in a group breaking away to form a new church. While sorry to be leaving the beautiful church founded by my ancestors in the 1800s, I feel the future of Christianity lies more in outreach to youth rather than staying rooted in traditional rituals . So with ardent prayers we launched into a mission to help restore moral and ethical family unity through Shalom Community Lutheran Church.

October was our 1st Shalom service with 71 people in attendance! A good start. I am happily on the committee to draft our constitution. We expect to have a welcoming format rather than a restrictive one.
     Our 8th wedding anniversary we celebrated with friends Frank and Kathy at A&W’s. Not exactly the usual anniversary dining, but we enjoyed the step back in time. Anyone else remember their famous A&W chili cheese fries? So what if we clog an artery or two once in awhile?

We enjoyed prime rib at the Firemen’s fundraiser. We were tickled that our carpenters Dale, Scott and his wife Jessica enjoyed dominos at our appreciation BBQ so much we had them over again for chicken and dumplings. Dale brought zucchini bread. We now refer to it as Dale’s internationally famous zucchini bread since I served it to Martina when she was here and she loved it enough to tell him so.

       A couple of weeks into October I drove into the garage to an ear splitting Yeeeeowwwlll ! It was coming from a little ball of yellow and white fur with big ears. The kitten obviously knew people and demanded to be fed. He used the sand box naturally. None of the feral cats are colored like him so he must have been dropped off. I named him Found as I found him in our garage and he found just the home he wanted. He is a brilliantly intelligent cat as he knew immediately the one to win-over was Gerhard. He followed Gerhard to the garden to ‘help’ with the weeding and mulching project. Since that is hard work on both of them they were subject to periodic nap attacks as you can see. He definitely succeeded in winning over Gerhard. He even learned the Gerhard technique of napping sitting up !

     Our summer ended with a bit of excitement. Back in September when Pastor Becky quit East Zion without a calling to another parish, we offered their family our mobile to live in if they needed the security of a home as they pondered their options. Of course, if they wanted it in the fall they needed to give us plenty of notice so we could get moved out before we left for the winter. Otherwise they could wait until we were due back in spring and we would simply move into the main house upon our return. Well, Sunday evening the 17th we got a call asking if the offer was still good. We were due to leave ourselves the next Saturday morning!  I replied that the offer was good but there was no way for us to be moved out without a lot of help. She said help was available. So Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we carried our personal things and the small furniture we could handle to the Inn. We broke down the bed in the red-room to use that room as our office. We just piled things wherever we could find space. Wednesday night over 20 people showed up with trailers, muscles and hand carts. Pastor Becky provided a big pot of sloppy joes, fresh veggies, fruit and beverages. In just a couple hours beds had been re-configured up stairs, extra mattresses stored under beds or up on rafters, lawn tables and chairs brought inside and picnic tables set up inside where 20 people then gathered for a sit-down supper and prayers of thanksgiving. I then spent Thursday and Friday cleaning up the mobile enough to at least knock the top layer off so they could move in. I felt bad that I couldn’t get the carpets cleaned or the windows washed, but I discovered I’m not as young as I used to be. :-) Friday evening we packed ourselves up for the trip and then took a break to have a final Friday pizza dinner with our neighbor’s. Unfortunately Frank was not feeling up to company so we pizza’d with Kathy alone.
         Saturday morning we were on the road at 7:30 with a van packed full of fresh garden veggies, canned and dehydrated garden yield, chests full of dry ice and the remainder of our freezer meats, our house plants under a cardboard slab, the pet lodge with our ‘barn’ cats and our new baby, Found, scampering around as pleased him. Previous trips with the cats we left them in the pet lodge for the 3 day 2 night trip. I would clean the cat box and pet them each evening and morning at the cage. This time we rented a pet room at the motels. It worked out beautifully. All four of them were perfect travelers and were quite civilized in the rooms at night. So looks like we’ll be paying for cat lodging on future trips. But I’m sure they are not going to be so happy confined to a single bedroom for the winter. But there is no way I can have these acrobats cavorting through my house full of pottery!

So we are now enjoying the Green Valley winter sunshine as our Minnesota neighbors shovel out their lives.  We're looking forward to the spring thaw to start our trek Northeast.

