Well!!!!!guess what.....I'm trying to join .....after maybe a year....to add news to my barn blog

effort!!!!

anyone attempting to learn whether or not the barn is in use......

usually finds the info non existing

But this time I do have another concert to tell you is on the schedule for

August 9  2:00

Marla's 5th

She has been to Norway this summer

and has news concerning an

assignment and opportunity regarding her music world.

She would likely share this along with her

upcoming concert

again in the barn at Volden Farm

DO PUT THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR

HOPE TO SEE YOU THEN

BYE FOR NOW 

fixing a lost post

How sad that this white box ran out of strength just as I had gotten started on a new blog in which I was busy describing the last event in the barn.  I halfway am waiting for those words to pop up 

any minute...esp as I see that my command to return to the middle of the page is

not working without my taking over.

Well, the concert with Marla and her rendition of Irving Berlin

was fabulous..too sad that we didn't get it on tape..I would watch

it and watch it again and again..she put history into the pauses

so that we learned much that we would not have heard before.

Beside those thoughts..I must add the tears that came into my eyes

as I had Jim in my" hearing - listening"  to 

all the songs we had loved

together for so many years.  How he would have loved

being part of the joy we all felt...so why don't we repeat it

NEXT YEAR

and the year after

now that is not a bad idea

Actually, the barn is a good space for acoustics! We must use it in other venues.

AND

Today is the first day of hunting season so I do a dinner tonight at 9:45 PM as I did last night.

And breakfast will at 9:45 AM tomorrow as it was this morning...seems that the white tails so far are a little too young...but Mike Harrison from Plynouth, MN has several more days in which to aim his bow and arrow (actually he only aims the arrow) so patience is required at this point.

I now have til Dec with here and there weeks of hosting ..and that means cooking plus!!

And I enjoy using the farm for this interesting purpose.

Looks like maybe I'll be shut off..so let me say quickly that after 2 months the healing is encouraging.

I'm doing all I can...icing...excercising..etc so that at some point i'll expect to say..."wow, I'm glad I got this new knee"

goodbye for now

So, here I am --------after six months !!

where have I been?

I AM still here in spite of a long silence due to.......

most recently a new knee...my leg is wrapped...up on a stool...3 wks into healing!

and before this...weddings on the farm...grandson Thomas and Katie joined May31...

and next .......granddaughter Danielle and Matthew joined on June 28'!  So...maybe you can believe 

my attention was drawn away from the usual, and more or less riveted to new projects in the barn.

Such as.... decorating with baloons of all sizes...stringing flickering lights over the dance floor as well as the pergola outside...setting up tents in fear of threatening weather...Dani asking dad Kevin to create an arbor from tree boughs under which to repeat vows...as well as another idea inspired by PINTEREST...a doorway on the prairie through which the 170 attendees would enter the wooded chapel.  I could go on ....let me rest with the assurance that results were positive ...even a bit enchanting. 

I do hope you are willing to interpret this word picture...like...spring and summer til now has disappeared into memories...planning...lace...flowers...food...hundreds of people storming the barn...best of all...for dancing til wee hours to music picked by the participants...as in the newlyweds.

NUF SAID?

NOW......Considering the future use of Volden Farm and its barn....there is a definite date.

AUGUST 10  3 PM

THE 4TH ANUUAL CONCERT BY MARLA FUGDERUD

FEATURING THE INESTIMABLE  IRVING BERLIN

AND HIS MUSIC

That promises to be kinda fun...don't you think?

Be here...choose the best of available seats...

tickets $15 ... under 12.. $5  

bye for today   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

IT IS AFTER MIDNIGHT

WE ARE STORMING WIND AND SNOW MIGHT BE COMING 

THRU WED NIGHT

PROBLEM IS A HUNTER IS DRIVING IN BY NOON ON

THURSDAY UNLESS WEATHER MAKES THAT

IMPOSSIBLE

WE'LL SEE

THIS WILL BE THE LAST OF DOZENS OF HUNTERS HERE IN THE BARN SINCE 

AUGUST

THEY HAVE TAKEN SOME NICE DEER

 AND MANY DUCKS---GUEESE---PHEASANT

AND GONE AWAY SAYING

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR

We did other things in the barn during summer

including the annual Marla concert

The Fuglestad Reunion

100 of us

A very big and fun BIRTHDAY PARTY for me on my 80th

again 100 strong

and now I should go to bed after only being home this noon from a week in VA with

Sophie (Fargo)

Ozzie (Chicago)

Bjorn (Harrison,Va

at my Lisa's house which I hadn't seen in the year since she moved there a

short distance from the place she rented for 13 years

both in Arlington

so good night

I'll be back

me

Can you believe that I am sitting at my computer

with a short addition

Forgive me that there has been an hiatis (sp)

of major proportions

since my last insertion in June

time has been

DIFFICULT

so just hang in

OK

??????

