Dirty Little Secrets

It's Saturday - and I've got the house ALL TO MYSELF, with the exception of the doggers, of course. Ole is participating in a car show this weekend, sponsored by one of the local car clubs so he left the house at 9 o'clock this morning and I probably won't see him until 9 o'clock tonight. Tomorrow won't be quite as long a day. Lovely Daughter and Lars went to town to run errands and won't be home until later this afternoon.

I love having the house to myself because it just doesn't happen that often. So here I sit - it's almost noon and I have accomplished nothing - but the kicker is I don't even feel guilty about it. What an attitude, huh? And I have so much I want to do today.

It's a beautiful day here today. It's almost reached 60 degrees, but unfortunately we're under a winter storm watch for tonight and tomorrow with the possibility of the sky dropping six inches of snow on us. Will it ever end?

A couple of entries ago I promised more history lessons about my little town. For those of you who haven't read me for very long, it's probably become quite apparent that I love old pictures and have quite a collection not only of old family photos but also of my local area. I never was a history buff of any kind until my mother died and I got into geneaology. That made me want to learn as much as I could not only about my ancestors, but also about the area that I have lived in all my life.

My family moved here when I was just a wee leetle girl. You can read about how I ended up in this area by clicking here and also reading the next few entries. Not only am I a half breed, but also a gypsy. I'll let you figure out the rest.

Anyway, when I was a kid one of the things we really looked forward to for entertainment was the monthly meeting of the Community Club. Local families would gather together for a potluck supper at what was called The Hall back then. The building had originally been a combination hardware store and grocery store when it was built, and eventually was turned into a community center.


It was old and very drafty. The little side building on the right of the picture had been transformed into a kitchen, and was such that you could see outside through the spaces in the siding. There was no insulation, and in the winter the snow blew in through the cracks. A stage had also been built when it was taken over as the community center. That's where we kids used to put on all our Christmas programs, spring Maypole dances and any other performances that the teachers put together.

The adults eventually decided that they were going to hold monthly dances in The Hall. Then, a few years after that certain adults developed something called The 100 Club. This was kind of a hush-hush deal - but like all other hush-hush deals - everybody knew about it but nobody talked about it, at least openly. Once a month The 100 Club would hold a "social" in the community center. There was a live band, food and set-ups because you had to BYOB. When you entered the door the guys threw their car keys into a basket. At the end of the evening there was a drawing - get the jist? It was called The 100 Club because there were 50 couples that paid their membership dues; membership was by invitation only. You had to be "approved" by the Board.

Ole chuckles when he thinks about it - he says there's an entire generation of folks running around this community who KNOW who their mothers are, but aren't real sure who their fathers are!! Oh, what a little Peyton Place we had.

At the time we moved here there was also a very weird minister in our church. He had the most beautiful, perfectly waved hair every Sunday morning. Then the story got out that his wife would set it in pincurls every Saturday night before she headed for the local bar. She apparently "owned" a bar stool, and always came dressed with very long, bright red nails, and makeup so thick she needed a palette knife to scrape it off when she got home. She played the organ in church and there were plenty of Sunday mornings when she was late for church!!

It's Getting Ugly!!

I don't usually pass on political advice or information, however we had all better wake up and start paying attention!

This morning, Pakistani Taliban Minister or Migration, Mohammed Omar, warned the United States that if military action against Iraq continues, Taliban authorities will cut off America's supply of convenience store managers.

And if this action doesn't yield sufficient results, cab drivers will be next, followed by Dell Computer customer service reps, AOL Help, Motel 6 managers and liquor store cashiers.

Who knew it would come to this. It's getting ugly!!

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On to things a bit closer to home.

A friend of mine, who runs a small business out of her home, received the following letter the other day:

Dear Madam:

Thank you for your recent order from our Sex Toys Shop. You asked for the large red vibrator as featured on our wall display. Please select another item. That is our fire extinguisher.

Well, CRAP!!

That's all I have for today, Folks.

Later - Lena

All the Muddy Foot Prints

Ya know - every time I open up my blog I think I've got to find another design. I'm just not happy with this one, but I just can't seem to get something together that I like. Must be because it's spring and time for change.

Speaking of spring, I saw our first robins a couple of days ago. And yesterday afternoon when we were out running the doggers we saw lots of Canadian geese swimming in the water-filled ditches. Also heard them flying north overhead in their big "V" shape. Those guys are amazing in how fast they fly and for how long. They're so big and strong.

And finally, it's supposed to hit 50 today, and the snow is melting - finally. Now we can see all the trash in the yard. Where does it all come from? I had the yard nice and clean last fall before the snow fell.

It's also the season of muddy dogger feet and tummies and little muddy kitty tracks. Ole always takes the doggers out to the shop to clean them up. He's got a dog shower rigged up out there to get them clean, and then he blows them off with the air hose to dry them off. You wouldn't think they would like that, but they LOVE it. I really have to chuckle when he's done with them because they both look like they're having bad hair days when he's blown them off. But they both come back begging for more.

Then there's Senior Citizen Simon, who at this moment is stretched out on my bed with all four feet in the air. He's recovering from partying all night (snicker). Lovely Daughter has a big white cat named Hercules who comes to visit, and last night about 9 o'clock showed up on the back deck wanting to come in. We've got a dog door in the back garage door, and also one in the door that goes from the garage to the basement. Ole is supposed to lock that one when he's not working in the basement, but frequently forgets. Last night was one of those nights. Well, Herk's no dumby and knows that he can get in on his own and comes in to share Simon's food at night. So last night the Young Punk (Herk) decided to take the Old Grandpa (Simon) out on the town and taught Simon how to go through all the dog doors to get outside and go party. Lovely Daughter told me this morning that Simon followed Herk down the driveway all the way over to her house and even came inside when she opened the door. She said there was a kitty party in her living room because some of her old timer cats were so happy to see Simon. After all, he hasn't been outside much since last fall.

