Retirement Diaries 2023: Spring Planning

Happy Spring!  Well, at least happy spring in other parts of the country.

In Minnesota, the first day of spring arrived with sunny, blue skies and a high of 34 degrees.  The second day of spring brought snow.  I guess you don’t get everything you wish for.  I’m ready for the snow to be gone.  This is the fourth snowiest winter on record, so I think that is good news, because it means not every winter will be like this?  Of course, that means every winter will probably be colder.

Home has been busy with cleaning and organizing, visitors, and reading.  I just finished reading Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose, about the Lewis and Clark expedition from 1804 to 1806.  It has been a fascinating read, but like many history books, it isn’t one that goes quickly.

I have also been back to doing some puzzles after taking a bit of a break.  I have already done 10 puzzles in 2023, which is only two fewer than I did during all of 2022.  I will certainly beat my puzzle goal!

I need to be in Washington for an appointment at the end of April, so I’ve been planning to drive this time and make it into a road trip.  I’m thinking I want to drive back on the original US Route 20, the longest road in the United States at 3,365 miles and one of only a few that go the entire width of the U.S.  I wouldn’t drive the whole coast to coast route in one trip, but it would be fun to do a section of it! 

Of course, I was looking at my road atlas last night, and there are quite a few things of interest that are off of Highway 20, so I might have to veer off on parts of it!  It goes through some parts of the country where I have never been before!  I’m starting my list of places I want to go.  Any thoughts or ideas on the plan?  Have any of you driven coast to coast on U.S. Highway 20, or done part of it?

Book Review: The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules, by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

This Swedish novel was chosen by my book club for March.  It was different than anything I would choose on my own, and I went into it without any idea of what to expect. 

The novel begins with Martha Andersson, a 79-year-old woman living in a retirement home in Sweden.  The cost-conscious owners are busy cutting every piece of joy throughout the old folks’ lives, rationing the coffee, cutting out pastries, not allowing alcohol, and closing off the exercise room.  Of course, they don’t know that you shouldn’t piss off a group of old people! 

Martha decides to lead a revolt and convinces several of her friends that if the living conditions are so bad in the old folks’ home, they might as well commit a nice white collar crime and earn themselves a nice luxurious stay in a minimum security prison.  Prisons in Sweden must be nicer than the ones in the United States.  So the group gets down to business, planning their crime to knock off the guest safes at a spa in the nicest hotel in town.  Unfortunately, this heist nets them less than they were hoping for in untraceable assets, and they don’t get caught, so they decide to continue on.

It was a fun quick read, high on action (at the pace of an 80 year old), but it was fairly predictable.  I enjoyed the creativity that went into their crimes, but was also amazed that the authorities couldn’t solve what should have been some open and shut cases.  These pensioners somehow flew under the radar in a way that was a bit unrealistic.  So it wasn’t earth-shattering, but a light read on a topic rarely covered in stories.

I listened to the audio book, and did enjoy the narrator, who kept things lively.  Hearing the translations of everyday items was interesting too.  Do you know what a Zimmer Frame is?  Apparently it is a brand name of walker, and the company is even based in the United States!  

3 stars. 

Book Review: Middling Folk

Middling Folk: Three Seas, Three Centuries, One Scots-Irish Family, by Linda H. Matthews

This is a book that my mom had, due to her interest in genealogy and our Scottish heritage, and while she was purging, she set it aside for me. 

Linda Matthews wrote the history of her family going back hundreds of years, from Scotland, to Ireland, to present day Chesapeake Bay, to Virginia, and finally all the way to the far western area of the United States, Washington State.  She has researched her family history and timeline, and presents the story of a middle class family throughout their migration.  Matthews explains that she wanted to tell the story of her family, which could be mirrored in the stories of thousands of other middle class families, as these are the stories most often not told in the history books.  The toil and hardships, as well as the joys and successes of middle class families are typically forgotten in the passage of time. 

