Every month, as the librarian, I contribute a short article for an insert that goes into our weekly newspaper. The gal who organizes and puts together that insert is named Deb.  Usually when Deb sends me the reminder email, I drop what I am doing to get it done lest I forget.  However, the email for the February article came really early in January (1/11) and wasn’t actually due back to Deb until Monday (1/23)…since I had a lot going on when the email came I left it in my inbox thinking I would work on it my next day in the Library.  Guess what…I forgot.

So Tuesday, I got a couple of voicemails from Deb asking if I’d sent my article cuz if I had, she couldn’t find it.

Tuesday was one of those days that felt like a Monday…everything I touched was turning to shit!  And I had expressed to a couple of people earlier in the morning that I needed to have my head extricated from my ass and get it together.

I called Deb back apologizing, telling her I’d head into the library, write my article and get it to her within a half hour. I also informed her that I’d made an appointment with a surgeon to have a “Rectal-Cranial Inversion” so I could get my shit together and be on the ball.

After I emailed Deb my article, the following exchange took place via email:

Deb:  thanks Pam,   The very best of luck with your surgical procedure.  Deb

Me:  Thank you…thankfully it’s an outpatient procedure with local anesthetic

Deb: It must be a groundbreaking procedure because although I’ve been afflicted with the disease many times, no one has ever suggested this solution.

Me: Ya…it’s quick and easy…just in and out!

Deb: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Out loud!!!!

Ok I’m going back to work. Have a better day!

So today I am back in the library, working away, when in comes a delivery (see pic above) with a note that says

     “Best Wishes on Your Rectal-Cranial Inversion Surgery”

I knew exactly who it was from! I laughed so hard I think I piddled in my pants a little bit and had to share my reaction!  Oh My God…Deb, I so owe ya one!

Thankful?!?  I have tons to be thankful for! I’m thankful I have this job as librarian! I think I have mentioned once or twice how much I love this job.  I’m very thankful for my family, especially the one I married into! They surround us, here in Mott, and they are the epitome of unconditional love! And I am blessed with some truly phenomenal friends, most are out of state, but thanks to social networks like facebook, they are within my daily reach.

There is one friend in particular I would like to focus on. My girl Kristy Z. We met in Las Vegas…introduced to each other by a mutual friend. Kristy and I hit it off. We spent a lot of time together in Vegas, hanging out like girlfriends do, and many, many, many hours scrapbooking late into the night sharing our joys and our challenges.  Leaving Las Vegas was harder because of Kristy.  Kristy has since moved to Colorado with her family.

I think since moving, Kristy and I have become even closer…and it’s because of our shared love of reading. We discovered once all our scrapbook stuff was packed away we both loved reading. Then we discovered we both loved reading the same genres and authors!  She and I have our own little book club for two! Finding and sharing new titles and authors, and discussing the book we just finished. Now we spend postage shipping each other books (it’s cheaper than both of us buying them!)…now, our “book club” is expanding to include Kim, Kristy’s sister.  I love and am so thankful for Kristy’s friendship, I don’t know what I would ever do without her!

In honor of my girl Kristy, I’m going to spotlight a couple of series she enjoyed that we have here in the library. Have a wonderful November and try to find something to be thankful for every day…it will bring a smile to your face, I guarantee it.

Beautiful Creatures & Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone in the small, Southern town of Gatlin. She has powers she is struggling to conceal. Ethan Wate has been counting the days until he turns 18 and can leave Gatlin…that is until Lena moves to town. He is mysteriously drawn to her. She harbors a secret that could change Ethan’s life or will it destroy him?

Shiver, Linger, and Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls) by Maggie Steifvater – Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips close to freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. Sam worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will left howling at a lonely moon.

Love ya Girl!!!!

Last night I dreamt about a guy I used to date…way back when, BB…”before Brian”. He made a very brief appearance in a very weird dream, but he was someone I hadn’t thought of in a very long time.

Mike was a former Marine and about 15 years my senior.  I used to work with him.  I started working with him when I was 17, but we didn’t date until a few years later, after his divorce. Mike was the first guy that ever made me weak in the knees. The last time I saw him he professed his undying love for me and said he knew I was his soulmate…but we both knew he needed to reconcile with his ex-wife for the sake of his children.  I kissed him good-bye and never saw or heard from him again.

