The Crow's Nest
Here is hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a safe and great New Year. It is hard to believe it is already 2009. It seems like yesterday we were celebrating the entrance of 2000! The older one gets the faster time flies by.
Talk about being older. We just celebrated 2 birthdays in Edinburg. There were open house birthday parties for both Patsy Foseide and Walter Wellman. They each celebrated 90 years of life. I heard more than once the request to see Patsy’s birth certificate. She is by far the youngest 90 year old I have ever known! She told me most days she feels like she is 70! Patsy always is so upbeat and cheerful and has such a positive attitude about life. She is a joy to know. The same can be said for Pastor Wellman. I would never have guessed that he was celebrating his 90th birthday.
This past week has been a “moment of truth” for me. Life has pretty much always treated me kindly and I know that I am a wee bit spoiled (or as my kids would say I am a whole lot spoiled!). Chuck had hernia surgery last Monday and is in the recovery mode. It hurts to move around too much and he is restricted from lifting anything over 15 pounds for 4 weeks. It was a rude awakening to find myself doing things that I just knew he would always do for me. I moved furniture, ironed clothes---yes, Chuck does all the ironing----and even ran the snow blower yesterday. Today I tried to use the “snow rake” to get a couple of feet of snow off our roof, but Chuck finally had to call Jackson Hall to come over and help with that task. I just wasn’t strong enough to manipulate the long handled rake. The snow on the roof was melting and then freezing causing water to leak through our bathroom sunroof. Thank goodness for Jackson. He is a very special young man who will be sorely missed when he leaves for college next fall.
We have experienced quite a “deep freeze” in temperatures around here for at least the last 2 weeks. It has been SO cold. One morning I got up to see the actual temperature at minus 29 degrees. If you take in to consideration the wind chill factor we have had temperatures hovering around minus 44 degrees. It isn’t weather you want to spend too much time outdoors in. We also have had our share of lots of snow. We haven’t been hit with quite as much as the Bismarck and Minot area, but we have enough to make clearing parking lots and sidewalks a nightmare.
There is much sadness around town as we have experienced the loss of 4 people who once or still called Edinburg home. Adeline Windingland died in Fargo but her funeral was here at Trinity last Thursday. She was 91 years old. Olga Rheaume’s funeral was last Saturday morning. Olga also was in her 90’s. Gail and her daughter Terry were here. Lyle could not come as he is struggling with cancer. Paul Benjaminson also passed away. He lived in Grafton, but loved to come to Edinburg to visit. I so enjoyed talking with Paul. Then, word came Sunday that Marianne Eisenmann died at First Health Care in Park River. I know everyone grieves for the loss of each of these dear people. Our hearts, prayers and thoughts go to every family member that is experiencing the loss of such important and wonderful people in their lives. Adeline, Olga, Paul and Marianne will be dearly missed by all of us.
I want to add to our sadness the death of Anne Newman. Anne and her husband Art have lived in California for many, many years. Anne was a sister to "Hoot" Johnson, "Husky" Johnson, Steve Johnson and Hilda Mathiasson. My cousin, Brian Johnson called with the news of her passing. Anne was in her late 90's and was very active until the end. Sympathy again goes out to everyone who loved Anne so very much.
Mark your calendars to come “home” to our 2nd annual “Kick It Up A Notch-----round 2” Brunch Sunday, March 1 at the Community Center. We hope to “wow” you with a great menu of food and a wonderful time of visiting. We would love to have you all there.
What an important day this is in American history. I have been watching the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama on television this morning. I wish him the very best as he begins probably the toughest job in America. Have a great day and we will visit later.
