Keeping busy

Pic: Nikolai, a teammate and two mentors planned and built another field element for the Robotics game so they could test their build with the field elements in the coming weeks to see how it works and what tweaks they need to do.

By Allan Olson

I didn’t do much in terms of leaving the home area this weekend – actually, I never made it further than Cass Lake. I did that twice, both times on Saturday.

I spent Saturday morning getting some work done at home. There were some areas of the house that needed some serious cleaning – that’s the price we pay for having a very busy work and school life. So for that morning the top priority for the kids was no homework – just housework. I must confess that we got a later start than I intended; somehow, I slept in again… but eventually I got the kids moving on cleaning things up, and my wife and I even got a couple of things done.

That afternoon, Nikolai and I spent about three hours working on the Robotics field elements at the school before calling it a day and heading back home. The first order of business at home was repairing the couch – again. My wife and Nikolai did most of the work – but the rest of the family assisted when needed. For the money that gets spent on furniture, it’s pretty disappointing to find what’s inside when you take off the fancy outer material – and that is putting it mildly. The construction is mostly of pressed wood and other various forms of wood product – nothing impressive, for certain. Anyway, instead of tossing it out and buying another couch – we decided to make some repairs. Hopefully this time the extra reinforcement we added will make a difference. 

Once our furniture repairs were completed, we had supper and then it was back to town for me – this time for the Leech Lake Tribal College basketball game. The game was well-played and close all the way to the end, with the home team coming out on top at the end.

Sunday morning my repeat plans for sleeping in were a bust; I made it until around 7:30, which by weekday standards was sleeping in, I guess. I watched a show until about 9:30, when I finally heard kids stirring, so I cooked them some Malt O Meal – the perfect warm breakfast to start any day. Some of the family went off to play a game, and I went back to watching television. 

I was torn between napping and going outside to play – there was a pair of snowshoes for me to try. Once I got moving, I went and got the snowshoes from the garage, only to find that the leather straps didn’t really adjust very well in the cold, so I put them in the house to warm up, and decided to just go for a walk to get some fresh air and exercise. I didn’t get very far before I found the neighbor and his brother cutting, splitting and hauling wood. So instead, for the next nearly four hours, I worked with them splitting and stacking wood. I figured since he always plows my yard and occasionally drops off some fresh fish, this was a very minimal repayment. And besides, it was good exercise and just a neighborly thing to do. 

It was nearly dark when I finished helping the neighbor with his firewood. I figured I had punished my body enough for one day, so instead of trying on the snowshoes (which I really wanted to do), I decided the best thing would be to save them for another day.

Sunday supper was a simple affair, which left time for a little work before I put the computer away and settled in to do some reading for the first time all week. It was a very busy week, filled with meetings and other events and activities.  

For the coming weekend, I have a variety of options lined up. The weekend forecast doesn’t look very appealing for outdoor activity as far as temperatures go, but outdoor activities is what I currently have planned. The direction(s) I travel and activities I do and how many kids are involved in that activity, all remain to be decided. I am currently planning geocaching and maybe fishing – or maybe both.

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.