Been runnin'

August 23, 2007 (6:34am)

64º F, Overcast/Fog, Calm Wind.

Good morning,

So .... What were you doing 4 years ago today? We were in the first day of our adventure as Man and Woman - the married kind. It really doesn’t seem that long, but we really have covered a lot of miles of life during that time. It has been an interesting experience for this stubborn Old Norwegian and a stubborn Dutch Lady to get their stubbornness on the same road. We have found that we have melded the two together and they seem to complement the other. We really do celebrate each day we are together. In fact, we celebrate so much, that we both forgot it was our anniversary yesterday until we were eating lunch! Fortunately for me, Margriet remembered she had forgotten before I did and told me.

For me, the adventure has been an exciting one. I hope it is also for Margriet. I have watched (and hopefully help) my Woman grow in so many ways. Her English has become American. She is in awe of the beauty of this country, just as I am in awe of the beauty of the Netherlands, and can’t see and do more here. She counterbalances the American “attitude” with the European experience, some we don’t agree on. Many of her tastes have been Americanized, while retaining and sharing so much of the Dutch tastes (not only food, although that ain’t bad). Often, it is me watching her enjoy something with an attitude akin to that of a child, seeing/doing something for the first time. We decided yesterday, that our adventure would continue for another 50 years as a start, then we would reevaluate the situation for the next 50 years.

We did go out to eat last night to mark the occasion. Went to Alice’s in Iron River for Italian food. It was excellent and way more than we could, or at least should, eat. Margriet had chicken, with spaghetti as a side dish and I had a kind of pasta (it looked like small pieces of dough about the size of sugar lumps) with meat sauce and Italian sausage. Margriet’s chicken was actually half of a whole chicken. She ate about half of it and the rest, along with the spaghetti, we brought home. Everything was homemade, in house, even the pastas and breads. The whole 9 yards. The owner, Alice, came around to each table to make sure everything was OK. I think she is pushing 80 years old and still works every day apparently. Excellent place.

Our ride to Escanaba was kind of a wild goose chase. Before going we searched Social Security’s website to make sure we were doing the right thing. All of the criteria Margriet met. It said that she had to be a Permanent Resident, but it didn’t say that she had to be a Permanent Resident for five years. She has been a Permanent Resident for four years! So .... we wait one more year and try again. In the meantime, we need to continue the health insurance she now has. Probably will renew that today.

Yesterday, we also finally found a 20" gas range at a local Iron River appliance dealer. It costs nearly $150.00 less than we have found the “big box” stores could order for delivery who knows when. This also is a special order, but will be here next week. It is a brand I sold at the store. Then it was my “cheap” line, but very serviceable. We both liked the store, a Mom and Pop store. For me it reminded me much of my store, but with far less inventory on hand. So .... it shouldn’t be too long before there is the smell of fresh baked bread in the house. And one happy Old Norwegian at least.

On the return from Iron River, we stopped at a machining company to ask about buying a small Ford tractor to move snow around this winter. It really reminded me of a 21st century blacksmith shop. If this had been 1900, it would have had an anvil, forge, and horses being shod. It has been there a very long time and I don’t think the floor had been swept more than a dozen times. It reminded me of a couple of places I frequented while I was in college and building race cars. Eli had a couple pieces of computer controlled equipment, but most was the old-fashioned kind that an operator needs to know what he is doing to use. From what I saw, his business has many different types of jobs going and all with excellent quality of craftsmanship just as Jeff, the realtor, said he did. Eli and I had a really good chat about many things for some time. Cool eh?

The upshot of the visit is that he does have a Ford tractor that I am looking for, but it was at his son’s house. Apparently the son said it just quit, so left it sit. Eli said he would get it in to the shop, find out what is the problem and repair it. He said usually it is nothing serious. At the moment it doesn’t have a bucket on it, but he would put one on. He apologized that it was rusty and didn’t look pretty. Told him I was interested in something that worked and ready to do work then look pretty. He did have one on his lot he completely restored as a “winter project” that really was pretty. Looked like it had just come out of the factory. If the tractor is a work machine, we probably will get it. Eli is quite the Eli!

I also opened an account at a bank in Crystal Falls yesterday (we were busy yesterday). The bank is as friendly as the one in Kewaunee I have used for the past decade. Pleased with that. They pay more interest than the Kewaunee bank too! But not much. The head teller took care of me and offered to get my Social Security payments deposited there for me. Never thought the bank could do that, so was pleased to allow her to do so. The transfer takes some time, so will do this one step at a time. Next will be getting the insurance withdrawals to come out of the account too.

We have fog this morning and the weatherman says it is to get hot today, in the mid-80's. We have needed the heater to be turned on a couple of days this week. Some of the trees, mostly maples, are starting to change color already. I think it is mostly due to the dry weather, but it sure is early this year.

Monday afternoon, our internet stopped. The LAN was working solidly, but nothing else. Like we were sending/receiving messages and they would get to the antenna, but then could go no farther. Tried everything I could think of to reset the system, but nothing worked. Finally called Uplogon yesterday morning, thinking it was just a temporary situation. The tech told me a couple of things to do, which I had already done, plus one more. None of them worked. After calling him back with the bad news, an hour later the sun came out and the internet worked again. Emailed the tech to let him know. After we got back from Iron River, the service truck for Uplogon from Iron Mountain, followed us down the driveway. They sent two guys, who installed it, out to make sure everything was working correctly. It was, and they made sure that we would call them as soon as anything happened again. We will. Really didn’t expect that kind of service at all, but nice. We haven’t been able to get one of these out since Monday, so this is a bit long. Hope your eyeballs don’t fall out for the length.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><