April 1st, 2011:

Finally, we got on the way! Green Valley had already hit the 90's so a nice cool Minnesota was a real enticement! We had great weather, light traffic and peaceful cats all the way. But that was the end of our tranquillity for awhile.

April 4:

When we moved out of the mobile last fall we had just piled all the household goods in boxes where ever there was room in the main house. We didn't need to blend those items into the Inn because it was fully furnished already. I had intended to streamline the packing and stow it all away until the time came to outfit the mobile again. Well, to my dismay I discovered mice had moved in over the winter and every single surface had to be gutted, disinfected and reassembled. All those boxes had to be emptied, everything run through the dishwasher before repacking and anything chewed to be discarded.

I had been promising the cats that they could be free spirits once we got to Minnesota. I had to renege on that promise because of the mouse problem. We would shut our bedroom door at night and leave all the cupboards and closet doors open in the rest of the house to let them prowl at will. I never found any evidence of their successful hunting, but after a week of that I evicted them and set traps. I only caught one under the kitchen sink. After tucking steel wool around all pipe openings and gaps, that was the end of any mice or evidence of their passing.

The previous winter I had installed an electronic rodent repeller in the basement. I don’t know if that is what kept us mouse-free or just the diligent cat activity on the property all summer had thinned them out. But this winter I moved that gadget to the kitchen and did not put a new one in the basement. It was apparent that either the unit was ineffective or the mice were immune to it’s effect because I found a mouse _ _ _ _ on top of the unit EVEN while it was STILL in the socket blinking as if it was working! Each winter I pack all the dry goods into a tight freezer in the garage to keep critters and bugs out. Those items were fine, but all the shelves in the pantry had to be cleaned before they could be restocked. Every bed was striped so the bedding could be laundered and all drawers were emptied and the contents washed and the drawers wiped with disinfectant. I hate those miserable little creatures!! So as I washed dishes and clothing the piles grew while awaiting a place to move back into!

About three days into the project I heard water running when no machines were going. I lifted the hatch to the cellar and found the line to the septic was backing up! Naturally it was backing up from ALL appliances (need I be more descriptive?) We frantically called Mid West Plumbing to come fix it. First they pumped out the septic. That wasn’t the problem. They then brought out the giant roto-rooter. That didn't work. Next they brought the big steamer rig and defrosted the line. Dispite the fact all water to the house had been shut off during the winter, the water I initially put into the pipes was cold and froze under the garage! Even the hot water of the dishwasher and washing machine wasn't hot enough to break through that ice jam. So I added disinfectant, shovels, stiff brushes and buckets to my project list to clean that up. After that first week was over and I could get around to normal daily cleaning and routines, it almost felt like I was on vacation! But the bill for all this could have paid for a small vacation !!!!

Our winter discovery phase still wasn't over. The winter had been harsh. Snow was constant, deep and debilitating. We discovered two dead deer. The smaller one was in our old barn just inside the big open doors and the other in the cottonwoods alongside the house. We sure hope it wasn't the doe and yearling fawn we had watched so often last year. But the folks in the mobile said the deer were so plentiful that it was not uncommon to see herds of 30 to 50 clustered around our house and their house where they were eating the straw and grass bales used to insulate the foundation! We had seen so many dead deer along the roads as we came up from Pipestone I guess it was a minimal loss that we only had two here. But we felt bad about them none-the-less. We called upon Frank to come with his bucket tractor to lift the carcasses to the big pile of wood awaiting burning. Fortunately that first week the weather was nice, dry and windless so we were able to get them burned up before they became a sanitary issue.

April 25:

Since that first sunny week, (which we say is the Arizona weather we brought with us) the cold set in again with even a few snow flurries. There were occasional days of sun between each storm front which we took full advantage of. In fact we were so efficient at managing our time that we got our garden planted with the cool crops and the later starter plants sprouting on the front porch. Gerhard goes to a site where he wants to work, does his bending, weeding or picking up wood and then sits in a chair to rest. But I must say that he has really been stressing his knees and he still has tons of bulbs to plant. He keeps at it and accomplishes a lot.

