...I Thought Turkeys Could Fly

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Fall

We've been experiencing some beautiful fall weather and the forecast calls for more of the same. The garden has been put to rest and I'm almost done dealing with it-meaning I'm down to dealing with the tomatoes. I canned 14 pints of salsa on Thursday and I peeled and cut enough tomatoes for 14 more pints of salsa and about 18 quarts of spaghetti sauce. There are still more tomatoes that I'm going to use for other things but I feel good about my progress. It's not the end of September yet! There have been a couple years I was still working on tomatoes in November. I should elaborate in saying that Bruce does almost all the work in the garden. He plants it, weeds it, waters it, and harvests it. I just deal with it once it's in the house but that's quite a job too.

I canned 28 quarts of dill pickles and I helped my mom can bread and butter pickles. I've also shredded and sliced countless bags of zucchini. The carrots are ready to use in soups and hotdishes too. Now I just need to focus more on organizing things around the house.

We went to a fall outdoor wedding yesterday. GORGEOUS weather and a beautiful couple. Bruce's nephew Brandon married his longtime girlfriend Julie. It was really a nice wedding. One of my favorite parts was watching Samantha dance. She had so much fun. She didn't want to leave. She didn't really know anyone dancing except for Julie but that didn't stop her from joining in with the others.

We also went to the Autumnfest parade in the morning. Aleah marched in the Wachter band and looking very nice in purple.

I'm excited that there is no school tomorrow. We can sleep in a little and get a few appointments done. The day will go too fast for sure.

Back to the fall schedule

Labor Day weekend is almost over and it's time to get back to the fall schedule. It's going to be busy for a few weeks. Football, volleyball, school, and church activities will keep us going through mid-October. That happens to be when the garden is producing the most. I took care of a lot of produce today. After that we'll have a little break before basketball starts, but Donovan is just doing Parks and Rec and as a fourth grader it's not that big of a commitment.

I should really have been working on getting ready for our rummage sale on Saturday-there's just not enough time in the day!! We're going to join the hundreds that have sales this weekend during the United Tribes Pow Wow. I hope I can work really hard the next two or three days to get it all done! I subbed three days last week-it was only the first full week of school. I really hope I'm not needed more than the Friday afternoon I've committed to already.

We stayed at Bruce's parents Friday night. Bruce's nephew is getting married September 24 and there was a bridal shower for his fiance on Saturday morning. We stayed the whole day at the farm and came home that night. I went to the movie "The Help" with my mom and Aunt Loreen on Sunday afternoon and then Bruce, the kids, and I sat around our outdoor fireplace and did smores last night. It was a pretty nice weekend. The movie is great by the way. I had seen it with my friend Wendy when she was here last month, but it was so good I wanted to see it again.

My uncle and aunt will be arriving from California tomorrow and staying for about 12 days at my mom's place. It will be nice to see them. I think I got to see them for about two hours last year. Mom was still in Williston and they helped her pack and drove to Bismarck to see mom's condo.

Goodbye August

It's hard to believe August is already over. The kids have had school a week now. They are adjusting. Between Aleah's volleyball practices (different times almost everyday) and Donovan's football practices and homework and everything else it's pretty busy around here. I also subbed Monday and Tuesday all day. That was exhausting. I hadn't taught a full day since the end of May. My voice even got tired-I was teaching music both mornings so that requires a louder voice.

Today I helped mom with bread and butter pickles. I'm not sure why they are called that. I can't imagine putting them on bread. They are cucumbers, green peppers, and onions with sugar and spices. Mom was craving them and we had plenty of cucumbers and onions-no peppers this year-too many bad storms. Mom did end up putting them in the jars by herself because I had read how long they were suppose to boil wrong and I left because I had other things to do. By the time I got back from the vet with Sadie she was done. I washed the pots and pans for her.

