The Mystery That Branched From Laura and Kevin's Wedding. . .

Once again, the spacing is wierd in this post. . .not my fault. Sorry! It drives me crazy!

Around 12:30 or 1:00 am on Saturday, as the afformentioned wedding dance was wrapping up, I was making plans with whoever was left standing to relocate to the hotel bar (which was not what any of us needed to be doing!) There was a navy blue suit jacket on a chair and someone told me to take it because it was the table my family had been sitting at during dinner. I carried it around with me for the rest of the evening even though I didn't think it was my dad's and I knew it wasn't my brother's. I was CONVINCED that my dad's suit that night was black and not navy. My cousin was in the bar with us after the wedding and also didn't have his coat. I was complaining about carrying the coat around and he thought it was probably his if I knew it wasn't Tim's. Problem solved! I could go back to drinking unecessary drinks and trying to conive ways to obtain food at 2 a.m. (We were hungry!) without the burden of a men's coat hanging over my arm.

The next morning my mom called and asked me if I had seen my dad's suit jacket or if I had taken it from the table when I left the dance. . .Uhhh nooo. . .I said, "Wasn't his suit black?" Uhhhh noooo. . .By this time our cuz' was already on his way back to Minneapolis. Meanwhile, at the Holiday Inn, another lost suit jacket was sitting in the coat check room. It is black. . .hopefully it is Eric's. . .now a switch is trying to be arranged. All because I can't tell the difference between blue and black. Well, actually this all happened because two men disregarded their clothing. It kind of reminds me of the time in middle school when my classmate's mom lost her volleyball jersey behind the washing machine. Our mean coach, Miss T., made the whole team run line sprints and laps and embarassed my friend in front of everyone when she did nothing wrong! She didn't do the laundry! That was alot worse because I'm not really embarassed and my mom isn't going to make me do some sort of archaic "old school" sports drill as punishment!

I have to point out that while I was writing this train wreck of a post the following was going on in front of me. . .

"Jakey" loves to play with socks. They are his favorite. He loves to thrash around with a sock in his mouth and also he enjoys placing them on people's legs. That gray blob is my leg and that white thing is an old sock.

This is that same sock being draped over my computer screen. I really appreciate when he does that. I know he means well. . .he just can't understand why we don't love socks the same way he does!

One of my readers has a special birthday. . .!

I previously haven't mentioned other people's birthdays (except my own fabulous Easter birthday!) but it might be kind of fun especially for a milestone! So tonight I am going to put my Aunt Kris on the spot. It is her 50th birthday today! For anyone that doesn't know her she is my mom's younger sister and the middle child of her family. She plays tennis, loves animals, and is a pro at finding deals online and at TJ Maxx (one day she and my mom were both ordering the same vest on clearance online at the same time while they were on the phone and mom got the last one!). She finds hilarity in everything and is a understated cancer survivor.

I have some old family photos in my scan library so I will start at the beginning. . .

"Remember when. . .the sound of little feet. . .was the music. . .we danced to week to week. . ." Who knows that verse? It's from "Remember When" by Allan Jackson. . .

Here she is when she was still "the baby"! My mother is the middle child there, and according to family legend, she cut of little Kristen's cute curl with a scissor! Someone was JEALOUS! Who wouldn't be? She was sure cute. . .

I don't know how old she is here, but I do know that she resembles her daughter Katie!

This was, I believe, her confirmation. What a beautiful outfit! Did Cindy make that for her? Haha! That is my Great-Grandpa Norris. She is quite a bit taller than him!

Aww, good old Kippi. . .I vaguely remember that dog! She was one of many of my grandpa's dogs.

Here she is in the kitchen in Red Lake Falls. . .about three styles of wallpaper ago! I don't know the story behind that union suit!

I don't know where this is taken or whose dog that is but it is a cute picture! There is a picture of my parents with the same dog and it might be their dog they had before we were all born. Not sure though.

Guess who that baby is? I'll give you a hint. . .she has red hair and was born in 1983. ME! Kris and Tom were my sponsors at my baptism (along with my aunt Karen).

