"My Crazy Kids"

It was a little cold with that North Dakota wind blowing around on Saturday afternoon, so bundling up was necessary. By Allan Olson This past weekend provided two days of opposites. I had spent time during the week trying to figure out water pressure issues that I have been having at home. Thinking back, the issues have probably been going on longer than I realized, but since I’m not much of a Mr. Fix-It, I didn’t pay heed to them. Anyway, after conversations with multiple people and of course some online research, I found myself still not much further ahead in figuring out the problem. It came down to one of three things – a water leak, pressure tank or pressure switch. In order, those were the most to least expensive options. Naturally, my brain went right to the worst case scenario – I was sure there was going to be a leak. But nowhere were there any signs of leaking. So then I figured it must be the pressure tank. I finally broke down and purchased a ...

Abigail and I with our special treat on Saturday afternoon, as we prepared to head home. By Allan Olson I didn’t get to sleep in on Saturday; instead Abigail and I were up and out the door by 8 a.m. Alivia was originally planning to go with us, but in the end decided she wanted to stay home – which was probably for the better. We set our course for Menahga to try out the Ruby’s Pantry in that town, since with the new meeting schedule I can’t make it to the one in Bemidji. Now I will be traveling to others when the time allows. When we pulled up there was already quite a line, but thankfully not so long that we were out of luck. Once we eventually got in the building, we were able to purchase the two shares I was hoping to get.  I had hoped that we would be able to get in and out without a lot of waiting, but after an hour it became clear that was not going to be the case, and my afternoon plans of getting the garbage out were going to be put aside for...

My oldest two kids and I attended a movie on Saturday at the Bemidji Chief Theater. It was a great time with just the three of us. By Allan Olson I spent most of my time this past weekend binge-watching the show “Game of Thrones.” After watching it for the last few weeks, I finished the last season at about 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. I can honestly say that’s probably the most I’ve ever watched any series of television in many years. I guess I’m glad it’s winter, because my excuse is that it’s too cold to do anything outside, and I don’t want to go out. On Friday night, my goal was to get kids to do some work in the house, especially some homework for those that had it. While they did do a little housework, all my efforts to get them to do anything soon went by the wayside. I was tired, so instead I watched my show, snoozed on the couch, watched some more episodes and finally headed off to bed. I accomplished absolutely nothing that evening. Since we weren’t go...

Me and my Great Nephew Greyson. By Allan Olson The first week of January is over, and it was a busy one. It seems like everything possible was crammed into one week; not a night or day went by when I didn’t have a full schedule. And the weekend proved just as busy as the weekdays. Saturday morning Nikolai and I kicked off the day by heading to Nevis for the 2018 Robotics Game Reveal – First Power Up. We watched the game reveal with the two CL-B teams along with the host team and 16 other teams. The game this year promises to be tricky and will rely a lot on good communication skills from the competitors. For the next six weeks, all of these students (including Nikolai) will be spending many hours after school working to complete the robot build. We finally got home at about 4 p.m., and I decided that I really needed a nap. Since my room was occupied by my wife and Abigail who were doing a Harry Potter marathon, I decided to make use of the bed in the guest ...

Alivia and I attended a geocaching event on New Year’s Day in Bemidji. By Allan Olson Well, this winter’s Christmas break sure went by fast. It seemed like it took forever to get here, and then it was gone. This week we kept mostly to home; the furthest we traveled was about 40 miles to meet my niece one day, and my brother a few days later to pick up Nikolai after he spent some time with his cousins. Truth be known, I spent the week avoiding the cold as much as possible – until I had to go out to deal with a vehicle that wouldn’t start. That vehicle needed to get to a shop for a water pump replacement. Me and vehicles – I just don’t seem to have good luck. I got rid of one vehicle that had no payments because it was starting to have issues, and in exchange, I now have a vehicle with issues and payments, and another vehicle that just hit 300,000 that has its quirks but currently – and hopefully for the long term – has no issues and thankfully no payments. T...