Tuesday, June 10, 2008

"IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT . . . "

No kidding! In the middle of the night a ferocious wind came up and it poured rain. The wind continued longer than the rain. Nellie whined at the door until she gained the reassurance of her master that she really should stay in her doghouse. This morning we listened to KRLC for a while and heard that it was snowing on the Palouse. Good thing school is out or Auntie Chris would be teaching until July! It was also spitting a few flakes here at 40 degrees. I spent a little while reading my Great-Grandfather Dickson's diary of 1897 when he lived here on Russell Ridge as a homesteader. It was a cold spring that year, too. He mentioned snow on June 17 -- also significant frosts during the month of June.

We rode the 4-wheeler over to the cemetery yesterday. Mike checked out a cache he has hidden there just to be sure it's dry and okay. It was. I checked out the family monuments. Grandma Lucy's is tipping badly and we will see about repairing it. I also discovered that Aunt Bernice, Uncle Earle's wife, was born in November of 1900, so she was 25 the summer they went to yellowstone. I remember her as old; she died when she was my age now. That storm we could see to the south was suddenly a storm right where we were. We flew back to the farm, stopping occasionally under shelter to wait for Nellie.

The day seemed made for meatloaf, so that's what we're having with sides of broccoli and mashed potatoes and an impossible coconut pie for dessert.

3 comments:

Hallie said...

I made baked ziti with a spinach green salad and pear vinaigrette. It was TASTY! Tonight I plan to make pork chops in a soy/ginger/honey marinade with mashed potatoes and asparagus. I've been enjoying asparagus cooked in a frying pan with butter and then salted.

Anonymous said...

what day in Novermer pray tell, for it would be quite something if it happened to be the third. What makes a day a meatloaf day? And your really should digitise those old diarys even if sombody has to be paid to do it.

Kathy said...

I don't think Bernice's birthday was Nov. 3. Seems like it was later in the month. A meatloaf day is a dark and rainy day when your house is cold and baking something for a while will help to warm it. And I hadn't thought about digitizing the old diaries. I had thought of transcribing them -- unless I discover it has already been done. It is a good idea to digitize these documents, though, but I would like to do it myself if I knew more about it and had the equipment. KW