Turn Out The Lights.....The Party's Over

Today was the "end of an era" - the last dance for our square dance club, the Waubun Rising Sun Dancers.  (Waubun is the Ojibwe word for 'rising sun').  Because of dwindling membership we can no longer sustain our club.  This is kind of the story everywhere in the nation, except for possibly the southwest and parts of the south.  Square dancing is the original American folk dance, dating back to the late 1700's.   During the 1800's it became really popular with barn dances, and modern square dancing really exploded in popularity during the 40's, 50's and early 60's.  But square dancing is dying out now because of many factors:  today's society has no time, isn't into sociability and clubs, movies, computer pursuits,  and video games are more exciting, and to some extent the media has made square dancing seem a little too "hokey" for today's world.  Young folks aren't getting interested in it, and so as the old timers die out, so do most of the square dance clubs.
     This is a pity because square dancing is fun, good exercise, and a clean family activity.  There is a code of ethics in square dancing of no drinking, no smoking, no swearing, and modesty and courtesy at all times.   Dances are usually held at schools, church halls, or community centers (with plenty of lighting at all times!)  Most families think of sporting events as a family thing to do, but a person probably sees and hears more cussing and immodesty and drinking at a typical sports event than anything at a typical square dance!  Square dancing isn't really "dancing" per se, but more like walking to called, coordinated moves.  There are about 180 basic commands and moves in square dance and these are repeated in various patterns with 4 couples to a square.  Square dancing is based on the old fashioned courteous and friendly behavior, and  country hospitality.   Women are "ladies" and men are "gents".   The men must wear long sleeved shirts (no bare skin), and ladies are encouraged to wear square dance attire, which can be as frilly and fancy as one desires.  Colorful skirts and petticoats and lots of frills and lace make for a very feminine appearance.   In later years, the dress code has been greatly relaxed, and a dancer can wear jeans or slacks or long prairie skirts.
     I got involved with square dancing in 1997 towards the end of that year, and joined the Riverboat Reelers of Aitkin Mn back then.   I originally got involved with square dance because I loved the outfits so much, but I was also wanting to meet some new friends.   When I met Harold in 2003, he wanted to learn square dancing, too, and took lessons with the Brainerd Ray's Promenaders.  When we got married, we joined the Waubun Rising Sun Dancers.   Our square dance friends have been very supportive through many tough times and have also helped us financially when the going was rough during Harold's initial cancer diagnosis.  Most square dancers are deeply Christian and we have made some lifelong friends throughout the state.
     We will miss our club, but there are a couple other clubs still around that we can go to - just a little longer drive.  Here are some photos from this afternoon in Waubun:

Some of the colorful dancers

Today's caller was Roger Leuth

Our club leader, Sheri Z, who always sets things up, does the club paperwork, and makes coffee. 

We did have one young dancer today! (That's his Mom coming to meet him)

A full dance floor of 5 squares.

Yours truly and Harold taking a break 

The lady in the black dress on the left is 95 yrs old!

Instead of our usual snacks, today we had free pizza. 

Just a few of some of my colorful dance dresses

And so, goodnight.....good-bye.....turn out the lights.......the party's over........

Storm damage

We had some very high straight winds yesterday, and especially so in the evening and night - gusts of 50 -60 mph and more.  Shortly after supper we heard a big sound on the roof and saw some roof shingles laying on the ground.   Harold got up on the ladder and on the roof (yes, in the wind!) and took a board up there and used screws to hold the weak spot in place.  About an hour later, we heard more shingles ripping.  All night long we heard our roof shingles going away in pieces while the fierce winds raged on.   Then the rain started.   We woke up to this:

A big section of our roof shingles are gone.

Upon inspection this morning, it looks like one corner, the southeast corner of the roof, is bare of shingles.   We are guessing that one corner might have been a little loose, and then pretty soon the whole corner went, piece by piece.  The tar paper is still there.  So, it looks like we have to do some roof repair asap!  We don't need this, ya know?  I'm sure Harold can get someone to help him fix things.  We can't afford to hire anyone. 
     Update:  After looking things over today, it might be worse than we figured on.  There are shingles all over the yard, not just what is pictured here.   Now we need to make a decision about whether to repair, or to replace the whole roof. Whether we replace with shingles or metal, we're talking big $$$$$$.

Spring is Truly Here

All our snow is gone!   Even the lakes are starting to thaw a little around the edges.  Yesterday it got to 73 degrees.  Everyone was crazy outside, enjoying the grand weather.   Today wasn't bad either.   I washed my car - probably a waste of time since we are in the midst of the mud season - but it rained hard last night and even though most of the car got clean, the bottom was still completely muddy.   At least I got the winter salt and sand washed off.  Poor little Toyota Echo has 206,000 miles on it, hail damage, a broken headlight from hitting a deer this winter, a hood dent from the same deer, and rust spots all over.  My "new" car has now achieved beater status.  It is still the newest car we own.
     Harold got out the new lawn mower and put the mower deck on it, and checked everything over.  Probably a little early for that, but it felt good to dream about using the new mower on tall green grass anyway.
     The chickens have been running around the yard for a while now.    For some reason today they were very camera-shy, but I took a photo of most of them anyway.

The 'girls' were very afraid of the camera today!

I learned something new today!  While walking in the woods I took a photo of this bunch of fungus mushrooms growing on a stump.   According to the internet and my field guide book, these are called Coreolis Versicolor  Supposedly they show some potential for fighting certain types of cancer, and have been used for a while in Asian medicine for that purpose.   The American Cancer Society has not approved of this use yet, but they admit that in certain trials, extracts from this mushroom do seem to prevent certain cancer cell growth for breast, lung and intestinal cancers.   It's an interesting concept to think that there is a cure for cancer in my back yard, but.......I'll wait for further tests.  Here is what it looks like:

This fungus grows everywhere in our woods. 

Remember the photos I posted a while back of the "Beautiful Northwoods"?  Well, here is what it looks like today - no more snow, the trails are clear and ready for a springtime hike!  And no ticks yet!  No mosquitoes either!

Not real pretty yet, but soon there will be green leaves and wildflowers. 

I miss our horses.  About this time of year they always loved walking around the pasture and rolling around on the warm grass after a long winter.   I took a walk in the pasture today - the only thing there now is the "old farm machinery graveyard".  I think every old farmstead has a field full of this kind of stuff - a picturesque memory of days gone by.........

Vintage horse drawn machinery

And finally, here is one of our lakes, just about ready to ice out.  Maybe in a couple more weeks, the ice will be gone and the geese and the trumpeter swans will be back.  Maybe the loons, too.

The lake is already melting around the edges.  Very quiet now until the birds come back. 

How wonderful to know that we survived another long winter, spring is here, and the promise of new growth is just around the corner!

Has The Never Ending Winter Ended??

We are thinking that "spring has finally sprung" up here!  Today it's supposed to get to 50 degrees!  And check out the extended forecast for the week:

Tomorrow Apr 8 Wednesday Apr 9 Thursday Apr 10 Friday Apr 11 Saturday Apr 12 Partly Cloudy Mostly Sunny Mostly Sunny Partly Cloudy Showers Hi: 50° Lo: 36° Hi: 73° Lo: 36° Hi: 52° Lo: 32° Hi: 56° Lo: 40° Hi: 56° Lo: 26°
Look at Wednesday - high of 73?  Oh yeah...........that'll feel good!

Our snow has melted, too, for the most part.  Here's a photo I took a few minutes ago of the back yard:

********************************************************************************************* Almost no snow left!

The plants I started are coming along nicely, too.

I have even had to transplant some tomatoes already, and I started several trays of other veggies.

Yep - spring is here.