I thought tomorrow wouldn't be so busy, but I think it'll be actually busier than today. I've got a haircut in the morning and need to stop at Target. As soon as the kids are done with school Sam has a doctor checkup and if we have time we'll go pick up Donovan's glasses and Gerrit's lenses and hopefully be able to drop Aleah off at volleyball and get Donovan to his first football game of the season. I'm looking forward to the long weekend!

First full week of school coming up!

This week is the first full week of school. The kids had two days last week. Donovan and Samantha were able to start at their school. The BPS employees and teachers put in a lot of hours to get the school back to normal after the flooding. It's amazing and everyone is happy about it!

Aleah had a good start to her middle school years. She found all her classes and got her locker open-that's as good as it gets. Gerrit is in his last year of middle school and other than a schedule mix-up-they switched his Algebra and Gym around, but didn't let him know so he ended up going to Gym twice that day and no Algebra.

Tomorrow everyone will be off to school and I've got Monday and Tuesday lined up for subbing so it's a busy start to the week. Wednesday, I'm going to help mom can some bread and butter pickles and Sadie goes to the vet.

We went to the zoo today-the first time and last time we'll go this year. Our membership expires the end of the month and we'll be too busy until next spring. We had a good time. I'm happy the kids all still enjoy the zoo!

Short blog post

Since I need to start blogging again I'll start with a short post. School starts in two days. I want more summer-at least a couple of weeks. Why o why can't school start after Labor Day-it's too hot right now. I'm already tired of driving kids to sports practices and appointments and it's just started. We need another driver in the household. That's at least a year away though.

Summer school over

Yesterday I finished teaching Camp Edventure. I did have quite a few challenging students in my class, but I still really enjoyed it. It was strange this morning not to get up and go teach. The kids and I got a few chores done this morning and then I had my haircut and took the kids to the pool. Bruce had been gone the last couple of days but was home again tonight. I made ranch chicken pitas-they were really good and healthy too!

Now I need to start getting some major cleaning done and finish some long put off projects, and I need to get ready for a rummage sale in August. I think school starts five weeks from tomorrow. The summer is flying by so fast.

One year later

Today marks the first anniversary of my dad's passing. It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since he left his earthly home for his heavenly home. It's been a year of adjustment. I miss him more than ever, but the tears are less often now.

I count myself lucky to have had such a wonderful father. He was always so gentle, patient, forgiving, and just a peaceful person to be around. I just really miss his presence. I am so thankful that all my kids remember and have memories of him.

I copied the eulogy that my brother wrote and read at dad's funeral It really sums up my dad.

"I'm Laurence's son, Loren Jorgensen, and I'd like to say a few words in memory of my Dad.

All of you that knew my Dad know that he was a character. He enjoyed the simple things in life and people in general, often prompting conversations with complete strangers. On the other hand, he could also fall asleep on a whim at events or with the family. And if for some reason you never saw him napping at an event you were at with him we have plenty of pictures here to prove I’m not lying. However, when he was awake, he could always keep the conversation lively with his funny but interrogating questions, teasing, favorite sayings. All of my or my sister Nancy’s friends or our spouses seem to recall meeting my Dad and being asked if they did drugs, were rich and what kind of car they drove.

Being the youngest of 7, he got teased a lot and as a result learned how to tease back. In junior high, he knew he could get a rise out of me simply by putting his arm around me in public. He had nicknames for me and all his grandkids,,,, until Samantha. He would call her Gina. But unexpectedly, she turned it around on him by calling him Gina and that became his family nickname. I don't think he liked it much; after that it became Grandma and Gina.

In addition to being his own man, he was also a very loving husband, father and grandparent too. He always loved visiting with his farm friends and keeping in touch with his extended family.

He spent his first 40+ years as a bachelor. During that time he worked on the farm with his dad a lot. He enjoyed fairs, parades and traveling. He traveled the country one year. I always remember him telling me he saw the USA in a Chevrolet. He enjoyed being single but it wasn't fulfilling for him, and he would always tell me, "What is life without a wife!?" When I was single, he would encourage me to get married, since he was happier being married to my mom. He really loved my Mom a lot. He was 41 years old when he got married, and they got to spend over 40 years together. But, when he did get in trouble, with my mom, he would keep things light by telling us “It gives her something to talk about.” I’ll be keeping that phrase for personal use.