Here she is in a pretty recent picture with Regan or "Reggady Ann" as she has been called. . .

This photo was taken when she was 49. . .about one month ago at my cousin's wedding.

Happy 50th Kris!

Would You Believe in a Love at First Sight? Yes, I'm Certain It Happens All the Time...

This morning I woke up in a hotel room with pain radiating from my feet and a fancy little purse sitting on the table next to me exploding with wadded up $1 bills and a hotel key card. My beautiful and once pristine party dress was in a pile on the floor along with the foot offending shoes. I looked at my camera and it was filled with photo after photo of my relatives dancing around like fools. All of these clues point in the same direction. . .my cousin got married yesterday!

The title of this post is taken from the last verse of the song "With a Little Help From My Friends" by the Beatles and covered by Joe Cocker. It was used as one of the songs in the wedding slideshow last night and it makes me sentimental. (It also make me really miss the TV show "The Wonder Years"! I really wish that show would be released on dvd, but it hasn't been done yet due to the prohibitive cost of purchasing the rights to all of the music featured in the episodes! So sad...) I thought it was an acceptable title because Laura and Kevin are perfect for each other and it was a wedding that was meant to be. Laura and Kevin met when they were students at UND (they swallowed their pride and had an NDSU tailgating bus as their wedding transportation!) and Kevin is so nice I don't think anyone could think of a negative thing to say about him! I'm glad to have him as a new "cousin"!

Here are a few photos I took throughout the day. I took quite a few pictures and they aren't the greatest but hopefully you enjoy them anyway!

My sister and I and Laura's cousin Virginia handed out programs and tended to the guestbook and gifts before the wedding so we were in the entrance when it was time for the wedding party to walk down the aisle. I quickly snapped this photo right before Laura and Gale walked down the aisle. The wedding was at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Fargo and the reception was at the Holiday Inn.

There is the bride and groom! They look great! In case anyone doesn't know, Laura is the youngest daughter of my Dad's brother, Gale. She is the fifth of nine grandchildren on my dad's side. We always were up to antics whenever our families got toghether when we were growing up and Laura and her older sister, Kara, would often come to Hatton for the weekend during the summer and Andrea and I would stay in town with them at our grandparents' house. We called it "Camp Grandma" and we spent the whole time eating at the dairy bar, playing with kittens at the farm and playing harmless pranks on each other and our grandparents!

Anyway. . .back to the wedding. . .

The reserved tables where the family member sat were designated by wedding photos of Kevin and Laura's parents and grandparents! I love that idea. We happened to sit at a table with my grandparents' picture on it!

Look! My cake has an "M" on it! How did the servers know my name started with "M"? Oh what? It's a "W" for "Walker"? Oh, OK. . .


Here is one of several photos of the cousins. Getting this organized was next to impossible because the party was already underway. (Acutally, there was no party. Kara is just wearing a Hawaiian lei because she wore it to the wedding and didn't want to take it off. Haha riiiiight!) It was a good party, by the way, with a long lasting flow of keg beer and fast and attentive bar staff. The dance was fun and my mom paid the DJ $5 to play "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf even though they had a pretty long list of requests!
Congrats Kevin and Laura! If anyone believes in superstitions these two will have a happy life because it rained on their wedding day!

How Does Our Garden Grow? Hopefully It Grows at All. . .

Before you begin, I must point out that I know the spacing in this post is off kilter and sometimes non-existent. I have tried to edit and fix it several times and when I save it still looks the same! Sorry! I love paragraphs so this drives me crazy!

Check it out! We planted a garden this weekend! It includes green beans, peas, bell peppers, potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, and onions. We are for sure getting some tomato plants later! It is hard to imagine the quantity that can come from these little bags of seeds!

Although it has been about 10 years since there has been a garden at my parents' house, we had one for years when I was growing up. It was usually located in part of the "pasture". This plot is usually planted as a very small field with whatever crop is in the rotation. The pasture hasn't been used as a pasture since my dad's childhood but it still retains the "fertility" that results from being filled with manure for years. It is also bordered by a creek. It is usually a soggy, weed filled mess regardless of what is planted there. For a few years we planted a pumpkin patch there, which was really fun for us and every other kid in town because we gave them away for free.

