Summer's coming to an end

The lazy days of summer are coming to an end. Not that I've been lazy, mind you.  Just had a different focus for the past few weeks.  Spent several days trying to watch movies on the TV. Invariably, fell asleep from the strain of trying to hold my head tilted just so to keep my glasses perched on the end of my nose. This awkward position enabled me to see the screen for a few minutes, then I'd wake up in time to put the next movie on.  Four days of this constantly adjusting either my head or my glasses gave me another ache to consider.  My neck and shoulders were the cause of a tension headache bordering on a migraine.  When my niece suggested that I go to her house, I didn't hesitate. Her living room is arranged so that I could lay on the couch in a position to see the screen without straining.  Thankful for doctors, antibiotics and family for the support the past few weeks.

The doc told me she was seeing a lot of infections more common to "Indian summer" which left me in a little bit of confusion.  Then, she corrected herself just as I figured out she meant "Dog Days" which led to me explaining what "Indian summer" was while reassuring her I wasn't offended.  Political correctness...hmm.  There have been major storms since July 4th in northeastern MN and Duluth was flooded. I live a hundred miles from there and we didn't get the amount of rain they got.  There were two windstorms which explains why I got hit with an infection.  All those spores being unearthed and then blown around.  Think that'll teach me to hop around on the edge of a tornado trying to get a picture of the trees bent half over without being broken?

without filtering

with filtering

All I was trying to do was get a picture of the kind of storms I remembered being in when I was a child.  All I succeeded in was getting myself sick and getting my son worried when he saw the pics I posted which weren't even close to what I was trying to capture.  The treetops were much closer to the ground.  A lot of the dead trees had snapped.  Fortunately, my brother had cut down the ones around our house, so we only had twigs and short sticks in our yard when the storm was over.

For the next couple weeks, crews were around cutting down dead trees, cutting up the trees that were already down and clearing up deadfall. We didn't get a flood exactly, as the water quickly washed down and went where ever the drains go. Any mud left dried up exactly where it lay and spores were free to blow where they may.  Some people catch every little thing, some don't and some, like me, catch a doozy every so often.

Then, when almost done recuperating from this little incident, I had my nose in a book while walking down to the gov't center.  "Drive the car" was in my mind twice but noooo....Hah, my father's voice immediately popped into my head "Get your nose out of that book" but of course, it was too late.  I had already mis-stepped, flung myself off the foot that was twisting under me and landed on the pavement.  I dreaded to look at my knees, my hands and my foot.  Course the loud snap similar to cracking your knuckles didn't do anything to alleviate my dread.

Upon close examination of the affected areas and no pain, I got up,dusted myself off and continued on my journey to the center. Now, anyone knows that sometimes, the pain doesn't hit because the area has been temporarily pain deadened.  I got a ride home as my ankle was swelling along with pain awakening in my leg.  Got home and again laid on the couch watching TV for the rest of the day.  Got the ankle and foot xrayed the next day just to make sure.  Since I already had painkillers from the first incident, I didn't have to get any more, just ice packs for one and heat packs for the other.

Naturally, our annual percap is being distributed and now, I will need to use extra care and caution when traveling about spending this yearly amount.  Well, one good thing, I may use a little more care with the expensive electronic reader because it's more apt to be broken than a paperback or hardcover. Cause my father's voice is easily ignored when there's an exciting part in the book.

Ricing time. Yay.

Sunday Morning Coming Down-Johnny Cash. That just popped up on the page. So now, I'm listening to his songs. Yep, you guessed it. Memory lane. Teehee.

Watching family members switch off when we parched rice, listening to music. County music mostly, some gospel, very little rock. Having to make sure there were enough batteries until we thought to use an extension cord.

This picture is from the eighties. I'm glad the smoke moved from me. I heard the saying that smoke goes to the prettiest one. It's how we were encouraged to keep working. At this point, the rice is almost ready to take off the fire to be cooled and packed for thrashing. That's how it was-thrashing. In the old days, the rice was put in a hole in the ground lined with leather and the lightest person had to jig it. That's where the term came from. The person thrashed around to make sure the hulls were cracked. From there it was transferred to winnowing baskets made out of birchbark. Fanning was best done on windy days. Luckily, there were people in the village who made thrashing machines that halved the work for us.

Food tasted better after we were done working. Seeing people with food was the signal that we were almost done. The amount of rice harvested during the day was usually parched that day. Occasionally, it was spread out to dry when we couldn't get to it right away. There wasn't time during the season to let it sit in the bags til we were done on the lake. It had to be parched within 2-3 days. Once it's parched, it could wait days until it was thrashed.

My mom said that in the old days, they used to go get the rice even after the lake froze. I thought about walking through the snow to the rice beds. I'm glad we don't have to do that anymore. It finally dawned on me that they cleared a path and used sleds to bring it back. Duh.

Ricing starts 07 Sep 2011 from 10-4. Can only go from the Island down to Woodduck. Hope everyone's ready who's going to be ricing. I may try one or two days, if I can sweet talk my son into letting me go.

Carol's Little World: How to Make Your Very Own Movie

I've always wanted to take the time to do this.  It's fairly simple the way she explains the process.  I will be trying this in the next few days.  I have a lot of shots I've taken recently.  Hmmm.
Carol's Little World: How to Make Your Very Own Movie