He was a wonderful father as well. Although, he was a man of few words, he always did have good advice when I or my sister needed it and related to me or knew what to do to get a laugh. He took pride in Nancy and I, unconditionally. And that meant a lot to us both.

I always admired my dad’s approach to life. He seldom worried and just took life as it came to him day by day. I believe he internalized Matthew 6:34 from the Bible, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Even during his last days in the hospital he had the nurses and his family laughing when we weren't crying from his struggle and seeing the pain he was in. A nurse asked if he was going to bite her when she did something and he jokingly showed her his teeth and growled “I'm a great Dane”.

He also lived what the bible verse Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” My Dad displayed these to us constantly through his character.

Although my Dad didn't talk publicly about his faith much, when he was 62 he made the decision to get baptized and accept Christ in his life. And since, in life, he did what he wanted to do, I know the decision came from his own heart. And because of this, although heartbroken, I am assured in my heart of his eternal future. Despite his 43 days of suffering in the hospital, he was at peace when he left us.

We all love you Dad and will really miss you."

Today at school, I let the kids have reading time outside and I was sitting near a couple kids and somehow we got talking about how old grandparents and parents were, etc. and I had mentioned to one that my dad had died a year ago today. The little boy said, "So it's the first anniversary of his death." I replied, "I like to think of it as his first birthday in heaven." The little boy said that sounded nice.

So today marks my dad's first birthday in heaven. Happy Birthday dad, I love and miss you!

The kids who cried wolf

Over the years of parenting Bruce and I have gotten use to the fact that our kids are loud-really loud sometimes. Most of the time our kids are good, but they seem to scream and overreact a lot-I think most kids are like this. Anyway, today I was downstairs on the computer and doing laundry when I heard some screaming. I ignored it at first since it's usually isn't anything serious. Today was not the case.

The screams were coming from more than one kid and kept getting worse so I ran upstairs to investigate. Thankfully Samantha was in the backyard playing with her friend so she didn't have to witness it. Somehow in preventing Sadie from going outside Gerrit got his finger wrapped so tightly in Sadie's collar that Sadie couldn't hardly breathe. Gerrit, Aleah, and Donovan were all screaming (they absolutely love Sadie and were really scared for her) and they said Sadie's choking. It all happened so fast and it takes a bit to register, but at first I thought Sadie was choking on some toy or something. They said no it's Gerrit's finger-so then I thought she was choking on his finger. When I figured out that Gerrit's finger was stuck and wrapped around Sadie's collar I was able to cut off the collar. Sadie lost just a bit of hair and Gerrit's finger was okay, although Sadie did nip at Gerrit's other hand and drew some blood as well as Aleah's when she was trying to help before I got upstairs.

I was shaking so bad after it happened. It was a scary couple of minutes-maybe it wasn't even that long, but it was intense. I didn't want Sadie to die like that and have the kids feel responsible. Everything turned out okay and Sadie is okay. I did wonder what would have happened if I wasn't at home, but Aleah was getting ready to get the scissors when I came upstairs.

Remembering

Today marks one year since the doctor told us that there was nothing else that could be done for my dad which marks one year since that last very sad week. It's times like these that I don't like having a good memory. Unfortunately, it also falls during a holiday weekend. Last Fourth of July was awful for mom, Loren, and I. We spent almost all day at the hospital We came home a bit to eat and watch fireworks. Mom just ate and then went back to the hospital. Loren and I sat there watching fireworks all around us-our neighborhood is spectacular on July 4th. I don't remember much other than wishing it was over so I could go back to the hospital. Barb, Jason, and family were there. We decided to go ahead with our usual activities since dad could have lasted a few more days and we didn't want the kids' holiday to be ruined.