Thanksgiving for me and granddauhter Sophie will be in 

Virginia...where her mom and my daughter Lisa lives

I used to go there every year..but in the last

few

have not...so it's time

altho last Sun I did have a Thanksgiving with 17 others at the home (and 

Beaver Creek B&B)

of Kevin and Shelley Wold

their family with special "friends" is 16

some of which are 4 greatgrandchildren of mine

and the other grandma .

..thus the #18

Happy Thanksgiving

 to any who read this

Bye

and a good Sunday to you

this day has the sound of grass being cut 

no wonder as it grows inches by inches without let up

must share news of new 60" cutter which is making happy Greg

neighbor and faithful driver of said item

happier than before

did do fun workshop called...(after the fact)

English Paper Pieceing

our teacher came with samples books materials  such as proper needles

all kinds of cutters for quilting plus self healing boards 

upon which to cut using

also fancy measuring boards in

which

I have since invested

so when next to meet? I'm thinking Fri afternoons 1: - 5:

with break as needed for nourishment?

and we could even fit in 30 min for TaiChi?

or 2 workships at once..the barn is big..

let me know if you see this

next big event is another concert on Sat eve the 13th of July featuring the 3rd annual

Marla Fugderud     singing in English this year

will fill in name of accompanist soon 

do know he is a world traveler

hold your breath 

all for now

JoAnne

A Sampling of Workshops Held in the Barn

Pillow-making Workshop:

Placemat Weaving Workshop:

Basket-making Workshop:

Pottery Workshop:

Wreath-making Workshop:

Paper-making Workshop: 

Tai Chi Workshop:

PA system available for workshops:

Clavinova for Workshops:

Soon I will be back    Anna does  miracles  bye

This night is full of snow betwist the barn and me, so even though in the recent blog I mentioned that most probably the white world would be melted or nearly so, it is ever so much worse than it was when I described the little fellow from Kansas high on a snow mountain.  The only path I have had the vigor to shovel, is a short one to the cat domain.

Luckily my neighbor Jennifer is more vigorous than I and pulls on her very high boots in order 

to trudge all the way back to see what the chickens need and also to collect another half dozen eggs.

I am grateful and believe the nine hens and Champ the rooster are as well.

I can get out of the carport and down the road because neighbor Jim Miller dug me out last Monday after many inches fell and mightily blew in and around poor me and poor house.

However the heavy white stuff was too much for my tractor and he had to quit, which is why I can't get to my barn.  Just maybe my grandson Sam will ask for jump start and will drive up here from Valley City where he is in school so I can get some snow moved and even a couple other jobs like the stinky stuff in the coop scooped out and over the fence.  That would alleviate the heady feeling one gets from opening the door on these above freezing days. 

One day at a time is the game I play.

Last weekend my guests were a couple from Grand Forks who arranged sitters to care for their four children six and under, so they could recoup a bit.

There was another couple from Aberdeen, SD who were in similar need of R&R due to their work involving church youth by the dozens and counseling through county police work.

Once again I heard stories of other folks who live a day at a time.

My fireplace burned full time and made good use of the pile of wood stacked on the porch by the guys a couple weeks ago..It is not there now.  Only hours after they drove out of the circle I heard the howling wind that filled the monstrous piles of snow in and around us for the following 24 hours.

  This can't be April!  But it is.

Tomorrow?

I wait to see.

my best to you all

me

   

Almost Easter

Here goes some info from the BARN...

Do you know what snow mtns look like at the end of March? 