Many years later I heard from a mutual friend that he and the family had moved back to Virginia following his daughter’s trial for attempted murder.  She’d gotten mixed up in a cult or gang of some kind and tried to kill her family as part of her initiation. Thankfully she failed, but the criminal trial and subsequent conviction, drove Mike and his family out of the LA area.

After that dream, and the memories it prompted, I wonder how life is treating him. He was someone that was very dear to me and I hope life is treating him well. I also hope he knows there is someone out there thinking about him today.

So anyway…I pulled out the mail and found a key to the oversize boxes that the postal employees put stuff in that won’t fit in your box.  I went over to box 1 and found an Amazon box. I opened it assuming it was something for the library even though the key was in my personal mailbox.

I opened the Amazon box to find a copy of a new book I had been coveting! Now, I know I didn’t order it…so I looked at the packing slip…and there was the sweetest note from my very dear friend, Kristy.

“It’s so nice to have someone to share my love of books with”

AWWWWWWW!!!!!! How sweet is that???? Now you know why I love Kristy…she is one of the sweetest people I know…and she’ll kill me for posting that on the internet and ruining her rep!

Kristy and I hang out on goodreads.com exchanging ideas about books we want to read and discussing our thoughts on the books we do read…we also have an unofficial competition over who will read the most books this year…she has 2 small children and enjoys running marathons, thus handicapping herself in the reading department.

Kristy, I love that we share the same tastes in books and can share them with each other. It was so sweet of you to send me “City of Fallen Angels”…I love it and love you too dear friend. So glad you are part of my life.

Life has been both blessed and cursed…Isn’t that usually life in general?  I guess the blessing and curses have been a little larger than usual.

I am the new librarian for Mott, ND. Which has definitely been one of the blessings. It’s a small library, I’m guessing only about 10 thousand titles.  All the titles are still being loaded into the computerized system that was purchased approximately a year ago.  At the time I took over and uploaded a searchable listing into the library’s homepage there were about 5500 titles.  I’ve loaded quite a few more, but no where near what had already been done.  I’m enjoying it immensely and just wish it was a job with more than 18 hours a week.  I’m still putting in my 12 regularly scheduled hours at the grocery store, which helps financially…I’m glad I could keep the hours at the store. My poor sister-in-law, Sonya, has spent a lot of time out of town lately and I’ve been helping to cover her hours at the store…I appreciate the extra hours/money, but it’s been exhausting.

Poor Sonya, and thus all of us, has been through the ringer. Her “significant other” from Vegas, Doug, has been hit with major heath issues. First he was hit by a heart attack. Sonya flew to his aid because I guess his family couldn’t or wouldn’t.  After he got home from the hospital, Sonya came home, and Doug followed her a few weeks later to do some of his R&R here. While he was here he passed out in the bathroom, which made us think he was having more heart issues. Long story short, it appears he has brain cancer. Final results of a brain biopsy are expected any second now…in the meantime Doug has deteriorated very significantly.  Doug’s insurance company wanted him treated in Las Vegas so they paid a private plane to come get him and Sonya. Poor Sonya is torn because he has no family in Vegas now that we’ve all moved to ND and his sisters, his only family, can’t or won’t come be with him. I can’t begin to fathom what Sonya is going through.  She is coming home on Saturday…with Doug’s urging and, I’m sure, a very heavy heart.

David is well and still growing…he is going to be 12 in December and he is 5’9″ and wearing a size 12 shoe and still growing…pretty significant considering he hasn’t hit puberty yet. I wonder how tall he is going to get? He enjoy lording it over me that he is now my height! Little turd! 6th grade has started out well…he was really looking forward to being in 6th. He admires his teacher and has since last year. He like that she doesn’t put up with any shenanigans…unlike last year’s teacher.  He still has issues with one boy in particular from last year…the reason I had to write the email to the teacher mentioned above.

Fall has appeared in our little corner of the world. Harvest is done and hunting season will be here in a few weeks. Then it will be time for Winter and that dreaded “S” word! I’ve actually had to break out the long pants a few days this week due to weather and temperature!  A blizzard, a big pot of soup and laying in bed with the hubby all day doesn’t sound half bad…at least being the librarian, I know I will have some good reading material for the snowy days!