I remember watching the clock hit midnight and being thankful that dad didn't die on July 4th. My mom had a brother that died on July 4th from pneumonia when he was only four years old-she wasn't even born yet. I'm sure the holiday was always a little hard for my grandparents. I hope in the years to come that my sad memories of the 4th of July 2010 will fade.

This year there is a burn ban in Burleigh county in areas inundated with flood waters or protected by dikes which we are so we cannot shoot fireworks off this year. I think it will help that we won't be at our house. We'll be at Bruce's parents with all of his family. I do however teach the fifth so it will be a short night for me.

15 Years

Even though I could blog about a lot of depressing things right now I am choosing to blog about what happened 15 years ago today. Bruce and I got married! It was a beautifully cool June day-much like today. We really appreciated this as the church we were married in did not have air conditioning.

It's hard to believe 15 years have passed already. Everyone said it was a beautiful wedding and I have to agree. No one knows what the future holds when you get married. There have been good times and bad, ups and downs, four amazing children, and quite a few moves, and I can honestly say I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else. Bruce is my rock and he keeps me grounded. He has a calming presence about him that keeps me calm through life's storms.

So I'm just going to praise God that he put Bruce in my life and pray we get many more years together. Happy Anniversary!

A new normal

The river continues to rise. We've seen pictures of the kids' school and one can canoe around the playground. So far the school is dry. The corps of engineers is going to release high amounts of water until mid-August so it's highly unlikely that the kids will start school there in the fall. Plans are being made if they can't go there.

Now everyone sits and watches and waits. There's really nothing else to do. Everyone has done what they can to prepare. We hope any pray that the water doesn't get much higher. So many people can't live in their homes. It's all so sad.

We've had eight days of Camp Edventure now-20 more to go-it would be 22, but we are going to do two full days so we can be done earlier. I'm enjoying myself, but it is exhausting and I have some real stinkers in my class. I wish they would be gone a day here or there, but the other teachers all tell me that the ones you would love to see gone never are absent. Samantha is really enjoying it, but is ready for bed by 7:30 each night.

The other kids are doing very well at home in the mornings. They each have some chores to do and they sleep until at least nine. One morning Gerrit woke Donovan up just past eleven. He had been sleeping for 12 over hours.

Today was nice. The kids and I rode bike to the park by the wave pool since I had book club there. It was absolutely gorgeous weather. There was a strong wind on the way there, but it was a super easy ride home.

The River Rises

Each day continues to be a roller coaster-a little good news a little bad news. The river does continue to rise but it is rising at a much slower rate than they first thought so that is good. More people continue to have to leave their homes-a good friend of mine had to leave her house today. It wasn't mandatory yet but the water is coming across the roads now. The kids' school playground resembles a slough and it will only get worse. The kids' first and fifth grade teachers homes are in danger of being completely damaged. This flood is causing so much destruction and mental anguish and it's not even on national news yet. My aunt and friends in Minot had to evacuate this week too-10,000 people and still not on national news.

We are sandbagged, but if the dike holds we should be fine. The question is for both my mom and us is should we move things? Should we move things which is A LOT of work when we might not need too? My mom is certain she'll at least get water seepage. We have moved some of her things and she has things off the floor. I've gotten irreplaceable things out of our basement but not furniture. We've talked about moving the boys' beds upstairs into the girls' rooms, but we had enough instability last summer with my dad being sick that I hate to disrupt sleep patterns again. I hate this uncertainty.

It felt so good on Thursday to go to a day long meeting!! It was nice to talk about summer school and plans for that. I felt a bit guilty that I was able to escape for the day. I worked at The Children's Place last night and as I was straightening the store which normally doesn't bother me it just felt unnecessary to be doing that when people are fighting a flood. I need to finish up my classroom and lessons plans for school tomorrow. I may have a few kids that are being directly affected by the flood or they at least know someone that is. I hope by coming to school (although an unfamiliar one to them) they get some normalcy back in their lives.

Changes

Not long after I wrote the last post plans were put underway to sandbag around our home. Caving into pressures from family and neighbors we now have a dike around our home. I pray we will not need it but if we do hopefully it's the protection we need.