There was so much stuff to do! The straw bales that the deer did not eat had to be moved to a pile in the corner of the garden so the plants under them would have a chance to recover and bloom. Fortunately Todd and Becky helped with that project. Then Gerhard got busy and cut back all the dead growth from last year as well as weeded. Our reward was brilliant tulips and daffodils. The iris are even starting to head up. Other plants that looked like they hadn’t survived the winter have started to show signs of life. Gerhard is about to do a jig when he discovered his Hydrangeas showing new sprouts. The deer really destroyed our new trees ! They munched the limbs so severely that I think we will have to replace even the older apple trees, all the new redbud trees (5 of them) and maybe even an elm or two. Fortunately I see new growth on the birches, crabapples and flame tree. But even those all look more like shrubs than the trees we planted! This coming fall we will definitely wrap all trees with netting and frost cloth where ever possible.

May 1:

I have been battling the machines. Even though I took the batteries out of both mowers and stored them in the house this winter (with the heat set at 45 degrees), they didn’t kick over either machine. I gave them a re-charge to no avail. Bought a new battery for the zero-turn mower because a fellow was offering to purchase it. (I never have liked a zero-turn: Can’t seem to get the knack of how to steer it with those wands and have hooked our water hydrant, torn the garden fence and severely scared some small pines.) The battery got the mower to work and I did get mowing done between rains. Then I took that new battery to install in the smaller Murray mower. Stupid me ! I hooked up the terminals backward and fried something in the electrical system! So with that, Gerhard and I decided it would be better if we kept a backup mower just for when our primary was down. If the grass gets away from us it becomes a real mower killer to try to get it cut down again! Well, the guy who wants the zero-turn is adament about it. Even though I said no he called with an offer I couldn’t refuse. He purchased a used steering wheel style mower that only had one summer’s use on it. I was so tired of re-attaching brackets and bolts that stabilize the mower deck on the zero that I was willing to do the trade. But before he showed up I mowed everything I could get to while the weather held since the prediction was for 4 days of rain! Only a broad swath remained when the zero started choking out! Fortunately the propane delivery man was here and heard the problem. He checked it out and showed me that the fuel line was cracked preventing the fuel filter from getting any fuel in it. So I am happy to report that when Don came to do the trade he was so happy to get a zero for so little money (the trade mower) he took it with that problem anyway. (He could see all I had mowed with it so he knew it was not a big problem.) Whew! I fired up the new traded mower, a Yardman, and finished the job. Since the blower and clipping baskets never work worth a squat I yapped at Gerhard enough that we bought a pull behind yard sweeper. I made a few quick trips around the yard with that enough to keep the mulch from building up. That should work out fine this year.

Another problem we faced for a couple weeks was a gopher attack. That miserable _ _ _ _ was destroying our yard! I have a scoreboard that shows Gopher = 5, Gwen = 1. The first mound I called to the cat’s attention. Found, our half-grown kitten, even dug at the hole like a dog. But to no avail. So round one, the cats, goes to the Gopher. The second mound I dug out and poured gopher bait in the hole. Next day a new mound had appeared so it appeared the gopher got Round two. Time to haul out the ‘Sure Fire": into that mound I put a tube of poison gas. I lit the fuse and covered the hole with an old roofing shingle before covering it with more dirt. Since the gas wisps were seeping up I couldn’t get around to gas the other holes, but felt confident it was doing its job. Next day a new mound! So Round three to the Gopher. By now I was frustrated and went to the farm supply for a mechanical trap and some super-duper Gopher-getter bait. It took some doing but I finally got the trap set. But it was so sensitive (and wicked looking) I didn’t stake it to a stick in the ground to anchor it. (After all, how far would a gopher be able to drag a trap like that after being skewered with those nasty tines?) To keep the cats from reaching down the hole and getting their paws skewered, I put a milk jug with a cut off bottom over the hole with dirt piled around the outside to hold it in place. Gleefully I looked out the next morning to discover the entire inside of the milk jug was filled with dirt! And, to add insult to injury there was another new mound !!! Now the Gopher tally has hit Gopher 4, Gwen 0 ! By now I’m ballistic ! So remembering how I used to deal with these _ _ _ _ _ _ _s, I went and purchased .22 shells. (This spring trip I remembered to bring along my rifles.) It has been many years since I fired a gun so thought a little target practice was in order. I drew a gopher on a piece of paper, tacked it to a stump about 30 yard away and squeezed the trigger. One shot, one dead target right near the heart! Yeah! Haven’t lost my eye! But waiting for the real thing to volunteer a head shot is another matter. So I dug out the latest mound and put a big pile of that guaranteed-to-get-‘um bait into it. Next morning, same drill: another new mound ! Round five to the gopher! BUT, low and behold I watched a puff of dirt being excavated ! Then another ! I grabbed the .22, left Gerhard peacefully sleeping and slid out the door. I hid behind the tow trailer, took aim and waited. The beast came half-way out of the hole and posed. CLICK. Dead shell! NO WAY !!! I backed away slowly hoping my movement wouldn’t scare him, pried out two shells and took aim again. He reappeared and POW! Got the miserable creature just like the target! YEAH! Finally: Gopher 5 and Gwen 1 ! But mine is the final tally. No more mounds!.