The book is non-fiction and scholarly, weaving through the story of the family, from what she can determine through land records, family histories, court records and of course, genealogical records. We begin in Scotland in the 1600s, and eventually follow this family to their settlement in Ireland, and eventually across the sea to colonial America.  She details what is known about the family’s service in the Revolutionary War and later the Civil War, and their lives as farmers, blacksmiths, millers and boatmen.  She readily admits where the record is unknown, and infrequently makes guesses to try to fill in the gaps.

Matthews does end each section with a few fictional vignettes, telling the family story from the perspective of a few chosen family members.  She is upfront about the fact that these stories are simply stories, without historical context.  They are her imagination, and she invites the reader to skip them if they choose.  I didn’t find the stories adding much to her history, but it was interesting to hear her perspective of her family members.

My mom never finished the book, but I found it to be an interesting read and it went quickly for me.  It is not a well-known book, with only 10 reviews on Goodreads, but it would be of interest to those who are interested in genealogy and family histories. 

3 stars. 

Retirement Diaries 2023: The Warm Up

I have been home from Washington for a few weeks now, and since then Minnesota has been warming up.  The good news is that I’m not constantly freezing!  The bad news is the warmup means more snow.  It has snowed several times in the last few weeks, but overall it has melted more than accumulated, with only one snowstorm depositing six or seven new inches of snow.  Overall the winter here has been warmer than usual, which has meant that we haven’t gotten to try our hands at ice-fishing since our couple of excursions a few months ago.  It seems that the ice fishing season is over, at least in our area, so I’ll just have to plan for next year.

There are clearly signs that spring is just around the corner, and I’m excited about it!  The chickens are laying like crazy, and the kitties are lounging around the way they do best.

On the home front, I got back into the world of home improvement, with a total gut and remodel of the upstairs bathroom.  The former owners had painted a perfectly lovely gray ceramic tile yellow and stenciled it for a tacky 70s look, and coordinated the floor with a disgusting ‘baby-poop brown’ wall color.  The original tub and surround had been painted gray at some point and were peeling as well.  It needed to go. 

We completed it in a week, save the toilet, a few trim pieces and installing a doorstop.  We had to order the toilet we wanted in the correct size, because apparently 10 inch one piece toilets are an online order only.  That will be here in a few days.  The walls are now a pretty light blue, with a grayish vanity, interlocking laminate flooring and a black and white granite vanity top.  It’s good to have a nice new bathroom, in lighter, brighter shades!

This week I went for a couple of hikes at the National Wildlife Refuge and Charles Lindbergh State Park.  I even strapped on the snowshoes for a bit for an extra workout, but it was easier hiking without them.  The weather was nice, and I had heard that Sandhill Cranes are migrating through the area, but I didn’t see any.  It is still a bit early yet.  There were a lot of other birds singing though! 

I hope you are all doing well on this last little slide to spring!

Book Review: The “Unholy Apostles”

The “Unholy Apostles,” by James M. Keller

I was browsing at the library in the history section and came upon this book.  It details the shipwrecks in and around the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior in Wisconsin.  It covers shipwrecks between 1870 and 1930.

James Keller researched old news articles and other primary sources to compile stories of several shipwrecks and ships that are missing and presumed sunk.  He details the efforts to save lives and property and later efforts to raise or salvage the sunken ships.  The reasons are numerous; storms, fires and collisions are feature in the stories.  He does not try to fill in the gaps of what is not known, including the names of lost sailors, who were often itinerant young men who weren’t known in the community. 

The book was an interesting look into the savage waters of Lake Superior, which were unrelenting in a storm.  The bravery of these ship captains and men was impressive, and in one instance, there was even a female crew member.

It was a quick read of stories of a time when shipping by ship was king.

3 stars.

Circus Trip 2018: Natural Bridges NM

Day 83, Saturday, October 6, 2018
Natural Bridges National Monument, Lake Powell, Utah

I started my morning at Hovenweep National Monument.  I ate breakfast, said goodbye to Carol, and got on the road.  On my drive, I saw a cool skeleton (yes I’m morbid) of what I suspect was a deer or pronghorn.  If know what it is, please let me know!  It was intriguing, and yes I’m morbid, so I stopped to take a photo.