We were amazed by all the help we got. Bruce's parents, oldest brother, sister-in-law, three nephews, Jason, Barb, their kids, our kids, and five others-one we didn't even know-just a friend of someone from our church was our crew. The wait for sandbags was what took so long. We started about 10:30 to get bags and we got done about 6:30. Some of our crew even unloaded bags for our house neighbor.

I know we could have had even more help too. North Dakotans are truly amazing people. The one guy we didn't even know was a firefighter from Mandan. He has been helping people after he works his shifts. Yesterday happened to be his birthday too. What a wonderful man to help strangers on his birthday.

This flood is weighing on everyone's spirits around the area. We had such a long winter only to now be fighting the rising waters of the Missouri. May God grant all the strength to get through the coming weeks.

Recap

We did go help friends sandbag today. I was proud of how all the kids were involved. They did a good job-even Samantha helped by getting the bags open. After lunch I did bring load number one up to Barb and Jason's-we really do have too many pictures plus some have never even been developed for over six years now.

Samantha stayed to play with Sydney and when Barb and Jason drove her back Jason thinks like Bruce-that we probably don't need to sandbag so unless something changes drastically I guess we won't. About half our neighborhood has so it's hard not to cave into the pressure. Things change daily though. The river has not risen lately so that is a good thing. Hopefully it will keep adjusting with the larger outputs that are going to be released.

I still need to go through more things. When I ask myself if I'd really miss something if it was lost or damaged I'm surprised at what little really matters-except of course my pictures, etc. Even most books can be replaced.

Roller Coaster

The news changes everyday here. For awhile yesterday, we heard that maybe they were not going to build the dike near us. I spent all day yesterday going through things in storage seeing what I wouldn't want to lose. We did find out towards evening that the plan is still to build the dike to protect us. They are going to increase water faster though but the river seems to not be rising as fast as they thought it would so good news and bad news.

We still may get sandbags to have here just in case and I'm still moving photos, albums, my wedding dress, things like that to my friend's house up north. It really makes one thing about what's really important.

Today I'm going to go help some friends sandbag for awhile again and then back home to move some things to Barb and Jason's. I also need to get to my mom's to move her computer and grab a few more pictures. She should be protected but will probably get water seepage no matter what. Her neighbor's son sandbagged around their patios and is ready to plug their drains if the need arises. South Bismarck is like a war zone. Driving around has become quite difficult especially in the south.

Flood Update

Things seem to be a little more hopeful around here. We found out today that the county is going to build a dike to protect our development. They are to start in three days. The water increases are starting in a few days but we're still good here. My mom's condo should be protected by another dike.

We are still going to take some precautions. We won't sandbag. Some of our neighbors around us are even though they have been told not to do so. We will take some precautions in the basement. I'm not sure yet how much. We have no extra space to put things upstairs and continue to live so we'll see.

Unreal

Things are crazy in the Bismarck/Mandan area. We are in the midst of fighting a flood of epic proportions. South Bismarck-where we live-is at risk of flooding. The outlook keeps getting more bleak everyday. There are a lot of unknowns right now. It is scary and I'm not really sure what we should do or if there is really anything we can do.

Our kids last day of school is tomorrow which is a good thing because it most likely will be surrounded by water in a few days. They are going to build a dike around it and today they are moving everything up to the second floor or shipping it to other schools for the summer. There will be no Camp Edventure (summer school) there now. I was going to be teaching there but don't know which school we will be at now. I am glad the school year is over so the kids won't have to go to another school. The waters may not recede for six to eight weeks. I can't believe this is happening.

We should be okay at least for a couple weeks until the Corps releases even larger amounts of water. We do hopefully have some time to protect some things and get ready. A lot of our friends are already having to evacuate. It is so sad to see so much traffic and truckloads of furniture and sandbags.

