Missing Home

This isn't really in the spirit of the blog, so I'll write about it once and be done. I am homesick today. I miss my friends and my house. I miss hopping in the car and grabbing a Papa Murphy's pizza. I miss my church and the singing. I miss Tyson yelling "Trains!" on the highway driving home. I didn't know you could be so happy and sad at the same time. If only I could take a daytrip home and hug my momma.
It's 15 below outside. But the house is warm and cozy and I can be entertained by these little monkeys all day. Thier little faces always lift me up.

Tell me you're not smiling at that little face right now. I dare you.

Some Random Stuff for Today

This is the first thing I saw when I walked into Cabin 2 today. Sweet deal, right?! There was also a bloody pillowcase, but I didn't feel quite the same about that.

Then the motherload in Cabin 4! Booze, coffee, shampoo, milk and money. What more could you ask for? Perks of the job. I have to say I drank on the job for the second time in my life. (I once had a margarita with a coworker, years ago. She still works there so I won't rat her out. You know who you are you naughty thing.) We just had 1 beer to celebrate our loot. You would too.

So this is how you pass the word to invite people to events up here. This is the border phone at Jim's corner and you can see the two signs hanging on the door. The first is advertising a progressive dinner in February. The second is an invitation to a "ladies luncheon" this weekend. That tells you how small this place is. You can put up a sign at a high traffic area and still know everyone that attends and not worry about some band of riffraff messing it up.

Brian and Jenny put up an invitation to thier wedding at the dump. That sight must be saved for more formal events that you want to advertise. This is something I love about this place.

A few weeks ago Big Rick built a birdhouse for us and it sits in view of our kitchen table. We have not had one bird until the neighbor went south for the winter. Apparently these birds were loyal until the food ran out. I have never liked birds, but I must say it's kind of fun to watch them interact.

Everyone up here seems to have a bird feeder and a deer feeder. We have had hoof prints around our bird feeder, so perhaps our deer are confused as to why there are no deer friendly handouts at this specific house. I wonder what would happen if I left a case of beer sitting outside my window. Would there soon be a flock of Minnesotans pecking around in my yard?

Thank You Mr. Hallan!

Mr. Hallan, a friend of the family, dropped by a couple shots of Rick at the one-room school house. They say 1989 on the back, which puts it about 6th grade. That is my husband in the pink hat. He claims he doesn't know why he wore a pink hat and asked me not to post this picture. Too bad I'm not a good listener.
The black area at his feet would be the famous Pinky. No relation between the pink hat and the dog named Pinky. The dog was originally named Inky by his sister Julie, but Rick couldn't pronounce that when he was little. Soon Pinky became more his dog than Julie's and the name stuck.

Here they are in school together. I'm not sure what kind of grade point average Pinky had, but Rick says she was very smart and could do tons of tricks. He says she could do more tricks than Tank. (Does he dare speak ill of my beloved Tank? God rest her soul. She did tricks in German and Spanish! And what she lacked in canine social skills, she more than made up for in beauty and floppy ears.) So here we have the proof and the enjoyment of Rick's old school days with his dog at his side.

I spend a lot of time trying to get a nice updated picture of the kids for the folks at home. I have been unsuccessful thus far. This appears to be Tyson's impression of Billy Idol.

This one just makes me laugh.