Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman

Knowing it was a possibility to travel through Pawhuska, Oklahoma, to visit the new Mercantile that nationally known Ree Drummond—The Pioneer Woman, New York Times bestselling author and TV personality—along with her husband, Ladd Drummond, opened late last year, my sister and I traveled north of Oklahoma City after touring the bombing site of the federal building. We had earlier made a hotel reservation in Pawhuska so that we could be in the little town early on Monday morning to have breakfast at the Mercantile.

On our way to Pawhuska, we began seeing oil wells and cattle ranches. It looked like a prosperous part of the country. I had Janet stop the car so I could take a picture of what we assumed was the entrance to the famous cook's ranch. We later learned this is actually the entrance to Ladd's brother's ranch but it is the sign that is shown on Ree's TV show as she leaves their ranch. The brothers' ranches butt up to each other.

The town of Pawhuska is in the Osage Indian Reservation and is small. In 2013 the population was recorded as 3,666. It is the county seat of Osage County. After checking into our hotel, we drove around the little town. I was surprised at how many beautiful buildings in the town were owned by the Osage Indians. We learned that the Osage people get a check every three months from the oil companies. I was happy about that, since we had seen what appeared to be poor Indian communities in both Arizona and New Mexico. Driving around on Sunday, we saw some of their senior citizen homes, their school, and court house. It was fascinating!

Monday morning we woke to a light rain. We got dressed, checked out of our hotel, and drove a few blocks to the Mercantile.

 Janet at our table

Neat menu, cloth napkins, and Mason water jar

This is the original wall that was exposed during the renovation of the 100 year old building. 

We ordered the Farmer's Breakfast: two eggs, sausage patty, ham, bacon, American fried potatoes and cherry tomatoes, plus a homemade baking biscuit and homemade jam.

After eating our breakfast, we did a little shopping in the Mercantile. I was impressed by the high quality of everything: the window lettering, the big doors leading into the store, the wooden floors, the way the clerks and waitresses dressed, the ladies rest room (toilet paper, paper towels, courtesy hand lotion, the frosted door) and the items to purchase. There were beautiful crystal chandeliers in part of the store!

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I nearly bought four of these picnic plates but put them back, remembering all of the dishes I have back at home. They look like paper plates—complete with the texture—but were actually hard plastic. I thought they would have been fun to use on my porch.

Next I spotted a leather coin purse and bought it for my souvenir. I was impressed that the clerk wrapped it in black tissue paper before putting it in the pretty shopping bag (standard procedure!).

After making my "big" purchase, I walked upstairs to the bakery. Oh, my! There were beautiful choices!

I bought two cookies and started walking to the staircase to make my way to my sister. Coming up from the bottom of the staircase was Ree's son, Bryce. I recognized him right away (from the TV program) and said, "Oh, my! May I shake your hand?" He was so kind and put out his hand and shook mine. And then . . . behind him came his sister, Paige! "Well, now I need a photo with both of you. Do you mind?" "Not at all," she replied. We walked up to the bakery floor and she used my camera to take a "selfie" of the three of us. (Yes, I am standing! These young people are so much taller than I am.) I asked them why they weren't in school and they told me they are home schooled and were going into the office at the Mercantile to start their studies. Each of them was wearing a backpack. This was a thrill for me. They were so kind and polite. Paige asked me where I was from. When I told her, she told me she thought so because of my accent. Funny!

Oklahoma City

For several  years it has been on my bucket list to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. Heidi saw it when she had been to see it once when she was in Oklahoma City on business. She told me then that I must see it if I ever had the chance.

Driving back to Minnesota with my sister Janet, we planned our route so we could see this place. The day was a bit chilly and there was mist in the air as we drove up to the site. We parked the car and crossed the street to see this.

On April 19, 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was the target of a massive bombing that killed 168 people, including 19 children under the age of 6 who were in daycare there. On this day, Timothy McVeigh pulled up to the front of the building in a Ryder rental truck that was filled with fertilizer and diesel fuel. He parked it in front of the building and left it there, taking off in a rental car. The truck exploded at 9:02 and destroyed a third of the building as well as doing damage to many surrounding buildings. Here are other photos of the memorial.

In between the two walls that show the time of the blast is a reflective pool with gently moving water meant to bring solace to family members of the deceased and other visitors. For each person that perished, there is a personalized chair. The base is glass that is illuminated at night. The chairs are arranged in 9 rows, depicting the floor on which the person was killed. This is a very peaceful place.