 I do

Nils age four climbed to the top the other day

and he was way up high

loved it....can't do this in Kansas

where he lives and where he returned to the next day

after a spin thru snow

 on a sled behind racing dogs

which he liked so much he asked if he could keep going

sure nuf 

hung on for another hour til his toes got pink

We were moving the white stuff in order to

make room for the cars that would be 

needing to park somewhere

forty folks were being delivered to the BARN for

the groom's dinner to be eaten

around tables decorated in pink and white for a wedding

next day

come to think of it we used the bride's colors for the groom's dinner

never mind

they're married now and will share more than colors 

fun fun fun

 music of all kinds  to make me happy using the great piano I told you

about last summer

BUT I think you've not heard about my Jim's TEAC tape to tape recorder

which we took to Rusisa in mid 70s

 for recreation

while we lived in the embassy in Moscow for two years

(taping borrowed LPs of pop ...Russian...whatever)

and which is hooked up for background or dancing or listening

so...I set up a few hours of Perry Como

who sings great love  songs

just for the mood I wanted that night

IN THE BARN

WELL  that's my say for tonight

Goodnight... til the snow melts and I have more to say

  

ideas chat

Hello everybody

this is me

and I just feel like connecting via this avenue

which looks kinda new for my blogging

experimenting is what I want to want

now it is time to mention the snow outside isn't it?

I followed the deer tracks all the way to the burning

barrels this early afternoon

and there were tracks also made by Shelley last week

when she was helping me get down and out 

the christmas tree from the music room

I'm leaving the snowman/winter tree until the snow is

gone for good

that tree is so cute it deserves to stay year round

except I'm afraid I need the space on the 

table in the library which is where it is

the workshop this Saturday afternoon is WWW which

translates - Wining (or whining) Women Writers -

should I just read few 2013 blog entries?

good idea since so far I've not written anything

but lists for months

we can cheat any choose to read any thing we like

if we dare

so...?

February is nearly gone

So here we go!

Hi everybody...do you all have inches or feet of snow?  Here around the farm

it's a combo...the paths to animals are inches...whoopee..and east side of barn is more

like feet...so I'm expecting that a month from now when we will be thinking

about parking for a groom's dinner...guess what would be nice?  less snow... and 

melting and warmer temps..altho today it got all the way up to 20 where it may stay

 for awhile.

This past paragraph doesn't sound like my usual banter... does it? More like the

coffee guys down at the Co-op or the Coach...

However..I care about as much as anyone that my getting in and out of this driveway

will be possible when the need arises...so that must mean that the 30 plus years I've

lived here have made their mark on me...

When grandson Oz was here at Christmas..he talked me into trying ads on facebook

and then he went back to Chicago..so for the times I'm being reminded by the 

powers involved that the weekly  words should be written.......he isn't here to make 

it clear to me...what to do when they say to me.."what do you want JoAnne"

YIKES...how do they know my name?   Hopefully ...soon the $100.00 bucks will be

 spent...and I will be at peace...Is there any way to quit facebook? ...today must

have been a hundred friends wanting whatever...even Ed Shaefer...what can I say?

except to "thank" Jonas who seems the instrument in quite a few of these total 

strangers only he knows...again I am flumoxed into another YIKES...

Since I've been awake since 4:00 AM...I will say goodnite  til soon when I might have

something to say..JoAnne

it is cold here - minus 20 for a couple days

with no snow last year

this covering of a few inches

feels more than enuf

do want the days to stretch longer 

a little more quickly than they have so far

not that I can do a thing about this

except 

wait and wait

but

have i forgotten my intention to make use of these

dark short days

my desk my garage my old basement have

been entered in my journal

to remind me

winter

is for making up the inner loss during summer

that is of course we cook and eat

inside

and the green green grass covered by playing 

kittens and kids

and me

go outside to the outer world

outer summer

inner winter

so

now i will this day throw papers in the trash

and i will file all papers to do with the death

of my brother ralph and even look for some

pictures of him

i will do this before the bright sunshine goes to California

where it is always an outer world

wish me luck - bye

Good Day To YOU   This is the first of the first of the new year   the last days have been full of family giving me help with the animals as well as ideas for the barn as pertains to this method of transmission   to you   from me   and I am so mizzable with illness that I have not successfully played Cribbage with g.s. Ozzie  meaning no wins   then in walked g.s.Thomas with whom I played a success  now I'm getting well   sort of 

We have put the barn with workshops on a 'Facebook page inc photos and  many better info possibilities for the year   for instance we have a new movie of "East of Eden',with Jane Seymour, coming   and the "Journals of writing The   Grapes of Wrath"  this with intention of getting started at last with Steinbeck in August   discussions in particular among all wildly addicted readers of JS

And since we now have the piano   there will be music in as many forms possible   along with return of Marla Fugderud in English   she says she will prove this July that Norse isn't her only singing language 

Oh   and yesterday we designed and ordered 500 brand new Business Cards

which I will pick up tomorrow   it's been a long time without   in fact 10 yrs   or in other words   since Jim died   I'm open to congratulations