Poor neglected blog

I wish Bruce would still blog. He writes such entertaining things. It is hard for one person to keep up a blog. It's been almost three weeks since my last post. I subbed almost everyday in April and the first part of May. It will slow way down now. I sub tomorrow afternoon and Thursday afternoon and am taking Wednesday and Friday off so that only leaves Tuesday available. The last week of school I'm subbing the last day of school for sure for Samantha's class since their teacher helps out with track and it's the state track and field meet. I will cherish my few days off without the kids around-it will be quiet before summer vacation starts.

I was planning on having a rummage sale on Saturday at mom's condo since that's the girls' soccer jamboree but I have had no time to get ready for it. I'm thinking mid to late June now-the weather might be a little warmer. We nearly froze at Aleah's soccer game yesterday-it was 42, rainy, and windy. We didn't let Samantha play her game earlier in the day-that's just too cold. The band night parade was really cold too but at least it wasn't raining!! I felt sorry for all the marching bands-their hands must have been so cold. Parades-they're either too cold or too hot. My dad loved parades and he rarely missed them-it didn't matter what the weather was like. I wish he could have seen Aleah march in the band.

Tomorrow after school, Aleah has a piano recital, Samantha has Girl Scouts, and Gerrit has an orchestra concert. I'm glad I'm only subbing in the afternoon. The rest of the week won't be quite so busy. Maybe I can get some things done around the house.

I drive for Aleah's track and field day on Wednesday and for Donovan's class picnic next week plus am going to the zoo with Samantha's class.

Also Aleah gets to go to a luncheon for sixth graders that got the Presidential Academic Award and Gerrit got student of the quarter for his team at school. I am so proud of them!

Easter and birthday ramblings

So we're just coming off a four day weekend-five for Samantha since she was home sick on Thursday. We got to go to the walk-in clinic and she had an ear infection. I think I could have sent her to school in the afternoon, but it reminded me of old times having her following me around the house talking all the time and having me spell things for her.

I cleaned a lot on Thursday. It was nice not to sub. It was one of only three days in April I didn't sub. I got a lot done. I also got a lot of laundry done.

Friday we took a mini vacation to Grand Forks. We had told the kids we were going to Fargo to stay at a hotel with a waterpark, but we surprised them by going to an even better waterpark at the Canad Inn in Grand Forks. The kids had never been to that part of the state. I actually hadn't been to Grand Forks for over 14 years-pre flood. I was pregnant with Gerrit the last time I went to visit my brother who was a college student. We had a good time. I recommend the waterpark if you enjoy them and if you're up in Grand Forks. We also took a tour of UND-Bruce's Alma Mater. I think Donovan had thought that UND was in Fargo. Aleah didn't know why anyone would want to go to college in Grand Forks when Fargo had a better mall. I hope she takes a few other things into consideration before she enrolls in college.

Saturday we did go to Fargo to do a little shopping. I29 was open all the way but we were still surprised at the amount of water north of Fargo. We had also meant to go to the zoo but forgot they closed at 4:00 and we didn't get there until 4:30. We pulled into Bismarck before nine and stopped at Cold Stone Creamery to pick up Aleah's birthday cake.

It was not only Easter for us on Sunday, it was also Aleah's 12th birthday! It is rare for Easter to fall so late and it won't happen again until 2095 which would make Aleah 96! The last time it happened was 1859 so it is called a once in a lifetime event. Aleah may live to be 96, but we told her this would be the only Easter birthday we would be around to help her celebrate.

We went to church and mom came over after. We had a ham dinner with the ice cream cake for dessert. Aleah is not a ham person so we compromised by going to McDonald's that night. She will have a birthday sleepover on Friday night.

It was hard for me not to remember last Easter and compare it with this year. My parents were here the whole weekend. Dad had his shunt surgery on Good Friday and he looked rather goofy on Easter with half his head shaved. I took him to the barber on Easter Monday. I miss him so much more than I ever imagined I would. It's hard to believe he's been gone almost 10 months. He always knew what day Easter fell on and would have enjoyed celebrating Aleah's Easter birthday.