Tripping to Ramona

My cleanup guys didn't come through this summer yet, so the little Ranger and I are having to deal with things on our own. In the picture here, the pickup looks like it's grown a Rastafarian hairdo. When I arrived in Ramona with my load, passing, as always, the corner with the stone marking my grandpa's property, I found my aunt Celia tilling the little garden ("before it rains!") and my great-aunt (sort of) Kathleen Huntimer mowing the grass ("before it rains!"). It didn't rain. Celia showed me through the house she and her husband Gene have been renovating there, and on the second trip I saw my aunt Kathy, who helped yank the load onto her burn pile. On each trip north, I saw one of the many trucks hauling wind turbine parts to or from the area. Yesterday was a good testament to the value of wind turbines in SD, though today has begun bright and calm.
Today we head south to see one of Sanford's experts (Dr. Hurd) who's going to tell me what the heck is the matter with my knee. (You think I should tell him about bouncing up and down packing branches into the back of the pickup?) I'm hoping he can thump some tendon back into place and it will be as good as new. I suspect it will be something less instantaneous.

Our Next Prisoner

We have documented well the one mammalian prisoner we've kept for years, confined to the house or tethered to a rod in the back yard. Yes, that's the way it is. We feed him nothing but dog food, water, and a few scraps, which he is willing to lick from the floor. Now we have a new prisoner, temporarily, which we plan to confine to a glass bubble, never let him out, feed him nothing but fish food, and hardly speak to him at all. How long will he survive?

Cloudwest Pottery and Tile Grand Opening

My brother Jered is opening his own studio in Berkeley, CA, with the grand opening this weekend. It's Cloudwest Pottery and Tile, with an online gallery and cool pots like the one you see here. There are also old-timey photos of the Nelson family on the site, just cause they're so cool, I guess. If a trip to Berkeley's not on your agenda this weekend, you'll have to write and ask about shipping rates. Good luck, Jered!

After I Got My Teeth Cleaned

There seems to be a lot to do with them. Wednesday it was the chicken, last night it was meat loaf, and tonight it was hot meat loaf sandwich, with roasted asparagus (with cashew chips). Me gusta!

We Don't Always Eat This Way

But sometimes we do, especially during asparagus season (now). Good stuff, Maynard.

My Photo on the New York Times! (sort of)

I mentioned earlier that the New York Times had a spot for people to upload their photos of polling places. The site came up again and now my photo of the Dakota Prairie Playhouse is on the site. Cool! Check it out.

What Happened to South Dakota?

After voting, I was busy through the evening and only recently found out what happened today in the race for the presidential primary I was following so closely until now. What happened in South Dakota? What happened in Montana? Look at the articles on the NY Times or even the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, and it's hard to tell. Yes, Obama won the nomination as we were pretty sure he would, but after all the attention the news media and the candidates gave to the primaries in these last two states, there's little mention of what happened here. The media seemed to be saying, until this morning, that South Dakota and Montana were playing the pivotal role in choosing the president. But it didn't happen that way. Read the lead article in the NY Times article tonight and you'll find the bare results of the South Dakota primary in the 9th paragraph, toward the end. Clinton won here. But in the end, the superdelegates worked hard to render the results of the primary here and in Montana meaningless, announcing that, after the polls closed, they would announce that they were backing Obama.
I hope he'll be a good candidate; he's got plenty of good Democrats, including Clinton, that he can tap to build an campaign that can take him to the White House. Let's hope he uses them. Go Obama!

Walter: Bring Back Socks

Walter shows his patriotic pride and his candidate preference. He doesn't find any humor in the election process, but he does like the look of the feline candidate. Somehow he and the cat have striking similarities.

Where We Cast Our Ballots

The NY Times offered a spot to post a picture of our polling place, so I took one, but the site won't load, so I'll just post it here. The Obama camp was out in force, a team of youngsters holding up their signs and encouraging voters to swing their direction. We wore our buttons, and the wife wore her signed t-shirt, but we got dinged by the polling officials, so the buttons came off and the wife turned her shirt inside out to cast her ballot.

If I Had Five Votes Instead of One

What would I do with the other four? Hmm.

Sunset on the Primaries

The sun went down tonight as the candidates made their final pitches to South Dakota (and Montana), with the Clinton family gathering in Sioux Falls and addressing an overflow crowd at the armory. We arrived too late to get inside, but just barely, and they told us right away that the three would be coming out to greet the supporters. So we stood at the rail, the mother-in-law, the sister-in-law, and the wife and me. And an elderly woman we befriended in line. We had to listen to the addresses over a loudspeaker, but afterwards, Chelsea, Bill, and Hillary all came out and shook our hands. Chelsea even signed shirts and stood for a picture. Bill said the two sisters looked good in their shirts, and everyone, including the "repentant Republican" among us, enjoyed the rollicking, energetic, and friendly event. We brought home a few Hillary signs to put up in the yard. I'm going with the gal.

