Just My Opinion - May 29, 2024
What A Week
As I wrote my column last week we were halfway through Abie’s visit with us. We continued his visit with taking Buddy for a walk and a trip to Palermo for supper on Tuesday. We had planned to go to Minot to go to the zoo, but I woke up on Tuesday with a headache. We decided to take it a little easier and found things to do around the house instead.
Wednesday was spent with me trying to wrap up a bunch of things at the office while Dale and Abie spent time at the Promoter while Jada came up to play a few more games with Abie before he had to head home. He played plenty of games, including more video games. Abie might have been trying to help Dale figure out how to play Madden on the PS5 before he left. Wednesday even included supper with Don and Connie at Joyce’s. The kids love to have supper with them when they are here.
Thursday morning was spent at the office again as I was getting ready for us to head to Bismarck. There were some last goodbyes with Christina before we left town about 11:30 a.m. so that we could get to Bismarck in time for me to drop off Abie at Amanda’s before I made my way to State Track.
State Track was an exercise in all of the seasons this year. Thursday afternoon was cool and windy and felt more like either fall or early spring. The rains came in on Thursday night and continued throughout the night, leading officials to postpone Friday’s start to 1:00 p.m. It was a cold start to the events. Temperatures were in the mid-30s with wind making it even colder, kind of like early winter. At least we didn’t get the inches of snow that fell near the northern border of the state. By afternoon, the sun came out and it turned out to be a fairly pleasant evening. Saturday was bright and shiny and felt more like summer. If nothing else, the weather led to some interesting times at State Track.
I was blessed throughout the three days to be able to spend time with Amanda, Zach and the kids. Amanda made supper on Thursday night. With a delay on Friday morning, I went back to their house and took Joz and Abie with me to do a little shopping so that Amanda could get some work done. When we got back, she had to run an errand with Carter and brought back lunch and Starbucks. Then as track wrapped up on Friday, Amanda and Carter picked up Panda Express for me and brought it to my hotel.
After covering a couple of morning events on Saturday, I made my way to Plant Perfect to do some flower shopping. I haven’t hit the greenhouses yet this year for my flowerbeds and will admit I was afraid what I might or might not find. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with the same thought. The place was hopping when I got there. After I finished up, I went back to Amanda and Zach’s for a little bit before heading back to Stanley.
It was a wonderful week, but it sure was busy. Once I got home, I spent Sunday going through the hundreds of pictures I took and getting some from Al Christianson to fill in the blanks. I used one of those of Drake Schlosser’s finals run in the 300m hurdles. He and I had decided to split locations for the run and his was definitely better than mine. I finished some of the ads on my desk and then came home to work on my writing.
Even though Monday was a holiday, it was back to the office to finish the paper for this week. Dale and I took in Memorial Day Services in the morning. The service was very well attended. They were using the commons area at the high school and had to set up more chairs for people that were still coming. It is good for my soul to see so many people coming out to honor those service members who have paid the ultimate price in service to their country.
I finally finished the paper at about 3:30 and came home to start on my next task. With all those flowers sitting in my garage, it was time to prep the front flowerbed for planting. The recent rains and sunny days had caused the weeds to grow like nobody’s business. It has also been good for my perennials, which look wonderful by now. I lost a few of them this year, but I bought a few new ones knowing that I would need them.
I weeded for about an hour and a half before taking a break for grilled steaks with sauteed onions and roasted potatoes. After cleaning up, it was back outside to finish the weeding. The sky was clouding up and the winds were picking up, so I finished weeding and packed it in for the evening.
I’ll spend Tuesday afternoon putting those beautiful flowers in the ground. I can’t wait to see the color explosion once they are planted. I’ll also find out if I bought enough plants or not. Every year I end up going back to the greenhouses several times before I’m finished. I still need to get a flower barrel for the front deck at the house and flowers for the barrels at the office.
I love planting flowers and enjoying their beauty all summer long. I’m excited to see how it all comes together this year.