Relaxing Weekend



Abigail and her little cousin Greyson, after she woke him from the nap he was taking with his great uncle.

By Allan Olson

I probably shouldn’t have, considering the nice fall like weather for most of the weekend, but I just couldn’t help myself. I didn’t get overly productive and instead spent a good portion of the weekend just laying around. I did so little that I don’t even remember Friday night – and not because of too many adult beverages – I didn’t have a drop all weekend!
On Saturday, even though I messaged my younger brother about coming to fix my dryer since the new parts showed up on my doorstep Friday, I decided to tackle the problem myself. That’s not always a good idea, but this time it worked out alright. I was downstairs taking some of the old parts out when Nikolai came down to help. With his smaller frame he was able to get a better angle inside the dryer (short of crawling inside it). It probably took us a little longer to complete the job than most appliance repair professionals – we had to put it together twice because we missed a part the first time –but in the end we were able to get it done correctly. Plus, I can even return one of the parts I bought because it wasn’t needed.
During the afternoon I took care of some things for work, and later my wife’s niece, her fiancée and their son arrived. My wife had agreed to watch our great nephew while they went to town, so the family was able to spend the evening enjoying his company. I’m a little out of practice on baby care, but I was still able to feed him without making a mess, and I rocked him to sleep by the fire outside while listening to music. That nap was pretty short because Abigail decided that she wanted to hold him while he was sleeping, and woke him in the process. Try as I might, I couldn’t get him back to sleep again. Thankfully, he wasn’t too cranky after not getting his nap.
My sister-in-law and niece also arrived that evening, and for supper we had a nice homemade meal of breakfast pizza. I went back to tend the fire, adding a couple more logs, and then some of us enjoyed s’mores and visited until about 10 p.m. In the interim, my wife’s niece and family headed home and we said goodbye to our little guest. It was great to see the little guy, but I honestly don’t miss the extra work involved in taking care of little infants. That said, we wouldn’t hesitate to watch him again – at least for a little while, if needed.
On Sunday my wife, Abigail and her friend were joined by my sister-in-law and niece for a trip to the Cities for Abigail’s doctor’s appointment on Monday. After they left I returned to my room to watch some television. It was nice and quiet and very relaxing, and I almost took a morning nap. 
Later, Nikolai, the dog and I went out for a drive. Earlier in the week there was a new geocache posted southwest of Bemidji, and since it was still unfound I decided that was where we should head. We arrived at the location – which ended up being Coffee Pot Landing on the Mississippi River. The three of us headed out to the location and after a short search, Nikolai spotted the cache, we signed in and headed back to the vehicle, stopping to take a few photos of frogs in the river before loading back up. We grabbed two more geocaches while in the area before heading back home.
At home, I went back to the quiet comfort of my room, clicked on the latest show I’m watching and apparently must have needed a nap, because I had to re-watch that episode later. That was pretty much what I did for the rest of the evening – not much of anything – and it felt pretty nice.
I did get my boat motor back this week, but I didn’t get a chance to use it on the weekend because I was too busy with other things – or just busy doing nothing. I also didn’t really feel motivated to go get the boat and then pretend I know what I’m doing on the lake.  
This weekend, my plan is to participate in the semi-annual ditch-cleaning event north of Menahga, and then either head to the Fargo area to hopefully meet a new great-nephew who was born on Monday, or do some geocaching in the Menahga area. I still have to pick up some new caches that were listed in August. Either way, I will be doing some geocaching this weekend and not just sitting around the house. Who knows, if the weather is decent on Sunday, maybe I can still land some fish.

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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