Wreaths and Stones

I visited the veterans' cemetery today, Tuesday, and took my camera with.  This past weekend wreaths were placed at each veteran's headstone, about 5000 of them.  It makes for a pretty sight.

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Mary hustles about getting ready for this weekend's Christmas at our house.  The families will all be here, and we'll eat pretty good, I'm sure of that.  One of the daughter's-in-law received our lefse griddle, so we'll see how that turned out.  I'm hoping well!  She's from Barnesville, and there are a lot of potatoes around there to use in the recipe.

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It was announced that Lake Sakakawea is now frozen over, quite an early date.  Since we cross the river daily, we keep track of that ourselves.  There's still some open water but a lot of ice, too.  I don't know how the old pioneers risked crossing, but they did.

I found an interesting story.  Some German-Russian emigrants made their way into the Dakotas, coming first to Aberdeen as many of them did.  Traveling on to Wishek the man bought a team of horses and a hayrack for his family to ride.  Accompanying them was the widow of a cousin, a cousin who had died crossing the ocean.  They had heard many stories about the dangers of crossing the Missouri in the wintertime, and, also, about the Indians.  It so happened they crossed the river safely, and wouldn't you know it, came upon a family of Indians who gave them a place to stay overnight in their cabin.  On their way next morning the widow gave them the news she was pregnant and felt the first labor pains.  In the middle of this vast wilderness, they had to take care of matters themselves.  The man dug a  hole in the snow, tipped the hayrack on top of it, and spread the straw around for a bed.  When the horses laid down to sleep the rest of the family crawled between them for heat.  The widow gave birth in the middle of the night, and the next morning they were on their way again.

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It's been so darn cold already this winter.  The last couple of days it warmed some, but the weatherman says it's going to get cold again.  Some don't believe in global warming and point to the cold as proof.  But I go along with the scientists who say it is.  They study the vagaries of what we've been experiencing, and it all points to warming.  On a daily basis, I read the NPR website and an article caught my eye, titled "How Global Warming Works."  In 35 words this is what was said, "Earth transforms sunlight's visible light energy into infrared light energy, which leaves Earth slowly because it is absorbed by greenhouse gases.  When people produce greenhouse gases, energy leaves Earth even more slowly -- raising Earth's temperature."

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Ole gives Lena a new cell phone for Christmas. The next day she's at Wal-Mart and the phone rings. Ole is on the phone and asks her how she likes her new cell phone.
Lena replies, "Great Ole, but howda know I was at da Wal-Mart?!