Picking up   the parties mentioned last post went off as planned   the newly wed 12 12 12 couple were dutifully recognized with the intended tall goblets  raised to enjoy the glitter of diamonds too numerous for an easy count    music blended well  thanks to Thomas Anderson and guitar  once again warming us on a Chilly Winter Night   

I want to at last give news that in our barn we have not only now installed a needed PA system which will serve many purposes but also Jim's Teac from the 70s era and his self taped series made on bleak nights in our Embassy Apt  in Moscow USSR 1975-1977   these were taped using borrowed lp's from his troop's collections   and they are fun dancing background  

Nope   the Cats and Chickens are hungry and thirsty and without Ozzie today...so bye for now   enjoy FaceBook Page Likes  JoAbigail

              

Greetings in the spirit of the season
Guess what...the hunter shot his beast the first night, altho he lost it along with the arrow.  He and Ryan (guide), looked til it got too dark and then gave up.  They came in for supper, did some time in the barn with the TV and started again the next morn about 8:00.  Breakfast would be when they either found the deer or gave up trying.  Good news...when they came in to eat they had fould two halves of the arrow and a little blood and the deer.  It was gorgeous, except for the fact that all meat had been devoured by coyottes...though not the head or antlers.
Which meant that he went back to the cities that day, and will hope to come again next year with buddies.  This did give me more time and less complexity for the men's breakfast and the Christmas Party.
Will catch up on those events next time.......bye til then...Jo Abigail  a fun sign off???ok

Good evening to you. I saw somewhere a few minutes ago that I wrote the last blog two months ago. That is outrageous. If no one is even waiting for a new update, I won't be unhappy... I would also have given up the faintest possibility of another entry. And it is my ignorance which keeps me blind when I try to get into this white box... or it could be my stubbornness.

Enough!

So...the hunters were here the allotted three months, after which the barn gave up the deer decor, after which once again took on my decor. So at the moment Shelley and I have gone on the attack shoving old and new pieces around to new settings to set up for some gatherings in the coming days.

First on Saturday, some pastors and church boards, ten men altogether, will have breakfast downstairs in the barn at 9:00AM, and then continue their meeting upstairs, so I can get the kitchen and their table back into it's original mode.

Oh, and it was decided that another hunter could come on Thursday with bow and arrows to hunt. That means that he will use the house except for TV which I don't have in the house. Hunters like the sound of the hunting channel while they nap between hunts. So he will go without TV while the meeting is taking place. Right?

And next you see, we have been doing the Christmas thing with greens and ribbons for the same Company group numbering nearly 50 persons, who did their Christmas Party here last year. That is why the stuff that comes with hunting, can't fit into and onto the chairs and tables that are ready for white cloths and candles, so to speak.

Should life be this challenging?? and why?? Yes, is the word I so gladly use when possibly I shouldn't. If you can't make sense of this babble, never mind, the hunter leaves on Monday, unless he gets his deer. If that happens, he just ups and goes home. He comes in his own car, you see.

And in three days, the barn takes on another life. There will even be a newly married, (on 12-12-12), couple who will be honored by being seated at the new table from Belgium via Colorado Springs where a dealer had found it in Europe. It was made in the early 1800's. It is a pegged and not nailed, trestle, carved, specimen table, deserving of hosting a special couple for it's first job in it's new home... even if it's just a barn.

Now did you follow that? Just call me if you have any questions. You can tell I'm tired, so this is all... until next time... bye from me.

do hope this will be ok
have reason to wonder

sun is shining
lovlier than lately

barn is full of
men and their

goodly yummies
afternoon naps

planning the 5:oo
search for THE

one to take?
home or leave

maybe next year?

sign off..owner JW

What's new in the BARN----THE PIANO is

Here goes...I did just skip a heartbeat when I started this effort and a deep dark block of blue popped out at me..instead of these nice now normal white backed words...so maybe I did right by going over all the instructs AGAIN ...to get going...going...now here it is...

Marla's program of... Grieg's Life in his Composings... was as well... an intro of an electric gadget... like nothing in my reg life ...as in ordinary...til now life...called a PIANO--mind you a Yamaha--style  a C--L--A--R--O--N--O--V--A...I do hope I've spelled it right?..since I'm not in the barn where the new...cool instrument is standing...