This photo of the pumpkin patch was taken in the mid 1990's sometime. That is my brother and one of his friends in the picture.

The garden was situated in various places in the pasture along with a patch of sweet corn. It was usually a pretty large garden and we planted alot of cucumbers and dill for pickle making. Even now, after almost 20 years, the smell of dill still makes my mouth water. Even the dill weed in the little container on my spice rack fascinates me. We also had alot of zucchini. My sister and I used to sell oversized (and past the point of being edible) zucchini to my grandparents' elderly neighbor, Helen, for twenty-five cents each. She really could put on a show! I'm sure she disposed of them as soon as we were gone!

This all sounds very idyllic and charming but in reality our gardens were always on the verge of disaster. The weeds really were uncontrollable. We weren't just dealing with dandelions and infiltrating grass. We were attempting to control mustard, marsh elders, and other weeds that farmers spend thousands of dollars and hours of time trying to suppress. Also, our naughty Golden Retriever, Penny, loved to go into the corn and pull full grown stalks out by the roots and run around the yard with them. She was always doing something wierd. And, of course, there were rabbits and deer always looking for a snack. However, we usually ended up with at least some bounty due to the fact that it was growing in an old pasture! How could it not flourish? If it weren't for the weeds those vegetables probably would have been mutants.

Now, back to the present. . .

There is our freshly tilled plot! The area as it was was kind of an odd shape so Justin made it square. That white material around the outside is grass seed.

There it is all finished! We have a sprinkler system! (The brand name on the box in the garage is called "Rain Bird")! It has been really dry around here for the last few weeks and there was even a fire conditions warning last weekend but it actually started raining this evening so hopefully the grass will start to flourish!

The poor lonley tulip in the front opened so now we know it is yellow! A few in the back yard opened also and it looks like they are yellow and red.

It's Like Being Back at AGR. . .

Justin spent all day yesterday doing all sorts of nonsense in the garage. At one point, I saw him building this shelf. It looks like the lofts the guys at AGR used to build to make more space in their rooms! I always thought they looked pretty terrifying! At least this one only has to hold ice fishing equimpent and not a person's bed.

On another topic, Allan is really cute. I have been fussing over him all weekend. Here are a few photos. Try not to swoon, everyone! Haha, that was a joke, by the way. He is as cute as any other cat I guess!

He is so relaxed!

He has gained some weight since I last saw him three weeks ago. In this photo he is sitting with me and his abdominal area has definitely expanded. He has become a fiend for cat treats and charges into the kitchen when he hears his drawer opening!

I bought a case of soda this weekend and discarded the box on the kitchen floor to be addressed later. That's just my style! Al claimed it as his own and has been playing with it and hiding in it all weekend. Cheap thrills!

Oh, he is so vigilant!

Nature's First Green

Did anyone catch that reference to Robert Frost? It's from "Nothing Gold Can Stay". Alot of people know it because it was mentioned in the book "The Outsiders", a popular and generally widely enjoyed high school English class feature.

"Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her leaf's an early flower,
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief.
Dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay."

I'm back in "Biz" for a 4 day weekend and I'm so happy! I missed it! I was last here three weeks ago and alot has changed since then! The snow is gone and it is turning green!

This plant is in the flower bed lining the sidewalk leading to the front door. When we moved in it was overgrown with an unnatractive spreading perrenial that was growing into the lawn. I wouldn't mind, except whatever it was looked like a weed. This plant is on the end and we were told both by Justin's mom and the neigbor across the street that it was worth saving. It's coming back! Also, it appears there are some sort of bulbs in there as well! We'll see what they are when the flowers come!

That is the flower bed in the back yard. I can't wait to dig into that as soon as the risk of frost passes! There seems to be tulips or lilies in there as well!

As you can see, the back yard slopes and near the back there is an area where it appears that the previous owners had a garden. I believe they liked to can based on the pantry that was under the basement stairs when we moved it. We might ressurect the garden and I hope that we have better luck than we used to have with our garden attempts on the farm when I was growing up! I will write more about those missadventures at a later date when and if we actually start planting things!

