December Blizzard 2019

OK, I’m a few days late on this, but there was a blizzard the other day. It’s not the first late December storm I’ve had to work through. Nor is it the first blizzard of this season, as we had one in October.

It took me over an hour to blow my driveway clear, which still left about a foot or so of snow in the street to have to drive through. The bush by the garage creates a drift in the driveway pretty much any time the wind blows.

 

When I got to work there was a drift in front of the front door reminiscent of the December 26, 2009. We have a back door now, so I didn’t have to dig my way through this time.

Winter Show 2019

Little Britches had her first “recital” at her new dance company, Red River Dance and Performing Company. It was the winter show. Things are run a little differently than when she was at Dance Elite. Instead of an overarching theme, or story being told, it was a bunch of disparate dances. Many of them had a Christmas theme, but some did not. It was also split up into three different shows. Since she danced in each show we had to buy tickets for each one.

Show #1

In the first show, the Mighty competition team did their routine. Care to guess the song?

One of my friends has her kids there as well. One didn’t want to come out and dance. But her daughter did, and did well. She came out at the end holding onto the hand of the competition director.

Show #2

The second show had Little Britches dancing twice. I just love her smile while she dances.

Show #3

She only had one dance, tap, during the third show. She looks so happy out there. And rather sassy as well.

 

 

A photo stand was set up out in the lobby for people to take photos in front of. Two of her favorite instructors were goofing around in front of it, Miss Kris and Miss Nikki.

What A Difference A Year Makes

We had a winter storm come through the other day. It’s a little early for snow, but not extremely so. There were numerous years growing up when I had to wear my snowmobile suit under my costume to go trick-or-treating.

This was my tree on 10-12-18. When I left for work in the morning it was full of leaves. When I came home in the afternoon it was like this.

Previous air shows

Since I put up photos of the air show a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would post some photos from some prior air shows I have seen, but didn’t necessarily pay to attend.

2019 Fargo Air Show

I finally got around to editing the photos I took on July 20th at the Fargo Air show. I went to see the Air Force Thunderbirds. I saw them twice as a child in Minot, before and after the training crash. They are entertaining, but I think I like the Blue Angels show better. I certainly took more photos at the last Blue Angels show. I think some of these turned out quite well, though.

Great Grandpa

For decades my grandparents had this photo of his dad on a cattle drive hanging up in the house. After my grandfather died, and my grandma moved, she kept it hanging on the wall in her apartment, and later her condo. When she moved to an assisted living facility last fall I inherited it. It’s now hanging on my downstairs hallway wall. I’m not sure which of the males on the horse is my great grandfather, though.

They would bring cattle up from Minnesota somewhere. From the hills in the background it looks like this photo was probably taken around the area south of Towner, ND. There’s a small imprint of the studio that shows it was from a photographer in Bottineau, ND. And he did have a farm up in the Turtle Mountains. So it’s possible those hills could be the Turtle Mountains along the Canadian border. But it just doesn’t look right to me to be that far north. It looks very much like the area between Towner and Harvey.

Did I just dream that?

In the on-line book club I’m in we are reading J.T. Ellison’s Tear Me Apart. It’s not what I normally read, but it’s moving along well and keeping my interest. It’s got a few flaws. The character that I identified with the most, Juliet, pissed me off when she not only decided to jeapardize her career, but also possibly have every case she’s ever worked on reopened and/or vacated because she wants to help her niece by disregarding all the rules (and the law) about professional conduct.

I generally hate it when a major new character suddenly appears half way through a book. But the Zack Armstrong character seems compelling and sympathetic. I’m interested in what he’s doing.

However, after catching up yesterday to where we are supposed to be in the book for this week, I got sick last night. I had some weird dreams involving the story and characters in the book. So today I need to go back and re-read what I read yesterday. Because I don’t remember what was in the book and what was just in the dream. Argh!

So far the book has been pretty good. I’m hoping it stays that way.

It’s been a week

Uff da! Oy Vey! It’s been one of those weeks. Not for me, but for a friend. I’ve just been busy and haven’t gotten stuff done. But one of my friends was in an ATV accident this weekend. On his birthday no less. He’s gonna live, but he’s pretty busted up. Bruised ribs, 70 stitches to the face and a broken shoulder (collar bone, shoulder blade and socket). It’s times like these that I’m reminded of one of the very first Conan comics (Savage Sword of Conan # 133: Winter of the Wolf) I bought back in high school.

It’s not how hard you can hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep going. He’s gonna keep going.

2018 Dance Recital

My daughter, Little Britches, has been in dance for a few years now with Dance Studio Elite. At the beginning of June, just after school let out. she had her end of year show where the entire troupe dances. This year everyone danced both nights, with just the soloists, duos and trios dancing one night or the other.

The Hip-Hop Competition Team started everything off with a bang. Lots of energy and good choreography made it quite enjoyable to watch. Miss J, best dancer in the company, absolutely killed every dance she was in.