So that's another sign of spring - Senior Citizen Simon went for a jaunt.

But when he discovered that she'd acquired two new cats that he'd never met before he decided it was time to blow this pop stand and he and Herk proceeded to investigate the remainder of the night. He didn't come in until this morning, left little muddy foot prints all over my freshly washed kitchen floor, had a snack and came to bed. Now he'll probably sleep all day because at his age, he's just not used to being out all night.

Well, that's about all the excitement I can stand for one day - how about you?

Love Lena

A Little History Lesson

First of all I want to thank Yankee Chick for nominating me for the Excellent Blog award. Thanks so much, Friend, I am honored. There you go giving this ole Swede a big head again!! I truly need to start writing more often than I have been lately, but it seems the days run short of hours and I just don't get everything done that's on my daily list. I'll try to do better, I promise.



I've always intended to give you a bit of history of the little town where I grew up and still live - not in - but just a wee bit out of in the country. It's got some interesting history if you're into that kind of thing.

The area is made up of people mostly of German descent. If you trace family histories back, all the German immigrants who settled in the area came from one area in Germany and were all related - brothers, mostly. So you can imagine by now, several generations later, what an intertwined mess (almost incestuous) of third, fourth and fifth cousins there are that make up the population of the little village and the surrounding farm area. So then you ask, what's someone from ScandiHOOvian descent doing living in this thickly populated German community? Just call me an immigrant in my own way. I'm not sure my father truly knew what he was in for when he settled in a community where everyone was related to everyone else. But that's another story.

The village started to take shape back in 1875 when the railroad came through and was named after a man who was a Minnesota state senator at that time. It didn't take many years before the little town became a large shipping point for all the potato growers in the surrounding area. We were quite a metropolis back then, and the town consisted of 3 general stores, a hardware store, whose business has grown so large since that point that his grandsons now have built 6 huge hardware/sporting goods stores throughout the upper midwest that give Cabela's competition, a meat market, a bank, 2 very large grain elevators, 4 potato warehouses, a blacksmith shop, a lumberyard, a harness and shoe shop, 2 hotels, a school, post office, candy store and a barber shop. Just for your information we now have 2 bars, a post office and a little general store. Quite a come down, huh?




I find this next picture quite interesting. The farmers are lined up waiting to load their potatoes into the railroad cars, but the interesting thing is the coat the guy in the center of the picture is wearing. It's made from a buffalo hide.



Now if you've read my blog for even a short period of time you're familiar with The Watering Hole. Before the Watering Hole was the Watering Hole it was a bank. Below is a picture of the back door of the building shortly after it was first built. Note the bars on the window to the left. The building was built in 1906 and closed in 1929 when lots of banks failed. It was sold in 1937, remodeled and then opened as The Watering Hole and has been a bar ever since. It's gone through several remodelings and additions through the years, but the original brick building is still the same.

Here's another shot of the front of the building when it was still a bank. Right next door is The Candy Store, which eventually turned into a bar too. Guess there's more money in beer than in candy (snicker).

The first school was built in 1882, had only one room and was also used as a church and Sunday school. There was one teacher who had up to 60 students when everyone attended. A bigger, two room school was built in 1909, and two teachers taught 1st through 8th grade. If you continued with school after the 8th grade you had to be bussed into the city 10 miles away. Ten miles isn't far in this day and age, but back then in the days of Model T's and the horse and buggy it was quite a feat to do that twice a day.

Below is the school I attended. This school was used until 1958 when it was torn down and a tennis court put in. The tennis court is now gone and a new fire station sits in the location.

I was at the fire station the other day, working out on their equipment. When I left I went out the back door, which is where the school playground used to be, and my mind flashed back to those days when we used to play softball during recess. The fence is still there - you know the one - when you hit it over the fence it was an automatic home run. Across the fence was where Babe lived - a very scary person to all of us grade schoolers. I'll tell you about him next time.

I also want to tell you about the Community Club and the INFAMOUS Key Club.

Stay tuned for the next episode - that is if you like this kind of stuff.

Later - Lena

Not the Nitty Gritty Details, but some pretty good stuff

Ole and I have had some very heavy discussions lately about what's appropriate to share with all my on-line friends. He's always so full of ideas that I told him HE should start a blog. But, of course, he doesn't think he's got time, you know. Says he's way too busy drinking coffee in the mornings, reading his emails, playing with the doggers, and things like that. So I guess it's up to me to follow through on this sharing business.

One of the subjects that we've decided that it's okay to share is our sex life. I'm sure you guys just are waiting to hear every explicit detail, right? Well, if you know anything at all about Finlanders you know they're a horney HEARTY bunch. They have to be in order to have existed in Finland. And the same for the rest of the ScandiHOOvians - you know the Norwegians, the Swedes and I'm not so sure about the Danish because they live farther south, you know.

Those certain characteristics didn't disappear when all those ScandiHOOvians immigrated to the United States. They're still a very "playful" bunch of people with a wonderful sense of humor.

Now I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty details of every move, even though I'm sure you all want to hear every last little tidbit. But - - Ole and I certainly do our share of "fooling around." He always asks so nice and polite - and one morning we even took some pictures and decided to publish them. Would you like to see? Okay - here goes. Scroll down, okay?

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April Fool - Gotcha!!

Love Lena