There are the empty flower pots that we had on the apartment balcony last year! I forgot they were back there because I haven't walked in the yard since before Christmas! The apartment balcony got around 3 hours of sun during the longest days of summer. I can't wait to plant some sun loving geraniums and marigolds this year!

Those little plants look like some sort of spawn at the moment, but soon they will be ferns! Justin wants to dig them up but I like them so we will see what happens to the little guys!

Jake, Jakey, Jacob, Skeezy, Fatboy, Snacks...

All of the above are titles given to Jake. Jake is Kirk and Andrea's "German Chocolate" (the name we made up for a mixed breed of German Shepherd and Chocolate lab). He is filling in for Allan while I am away from home. He is big, pesty, often irritating, excitable, playful, exhuberant and sweet. He eats everything he can get. I have seen him eat cantaloupe, spinach leaves, candy wrappers, socks, paper, and even a women's forumula multi-vitamin that I dropped on the floor. (I was worried that it might be poisonous for a dog to get a dose of the %100 percent daily value of folic acid, iron, selenium and whatever else is in the tablet, so Andrea pried is mouth open to get it out. He only ate about half of it and seems fine!) If there is popcorn in the house you will have not peace while eating it and my old routine of eating on the couch while watching TV is no longer possible!

He loves to go out on walks, although he hasn't mastered good leash behavior! When Andrea opens the drawer with the sandwich bags he know what is coming and gets really excited. When he walks he gets so excited he spends most of the time nearly strangling himself as he pulls to go faster. He is pretty strong!

This is what he looked like at this time last year. . .

This is what he looks like now! I think those front paws are the same size in both pictures!

His is a big, thrashing thing with a huge tail that whips back and forth when he his happy. (When he is REALLY happy his whole body whips back and forth!) He can play fetch forever. He loves to run in his yard, but he REALLY loves to visit the farm where he can run without a barrier to stop him. He also loves to go to Kirk's parents' farm where he can pester the cattle!

Here is Jake getting down to business and destroying an empty Coke box. I let him rip it to shreds because it was so funny! He will take the opportunity to destroy anything and when the snow melted from the yard this spring many treasures were revealed. Included in the trove was a scattered box of screws! Yes, he scattered a box of screws all over the yard. Such fun!

This was on Easter. I was holding that frisbee preparing to throw it and he was anticipating it!

This was also on Easter. He was swimming with his "cousin" Wallace in the creek! The both just stood there and drank the water and Wal kept dunking his head under! They both love water.


Oh, look, he's just a little baby!

He loves to play and when you watch TV at night he is constantly presenting some toy. His favorites are old socks and his rubber "Kong". Whatever he chooses is always soaked with drool and he likes to place it on your leg and then wait with anticipation until you throw it. Very gross but also kind of endearing. He won't give up until you join the fun!

One Sunday morning this fall when I was visiting I was laying on the couch feeling remorseful about drinking too much the night before, being unemployed and generally feeling bad about my behavior and outlook. "Jakey" decided to be a sweet little pet and slithered onto the couch and situated his 70+ pound body on my back! Suddenly I couldn't stop laughing!

I love this picture! I look it as "Skeezy" was trying to jump on me! Check out those "hybrid" ears that mix the pointy, alert ears of a German Shepherd and the floppy ears of a lab!

Easter Weekend

My Easter weekend included much more than just Easter! On Saturday I attended a bridal shower for my cousin, Laura, in Fargo. It was hosted my my mom, my aunt, and Laura's two aunts on her mom's side. It was at Rose Creek in Fargo where we were served the best salad I have eated that wasn't created by me. I usually dismiss salads as a main course but this one cut it! It had chicken, cashews, some kind of crunchy frito-ish things, mandarin oranges and...BABY CORN! I love baby corn and like to incorporate it at every mongolian grill I dine at. At HuHot I eat combinations that are 50% baby corn.

The shower was fun to, of course. Below is a photo of my cousins on my dad's side, minus one girl and the two boys.

