Welcome to October

October 2nd....first frost of the year...32 degrees

Saturday, October 3rd: First hockey game vs Augustana 
After church on Sunday, we drove to Thompson, ND
for the meal at St. Jude church.
Then we drove to the school 
There were so many people waiting to eat, 
we decided to get a take-out meal. 
and found a picnic table for our lunch! 
Later, the Sioux had a game against Manitoba: 5-1 UND

Doug and Sara celebrated 18 years on the 11th.

Oct. 16-17th, the Sioux "swept" Bentley 5-0 both nights.

Bentley is the AHA three-year championship team

that upset Boston College in the NCAA semis last year.

We drove to Jimmy's on the 28th, and Diane played

games with Mary Kate, George, and Luke

while Bob went on a road trip for "parts"

for Jimmy, Kelly went to a meeting, and

Matthew and Grace were at Youth Group

at their church.

On the 29th, we drove to Dickinson,

picked up a car caddy at UHAUL,

took it back to Jimmy's and loaded

up the car Kelly's dad was giving away.

Bob went out to help Jimmy while

Kelly and I watched the costume

parade at the elementary school.

We then ran around to town so

Mary Kate and George could

 trick or treat! 

Luke Le Bron James

At 5 p.m. we went

to Luke's 6th grade basketball game.

Luke made 4 of the first 8 points!

28.8 pounds of candy. This was just RJ's haul. 

Doesn't look like Julia was out as long!

Apparently Lemu Emu and Doug

were out partying, too.

Lydia and Cecelia as weird Ken and Barbie

 

Claire is Fancy Nancy

We headed to South Dakota on the 30th

to take the car to Ari and Eric's.

They moved there last week, so Eric

could do his Chiropractic internship.

Got there on Halloween. 

Tom and Trina picked up the car

on Sunday to take it to Iowa.

We took the kids to lunch 

before heading home. Opie is a

smiley baby. She weighs 20 pounds

which is why I am sitting down!

Got back to the farm in time

to watch Miami win at football

and the Sioux lose at hockey. A 

bittersweet ending to the month.

Remember September

Thursday, the 4th, Bob decided we should go

to the Rollag Steam Threshers Reunion.  So,

I made reservations at a motel in Fargo 

where we stayed Friday night. The next day,

we drove to Rollag, Minnesota, where this year's

focus was on Steiger farm tractors. After waiting

in line to get into a parking lot, we noticed

the lady on horseback directing traffic!

Next, we hopped on a shuttle to get to the grounds.

A father and two sons started building the

tractors in their barn!

A Steiger green pickup traditionally led

the tractors in the parade. This one was

painted by a friend of Jimmy's.

Bob took some tractor pictures

Some old; some new

After the parade, we took a train ride 

around the 300 acre grounds. The place

is like a small village with shops, all

kinds of demonstrations of how things

worked, a steam-powered merry-go-round,

food, ice cream and fry bread and,

of course, hundreds of tractors.

On the 8th, we closed up the camper for the year.

Then we went to the pickleball courts and

helped take down the!wind screens.

Finally, on the 9th we had five pickleball players in Rugby

On the 16th, seven players showed up!

Homecoming weekend in North Dakota .

Luke's 6th grade football team won their

game on Thursday. They are undefeated!

Grace's golf team had an all-day meet on Friday.

Friday night Matthew's football team had a game.

Matthew is #1 getting ready for the kickoff.

Bob found a radish field that had gone to seed.

He showed Mary Kate and George how

to get the seeds out of the pods.

Homecoming in Iowa was also 

the weekend of the 17th. Jett's

girlfriend is a senior this year.

Caiden and his girlfriend were king and queen last

year, so they came back to crown the new royalty.

Annika is a junior this year!

Two tutus?

Homecoming in MN was the 25th and 26th

Pumpkin Fest at the Rugby museum..

The Jumping Pad was wet, but the kids

didn't care. They were soaked after just

a few minutes.  We spent six hours

helping monitor different activities.

The giant bubbles were popular. There was also a 

super slide, two slingshot games, a zip line,

corn crib (sandbox full of corn), a pumpkin patch,

a corn maze, music, ice cream, cotton candy,

two food trucks, and all the museum buildings 

145 apples were loaded into my car before we 

played pickleball on the 30th. The lady who bought

our first duplex also plays pickleball, and she

doesn't eat apples! She has--as we did when we

owned the duplex--shared with anyone who

is willing to take a few--or more-bags full.