The accompanist was David of UND Music who was one happy ivory tickler at that pretty nice surprise...I'd assured Marla that this time in my barn for her songs....I would have a piano for her...so a couple days before the 29th..this beauty was delivered...by no less than the owner of Scot's Music in Grand Forks...who wanted to see this ...OUT OF THE BOX BARN..

All very fun for me and my plans which may also need a piano...

Marla's concert two years ago in the barn when she sang her PHD Thesis consisting of Norway's Art Songs....she hauled up from Fargo a borrowed Keyboard with "rickety legs"...

This time I determinedly served up a professional touch...of which I was rightly proud...

I am very pleased to tell you that we filled the barn "haymow" with 70 plus appreciative folks...

And the next Sunday the barn hosted the Zion Church Picnic ending with a singalong ...who played with gusto? Pastor John who can spin any tune you can want to sing....want to let you imagine the sound of a Grand...that's what this piano can do...

Spread the word...let's use this PIANO BARN...OK

Sat I'll do a tour and lunch for a dozen ladies in the barn with a wedding night couple in the house...

and now i'm goin ta bed..see ya sooner than usual...since hunters start the 31st..four guys from Michigan...

Marla Fugderud Singing Event

Hey, just in case someone is reading this. I do have an event...

MARLA FUGDERUD WILL AGAIN SING IN THE BARN

SAVE JULY 29TH 2:00

And pray for cooler weather than today...ok?

Hi, I'm back after not being able to get through to this blog due to entanglements that even befuddled my grand daughter tonight.  This was the first time since Jan that we had an evening to spend on the problem.  Anna is a Web Designer at MN Monthly, so miracles she did perform..and I actually had to come up with a new password in order to literally separate my blog from the email she set up for me after Christmas last year.  

Now, what has been going on here at Volden Farm.  I'll start with last weekend. We had the International Farmers Convention, complete with a traveling Queen, who came with her husband from Alberta.  Her job is to cheer the pilots on (maybe).  Actually, she and her husband grilled the burgers on the barn terrace for the Chuck Wagon "thing" with beans  etc,, for the 40 plus who spent from Fri AM til Sun AM eating and fellowshipping and refreshing all the years they've been doing this.  Many are retired from farming, but most are still flying,  One of them from Dickenson who is around 90, flew his plane here...and he helpfully dished up the ice cream for everybody at the late eve ice cream social.  The menu was different the next night - it was Sirloin Rib Roast, salad, taters etc...again followed by the late ice cream social.

The music each eve was local: singing - guitar - sax - fiddle - very fun and all using my newly installed PA system.  Hear that .... you blues groups who regularly (ha) follow my blog.

They visited the Prairie Bilt Sleds across the road and that was, in the mind of the organizer, the highlight of the two days.  And the other visit was the Ronald Reagan Missile Site, otherwise known as Oscar Zero.

Of the 40, 12 stayed here at the B&B.  It was a fun time, these people have been a supportive group since just after WWII, and they love to be together.

This would have been totally daunting if not for Shelley being here two full days and some time before and after.  She is my daughter in law who lives about 40 min away. 

That was not all info you needed, but my conscience was nudging me to make up for lost time, I suspect.  Oh, I was asked to talk about MY flying husband and so I did.  As I returned to kitchen duty, one old guy said to me...boy, you're sure long winded....altho it seems, he was hard of hearing,

All done...I'll be back.

RAMP IS DONE

I want to tell everybody that our BARN is now wrapped in wood...at last a person can get upstairs without using either set of the fancy steps...we only have to know which downstairs door to go into and the which downstairs door to go out of in order to make a left turn starting up the gorgeous ramp...which turns on a nice platform after slowly rising to the north...to continue slowly rising to the west...turning again on a second platform and rising slowly to the south...at which point we are on the platform even with the workshop level...and at this point simply turn left and we have arrived...to find the place where the action might be happening!! Sounds crazy...but it is the truth...I've done it... This project was only finished last Thursday...during a week of perfect warm spring days...interrupted by coming into my kitchen table for a hot farm dinner to fuel the afternoon.. Kevin (son)...Zach (not his son ...but a recent worker added just in time for this work)... and another helper named Ivan...dug post holes...pounded nails...carried mixed cement... tamped the earth and made me happy...IT IS DONE...and I now invite anyone to come to the VOLDEN FARM WORKSHOP BARN !!! We still need to watch this blog for dates...but in June we will be doing Pit firing... after forming clay into desired or maybe even undesired shapes...and music looks promising The barn will host a few already scheduled event dinners so hopefully B&B and the barn will mesh well...could be the calendar will be needfully hanging round my neck... all for now...more later...bye from the lady of the ramp

I'll try again

Good evening  ..This will be short since I am 

trying to get these words I've written at least

two other times since Jan 2, I think, and cannot

 get them into my former format underneath my

 intro headliner photo of "my clouds".