I met Justin at the farm on Saturday evening. In the morning, in the old familiar place, there were Easter baskets! The Easter bunny came! He left five baskets, And also, it seems, a thermos and a bunch of bananas. And a mail order catalogue.

We went to church and had a lovely egg bake breakfast and one of my Grandma's friends made everyone there sing happy birthday to me and Annie, a 16 year old who I used to babysit and shares my birthday.

Here are some of my presents.

My Grandma made me a new quilt! She churns those things out on a weekly basis. She said if I didn't like this one I could trade it in for a different one but I like this one!

Justin gave me a new iPod! I have a 3 year old ipod that I got for my birthday in 2007. The battery barely stays charged anymore. This new one is an ipod touch and I have enjoyed downloading all of the pointless but amusing apps that are available!

Look! Signs of life after winter! The bulbs are coming back! That flower bed needs some help!

We dyed eggs after lunch. My brother and sister and I have a long running tradition of antics with the wax crayon that comes with the dye kits. This year we ended up with some real winners...

Notice that muddled blueish egg with the smiley face and some sort of hair...what the ____ is that about? I spent alot of time shrink wrapping those animal cases on eggs. They are very cute. Much cuter that that watered-down NDSU egg on the right!

These are not attractive. In the corner is a poor attempt at a Minnesota Twins egg. Nice work, Pete. The dye was supposed to be a reddish color but it was the first tablet we dissolved and we forgot you needed to add hot water to instead of cold. That green turd was Andrea's attempt at making an egg version of Jake, her "German Chocolate" mixed breed dog who is brown. I can't look at that thing without laughing.

I have to include this picture of Allan! Justin sent it to me as a picture text when he got back to Bismarck on Sunday evening. I miss this little guy!

Easter time!

Easter is in 2 days, on April 4th. Guess what else is April 4th? My birthday (27th! EEK!). I usually don't care about my birthday but on the rare occasion that it lands on Easter I like to tell everyone about it. It has happened twice before. It happened when I was 16 in 1999 and when I was really young, probably 5. I looked it up and it will also happen in 2021 when I will turn 38! So it looks like it is a pattern that repeats every 11 years.

In honor of it being April 2, I have to share this photo. . .

That is my parents holding my cousin Kara. The date on the photo is April 2, 1983. Mother looks pretty fresh for someone who is about to blow! (haha she wasn't really about to blow. . .I came several weeks early!) I love the maternity shirt! That is one area of fashion that I believe has improved over the years! I looked it up and Easter was on April 3rd that year. I like the 4th better because when you write April 4th it is "4-4"!
I think I had guaranteed some Easter related tales when I wrote about my Easter decorating a few weekends ago. My favorite Easter story took place sometime when I was in elementary school (probably 4th or 5th grade.) When we moved to the farm in 1991 our neighbors across the road had kittens and we took four of them to live with us. There were two girls and two boys. They were born in the fall and the girls didn't survive the winter due to typical farm cat perils but the two boys, Rascal and Buttons, did. That spring we took the "brothers" to be neutered at the vet in Portland. Soon, they became fat and lazy and we loved them! Rascal was "mine" and Buttons belonged to Pete, although they were our family pets. My dad pretended not to like them but he did! They became buddies with whatever dog we had and were oblivious to other cats. They hung out with mothers and thier kittens and rarely left the yard. They were constantly lounging around and cuddling together and always found the warmest and softest spot.
One spring, a few days before Easter, we realized we hadn't seen Buttons for a few days. He was probably about 3 or 4 years old at the time. My mom dismissed it and said he was fine and that outdoor cats could be on thier own for awhile. She said something along the lines of, "maybe the Easter Bunny has him and will bring him back on Easter." My cousins came for the weekend and we were awakened for sunrise church on Sunday morning. We looked at our baskets and then we went to the door. Guess who was out there? Buttons! It was so delightful. He was fine of course. It sounds outlandish that he happened to return that morning but I highly doubt my parents would have gone to the trouble of hiding a farm cat for several days to give us a magical Easter. I think the baskets of candy and scavenger hunts were sufficient!

