Monday, March 13, 2006

So you never had a cow in the house???


We had a spring storm this weekend. It brought back memories of my childhood when spring storms meant providing special care for the livestock. I remember going to Grandmas house in March with the promise of a great surprise. When we'd get there, we'd have to be very quiet as we approached the living room. What I'd see was a baby calf sleeping on the rug in front of the oil burning stove. It was our own baby animal hospital "quiet zone". We had to be very careful not to spook the calf, but we could pet him very gently. Their hair felt so soft and the nose was so clean and pink. They didn't stink like the big cows. When he was sufficiently warmed up, he would be able to go back to the barn to the Mama cow. We thought all of the calves eventually went back to their Mamas, but I bet that wasn't always true. That experience was great for a child. I wish all of you had had that opportunity. When you gripe about the bad snowstorms in the Spring, be glad you aren't a cow.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

This is the way we wash our clothes.......

I was reminded of a scene from the Exorcist this morning. Do you remember the one where the girl pees on the rug during the dinner party? Well our washing machine pulled a similar trick this morning as I was washing clothes. All of a sudden, water began to puddle out from under the machine. Ick. I hate water on the floor. This machine has been limping along for about 18 months. That is how long I have been functioning without an Ex. Large setting because the water level sensor failed. That event was a particularly messy one with the washer pumping water out the top of the machine without me knowing about it for a good 5 minutes. The water ran into the basement into our "food room" and really made a mess. Geez, I hate water on the floor.

So, when I get home tonight, I'll see a brand new front loading Frigidaire washer sitting where "the defective unit" formerly sat. It will appear on the Karpen Grain Co. auction on April 8. So long, Maytag. You're outta here.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The Wheels went round and round

This item was originally written in March 2006.

As I bought the new car this week, I began to wonder just how many cars we have had in the nearly 30 years of our marriage. I remember each of them by specific events that occurred in our lives as we owned them. Here's a little bit about each auto we have owned.

1976 Chevy Nova - Spirit of '76. (1974 - 1979) This was the car that I brought to our marriage. It was white with red and blue pin striping. It also had an eagle decal. It was a hatchback. It was my college car and was purchased for me by my dad. This car had a specific sadness in its history. Ten days after dad bought it from Ripshaw Motors in Gettysburg, it was the victim of a hit and run incident where the Sherriff's son-in-law got drunk and beat up his wife and took off in the car. The Sherriff was chasing him through Gettysburg and during the chase, he careened into my brand new car. The stupid SOB.

1970 Plymouth Satellite - green. This was the car that Doyle brought to the marriage. It was his college car and was quite a machine. It was a manual transmission and it had a Hurst shifter knob. I heard this car before I saw Doyle. It was very noisy. He sold this car to ?? Oberg.

197? Dodge Pickup - Purchased from someplace in Yankton on New Years Eve 1977??. It was bought on the day we had the biggest and best baked potato ever at the Bonanza in Yankton. It became known as "the brown eye". It autopiloted Carol Klumper and I to Elk Point in June of 1979 to get the second keg of beer. It also rescued Doyle and I out of a snowbound condition to get me to a Weight Watchers meeting in December 1978.

1977 Plymouth Fury (1978 - 1981) This was a red and white two door coupe. This car was bought from Willson Motors on West 7th in Sioux City. This is the car that we brought Abby and Roxie ?? home from the hospital.

1981 Plymouth Reliant K Station Wagon. The "K car". This was a silver station wagon that was purchased from ??? in Sioux Falls. I think that this was purchased on November 11th. Klumpers bought a green one just like it. We took a trip to Rapid City in the summer of 1982. We left at 8PM so the kids would go to sleep on the way and stay asleep. They didn't.

198? Dodge Mirada - Purchased from Willson Motors. We traded the K car for this. It was black and looked like a convertible. The interior was gold corduroy and it had an arm rest" between the front seats that the kids used as a seat. They called this seat, "the hump". I remember Whitney sitting on the hump from the time she was about a year old. No car seat, no seat belt. We sold this car to Mike Trometer.

19?? Chevy Corvette - Doyle traded a truck to Paul M. for this car in 1986. We ended up selling it to some guy. It was red

1986 Dodge pickup - This pickup was given to us by Doyle's brother Doug in May of 1986. It was red and white. We added a topper to it and some inserts in the box. It was our camping vehicle that we used to pull first the pop-up and then the bunkhouse trailer to Yankton. It was retired to the bone pile in 2004.

198? Plymouth Voyager - tan. purchased wrecked from an auction - fixed by R. McMillan. This was the soccer mom van. This van was traded at Robinson-Ehret motors in Yankton.

199? Dodge Caravan - Copper colored. Purchased from Robinson-Ehret motors in Yankton. I had an accident with this van in its early days because I spilled a bottle of Diet Coke and leaned over to pick it up. We were in Minnesota at some church. I hit a parked car and broke our passenger side mirror. This is the van that Whitney remembers not having her own seat. Abby claimed the back seat, Roxie had the middle seat and Whitney had to lay between the seats with "Pinkie". This van took us to Duluth and to Winnipeg for vacation. This van was wrecked by Roxie in the Spring of 1999.

199? Dodge Conversion van - Blue Wrecked by Abby in December of ??
199? Dodge Conversion van - Burgundy Sold to some people from south of Sioux City.
2003 Dodge Conversion van - white Currently for sale.
1999 GMS Yukon - gold Sold to Matt and Abby
2000 Toyota Solara convertible Deb's summer car
1994 Toyota Camry coupe - Sold to Sherri Wing 3/3/2006
198? Dodge Shadow - red Sold to ??
1988 Toyota Camry - Blue This car is being fixed by some Derochie guy
199? Dodge Shadow - teal Sold to Greg and Jan Iverson
199? Geo Prizm - teal Whitney's current car
200? Dodge Ram pickup - white Doyle's current pickup
199? Dodge pickup - blue Sold to Jerry and Carol
2005 Toyota Highlander - blue Deb's winter car


The people at State Farm know us on a first name basis.