Tonight I can't even get on email, so this is a 

bummer..big time..  Another sad thing about this 

new format is that my favorite blue is no longer

available.this blue is crappy..sorta sicklike

compared to the blue I've used for 4 years.

At least tonight I did figure out how to get 

the letters colored..even if I don't like the color.

Now you know that it has not been my choice

to be silent in this blog, it is that the new what

ever did it to me.

Good night, JoAnne - the non computer one

January Events

Well...I need to say something about the month we're in which is January...and just how I am with the past week or so...actually...the 20th and 21st... in and at Volden Farm...both the barn and the house...EVENT...14 board members to decide those kind of board things and around yet the tables set up semi-near the loaded hot wood stove in the barn upstairs...two had slept in the barn bunks and 7 in the house...and 6 at another residence about 10 miles away...at 7:am a kind board member started the wood stove and another plugged in 40 cups of coffee and put out the wake-up spread of Norse heart waffles and whipped cream and lingenberries...so that I could start coffee and fire up the wood in the Pit...(the lingo is the Conversation Pit in case you have not been to this house)...here in the house. There was supper around the house tables around 7: then out to barn for discussion..then sleep...and about 10:45...brunch...around the tables again (lingo...two 55 inch tables designed on wheels so they could become only one table)...in the house. All the while temps hovered above zero...8 degrees and patiently rising reasonably. Making our January turn OK...I'm not even going to proof this batch of words...cause it would make me sad...I like to be known for very clever writing and this will cause my rating s to plummet which is just not me Goodbye...hopefully February will have cheerier whar ever...JoAnne

Happy New Year

Well....hello...... this night of 2012!

I have just worked to write this..for at least an hour.

I guess the reason has quite a lot to do with Google.

My granddaughter tried to help me with some of the MAC difficulties with which I suffer so mightily and the changes that created for me are nigh unto insurmountable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't find how to get my blue ink or my favorite font for one thing...but the most stupid response when I put in my address...is that when I do that... they say I can't use it because it is already being used...of course it is and has been for nearly 5 years.  

The other question I can't get the answer to is the constant use of 3 letters..and I'm terrified to use them on this page ...maybe the computer will blow up in my face...but here goes...URL...I'm still here... hi.. I do not know nor have I ever needed to know what they mean...

You see, I've been enlisted in gmail...and it looks like Google is quite insistant that they control my Blog...

My brain has been wiped out as far as my barn is concerned...I better go look out the window to see if it is still there...so that is that...now is the time for all good men to go ,\...blah..blah...goodbye...I am thoroughly exhausted and wonder if I'll ever again be able to return to blogging again...I did find this nearly invisible block of words that let me do this much...and I sincerely fear I will never see it from this moment onward...

Have a good year in case you don't hear from me...JoAnne and all 12 cats and 10 chickens and 3 fish.... as well as a possible mouse even though I've.killed 5 now in the basement...2 are still in their sticky traps so when I stop this mickey mouse diatribe I will go with a plastic grocery bag and pick them up from the floor to burn them ....yippee...

Oh..I could mention that Christmas was filled with all the better things than I've reported...best beings 3 great grandchildren named...3yr Kaj Delys Naujokas...8mo Ona Volden Naujokas...14mo Reese Abigail Roeder...I trimmed the tree with only 2 of my collections..those being angels and snowmen...and it was placed to we could walk around it and sing Away in the Manger...Norwegian style...

..finally,..you can smile...and so will I with love in my heart that doesn't believe my Jesus had anything to do with computers...he came to earth for the best reason having to do with the peace that will come to me when I close this down and go get those mice..goodbye

Hello this evening of November without snow, but that is all I will say about the white stuff. I've just come home from WWW where we bring to each other (4 0f us) what we have written, since we are Whining Women Writers. Best thing is that if we fail to do it we are in trouble, so we do it. We write. and it is fun. Pretty big stretch from cooking for hunters. The feed back is what I like. I guess it's called editing. Today was a push for me

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In the past months I've bought some art which tells me about change and progress and green power. One piece hangs at the end of the barn alleyway framed by a Russian window we brought home with us from Moscow in 1977. The Chinese artist painted his play ground as a child in his village in China. The scene is his alleyway lined with very very old houses featuring crumbling corbels, dark corners and a wondrous ice blue sky persuading you that just behind that row is a yellow sun. The reason I needed to have it is the electric lines cutting across at an angle toward ancient insulators across and higher than anyone walking or riding his bike along that narrow path/road would find as a nuisance.