It’s almost 3am…I suppose I should let the dogs out one more time than go in and snuggle up against that handsome, snoring guy I have in my bed. Life could definitely be worse.

By now you are probably asking, “Who the HELL is St. Urho?”…I asked that very same question, once, many years ago after Cheryl had wished me a happy one.

First I have to give you some background on Cheryl! I met Cheryl when I started working for Vegas Instant Page.  I loved her right away, knowing she was “my kind of people”…she is beautiful, irreverently funny, and comes from Northern Minnesota with some of the most hysterical dysfunctional family stories I’ve ever heard in my life.

One St. Urho’s day, Cheryl came to me with the most ridiculous story about some Saint from Finland (I don’t remember what he did to attain Sainthood), and his day is 3/16 and you have to wear purple…I honestly thought she was full of shit.  Something she pulled out of her arse to get me going.  But the story stuck and we’ve been wishing each other a happy St. Urho’s day ever since.

One day I got an emailed copy of an obituary (another “Cheryl-thing” is that although she is still in her 30′s and healthy, she lives to read the obituaries…she has a morbid sense of curiosity) about the man who started St. Urho’s Day…at last, the confirmation she needed to prove she didn’t make the whole thing up.

So in honor of the great, Sainted, Urho, I have for you his story:

St. Urho – Patron Saint of grasshopper management?

Believe it or not…… there really is a Saint for grasshopper management, and his name is Saint Urho (pronounced ärrrr-hoe, stressing the rolling r). While he is currently recognized as the Official Patron Saint of Finnish vineyard workers, I would like to consider nominating him for mascot status for the Orthopterists Society.

Though fictional in origin, a monument to this legendary figure stands in Menahga, Minnesota. His statute stands about 15 feet tall, depicting St. Urho with a pitchfork in his hand and a grasshopper skewered on the end.

(Photograph -C. Bomar 1997)

As legend has it, he was responsible for saving the Finnish vineyards from a swarming outbreak of locusts. His method of control -a pitchfork and some strong words. “Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, meine täättä hiiteen” or roughly translated to English “Grasshopper, grasshopper, get the hell out of here,” was enough to eradicate the hoards of locusts from the vineyard. These Finnish grape farmers were pretty protective of their crop, considering the short growing season. As the legend goes, these farmers injected vodka into the individual grapes to ensure a high alcohol content. And because of this heroic act of pest management, Urho was erected into sainthood by the local vintners.

March 16th is St. Urho day, and properly celebrated by dressing in royal purple and nile green.

So a happy St. Urho’s to you all!

I’d written, on this blog, about how much I would really love to reconnect with my friends that grew up on Murietta Avenue with.  Facebook has allowed that to happen and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

First, Angela found me.  She found Porter first, then through his friend’s list she found me.  She is a married Mom of 2 adorable little boys.

Through Angela, I’ve been able to find another friend, Roxanne.  Roxanne had moved to Valencia after her Mom passed away…we stayed in touch then…but after she married Tim (also from Murietta Avenue) we drifted apart.  She and Tim had one son, divorced and now Roxanne is remarried with a little girl.

Through Angela, Jean found me…I just spent an hour on the phone with her.  It’s so nice to hear her voice.  I think I was closest to Jean and her sister Rachel growing up.  I thought of them more as little sisters.  Their brother David and my brother Porter were also very close…often, David, Jean, and Rach were invited to our house for get togethers, bbq, 4th of July…when ever Porter or I were allowed to invite a friend to an event, it was one of the three of them.

It’s so good to connect to your past thru shared memories with those who were important to you.  Something I hope I am able to instill in David is to maintain those connections…hold them dear, and treat them like gold, you don’t know how much those relationships will mean to you as you grow older.  I really wish I had done a better job of keeping those connections…thank goodness for Facebook and second chances.

ANYWAY…I’ve digressed as usual! So, before we moved my dear friend Jan, told me about her little stovetop Italian espresso maker.  It was so good, in fact, that she had stopped frequenting Starbucks (GASP!).  I tried to invite myself over for coffee so I could check out this little gizmo that had replaced Starbucks in Jan’s life, but timing being what it is, I never got there.  But, Jan, being the incredibly kind and sweet person that she is, found me one to take with me to North Dakota.

