Hitting the Sales

By Allan Olson

I’ve hit more rummage sales so far this season than in the last two years combined, although the amount of stuff I’ve purchased is very small. On Saturday morning, with the kids assigned their duties, my wife and I headed off to check out to a few rummage sales. In truth, I was the one who wanted to do the browsing; she was nice enough to come along and keep me company. 

We had barely gone five miles when the phone rang. Of course, the kids were calling. I thought, could they possibly be fighting already? Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case. The power had gone out in the kitchen, in particular to the microwave and fridge. I told them to check a couple of things; meanwhile I turned around and headed back home to help.

Nikolai took the wheel with his newly minted drivers permit. 

Once back at home, I headed to the fuse panel and soon found the breaker that had tripped. I told the kids the number and what to do should it occur again, and we left once again. A bit later we did get at least one call, and that was indeed a couple of them arguing, but there was not much we could do about it from the vehicle, and we took care of the matter once we got home. 

In the meantime, my wife and I made a complete loop, with our destination being the citywide garage sales in Blackduck, followed by stops to grab some food staples and other things in Bemidji for Mother’s Day dinner. From there, we progressed to Cass Lake, where I searched for some close-to-shore boats for a  photos or two, but the only ones I spotted were too far off for a clean shot.

Once we got home we found that the kids still had not accomplished much; not surprising, but still very frustrating. I stayed around the house for a few hours, debating on whether to get the boat out for a spin or not, before I ultimately messaged my brother and said, “Let’s go for a ride.” 

I threw my fishing stuff in the vehicle, and since Nikolai had his work done, he jumped in the driver’s seat for some more training, and we went to pick up my brother. From his place we drove to the burnt out bridge, hoping it would be empty, but it wasn’t. Oh, well. While there someone landed a northern, and since I wasn’t interested in fishing for them and it was crowded, we left that spot. 

Our next stop was Benjamin Lake, a small trout lake at Camp Rabideau. There were three people on the fishing pier when we arrived, but two of them were leaving, which left four of us on the dock. Nikolai and I tried our hand at casting, but we only managed to snag weeds and lose our bait in the process. Whether we caught fish or not, it was great to just get out of the house on a nice evening and hang out with family.

We took my brother back home, and once again Nikolai was able to get some more nighttime driving minutes behind the wheel. Back at home, I found the chores had been completed, at least significantly more than earlier. That evening, Abigail and I made pumpkin pie for dessert the next day., I wanted to do the whole process by ourselves, but my wife had to step in and take care of the crust before I butchered it completely.

Sunday was all about Mother’s Day. I didn’t do much in the morning, other than direct Alivia to make some muffins. From there, we mostly snacked until the afternoon, when I started preparing the meal. Earlier in the week I had invited my niece and her kids over, since her other half has a new job in another town. I wanted to make sure she had somewhere to go, and so for the evening meal we had six kids and three adults. I had to make sure I had plenty of food. Fried chicken and all the works was on the menu, I did a great job on the chicken, boiled over the gravy on the stove top, failed to remember the stuffing. I did manage to get the potatoes done. 

Once again, my plan to get it done without help fell by the wayside, and my wife had to swoop in to rescue her requested meal. In the end, we sat down with way more chicken than needed, just about the right amount of potatoes and gravy (after my wife made more), and we had leftover chicken and pumpkin pie for the week. 

This weekend I will be working on Saturday for a while, and perhaps on Sunday we will take a watercraft or two out on one of big puddles in the area – depending on the weather, of course. And just maybe I will even catch a fish or two – but probably not.

(P.S. I did make two scores at those rummage sales, buying a nearly brand new pair of shoes for Abigail and an old game, Rummy Royal, that I used to play with my grandma many years ago.)

Please remember to watch out for the buses that will be 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.