I wondered if that change was one or two generations ago. And how did that power represented, change the lives in that alleyway.

Enough already. This paragraph lets you think about the possible subject of what I wrote, and read today at WWW.

Hunters are finished. Many happy guys left with their treasured deer pheasant or duck. And full stomachs from the table scape.

come back for the rest of the story...til then...JoAnne

Here I am with the weeks behind me which I had such great hopes for as far as getting into starting the plan for next year's schedule...meaning this is now October 14...and my brain works overtime with not a jot or tittle down on paper...

This winter will be serious business for 2012 starting in May and going until September 1 when hunting will probably get busy...

At this point I have had good luck with hunters enjoying the barn bunk rooms as well as having a few meals out in the "area for conferencing"...plus finding out how the kitchen works when we eat the birds and deer at suppertime...whenever that happens...and the terrace with grill is handy beyond any early dreams regarding food prep...in the barn...

By the way, you can get a good feeling about how the barn is looking with these few shots we got up on this spot...I have been to the Outer Banks with 9 of my family of near 30...at Kitty Hawk...we own at Duck...Barrier Island Station...but didn't reserve it early enuf to be able to stay there...traded thru RCI for a couple units down the road...but we could still use the sand and sea at our regular place...SO...while there with my computer some grandchild...entered photos for me...oh if I could only become a techy...

And that was 9-17-thru 9-25...with daughter Lisa & her Bjorn...Thomas Vigesaa...daughter Holly's boy...daughter in law Shelley with her Danielle & Kate & Nick & 3yr old Kaj & 5mo old Ona...meaning 4 generations at the... Time Share... Jim and I bought in 1987...felt satisfying to watch the little guy take on the "Wold Spirit" for our special world...son Kevin wasn't able to take a week off since he broke a foot and couldn't work back a couple months ago...so needed to make up for lost time...by staing home and letting Danielle go in his slot...

I walked in my door 7:30 PM Sunday night and greeted hunters the next day at 1:00 PM...seems the story of my life when I turn away from the daily duties during the Fall Hunting Lodge atmosphere...if the work were not so interesting...I'd give a second thought to being so tied down...truth is I love it...one Fall there were men from 15 states ...Maine to Florida to Arizona to Washington to Pennsylvania along with states between...

And this IS to do with the barn...now a lodge filled with boots and occasional mud and so forth...it's suits me to cook and clean and learn new ways of life at the same time...just a workshop for us all...

Still look into locating Wind Tower Makers with hopes they would be interested in sleeping with the throbing blades just outside their door for a couple nights...and a candlelight dinner within sight of over 50 of the PRAIRIE DASIES... as some call them...

Did I catch you up a little for Sept and Oct...????? bye for now...JoAnne

August already?

How did that happen?

Do you suppose the spat I've had with this white box had any influence?

Yes - could be - so it's been to the doctor but there isn't much change that I am able to notice - except that now I can send emails. Could that make my work more smooth and caring and acceptable? We'll see now.

June is the first catchup month: we had a noteworthy event which kickstarted the sodding of black weedy areas following installation of septic digging - not ignoring the terrace and pergola edged with thousands of pounds of 1903 rock barn foundation which Kevin's fork lift resurrected down the hill where no doubt it expected to remain forever after a 1978 remodel of said barn-(feel free to reread that last bit)

THE event was a WEDDING out in the TREE FARM! do trust that Jim was looking on - noting 100 chair backs beribboned in white gauzey covers - as four no longer usable church-window frames of gothic vintage found use once again as an altar - background for tuxedos and gowns and 100 humongous white/ivory ROSES blending into white lilacs - stately pines - oaks - gentle new-green walnut trees - crowned by a commanding spire of tamarack.

At this point I choose to tell you that this tree farm was where we sprinkled our Jim the fighter pilot's ashes 8 years before. Uncountable Joy was palpable in this blessed hour. Prayer for at least a day without rain was more than answered. A few days later the mother of the groom stopped by and we shed a couple thankful tears that our perfect day was miraculous - framed by two rainy windy cold days - smile!