Obama in Mitchell

After a typical Sunday morning at church and a late breakfast at the Howard golf course (no country-club images here, just folks either diving in to an eggs-pancake-bacon buffet or selecting from among the fried options on the one-page menu), we headed down to Mitchell to hear Barack Obama's side of the story after hearing Hillary and Bill Thursday and Saturday.
After the folksy and up-close style of the Clinton's, this event was like a rock show, highly produced and carefully staged. The event, held in front of the Corn Palace with "Everyday Heroes" emblazoned in corn on the front, had barricades, a security check under a tent, a huge sound system and stage, and bleachers at the side and back. Volunteers worked the crowd, selecting those who could go to the bleachers. We were chosen, but elected to stand and actually moved quite close, though behind, the candidate.
Obama's delivery and content were fine, a little soft on details and the folksy asides and examples that both Clintons use to such good effect. He's not the master of the million little details--facts and figures--that both Clintons use; either that, or it's simply his style to stick to broad portraits of what's to come. I was surprised at the little stutters that still punctuate the candidate's delivery, even after campaigning for 15 months.
But the crowd was with him, responding to the calls he made for change in policies on Iraq, the economy, and energy. There were young people in abundance, with a much more colorful array of people than you'll typically find at a South Dakota event. And his campaign appears to be well funded. The event involved some expenses, with multiple buses, free placards, and bright lights, even on an afternoon that was so sunny and warm one person even fainted during the speech.
Tomorrow, the Clintons, all three of them, will be in Sioux Falls, and it's looking like we might be in attendance.
The wife and I, who have both been hauling our cameras to the events, have put our pics here.
You might note there that we ran into George McGovern on a Mitchell street, making his way to the event, where he'd make introductory remarks. I got my picture taken with him. Now I've shaken hands with Hillary, Bill, Barack, and George, all in a few days. Now that's quite a hand. I wonder what I'd get for it on eBay.
Enjoy the photos, make your call, and get out there and vote. Maybe we'll see you at the Clinton fest.

Bechens at 25

Joe and Donna Bechen celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary yesterday (actual date was May 27), with a surprise party thrown by their daughter Megan at Camp Lakodia on Lake Herman near Madison. Lots of friends and family appeared and made the celebration a good one. Happy Anniversary, Joe and Donna!

Clinton in Madison

The wife and I attended former President Bill Clinton's address in Madison at Library Park yesterday as he stumped for his wife Hillary in the Democratic primary election on Tuesday. There was a nice little turnout, probably 400 people or so, and Clinton, a polished and moving speaker, kept their attention as he covered the benefits of having Hillary as president.
The wife, a dedicated fan of Bill and Hillary both, was excited to have her shirt and book signed.

A Haircut, a Fallen Tree, and a Visit from a Turtle

Yes, a tree fell in the back yard today, and the wife said goodbye to her long hair, revealing a woman underneath that many hadn't seen for quite some time. We also got in a brief party at a fellow DSU-er who is going away, then grabbed an episode of Lost online, the season finale (what the hell is going on with that now, anyway? Lots of questions to be answered). I did stakeout on the rabbits for a while, those pesky devils who have been devastating the flowers in the back yard. I altered some of their plans for the evening.
While I was at the backyard picnic table, I was visited by a traveling turtle, seen here. Perhaps he was warning me about being too harsh with the rabbits, or perhaps he was indicating that while there is a race being run, there are still two of them in it--one expected to win, the other plugging along with a sense of confidence that others don't fathom.

Standing Up for Hillary

The Second Street Diner was packed this morning with Hillary Clinton supporters who waited patiently for the campaign bus to arrive, but then enjoyed a kick-ass address that ended with a rousing call for effective leadership that has been sorely lacking.
Clinton addressed several things near and dear to South Dakotans, and she nailed every reference to the state, the city, and the issues that are central to the times. Check out the Madville Times for what promises to be a more in-depth discussion of the issues.
DSU's own Jona Schmidt sat next to Hillary as the candidate enjoyed a piece of the great apple pie at the restaurant. Jona's mom (Virginia?) was chosen to sit at the table having just converted to being a Democrat at 80 years old just so she could vote for Ms. Clinton.

Listener of Stories

I should create a job title for myself, "Listener of Stories," wherein I get to listen to stories that people tell me. It's one of my favorite things, like listening to the father-in-law tell his stories about leaving the farm in Winfred and venturing out on his own, taking off with a group of friends and working building grain bins in Minnesota, or serving in the Marines in 29 Palms, California. Or listening to my friend tell about the vacuum line on his car, how here it does pull, here it doesn't. Or even to a new aquaintance, Leon Saugstad, who came to fix the water softener, how he went to five different schools growing up in the area, some of them now non-existent, as his family rented and farmed one farm after the other. Or another friend tell about cruising up over the Rocky Mountains into Coeur D'Alene or growing up in Bucks County, in eastern Pennsylvania. That's a good day for me, soaking up stories, and telling some of my own.

I actually got a real job yesterday, a strenuous one. But I lost it about three minutes later, so my experience as a fabric layer is still limited to one brief voluntary stint and those three minutes in my imagination, my favorite kind of labor.

What Used to Be a Swimming Pool

It's 43 degrees here today, so swimming doesn't top my agenda, but we do still have that option, with the community center pool now available again. But it's not so with the outdoor pool.
We're grateful for having sold our old house every time we pass by the construction zone that was the swimming pool next to our home. It won't be ready this year, but the plans for the new aquatic center are ambitious and impressive. If it's successful, parking there will be even more of a problem than it was.