Weekend Bustle


Weekend Bustle
By Allan Olson
Just like most weekends this last one was no exception, full of hustle and bustle, many things to do and not enough time to do it all – t
hankfully the weekend was gorgeous enough to also spend some time outdoors.
Saturday morning kicked off with Nikolai needing to be at the school for Lego League in preparation for the main event this Saturday in Duluth. So I took the time to find some geocaches on the trail between tower hill and Walker. I was prepared for the weather and even donned my orange hunting jacket just in case someone was out muzzle loading or bird hunting, I put on my heavy winter boots as it was quite evident there was snow on the trail and I didn’t want wet feet, I also had my hat, gloves and of course my phone. Confident I was fully prepared I set course 1.39 miles of trail and 12 geocaches as my target. I foolishly thought I could possibly even get more done before I needed to be back in town for the Santa Event. So as prepared as I was, I didn’t take into consideration the steep grades on the trail, after all when I drive the highway up the hill in my vehicle it’s no big deal, it doesn’t appear very steep. Shortly into my morning adventure I noticed a sign that read, “steep grades and sharp turns, the next two miles.” I can honestly say that sign spoke the gospel truth – a few times chugging my out of shape body up the hill, I didn’t think I was going to make it and was going to have drop and roll back down the hill. I worked harder for those 12 geocaches than I have for any of the other over 1,600 we have found. Unfortunately since I didn’t have a second driver – that also meant I had to encounter those hills twice. I had the vehicle in sight when my phone chimed that I had reached my step limit, accomplishing over 10,000 steps by noon – what a workout. Saturday late afternoon found us at a Holiday Concert at Bemidji State University listening to my niece and others perform before returning home.
On Sunday, it was another jam packed day, my wife and niece tackled laundry and some cleaning to make room for the Christmas tree, while I tackled some outside chores, hauled in Christmas Decorations and Nikolai cleaned up after the rabbits.  For the third year in a row, we headed to a nearby tree farm to select a tree for our house. We went to our usual area and while we found some potential candidates for harvesting – none that my wife really wanted. We checked with the owner of the tree farm and he directed us to another area that we could try and from there we started a search again before finding the perfect candidate after about 10 minutes. As our tradition, I started the customary initial cutting of the tree with each of the kids taking turns in the process, most years I finalize the process as well, but this year my niece who was helping with the selection process took the honor of making the final cuts. Once the tree was home, my niece and I hauled it in the house and checked to see how much I would need to cut off. I hoped I had enough gas in my chain saw to do the necessary trimming – but of course it wasn’t meant to be and since I had no more mixed gas at home – I had to go to the store and get a mix before I could then trim the tree.
The afternoon found us in town attending my nephew’s hockey game, his second of the day. Unfortunately we weren’t able to see his team win but it was still great to be there to support him. After hockey, my wife and niece did some shopping at a couple stores before we finally headed home. The evening was spent decorating the tree, washing dishes and having an evening meal together. My involvement in decorating the tree was taking photos of those doing it as the kids enjoyed doing it for more than I would.
This weekend promises to be busy once again and with only two weeks left until Christmas, it’s only going to get crazier.
Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.



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