After the blast, a lone American Elm tree still stood. Many of its branches had been torn away and some thought the tree should be removed, but there were those that wanted it to stay—a survivor of sorts. In these past 22 years the branches have flourished and now it is a beautiful remnant of what was. It's interesting to me that a lone oak tree also remained after the terrorists rammed commercial jets into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001.

 

Next to this memorial is a wonderfully planned museum filled with memorabilia from the bombing site and rooms with news reports from that day and the days that followed. In one such room, we sat in a board room replica of the Oklahoma Water Resources office that was kitty/corner of the federal building. We heard the actual recording of a procedure that had commenced at 9 AM, a routine hearing of a farmer requesting to bottle water for commercial purposes from the spring that flowed on his farm. The person holding the meeting was giving the parameters that would be followed when all of a sudden, at exactly 9:02, there was a huge blast and all of us in the room were shaken. It was the actual sound heard when the bomb went off. They said the bomb was felt 15 miles away!

In another room in the museum, the front axle from the rental truck was displayed. This piece of evidence was crucial in the arrest of McVeigh since the VIN number on the axle matched that of the VIN number on the rental slip of the rental truck.

The room that really got to me was that in which each of the 168 who perished are pictured. In each glass window, there is a personal memento of that person. For one of the children, there was a beany baby. For some of the adults, there were Bibles. In the window of one of the men was his pair of glasses.

Fun at Sunland Village East

I really enjoyed my two week stay at Sunland Village East with my sister and cousins Pat and Pudge. Every day the weather was really nice so it was great to be outdoors. Sometimes I simply went for a walk. Other times Janet and I went on an errand or shopped a bit.

During the first week I discovered a mourning dove sitting on a nest in the neighbor's patio. Each time I walked past the nest, I made sure I greeted the mama. It may have been the daddy, but I preferred to call it mama. One day I saw some little heads sticking up near the mama's breast. One afternoon we watched the other parent fly in for a change of command. They were still there on the day we left, so I told them good-bye and wished them a nice summer.

This is yours truly with new friend Joan.

Pat and I managed to go to the pool four mornings for water aerobics. It was so much fun and the other women were so friendly. After our session we would sit in the hot tub for a little while.

On Sunday morning we went to church and saw our good friends John and Judy Otto. Judy's dad was our minister when we were growing up so I feel especially close to her. A couple of days later other friends from our youth group at church invited us over for lunch.

L to R: Jo Anne, Wayne, Janet, John, yours truly, Sonja, Judy

Here are some photos that show my sister's condo.

The flowers around the village were gorgeous!

L to R: Pat, Pudge, Janet

One night I went out for pizza with high school friends, Dick and Kaaren Wuertz. They own a home in Sunland Village East, too, and during the evening they drove me past the homes of three other people who graduated with us. Small world! I have known Dick since kindergarten.

(I took this photo of Dick and Kaaren off the Internet.)

Mount Lemmon

Our dear friend, Sonja, lives about 20 miles south of my cousin Pat's condo in Arizona and she loves taking friends on trips around Arizona and nearby states. During my visit this year, she drove my sister and me to Mount Lemmon which is east of Tuscan. It was a gorgeous day and the desert was full of beautiful yellow brittlebrush. During the drive we kept gaining altitude, finally reaching over 7,000 feet above sea level. Sonja likes to stop often to take pictures, so that was fine with me. Her photos are much better than mine, but that's okay.

Yours truly, Janet and Sonja

Sonja and Janet

Sonja told us many people like to climb this big rock, but none were climbing while we were there.

I loved this sign that was in the restaurant where we had lunch.

On Vacation!

I'm in Arizona on my first vacation since retiring. Monday I flew to Arizona to spend some days with my sister who rented a place for the months of January, February and March. Her condo is five doors down from my cousins Pat and Pudge's. Their back yard is the 7th fairway of a beautiful golf course. They are part of a big community that is vibrant and very friendly.

On Monday the temperature was in the high 80's – low 90's, but last night a rain storm moved through with lots of wind and today it is 70 degrees and quite breezy.

Today we drove south to have lunch with our dear friend, Sonja. Jan and I have known her all our lives since we grew up going to the same church. Sonja lives in a nice community and has two grapefruit trees—one white grapefruit and the other pink, one orange tree and one lemon tree. The grapefruit and lemon trees still had lots of fruit on them so Sonja let us pick a bunch. One lemon I held was as big as a small grapefruit!