My destination for the day was Natural Bridges National Monument.  This park is another of Utah’s hidden gems!  Natural Bridges has a history of human habitation going back to 7500 B.C.E. and around 700 C.E. the Puebloan people moved into the area, building cliff dwellings that are similar to other sites in the area.  Like Mesa Verde and Hovenweep, the Puebloan inhabitants are believed to have abandoned the sites in Natural Bridges by about 1270 C.E.

The three bridges within the park are unique, as geologically, they were formed by water rushing through underneath and eroding the stone to form a bridge.  Most other arches in the area are formed by wind.  They are named Sipapu, Kachina and Owachomo, which are Hopi words.  There are also Puebloan sites that you can view, including a very complete rectangular kiva with a roof.  Natural Bridges also has one of the darkest skies ever recorded, which would make it an amazing place for camping and night sky viewing!  I didn’t camp there this time, but I would love to go back!

Natural Bridges National Monument is also Utah’s oldest National Monument, having been designated on April 16, 1908, by President Theodore Roosevelt.  It was very infrequently visited for decades, because it was a three day horseback ride from Blanding, the nearest town (it is now about a 45 minute drive from Blanding).  In the 1950s, uranium mining led to roads in the area, and made for easier access to the park.  Even now, and despite its beauty, it only has about 101,000 visitors per year, so you won’t find a lot of crowds here.

When I was there, I did the overlooks to the three bridges in the park, and each of them was fascinating!  After visiting the visitor’s center to get the lay of the land and my passport stamp and postcards, I drove to the first viewpoint to see Sipapu Bridge, which is the largest bridge in the park.  The view was stunning.  This bridge is 220 feet tall with a 268 foot span. 

 

Next I hiked to the Horse Collar Ruin overlook, which was about a 30 minute hike, round trip.  The ruin itself is a 700 year old Puebloan structure built into the alcove.  There you see a unique rectangular shaped kiva, which is complete with its roof and original interior.  There are also two granaries with doors in the shape of horse collars, giving this ruin its name.  It was so impressive to see!

My next stop was at the Kachina Bridge viewpoint; a 10 minute walk provided a beautiful view of the bridge.  Kachina Bridge is 210 feet tall with a 204 foot span, making it the second largest bridge in the park.  It had a large rockfall in 1992 which created the current dimensions of the bridge. 

The last bridge, Owachomo Bridge, is the smallest with a height of 106 feet and a span of 180 feet.  I hiked the half-mile round trip hike to Owachomo to see the gorgeous landscape beneath it.  It is impressive to be able to stand underneath this huge bridge! This bridge is considered most likely to collapse though, as it is only nine feet thick on the arch and very delicate.  On my hike back up to the car, it started to rain, and I reached the car just in time for a huge downpour to begin. 

As I was driving out of the park, the lightning began, and there was a strike that was close enough that the thunderclap came at the same time as the lightning strike!  It was so close that I felt the electricity! 

After leaving Natural Bridges I drove through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.  That place is incredible and I would love to go back and see more of it sometime.  There are some beautiful viewpoints and I’m sure the hiking there is amazing.  On this trip I didn’t hike because it was still raining really hard off and on and I didn’t want to get caught in it. 

My next destination was Capitol Reef National Park.  I would have liked to camp inside the park, but it was full, so I found the Wonderland RV Park on the west side of the park.  They had a few tent sites for $16.28, which was a good deal!  Once again it was raining so I went out to dinner at a pizza and burger joint nearby.  I  had the Mediterranean pizza which had a delicious hand-made crust and a beer.  It was the Squatters’s Full Suspension Pale Ale, and it was delicious!  I lingered there to avoid the rain outside. 

After dinner, I headed back to the campground, took a shower, and snuggled in my car cocoon for an early night’s sleep.