Fidgeting at Home

Abigail and I enjoying our muffins. 

By Allan Olson

The last month – and in particular the last two weeks – have been extremely busy for me, and I haven’t had much for down time or for home projects. The problem is that when I am home, I get bored and fidgety, especially since outdoor activity is difficult at best.

Friday was a long day. We didn’t get to bed until about midnight after traveling to Thief River Falls to watch the Panthers’ boys basketball team as they tried for a repeat trip to state – unfortunately, they came up short. 

On Saturday morning, Abigail and I got up early for a Ruby’s Pantry trip out of town. We arrived at the location a little after 8 a.m. and found ourselves pretty close to the beginning of the line, although, by the time the truck was unloaded and the volunteers were ready, it was nearly 11 a.m. before we got back on the road. We made a stop for a muffin at a grocery store a few miles down the road before heading for home.

We made it back to Cass Lake and stopped at our friendly hometown hardware store, where I was promptly offered a piece of St. Patrick’s Day cake, which was naturally delicious. I left the store with what I gone in looking for – ice cleats – although the next day I realized they weren’t the right size and it wouldn’t fit on my shoes. When we got back home at about 1 p.m. my brother in-law was already there, ready to make a vehicle swap.

One of my vehicles, one which I bought from a local dealer about three years ago, has given me nothing but problems since day one. On a cold day back in December, the brake system failed. We liked the vehicle’s size, and it rode really nice, but the problems just kept adding up, so we decided to do some trading with him. Unlike myself, he is really gifted mechanically, and he has been fixing up a vehicle that will meet our needs (big enough for the family and with 4WD are the basic ones) and after repairing everything that he could find wrong with it he was ready to sell or trade. We worked out a deal for it where we gave him some cash and our other Yukon to fix and sell. Hopefully neither of us will be left in the lurch with this arrangement. Best of all, my wife is likely to be much happier with this vehicle – she hasn’t enjoyed driving my “less refined” Yukon, and since I put on significantly more miles than she does in a week, it only made economic sense for me to drive the newer, better gas mileage vehicle. 

So my brother-in-law rode off for home in a less mechanically sound vehicle, and we parked the other one in the garage. Due to the warmer weather starting to turn portions of our yard into a mud pit, we parked my old Yukon out on the road. I hope that one will last a few more years – it should still be great for geocaching, deer hunting, garbage hauling, etc. My wife’s new vehicle, while smaller than her old Yukon, should be sufficient for our only planned camping trip this year, to Wisconsin in August.

After the vehicle swapping was done, I took a much-needed nap. The only problem with that was that I slept for three hours, which left me a little stir crazy because then I wasn’t ready for bed at my normal time.

On Sunday morning I woke up at 5:30 and no matter what I did, I wasn’t getting back to sleep, so I did what any “normal” person would do. I got up and made French Toast. At Ruby’s Pantry the day before we picked up several loaves of bread and approximately five gallons of milk and eggs, all of which we use in the normal course of things. Knowing that, I figured this would be a good time to use up some older bread in the house before it went bad. Nikolai must have smelled the food cooking, because he got up at 7 a.m., had some breakfast and went back to bed. I finished cooking and then went back to bed myself. I think I picked up maybe another hour of sleep before the restless urge struck me again.

I putzed around the house some, then went for a drive over to Knutson Dam, intending to walk out to the dam. But I forgot my snowshoes, and after walking not even a quarter of the way I gave up and went back toward my vehicle. I found some “less snowy” areas to walk in, took some photos of the trumpeters and called it good.

Back at home, my restless urges continued, so I straightened up the spare room and my wife and I got our room more presentable.

This week will be quieter than the last few; at least that’s the way it appears at this point. But then again, you never know what might pop up during the week. The weekend will be busy again – we will be going to say goodbye to one of my wife’s uncles and visiting with the family.

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.