(This photo is from last year.)

It's really wonderful to have the freedom to travel and to see friends and relatives in far away places. I'm thankful!

I've got a stinkin' cold!

I was feeling pretty smug that I hadn't had a cold or the flu for at least three years, and then Sunday afternoon came and I couldn't stop coughing. Monday brought more coughing, so I located what little cough syrup I could find and knew I would have to make a run to the drug store. Tuesday afternoon my nose started running and by Wednesday afternoon  I had to make another trek to the store. It's now Friday evening and I'm not feeling much better. My voice is raspy. I had to call a friend and tell her I cannot come to the party she is hosting tomorrow. I know this won't do me in, but it sure stinks!

Chapters in Life

This new retirement thing got me to thinking of the chapters in my life. The beginning chapter will remain a blur for me. But from about age five and going forward, they are:

• I started kindergarten at Sumner School, which was about five blocks from our home. I went to the morning class and Miss Mostrum (sp) was my teacher. I remember her as a very tall, slender woman who would cross the street if she saw a cat or dog on her side of the sidewalk. Our classroom was large and it had a balcony in which there was small furniture where we could play house. When it was our birthday, Miss Mostrum would draw a cake from chalk and add the student's name on it. They got to bring it home. We painted, played, listened to stories, learned to cut and paste (not with a computer!), and even took little naps on our rugs. I have such clear memories of kindergarten because I loved it so much. The rest of my elementary school years were enjoyable, but not noteworthy.
• Seventh grade was much more challenging. On day one I found myself lost in the large school building. I made my way to the nearest exit where I got my bearings and proceeded to walk home. Soon I learned my way around to my various classes. December of that year my father died. This was a total shock to me. I had not been prepared for this. It put me in a whole new category. I was "fatherless." A couple of the things I enjoyed about seventh grade were singing in a triple trio and home-ec. Eight and ninth grade were pretty normal for me until April of my ninth grade when my mother suddenly died. Now I was an "orphan." 
• The summer between my 9th and 10th grades, my Aunt Liz invited me to come to live with her and her family. This was a generous offer which I gladly accepted. I loved living with the Reeds and enjoyed going to school in Mahtomedi. It was a small school—only 55 in my class! During this school year I took driver's training and got my driver's license. This is a bigger deal than one realizes. What freedom having one's driver's license brings! My Aunt Liz let me drive her car all over the twin cities. My junior and senior years I lived with a very loving family from my home church. The Hogans were so kind to let me live with them and I enjoyed it very much. It was at their home I learned to play the piano.
• My next big chapter happened after graduating from high school – college. I enrolled at Minnesota Bible College, a Christian college located on the border of the University of Minnesota campus and I majored in music. While in college, I worked part-time at Bridgeman's Ice Cream parlor. It was fun and I learned a lot. 
• Steve and I were married after my freshman year of college. We spent the summer in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where Steve did a summer youth ministry. I worked at the J. C. Penney store. In September we moved back to Minneapolis and continued college classes. The following spring I got at job at Northwestern Bell Telephone as a computer operator in the accounting department. It was full time and the pay was good, so I quit college. This is one of my biggest regrets.
• When Steve had graduated from Minnesota Bible College and St. Paul Bible College, the next move was to Illinois where he would begin the work towards his master's degree. I continued to work so that he could get through school sooner. Six months later a church in Joliet hired him to be their youth pastor. The understanding was he could continue to work on his master's degree, so that was good. We stayed in Joliet for ten years and then returned to Minnesota.
• The most meaningful chapters of my life were the birth of my children. Hans, Peder and Heidi were born in Illinois, but most of their formative years were spent in Minnesota. I have loved watching them mature and especially love seeing them as parents. Each of them is married to an exceptional person and they have given me eight wonderful grandchildren. 
• After working full time for over thirty five years, I retired. This was a huge decision as I couldn't picture myself not getting up to go to work Monday through Friday. I am so happy that I came to peace with this and can report that I am loving the new freedom I now have. 

Saint Marys Hospital

Saint Marys Hospital holds a lot memories for me. I was reminded of this yesterday when I was there visiting my great nephew, Chad, who was in the hospital for a perforated appendix. While there yesterday, my brother and I took a walk. At one time he was an orderly there and remembered where he worked and lots of interesting things about various departments.