July: a month full of kitties and B&B families with lots of kitty loving kids - helping the effort of find homes for "nice" kittens. Are you listening? - and the bunk rooms in the barn are getting raves - for which I'm feeling smug - plus grateful - even added an extra 5th place to sleep for a grandparents with three little ones who all wanted to stay a few days in the barn -

AND - Finklestein came home to roost - my stuffed favorite pantaloon festooned rooster who died inexplicably during feeding one deeply frozen day last January - which I wrapped in plastic and a box and in a wheelbarrow highly heaped with snow til Spring when we moved him to the freezer to await news of having found a taxidermist who would be "anxious" to try dealing with this chicken - now it's a done deal and I picked him up in Fargo and he's busy finding the right spot to show off - in the barn - at this moment he's moved from the highchair to the shelf where we pass through the food - interesting? come meet him.

August: more folks with kids - so all the farm animals are parading - even the cows and calves who rent the pasture seem to know their duty is to be part of the action - and at this point to mention the windtowers is okay - the 55 or so pinwheels have settled into being the local interstate on my formerly quiet prairie -

Some day I'll become proficient enough to add wonderful photos to this effort. Meantime just use your imagination - please - or better yet come to see for yourself.

It's paasst bedtime - g'nite - good wishes - JoAnne

I have good news for us all.. together.. this last day of May in the year of our effort 2011..especially that of son Kevin and lifemate Shelley as they placed a final touch.. with humongous rocks and chunks of old 1903 barn foundation sections which weighed down the FORKLIFT big time..leaving  grooves not so groovy in my green soggy rain gooped green grass..forgive me those of you who will attend the wedding held near this sod in only a few gulp .."days"..(I'm weak at this mental picture)..

The final touch I refer to is to the east of the cedar terrace under a covering pergola of commanding invitation to gatherings of friendly folk from this day forward....pure joy to have accomplished disguise of a mindful extent when considering the 59 pinwheels already diagnosed in previous notings...yes?  As we open the kitchen door to walk out onto the new structure..there is a tipped on end old corral gate rescued from the refuse pile..through which the monoliths attempt be noticed ..talk about laughing at their proverbial spinnings...a great guffah rises to them..

Effort accomplished..a dream beginning.. to hold an energy conference in the face of  such bravado..for our investigative decision makers..where else such opportunity..spread the word of this merging of situation..call for a reserved bunk and the sense of "hearing traffic "on the once alonely.. still.. prairie.. 

I, JoAnne of Volden Farm  will await a speculative query ..may we arrange a time?  701-769-2275..

with a smile..bye for now

How in the world did it get to be April?  And could it be that before May comes the snow will be gone and the ground soft enough to dig up all the shrubs and trees that the 39 deer living and sleeping right outside my window literally ate to the nub for breakfast.  You see they knew this was a Bed and Breakfast.  And so now "we"--who?  -- need to plant trees and shrubs with green on them.  You see, on the 11th of June we plan on having a wedding at Volden Farm.  You see, it needs to be looking nice for such an illustrious event.  How I wonder as I look around, begin raking where there is no snow-- the muck of what happens during the long months down under, can it possibly be a green world by June.  That is when faith comes by and sort of reminds me that it does--every year.  You see, it just doesn't seem possible.  And where there was snow yesterday, there is mud today.  Boots heavy with mud are lined up on the porch of this northerly wooden ancient looking " Russian Dacha "--proving what I say is true.

Come see for yourself if you are brave enough.  O my.  Wonder of Wonders. And I should be finishing taxes and writing dates and plans for the almost finished barn.  Some  alleyway interior finish work and some painting of 5 small windows to be installed for the exterior and hopefully a ramp and smoothing out the piled up dirt from winters labors--bathroom, kitchen, and bunkrooms having been completed.

Lots of fun surprises in this space used for horses and cats and straw and hay and all the stuff under foot that is gone...GONE  Twenty five years of that life..and POOF...no more.  Now it's paintings and candles and MOOD.  And comfy chairs and techy ways to bring the big screen to us.  I am one excited woman.  Do think about what you need this barn to do for you

Cold War..Russian History..Quilting...Reading out loud..head busting discussions...best of all a week of music every night..Conferencing Energy Issues with the Luverne Wind farm RIGHT OUTSIDE the windows.  And John Steinbeck..he is stored on his very own bookshelf..upstairs just waiting to worm around in our brains..

Enough...back to taxes...gobs of good dreams to all of you...JoAnne...bye