24February2007
Posted by nate under: Uncategorized.
I was pretty convinced that al gore was right and that global warming had done got the best of us. But you can never trust those democrats. We got like 8 inches of snow last night – score! It’s March and it’s snowed 3 times this winter and this was the first time I had to shovel. So don’t worry kids everything is normal. This is just how our parents remember MN winters.
Here’s a free tip to stay at home parents everywhere – get out of the house. My daughter, and I’m not naming names here, had a terrible morning, as kids sometimes do. I ground the coffee without closing a door between her and I and that was my cardinal sin that set her off. She hates the coffee grinder. So she layed down and bemoaned my actions for like 1/2 an hour. Usually you can distract the kid and all is forgotten, sometimes you can try a time out (usually makes things worse and the only pleasure I get out of it feels a little guilty which is never a good sign of necessary discipline). Anyways so it went from crying about the grinder to the amount of cereal she got to not finding the shirt she wanted. Jodi had to head off to work – I’m amazed she didn’t leave earlier – and I was going nuts so I put on my snow stuff, told her to cowgirl up, and headed outside to shovel our driveway which is way too long. I checked in on her 5 minutes later, and though still whimpering, she was getting her snow stuff on. I helped her get it on, we got outside and spent the next hour and a half having a blast playing in the snow. Now we’re back inside, she’s drinking hot cocoa and making baseball cards with her picture on them and is having enough fun that she doesn’t care that I’m blogging. It went from a horrible morning to a fantastic morning, and you know why? We got out of the house. So there’s your free tip of the day. And here’s a photo from Lydia’s baseball card.
She’s a natural, like her old man.
play ball!
23February2007
Posted by nate under: fact.
So, last Sunday I headed out snowboarding with the kids from church. It was a great group, 5 outstanding youth and one other outstanding adult. I had been snowboarding one other time about 12 years ago when a girl I knew in college said she could get us cheap lift tickets so me, Paula, Heather, Ben, and …. who else came? Maybe Jenny or Adam… anyways I just remember driving forever, falling a lot, and being really thrilled and sore from the experience. The crazy thing was, as we pulled into buena vista (what else would you name a ski hill in northern mn?) this was the exact same place I had gone 12 years ago! Now I know MN isn’t exactly ripe with slopes, but what are the odds that I’d end up at the same place. It made for a nice little trip down memory lane. Although as you can see from my earlier listing of friends along for the ride, my memory lane is very short and indescript.
They say in relationships that each person takes on certain roles and that includes who remembers what. Jodi remembers everything in our relationship. Except numbers and directions. I think thats one reason I write stuff, if I don’t it’s gone.
Anyways, lest we forget, I was out snowboarding. It was great. I actually fell more holding onto the stupid rope for the bunny hill and getting off the lifts than I did the entire rest of the day, and not once did I catch my front edge. Thank God. One of the youth was a visiting exchange student from Peru – it was awesome watching him get up the courage to get on the lift and go down his first ride. I doubt I would’ve attempted as much were I him.
To sum up, snowboarding was good.
On the way to the hills, on some county road I noticed a deer, so I said, “DEER!” and started to brake. Then I said “DEER SCRATCHING HIS BACK ON A TELEPHONE POLE!” and finally it dawned on me, “DEAD FROZEN DEER PROPPED UP AGAINST POLE!” Apparently someone hit this dear deer, it died with its entrails contained, and once frozen a kind passerbyer had given it mad props. Kind of like when you see a hub cap propped up on the side of the road. Like someone would claim it?
The guys in my car thought this was hilarious and took note that it was at mile marker 68 so that on the way back we could get a shot of it. And sure enough as we drove home you would’ve thought we were at the gates of disney land. From mile 72 on down they were absolutely giddy – 4 miles to go!!! And yes, we stopped and I handed one my camera and 5 young men ran off to the pole to pose with said frozen deer.
That’s Nate, not me Nate, other Nate, riding the wild doe. There’s more shots over at my flick’r site.
Then they got back in the car and said… my hands kind of stink.
Now off to the awards. My father in law recieved an award from the Northern Plains Growers Associaton on Tuesday night in Grand Forks. This was a big deal – a sort of lifetime achievement kind of thing. There was a big dinner and ceremony and we all got to go. Normally you wouldn’t go to this thing unless you were a farmer or connected with the farming industry, and it was a total honor to attend as someone whose connection with the land peeks at a 10 x 10 garden plot and the occasional mowing. After the awards it was mingle time so I followed my brother in laws around and listened in on a bunch of farm related conversations. Here are a few observations.
Farmers are honorable – I listened in as business deals went down – everything was on a handshake – contracts would be sent out eventually, but only as a formality.
These guys are great storytellers. Maybe it’s the hours in the field, maybe it was the open bar, but I listened to hilarious stories for hours on end.
Farmers know the land. I can’t even begin to explain how struck I was by folks describing their land and its location to each other. I think non-organic farmers get way too much crap for ‘not caring for the environment’ These guys care for it better than any urban hippy at the co-op ever will. We buy organic whenever we can afford to, and we’re member owners of our neighborhood co-op in St. Paul – that’s all good and fine. But if you want to meet folks that know, love, and care for the earth, sneak into one of these conventions – it’s amazing.
So, hats off to farmers, thanks for feeding us.
We spent the night in Grand Forks and woke to streets of ice, there had been freezing rain all night. We delayed our departure but even when we left at 10 there were still jackknifed semis all over the place for the next 60 miles. thankfully we arrived home safely.
So today, friday, i finally got back into the studio. It was a fun day – I’m almost done with my 10 song CD. When I finish I’ll post it with lyrics and notes and all kinds of stuff. High lights today include using my daughters “My First Tape Recorder” to do some vocals and using an old electro voice room mic to give the drums a super compressed trashy sound. Once this recording process is over I’m going to have a lot to debrief – it’s been a crazy great experience and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to articulate why…
but then again, what can I articulate?
19February2007
Posted by nate under: fact.
I ate the snow don’t hate the snow
we are not the snow
not cold jello
we are not cold jello or any sort of parasite
I sleep the floor and eat galore
your cheese is not my indicator your cheese belays the hope of yiddles and skittles and little round pieces of purple nonsense drifiting off
sedate the snow berate the snow below the snow i heard you wuloop and tulu and thought the dance was familiar but my feet were rakes and leaves were not you
but if you were the mozzarella cries your liberation
yes my rakish delight I sukoodle your rizzlebang and lulup your pazalglat (but that could’ve been a cardboard square of toffee or something similar like yellow)