Yesterday I wanted him to remind me of the location in which our dad died. That is my first memory of Saint Marys Hospital. The year was 1957. Our father had been diagnosed with Bright's disease (kidney disease) in June of that year. This was a time in history when little was known for treatment. I remember him being told to go on a total salt-free diet—and that was all. The disease must have been quite advanced when it was diagnosed because he became weaker and thinner as time went on. One November day, shortly after Thanksgiving, I came home to learn he had been taken by ambulance from Austin to Rochester.

Monday, December 9, a school secretary came to my classroom and told the teacher I was to go to the office. It was there I learned that my sister and I were being excused from school and were to walk to our church, just a couple of blocks away, where our minister was ready to drive us to the hospital in Rochester to see our dad. When we got to the hospital, we went to the floor where our father was staying. Our mother was in the sunroom at the end of the hallway. We learned we were to go in to see our dad one at a time. When I entered the room, which I can still see today, my dad was in a bed in the center of the small room. A nurse was with him and she was just opening a bottle of blood. She then hung it on a hook. I suppose it was connected to an intravenous tube – not sure. That morning he had been given a tracheotomy so he couldn't talk. The nurse told me to come up close to him. She asked him if he would like me to apply some lotion to his arms. He shook his head "No." I remember staying a few minutes. That was my last I saw him alive. He died on Saturday, December 14.

My next memory is from December 1988 when I was being admitted to Saint Marys for a herniated disc. I had surgery on my neck and stayed in the hospital 9 days. One night while I was there a small choir walked down the hallway singing Christmas carols. It is a beautiful memory.

Then in January 2003 came that awful day when I got the call no mother ever wants to hear: Your two sons and daughter-in-law have been in a serious car accident. Your daughter-in-law has been air-lifted to Rochester, your son Peder is en route to Rochester in an ambulance, your son Hans is here in our emergency room. Hans wants you to drive to Rochester and don't go alone." I phoned my Aunt Liz and asked her to accompany me. Both she and my cousin Pat met me and together we drove to Saint Marys Hospital emergency room. To tell the rest of this memory will require another post. I will do this another day.

Saint Marys Hospital has the most beautiful chapel I have ever seen. Yesterday Jerry and I walked there. Both he and I think it is a wonderful, inspirational place.

Dinner at Barb and Gary's

Since retiring, I have been invited to the homes of two choir members. The first was for lunch on Friday, January 20th. Marianne invited me and four others from choir. Had I still been working, I wouldn't have been able to attend. It was a lovely time around her table, where she served a delicious salad, home-made wild rice soup, croissants, and for dessert – cheesecake. I totally forgot to take any photos.

This past Wednesday night I was invited to the home of Barb and Gary for a Norwegian dinner. First of all, they live in a beautiful house - set among trees - and it is filled with many beautiful things. This time I remembered to take pictures, which I feel tell the feeling of the occasion.

 This is Barb and Gary's beautiful table.

Deviled eggs, cucumbers in vinegar, coleslaw, and already eaten: a delicious beet pickle.

Meatball and mashed potato wrapped in lefse and covered with gravy. So good!

Rhubarb/berry pie with whipped cream. Wow!

Seated left of me are Lois and Laurey

L to R: Barb (hostess), Michelle, Gary (host), and Brian

German Wine Cup

In the fall of 1988, my Aunt Liz, Cousin Pat and I flew to Frankfort, Germany, rented a car and set out for areas through the Black Forest, Bavaria, Switzerland, Austria and back to Frankfort, by way of Munich. The trip still holds great memories for me.

We had no planned itinerary and each day drove to what looked interesting to us. Not once were we on the Autobahn. We kept to the smaller routes. One such place that lured us was Ulm, Switzerland. There we stayed in a beautiful hotel. I remember the breakfast buffet where corn flakes were served in a sterling silver punch bowl! I had not seen this before or since.

In Hallein, Austria we toured a salt mine which proved to be lots of fun. We also took the "Sound of Music" tour in Salzburg. (I have been fortunate to have taken this tour twice in my lifetime.) We also toured the Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria, Germany. One beautiful day we happened upon the Alpine ascent of the cows in Switzerland. Loved it

The sights we saw and the places we stayed were fabulous, and I could go on and on, but what I wanted to write about is the German wine cup I purchased.

I admired such a cup as this being served with wine at one of the places where we dined. I am not a drinker of wine, but decided to buy a new cup anyway. Well, this lovely, grape etched cup has stared at me for years each time I have opened one of my cupboard doors. Last week, as a part of my celebration of retirement, I decided to use it. Why not drink my orange juice from it? And so that is what I am doing.