I was going to wait until after supper to start slicing,

but Bob was helping unload trucks outside. I finished

filling five ice cream pails and was cleaning up the

mess when he finally came in to eat. I guess my 

"apple day" was a good way to end September.

Next stop for the apples is in the dehydrator.

Last year, by the way, I peeled 600 apples!

 

On the Ball in August 

Starting out right: On the 2nd, Donna took the Cleveland

gang to the Indians (Guardians) ball game. We won!

Josh Dockter and his wife entertained

at Music in the Park on the 5th

Bob and I tried our hand at golf on the 7th.

Note Diane's hole in one on the fourth hole!!!

If we had quit at nine holes, I would have won.

We didn't quit at nine, and Bob won by one!

The 16th hole killed me. Now I know how

the pros feel.

Oh, by the way, it was mini-golf. :-)

Six quarts of cukes waiting to be processed on Sunday, the 9th.

Four hours later: 8 pints of bread and butter pickles!

Still have six more quarts of cukes in the fridge.

August 17th: First day of school in Killdeer.

Matthew, senior; Grace, sophomore; Luke, 6th grade;

Mary Kate, kindergarten; George, preschool.

The whole gang showed up to cheer for Matthew

in his first football game. They won 45-20!

We shuffled off to Buffalo on the 23rd after church

and played pickleball with Ana and the girls that night.

While we were driving to Iowa on the 24th, 

Julia and Sara went back to school!

The presidents greeted the students at St. Agnes!

And George started his first day of preschool

Halfwaiy to Trina's

Jett and Caiden have their own business in Iowa.

On Tuesday, Trina took us to see the

largest truck stop in the world

on I 80

The truck museum is across the road.

How would you like to use this for a moving van?

Guess what..electric trucks have existed

since the early 1900s

Don't think this farm truck would make it today!

Cleveland Police Paddy Wagon 1913

Depression era snowmobile!

Speed demon here!!! Top speed 10 mph

Then, on to Davenport where we met Ari

and Ophelia and they took us to the 

John Deere Harvester Museum 

and a John Deere showcase museum in

Moline, Illinois, across the Mississippi

from Davenport. Eric met us for lunch 

at Johnny's next to the gift shop.

On Wednesday we went to the Czech Museum

where we watched the video showing

how the 3 million pound museum got 

moved from the flooded Cedar River

to its present site. The clock tower

showcases how the workers in the Czech

and Slovak countries dressed. 

These figures are carved in wood and 

rotate around when the tower doors open.

From the museum we ventured in to New Bohemia

to buy some kolaches. Not as good as Aunt Ida's recipe.

Then we headed to the NewBo City Market because

there was a Lebanese food place, but it was not

there anymore. We settled for oven-fired pizza

with gluten-free crust to take back to Trina's.

Thursday evening was the water ski 

show. Tom was emcee as "Doctor

Feel Good".

Annika was on the ski team. Jett and Caiden

were on the show team all summer, 

but after school  began, they quit.

Not showing off her muscles, 

the team did a dance on shore.

Annika's in the middle of this ski line. 

Trina said she's next to a tall blonde. Hard to tell.

Annika is on the third tier of this pyramid!

On the way back to Ana's on Friday,

we stopped at the John Deere Tractor

and Engine museum in Waterloo.

I think this one said 1911...

Didn't know they made tractors then.

This is really the best John Deere museum.

Working engine at the Waterloo John Deere museum

We got back to Buffalo in time for

Cecelia and Lydia's volleyball game.

Cecelia's on the left; Lydia on the right.

Dave's Restaurant in Charles City, Iowa has great pies.

On the way to Trina's we bought a peanut butter pie;

Coming back north, we picked up this coconut cream

pie with a huge meringue topping! Claire did share

it with the rest of us. :-)

On Saturday, we went to a huge flea market 

before heading home and then to the Community

Center to watch the NDSU Bison win their first

game in Division 1. 

On the way back to ND on Sunday,

we saw this helicopter putting wires on

the power poles. Sunday night we had a huge

rain and windstorm that dropped .75" of rain.

Still windy today. August is going out like a lion.

Last day of the month, but first day of 9th grade.

Claire is a senior!