I wish I had scanned better pictures of Rascal and Buttons because there are so many cute ones! This is the only one I have at the moment, however. Buttons is the one with more white. That fata$$ dog on the porch swing is our old retriever Penny who died in 2005. Rascal and Buttons lived quite long lives for farm cats (although the neutering, heat lamps, human food and daytime house access might have contributed to their longevity.) Buttons started getting weak when he was 9 and one day we never saw him again. I believe he died in peace somewhere in the woods around our house. Rascal lived until I was in law school (seriously!) and died in 2005 or 06 when he aquired some sort of cancer and got really weak. They were great pets to have! I think about them, especially Buttons, every year around Easter!

Katie and Adam's Wedding 3-27-2010

Oh, I had a lovely weekend. . .my cousin Katie got married to Adam and it was a blast! From Friday morning through Sunday night we had nothing but fun! Hungover, chaotic fun but still fun! I don't really know what to write about (believe it or not!) because I can't really focus so I am just going to post some of my favorite pictures from the weekend and write some commentary. Some of these were taken by me and some by my cousin and aunt. When the real ones from the photographer come maybe I will refer back to this weekend.

On Friday afternoon us ladies went get pedicures and manicures (I just got a pedicure). This is a rare indulgence for me so I gladly joined the fun. That is me and my pal Kate. She was my personal attendant in my wedding! If you look beyond that screen and the end of the row, you might see what looks like cash registers. That is because we were in the nail salon in Walmart! Hahaha! It was actually not a bad place.


I love this photo. My aunt turned and snapped it as we were walking to the rehearsal dinner. Katie is leading the way followed by Bree, her lontime roommate and bridesmaid, and myself.


That is me with my mom and my aunt at Chubs Pub. Strangely, we all wore leopard print cardigans without any prior discussion or plan. I guess they just have good taste!


Aww, me and the bride! That is the groom giving us the side eye on the left!


Here is Katie, being entertained by girlish nonsense, before the ceremony when everyone was being seated upstairs.


We have been tight with these cousins (Katie and Brenna) since my earliest memories. It is probably because our moms are sisters and have a high level of familial entanglement that has continued with us. Also, we went on many family vacations (Big Sky!) when we were growing up and all have the shared experience of attending NDSU. We all know each other's business and if one of us tells another anything the others will all know in no time.


There are the "mothers" (my mom, my aunt Kris, the mother of the bride, and my aunt Jenny). They are standing with their mother. The photographer took one of Andrea, Katie, Brenna, and I (sorry Pete! You're the odd boy out, as usual!) so hopefully it turns out. The candid I have isn't very good. Also, I should mention that I have two younger girl cousins and one younger boy cousin who were not present.

There is Justin and I! It is one of the only. . .or the ONLY. . .picture of just the two of us from the weekend. I'm glad I insisted that we take it!

Oh, there is the beautiful bride! Such a patriotic shot. . .She is wearing my moms pearls that came from the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea (can't remember which.)


There is the whole wedding party! (Not bad for a candid!) I love the flowers and dresses!



The new Mrs. Riesen ready to bar hop and head to her party! Her dress was beautiful.


Very cute picture!


The party bus stopped at the Turf and the wedding party had the chance to take a few pictures at the gate of NDSU! It was a nice day but colder than it appears!


This is a great picture that I think looks professional! I believe Brenna took it, however!

The dance was a blast and there were friends and relatives to see everywhere I turned. I hardly slept all weekend and on Monday at work I had a rare problem of almost falling asleep at my computer (that never happens to me!) and I had to resort to drinking a nasty 16 oz. energy drink from the vending machine that had 60 grams of sugar and 80 mg. of caffeine and who knows what else contained in its jittery logo decorated can. It was all worth it! I can't wait for the next wedding (Laura, on May 1st)!


The only downfall of the weekend is that Katie is moving to Northern Minnesota to join Adam. Fargo seems strange without her around. She used to work at West Acres Mall and it will be strange going there without thinking "I'm going to stop and see Katie!" It would be we fun if we could all live in the same town but chances are it won't happen. . .at least we are all in the same "region" unlike my mom and her siblings.