From the archives 25 years ago…
We here up in da nort had a conversation da udder day bout da food we eat and what we’all call it.
Hot dish of course was the first of many discussions around the dinner, or supper table, whichever you prefer, but we’ll discuss that later.
It is hard for me to believe that many people don’t know what hot dish is.
Hot dish, of course, is a combination of all the leftovers from the past four days, all mixed together in a cake pan, along with hamburger and some sort of potatoes, whether it be hashbrowns or tater tots.

As I do every year, I try to critique the new foods which will be served at the Minnesota State Fair, which is less than one month away.
Two weeks ago the fair announced the 34 official new foods and seven new food vendors for the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

I know it has been a while since I have written, or duplicated, anything in this column space.
As we all know, it has been extremely busy the past month with city celebrations, which all had great turnouts!
With that being said, I have been presented the 12 commandments for seniors. Depending on who you ask, I am now a senior citizen at age 57. Others say it is 60 and yet others say it is 65. When I read these commandments, I realized I think I might qualify right now as a senior.
1. Talk to yourself. There are times you need an expert opinion.

The names, faces, and stories of all the people I’ve met and interviewed over the course of the last 20 years are flooding back to me as I sit down to write this column.
This will be my final column.
After almost two decades working as a writer for the local newspapers, I’ve decided it’s time for a career change.
Thank you to all of you who have welcomed me into your lives and homes and trusted me to share your stories. It has been an honor.

It’s science-fair season, and my fifth grader, Ellen, is testing if the width of a cat’s whiskers truly alerts them to whether or not they will fit through a hole.
Her project is titled: Whisker widths.
Fortunately, she has enough at-home test subjects with our three felines, Rocky, Honey, and Penelope.
Unfortunately, Ellen is a procrastinator, and cats don’t tend to cooperate.

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me… A Weight Watchers gift certificate.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me… A new camera bag.
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Some dye to turn my grey beard back to brown.
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… A Friday night without a sporting event.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… A remote car starter for those cold winter mornings and evenings.

For the past 11 years, my family has rented a cabin at Boyd Lodge near Cross Lake for one week every summer.
The crew of eight includes: my husband, two daughters, parents, brother, sister-inlaw, and myself.
We’ve been in the same cabin for 10 of the years.
Everyone knows which bed they will be in and how/ where to “properly” store our groceries for the week (and we know to make two batches of Chex mix).

I went to the refrigerator to grab the carrots, but I found a stew of stinky old, rotten vegetable goo in the bottom of the crisper drawer.
After emptying the drawer, discarding the bad produce, and washing the good veggies, I opened the under-the-sink cabinet to grab the cleaner to clean the drawer.
I found the cleaner sitting in a puddle of water, so I had to take everything out of the under-the-sink cabinet so I could wipe it dry and look for the leak.

We officially have a teenager. Our elder daughter, Anna, recently turned 13. Being the smart young lady she is, she strategically planned her friend party—a sleepover campout in our backyard—during the week her little sister, Ellen, was at camp. It was the first of my kids’ birthday celebrations I didn’t plan. Anna took the reins of the party. She contacted her friends, made sure the campout date worked for everyone, and planned the entire shindig.

Minnesota is home to 14,000 lakes, 12,000 loons, 135,000 seasonal lake cabins and 3.9 million newspaper readers. Really?
Really. Every month, 86% of Minnesota adults read newspapers’ print and online issues, according to a new Minnesota Market Study conducted by Coda Ventures. The study measures media usage and purchase behavior of Minnesota adults across urban and rural zip codes (see full-page ad in this issue).

It’s the quietest week of the year—at least, at my house.
Our 10-year-old Ellen is off having the time of her life at summer camp.
She looks forward to the week-long adventure all year.
Not 10 minutes after I picked her up from Camp Omega last year, she spouted: “Mom, it’s the BEST place ever. I wish I could go for a month!”

What about them?
They are interesting, at least at the time you read them. And maybe even down the road when you bring up some of this useless information just for conversation sake.
I was rummaging through a book called The Best of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader and pulled out many facts which mean nothing to almost everyone, except me… for conversation sake that is.
These aren’t things you need to know, but maybe you can wow that person in your life who thinks he or she knows it all.
Here you go…

After two years of planning (and saving), we did it.
My family of four started summer break by rafting through the Grand Canyon.
It was awesome.
The wild Colorado River provided us days of rapids, laughter, excitement, physical challenges, and unforgettable family time.
After sleeping under the stars and cliff jumping, our 10-year-old daughter Ellen dubbed it as “the best trip ever!”
Our adventure began less than 24 hours after our girls’ school year ended with us on a plane heading to Las Vegas, Nevada.

My daughter Ellen’s fourth grade class just finished memorizing all 50 states and their capitals. We studied those darn things for weeks, using maps and homemade flashcards.
We’d quiz each other on road trips and while preparing dinner.
What’s the capital of Maine? Alaska? Oklahoma?
Where’s Carson City? Olympia?
For the few she struggled to remember, we made up silly sayings, like: “Sail ‘em (as in Salem) on in to Oregon!” and “Frank had too much KFC in Kentucky, so… Frank fort-ed.”

Every once in a while there is something posted on Facebook which I can’t go without reprinting in my column space.
There was a group of us sitting around talking about the “old days” and when I say that I mean the 1970s and 1980s. Those years don’t seem that long ago, until you actually do the math and realize how far back it really was.
Being in my mid-50s the 70s and 80s were school and college days.

I rarely see a few of my neighbors, but for some reason, when I do encounter those certain few, I look like a crazy woman.
Take last Sunday, for example.
One of those rare neighbors walked down his driveway just as I was carrying a big, dead bloody opossum down the road on the top of a board with my children following me, funeral- procession style.
I wanted to hide. I looked ridiculous, but instead, I smiled in my neighbor’s direction and informed him that we were going to bury the creature.