The Fourth

So Last Thursday at work we celebrated Canada day- because after all North Dakotans are so close to Canada they're practically Canadians! Not, but since we couldn't celebrate on the fourth for work, we needed a time to eat good food during work.

On Saturday I headed out on the 5-6 hour drive to Charles Lindbergh state park in MN to meet up with Mom, Jim and Alex for a weekend of camping. We weren't in the best of moods after the drive and some phone tag, but after a late lunch, the tent got put up somehow. That evening we drove around Little Falls, the neighboring town, stopping to look at the grand Mississipp (I am being colloquial here and do indeed know the correct spelling) before having the ever classic campfire dinner - hot dogs and smores. And we stopped at a park where Alex and I had fun on the spinny thing that is hard to find on playgrounds these days because they're "dangerous" or something, but so much fun. Just like old teeter totters- who cares if they're dangerous, the new ones are boring and you hardly go up at all!

The next day I only partially thwarted plans of getting an early start by sleeping in to the late hour of 8:30. We got on the bike path at a decent hour, biking on a bridge over the BNSF train. On our way to a small town called Bowlus we biked through a crowd heading out to the parade. We had not planned at all on their being a parade so it was a nice coincident. We watched a bit while eating some cotton candy and other such delicacies and Alex headed out to the street for some candy before heading back on a classic family bike ride filled with the small bickerings of its members.

For fireworks we returned to the very same town and spread out on our blankets for a very pleasant evening. The fireworks were mediocre, not being particularly shapely, but I've never been big on fireworks anyway. The finale was pretty impressive though. When we got back the campsite was relatively empty and we played with sparklers.

Before heading back on Monday we headed to a U-Pick strawberry place. After taking down the tent and packing the cars we headed off. The place was kinda closed for the season, but still letting some pickers through. The rows of strawberries smelled so good and I ate so many sun-warmed berries as I picked them. The nearest U-Pick that I've heard of from Bismarck is 3-4 hours away, so this was a must stop place for me. I drove home with a huge tray of them sitting on top of my cooler, reaching back every now and then for some. In Fargo I stopped for some fresh groceries and gas (gas is somehow more expensive in Bismarck despite the fact that the oil fields are closer and the refinery is not too far away). Everyone seemed so smiley at the grocery store, but when I stopped in Valley City for some bungee cords because my bike and bike rack were not getting along, no one seemed very happy at all. On the drive I listened to prairie public and saw two rainbows- one crossed a cloud- like the cloud was filled with the striped colors of the rainbow- I have never seen anything like that before.

I arrived to an empty home- they are out for the week in Medora so I am enjoying having the place to myself, painting and drawing with crayons on the walls- I think they'll really enjoy my new murals! (Just seeing if you're paying attention). But I have been cooking up a storm and singing loudly around the house.

Now I am back at work and am very glad for the three day weekend because already it's Thursday. I've been rather sluggish and this weekend I've been staying at my desk during the normal walking routine to type up things like this blog! There may be another date confusion for the radio program- all the dates were left open for me and scheduled as re-runs are now open to everybody so none of my dates have been taken, but I will have to be careful. I've got a few more stories in the works, I just need to write them and do a bit more research. Today there was a tomato plant waiting for me- one of the museum people had a surplus and offered them out. So tonight I will plant it along with some herbs that Mom brought up for me (one of the many things- I had her pick up a bunch of groceries that are harder to find her or more expensive so I shall never go hungry again!). Hopefully I will not kill these plants, I would very much like to have really fresh margarita sandwiches!

Well I suppose I should get back to work now, writing scripts and not blogs.
Oh, and if you read this, leave a comment! I'm curious to know about my readership!