Every morning when I get up and stumble to the stove to start my espresso, I send blessings to Janny!  I never sent her a thank you note for her thoughtfulness, so here I am.  I thought of her as I was drinking my espresso this morning and thought I should thank her on this most public of stages.  THANK YOU JANNY!!!!  I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!!!!

Growing up, on Sundays, at Calvary Lutheran Church, my Dad used to complain and joke about Lutherans and weak coffee.  Actually, now that I reflect, I believe his comments were more toward the frugal side of Lutherans…”Cheap Lutherans have to use the grounds twice”, or something to that effect.  Bear in mind my Dad was born and bred Lutheran…but he liked a strong cup of coffee more than religion…or maybe a strong cup of coffee was his religion?!?!?!?  Not sure.

Here in ND there are a LOT of Scandanavians and Germans…the states two main religions are Catholicism and Lutheran.  So we are bound to encounter weak coffee (swim in it, more than likely).  UGH!  So Janny’s little helper has been a GODSEND!  Otherwise I would have to drive 45 minutes for a semi-decent Cup o’ Joe…HELL, and it’s weak by Vegas standards! LOL

Have I mentioned I LOVE YOU JANNY!

Anyway, I am outta here…off to watch them put my house in place…YEAH!!!!

This weekend was the Hettinger County, where Mott is the County Seat, Fair.  The much anticipated part of the fair would have to be the Demolition Derby.  There were about 7 or 8 locals in the Demo Derby and another dozen from surrounding states and counties.

I was looking forward to giving my 100-400mm lens another workout and I did.  This photo was from the 1st heat and resulted in the first big “AHHH, OHHH”.

Because there were 20+ demo cars, they ran in heats of 5 or 6 cars.  The last two left standing went to the final run.  Danielle boyfriend Mason had a derby car.  My nephew Jake as well as many friends helped get Mason’s car up and running.  Mason was still having tranmission problems when he arrived at the Derby and worked on them until he got called into the last heat.  Poor guy had the car stall out a bazillion times and had some challenges restarting it. I don’t remember if he was the last to die in his heat or if he was left standing…I left shortly after his heat.

Once all was said and done, Brian says, “I want a demo derby car!”.  After watching those “young kids” get the crap smashed out of their cars and only a helmet to protect him I had an opinion on this idea.  I told him, “That’s fine, have all the derby cars you want, just promise me you will have one of the youngsters drive it, cuz you don’t recover as quickly as you used to!”

All of the demo talk reminded me of being a kid.  One summer, I remember Daddy piling Mom, Porter, and I in the car and driving out to the Saugus Speedway for the Demolition Derby.  Watching all the chaos and mayhem brought it all flooding back.  Porter, do remember going to the Derby?

Anyway, here are a couple more pictures of the mayhem:

I’m not very active on Facebook.  Most of the friends I have on facebook are scrapbooking friends and family.  When I saw this Angela W request come in I thought it was another in my scrapbooking group…until I read the name of the street I grew up on.  She is one of the kids I grew up with on Murietta Ave!  I was so elated to get her friend request.

Angela also mentioned another friend from our street.  Roxanne grew up on my street, but her Dad and she moved away after Roxanne’s Mom passed away.  I was able to keep in touch with her until about the time she got married then we lost track.

Part of what precipitated losing contact with these people was the fact that we moved.  When my Nana died, she made a provision in her will that allowed my Mom and Dad to buy her house at a significant discount.  Which they did.  But we didn’t sell our old house on Murietta right away.  In fact I don’t think the house sold until about November or so.  My Dad was worried about leaving our old house empty so he stayed there.  I really thought my parents were going to end up getting divorced…moving into that house caused some dischord between Mom and Dad.  So there was a lot of “limbo”…didn’t quite feel like we had totally moved because we were at the old house at least every weekend.

So I moved into Nana’s house with Mom and Porter.  Meantime others from the neighborhood moved too.  And we all lost touch.  It’s now at the age of 41 that I am really sorry I wasn’t a better caretaker of those relationships.  I’m thrilled for the possibility to reconnect with Ang and Roxanne!