May 9:

I had purchased a 13X10 Screen house at a garage sale in Green Valley. My hope is to ‘test drive’ the idea of a screened in back deck that we can enjoy without the bugs ruining summer evenings. If it works not only can we sit out there for summer evenings to watch the sun go down, we can also have breakfast there and maybe even a hot tub someday. Well, even though I was assured the thing had never even been set up before I am missing a central pole connector. So I have this thing partially assembled, laying all over the deck and have to wait to get the part delivered. Ugh. Gerhard is very much against this whole effort since the last one of these light screen gazebos lasted all of two days in these prairie ‘breezes’. But he has also been on a real terror about not wanting to spend any more money on this place than he already has. Sometimes it does seem the money pit never ends. When I watch him sitting on his ‘working’ chair and looking out over his domain, it is clear that the joy this place brings him (and me) makes it all worth while. So, I’ll keep bugging him little by little to keep up the improvements.

The last project I have arranged so far is to have an old gent provide his horses to pull my surrey in the 4th of July Heritage Day parade with our advertisement signs on it. He has had a heart attack and now wants to get rid of his surrey as well as his aged horses. I am hoping that he will want to give them to me to provide a good forever home to them, but Gerhard is adamant about not taking on such a costly venture. I would have to board them for the winter at a cost of about $600.00 per month. While I understand Gerhard’s reluctance, I bought that surrey 4 years ago with the full intention of having horses to pull it. But I can wait a bit since there are other projects I want to finish on the place that will still cost a pretty penny.

Even though Summer weather is taking it’s sweet time about arriving, the expectation and preparation is picking up speed. The Starbuck City Council has arranged to have a fellow put our swim dock and water slide out before Memorial Day and then to wait until after Labor Day to pull them out of the lake. This year the water may be too cold to entice much swimming over Memorial Day, but at least we want to have the beach looking inviting. The newspaper did a great story encouraging volunteers to assemble in the late afternoon Tuesday May 17th for a big Beach Clean-up Party. Gerhard and I will bring our BBQ in and the Starbuck Women’s Group will supply the hot dogs and soda for the party. Our beach was voted one of the top 5 in the whole state of Minnesota by the AAA Motorist Magazine and we want to live up to that honor!

October 11, 2011

We have just made it official:  we are out of business.  Since my cousin is now living in the bunkhouse year around, we only have the three upper bedrooms to use for the B&B.  Business has been sparce and we just decided to enjoy this beautiful property as our summer home.  While I am disappointed that my dream of meeting all the horse people who would come here to ride has not materialized, I am turning my attention to further developing this property to accomodate my own horses that someday I hope to have. 

Now I am getting ready to go outside to finish the chores necessary to button this place down for the winter.  We are headed for Arizona on the  21st.

I will post further musings on my blog at www.grins4gwen.blogspot.com click on Gwen's Grins. Our annual year recap letter will appear on that site for those who like to keep up with our adventures.

Safe Travels and Happy Trails to All !!!