Down Memory Lane

I just took a trip with my kids, my sister and her kids, and our parents to North Dakota.  We visited the places where my parents grew up and then ended the trip in Medora.

 

Our first stop was at a restaurant named Charlies.  My mom accidentally ordered a double bacon cheeseburger!  By the end of the trip she wasn't ordering anything and just eating the kid's leftovers.

 

My mom lived in this house in Milnor, North Dakota  through second grade.  Her parents owned and operated the grocery store in town.

 

This is where the grocery store was located on the main street of town.

 

 We stayed in Gwinner the first night.  This is where my mom's parents were raised.  Notice the Bobcat in the picture.  This is where my mom's uncle and his brothers-in-law started the Melroe Bobcat company.  We were supposed to get a tour, however, there was flooding, so the plant was closed.

 

The kids are ready to visit the cemetery.

 

My mom's cousin Mary, who lives in Gwinner, came to tell us that the Bobcat plant was closed and say good-bye.

 

My sister in her new scarf - purchased while in Milnor.

 

By the Lee plot.  Grandpa Sylvan Lee and Grandma Agnes Dahl Lee are buried there.

 

 

The cousins love being together and it really doesn't matter where.

 

The kids thought they should be sad since they were at a cemetery.

 

The next night we stayed at the Chiefton in Carrington.  This is where my mom lived from third grade until eleventh grade.  Her parents owned and operated another grocery store here.

 

This is the Putman house in Carrington where my mom's friend Butch lived.  She hid here when she stole apples from her pastor's yard and he called the police.

 

This is my mom's house in Carrington.

 

This is Heritage Park in Minot.

 

We hung out at this park while tracking down more oxygen for my dad's travel tank... the tank was leaking and we wanted to get it taken care of before the week-end.

 

There is a beautiful Norwegian style church to visit at this park.

 

Once we got my dad's oxygen tank filled, we drove to Crosby.  This is the actual house that he grew up in.  It was moved from the farm to Crosby.  This is also where I visited my Bestemor (grandma) when I was growing up.

 

On Saturday, we drove from Crosby to Alkabo - where my dad was raised.  This is my aunt Anna Marie's oil well.

 

Our first stop was at the school my dad attended.  The kids ran directly to this old swing set.  They were pushing the swings to get it going and then discovered...

 

that you use the bar on the center post to really get the swing going!

 

Blossom #1 liked this swing.

 

The school was so much fun to visit...

 

we played basketball where my dad played basketball.

 

We performed on the stage.

 

This is where my dad's mom would make hot lunch for the school kids.  The kids would eat in their class room.  Notice the chalkboard and how it slides down - clever!

 

There were 3 class rooms for 12 grades.

 

This is from before "under God" was added to the pledge.

 

 

This is where my dad's house used to stand... on the property right next to the school.  Before he lived here, they had a house 2 miles from town.

 

I found the basement foundation.  It has been filled in with plants.

 

We went looking for my dad's old farming equipment and found it!

 

 

 

Love my sister's pose!

 

Blossom #4 picked a beautiful bouquet for me!

 

My dad couldn't get over how tall the pine trees were.

 

We snooped around my dad's uncle Elling's in town house.  I took home a little piece of metal "junk" from his place.

 

My dad wanted us to see how much water was in the slew on one of his properties.  So, we drove to the location and then walked about 3/4 of a mile in long grass to find the slew - which meant ticks!  Here we're checking for ticks with the slew in the background.  It had lots of water this year.

 

That's it for now!

Karin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Blog Update

On May 5th, I turned 49 and it's really not too bad - so far!

Later in the month, we celebrated my uncle Al's 80th birthday.

 

In June, Blossom #1 went to state in Track.  She came in 5th in the 3200 race.

 

 

That's it for now!
Karin

 

Raising Chickens for Eggs 101

I grew up in Minneapolis.  We had a postage-stamp sized yard that we mowed with a push mower.  Our garden was rhubarb growing along the side of the house  -  that was probably planted by a previous owner.  So, I have no experience raising chickens and I am in no way an expert on the subject.

 

 

We started the process by checking books out from the library.  I really liked the lay out of A Chicken in Every Yard.

 

Once we decided on the chickens we wanted, we placed our order with McMurray Hatchery.  Our chicken decision was based on kid-friendly, cold-weather durability, availability and a recommendation from experienced chicken raising friends.

 

Here's what we ordered and the price per chick:

 

4 - Buff Orpingtons @ $2.92 each

3 - Red Stars @ $3.17 each

3 - Silver Laced Wyandottes @ $3.35 each

1 - Package Quick Chick @ $3.95

1 - Package Gro-Gel Plus @ $3.90

Shipping was $9.72

 

There was a minimum order of 25 chicks, so we combined our order with some friends.  They ordered 10 Buff Orpingtons and 5 Turkens.  Also, McMurray Hatchery gave us one free Rare Exotic chick (that we think may be a rooster) and one extra free Buff Orpington.  When I placed the order, they asked if we wanted a free exotic chick and told us that they may add extra chicks to help keep the other chicks warm during shipping.

 

 

We were told that our order would be ready for shipping on March 16th with an expected arrival on March 18th or 19th.  We were concerned because we live in a small town and the post office is closed on the week-end.  However, everything went just fine.   I received an email on the morning of the 16th saying that our chick order had been shipped.  I decided to drive to our town and track down a postal carrier to find out how chicks are handled.  I found our postal carrier outside of the post office and she told me that the chicks would be kept warm until they arrived in our town and then the post office would call us to pick the chicks up.   While I was in town, though, I received a call from the Mankato Business Center saying that our chicks had arrived and that we could pick them up there.  Mankato is about 35 miles from our house, so after feeding the blossoms lunch, I drove to Mankato with Blossom #4 to get her chicks.

 

Twenty-seven chicks in that box!  We dropped 15 of the chicks off at our friend's house and then headed home.

 

 

It was a cold week-end, so we decided to have the chicks in our heated garage.  We made their home in a 2x3x3 box.  For the first 3 days we lined the box with newspapers and paper towels, and changed it daily.  On the fourth day, we put wood shavings down instead.  The chicks were able to walk around just fine on the wood shavings and it didn't get dirty quite so quickly.  The wood shavings did get in the watering dish, so we raised the water container up with a piece of foam so that the wood shavings wouldn't get in the water so easily.

 

The heating lamp was 18 inches above the chicks.  The chicks had enough room in the box to huddle under the lamp for warmth or spread out if they were too warm.

 

We bought Chick-go food from the local seed house, and placed it in the plastic lid for them to eat.  We gave them water in a plastic container made for chicks.  On the 3rd day we started adding Quik Chik, vitamins and electrolytes for poultry, to their water.  On this same day, we added Gro Gel Plus to the chick's food, but they seemed to eat around it, so it was kind of a waste.

We've had the chicks for 3 weeks now.  It's amazing to see how quickly they are turning from fuzzy chicks to feathery chickens.  One chick died yesterday, Cinnamon, and we're not sure why.

 

Have a great day!

Karin